You may have noticed the name Lianne La Havas on the BBC’s Sound of 2012 longlist at the turn of the year, but please don’t hold that against her. That particular barometer of cool has been malfunctioning for some time…
Category: Records
EP | Georgia Ruth – In Luna
If Georgia Ruth needed an angle to stand out from the crowd, she has it in her instrument of choice. Harpists are in short supply these days, with the only other one that springs to mind being Joanna Newsom, and…
EP | Joyce The Librarian – The Weight of the Line
First things first, Joyce The Librarian is one of my favourite names for a band in a while, and that was before I discovered the Stilgoe & Skillern song of a sex-starved book lender they got it from. And it…
Album | Jim White – Where It Hits You
In the circles I generally move in, the name Jim White refers to Sky Sports News’ rabid transfer-window hype-klaxon and professional Scotsman. In contrast to his namesake’s transfer deadline-day rabble-rousing, though, this Jim White is a musically understated southern American…
Albums | Pulp – It/Freaks/Separations
In the introduction to his lyrics collection Mother, Brother, Lover, published last year, unofficial national treasure Jarvis Cocker said his goal had always been to “create the kind of pop music I wished had been there for me in my…
Album | Lambchop – Mr. M
Despite announcing its arrival with a wave of lush waves, the latest album from Americana veterans Lambchop delivers understatement as a theme. From the descriptions of the banal realities of relationships (cleaning the coffee maker and avoiding ‘talking about seagulls’…
Album | Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It
Perfume Genius seemed to emerge from nowhere in June 2010 as debut LP Learning made a quiet but marked impact on those who heard it. Mike Hadreas’ stark and revealing lyrics came from an unsettling, dark place, and were coupled…
Blog | Gibson Bull, Blue Sky Archives & Marie Naffah
Few artists to have been covered by our New Bands Panel have brought about as good a reaction as Gibson Bull, so we were excited to hear a new track from him this week. The London singer-songwriter has started work…
EP | The Way Home – The Ship
Suffolk is rarely thought of as a centre of gospel and blues music but from this low-lying county come The Way Home, who seem as they might instead have been raised on the Mississippi Delta. On their debut release The…
Album | The Rosie Taylor Project – Twin Beds
From the offset, Twin Beds lulls you into a false sense of security. Chirruping percussion contrasts to a swirling and dreamy rhythm on opener ‘Twin Beds (one)’, before ‘For Esme’ opens with a blast of trumpet, giving birth to a…