To mark the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s groundbreaking tenth studio album, Station to Station, this limited-edition half-speed mastered LP has been cut by John Webber at AIR Studios on a customised Neumann VMS80 lathe with recapped electronics. The audio is sourced from 192kHz restored masters of the original Hit Factory tapes, with no additional…
This week’s six scorchers start with Special Powers, the fifth studio album from North Sea Radio Orchestra (NSRO), which features a mix of songs and instrumentals both large and small from the psych/chamber/folk/pop world that bandleader Craig Fortnam has lived in for a while now. There is a strong emphasis on melody and chord combined…
The first of this week’s top picks is Satanic Rites of The Wildhearts, an album is conceived as a belated follow-up to the band’s classic debut, Earth vs The Wildhearts. These are songs of defiance and hope, of ragged glory, of true heart-on-sleeve emotion; songs that sound like no-one else on this planet (or the…
First up this week is Sea Girls who, since roaring onto the scene four short years ago, have cemented themselves a reputation as one of British indie’s most consistent and successful bands. Their immediacy and carefree attitude are the driving motivations of their superb new release, Midnight Butterflies, a record for fans of guitar music…
The first of this week’s smashers comes from John Peel favourites Billy Mahonie, a band formed in the first wave of British post-rock in the late ’90s alongside the likes of Mogwai, who return with Field of Heads, the first new music from their original line-up in some twenty-four years. Billy Mahonie always crafted their…
Our pick of the new year’s releases opens with Elvis Costello & The Imposters, who release The Boy Named If (14 Jan), a new album of urgent, immediate songs with bright melodies, guitar solos that sting and a quick step to the rhythm. Costello tells us: “The full title of this record is The Boy…
Kicking off this week’s best releases, Scotland’s finest, Texas, make a very welcome return with their exhilarating new album Hi, flexing their rock soul muscle with a set of tracks that easily rank amongst the best of their stellar career. Texas are a band in their prime, fuelled by the swagger of their recent acclaimed…
On to our pick of this week’s new releases. November 2020 marks the 50th Anniversary of the North American release of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World – the beginning of a 10-year collaboration with guitarist Mick Ronson that would produce indispensable albums such as Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, all…
Once again we have winnowed 6 splendid recommendations from the chaff of this week’s releases. First is Giants Of All Sizes, the eighth studio album by Elbow. Lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey describes the album as: “an angry, old blue lament which finds its salvation in family, friends, the band and new life.” This…
On the 23rd of August 1999, David Bowie played an intimate set for invited guests at The Manhattan Centre’s Grand Ballroom in New York for the VH1 Storytellers series. Ten years later, in 2009, a recording of the evening was released on CD, DVD and download. Now, 20 years on, the performance will finally be…