70. Magda - Hole Punched in Cloud

Released: 31 August 2024

 

Chosen By: Dean

Comments - 

Stu: MAGDA then! I’m more of a Post Rock fan than I am Post Punk. Don’t get me wrong I have fallen for the likes of Idles, Squid, DC Fontaines and other noise mungers! The lead track here builds nicely and has feet in both trenches. I’m not sure on the vocal, but the collision of crunchy guitar and synch is beguiling. Moving on to track 2, the vocal pushes me further away from liking this and the guitars whine instead of crunch. Track 3 engages me musically BUT yet again the vocal leaves me wondering oh for a better one!! 

Track 4, see track 3 memo! And finally track 5 slowly comes in to view, light drums, stroked guitars and some wonky keys building in to a scratchy affair. I can see this band being exhilarating live and that’s the case having read some reviews!!! Quite honestly if this was instrumental I would buy it tomorrow!! It’s just the vocal that stops me from giving this a star!!! It does have ‘DEAN’ scratched in to the run out grooves both sides of this EP! Love you Dean ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Dean: Such authenticity. Like a jamming session - and the singer often not present at all unless you realise he’s playing lead and then it makes more sense. He seems to orchestrate the mood and tempo.

I don't know if Blue Bendy are on the Blue Bendy but I'm smitten. Fell in love on listening almost immediately. 

It seems like an intangible connection between band members. Special.

Not sure if you can appreciate it but I did need to offer it as listening fodder. 

Enjoying the unpredictable nature of Magda tempered by it's nonchalant approach.

As a soundtrack to the contemporary Zeitgeist it seems very relevant. 🌟

Paul: You know me, I like noisy stuff. But I like noisy stuff that goes somewhere, that feels like a song. This EP gives the impression a shouty poet has wandered into a jamming session and they're all raising the volume to compete for our focus. If you like that then great, it's not really for me. 'Every Time' shows potential but I won't be rushing back to this.

Ben: Overall I enjoyed this ep. Three tracks really nice, two less so.

Liked:

The power and tightness of bass and drums giving energy and pace to the songs.

Kevin Rowland-like talking over songs.

Sharp guitar accents.

Sounded great through my hifi, this really improved my view of the record.

Fuzzbox shoegaze guitar.

Youre so sick with it.

Every Time.

Joy Division’esque keyboard.

Scoop Me Up.

Disliked:

Discordance and vocal melody on Hole Punched In Cloud and, to a lesser extent, No Bully.

69. Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On

Released: 14 Feb 2025

Chosen by: Paul

Dean: La,la, la, la, la-last year I spent more time listening to Electrolane than virtually anyone on the planet. It really nourished me along with Quickspace. Da,da,da,don't think I ever felt so close to a natural rhythm that felt so comfortable and the similarity is quite enticing.

La-da, da-da, da-da, low fi and retrained, almost ephemeral like it has no personality to push.

Far, far, fa-la-la from annoying because my initial thought was Where tha fuck is the meat on this album?

Whoo-hoo, whoo-who the fuck cares. I'm enjoying every track. 

Unrequited love can be quite an inspiration. Where'd you go? I can't stand to see you. What happened out there I wish it was mine, I wish I could tell you what you want and, in addition, scratchy fiddles!

I'll keep it. Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh.

Paul: The album makes a cracking start with Where'd You Go? Lovely bit of sixties sound with a dash of Velvet Underground for good measure. I'd take more of that but I like what we get. It's fun in places, sad in places and I'm a fan of the the way that the voices and guitars are layered. I was bemused when I first heard '2468' but I grow more enamoured on every listening. Is it the hypnotic quality of it or the fact they manage to turn so little into so much?

And there's 'Well I Know You're Shy' which has a fab C86 feel to it. If I'm being picky the second half of the record isn't as strong as the first but I don't mind. I'm glad I picked this and I'll now go and listen to their first album. And that means it's worthy of a ☆

Stu: HORSEGIRL ❤️❤️ I was at the party very early on with their very first single and debut LP! This was under the counter at SOUND KNOWLEDGE ‘Where’d you go’ ripping opening track with some lovely VELVETS guitars and some beautiful vocal lines ‘far far far, La La La …..sweet honey nectar

Whoo Hoo Whoo Hoo, beautiful guitar lines,  2468….go!!! Looking through your window… Switch Over Switch Off, more clapping please ❤️❤️❤️❤️ Some Peter Hook bass sounds terrific Awhoo Awhoo da da da da ❤️❤️ Captivating like a Bob Ross landscape coming in to being, soft hushed tones, like light brush strokes of burnt umber and flecks of white feather like tips on conifer trees hanging over a swollen mountain river making its way down the valley Da da da da da-da A cracking start and a cracking finish! A joyous 40 minutes indeed. ⭐️❤️🔥

Ben: Horsegirl - love the simple approach - 1st track reminds me very much of the Good Old Wide Boys who played their one and only gig in Matthew’s bedroom, Ashford rd circa 1986! The songs are catchy and tuneful and it’s comforting to know that bands can still be appealing given the most basic of equipment. 

Definitely shades of Velvet Underground, the Weddoes, Lewsberg, Nico (again). Negatives are that the songs can sound a little downbeat at times and that the music doesnt sound great through my hifi, much better in the car or cheaper equipment. But overall very good, not quite a star but would listen to more and go to see them if they were playing nearby.

68. Stereolab: Instant Holograms on Metal Film

Released: 23 May 2025

Chosen by: Stu

Comments - 

Paul: "Are you still doing what you did two years ago?" Mark E Smith once replied to a fan at a gig asking them to play a song from their back catalogue. When the punter replied 'yeah', Smith came back with "Well, don't make a career out of it." The Fall had been going less than four years at this point.

Which brings me to this album. Are Stereolab still doing what they did 30 years ago? And is it a good thing? It depends what you think of Stereolab I suppose. I don't mind them and I don't mind this record.

Melodie is a Wound is fab, and there are good bits in Immortal Hands, If You Remember I Forgot How To Dream Pt. 1 and Electrified Teenybop but they are are fleeting and on the whole this record doesn't keep my attention. But I don't mind them making a career out of it.

Ben: Nico deadpan vocals, stylophone instrumentation. ok, yes for maybe an album or two - but a whole career? Come on guys, change it up a bit! No? Oh you’re going to do another hour long album in the same style? Great! Or not. I don’t like the sounds that I’m hearing which means I struggle to get into the songs. Nah they’re not for me.

Dean: It took a while to receive this gift and sometimes gifts go entirely unappreciated then, months later the intent is clear. The wrapping has long since been dispatched and the article has sat within earshot and mulled apon with conscious duty. It inspired little and divulged little promise until I realised it's inner, hidden quality.

Something immediately banal and yet rich, something mature and understated. Something that grows within like a memory. I opened it up again and received a timely reminder that protest need not be loud. It need not be dramatic. It can be quiet and obstinate. It can be private. It can be silent but it's meaning must be cherished and admired. And that is where I am now 🌟

Stu: Like a lot of bands we all listened to in our youth and when I say that I mean when are brains were set at the maximum cerebral suction, we were always expectant and ready to be thrilled!! I’ve mentioned it before, within 5 seconds of listening to ‘Once More’ by the Wedding Present I was smitten, same with ‘Revolutionary Spirit, by The Wild Swans. You’ll have many of your own I know!! Well ‘French Disko’ was another 5 second LOVELY BITE ❤️ 

I’ve religiously purchased every LP by STEREOLAB and they’ve never failed me. They’ve shown enough different shades to always be interesting to my ears. They’ve rocked, they’ve lounged, they’ve been playful! This LP is playful. Stakes of melody. A particular part of me has always had a very soft spot for the French 🇫🇷 in music and Laticia has it in spades. I own lots of French psychedelic music and it really does tickle my fancy. I love her voice and the delivery.

HOMF starts off playfully and then Ariel Troubles really pulls me in, another cooing vocal addition as well as Tim Gane. love the staccato vocal on Melodie is a wound and the extended outro, very much like The Weddoes deliver so well! Immortal Hands shape shifts nicely Electrified Teenybop! Great title, driving melody, harks back to early LPS! Love this track ❤️

Love Esemplastic Creeping Eruption with plenty of space sound effects, I love the French tracks, as already mentioned, I love the language (hated it at school, wish I had studied it now, maybe now?)

Colour Television is lovely ❤️ As track 13 makes its way in to my earlobes I’m happy to have spent an hour with my dear friends STEREOLAB ❤️❤️ ⭐️❤️🔥

67. Rosalia: Lux

Released: 7 November 2025

Chosen By: Ben

Comments:

Stu: I knew I was in trouble the moment I saw the sleeve artwork! I hated this record from start to finish, it did nothing but irritate me and the final nail in the coffin was of course the indecent lyric’il f*** you til you love me’. This is the worst record I’ve heard in a longtime. I’m afraid I can’t add anything constructive. As for foreign lyrics I love the French words and accent but this really did grind my teeth. Please bear in mind where my head is currently! THIS LP IS AWFUL 😢

Ben: Well I did find the album a little challenging but there were a few positives - her voice is amazing, some of the classical pieces, swooping and crescendoes were pleasant to listen to and the Bjork colab is a good track despite the rap. At least I know now a bit about what Rosalia is like. She does sound very dramatic but she’s an artist so…. Overall though I doubt I’ll be listening again.

Paul: This is going to be a review in three parts. First, the album. It demands to be listened to. Not in an 'everyone must hear it' way but you need to pay it attention as it shifts from operatic to Eurovision contender and back again. As Ben says, her voice is fantastic and the orchestrations top notch (I especially enjoy the quiet piano parts.) It's been a very interesting experience listening to a 'classical/pop' album in (14 different) foreign languages. Even if I probably won't be returning to it I'm not put off listening to more of her work should it come my way.

Secondly, we clearly need to talk about Berghain. I think it's great. The first ninety per cent is one of the best things I've heard this year, it gives me Sparks vibes, and then the rap kicks in. It shocks and I'm sure it's meant to shock. (Naturally, it shocks less on repeated listening.) The album is too considered for it to be a shock for shock's sake, so why is it there? Is this an experience of Rosalia's, of a friend of hers, a general point about women in abusive relationships? Or is she a fan of the chaotic press conference ahead of the 2002 Lennox Lewis/Mike Tyson World Heavyweight title fight where Tyson used that phrase? Whichever it is we should respect her decision.

Which brings me onto the third, more general, point - why should we hate art? We might not understand it, it might not be to our taste but to hate art is to hate human creative process. To hate the experiences and decisions which have brought the artist to the point where they feel they can express themselves, be that in music, art, dance, spoken word or writing. Surely something to be celebrated not hated. Whether we like it or not.

Dean: It appears to astride opera and musical. A genre that evades my sympathy because I don't give it my attention and so I am poorer. In fact it is a language that is to some extent rejected and often ignored.

Powerful and emotional like a foreign agent crying for their deceased in an emotional documentary. Sublime and clichéd?

I'm trying to understand my irreverence. Ultimately I think our own cultural predictions eclipse what we possibly could grow to enjoy if given an appetite to indulge ourselves.  There are some beautiful and provocative musical offerings here which might well impress a less prejudiced ear. For my part, I think I'll try harder to acquire that ability to listen without preconception to sounds and experiences of that which is already acceptable and in doing so I'll hopefully manage to extend my musical embrace.

I'm gonna give a 🌟 because of it's ambition, beauty and Bjork  - And, of course, for that misogynistic 'f*** you till you love me' line which hits me cold as a windy winter night ( hope I'm not mistaken)

66. Legss: Fester

Released: 9 June 2023

Chosen By: Dean

Comments - 

Ben: starts nicely, I like motto, it’s Glass-like but a few discordant notes come in to add some interest. The Landlord is good too, nice energy, interesting changes of pace, good playing, instrumentation and production. Fester slows it down again nicely but the crescendoes are beginning to just go over the top into unpleasant noise for these ears. 

The rest of the ep doesn’t do much for me, it just keeps the plate spinning in the same way. The commentary over the last track is on the verge of being a bit up itself. Overall I like the sound of the band, esp the use of the piano. Would be interesting to see how they develop I guess.

Paul: I'm not usually a huge fan of instrumentals, (as our friend K2 would say: "Would it kill you to write some words") but I think Motto is the best track on the record. There's a bit of 'Going, going... era Wedding Present about it which I'm probably latching onto. After that I start getting confused.

I wasn't expecting the hard rock/Fontaines-style of Landlord (I don't mind it) or it to switch into Jarvis Cocker-like creepy low volume narration (I like that less.) Other tracks seem to make too much of the discordance when there feels like some good tunes are trying to get out.

Overall, I largely agree with Ben. I definitely think Legss have something going for them and if they can hone into a style a bit more then they could be one to watch.

Dean: I liked Legss. They'll sit crossed in my library for a while. I was drawn by the structural ambiguity; the unpredictable nature of some tracks and I enjoy the anguish embedded with in a quiet, self-deprecating attitude to the political landscape.

It is not strong throughout but is full of adventure without falling in line with musical expectations.

I'm not giving a star but will remain curious.

Stu: Great choice Dean, i absolutely love LEGSS ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

It has the wonderful ability to be slow, fast and mid paced and all very enjoyable! I can hear all the lyrics and I like the delivery. Quiet and loud is a friend of mine and musically this carries a lot of my favourite nuances. A delightful experience which I’m now enjoying for the 4th time! There’s also those twin vocals with the boy/girl that always gets me hooked!! ❤️❤️

This is a vinyl purchase once I’ve discovered my sea legs and my brain can operate in a proper manner!!!

🌟 a magical record for me, thank you Dean ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

65. Julian Cope: Autogeddon

Released: 9 August 1994

Chosen By: Paul

Comments - 

Paul: I've gone on about how I like albums with a variety of styles on them - maybe it started with Autogeddon. We start with blues, go a bit punky at times, quieten down now and then, rock out in other places and there are various other genres before finishing with some space rock.

Also, Cope's mood swings through angry, sad, self-deprecating, confused, upbeat but mostly angry. And I like it! The main targets for his ire are the environmental damages caused by car culture and 'greedheads' (possibly his term for the music industry). At the same time he doesn't mind taking a pop at himself for having a go at cars and yet needing one to "get around" and he's having fun and loving his life in Paranormal in the West Country part two. 

It's hard to pick a favourite track. I love I Gotta Walk but then often find myself singing Ain't But the One Way. Ultimately it doesn't matter. This is the arch-drude at the top of his game. A glorious, shining ⭐

Dean: He's like a puppy on a leash that Julian Cope. Divining here and there, tangling with stray genres. Frolicking, all attempts at following historic established preconceptions ignored. Very much enjoying this walk and amused at his virtuose dexterity.

And, there is even a reference to cars, which is genuinely coincidental, or so it seems. Autogeddon seems like a thin disguise for a very casual political stance. However, I enjoyed it, irreverent and fun. I'd never rub a dog's nose in an innocent piss puddle.

Stu: This LP then, starts off with the pollution message of gas guzzlers and makes for a Mad Max landscape which becomes the second track. Songs with guns and shooting quickly follow! I love I gotta Walk, starts with some George Best weddoes guitar and goes full Iggy! It’s here that the LP takes a dip for me. I can engage with some of his lyrics, but musically it falls a little flat for me. Paranormal makes me smile as I can picture him wandering around the Avebury Stones in his military gear and boots. It finishes off with some fizz! All together a reasonable listen but nothing to get excited about!! I’m heading back now to Reynard The Fox 🦊

Ben: I like the melodies but the whole thing lacks colour, life and positivity for me. As Stu mentions there is lots of talk of guns and dying at the beginning of the record. It just seems a bit too whiney and depressing, and lacking the energy or colour to provide a counterpoint. I want to like it but it’s too gloomy. Paranormal is quite fun, but even that is taking joy from pissing people off (driving on the far side of slow). The whole narrative is that he is unhappy at the state of the world and his response is to whinge and take potshots rather than offer any solutions or positive suggestions - he’s tried nothing and he’s all out of ideas.

64. Panda Bear: A Sinister Grift

Released: 28 Feb 2025

Chosen By: Stu

Comments - 

Ben: I’m afraid I don’t like it - both the instrumentation and vocals are over processed for my liking. The vocals are a bit Beach Boys’ish, and I’ve never liked them either. So I’m out early.

Paul: I see Ben's Beach Boys comparison too. Unfortunately it's the Beach Boys 20 years after their prime. Wikipedia tells me that this album, at least in part, falls into the 'tropical rock' genre.  I'd never heard of that but I get it. There's a laid back, island kind of vibe to it. It's a vibe that soon wears thin though. Perhaps if I was in hotter climes with this on the radio in a cocktail bar and me making the most of happy hour I might dig it. But I'm not and I don't.

The chorus to Ferry Lady is ok I suppose and Venom's In is comfortably the best track on the record. As for the rest, the more I listen to it the less I like it. Going back to the island theme, at best it's a half-hearted holiday romance of an album. When it's over you briefly remember the good bits about it but you won't keep in touch and it'll soon be forgotten.

Dean: Sinister Grift tries to do something different but sounds more derivative than original. I've given it many hearings but it tends not to interest me much. I think it's ambitious and at times melodically persuasive but, somehow for me, not successful. Nor compulsive listening, nor memorable, nor nor nor naw naw naw gnaw Can we move on? Bit fed up of chewing on this particular carcass, no nourishment here.

Stu: PANDA BEAR then! I just love the tempo and the lilting feel it offers up! I always think Beach Boys. I love the Melodie’s and I can see the progression and ideas from owning all his previous records! I do get the vibe that it’s very marmite, just like his other band ANIMAL COLLECTIVE!! I was hooked very early on and I find them irresistible now.