elcome to this Autumn-Winter 2025 edition of Rumbles. We appear to have reached a pointy where there are far more emails with attached download codes than physical items sent in; fortunately I have received a few things which I will always listen to and review.

First up is a new album by Rob Byrd entitled Three Improvisations For Guitar. It's completely self-released and available to purchase on Bandcamp. A previous album by him was reviewed by our own Ian Fraser who said of it "An aural galaxy of sound...most extraordinary and wonderful, both dreamlike and soothing."  The new album was inspired by a package he received from his wife containing Weird Walk magazine issue 1 plus a copy of Leylines magazine and a packet of great stickers.

 Rob set about creating a soundtrack to one of these informative, weird rambles. He is American but visited our shores recently to take in the Neolithic splendour of Avebury. The three pieces here were produced in real time, aiming and succeeding in creating a holistic recording modality and allowing the music, memories, sensations and imaginations to come to life and merge organically.  Also do check out some of Rob's other albums, for some beautiful cinematic solo guitar. www.robbyrd.bandcamp.com

Next we have a couple of recent albums by the ever dependable Sound In Silence record label. Firstly With Open Arms Some Place Like Home is the new project of electronic music from producer Dan Robertson and ambient musician Ben Rath. The duo wove a variety of loops, samples and audio recordings they traded back and forth as building blocks until a coherent structure started to emerge. The result is a 40-plus minute intersecting album of great chilled, ambient sounds. As ever the packaging remains top class. 200 handmade, hand stamped collectibles.

Also out from Sound In Silence is Jarr Evangeline. Jarr is the ongoing collaboration by Jon Attwood and Ray Robinson and this is their fourth album for the label. The album is built around slow contemplative reverb guitar loops, walls of ambient textures, delayed guitar melodies, minimal post-rock ambience and washes of distorted, shoegazing drones. The album tries and mainly succeeds in creating an immersive listening experience, not always easy when two different people collaborate on a album of wordless poetry. Indeed Longfellow's great poem Evangeline lends the album its title. Both available from www.soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com. 

Also, just as we go to print, so to speak, Sound In Silence have just released another couple of post rock/ ambient albums. A New Line (Related) Crewe Away EP is the solo project of Andrew Johnson, no stranger to the post rock genre, as he was a member of Terrastock performers Hood. Jon Attwood has also released another new Yellow 6 album Searching For Your Perfect. I've enjoyed their previous albums and look forward to tucking into these.

The small but perfectly formed Folk Archive record label has been busy releasing a few more ultra-limited albums worthy of your attention. First up we have a collaboration between label owner David CW Briggs and Gavin John Baker Baker & Briggs. Together they have produced a fine album of psychedelically-nuanced outsider folk-rock songs, opening with the sixties tropes of "Tree House". The tune is familiar but I just can't place it. Along the way we pay a visit to the 'Forest Queen', enlivened by drums played by Albert Baker. There's some excellent electric lead guitar bubbling away, particularly fine on 'The Village That Ran Away'. Another micro edition by Folk Archive is the latest solo album by David CW Briggs People Like You. It starts with the six minute lysergic splendour of 'The Golden Plated Centipede', taking in other wonders such as 'Albatross Girl', and 'Night Crawler Man'. David makes genuine modern psychedelia with a lot of snaking, electric lead guitar and dense song structures. Long may he continue! The first album is in an edition of 25 and this one even less, there are just some 15 copies. Fortunately they can all be downloaded. www.davidbriggs.bandcamp.com

Charlie Hannah Tortured Genius. Margate singer/songwriter Hannah's new album is a collaborative release between the prolific Gare du Nord label and Toothpaste Worldwide. Just how many records have Gare du Nord released in a short space of time? I'm not quite sure where label owner Ian Button finds the time, in between helming a few groups and playing drums with everyone!

More Experience Horizons Of Events. Polish psychedelic space-rock band More Experience follow up their terrific fourth album Electric Laboratory of High Space Experience from a couple of years ago with another excellent record, again centred on a few lengthy tracks. The band has now shrunk to a more manageable five-piece group consisting of Eryk Paluch-vocals and kumei, Marcin Grabowski -bass and vocals, Filkip Gomela- drums and voices, Janek Dudzikowski- drums, vocals and tabla, and Piotr Dudzikowski- keyboards, strings and vocals. It opens with an expansive fourteen-minute 'Deep Cosmic Kisses' - think King Crimson meets Amon Duul. The title track 'Horizons Of Events' opens and fades to the sounds of a dawn chorus and features trippy backwards guitar and drifty dreamy synths. They head out to India for 'Wait A Minute', which actually lasts fourteen and is a progressive jazz-rock monster. The album ends with the all-encompassing 'Lunatic Space Diary'. www.moreexperiance.bandcamp.com

A good fun album The Sun Kings Lovers Always Win has been released by Country Mile records out of Newport in Wales. They are a kind of Welsh supergroup based around father and son Dan and Rob Nichols and feature three lead vocalists. Their sound has been compared to Madness, Ian Dury and Pigbag, and if they float your boat then it's a good chance this will be your new favourite record. They have a very summery, accessible sound, one I feel would go down well at festivals, being very catchy and upbeat, touching on Reggae, Calypso and Cumbia, all filtered through a Welsh lens. It's been produced by Charlie Francis who also handles bass duties. Together they have created an infectious cocktail. Along the way we take a 'Train To Barry Island' and run through fields with Teresa May on 'March of the Giant Weeds'. Such fun.  www.thesunkings3.bandcamp.com.

Steve Avo Lindsay Ping. Steve has finally got around to releasing his first solo album some fifty years into a career as bass player with Deaf School and leader of The Planets amongst other things and it's an assured album. Music publisher and executive Steve is somewhat of a multi-instrumentalist, playing keyboards, guitars and bass and is joined by Josh McCartney- drums, Tony Wimshurst solo guitar and daughter Uainin Lindsey backing vocals.

Itchy album opener 'All This And More', is a grungy, angular pop-art song and his love of Donald Fagan surfaces on the following 'Beautiful 45'. The album's twelve tracks take in everything from classic songwriters like Jimmy Webb and Tom Waits. Other tracks of note are the low swing of 'Sweet Limbo'; I also liked the Beatles' tropes of 'Shirley's Early', a song about unrequited love and punctuality. Sandy Shaw and Link Wray are name checked in the excellent 'Olive Green', and I also appreciated the sixties' moves of 'This Is My Song', all tootling mellotrons, guitars and beetles. www.steveavolindsay.bandcamp.com

Let's cross the pond to the USA and a rising star from the vast expanse that is Americana, Afton Wolfe Ophiuchus.  Released on Grandiflora records, the title refers to the little-understood constellation of Ophiuchus (The Serpent Bearer). Afton sings in a voice not a million miles from say Tom Waits or Joe Cocker and writes like Charles Bukowski. The songs are filled with an an eclectic mix of omnichords, trumpets, pianos, pedal steel, electric and acoustic guitars, drums, accordions and saxophone, etc. and run the gamut of styles from the folk-hop, gospel banger of 'Forgive Yourself', the anti-genocide speed-waltz of 'One Million Children' to the nuevo tango of 'Rules Of War'.  Good stuff indeed and certainly worth investigating. www.aftonwolfe.com
 

A Magic Whistle The Solar Cell. Freshly out on Public Eyesore records, A Magic Whistle is the project of Andy Puls, who put this album together utilising some most unusual instruments, such as home made synthesisers and sequencers, guitars, electronic manipulators, whistles and drums. The songs were recorded in a small hut in the Cascade Mountains of Northern California. It wobbles and flutters along very nicely indeed, 22 short tracks, the longest being album closer 'Summer Runner'. www.pubileyesore.com

Suzy Thompson - Suzy Sings Siebel. Susie is the wife of Eric Thompson, an acoustic guitarist of note who released albums on Kicking Mule back in the seventies amongst others and adds some guitar to this album. I have a real soft spot for the two albums that Paul Siebel recorded for Elektra back in the early 70's and so knew every song bar the unrecorded 'You Don't Need A Gun'. I do like the album but feel that the acoustic backing doesn't quite do the songs justice and personally I miss the piano and light orchestral touches. That being said, it is nice to hear these songs with a female voice, Suzy is very much a musician's musician, she cut her teeth in her 20's as an accompanist to British singer Frankie Armstrong before going on to form Any Old Time String Band and then Blue Flame String Band. This album was released at the beginning of August and is self released. Find it here: www.suzythompson.bandcamp.com

Charles Ellsworth - Cosmic Cannon Fodder. New York artist Charles released his fifth album in the late spring. Here he teams up with the Disarmers' guitarist Blake Tallent to produce Cosmic Cannon Fodder. Charles is a laconic singer songwriter; touchstones would be artists such as James McMurtry. It begins with 'LAX Song', a pedal steel informed, mid-tempo, confessional. Along the way the album deals with love, loss and resistance and the depraved insanity of modern life. His voice reminds me a bit of Cat Stevens and the playing is very much in the Americana style: organs, guitars, drums, bass and pedal steel. A few songs have expletives such as 'Avenue Of The Giants' and 'Another Fucking Tuesday'. It is about trying to find meaning, love and community in the middle of the chaos of modern life and is released by Burro Borracho Records. You can investigate further at www.charlesellsworthmusic.com

Ben de la Cour - New Roses. Ben released his new collection of Americana noir this summer. After the last album, which was produced by Jim White, he bought a secondhand synth and began writing songs with it, recording them with GarageBand. He then used the recordings as a launchpad for a new collection of songs that are informed by the nighttime... songs that are haunting and linger long, a dense mix of sounds, drawing inspiration from Nick Cave, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and Jimi Hendrix.

It's another gem. 'The Devil Went Down To Silverlake', uses Charlie Daniels famous blazing fiddle-led track as inspiration for a cool tune, the fiddle here played by Billy Conteras and muted trumpets are added by Josh Klein. Besides these Ben plays everything else including a dorkatron.  'Bad Star','Juke Box Heart' and 'Lost Highway' are a few of the albums highlights and 'Beautiful Day' sees him playing some blistering electric lead guitar. The album ends with the title track, a shimmering, acoustic neon dream song with harmony vocals by Misty Harlowe. Ben goes from strength to strength and you can find it here. www.bendelacour.com

Back in England now and a new album by The General Store - The Great Indoors. The General Store is the project of Tam Johnstone, who began his life in the music industry as a school boy by working at the famous George Martin AIR studios. By 17 he was support to A-Ha and toured Europe. He played drums for the Green Tambourines and tasted the big time with Jaguar. His Moonesque drumming helped touring acts such as The Charlatans and Natalie Imbruglia; however, he was writing songs all the while. Inevitably he has become somewhat of a multi-instrumentalist and opened the doors of The General Store to lay out his offerings. These began with great West Coast influenced, country rock album Local Honey which was followed by Mountain Rescue. Tam has since worked with Mojave 3's Neil Halstead, Flophouse Jr., and Orgone Box. This album is a good introduction as it features music from his first two albums plus a few unreleased songs.  If you like the Byrds and CSNY you would do well to investigate further. www.unifiedfeels.bandcamp.com

The Red Balloon - Hear there and everywhere. The Red Balloon consists of Chris Twigger, Lydia Twigger, Dewi Thompson, Jenny Lynch Lewis and Angela Twigger, and this self-released album is their inaugural flight. The record starts with the indie 'Man On A Roundabout', not a million miles from The Bitter Springs. This is followed by the tender 'Free For All' beautifully sung by Lydia. 'Scarecrows' is a mandolin-infested folk song which is followed by the crunchy rock of 'Fire In My Veins'. It has some splendid lead guitar throughout, as does 'Eight O'Clock Horses', ostensibly a song about luck, which features some fine slide guitar.

'Grey Skies' is a lovely mid-tempo, melodic, pop-rock song cloaked in mellotron strings... grey skies are something that we are very familiar with. Other notable songs are the crunchy rhythms of 'Suburbia', 'Nightbirds' which again is beautifully sung by Lydia, and has a lovely, swaying arrangement. 'Life Goes On' has a fine guitar solo just when you think it needs one and 'All Roads Lead To Nowhere' questions our beliefs and choices. They did well to follow this with 'Judgement Day' another fine pop rock song. The album ends with the indie rock of 'Weatherman' complete with a splendid wah-wah guitar solo. www.theredballoon.bandcamp.com

The Illness Macrodosed released on Sea records. This is the debut album by a new alt rock collective The Illness, who count Dave Pajo amongst their 16 members.  Dom from the band cites Terrascope as being "huge influence, whose Top 100 albums has been a staple for our record hunting". Thanks Dom! Well, the music on this eclectic album sees influences from other sources too, such as Ennio Morricone, Brian Wilson and Jimmy Webb. I hear plenty of other influences in this album too, e.g., Stereolab and Guided by Voices, being a couple that spring to mind, as well as The Breeders and The Cardigans. It's packed with plenty of addictive hooks such as on synth banger 'Glitter Witches'. It has some nice melodic touches too, such as on 'Metropolis'. The album also features the title track in three separate pieces 'Macrodosed 1', '11' and '111' and ends with a cool instrumental, 'Macrodsoser'. The album, complete with its rather cool cover art, was released earlier this year on splatter vinyl, find it here at www.searecords.co.uk. 

Over to Sweden now for the second album by Urtidsdjur Fågelsånger . I enjoyed their first album immensely and this one doesn’t disappoint, in fact it’s great. The four members of the band are Emil Niklasson, Kettil Engberg, Gustaf Boström and Affe Kihlberg. The band lay down some heaviness from album opener ‘Gryningsserenad’ through to closer ‘Sprucket Molntäcke’. I don’t understand any of the lyrics, but that’s  is not really a problem, as the songs and playing are first rate, their understated use of pedal steel and big dollops of drifting sax help sweeten the songs and they are used to here to fine effect. Love the twin guitars and billowing synths that usher in ‘Sommaren’. Elsewhere the instrumental ‘Gånglåt Från Boländerna’ has a nice heaviness and ‘Pået teller annatt sätt’ has drifting wafts of mellotron and flute, album closer ‘Sprucket Molntäcke’, is another terrific instrumental and a fine way to bow out. www.urtidsdjur.bandcamp.com

Tim Grimm Bones Of Trees. Storytelling singer/songwriter Tim Grimm is currently one of the most talented American folk singer-songwriters in the tradition of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. For his latest album his accompanists include the always excellent electric guitar player Sergio Webb. Sergio just plays what's needed for the songs, always in service to them and since David Olney passed away a few years ago he has become Tim's right hand man. These songs are mainly performed by the pair with touches of piano, mandolin and percussion with some traditional Irish instruments: bohdran, pipes, and whistles for 'Mists of Ennistymon', played by Dugie Pincock.

This could well be his strongest outing to date. The first couple of songs deal with the passing of time, 'Up in the Attic' and 'Gettin' Older'. Some of the songs are autobiographical but mainly they are told from the point of view of the songs' characters, such as the child who worries about gun violence in the ballad 'In the U.S.A'. The album includes a couple of covers, neither of which I am familiar with:  Susan Werner's 'Barbed Wire Boys' and John McCutcheon's 'Christmas in the Trenches'. Tim sings in a deep, rich, slightly world-weary style, which I find very listenable. The album also features a couple of songs directly dealing with the reality of today's USA and I direct you immediately to 'Broken Truth'. What a song! www.timgrimm.com

Speed Of The Stars While Italy Dreamed ...Through The Summer Of Haze. Speed Of The Stars are composed of Steve Kilby, Frank Kearns, Hugo Race and Barton Price and this is their second album (their first was in 2022). Steve says that album is one of the best records I've been involved in, so it's nice to see another from them. Right from the opening song 'Line Check' I'm reminded of the classic Australian band The Triffids, mainly from the vocals, but also from the languid songs.

Frank's cosmic, orchestral guitar parts are particularly noteworthy and producer Hugo Race also adds plenty of ambient guitar, which is shored up by Barton's drumming and Steve's six stringed bass. This is a truly immersive listen; it shimmers and glimmers, aided by orchestral strings arrangements. Steve says of it, "Making this album was an otherworldly experience, which takes in Percy Shelley, Mr. Bellini and the mad poet and Puccini." To me it's a journey through Italy from the crystal lakes to the marble tipped mountains of Tuscany and is highly recommended. www.easyaction.co.uk

Rumbles is written and produced by Andrew Young.
Graphics, editing, and production by Jeff Penczak @ Terrascope Online, November 2025.