Sugarfoot/
Øyvind Holm

Agustin Pereyra Lucena

Jeremy Messersmith

Tristan Perich, James McVinnie

Elkeyes

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SUGARFOOT - LIVE AT THE ROUNDHOUSE

ØYVIND HOLM - BLUE IS THE COLOR OF MY SOUL LIGHT
(LPs from Crispin Glover Records)

Few could’ve been more pleased than I when the flag-bearers of country rock from the European continent (Alt-Europeana, anyone?), Norway’s Sugarfoot, secured a support tour with Mike Scott’s Waterboys during the summer of 2025. Their invariably melodic blend of psych-pop, folk-rock and far out west(ern) country brings to mind bands like Cochise in their pomp, and the icing on the cake for me at least is that their lead vocalist / guitarist and primary songwriter is none other than Øyvind Holm, whose career the Terrascope has closely followed ever since 1997’s first Dipsomaniacs release blew us away, out through the Deleted Waveform gatherings era and into his half a dozen solo releases including, most recently, the superb ‘Blue is the Color of my Soul Light’ (also on Crispin Glover Records). I tend to think of Holm’s work as having a similar DNA to Jeff Kelly’s, wherein the songs are treated as musical canvases on which he paints his emotions. This album’s a dark one in some ways, unsurprising perhaps given the Orwellian reality of the world we live in right now “where truths are rewritten and history is distorted”, but there are several glimpses of lightness and joy too: both the opening and closing songs of side B are notable in particular, the bouncy pedal-steel driven ‘Tell Me Babe’ and the sitar-friendly ‘E-Kit Friend’, respectively, and another gem is to be found in ‘Random People’s Cameras’.
     But to return to the live Sugarfoot album. Recorded at the legendary Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London over the nights of Saturday May 31st and Sunday June 1st 2025, as with the vast majority of live albums it’s really one for the fans rather than serving as an introduction to a band, but it’s beautifully recorded, and it’s interesting to hear how the band stretch songs out instrumentally in a live situation - the closing ‘Waiting for That Mountain to Fall Apart’ / ‘Tiger Rider’ sequence particularly. Both originally appeared on 2016’s ‘Different Stars’ (in the same sequence), one of my favourites of theirs alongside the LP ‘In the Clearing’ (2019) which is represented here by the songs ‘Cotton Candy Clouds’ and, the strongest performance on this album overall, the sublime ‘Changing Times’. ‘Big Sky Country’ (2014), another personal favourite LP, is also well represented, with a fine version of ‘How to Keep Her’. I would’ve liked to have heard a live take of ‘Dolphins Hotel’ from that same album, as it’s one of Sugarfoot’s finest recorded moments of all - there’s always next time though!
     A word too, in closing, in praise of the cover, which is printed on folded card in the style of letterpress, with faded Grot display type. What’s not to like?!

(Phil McMullen)

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AGUSTIN PEREYRA LUCENA – ESE DIA VA A LLEGAR

(LP on Far Out Recordings)

Far Out continues to re-release the back catalogue of Argentine guitarist extraordinaire Agustin Pereyra Lucena with tender loving care. This one, originally released in 1975, and then in 1976 under the title Brasiliana in Europe, is considered by some his best-known work. Lucena always adored the music of his Brazilian idols like Baden Powell, Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho, though he never earned equal standing to those giants, even if they themselves had undying respect for him.

"Ese Dia…" finds him firmly established and on cruise control. His fourth release, it’s full of breezy bossa nova tunes which can’t help but put you in a good mood. It represented a turning point for him, still relying on some covers like Baden Powell’s 'Maritima,' the chestnut 'The Girl from Ipanema (Chica De Ipanema)' by Antônio Carlos Jobim, and João Donato’s 'Amazonas,' while forging ahead with originals as he was finding his voice.

He was a virtuoso, but on this LP, he seldom flaunts it, preferring to pursue pure melody, rhythm and feeling instead of pyrotechnics. Still, examples of his technical brilliance are on full display on tracks like 'Viento Que Va' and 'Marítima.' He also works in vocals on some of the tracks, including his own confident but understated voice with wonderful background singing by Laura Hatton, Patricia Scheuer and Maria Cosenza. 'Amazonas' is a shining example, with Lucena and Hatton’s bouncy vocals accompanying the bopping track, which could have been the backing to myriad romantic movie scenes in the Seventies.

The rhythm section is airtight, featuring long time collaborators, multi-instrumentalist Guillermo Reuter and drummer Carlos Carli. Lucena generously gives up the spotlight for variously, saxophone, flute and electric piano breaks, all played with aplomb by seasoned pros. Reuter’s 'Guayabas,' for instance, is an extended ensemble instrumental tour de force which sounds like one hell of a fun jam.

The overall result is an upbeat, endorphin-releasing album. You can’t not like this music. Even the moody pieces like the way-too-short classical-sounding palate cleanser 'Ultimo Llamado' with just Lucena on solo guitar are pleasing and full of warmth. Far Out Recordings, keep it up, you’re doing something right!

(Mark Feingold)

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JEREMY MESSERSMITH - 'Fuck This' (Community Choir Edition)

Bandcamp digital single)

I usually don’t write reviews of singles, let alone one that’s only a minute long! But I’d been wondering when the awakening would occur in the music community and voices raised against the actions of a regime so driven by hate, intolerance and violence. Where have the Pete Seegers, Nina Simones and Billy Braggs gone? This song is but a tiny morsel, but oh is it rich.

For those of you who don’t know, Minneapolis has recently been Ground Zero in the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) repressive campaign against illegal immigrants and the protesters who decry their violent methods. After the protester Renee Nicole Good was killed by ICE, local Minneapolis musician Jeremy Mesersmith released this song. Now ICE has killed a second protester, Alex Pretti, and the song has even more meaning.

With calm, matter-of-fact vocals by Messersmith while strumming a ukelele, swooping strings by Dan Lawonn, and a choir featuring local voices like “Lucy the Anti-Fascist Kitty” and “Teddy Bear and His Parental Band,” the track sounds like it could’ve been lifted from a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical from the 1930s. The song’s elegantly affable nature is offset by the biting lyrics, which perfectly express the outrage of a community and a nation that’s had enough.

This is a name-your-price track on Bandcamp. All proceeds are to be distributed to aid organizations. Have a listen, and chip in a few coins if you believe.
 

(Mark Feingold)

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TRISTAN PERICH, JAMES McVINNIE – INFINITY GRADIENT

(LP, Digital on Erased Tapes Records)

Electronic composer Tristan Perich returns with another brilliant album marrying one-bit electronics with classical instrumentation, this time in the form of the pipe organ, played by James McVinnie.  His one-bit electronics are small devices with internal circuitry about the size of your hand that play a single electronic tone.  Perich programs large numbers of them (100 of them on this record) to bend, weave, converge, diverge, and undulate, making spectacular sound colors and rhythmic patterns.  In previous records, Perich has combined them with piano on Surface Image, harpsichord on Dual Synthesis (2015), a 50-violin string section on Drift Multiply (2020), and three vibraphones on Open Symmetry (2024).  It turns out McVinnie’s pipe organ is a perfect complement to Perich’s mesmerizing electronics.  Recorded in London’s Royal Festival Hall, McVinnie brings the giant pipe organ alive with the ghosts of Bach and the Phantom of the Opera, as both counterpoint and collaborator with Perich’s four subwoofers, 72 small speakers and 24 medium-sized speakers.

He defies categorization, but Perich gets put in the contemporary classical bin, thanks in no small part to frequent comparisons with composers like Philip Glass and Steve Reich.  But I felt that his Drift Multiply was the most psychedelic record I’d ever heard due to the swirling array of slowly changing sounds, and still do.  This one comes really close.

I’ve listened to enough Tristan Perich now to have his pattern down.  The tracks often crossfade together seamlessly, named simply “Infinity Gradient: Section 1,” “Infinity Gradient: Section 2,” and so forth.  You might think you know what you’re listening to at the beginning of a track, say, the pipe organ playing in the lower register while Perich’s electronics are fluttering and twinkling in a medium pitch, only to find by the end of the track the organ is playing stabbing high notes while the electronics are pulsing, agitating and churning in another part of the scale, and you have no idea how they got there or where the transition took place.

The early movements or “sections” of Perich’s works are there to establish the sounds of the instruments, and you can clearly distinguish the pipe organ and various electronic bits, and the melodic lines are simple.  Somewhere around the middle - on Infinity Gradient it’s “Section 4,” and on through the finale of “Section 7” - you’re in the deep zone, where all the sounds are dizzily cascading, blinking and frenetically swirling all around you.  “Section 4” in particular is absolutely mind-blowing.  And then there are those subtle, almost invisible shifts I mentioned above.  This isn’t just cinematic in scope, it’s IMAX-scale.

After an odd slowdown in “Section 5,” the work segues imperceptibly and picks up again with “Section 6.”  It’s an ethereal arpeggiating burst of saturated technicolour sound.  Eventually McVinnie applies a rumbling low frequency organ swimming upstream against the cascading electronic melody.  The highlight is then an ultra-slow building, rising glissando on the electronics, which took months for Perich to program.  This then blends naturally into some higher, quiet notes on the organ as weird, creepy descending electronics eventually herald the end of the movement and another seamless segue into the finale, “Section 7,” which is an industrial assault on the senses.

Infinity Gradient is another work of genius by Tristan Perich, ably abetted by James McVinnie.  The work has been performed live, and I’d give anything to see it.  To have a gargantuan pipe organ and those 100 speakers surrounding you must be quite a spectacle.  It’s a trippy composition that overtakes you and sets your mind ablaze with imaginative images.

(Mark Feingold)

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ELKEYES - ELKEYES
(Digital on Bearsuit)

For nearly 25 years and 70 releases the Edinburgh-based Bearsuit lable has given us ample reason to cry, cheer, run screaming from the room in terror, and scratch our heads in glassy-eyed wonder (occasionally all at once). Elkeyes is their latest experiment in terror, tiptoeing through gothic, hauntology, ambient, and soundtracks that De Wolfe would only be caught dead in releasing. 'Trial' may be the perfect prescription of the avant skronk atonal jazz meanderings that greet you upon entering. I heard hints of the metallic edge of krautrockers like Faust and Einstürzende Neubauten knocking at the door. 'Yamanote Line' might wake the walking dead with its ear-piercing shrieks and creepy-crawly electronics that the hairs on the back of your neck may stand up and salute. As horror soundtracks go, this would work perfectly behind a remake of the classic Outer Limits episode "The Zanti Misfits." And as the Alien tagline reminded us, "In space, no one can hear you scream."

I had to look up 'Thalassophobia' after I finished shitting myself - let's just say my Summer's ruined and I won't be going near the ocean any time soon. There're live things in there! The stalking, syncopated electronics create a tension and creeping terror that rivals John Williams' Jaws soundtrack. It all gives new meaning to "waiting for the other shoe to drop!"

More soundtrack fun awaits in 'The Dark Forest' which amped up my heart rate and had me looking over my shoulder for the bogeyman in hot pursuit. Somewhat reminiscent of John Carpenter's Halloween score, although its repetitive riff adds an hallucinatory effect that's hard to shake. 'Ephemeral' is a seven-minute tone poem akin to Eno experimenting with a new electronic toy. Not exactly 'Music To Fall Asleep To,' but I guarantee it will remain in your head long after it ends. I think they give hearing tests that approach these frequencies, so you might want to send the dogs into another room.

'Evensong' is more relaxing as its title implies, but we're shredding traditional boundaries here, so there is another horror-film soundtrack in the offing (think Rosemary's Baby, Eraserhead, and their ilk). Closer 'Fallen' resurrects the stark musical landscapes of Bowie's Low and György Ligeti's 'Atmospheres' to chilling effect.

If you've worn out your OHM: Early Gurus of Electronic Music box set, this is a welcome addition to your music library. Fans of artists exploring the outer edges of experimental electronic music from Eno and White Noise to 50 Foot Hose, Kemialliset Ystävät, and the Magic Carpathians Project will also be right at home with Elkeyes.

(Jeff Penczak)