his is the third set of rumbles which have been produced under lockdown. These are indeed dark days; particularly so for musicians who haven’t played any live gigs for well over a year now. Many have seen their main source of income disappear. Since the start of this year I have noticed a lot more releases as many musicians seem to have taken the opportunity to write and record more, so here is a selection of records which have been released since the start of the year with some already out and some forthcoming. I think the quality of these albums is very high with some terrific records being released, so sit back and relax, fill your pipe and put the cat out.    

Rob Clarke and the Wooltones – Putting The L in Wootones

He’s a funny guy is Rob Clarke, for his new projects I wondered what the L was going on as he omits to put any ‘L’s onto his newest record. So the accompanying letter states “Anyone who ikes dotting their ‘T’s and crossing their I’s wi   sur ey  ove a bum number three from the  ads from iverpoo ."

So album number three it is and it is a whole heap of fun from opener ‘Big Big Bad Bad John’ through to album closer ‘Alright’ it really put a smile on my face. The playing is ace and the songs are snappy and filled with plenty of sixties tropes, covering all bases from 60’s R&B through to Haight Ashbury psychedelia and that is just the first two songs. Liverpool poet Adrian Henri is celebrated on a tune named after him. ‘Free’ channels the pop sounds of The Monkees but less sunny and injected with brass, the following song ‘Countdown’ comes complete with a Jarvis style monologue, it’s a humorous take on Decimalisation in 1971 tied in with the demise of the Beatles. ‘Two Lane Blacktop’ named after the classic American road movie is a cool rockin’ country tune which really gets the feet moving. The Byrds are brought to mind with ‘It’s Only You’. The record finishes with ‘Alright’ full of clever wordplay and rooted in the sixties of Liverpool. Available on CD/DL from www.robclarkeandthewooltones.bandcamp.com

The Old Sailor by John Townley - John's is a name you may recognise. He was in a duo with David Blue before becoming the guitarist in The Magicians. Active in the mid sixties and the driving force in The Family Apostolic from later on in that decade. For this new album he takes us to the spirit active in the coffee houses of New York at Cafe Wha and The Bitter End, amongst others on Bleeker Street. It kicks off with an old folk country blues tune ‘Skin Game’ which is pretty indicative of the rest of the material on the album, I first heard the tune on an early Geoff Muldaur album, it was written way back in 1927 by Peg Leg Howell. A full electric/acoustic band is utilised with harp, organ, percussion and acoustic guitar. John studied under The Rev Gary Davis in the early sixties and plays fine guitar throughout the album.(released on CD by The Lollipoppe Shoppe)

Since the 1970’s, John has been heavily involved in music with a maritime theme, researching, performing, playing and producing maritime folk songs. The songs are well chosen and the playing tight and have a nice organic feel with just the right amount of looseness, it’s all clearly rooted in the rural country blues. The tune of the title track ‘Old Sailor’ reminds me of the classic old song ‘The Cuckoo’. ‘Alligator Man’ drips with Spanish moss and comes replete with watery sounds and buzzing mosquitoes. ‘Flisackowa Zona’ is introduced by crows and is delivered virtually A cappella in a strange tongue. The slippery country blues of ‘Delia’s Gone’ showcases John’s fine acoustic guitar playing. He covers Skip James’s ‘If You Haven’t Any Hay’ to fine effect. Will Shade’s classic ‘Stealin’’ fits well in the running order and the album ends with a slow and stately version of ‘The Faithful Soldier’. Available on CD/DL from www.lollipoppeshoppe.bandcamp.com

Grant Nesmith – Dreams Of The Coast

I believe this is Grant’s second album arriving reasonably swiftly after 2020’s ‘Between Tides’, Grant was a founding member of psych/surf band Ocean Forest. Written and recorded in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It is an album of what was loosely termed cosmic country music in the 70’s, music which was rooted in the country tradition yet had progressive tendencies and a lot of Grant’s music reflects this using traditional instruments but not necessarily in a traditional way. His influences are amongst others The Beatles, Grateful Dead, and err Radiohead; I also really like the artwork by Fin First very much indeed. He is joined on the recording by some seasoned players including Texan Fiddle maestro Gene Elders a wonderfully expressive player whose playing I have long been in awe of, Ed Dennis playing pedal steel, Sadler Vaden on electric guitar and Cole Rateliff on drums, with Grant playing guitar, organ, banjo, piano, drums , bass and singing.

Drifting, dreamy Americana informed by nature it’s a wholesome listen, with plenty of space for the songs to develop. There are some lovely touches the laser guitars of opener ‘Never Die’ the vocal bounce of ‘Kaleidoscope’, Gene’s fiddle playing on ‘Another Day’ Ed’s beautiful steel intro to the title track. ‘Morning’ and ‘Wish’ show off his progressive song structures. ‘Untitled’ is informed by plenty of slide guitar. ‘Haunt’ is particularly lovely with a great dirty guitar passage. The album ends with ‘Such A Crime’ backwards guitar introduces the song which develops into a much heavier piece with some fine searing electric guitar lines played through a leslie rotating device. It’s a very strong album with enough going on to hold my attention and one which I will be revisiting many times. Available on CD/DL from www.grantnesmith.bandcamp.com

The Direct Hits – The Broadway Recording Sessions

Way back in 1982, The Direct Hits released a single entitled ‘Modesty Blaise’ on Television Personalities front man Dan Treacy’s record label Whaam! The label struggled to come up with the funds for the band to release a full length album. The band had a bunch of songs which they had honed playing numerous live shows and duly pooled their resources together and entered Battersea’s Broadway Sound studio’s to record them, but being able to only afford one day of recording they had to work extremely quickly. The Direct Hits consisted of Colin Swan, Geno Buckmaster and Brian Grover, along with their trusted roadie ‘Robbo’.

Since the songs had been played quite frequently they managed to record a dozen songs with enough time for a few overdubs, which is some very quick work, before eventually staggering out frazzled  into the early hours some 24 hours later.  A couple of weeks after that mammoth session they entered the studio again with a producer friend for an afternoon adding three more songs. The results were finally put out a couple of years later on Whaam! Entitled ‘Blow Up’ This CD adds those three extra songs and represents the complete recordings of this short lived band; I can clearly see why Dan liked them so much. What does it sound like i hear you ask? Well very much like an indie fronted mod band from the sixties, catchy pop tunes with titles like ‘Ride My Bicycle’, ‘Naughty Little Boy’ and ‘What Killed Aleister Crowley’ Dan himself even contributes piano to ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’. You do get the feeling of a band in a hurry to lay down some songs as quickly as possible, but in a good way, no time to tinker with them, no time for procrastinating and it is all the better for it.  It’s terrific and highly recommended. Available on Limited Vinyl and CD/DL Find it here at www.opticnerverecordings.com.

Araluen – And There It Is  

Featuring members of Danny & The Champions and The Magic Numbers comes an album from new country soul outfit Araluen, formed by guitarist Paul Lush and featuring the vocals of Angela Gannon.

I am immediately knocked out by the gorgeous vocals of Angela who reminds me instantly of the Texan nightingale Kimmie Rhodes who will probably not be familiar to readers of Terrascope but has long been a favourite of mine and Angela is a dead ringer, so much so that it really is hard to get passed. The band also has another secret weapon in pedal steel player Henry Senior. The rest of the band is made up of keyboard player Thomas Collison, drummer Steve Brookes and bass player Alan Gregg.

The songs are great too from the clever country pop of ‘Killing Time’ and ‘Never In The Moment’, the slow sultry vibe of ‘Things I Wanted To Say To You’ ‘And There It Is’ and ‘Only For Tonight’ the well placed killer rocking instrumental ‘Oh Yeah’ where Paul gets to unleash some blistering guitar runs. The ballads are great too with ‘The Only Hearts Alive Tonight’ dripping with emotion. ‘It Was Real To Me’ also has some excellent lead guitar passages, the album ends on a high with the magnificent ‘Jessica Avenue’. One of the finest country soul albums I have heard to date, pure class. The label is released on the Kaloo Kalay record label and available on CD/DL from www.araluen.bandcamp.com

David Olney and Anana Kaye - Whispers And Sighs

2020 was a crap year which was made worse for the loss of some of my favourite singer song writers; it saw the deaths of Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Jo Shaver and David Olney, a singer songwriter who is up there with greats like his good friend Townes Van Zandt.

Shortly before his death (whilst halfway through performing a song on stage) David made this album with pianist singer songwriter Anana which sees a release on Schoolkid records. The pair create a unique sonic landscape that mixes European sensibilities with folksy Americana. The album was produced by Brett Ryan Stewart and features the playing of guitarist Irakli Gabriel, Daniel Seymour and Chris Donohue, Austin Hoke, Chris Bennelli, Dereck Pell, Dick Aven and Kristen Englenz. The mastering was by award winning Richard Dodd and the save button on the project was hit just as the telephone rang with news of David’s death.

This album has been on repeat for the last couple of months and it truly is a great record, a perfect fusion of European and American minds. Irakli Gabriel is a new name to me and plays excellent guitar and Anana’s piano links it all together. The record is placed in the time frame of the turn of last century somewhere between 1890 and 1920. Old world Europe of say Vienna or Paris, it celebrates the immigrants, strangers, wanderers, seekers and fools in a time of despair, hope, blind faith, love and hate. Particular favourites are ‘The Station’, ‘Lie To Me, Angel’, ‘Why Can’t We Get This Right’, ‘Sideview’, ‘Last Days Of Rome’, the exceptional title track ‘Whispers and Sighs’, ‘Tennessee Moon’ and ‘The Great Manzini’. It provides a fitting end for an exceptional song writer, a writer who had that rare ability to hard boil and distil words down to their bare essence. It is a masterpiece from a songwriter who wrote each song like it was his last. Available soon, check his website for details www.davidolney.com

A couple of excellent new albums from the Sound In Silence record label have arrived. The first is by Hotal Neon – Moments. They are a trio from the States who formed in 2013 who have released five albums on labels such as Fluid Audio, Home Normal and Archives. This album is slightly more orchestral than previous outings and over the course of 36 minutes these seven, quiet gauzy tracks which are the most minimal they have recorded so far to date include glassy drones, hazy guitars, field recordings and soothing pads on tracks named after the days they were recorded on develop with the use of swelling strings and orchestral movements with subtle piano melodies, it is available in two very limited editions, the first being 100 in hand sewn fabric edition with the addition of a bonus track and a 200 hand numbered handmade edition. Also out on the label is a new album by Julian Ross – Fadeaway. The five tracks spell out the phrase Till Death Do Us Part. It is the work of Andrea Comotto and Ettore Di Roberto from Genoa, Italy. The duo has previously released one other album Retrospective in 2018. The new album features passages of indistinct voices from various speeches which are embedded deep in the pieces which see delicate acoustic guitar arpeggios, field recordings, deep bass lines, electronic glitches, synths and subtle beats to create some warm gentle electronica and minimal post rock. The album is available in an edition of 200 handmade hand numbered hand CD’s. Both are from the Sounds In silence Bandcamp page www.soundinsilencerecords.bandcamp.com

Mega Dodo offshoot Billywitch records have released Moth Man – Where The Dead Birds Go. The band consist of Simon Findlay - guitar, vocals, Gary Boyling – drums and percussion, Steve Thompson – bass and keyboards who have recently been joined by Simon Cullen – guitars. There are also a number of guests fleshing out the songs with Stuart Mortimore playing slide guitar and Dobro, Mark Weller contributing guitar, John Ellis plays some piano, Fender Rhodes and Hammond organ. Further embellishments see Tabitha playing clarinets and Gergo Bille playing flugelhorn and trumpet with Heather James adding backing vocals, with Peter Whitfield in charge of the string arrangements and strings.

The band have been somewhat secretive having shunned any interviews or indeed never toured with hometown shows being very rare, the album follows on from a debut single released last year. It’s a grown up album very much informed by the deep velvety tones of Simon Findlay’s vocals, the sort of territory mapped out by Matthew Edwards and the Unfortunates, The National, Tindersticks and the musical approach of Sparklehorse and Lambchop. Lush, darkly atmospheric arrangements slowly get under your skin with repeat playing; it’s lightly sprinkled with orchestral, chamber rock arrangements. The songs are mainly taken at a slow pace and gently romantic, populated with nutters and psychos. ‘Train Song’ has a slight country feel but more of the Lee Hazlewood variety. It’s a fine debut album and pretty much essential listening for these strange times. The album is due to be released in March this year on CD from megadodo@live.co.uk.

Also out on the same label Billywitch records is the debut album from The Locker Room Cowboys – The Future Came And Stole Our Dreams. The band has already appeared on the triple Fruits de Mer The Three Seasons Of Love album contributing a cover of the Rolling Stones song ‘We Love You’. The band are made up by Andy Budge who holds down bass duties in Icarus Peel’s Acid Reign, The Honey Pot and The Cary Grace Band. He is joined by John Garden, Icarus Peel and Charlie Bateson who are further embellished by vocalists Crystal Jacqueline, Victoria Reyes and Evie Budge. After a swirling instrumental ‘Procession’ the album kicks into life with ‘Oklahoma ‘33’ informed by some fine electric guitar and organ, a windblown song of the badlands. ‘Most Of You’ is a slow drifting spectral song which sets up the following instrumental and one of the album highlights ‘Big Yellow Circle’ which has some fine guitar breaks and cool synths. Another favourite is the slow languid ‘Bordertown’ with its lilting guitar patterns and deep bass. Available from megadodo@live.co.uk

Ben De La Cour – Shadow Land

Every so often a new singer songwriter appears seemingly fully formed and the latest real deal is Ben De La Cour whose album Shadow Land has just been released on the tiny Flour Sack Cape record label. Ben has lived a life, from his start playing the dives of New York dives like CBGB’s with his brother a decade before he could legally drink. There were arrests, homes in tough neighbourhoods, stays in psychiatric hospitals, rehabs, battles with mental health and substance abuse. Ben started out as a successful amateur boxer before choosing the life of a troubadour, one who I can’t wait to see play live, he is the real deal with shades of Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Townes Van Zandt and other hard boiled singer songwriters. Ben landed in East Nashville in 2013 but has chosen to record the album up in Canada.

The album kicks off with the truly amazing ‘God’s Only Son’, which rollicks along at a fair old pace, a song about a bank robbing drifter, which begins with the lines “I first heard the word of God when I was eight years old, he told me to take a carving knife and hold it to my brothers throat”. It also has some classic whistling ala Morricone and a big fat baritone guitar figure. This is probably the best opening song to an album I have ever heard for some time, it also has some fine slippery fiddle, a murder, bank robbing, running with a Cree Indian and a meeting with the devil. Of course you would think that things would slow down after such an opening and indeed it does with the sassy ‘High Heels Down The Holler’, raw and savage, with more sparks flying from the unnamed fiddle player and some fine loose slide guitar. The album does have its tender moments and one of those arrives with the next song ’The Last Chance Farm’, which describes his first day in rehab. ‘In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash’, is another high octane rocker, laced with some fine piano playing and mandolin. Another delicate ballad follows this onslaught with the heartfelt atmospheric ‘Amazing Grace (Slight Return)’.

The title track ‘Shadow Land’, shuffles along infused with harp and acoustic finger picked guitar before things turn on a dime with the fast rocking ‘Basin Lounge’, with its rock n roll piano, maximum rifferama, a blistering guitar solo, hand claps and mile a minute vocal delivery. Things slow down again with the sad tale of a suicide in ‘Swan Dive’, which tells of the tragedy of friend who jumped from the 14^th floor of a hospital. Another highlight appears next with the desolate resigned beauty of ‘From Now On’.  ‘Anderson’s Small Ritual’, is a dead ringer for Guy Clarks ‘Let Him Roll’, it’s a great song with a cool New Orleans style ending.  Opiates are the subject for the sleazy ‘Harmless Indian Medicine Blues’, with deep saxophone and razor wire guitar. This excellent album ends with another pearl of a song ‘Valley Of The Moon’ a song that wouldn’t be out of place on a Townes album, it’s a sad tale of alcohol psychosis, accompanied by deep cello, terrific fiddle and excellent wordplay, here’s a sample “I dreamt I was a butterfly, I dreamt I saw God’s face, as dazzling as the frost, as bleak as inter stellar space, but could I be a butterfly, asleep in her cocoon, who dreamt that she was wandering, through the valley of the moon ?”.

What a truly exceptional album this is, I am so glad that it was sent in for review, it will definitely be in my year’s top 10, and I very much doubt that I’ll hear a finer singer songwriter album released this year. Available in a couple of months time from www.bendelacour.bandcamp.com

Cult Figures – Deritend   

Cult figures are a five piece band consisting of Gary Jones: vocals, Jon Hodgson: Guitar/Vocals, Barney Rusel: guitar/omnichord/stylophone, Lee Mcfadden: bass/vocals and Stuart Hilton: drums/vocals. They are very much a midlands punk rock band and this is their first album for 40 years, some of the songs were recorded at Toerag studios by Liam Watson and some at Woodbine studios by John Rivers, who also mixed the album.

The first two songs concern food with ‘Chicken Bones’ being about fast food restaurants and ‘Donut Life’ about well err bakeries. ‘Lights Out’ is a short sharp song about being scared the darkness inside your mind, with a bit of whistling thrown in. ‘Exile’ has some nice fuzz guitar, a song about being kicked out. ‘The Omen’ is about being a social outcast and rocks along merrily. ‘Silver Blades’, is an up tempo bombastic song with a highly repetitive shouty chorus. Coming on like the Fallen Leaves ‘White Noize’ is extremely catchy and the following song ‘Julie –Anne’, is like a punkier sister song which reminds me for some reason of ‘Footloose’ which I’m quite sure the band would hate me for saying! I rather like ‘Concrete And Glass’, in which things slow down and Byrdsian guitars chime out, it’s also a lot like Art Brut with its spoken word vocals, all that concrete and steel is getting him down, it’s about the ever changing London skyline. ‘Camping In The Rain’ also appeals greatly, especially as I’ve done it quite a few times, angry children and a desperate wife with a lack of things to do, I also like the propulsive bass and the busy drum arrangement. The album ends with a searing ‘Privilege’ which takes a look at privilege and puts entitlement under the microscope. It’s available from Gard du Nord records @ www.garddunordrecords.com

T V Smith – Lockdown Holiday

Someone who has always had plenty to say is the Adverts main man T V Smith who has decided to write a bunch of songs about this current pandemic with Lockdown Holiday. Armed with just his trusty acoustic guitar he delivers songs of luck, hope, fake news and a life interrupted in a time that is quite extraordinary and a period that is quite unprecedented in of mood which are reflected in these modern day folk songs. T V and his wife both caught the virus  which laid them low for some time and on one of the days towards his recovery he took to his studio to write the opening song ‘The Lucky Ones’ in which he celebrates his luck at making it through and sadness at those that didn’t. ‘The Bounce Back’ looks forward to a time when we will be able to freely go about our lives again. He takes a look at the shallow numbing life of the current selfies obsessed narcissist, sleepwalking through their lives. ‘Fake News’ is a topic which he puts under his laser with a magnificent chorus of “The sun rises on an alien world, where all the signs have been changed, you set off down a familiar road and end up losing your way”. He writes about the futility of a ‘Lockdown Holiday’. He turns his attention to Trump and fake bonhomie with ‘Send In The Clown’. He rages against the machine in ‘Join The Mainstream’ and ‘Let’s Go Back To The Good Old days’. Complacence and inevitability is cleverly dissected in ‘I Surf The Second Wave’ a song from the virus’s point of view. The album ends with the excellent ‘Going Nowhere Fast’. Stay Safe, Think Dangerous. Available from www.easyaction.co.uk

Alula Down - Postcards From Godley Moor digital EP

We have a policy of only reviewing physical items at Terrascope and so when informed of a digital release we kindly replied that if this EP could be burned onto a CD then we may well be able to review it. A couple of days ago it arrived in the post and a glacial thing of beauty it is. The band consists of Mark Waters and Kate Gathercole. I’ve always been partial to a bit of birdsong and that is what we first hear on ‘Winter Song’ a delicate, spectral song recorded with just voice and Danelectro, it sums up the short days and long nights, indoors with the heating on, venturing out for short winter walks. ‘Tree Work With Frost Underfoot’ is delivered via harmonium and double bass whilst distant chainsaws are heard while out walking the dog.

‘Midwinter’ a lovely instrumental piece was recorded on the winter solstice, with birdsong, banjo and ukulele. ‘Ghosts- of Christmas Past’ sees a ticking clock acting like a metronome, as a bowed bass and violin are laid over a spectral wassail carol practice whilst the dog snores on, unimpressed. ‘Winter Wakens All My Cares’ is a 14^th century song written in Leominster, delivered here acapella over distant exploding fireworks. ‘Too Early To Say When’, has more birdsong, banjo and ukulele over a vocal sample. The EP ends with ‘The Snow It Melts The Soonest’ from the singing of Anne Briggs, where the cracking Ice and thawing snow is accompanied by shrutti and Kate’s beautiful singing. It is available from www.aluladown.bandcamp.com.

A/LPACA – Make It Better

Sulatron records have released the debut album by A/lpaca, a young band from Italy. The band consists of Christian Bindelli - vocals and guitar, Andrea Verrastro – bass, Andrea Funtuzzi – keyboards and also Andrea Sordi on drums. Three Andrea’s all in the one band , like that’s not going to be confusing! The band take as inspiration Soft Machine, who’s songwriter in the early years Kevin Ayers gets name checked in one of the songs ‘I Am Kevin Ayers’, Pink Floyd, they also like a bit of Can and some of the more modern psych bands like Thee Oh Sees and King Gizzard. From the mad opening song ‘Beat Club’ to the closer ‘Lokomotiv’ they take us on a psychedelic trip which takes place in an imaginary club in thrall to the Beat. This is a pretty mad first outing and I would like to see them calm done a bit but I suppose that’s not the kind of club it is! It’s available from www.sulatron.com

Steve Barton – Love And Destruction.

 I must admit to not having heard of Steve before this album arrived. He was in a band called Translator and a couple of the players on this record accompany him. He has of late been a music publisher and lives in Portland, Oregon. Immediately I’m reminded of artists like Nick Cave and maybe the Tindersticks, sultry sax billows out on three of the songs like opener ‘Freedom’s Not Free’ which also has some nice jazzy guitar. It’s mainly made up of originals with a couple of choice covers thrown in, like his Byrdsian cover of Dylan’s ‘To Ramona’. There are a couple of more acoustic based tracks amongst the up-tempo rockers like the atmospheric ‘Coulda been Me, Coulda Been You’. There’s plenty of funk and sass in a couple of them like ‘The World Is A Gangster’, but on the whole I prefer the slower songs, like the narrative driven ‘From Never And Nowhere’, ‘To Get To You’ and ‘Velvet Curtains’ which for me seem to suit his world weary vocal delivery a little more. It’s available from www.stevebartonmusic.com

Archeus – S/T

This is a first for me a CD arriving out of the blue from Japan and what a strange beast it is. The band consist of Keiko Higuchi-Vocals, Shizuo Uchida – Bass, and TOMO – Hurdy Gurdy. A purely improvised interplay of discordant masses of sound, the magic of minimal repetition, and dark /dense drones. It features 4 lengthy pieces of music/sound, two of which are taken from written text one being from “A Passionate Karma” and the second from “Reading From A Dream-Book”. It is well ‘out there’ and I don’t think I have anything remotely like it. It’s available on CD from Haang Niap records in Tokyo and the website is http://tomo-hurdy-gurdy.com

Peach & Quiet – Just Beyond The Shine

This is the debut album by Heather Read and Johnny Miller partners in life and music. They are based in Pender Island in British Columbia and have been an integral part of Vancouver Island’s music scene.

They are backed on this album by some of Canada’s most respected musicians, Steve Dawson of Henhouse studios, Jeremy Holmes and Gary Craig. Heather was born in Wales but moved to Canada at a very young age, even singing in her dad’s band aged four and writing songs when she was only seven! Johnny was born in British Columbia and has been active on the music scene for over thirty years and together they have recorded an album of roots style Canadiana. They both sing and play guitar with the songs in the main written by Johnny. The songs are mainly folksy country songs, well played and well sung, the harmonies are tight and the project has a good balance of up tempo and slower ballads. Standout tracks for me are California Way, the Byrdsian sounding ‘Empty To Fill’, ‘Flowers Grow’ on which Heather sounds a lot like Judy Collins. The well placed ‘Shoreline After A Storm’ adds a slightly darker note, with some glorious pure lap steel guitar.

Kaouenn - Mirages  

This is the second album by the French band Kaouenn which means Owl in Breton.  Mirages comes a good five years after their debut. The band is really just the alter ego of Nicola Amici a multi instrumentalist born in Italy.  It’s an album of cinematic, contempory and psychedelically inclined Kosmische Musik.

Consisting of eight instrumental tracks in which we can detect the influences of Can, Popul Vuh, The Lay Llamas and Ninos Du Brasil, amongst others of a similar ilk.  It is split into two distinct phases the first is TOMM and the second YEN. The album is realized on guitars, bass, synth, organ, sax, samples, xaphoon and some programming. There’s a ton of delay on the guitars, plenty of busy percussion and twitching electronics. Very much influenced by his nomadic wanderings around southern Europe and of its mountains, prairies, rivers and oceans. For further information go to www.kaouenn.com.

Anrimeal – Could Divine.

This is the debut album by Ana Rita de Melo Alves a Portuguese artist now based in London. The album was conceived, written, performed and recorded at home. It is inspired by the work of Eva Hesse and deals with an alienation of her gender, of feeling different from the norms she was supposed to feel as a young woman. Ana says this about one of the standout tracks Encaustic Witches “Encaustic Witches is the furthest I have gone with field recording manipulation, I wanted to work with the natural world through an artificial lens as one would work the wild lands into a crop” the album has a simmering dread and a feverish intensity and addresses the theme of clairvoyance and divination, she achieves this through close harmony singing and computer folk music.  It’s a pretty wild ride and is out now on her own Demo records and south east London’s Crossness records. www.anrimeal.bandcamp.com

Floorian – Then Dark

This is only the fifth release for the band which put out their first record in 2004, and received much praise from Phil in the Terrascope at the time. They were founded in Columbus, Ohio by guitarist Todd Fisher and bass player John Godshalk. This new album starts off with the woozy narcotic ‘Empyros’ which has a gentle acoustic bed upon which they layer plenty of laser guided, fuzzy guitar passages. ‘Spool’ is a labyrinthine guitar fest with oodles of backwards guitar by Todd. ‘Here Lies’ adds vocals over a base of guitars, keyboards, drums and bass. ‘On Control’ starts off quite slowly, again with vocals; it’s a dirge that takes off towards the latter part with some fierce sounding lead guitar. They add a few more instruments into the following song ‘Serpo’ which drifts about with samples, fx and moog over the layers of keyboards and guitars. ‘Cyclorama’ again adds plenty of electronics and is a mad psychedelic drug fest. The disc ends with ‘The Unknown Soon’ a group effort that has plenty of electronics, loops and fx and for all the world sounds like its beamed in from another planet. It’s available at www.floorian.bandcamp.com

  A few other things to tell you about Second Language have just released the fabulous Drifts & Flurries which is a thing of beauty with contributions from The Silver Servants, Ghostwriter, The Declining Winter, Oliver Cherer and label owner Glen Johnson. www.secondlanguage.co.uk

And lastly an amazing double A side 7” single has just been released from The Chemistry Set on the excellent Californian record label Hypnotic Bridge. It has a pulsating original ‘Paint Me A Dream’, full of dreamy harmonies, plenty of fuzz and a few well placed solos, a kaleidoscopic, punchy Eastern flavoured song, which also sneakily transposes a guitar solo by the wonderful sixties group HP Lovecraft and if that was not enough the flip side is a cover of Mark Fry’s The Witch, a song I love. Dave and Paul take the song somewhere deeper and darker though with guitars, flutes and drones and a whole heap of ‘tron, a narcoleptic dream of a song introduced by a Gregorian chant which they develop into a full freak out. It’s marvellous and likely to be the finest single released this year. It’s out now available from www.hypnoticbridge.com but there are some UK stockists like Juno.