Slipped Discs January 2021
Discs You May Have Missed
by John Noyd
Steven Wilson
Initial Thoughts
From subterranean vise-grips THE BODY’s pile-driving wildfires, “I’ve Seen All I Need To See,” to folk-punk pariahs MODERN HUT’s idiosyncratic ballads, “I Don’t Want To Get Adjusted To This World,” January albums face the music. It’s into the fray with alt-prog prognosticator STEVEN WILSON’s sullen profundity, “The Future Bites,” limbo-pop rhythmists GRANDBROTHERS’ piano-prancing trance, “All the Unknown,” and deep-feeling chameleons THE NOTWIST’s dire spirals, “Vertigo Days.” Remember, decisions have consequences.
Disc Reviews
Goat Girl - On All Fours
Goat Girl
Album title: On All Fours
Record Label: Rough Trade Records
Posh brush-offs from micro-dosed hostesses, South London’s Goat Girl combines delicious danger, refined strangeness and novel changes where soft glam-rock and cautious dream-pop whip up cosmopolitan subplots circling dancefloor emporiums. Sugar-coated rollercoasters fostering narcotic hostages, “Fours,” scores superhighway joyrides, blurry whirlwinds tinged in air-brushed bluster dishing sinister whispers inside precision rhythms spinning heavenly webs with intricate symmetry and sputtering loveliness.
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Goat Girl online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download On All Fours from Amazon
• Purchase On All Fours on Amazon
Pom Poko - Cheater
Pom Poko
Album title: Cheater
Record Label: Bella Union
Swinging time signature wig-outs couched in crushed fuzz, “Cheater,” breeches and screeches crunching rambunctious punk and tumble-pop assaults into exuberant alt-rock chop-suey served with anointed cartoon counterpoint. Guitar-wielding Norwegian teasers and spunky bounce-house funkateers, Pom Poko conspire in wiry time-bombs; elastic tomboy bombast paving crazy paisley mayhem with brittle playground pick-ups sprinkled in slick ricochets, hurricane mania and wicked hiccups.
(485) Page Views
Pom Poko online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download Cheater from Amazon
• Purchase Cheater on Amazon
Still Corners - The Last Exit
Still Corners
Album title: The Last Exit
Record Label: Wrecking Light Records
Supple struggles coupled to edgy tempests and romantic tampering, Still Corners’ corrosive ghost-folk coasts over bruised truths topped in polished synths and free-range twang; spectral pledges measured in methodical melancholy and coddled in haunted longing. Barrio blues pruned from country roots, “Exit,” stretches beneath interconnected intentions, suggestive expeditions into dark hearts, imparting lost hopes within ephemeral surrender and plush seductions.
(451) Page Views
Still Corners online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download The Last Exit from Amazon
• Purchase The Last Exit on Amazon
Casper Clausen - Better Way
Casper Clausen
Album title: Better Way
Record Label: City Slang
Viscous post-millennial disco whisked in cyber-tweaked beats sweetened in rerouted Krautrock sonics and sleepy algorithmic sequences, “Better,” tethers secular digital wizardry to atmospheric lyrics, mirroring patient anguish with scientific tastes wrestling tranquil faith. Upbeat feasts seized with undulating hunger, Clausen’s sterling future-pop yearnings float on golden oceans, bobbing in glossy electro-symphonic moxie, tossing bright, percolating curveballs into shiny, sci-fi skylines
(435) Page Views
Casper Clausen online:
• Website • Facebook • Wiki
• Download Better Way from Amazon
• Purchase Better Way on Amazon
Tamar Aphek - All Bets Are Off
Tamar Aphek
Album title: All Bets Are Off
Record Label: Kill Rock Stars
Phantom six-string jams spread over smoky vocals, skulking drums and basement bass, psychedelic shredder Aphek’s reckless segues, prowling growls and twisted minimalism roam over gloriously torrid territory. Fluid, late-night maneuvers chased by shadowy, blues-rooted grooves, “Bets,” lets eerie delirium guide bewitching jazz-rock instincts through gloomy beauty into slick liberation, lantern-lit pantomimes flickering in spitfire grit and chiseled in flinty riffs.
(536) Page Views
Tamar Aphek online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download All Bets Are Off from Amazon
• Purchase All Bets Are Off on Amazon
Kinlaw - The Tipping Scale
Kinlaw
Album title: The Tipping Scale
Record Label: Bayonet Records
Cavernous compassion pitched in ethereal field-trips embedded in micro-chip bliss and wind-swept sentiment, “Tipping,” slips wayward grace from turntable angels into sweeping keyboard voyages, coded mojo unfolding persistently mystical journeys by turning moody studio coos into breathless destinations. Diaphanous and dramatic, Kinlaw tiptoes through gossamer gardens anchored in radiant choreography and lifted in lavish telegraphic splashes from ravenous nanobot backing.
(440) Page Views
Kinlaw online:
• Website • Facebook
• Download The Tipping Scale from Amazon
Final Thoughts
It certainly isn’t easy to break established habits. From pro-active relapses to circular worries, consider singer-pianist fantasist LIA ICES’ home-grown pop-kissed figments, “Family Album,” loose-limbed axe-swingers KIWI JR’s sophomore kegger, “Cooler Returns,” or gate-crashing riff-masters HERE LIES MAN’s slammin’ incantations, “Ritual Divination.” Returns concern Aussie singer-songwriter INDIGO SPARKE’s skeletal indie-folk eloquence, “Echo,” and consoling soul-sister RHYE’s sleek, “Home,” while post-punk prodigies SHAME’s sobering provocations, “Drunk Tank Pink,” power-pop jangle-rockers OBERON ROSES’ vigorous misgivings, “Holographic Blues,” and nurturing searcher DANIELLE DURACK’s reflective adventures, “No Place,” suggest there’s just no going back.