Categories
Albums Dream pop New release

Time to hail Nightbus

Manchester! You’ve given this yank so much music to believe in. Now, here come Nightbus looming into view.  From the cold, stark, stabs of Joy Division to the loud, swaggery sneer of Oasis. From the sensitive lad yelpings of Puressence to the moody night shiftiness of The Rain Band (a.k.a. Our Final Invention).  There is […]

Categories
Albums Ambient music Book review New release

Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early 90s Ambient Underground

The UK rave scene of the early 1990s, was a seemingly endless ecstatic buzz built on beats, love, the floor being at one, fizzing with dayglo-splattered energy. And then, somewhat inevitably, after the high, the comedown. Chill.   Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early 90s Ambient Underground is the first-ever illustrated compilation celebrating the seminal underground South […]

Categories
Albums Folk New release Upcoming live music

Kathryn Williams welcomes you to Mystery Park

Kathryn Williams’s new album is Mystery Park and is her first since the hugely endearing Willson Williams project. Released in 2024, that collaborative project was co-penned and performed with celebrated Edinburgh-based cult-indie songwriter Dan Willson (aka Withered Hand)*. She said: “This record is for anyone who’s felt something and kept it quiet. For those private […]

Categories
Albums New release Upcoming live music

It’s a bug’s life for No Joy

Bugland is the latest LP from Montreal-based outfit No Joy and they are touring it this autumn. And, I’m delighted to say, that Even Butterflies Make A Sound host No Joy at Chelmsford’s Hot Box on Saturday, 18 October. Tickets are selling well and you are advised to secure yours soon so why not head […]

Categories
Albums New release Shoegaze

Chatham Rise – Trillium LP review

Chatham Rise are not from Kent, England, as their name suggests. Nor do they hail from Chatham Rise, which is an area of ocean floor to the east of New Zealand. In fact, they reside in Minneapolis. Please read on as Fraser McKay guest reviews the Minnesotans’ third LP, released on 25 July 2025. Fraser McKay […]

Categories
Albums New release Post rock

Are These New Puritans monks in a temple of post-rock ruin?

These New Puritans, comprising Essex-born twins Jack and George Barnett, make a long-anticipated return with their sixth album Crooked Wing. It’s another timeless masterpiece of anti-pop enchantment and classical melancholy. Simon Heartfield kindly agreed to guest review Crooked Wing. You can purchase your copy here. Crooked Wing review Simon Heartfield Simon is a musician, producer/remixer, […]

Categories
Albums Drone New release Upcoming live music

Lael Neale is an Altogether Stranger

Altogether Stranger is the latest work from Omnichord-toting songwriter Lael Neale. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee. It follows Star Eaters Delight (2023), which found a huge fan in the legend that is Iggy Pop. Neale, Virginia-born but California-resident, said: “In the course of writing this [new] record there was one song I […]

Categories
New release Singles and extended plays Techno

Paul Mitchell’s ascent to OHM Series

Paul Mitchell has been producing music since the 1990s. He started off making drum and bass under the name P Method. Now, he’s producing deep techno and has released through Stark Futures, Dred Records (Berlin), Mixcult, Abstrakt Dance, and Verdant Recordings. His new EP is out on OHM Series from Copenhagen. When did you hear […]

Categories
Albums Dream pop New release

From This View by Magic Seas

From This View is the third long playing helping of dreampop from Magic Seas, featuring Chelmsford brothers James and John Prudence. It follows last year’s album Everything Has Led Me To Here. From This View’s chiming guitars and washes of shimmering keyboards offer nine cuts of soaring soundscapes for the Magic Seas’ tales of solitude […]

Categories
Singles and extended plays Upcoming live music

Ora Cogan says: Bury Me

Ora Cogan, genre-shredding chanteuse and multi-instrumentalist, released Bury Me, a 7” EP, last week. The Canadian is on a major European tour to promote the vinyl released by Prism Tongue. Many terms have been used to describe her always-captivating music since her first release in 2008: smoky psychedelia, gothic country, post-punk, psych-rock, traditional balladry, cinematic. […]