Clearly with an ear for a tune, Butcher The Bar isn’t shouting for attention but letting the songs do his bidding. It would be nice for a songwriter of this kind to stick around a bit, so we don’t end up struggling with his legend like all the others. Watch this space.
ReviewsAuthor Matthew Haddrill
Sara Lowes – Back To Creation
Back To Creation is no one-stop shop, Lowes will continue to absorb influences and work with different people, gathering experience and developing as both singer-songwriter and musician. And plenty of colour in the long and winding road ahead.
Rayographs – Rayographs
“There is no progress in art, any more than there is progress in making love. There are simply different ways of doing it.” Matthew Haddrill argues Man Ray’s infamous quote with the release of London trio Rayographs’ debut album.
PS I Love You – Meet Me At The Muster Station
PS I Love You tap into a chaotic breed of rock’n'roll; born of frustration and full of frenetic DIY energy. Full of swagger and spunk, Meet Me At Muster Station is pure unadulterated fun says Matthew Haddrill.
Keren Ann – 101
Keren Ann maps out tragedy (and tragicomedy?) in her stories of love, but reading between the lines there is some hope for us as well as heartbreak, and we all need a bit of that don’t we?
Penguins Kill Polar Bears – Vessels & Veins EP
If you can get over the fact that they have one of the worst band names since the dawn of time, Penguins Kill Polar Bears deliver a slice of Scottish post-rock that certainly shows a whole load of promise for the forthcoming album.
Teddy Thompson – Bella
Just another small step in the life of the young troubadour, wallowing in misery but still coming up smelling of fresh roses, possibly a Gram Parsons or a Hank Williams in the making. The leanings towards country rather than folk give the guy more power to his tragic elbow as he continues to develop as a credible artist in his own right.
John Vanderslice – White Wilderness
White Wilderness marks something of a departure for Jon Vanderslice. Recorded over just 3 days in a series of live recordings with a bunch of classically trained musicians from San Francisco. The results are very pleasing indeed, particularly for Vanderslice himself, emerging from behind the studio trickery to bare his soul to the world.
Bobby Conn – Rise Up!
Originally released in 1998, after Conn’s eponymous debut, the album – produced by Jim O’Rourke – was the first in a series describing the absurdities of modern western society and their inevitable consequences.
Three Mile Pilot – The Inevitable Past Is The Future Forgotten
Three Mile Pilot return with their first album in 13 years – The Inevitable Past Is The Future Forgotten.
J.C. Satan – Sick Of Love
The French and Italians resurrecting British psychedelia, what could possibly go wrong …?
Boston Spaceships – Our Cubehouse Still Rocks
After recent splutters, something of a return to “the thunder of his arafatas” for Robert Pollard’s current project Boston Spaceships on Our Cubehouse Still Rocks. Actually the band’s 4th album in two years, Pollard’s extraordinary musical eclecticism shows no sign of running out of steam.
