LABEL: NO QUARTER ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: A personal exploration of Jewish identity in a Midwest USA setting Two quotes about the Psalms. Germaine Greer, in a forum in 2012, was cited as identifying ‘the Psalms as the high point in all the voices of human yearning for God.’ Christian pastor and Bible translator EugeneContinue reading “NATHAN SALSBURG : PSALMS”
Category Archives: music response
SAULT : NINE
LABEL: FOREVER LIVING ORIGINALS ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: An album for now. An album for the long haul. Since I read the book many years ago, I liked this quote from The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis: The humans live in time but only our Enemy (God) destines them to eternity. He (God) therefore, IContinue reading “SAULT : NINE”
DANIEL AVERY : TOGETHER IN STATIC
LABEL: PHANTASY SOUND ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: LONDON TECHNO WIZARD ADDS TO THE CURRENT CONVERSATION ABOUT CHURCH MUSIC. Western, white, evangelical church music is in need of reformation, or defenestration. The contemporary soundtrack of worshipping life in the 21st century paddles in polluted shallows. Formulaic stadium rock anthems dominate to create a pipeline of songsContinue reading “DANIEL AVERY : TOGETHER IN STATIC”
SQUIRREL FLOWER: PLANET (I)
LABEL: FULL TIME HOBBY / POLYVINYL ALBUM IN A SENTENCE : This is where American Alternative Rock is in 2021. Planet (I) is the second full album from singer-songwriter Ella Williams, recording as Squirrel Flower, released within 18 months. The follow up to last year’s strong debut I was born swimming, this collection of songsContinue reading “SQUIRREL FLOWER: PLANET (I)”
JAKOB BRO : UMA ELMO
LABEL: ECM ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: In collaboration with trumpeter Arve Henriksen and drummer Jorge Rossy, guitarist Jakob Bro builds freeform jazz improvisations with a strong instinct for melodic beauty. The sun is all. It bleaches colour. It flattens ambition to do anything but drift inside and beyond an afternoon half-sleep. It dries. It burns.Continue reading “JAKOB BRO : UMA ELMO”
ERLAND COOPER, SOPHIA JANSSON, KIRSI IHALAINEN : THE ISLAND 1961
LABEL: STUDIOORPHIR ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: The beauty of Tove Jansson’s 1961 essay ‘The Island’ is gently evoked through spoken word, field recordings and a Pärt-like distilled minimalist score. Tove Jansson, beloved author of the Moomin books, lived with her partner Tuulikki Pietilä for thirty summers on an austere island in the gulf of FinlandContinue reading “ERLAND COOPER, SOPHIA JANSSON, KIRSI IHALAINEN : THE ISLAND 1961”
HATENA : EMAIL
SELF RELEASED ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: Y2K era inspired teenage vaporwave from Australia. ‘(email)’, the eponymous opening track on the third full collection from Hatena, begins with the a dial up internet connection tone. It’s kind of the perfect sound to encapsulate the tensions that make listening to vaporwave as a genre fun. On theContinue reading “HATENA : EMAIL”
SONS OF KEMET : BLACK TO THE FUTURE
LABEL : IMPULSE! ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: Britain’s most prophetic jazz group grow in power and intensity as they draw on the source of Black power. It came as a surprise to me when I realised how political Boney M’s cover of The Melodians ‘Rivers of Babylon’ was. As a child, the song and itsContinue reading “SONS OF KEMET : BLACK TO THE FUTURE”
ICEAGE : SEEK SHELTER
LABEL: MEXICAN SUMMER ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: DANISH ROCKERS CONTINUE TO EVOLVE IN THE FACE OF THE TRANSIENCE OF EVERYTHING. Are there any rules in rock and roll? Maybe there are patterns, worn grooves in the pathway. One rock and roll rule I always believed in is that it’s impossible to be a punk forContinue reading “ICEAGE : SEEK SHELTER”
GILLIGAN MOSS : GILLIGAN MOSS
LABEL: FOREIGN FAMILY COLLECTIVE ALBUM IN A SENTENCE: Brooklyn duo put the smiley back on the face of indie-dance music. I don’t dance much these days. I could try and style it out and say that’s because nobody’s playing my song but its more about a shyness that I’ve accepted comes with aging. When IContinue reading “GILLIGAN MOSS : GILLIGAN MOSS”
we could see to the river 