The Weblog Of Leonard’s Lair

I’m normally quite tardy with publishing reviews of CDs, frequently writing my words months after the record was released. Well, in the case of The Doldrums EP, it appears I’ve jumped the gun. Due to the sleeves going missing in the post, the release date has been delayed for the foreseeable future until this issue has been resolved. In the meantime, keep your eye on the Make Mine Music site for updates, although I’ll probably post an update here when the release date is announced anyway.

Best wishes

Jon

Usually bands who are compared to Joy Division are viewed with understandable suspicion. In truth, there aren’t many bands who sound like them and that’s why they are revered almost twenty-eight years after their last recordings. Nephu Huzzband, a young quartet from Nottingham, are influenced by Joy Division as well as The Cure and Mission Of Burma. I’ve only got a single and a B-side from them but they do sound very promising indeed.

The title track is an excellent and intense reverb-heavy track which hurtles its way to the chorus at breakneck speed. Oh and the percussion is not unlike the kind a certain Stephen Morris used to perform. The more refined B-side ‘Either This Wallpaper Goes Or I Do’ reminds me a bit of Pilot To Gunner thanks to its shouted emotional vocals but it also has some strong melodies at its heart. On this evidence, Nephu Huzzband could be a young group that are well worth listening out for.

Web Site:
Nephu Huzzband MySpace

As readers of the old Leonard’s Lair site will know, I’m rather fond of post-punk acts. One band that I hadn’t heard of until very recently were Soul Merchants, a Denver band who existed for a brief period in the mid-80s. The band termed their style “psychedelic death rock”; a fitting description for an outfit who borrowed from 60’s psych as much as they did from the punk and goth scene.

I received a sampler of their new compilation and I can highly recommend the group to fans of Bauhaus, Sisters Of Mercy and - going back a bit further - The Pretty Things. At their best - the spindly guitars and ghostly harmonies of ‘Joanna’ and the chilling wordless chorus to ’Crown Of Glory’ - they were moody, dark and intense. They also have a strange taste for spooky ghost train noises, from bone-shaking cackles to a deathly fairground organ sound. Surprisingly those tracks work in a charming way that you couldn’t get away with now. Check them out if you dare on the album stream provided!

Web Sites:
Soul Merchants MySpace
Smooch Records Site

I had the pleasure of downloading a review copy of a new EP called ‘Slow Attack’ by the Australian act Glassacre. Glassacre make a very unusual brand of electronic/shoegazing music that sounds to me like the outer space atmospheres of Avrocar crossed with the ambient rock of Engineers. There’s some hypnotic eerie vocals and some excellent unusual melodies on show which lead to a superb and original release.

In my role of music reviewer, I get to listen to an awful lot of music but I sometimes feel a bit jaded by the similarity in sound to so many other acts. Glassacre are one of the special acts who sound immediately different.

Their myspace site is well worth checking out for a preview of several of the tracks whilst the EP itself can be downloaded from Hidden Shoal Recordings.

One of my favourite bands of the decade, The Great Depression, release a new album in February 2008 entitled ‘Forever Altered’.

Their last album ‘Preaching To The Fire’ was my favourite album of 2006 (Review link) which led me to use such gushing phrases as “Elegantly constructed from first to last” and “the future of melancholic rock”.

Judging from the new samples, they’ve taken on board backing singers and gone even more epic.

The Great Depression MySpace

Also check out the Fire Records label site for more downloads and news.

I’m sure some of you may be aware of this already but I just thought I’d let everyone know about some new releases coming your way from Make Mine Music.

Make Mine Music was set up in 2002 as a record label managed by the musicians themselves. I’ve collected pretty much everything released on this label as they’ve been a consistently great source of music. I would recommend people to check them out especially if ambient/electronic music is your thing.

The latest releases are as follows:

Out Now: 

All Sides - Dedalus : I was impressed with Nina Kernicke’s earlier EP on MMM which veered between the chilling to the serene.

All Sides MySpace

Library Tapes - Sketches EP : Classical and experimental electronica was the order of the day on David Wenngren’s first offering.

Library Tapes MySpace

Out Soon:

Planivaar - The Green Boat : Mark Lippet’s first album on Split Femur Recordings was a rather unassuming listen which showed a lot of promise.

Planivaar’s MySpace

Avrocar - Against The Dying Of The Light : I remember first listening to Avrocar’s ‘Screen’ single almost ten years ago now, when it was played by John Peel. The track still sounds very haunting even now. It’s been eight years since their first album so let’s hope the follow-up has been worth waiting for.

Avrocar’s MySpace

Yellow6 - Merry6mas2007 - Jon Attwood’s dark instrumentals bear comparison with post-rock luminaries such as Labradford and Bark Psychosis and his annual “festive” comps don’t usually disappoint.

Yellow6 Official Site
Yellow6 MySpace

July Skies - The Weather Clock : Much like labelmates Epic45, July Skies’ Anthony Harding is intent on capturing beautifully nostalgic moments with his dreamlike music.

July Skies Official Site

July Skies MySpace

MMM’s website is the place to get this fine music: Make Mine Music Site

Needless to say, I have written reviews in the past for all these artists on the old Leonard’s Lair site - http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/

In his comments, weblog reader Marko mentioned Destroyalldreamers. By happy coincidence they have a new album out too which you can find out more about on http://www.thisquietarmy.com/records/distro.html#wam023. Samples and an option to buy are available from the site.

Readers of Leonard’s Lair may remember I posted a positive review of their last album on http://www.leonardslair.co.uk/destroyall.htm. It was certainly a fine example of shoegazer/post-rock. Let’s hope the new album offers similar virtues.

Since I won’t just be writing the usual reviews on the blog, I now have the chance to write about music closer to the actual release dates. One album I’ve received recently that I’ve really enjoyed is the debut album from Annie Barker called ‘Mountains And Tumult’.

Comparisons to the awesome Cocteau Twins are regularly made whenever a band sound even vaguely like them. Barker makes no secret of the fact that she’s a fan of Liz Fraser’s amazing voice (and having Robin Guthrie produce her must help) but I can’t think of any singer who actually sounds as close to her as this Californian-based artist. It’s not contrived though, Barker stamps her own personality on her songs whether it’s debunking today’s rock music on the glorious ‘Revolutionary Rock ‘N’ Roll’ or just being a bit weird on ‘Sausage Fingers’.

But don’t take my word for it! You can hear samples from her myspace site on http://www.myspace.com/anniebarker and her official site is on http://www.anniebarker.com/ where more samples can be heard and you can also buy the album.