Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The Bard may have put it in such a way that many will quote him without even realising they are doing it, but the act of sleep, deprived to many, enjoyed by the multitude, comes with its own peculiarities, rituals and habits as any function of human existence; for Katie Mac the pleasing musical demeanour, the lowering and persistent highs that come with the plea of Let’s Fall Asleep are enough to drive temptation firmly into view.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It has been six long years since Scottish superstars Idlewild unleashed their form of independent rock onto the nations that make up the British Isles, six years in which the sartorial elegance of lyrics designed to make you think harder than sitting down to an exam in which you have not read any of the corresponding works, the questions written in Latin and with only five minutes to write down a 1000 words.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are not many bands or artists who would be comfortable with releasing a new set of songs in the same box as 20 of their previous hits and instantly recognisable songs, the pressure of comparison, of easily accessed contrast is perhaps a release too far for most groups to skip round. Having a best of is all right, especially if it does introduce a newer crowd to the table and have them bathing in what is effectively some of the great songs of the genre; but to put them alongside in the same packaging with a brand new experience, that perhaps is taking the point of dedication too far. Not for the Bellamy Brothers though as their new and old recording of 40 Years :The Album attests.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Vienna is seen as one of the true birthplaces of European culture, a place of romance, of music that powders the soul and alludes to setting the explosive keg of at all times and a city that has been as much divided by strife, politics and internal divisions for centuries. It has suffered and it has been glorified, it has been in many cases forgotten and it has been celebrated and any music that comes out of that resurgent city should be seen as powerful reflection of the dominant and prevailing times that it is living in.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The feeling of the fancy of the notions of spectral unseen beings are abound throughout the new album from Emily Portman, so much so that Coracle is more than a set of songs loosely tied together by packaging and a set of songs that glide across the listener’s attention; Coracle is arguably the philosophy of the spirit transformed and given life.
Philosophy is always subjective, like the thoughts of an English Literature student groping in mid air for the one true reason of why a poet’s work fits the ethos of existence and yet when the answer comes, it blinks wildly with the excited charms of a robin fending off a seagull from its nest.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The idea of Utopia is based upon equality, a brotherhood which is unbreakable and insurmountable, a breath in which all come to together as one and the equilibrium cannot be challenged.
The Spirit Level, the machine on which all sturdy foundations are built, the simplest but most invaluable of all tools reflects that harmony of which Utopia is based. If the bubble, the spirit in the level is even just a fraction out it can lead to disaster. After all ethanol may produce a straight line in which life must be balanced but it can also be a volatile mixture placed in the wrong hands.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The name on the cover may throw some but the voice will fool no one, for whether as the Scottish musical temptress Ella The Bird or in her new phase in life as the established and harmonious free spirited Siobhan Wilson, therein lies a subtle difference between a name change and a change of scene; gravitas and talent will always abound whether you are A or B or X or Z, and in Ms. Wilson’s seven track E.P. Say It’s True that gravitas is undeniable.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
An instrumental album, one fully enveloped by the sound of a creative mind with no reason to embellish his work by the appearance of single inappropriate lyric, is something to behold and admire. It might not find favour with those who can’t live without the thoughts of the musician being mentioned in passing, but for those who find such pieces stirring or are happy enough to wallow in the arms of the edifying release that comes from listening to the inner workings of their own imagination as the sound of a gentle guitar takes them to places unknown, then Steve Garrett’s Even Song is a moment of class.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
There are beasts of albums and then there are monsters, the former tantalising, the stuff of remembrances and memories of where you were when you first pinned back your ears and let the explosion of noise take you down a large rabbit hole with no earthly way back. The latter, the substance that makes the universe tick, the material in which the initial tremor which meets the indestructible fiery blast coming the other way, the atoms that come between them splitting and forcing the issue outwards; this is the realisation that you are in the presence of beauty and greatness.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Manipulation is so rife in the modern world that at times it is almost impossible to see where it begins and where it finishes. Everybody it seems has a long, invisible string attached to them that they dare not step too far out of line lest it be yanked and tugged so hard that falling down, being made an example of, is the least of their problems. Control after all is the name of the game.