Roberta Lips – En Plein Coeur

In fine retro-punk style Lucia of Roberta Lips hollers “In The Heart” En Plein Coeur from the EP of the same name. Lucia, Tiphaine, Lisa & Elise make their debut on the wonderful Spanish label, Flexidisco. Be sure to check out their catalogue, it’s packed full of excellent releases. Perhaps deliberately Roberta Lips pay a sort of homage to yé-yé, a style of pop music that emerged in Western and Southern Europe in the early 1960s. The French term yé-yé was derived from the English “yeah! yeah!” There is a lovely throwback video available for En Plein Coeur. A lot of much needed fun.

Tropical Fuck Storm – Bloodsport

Tropical Fuck Storm formed when guitarist and vocalist Gareth Liddiard and bassist and vocalist Fiona Kitschin’s previous band, The Drones, went on hiatus in 2016. Joined by guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist Erica Dunn and drummer Lauren Hammel, the group has released a string of critically acclaimed albums and gained a reputation for their incendiary live shows. One can only presume there is a story behind the Melbourne-based band’s moniker, Tropical Fuck Storm. On the other hand on listening to their album Fairyland Codex a number of time and careful scrutiny of their sleeve art, these folks have some decidedly quirky ideas. And that’s a wonderful thing!

Gumshoes – Have Me

This is the work of homespun indie singer-songwriter, Sam Sparks out of Birmingham. “I wanted to shake myself up a little bit before I got too stuck in my comfort zone” Says Sparks,  “So I’ve been spending the last few months writing without a goal; just throwing quick sketches together and testing out new tools. Exercises, really. I must’ve come up with 20 songs or so, most of which will stay dead and buried.” About his Bubblegum EP he continues, “But here are 5 of those tracks which I thought turned out nicely. They’re not particularly big changes of pace, but perhaps they’ve taught me a few new tricks to use in the future. If I keep up my schedule and hit my life expectancy, that’s nearly 60 more Gumshoes records to come.” I like his gumption. (sorry). Curious sleeve art for a number of his records feature Victorianesque illustrations.

Gold Baby – Stains

“I am the pure gold baby”, says Siân Fawcett who presents as Gold Baby. The London-based artist shares important insight into Stains on her debut LP, I Came Home To Find You, “I’m proud of the lyrics to this one, I feel I managed to distill a feeling that has followed me throughout my life. The best word for that feeling is probably guilt. I struggled badly through a lot of my teens and 20s with OCD, stuck in debilitating ruminations about, amongst other things, being a bad person, being evil or capable of evil things. An overly-simplified explanation of how OCD traps you is that it makes you believe that your thoughts and actions hold a lot more weight than they actually do; what people with OCD tend to have in common is an inflated sense of responsibility for keeping themselves and/or the people around them safe (from their thoughts, actions, failures or failure to act)”. She continues, “Part of the inspiration for this song was a little blue diary I wrote in between the ages of 9 and 12. It was the start of my relationship with writing as a coping mechanism (i’m grateful for that little blue book!) and there’s a lot of anger in there, as well as funnier stuff (omg I luv liam from holby city so much etc) and petty pre-teen feuds. It’s interesting to me that there’s a lot of stuff blotted and scribbled out, and there’s a disclaimer page labelled as IMPORTANT explaining that if you’re reading this, I write in here when I’m upset and I do actually really love my family. This page is signposted on the inside cover of the diary and I’ve tried to padlock the diary using string and sellotape (foolproof). I know a lot of what’s in there is normal pre-teen anger and secrecy, but when I flick through, in placesI recognise what I’ve often felt writing or talking about my feelings – I’ve spent so much of my life saying the words ‘I feel bad’. I wanted this song to sound like the OCD need to keep things pure and simple, stainless, inside and out, like the desire to to be a ‘good’ person, which really comes from believing you are bad in some way. Swipe right for the little blue book! Not brave enough to post the emo angry stuff so enjoy me calling a supply teacher a pigface alongside lots of scribbled out swearwords. Note: I seldom copy the complete notes from an artist’s album but in this case I believe Siân’s words are so eloquent they deserved to be read by you. All the songs were written, performed and produced by Siân Fawcett and the drums on Stain were performed by Ben Parker. Do not overlook this artist and her important work.

Sculpture Park – nothinwhatineed

I wonder who came up with the name Sculpture Park? It’s so fitting for this combo from South London. My memory of visiting sculpture parks evoke space and the strategic positioning of three-dimensional art. The music of Ted Mair, Aaron Skates, Lucy Ludlow, James Hurst and Matt Merriman easily qualifies for the soundtrack to my sculpture park recollections. This is evocative music without leaning on cliches, instead Sculpture Park utilize their instruments (piano, cello, sax, drums and guitar) along with the vocals to create essentially modern music with delightful references. Art Pop and Avant Pop are genres their album Monument To Effort could easily slot into if you were keen on searching for labels. I’m tempted to observe that the band member are too young to be familiar with Robert Wyatt or Kevin Ayers. Then again, if those are references then kudos to Sculpture Park. In my opinion they produce a positively English sound. Top marks! Cool sleeve art from band-member Lucy. 

Sorrow – Unrequited

I love this record. A gorgeous melange of genres from the elusive producer Sorrow. His first six-track EP in six years delves into an emotive mood that can work on the dance floor and the end of the evening. Brilliantly crafted from this Bristonian talent. Available through the always excellent White Peach imprint. Lovely sleeve art. 

Black Loops – Experience ft. Marleena Dae (Black Loops Dancefloor Dub)

Riccardo Paffetti AKA Black Loops has, over the past decade, steadily earned a reputation as a dedicated and innovative force in House music. With his Experience EP Black Loops proves that House can be innovative yet still engage those classic House signifiers. I’ll admit, I could not help cueing up two copies to create a massive extended mix of Experience. Voila, I’m in my own Paradise Garage for. Couple of hours. Be sure to look out for Black Loops’ debut album ready and set for release on Freerange in the first half of 2025. Tasty!

KuleeAngee – Animated Love

What we have here with the rambunctious Be Good EP on Manchester’s LAB Records three genre-defying cuts – which I approve of. There’s a moment in Animated Love that prompted me to recall Gary US Bonds classic hit, Quarter To Three, but that’s so far back in history, it’s from another century. Glasgow’s Keshav Kanabar and Edinburgh’s Duncan Grant got together to make music that “felt like it was guitar music without the guitars and had this attitude that they really didn’t give a fuck, but not in an angsty or angry way”. 

Silver Y – Stupor

Silver Y is the solo project of self-taught  Sicilian multi-instrumentalist and producer Laura Caviglia. Her album In The Depths revolves around the theme of identity loss (Rest Home, Shadow, Self), explores the various stages of coma (Stupor, Sopor), and culminates in death (In the Depths). Yet contrary to what that might suggest, Laura says.”It is a more spiritual than dark album. The meaning invites us to understand the duality at the core of existence — an alternation of light and darkness that, if truly understood, can be experienced as complete light.” Laura’s passion for electronic and ambient music started about 15 years ago, but it is in the past few years that she realised these were the genres that would allow her to find her personal language in music, express herself and experiment. For Laura, the live performance is an important moment of connection between the artist and the listener, and each of her live shows can be slightly different because she controls all the sounds in real-time. Beautiful sleeve photo, interesting video too.

Cid Poitier x Sheba Q – Destiny

Junglist goddess Sheba Q joins forces with Sub:Clef label boss Cid Poitier to deliver 2 deep and soulful cuts. Sheba Q presents her sultry and poetic vocals over Cid Poitier’s underlying groove with his trademark chest filling sub-bass which subtly opens into an unexpected jazzy, saxophone led juxtaposition. It’s certainly worth mentioning that Sub:Clef is an experimental bass record label which explores the blurred genre boundaries of Early Dubstep, Neo Soul, Electronica and Dub, born in the cultural melting pot of South London. Do not overlook!

My Neptune – Nova

Yes, another cut from the LP, Despina by the New Orleans band that caught my attention enough to invite these charming people for a conversation. This is unique music full of surprises and a full on dedication to creating a listening experience like no other. The subtlety of how they craft their songs is exceptional. This is an album you can put on repeat play and never get tired of and hear something different each time. Inspired.

Purelink – Rookie (ft. Loraine James)

It should by now go without saying that I’m a big fan of the music of Loraine James. Here the North London artist teams up with Brooklyn’s Purelink who embrace liquidity on their second album, washing live instrumentation and exposed vocals over their patented cascade of dubbed ambience and ebbing rhythmic experimentation. Since 2020, Tommy Paslaski (aka Concave Reflection), Ben Paulson (aka kindtree) and Akeem Asani (aka Millia) have channeled their most euphoric musical whims into the Purelink project. Purelink’s latest album, Faith illustrates a period of upheaval for the three friends; relocating from Chicago to New York City, they found themselves surrounded by new scenery and fresh inspirations that permeated their compositions as they adapted to the change. There is such a lot to discover on this long-player, digest at your leisure. 

Ben McEvoy – I Must Have Walked Past There A Thousand Times

Based in the UK, Ben McEvoy could be tagged a “folk/experimental/ambient” artist. Although my aversion to labels reminds me to let you know Ben makes very cool music. “This album evolved from long improvisations on pump organ and cello.” Says McEvoy, “I really wanted to play the instruments as a form of therapeutic release, a kind of stimming, paying more attention to this than the Appollonian aspects of the music. So scrape and repetition… anger and using the bow/keys to really try to gnaw into deep, old brain feelings. I often start things with improvisations, but then tidy, smooth things out… I wanted to keep that aspect to the minimum here.. there is some, but where possible I’ve kept the squeaks, the noises, the mistakes.” The LP, Elkhart is available on the Laaps imprint out Brittany, France. Delightful artwork by Nieves Mingueza.

Loren Connors & David Grubbs – Blossom Time

Loren Connors and David Grubbs first performed as a duo on May 30, 2003 at the Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel in Brooklyn, N.Y. Green-Wood Cemetery is one of Brooklyn’s landmarks—it’s the highest natural point in the borough, and an unexpected expanse of tranquility in the midst of the city. The stone interior of the chapel makes the quietest of sounds audible, and Loren and David played a remarkably quiet yet extraordinarily varied hour of improvised music. Energized, they repaired to the studio to record the LP, Arborvitae. With David on piano and Loren on an electric guitar played so quietly that at times his pedal-stomping is wondrously distinct. Blossom Time and the title track positively float, with Loren alternating between soaring single-note lines and playing the rough, barnacled anchor to David’s relentless tide.

The artwork for this volume is a photograph by Belinda Simons from her series, “Young boys playing” 2015 digital print on recycled paper. Courtesy of Norman B’s collection