The best new albums of the month, February 2015 edition

Spectres 'Dying' (Sonic Cathedral) Spotify buy
my review (the 405)
"Although there are many revivalist bands being tagged as shoegaze and psych-rock, none of them are using their music as an aural assault weapon in the way Spectres are. Dying may appear to have a ominous bleakness about it on the surface, but it soon becomes clear that this is an urgent, cathartic and downright exciting listen."

Sir Richard Bishop 'Tangier Sessions' (Drag City) listen/buy
my review (the 405)
"It is important to remember that Tangier Sessions does not sound like someone indulging themselves just because they got a new guitar. These improvised pieces are intricate and certainly stand up to repeated listens, and the album makes a good companion piece to Bishop's previous, rather fine, acoustic recordings."

Duke Garwood 'Heavy Love' (Heavenly) Spotify
my review (the 405)
"There is a great sense of space, songs seem to just hang in the air - and Duke's playing and vocal style is raw and dry and earthy.... The way that Garwood has executed this moody and atmospheric take on the blues reminds me of parts of the later Talk Talk albums or maybe even the last Bad Seeds record. This music has an antique heart and, instead of having lots of modern crap plastered on top of it, it has been lovingly restored."

A Place to Bury Strangers 'Transfixiation' (Dead Oceans) Spotify buy
Recapturing the energy of their first two albums, yet managing to bend their noise into something slightly different. They have thought about how to progress whilst still working within the same parameters. They still echo early JAMC in places, but this time the walls of sound aren't as fuzzy, instead they are as sharp and as hard as a diamond.

Public Service Broadcasting 'The Race For Space' (Test Card Recordings) Spotify buy
The first challenge was to prove that they weren't a gimmick, that their penchant for mining archive voices could continue for another full album. They've certainly succeeded at that, as this is a far stronger album than the debut, the material works well as a set, and those samples are used to tell a story (basically the space race of the 60s). The likes of 'Fire in the Sky' and 'the Other Side' are just two of the shivers-up-the-spine moments of drama here. A genuinely moving piece of work.

Cat's Eyes 'The Duke of Burgundy OST' (RAF/ Caroline) Spotify
Faris Badwan (of the Horrors) and Rachel Zeffira move away from their alt-rock roots to create this beautiful set of atmospheric music written for Peter Strickland's film. He also directed Berberian Sound Studio, and the music here has some of the eerieness of Broadcast's score for BSS, although it sounds more folk-based and organic. At times Rachel recalls Francoise Hardy. Shades of late night creepy 70s telly, psych-folk and even Mozart on the requiem piece.

Sea Change 'Breakage' Spotify buy
my review (the 405)
The stage name of Ellen A.W. Sundes, who wrote and recorded this debut album alone in her Oslo bedroom. Despite this – or maybe because of this – Breakage sounds great, Endre Kirkesola's mix is lush and multi-layered and the songs are dynamic, well-crafted and immersive. Sundes may well have chosen to name herself after Beck's beautifully downbeat album Sea Change, but the fact that she has chosen to work within the field of synth-pop means that it she isn't simply following on its coat-tails. It is fair to say that, where the Beck opus created a distinctly woozy melancholic mood, Sea Change's debut full length definitely captures a similar mood.

H Hawkline 'In The Pink of Condition' (Heavenly) Spotify
For his Heavenly debut, the Cardiff boy has relocated to LA and delivered this fine collection of psych-pop gems. His partner Cate Le Bon is on board as producer (last time I saw each of them they were in each other's bands too) and the resulting mix of deft and tuneful indie-rock will please fans of both. In some ways this is Mug Museum's other half (and remember what I thought of that gem).

Dan Deacon 'Gliss Riffer' (Domino) Spotify
This threw me a little. After the majestic ambition of 'America' on first listen this sounded like. at best, a side-step. It seemed too busy and cluttered and I wasn't sure about the vocals, but as it developed it started to make more sense, and the final two tracks, where he gets into a solid post-rock electronica groove (could almost be Battles) are what swayed me in the end. Dan would always get the benefit of the doubt anyway, as he is a force of nature and a musical treasure!

Eternal Tapestry 'Wild Strawberries' (Thrill Jockey) Spotify buy
A long slow trip through the world of psychedelic rock, recorded in a secluded cabin under the shadow of Mount Hood in Zigzag, Oregon. The track names are all from plants specific to the region. Languid improvised guitar parts, snaky melodies and some tape trickery as well.




In an effort to get the monthly retrospectives up in a decent time, I have to admit defeat in trying to hear everything. This time my oversight is the new Six Organs of Admittance album, which I don't have yet, and I should also add that if the new album by the Unthanks is as good as the title track, then it should've crept into this list too.

The best album releases of the month, May 2013

It is proving to be a thankless task to divide this year into 12 chunks. Strong releases just keep coming, so much so that the months are running into each other, and also it is has been hard to whittle May's albums into a tidy 10. Once again I've ignored the very obvious - Daft Punk, Savages, Laura Marling - as they've already had lots of coverage on both blogs and mainstream media. Anyway, here are my choices...


The National 'Trouble Will Find Me' choice tracks: I Need My Girl, I Should Live in Salt, Sea Of Love

A much slower-burning effort than their other albums, this took several listens to click, and I've always clicked with the National's other records straight away. Gradually the lyrical gems hooked me again once again ('Humiliation' in particular is so stunning I feel like applauding), Berninger is pretty much my favourite lyric writer of the last few years, and the tunes are stronger and even catchier than I had thought at first. This will definitely be close to the top of the tree when we draw a line under 2013.


Colleen 'The Weighing of the Heart' choice tracks: Humming Fields, Raven, The Weighing of the Heart
my review the 405
"In terms of subverting the singer-songwriter motif and turning it into something new and genuinely strange, this album reminds me of Arthur Russell's The World of Echo. Songs are hinted at and then morphed into something you don't expect. That Colleen has managed to create a work this beautiful whilst developing her inventive music is something that should be applauded. This album is a genuine delight."


Scout Niblett 'It's Up To Emma' choice tracks: Gun, Second Chance Dreams, What Can I Do?
An album written in the aftermath of a relationship that has ended, 'It's Up To Emma' is as good a record as Scout Niblett has made to date. All those emotions are turned into songs - you have the revenge fantasy of 'Gun', defiance on 'You Can't Fool Me Now', hope ('Second Chance Dreams') and finally, resolution. Musically, the bare bones of her raw guitar and single drummer are joined by string arrangements this time around, which works very well with this material.
I was lucky enough to interview Scout Niblett about this album, the feature can be found on the 405 here


The Fall 'Re-Mit' choice tracks: Victrola Time, Hittite Man, Loadstones

This current line-up have delivered three albums as a unit with mixed results - Your Future Our Clutter was an impressive new lease of life, whilst Ersatz GB failed to deliver much that was memorable, save for a bizarre penchant for metal riffs. However Re-Mit returns to more familiar Fall territory with lots of garbled vocals, motorik rhythms, rockabilly and garage-punk, so of course this is nothing short of a massive return to form.


Deerhunter 'Monomania' choice tracks: THM, Back to the Middle, Monomania
As they've been gearing up to play their back catalogue at the imminent All Tomorrow's Parties festival, the release of 'Monomania' took me by surprise even before I listened to it. It has been my most listened to album of the month, initially because I was puzzled by their decision to submerge their sound in a grungey kind of garage-rock mix, and then because I realised that I loved quite a lot of the songs. Not the Deerhunter album to play in order to win them new fans, but an intriguing and occasionally great listen I reckon.


Mikal Cronin 'MCII' choice tracks: See It My Way, Shout it Out, Don't Let Me Go
Inextricably linked with the popular garage-rock underground thanks to his partnership with Ty Segall, Mikal Cronin's 2nd album is something else entirely. Think the grunge-power-pop of Lemonheads and Nirvana, and songwriting promise which suggest Elliott Smith or even Alex Chilton.


Bibio 'Silver Wilkinson' choice tracks: A Toute A L'Heure, Look at Orion!, Dye the Water Green
Bibio is the work of Stephen Wilkinson, which I guess explains the title to an extent, and this is the follow up to the super-hazy 'Mind Bokeh'. Often tagged electronica, Bibio is actually more of a dreamy, folk-rock act, and this is more obvious on this album, where there are less beats and more "real" instruments. The downbeat nature of this reminds me a bit of Gravenhurst's recent work, really very pretty indeed.


The Pastels 'Slow Summits' choice tracks: Secret Music, Night Time Made Us, Check My Heart
I was a fanzine boy fifteen years ago and I rang up Stephen Pastel and got him to talk me through their then newly released album 'Illumination'. I never thought that it would take until now to release the proper follow-up, but I'm pleased to say that it picks up where its great predecessor left off; melodic and very slightly jazz influenced indie-pop with a lot of depth to it.


Mount Kimbie 'Cold Spring Fault Less Youth'
choice tracks: You Took Your Time (ft. King Krule), Made to Stray, Slow
Another electronica act branching into live instruments and even vocals on their second album. The duo add vocals themselves, but they are joined by King Krule for two of the standout tracks. A few reviewers have hinted that this is a push towards the mainstream, but I wouldn't go that far just yet. It is more accessible than their debut but it isn't a sell-out, more of a development in their sound that works and also makes perfect sense.


Public Service Broadcasting 'Inform - Educate - Entertain' choice tracks: ROYGBIV, Spitfire, Everest
As long standing supporters of this lot, it has been thrilling to see this debut album chart at no.21 in the UK. All of the early singles are here, seemingly refreshed in the context of the album, and newer tunes like the Kraftwerk-esque 'Now Generation' and the downbeat closer 'Late Night Final' make it more than worthwhile to check out this complete set.

gig report: Public Service Broadcasting, Village Underground, London, 27th May 2013

It is fair to say that this blog and Public Service Broadcasting go way back - in fact they delivered a guest mix for us over a year ago, just around the time that they were starting to make waves. I always thought that they had potential, but if you told me then that their debut album would chart at #21 and they would sell out two nights at Village Underground just as it had come out I would have raised an eyebrow.

They've expanded and extended their live show over the course of the last year, and they now deliver the sort of spectacle you would expect from a band that have a top 30 album. There are many aspects that remain from their early shows - J. Willgoose, Esq still plays everything apart from the drums, endlessly swapping between guitars, keys and banjo, and the visuals are still wonderfully in sync with the music, even though they now have someone dedicated to running the visual side and there are a ton more TVs.

In fact that was where tonight's show started, with all the sets tuned to a black-and-white test card. Over the next 70 minutes they played pretty much all the tunes they had, mixing old faves like 'Lit Up' and 'ROYGBIV' with the newer material from 'Inform - Educate -Entertain', an album which gets a new lease of life in a live setting. The visuals help a lot of course, and in particular the spotlights that shone around this cavernous East End bunker seemed eerily appropriate during 'London Can Take It'.

'The War Room' material is still my favourite and provided many of the highlights. From the crowd pleasing tour-de-force of 'Spitfire' to the first encore, where the original drummer Wrigglesworth was welcomed back to play piano on 'Waltz for George'. That was almost PSB-unplugged - a nice riposte to those who accuse them of being a band that only rely on samples.

Willgoose still only communicates through pre-recorded announcements, specifically tailored for each show of course. A fact which, when coupled with tongue-in-cheek gestures, manages to further endear him to the crowd rather than distance him. A friendly robot, perhaps.

The human touch was underlined again at the very end when a brass section - I assume it's fellow Tooting residents Professor Penguin - join on 'Everest'. For those that think PSB is a one-trick pony, this was a sign that there is plenty of scope and imagination for them to continue and develop. After the show I walked into the street whistling the refrain from 'Everest', and noticed that someone else was doing this as well, so surely that's a sign that PSB are doing something very right.

review: Public Service Broadcasting, 'The War Room'

After the delightful 'ROYGBIV', which chose the invention of colour television as its background, Public Service Broadcasting go darker with a five song EP called The War Room.
This time they have worked in conjunction with the BFI and created five tracks that make use of British films from the Second World War.

The change is evident from first track 'If War Should Come', which is broody and menacing. Complete with a stern voice telling us "don't be alarmed" it's like a downbeat 'Two Tribes' with a dramatic rush of synths rising to a crescendo.
'London Can Take It' is really powerful, with sirens, big ben chimes and the voices setting a tense scene where an air-raid is imminent. Complete with the astonishing photograph that adorns the cover (above) this paints a very vivid picture.
'Spitfire' is the one that most people know thanks to the cracking video and air-play on 6music. It is a pulsing, infectious tune with a Krautrock feel and a slightly less didactic voice, as these samples come from the war film 'The First of the Few' and are more lyrical than some of the other tracks. There are some ace thrashing guitars on the bit that you kids call 'the drop' as well.
'Dig for Victory' is much gentler, as it builds up from a single guitar part into a bigger wall of synths, whilst 'Waltz for George' is led by banjo, so it is obviously not as electronic. It is a lovely delicate end to the EP, the found narration is more fragile and human and it's a great way to wrap up the concept.

WATCH: Public Service Broadcasting, 'Spitfire'

I haven't written about them for a few weeks, but last night I heard Public Service Broadcasting's new tune 'Spitfire' on Gideon Coe's BBC 6music programme and realised that I hadn't mentioned it here yet. 'Spitfire' is the lead track from their new EP, 'The War Room', a collaboration with the BFI. It will be released on May 28 2012 on Test Card Recordings, digitally and on heavyweight 12" vinyl. The video was put together by Owain Rich, who has worked with them on some of their previous videos and features footage from 'The First of the Few', starring David Niven, courtesy of the BFI's National Archive.

'Spitfire' has been nominated for this week's 6music rebel playlist, and you can vote for it here.

For more info about the band's activities, visit http://publicservicebroadcasting.net

Slow Thrills guest mix, No.2: Public Service Broadcasting

This week's guest mix has been assembled by Public Service Broadcasting, a name you will know if you have been reading this blog since I reactivated it in January. If you wish to know a little bit more about them you could revisit this post. As is my plan with all the guest mixes, I invited them to feature some of their own music as well as the music that inspires them. This mix turned out to be a 50 minute journey which starts in the expected places and ends up going around the world.



J. Willgoose, Esq. from the band explains it himself...

"Things started off fairly well with this mix as I managed to play it cool and keep the corduroy under control with a fairly solid mix of electronica with hints of krautrock. Upon dropping in the contractually-obliged ROYGBIV, though, all hell broke loose and I soon found myself breakdancing with Man Parrish before unleashing the mother of all Nik Kershaw instrumentals in a wholly unironic way. What can I say? After that the only way was to carry on, cutting a swathe through dancehall, Turkish and Indian pop, Afghan electro-folk and ending up with what I am trying to turn into London's (un)official anthem, 'London Is The Place For Me'. And as a dessert - the delightful Robin The Fog's 'Corner Seat'. Hopefully you will find something that tickles you."

A Slow Thrills Guest mix by Public Service Broadcasting for Slowthrills on Mixcloud

if you would like to contribute a Friday mix please email me at slowthrillsj-blog@yahoo.co.uk. It needs to contain at least eight tracks and musically it should fit in with the overall content of this site.
For more info on Public Service Broadcasting visit their official site

Previous Guest Mixes
No.1: Robin The Fog

review: Public Service Broadcasting, Professor Penguin at Nights at the Market, Tooting, 28th January 2012

This show is part of Nights at the Market, essentially a live band night in the heart of Tooting Broadway Market. The London based duo Public Service Broadcasting were the hosts for the evening and, rather charitably, they took the stage first.
Although local Tooting boys Bear Response Team get a good response to their set of uptempo indie pop, and headliners Professor Penguin play a thoroughly professional set complete with a horn section and a percussionist, it was PSB's night in more ways than one.
The performance space is right in the heart of the indoor market, which although it is covered it certainly doesn't keep the heat in and despite an impressively large crowd it is fairly freezing. Bear Response Team's singer wears a buttoned up coat and scarf throughout his performance and although they play a very lively set, he shows no signs of taking it off.
I think it's important to mention the venue and the high standards of performance because the organisers had a set back during the course of the gig when they had a couple of visits from the council's noise control people. Although Professor Penguin have nine people in their band, it's quite possible to carry out a conversation directly in the front of the PA without shouting so it definitely didn't feel too loud in the market. I guess they have to carry out a survey to measure the decibel level at residential areas and I hope that something can be done to stop the market leaking out sound, because it would be a shame to lose such a vibrant and interesting band night.
Anyway, back to the music. I hadn't heard Professor Penguin before so I had no idea what to expect. Their large line-up gives them the luxury to expand upon some strong songs by adding horns and extra percussion and keyboards, and they all come across as very skilled musicians. At heart I reckon they are an indie band but with extra width and colour, and they could well be ones to watch in the coming months as they release their debut album 'Planes'.
When I think about this gig though, I keep returning to the early evening performance by Public Service Broadcasting. Now expanded to a duo with the addition of drummer Wrigglesworth, their live show is just getting better all the time. Tonight the now familiar old television which sits centre stage was actually upstaged by a large projector screen relaying the same visuals, which as usual are impressively in sync with the beats. PSB began as the solo project of J. Willgoose, Esq, and live he plays guitar, keyboards, banjo, whilst triggering samples of found speech and audio from public information films which take the place of any vocals. They play an impressive half hour set which ends with the new single 'ROYGBIV'; a melodic piece of electronica which celebrates the birth of colour television. They are showing tremendous promise, and although tonight was lovely and local and intimate, I can't wait to see their audio-visual show somewhere much bigger soon.

music I discovered today: Public Service Broadcasting

There is a definite buzz building around this band at the moment, and the other day I had to write 50 words for an 'established weekly music publication' about them. Well, as you may be noticing by now, 50 words ain't my style so I'll embellish it a little bit here. They are about to release a new single 'ROYGBIV', due on March 4th. It's named after all the colours of the rainbow and it skilfully manages to combine melodic electronica with some very poetic audio clips from the middle of last century which praise the birth of colour television. Phrases like "The vivid pulsating miracle that gives substance to shadow" and so on... Despite this huge dollop of retro footage, PSB still sound very much like they belong in 2012.
The lovely video is below


Public Service Broadcasting began as the solo project of one J. Willgoose, Esq, which saw him using guitar, keyboards, banjo, samples and footage from public information films for what was essentially a one man show. The live set up nowadays includes drummer Wrigglesworth and, in order to give those old films pride of place, an old television is centre stage. This video, for the unreleased song Signal 30, captures their live set really well.

PSB Live from Owain Rich on Vimeo.

The duo are currently playing quite a few gigs, mostly around London, and you can find a list here. They are fresh from a well received support slot with Plaid and Hexstatic in Koko a few weeks ago, and this Saturday they appear at Nights at the Market in Tooting as part of a three-band bill.













Previously in this series
Django Django
Patrick Kelleher and His Cold Dead Hands
Idiot Glee