Lately, I’ve been listening to…

“Lush, textural, and full of that elusive, Northern European romanticism, wrapping each song in a gentle fog of longing. It’s a record suffused with quiet heartbreak and lingering beauty. A masterpiece.”

‘In The Light Of Time – UK Post-Rock And Leftfield Pop 1992-1998’ (Ace Records, 2023)

“…you could almost feel the grime and noise of the capital clinging to the songs. While it was a time of huge creativity, that on-the-edge-of-breakdown sense is still audible.”

Dif Juz – ‘Extractions’ (4AD, 1985)

“…the bluster of Autumn, the bending of trees, wind rippling through long grass in waves, the mesmeric unraveling of colossal cloud fronts…”

My favourite albums of 2021

“If asked, “What are your favourite records this year?” I hum and ha. Yet, ask me my favourite records of 1981 and I could write you a (small) book. “

Hugo Largo – ‘Drum’ (Relativity, 1987)

“We want to be perceived as a band that plays wild rock and roll, maybe even punk music but that happens to play it quietly.” – Tim Sommer (Hugo Largo)

Disco Inferno – ‘Summer’s Last Sound/Love Stepping Out’ (Cheree, 1992)

“For all this talk of Summer and love, there’s a worm in Disco Inferno’s apple that never really ever goes away.”

Harold Budd – ‘The Pavilion Of Dreams’ (Obscure Records, 1978)

“I realized I had minimalized myself out of a career. It had taken 10 years to reduce my language to zero but I loved the process of seeing it occur and not knowing when the end would come.”

The Durutti Column – ‘Without Mercy’ (Factory Records, 1984/Factory Benelux, 2018)

“But wait! A drum machine in a modern classical piece? Only on Factory Records. I’ve never, to this day, heard anything so wrong be so right. “

Heavenly Bodies – ‘Celestial’ (Third Mind Records/C’est La Mort, 1987)

“The ghost of early Dead Can Dance understandably lingers in the tribal percussion and heavily reverbed guitar work and Seaman’s voice is most definitely from the school of Lisa Gerrard, albeit via Alison Shaw.”

Spoonfed Hybrid – ‘Spoonfed Hybrid’ (Guernica, 1993)

“…an album that’s both more varied and sonically untethered than any of their previous incarnations, the noisiness of their previous groups consigned to the corner, allowing a vast space for a plethora of electronic and acoustic instruments to interact, meander and contort…”