Beardyman – ‘Distractions’ [Review]
In an age of instant gratification, where everyone wants everything yesterday, dropping a sophomore album over three and a half years after your debut can be an anxiety-provoking event. It can be argued that music fans are more fickle than ever, easily susceptible as we all are to distraction and immediate amnesia – and under such conditions, almost any musician could reasonably expect the world to have moved on over the course of 42 minutes, let alone months. However, Beardyman is no standard-issue artist. Read more…
Trevor Gordon Hall is not so much a guitarist as a master craftsman. On Mind Heart Fingers, Hall lays a set of twelve prime pieces out in the sun for the world to see – and the world is better off for his efforts. Add to Hall’s innate and tasteful sense of musicality an exotic instrument in the shape of his trusty kalimbatar, and you have something really special. 
Candyrat Records is not so much a label as a seal of guaranteed quality and exotic innovation. In kalimbatarist Trevor Gordon Hall’s case, exoticism is clearly the name of the game, and Surviving Ordinary Days bubbles with spicy bliss and seethes with a technique so advanced and emotionally engaging that it’s almost enough to make you want to cut off your own hands. If you like your acoustic music to travel as far from stuck-in-the-mud traditionalism as possible, need something to get you through depressingly ordinary wintery days, and/or are wondering just what the hell a kalimbatar actually is, just press play. 
What do you get if you cross Brandon Boyd’s lyricism, an idiosyncratic yet familiarly contemporary male pop vocal, a touch of Biffy Clyro’s more commercially-oriented song structures, and a little Jon Gomm-esque acoustic work? Well…this. Into Color manage to take so many disparate parts and fuse them into something appealing in a pop sense, yet sufficiently inventive to attract the praise of the most hard-bitten muso. Once again, they deserve massive respect for another solid step in the right – and a fresh and exciting – new direction. 
Off-kilter electronica, bottomless grooves, elegantly plaintive vocals, soul-based yet uniquely emotive vibes – Trust/Lust is a prime Submotion Orchestra cut backed up by the sparsely luscious Swan Song. Together, these tracks combine to form a perfect teaser package that drops on November 17th, one week ahead of third Submotion Orchestra LP Alium. 
Although Guildford’s alternative music venue is called the Boileroom for a reason, few bands heat it up as quickly as Bare Jams do. For band and crowd alike, this show was very sweaty. 
Although I was gutted at missing most of Cardboard Carousel‘s earlier-than-planned set, what I did catch was as wonderful as I’d anticipated. Cardboard Carousel are an incredibly talented husband-and-wife team whose precisely attuned vocals give their carefully-worded tunes the depth they deserve.
Moddi (full name Pål Moddi Knutsen) is a rare and special kind of artist. A Norwegian singer-songwriter unafraid of breaking taboos and capable of conveying intense emotions within the most stripped-down musical formats, Moddi and 
This EP is aptly titled. If you’re feeling starved of intense and immense prog-fusion brilliance, then you should do two things: Read more TMMP, and check out CHON. They’ll seduce you effortlessly with opening acoustic-centric track Super Potion, and leave you wondering what the fuck just happened by the time Knot is finished. Not bad for just two tunes. 
When you spend most of your time scouring the world for exceptional sounds, you’re constantly at risk of contracting the music addict’s equivalent of cabin fever. It’s harsh but true to say that a huge percentage of the music out there either copies time-dulled formulae or lacks the passion and dedication essential in connecting forcefully and meaningfully with a curious listener – and too much time spent in its company can leave you feeling bored, drained, empty, and in need of some kind of escape. Luckily, there are some artists out there who can turn that creeping sense of apathetic torpor around.