Carpets
Midfield
Cheers for the review as always.A high quality and high quantity week for me. My usual weekly review:
Witch: 70s Zamrockers return magnificently. I'm not massively familiar with their earlier work but some of this reminds me a little of Goat. Highly recommended.
Rufus Wainwright: after his own songs, operas etc., he's made a covers album loosely based on folk tunes and heavy on guest spots. There are many highs but the duet with Chaka Khan on "Cotton Eyed Joe" (yes, that one) is up there.
Baxter Dury: short, not so sweet but very, very good. He's continuing down his idiosyncratic path. Nobody else really sounds quite like him.
Cowboy Junkies: excellent, as expected. Doesn't break the mold of their other recent albums but they're very, very good at what they do.
Vulture Feathers: this is a stonker of an album. Indie-rock with strange vocals. Really, really liking this. They're a new name to me.
Protomartyr: see my Cowboy Junkies review (they're nothing like Cowboy Junkies but you get the point).
Foo Fighters: not a band I regularly listen to but I thought I'd give this album a shot based on some very good reviews. Big epic stadium things that do not that much for me until the last couple of tracks, which are both ace.
Tanya Tucker: the veteran (ish, she's 64) country artist continues her fine recent form. There's warmth and humour on here.
RVG: their third album and probably the best (debut was promising and full fo top songs, second had more budget and better production but not the songs, this has both). Aussie indie rock essentially.
Beach Fossils: retro indie-rock with harmonies to the forefront. Pretty good.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds: again, giving it a listen based on decent reviews. I'm more likely to listen to it again than Foo Fighters' latest. It's maybe a song or two overlong and obvious rhymes are obvious. First song sounds like Shack.
BCUC: (or Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness in full). They get described as "afro-psychedelic future pop". This, like their previous releases, is exhilerating and fun. Good live as well, if you get the chance.
Lanterns on the Lake: a little more up tempo than their previous releases, if not any more upbeat. Really good, as usual.
Bully: the fourth album of what is, fundamentally, Alicia Bognanno's solo project. As usual, high quality grungey alt-rock.
Band of Holy Joy: I'm not even going to try and count the number of albums they've now released. As ever, Johny Brown and gang give us their post-punk, urban folk, Brechty sound with lovely lyrics and top tunes.
Jack Cooper: the Modern Nature main man goes classical. Pretty good.
Wave Temples: ambient electronica. As befits their name, water is heavily involved. It's really good. The tracks are mostly short and mostly incredibly beautiful. I've seen a couple of reviews making a Boards of Canada comparison. I'm not sure they're quite that but there is a vibe here.
Album of the week: I could probably pick any of 10 or 11 of these but will, by a narrow margin, say Vulture Feather as they're a new name to me.
The Vulture Feather album is great.