Album Review: Proto Retro by Dot Dash (2018) (The Beautiful Music)

I have several kids. I 'love' them all the same. I would die for either one of them tomorrow. However no matter how much we love them equally, any honest parent with multiple offspring, will inwardly concede that they 'like' one the best. Such a statement will never be proffered publicly and perhaps never really admitted to ourselves, but somewhere in the most hidden recesses of our brains we are aware of 'the truth'. There is always 'that one' ...

Album Review - Life By The Yellow Melodies (2017) (The Beautiful Music)

Most reviews I have read so far, refer to this release as 'jangly indie-pop'...If this is the case then why does it sound so original compared to the absolute plethora of bands that can legitimately lay claim to be  releasing music under such a banner?

Album Review - Fragments and Curiosities by Armstrong (2017) (The Beautiful Music)

I am old. Therefore I still like Twitter. I follow Welsh singer-songwriter Armstrong. His account is not like many other artist accounts.

Not for them the constant need to attack timelines explaining in fluent humble brag just how essential it is for any disposable income to be spent on their discographies or on a Beijing made, flimsy T-shirt, that compensates for its immediate first wash disintegration by placing a lop-sided, impact font, band name somewhere near the general chest region.

Album Review: JangleWaves by Skytone (2017) (Label: The Beautiful Music)

In a previous mid 2000's incarnation I received an album to review from the management of a pop-rock band from somewhere in deepest poshest southern England. Despite my eventually unpublished denigrating review (so much for review integrity, I never worked for that magazine again!) The Feeling went on to release five albums between 2006 and the present day.

My disdain probably stemmed from the fact that they were so different from the Postcard influenced indie rock bands dominating the era. Not for The Feeling the crisp twanging guitar influence of Josef K or The Fire Engines. No, there influences were all things kitsch in 80's pop rock music and I mean all things.

A couple of months later I suddenly felt the need to play the album again after one of their tracks suddenly launched a spirited and viscous ear-worm attack.. Six months later many of the other tracks had proceeded to pursue me in the same manner and the album had remarkably become an essential companion on my two hours of daily commutes.