Black Twig – Heliogram

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Black Twig are on to something. Their new album Heliogram came out on Soliti a week or two ago and I like it much more than the debut. It’s sweeter and more melodic. Listening to Heliogram often makes me think of an old favourite band of mine, The Clientele. I really loved them back in the day (especially Suburban Light, A Fading Summer era), so I thank Black Twig for reminding me of them by writing songs like Summer Slow Down and On White that somehow catch that same spirit (without sounding like grade b copycats). I don’t think Heliogram as a whole is going to be one of my biggest favourite albums this year, but there sure are magical moments that I love to bits. For example that song I mentioned, Summer Slow Down, is just magnificent and worth all hearts. This however is the first single Pastel Blue.

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The Black Twig Website

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Stereo 8000 – Stereo 8000

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New self-titled Stereo 8000 album came out on Bone Voyage Recording Company last week. I had really high hopes, because I really loved their previous effort Duel. This new one doesn’t completely reach the level of Duel, but this was not a damn contest anyway. This garage rock couple is still in top form and have again created a really good record. This one below is Magnet, my favourite song from the new album.

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Stereo 8000 at Facebook

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Video of the Day #144: Nick Waterhouse

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More exciting forthcoming releases. The new Nick Waterhouse album Holly is coming out in early march on Innovative Leisure. The debut was mostly great and this first single from the new album, This Is A Game, sounds mighty good to me.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5THw4SZCXEE]

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Nick Waterhouse Website

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Damien Jurado – Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son

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It feels like me and Damien Jurado are slowly drifting apart. Damien is exploring the soundscape with Richard Swift and I’m stuck at home listening to sad bastards singing about their broken hearts. Maybe one day I’m ready to join them for a walk, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. I already had some doubts about the overall quality of the last album Maraqopa. Of course it had 3-4 songs like Working Titles that were utterly wonderful, but I never got totally into the whole thing. Pretty much same can be said about the new album Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son. There are songs (or moments within a song) that sound amazing, but the whole thing just doesn’t work for me. It really isn’t Damien’s fault that I’m such a narrow-minded prick who is going to spend a lot more time listening to his glorious back catalogue than this newer material. However, the new album gets a couple of bonus points for somehow bringing the classic Ted Lucas album to my mind. Mostly in the beginning of the song Silver Donna. This is Silver Timothy from the Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/117473973″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”100″ iframe=”false” /]
 
Damien Jurado Website

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