Monolith Cocktail Blog

RELEASES ON THE RADAR FROM THE LAST FEW MONTHS REVIEWED BY WRITER-MUSICIAN GRAHAM DOMAIN

photo credit : Morgane Landrieu

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Colin Johnco ‘L’Air Qui Danse (the Air that Dances)’
(Johnkool Records)

The first single released from Colin Johnco’s forthcoming album Crabe Geant (Giant Crab) is a piece of atmospheric piano and orchestral jazz ambience, that is intermittently manipulated electronically. I can’t see it receiving much airplay but it is a lovely piece of atmospheric ambience.

Essence Martins ‘Deer in the Headlights’ EP
(Young Art Records)

The debut EP by Essence Martins is a thing of beauty; six songs of warmth, humanity and love by a beautiful soul. She reminds me of a young Corrinne Bailey Rae, but make no mistake, she is copying no one and shows a maturity and clarity of thought in the mastering of her emotive warm songs.

‘Wandering Souls’ is a wonder, with its contemplation of human existence and the continuation of the human soul-consciousness. Beautiful.

‘Brussel Sprouts’ is like a warm cocoon, full of love – with the refrain ‘some people have goodness in their bones’. Destined to become a song standard if it gets the exposure it deserves.

This is a wonderful debut and I can’t wait to hear more.

Charlie Risso ‘Alive’
(T3 Records)

The new single from Italian singer Charlie Risso is a dark ballad sitting somewhere between Marissa Nadler and Lana Del Rey. It is also the title track of her wonderful new album out in April. FFO Isobell Campbell, Mark Lanaghan, Marissa Nadler, Lana Del Rey.

K Board & The Skreens ‘Mistery Magoo’ and ‘Rocchenroll’
(Metal Postcard Records)

The latest two singles from K Board & the Skreens are Fantastic!

‘Mistery Magoo’ sounds like Boris Pickett and the Crypt Kickers with The Specials covering the Clash! Picture a creepy clown playing sinister circus music on an organ as IT grumbles away! Suddenly the beat kicks in and the tempo speeds up with cries of ‘Magoo, Magoo we’ve got him, we’ve got him’ as all hell breaks loose! No idea what it’s all about but I can well imagine some wild cartoon characters running amok in the video for the song! Brilliant stuff!‘Rocchenroll’ meanwhile, starts like a rave track with arpeggiated synths and just at the point where a fast Prodigy beat should kick in, we get instead what sounds like a depressed Glitter Band invoking the spirit of Glam and rocking out in a downward spiral of depression, thus inventing a new genre: Bi-Polar Beat.

TIM M. ‘The Road Home’ and ‘I’m Not The Man’
(Metal Postcard)

Two more classy singles from TIM M.

‘The Road Home’ would have been a massive hit had it been released in 1976 to compliment Gerry Rafferty’s ‘Baker Street’ and Bill Withers ‘Lovely Day’. It has that same high-end pop song production complete with Sax solo and a melody to match.

‘I’m Not The Man’ has that ‘Guilty Pleasures’ AOR sound in a song where the protagonist accepts full responsibility for the failure of his relationship. A refreshing-take on the love rejection theme!

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Laetitia Sadier ‘Rooting for Love’
(Duophonic Super 45s) (CD/Vinyl/DD)

There is something unique about the music of Laetitia Sadier. Something magical and in definable, whether it’s with Stereolab, in one of her many collaborations (such as Modern Cosmology) or indeed as a solo artist. Any song by, or featuring, Laetitia Sadier is always instantly recognisable, imbued with Sunshine, a point of view, humour and humanity. If any music makes me feel happy and alive then it is the music of Laetitia Sadier. ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ by Stereolab will always be my choice for sunniest album ever!

The new album ‘Rooting for Love’ follows suit and features ten splendid tracks full of colour, movement and sunshine – humanity in all its guises. Every track offers something different, from the joyous Brazilian vocal chants of ‘The Dash’ to the inner turmoil of ‘Cloud 6’.

In these times of uncertainty – climate change, unnatural disasters, smaller chocolate bars, conflicts, war and the rising price of tea bags – there is still Hope, still Sunshine. There is still Laetitia’s joyous music. Before the final days, the Margerine Eclipse, enjoy the music, get excited at the sound of carpet, live your life with Love, care and help others! Be Happy!

Comet Gain ‘BBC Radio Sessions (1996-2011)’
(Tapete Records) (CD/Vinyl/DD)

After last year’s excellent album of rarities ‘The Misfit Jukebox’, we now get a compilation of all the radio sessions Comet Gain recorded for the BBC (John Peel, Mark and Lard (Marc Riley) and so forth). And what an excellent set of radio sessions it is – essential for any completest collector! Some of these songs are seeing the light of day for the first time having only been recorded in session (see ‘Love and Hate on the Radio’).

Thus, we get songs overlapping several genres, some played for the first time and tested in radio demos. Brave perhaps, but more likely played to get new songs recorded to be worked on later. This may be why the compilation musically lacks focus. We have noisy pop songs reminiscent of the Only Ones (‘Say Yes’), songs akin to the Go-Betweens (‘Pier Angeli’), songs that sound polished and almost mainstream (‘Stripped’). And yet, it could be said that the band had too much breadth of vision giving them a less identifiable ‘sound’ of their own. Still, there are a lot of good songs on here and hats off to them for recording their own songs without a contrived masterplan, but with the conviction that good songs will stand on their own two feet (regardless of genre).

A worthy addition to the Comet Gain music catalogue and one that should please a myriad of CG fans.

Mark Trecka ‘The Bloom of Performance’
(Beacon Sound)

Mark Treka’s new album is a vibrant and engaging avant-garde, experimental album of songs incorporating elements of industrial, post-punk, goth and found sound. Tape loops play a large part in the construction of each ‘song’ creating drama and conflicting atmospheres.

Musically, the album brings to mind Mark Stewart (post Pop Group), late period Scott Walker, Circuit Des Yeux (Haley Fohr), Clock DVA and the end of the pier sadness of Arnold Loxham.

There are elements of early Roxy, Bowie, Nico, the Associates, Diamanda Galas, Dead Can Dance, Bauhaus and early Cabaret Voltaire in the mix, more in the sonic experimentation and atmospherics than actually sounding like any of those icons.

It begins with the dramatic ‘Utter Bloom Things’, a tape looped piano motif is accompanied by pounding tom-tom drum machine before being overtaken by a more melodic keyboard, then back to the drama. The vocals sounding close to a fearful Brendan Perry in the dentist waiting room. Love it!

‘Houndedness’ is stunning. It begins with a shining bass bringing to mind Adrian Borland’s group the Sound, before the vocals come in sounding something akin to late period Scott Walker. An Ebow-like sustained guitar builds towards the end accompanied by found sound, which shifts through dimensions of melancholia. As poignant in its way as ‘New Dawn Fades’.

‘Go Through’ ends the album with an almost Brendan Perry sounding vocal over a commercial bass and a tape loop of 2 seconds of the Tardis materialising! Hypnotic! As commercial as it gets!

Whilst it may not for everyone, if you like your music dark, experimental, strange, on the edge, then you should have a listen to this compelling, complex, emotional album.

Felix Machtelinckx ‘Night Scenes’
(Subexotic Records)

The new album from Belgium singer, songwriter and producer Felix Machtelinckx is a strange album. In part electronic, it has an ethereal dreamlike quality where the music seems distant and the vocals sound as though they have been beamed through space from a distant galaxy.

Vocally, Felix has a voice as different and distinct as Anthony Hegarty (or Anohni as she is now known), with echoes of Amber Webber (Lightning Dust). The music is very abstract and otherworldly, in part like some of James Blake’s music but more in-definable. A track like ‘Hypnose’ for example is almost organic, as though it is a living organism slowly growing in the womb of a brand-new species! ‘Make Me Sad’ meanwhile begins with Amber Webber-like vocals before a stunted keyboard or guitar joins in with floor tom drums seeping through from another dimension. ‘Love Made Me B*tter’ sounds more contemporary, like Hosier recorded in a large glass walled cavern. ‘Buwigabuwi’ is the standout track with echoes of Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Old Fire in its DNA to create a stunning original!

Night Scenes is an intriguing album that is hard to define, but one that grows in definition, depth and subtle beauty with each play. It might prove to be a contender for album of the year.

CAST ‘Love is the Call’

The album opens with an acoustic song ‘Bluebeard’ that sounds initially like the Moody Blues and proves to be quite lovely. John Powers voice has matured and sounds fantastic, if not a touch too much like John Lennon.

The production is interesting and a few songs are dressed in shiny Psychedelia. However, the trouble with the songs themselves is that they fail to make any emotional impact. I am left wondering if they are actually about anything at all. The lyrics are bland and unoriginal and the songs are lacking in ideas. It seems as though Cast have concentrated more on the production than on good song ideas. The songs are repetitive. But repeating bland words that mean very little, does not make a song interesting or memorable just annoying, however you dress it up!

The stand out track is the ridiculous ‘Starry Eyes’, which sounds like the Glitter Band with Gene Pitney.

David Newlyn ‘Encouraged to Lose’
(Sound In Silence Records)

This is a beautiful album of emotive ambience.

‘March’ is a minimal ambient piece of melodic piano and electronics. It sits somewhere between Harold Budd with Brian Eno and Nils Frahm. Lovely.

‘Under the Lifeboat Pier’ reminds me very much of Max Richters first album, Memory House: all minimalist melody and droning beauty.

‘A Secluded Scene’ is the aural equivalent of a long summer Sunday afternoon in the 1970s when everywhere was closed and no buses ran. A blanket of warm emptiness and mournful beauty.

‘A Strange Kind of Confusion’ sounds like a wasp nest caught in a church organ. Beautifully warped with an air of menace and an undertow of danger.

‘17th out of 19’ should come with a mental health warning – contains the bleakest feelings of loss, self-doubt, black worry and crippling despair!

Sinerider ‘Perennial’
(Sound In Silence Records)

SineRider (Devin Powers) returns with another haunting ambient album of otherworldly beauty and grace.

The album begins with ‘Perennial’, an ambient piece that sits somewhere between David Sylvian and Holger Czukay and Harold Budd. ‘Roadmap’ follows in the same vein. Its atmospheric drones and synths giving it the air of a post-apocalypse world, similar in feel to the soundtrack for ‘The Road’. ‘Wildflowers’ brings in a piano melody to add to the melancholy and desolate soundscape.

The whole album is like a flower slowly opening up. Subtle drones and synths combine with occasional guitar and piano to provide a lovely ambience of dreamlike quality. A masterpiece of calm.