Us And Them

Kinloch Nelson

Luca Delphi and There Is A Fox

Black Tempest

Jim Griffin

Talk To Her

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US AND THEM - THE LIGHTS AND THE SHADOW
(LP on Friends of the Fish)

Fifth album from Britt Rönnholm and Anders Håkansson explores their two musical passions, "the light" (organic, ephemeral, dreamy) and "the shadow" (darker, gothic, eerie) and their expertise at tackling both sides of that musical coin leaves us with one of the year's finest releases.

Chirping birdsong, a rippling stream, and a softly-strummed acoustic guitar guide us into 'View from Sky Road,' a weary-eyed morning's stroll through an inviting forest of wonders. "Acid folk" was invented for tracks like 'Around The Maypole (Once Again)', a bit of a nostalgic lookback to the work of Mellow Candle, Tudor Lodge, Judy Dyble, Vashti Bunyan, and Bridget St. John, an impressive pedigree.

But this is not a fawning reproduction of some of their favourite artists - there's menace behind the sweetness, tenderness amidst the haunting atmospherics. An oblique look at the world we live in, perhaps, but an honest assessment of the dichotomy of the push-me-pull-you society we all have to navigate.

The harmonic vocal arrangements may be one of the first things you'll notice - like a choir of guardian angels hovering over us as we tread down dark passages, easing our nervous tremblings, and comforting our fears of the unknown. 'Me And Ones Before Me' even features a middle-of-the-night awakening in a forest - how did I get here? Have I been here before?

The eponymous 'Us And Them' is not a Floyd cover, but a rather upbeat tapper,  "If The Summer Lingers' is a nostalgic nod to happy times that will see us through the rough spots, but 'Things Obvious To Other People' approaches relationships troubles from outside - why do others always seem to see our troubles before we do?

Us And Them have graced us with another view into their inner feelings, emotional tangles, and dark corners of personal interactions, but they've done it with such grace, tenderness, and sweet cuddles amidst the rough detours that you'll want to take this journey with them over and over again. And, oh, what pleasant company!

(Jeff Penczak)

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KINLOCH NELSON - WAITING: MORE RECORDINGS, 1968-1976

(LP on Tompkins Square Records)

More recordings?  Yes, this is a follow-up to acoustic guitarist Kinloch Nelson's 2019 release Partly on Time: Recordings, 1968-1970, also on Tompkins Square.  This collection features some recordings that predate Partly on Time and others that came after that period.  Now having heard them both, I actually prefer this new remainders set.

These are home recordings, but the set finds a nice balance between digitally cleaning up old tapes and retaining some of their original charm by retaining ambient sounds like squeaking doors and train whistles.  Nelson recorded the first five tracks with friend and fellow guitarist Carter Redd (who also figures prominently on the Partly on Time collection) in late 1967 or early 1968.  Right off the bat, Nelson's tunefulness comes through on "Opus 1 by Two" and "Opus 2 by Two." Nelson's and Redd's fingerstyle guitar playing are jangly, melodic and playful.  His personally written liner notes on the Bandcamp page are funny: "The first song's working title was 'Peanut Butter.' ('Scrambled Eggs' had already been taken.). But that sounded dumb, so we changed it to"Opus One.' Naturally, the next song became 'Opus Two.' But there's a gazillion Opus Ones and Opus Twos out there, so I changed the titles so they might have a fighting chance." The listener is immediately put into a pleasant state of mind.

"Train Coming"  introduces some good minor key and rhythmic tension that works well.  "Waiting," which was recorded later, in 1970, reminds me a little of a sped-up version of Jefferson Airplane's "Comin' Back to Me." "Big Machine," recorded in 1971 or 1972, is the one track performed with a different second guitarist, Bob Stein.  Perhaps that's Stein playing all those lead lines, which are more sophisticated than any others on the album. 

Unfortunately, the song itself is more melodically flat than the others, too, and the fancy soloing successfully distracts from compositional shortcomings to a certain extent.

Closer 'Los Collados De Las Penas Blancas' was written in 1976 while on a visit to Columbia.  It has some jazzy interludes, but the main theme is more of a straight-up folky rag on the order of Merle Travis or Doc Watson.

Waiting:  More Recordings... is a pleasurable collection of melodic, fingerstyle acoustic guitar by an accomplished player.  It's one of the seemingly bottomless well of good music waiting to be discovered in the attics and cellars of fine musicians.

(Mark Feingold)

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LUCA DELPHI AND THERE IS A FOX - DANCERS
(CD on Night Cruising Records)

This is a lovely album of gentle acoustic folk.  Luca Delphi, who also goes simply by LUCA, is a singer-songwriter born in Berkeley, California, but has also been based in Japan.  Hirotaka Makino, aka There is a Fox, is also a guitarist and singer-songwriter who’s likewise spent time both in Japan and California.  They blend together naturally for these 11 ethereal, calming songs.  Some of them are sung in English and others in Japanese.

Their acoustic guitar playing is full of soft strumming on some of the tracks, but since I think it’s the two of them playing, the effect is doubled and therefore a full, expansive sound.  On other songs, the guitar work is in an accomplished fingerstyle, even better.  Some of the songs feature understated electronic soundscapes or electric guitars to further enhance the production, and occasional songs like the beautiful “Ashiato – Dancers” also feature light drumming.  Others, such as “Utau Kujira,” have ambient sounds (the ocean?).  The melodies are all simple, accessible and vastly comforting.

LUCA takes the lead on the vocals, and her singing is light as a feather, almost a tuneful whisper.  There is a fox sings with her on most tracks, and seems a smidge lower in the mix.  He provides the perfect vocal accompaniment for the style.  The songs are mostly about nature, at least those in English.  The album somehow gets more beautiful as it goes along, with tracks like “Dancers” full of shimmering wordless oohs and ahhs, and “Wide Open,” which is simply breathtaking in every way.

There used to be a series of TV commercials with the tagline “Wanna get away?”  Dancers is an album which will whisk you away to another place, one of absolute peace and tranquility.  It’s almost an album full of lullabies, or perhaps one long lullaby.  It seems the easiest way to find it is on the major streaming services, as the CD appears to be only available in Japan, and it’s not on Bandcamp.  Go listen to this blissful record and float away on a cloud.  Nighty night.

(Mark Feingold)

BLACK TEMPEST – FOLDING SPACE
(LP/DL available from https://blacktempest.bandcamp.com/album/folding-space)

For anyone not familiar with him, ‘Black Tempest’ is Stephen Bradbury from the Galactic outpost of Godalming, UK, and long-time friend of the ‘Scope. On Folding Space, he is aided and abetted by another battle-scarred (starred) Terrascope veteran, Nick Raybould (Thought Bubble, Glowpeople, myriad others, see reviews passim) and whose drumming here helps simultaneously ground and propel Bradbury’s cosmic explorations.

Off the launch pad, ‘Hyperspace Vibration’ sounds like a compelling pitch for a computer game soundtrack. Thumping bass and robotic repetition of King’s alphabet (as in Charlie III as opposed to Hawkwind’s Simon, but that’d work, too, given the consistency of Raybould’s ‘King beats’) provide the insistent theme. It’s head-noddingly affable fare without demanding overly much of one’s aural antennae or synapses at this stage. ‘A Memory of Space’ then taps us into the groove, supplemented by the introduction of guitar riffs into the multiversal mix. A  ‘Love is the Drug’-style intro yields to the perky layered synth pop of ‘Manifest Space’ and features the scrambled vocals that are something of a hallmark of this release. ‘Escape Velocity’, meanwhile, reintroduces us to the old electric six-string while deploying a straight-ahead Ur-motorik rhythm – think ‘You Shouldn’t Do That’ - before unravelling into more indecipherable radio signal exhortation and then hurtling back once more into the void. So far, so Side 1.

However, flip it over and matters take a slightly more serious turn. ‘Star Drive No.5’ delivers, courtesy of menacing bass and tribal thumping, leavened by some deceptively playful synths, but which conceal an ominous undertow. The lengthy denouement comes in the deliciously floating form of ‘Orbital Eclipse’, which amply conveys the vastness of space and which, to these old ears, is Folding Space’s most gratifying moment. And what a moment it is. As the beats are jettisoned, the lighter gravity results in greater gravitas, proving yet again that the celestial often works best when travelling in lockstep with the cerebral. One more trip in the floatation tank if you will, nurse.

Boasting better programming than the Christmas TV schedule and maintaining a delicate balance of friskiness and ambience, Messrs Bradbury and Raybould should really get it together at a friendly gathering or two, next festival season. The kind at which people throw shapes and not things. Then we’ll see who the real space cowboys are.

(Ian Fraser)

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JIM GRIFFIN - THE COUNTERBLAST
(LP on Sound Effect Records /
Bandcamp includes two bonus tracks)

Griffin last set our minds a-wandering and hearts a-flutter with his previous solo album Marginalia Suburbia, which we reviewed last Spring’s Rumbles column. We were particularly entranced by the “slow music of acoustic guitar loops, birdsong, Mellotron etc, inspired by his hometown of Limerick.” Griffin opted for a musical about-face for his follow-up, harkening back to the progressive rock bombast of his 2021 space rock concept album The Signal. This time around Griffin uses the 1986 explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger as his springboard into a cautionary tale of the hubris that has twisted our ideals of the ‘60s into the global crises we face today. ‘Cosmic Law And Order’ resurrects an unfinished foot stomper from Griffin’s Zombie Picnic days - strap yourself in and get ready for an interplanetary hayride that wouldn’t be out of place on a peak-period Hawkwind album. Soundbytes from Carl Sagan and Charles Lawson add to the fun.

Heavy metal shouter David Reece (Accept, Bangalore Choir, et. al.) delivers a maniacal rant throughout ‘Xenocide’ that may best be described as Frank Zappa fronting Black Sabbath whilst serpentining around Robbie Costello’s Crimsonesque sax wailing. It’s frenetic, frightening, quite psychotic and perfectly encapsulates our current state of affairs. We then wrap up side one with some Zeppelinesque headbanging ‘A Counterblast To Astral Travel,’ featuring fickle fingered soloing from Griffin. Thankfully, we enter into an alternative dreamscape of soothing, acoustic fingerpicking and fancy fluttering flutework, not unlike early Crimson. Two tunes for the price of one.

This soothing sorbet leads us into the sidelong, 20-minute three-part ‘Sleeping Generation.’ Focusing on the theme of a lost generation duped into believing we were onto something when we started exploring outer dimensions only to be hoodwinked into thinking we actually knew what the heck we were doing, I'm reminded of the laughably appropriate line from that bastion of mediocrity Plan 9 From Outer Space: “Your stupid minds. Stupid! Stupid!” Griffin breaks out the electronics to wander around your minds with JFK and Reagan quotes interspersed with krautrock beats, New Age Fripp-ery-tronics, haunting, hallucinogenic chairs of angels, gentle piano interludes…. ‘Part 3’ even has a relaxing ambient Enoesque bent!

Completists will want to investigate two bonus tracks that Griffin includes in his Bandcamp digital version [link above]. ‘For The Dying Empire’ is a warning and a challenge meted out in a devilish taunt with a hypnotic heavy bass stalking around creepy crawly electronics to create a sci-fi soundtrack for a new generation of speculative acolytes trying to make sense of what the hell is going on around here. ‘January Sky’ completes the package with some high NRG booty swerving grooves that feels like an aceeed-fried journey through the universe with Ronald Reagan egging us on to discover new worlds as “our hopes and our journeys continue.” Where we’re headed, nobody knows. And I think that’s Griffin’s point. Who’s driving this bus and has he left the map at home and disabled his GPS? Sure feels like it.

(Jeff Penczak)
 

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TALK TO HER - PLEASURE LOSS DESIRE
(Available on Shyrec / Icy Cold Records)

Sophomore effort from Padua, Italy quartet delivers more electronic, darkwave, post-punk with an aggressive edge that recalls Joy Division and early Cure. ‘Waterfall’ majestically and mysteriously saunters in with buzz saw electronics and a Swans vibe and we’re off and running. ‘Dyve’ is more accessible, a pounding drum beat leading us onto the dancefloor for a swirling whirling workout. The variety continues with the upbeat title track (aka ‘PDL’) that hangs a Sisters Of Mercy gothic vibe onto a Depeche Mode groove with serious Chameleons and Blancmange overtones. You won’t be able to sit still for this one.

Of course, these references are merely crib notes to help get you into the musical head space of a band you may be unfamiliar with, but one whose influences will induce further exploration. They work wonders with familiar musical tropes, offering their own take on the European fascination with the darkwave, gothic, and post-punk movements that hold a special place in my musical universe. ‘Surface’ introduces an eerie, cinematic atmosphere into the proceedings, but that driving beat is still at its heart, and ‘No Sound Remains’ reinforces a recurring theme of dread and frustration over the current state of affairs we’re living in: “Don’t you feel shocked by this world?/Don’t you feel scared of this world?”

Elsewhere, lyrics pull no punches, screaming in the dark for a sane listener to explain our predicament with phrases like “facing the abyss,” “show me a way out”, “no control and no hope”, and the ultimate dread “it’s a wasted life/I’m feeling sick.” These are not happy campers, but the music is enthusiastically upbeat, offering hope in the midst of a world seemingly hell bent on destruction.

(Jeff Penczak)