First up we have an utterly charming record which arrived last year, just as the previous set of Rumbles was being published. We Are Muffy “Lost Things Returning”, out on the Country Mile record label. We Are Muffy consist of Nick Duffy (The Lilac Time) and Angeline Morrison (The Ambassadors of Sorrow” and “The Rowan Amber Mill”).

In fact the opening track “20^th Century Hymnal”, could be a modern version of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsborough, I’m also reminded of the sole Trader Horne album. Angeline has a beautiful voice and Nick’s has plenty of character, the songs are brought to life with a range of interesting instruments including autoharp, recorders, fiddles and double bass.  It’s an acoustic affair, touchstones would be the music to Bagpuss, in fact Angeline sounds a lot like something Madeline the rag doll would sing, it also a bit of a feel of the Wickerman to it! Highlights for me are “Wars and Rumours of Wars”, the beautifully sung “Calypso Lullaby” and “Singbird”, as I said earlier, it is a charming record with a homespun, timeless feel about it.  Available from orders@countrymile.org

Whilst we are in Wickerman territory, another recent arrival here is by Summerisle “Circle”. This is the debut album by a new duo consisting of Sally Doherty and Frank Birtwistle, Sally handles the vocals, piano, flute, zither and string arrangements and Frank plays guitar. It’s essentially acoustic chamber folk, an intimate recording in which plenty of space exists for the instruments to frame the gossamer light songs. Sally has sung with fellow Sheffield singer Richard Hawley and has composed music for various BBC radio and TV dramas and Frank is a finger style acoustic guitar player whose style is a mix of folk and classical styles.

 The opening song “Alone The Heron” sets out their stall, it also has some exquisite cello played by guest Liz Hanks who appears on six of the tracks. I’m reminded of bands like Hem, whose “Rabbit Songs” has been a long time favourite around these parts.  It features a couple of choice traditional covers, “Hares on the Mountain” and “One Morning in May”, a few of the other highlights are the sacrificial “Janna’s Tree” the haunting, flute infested “My Donal” and the beautiful “Remember the Snow”. You can find it here www.summerisleuk.bandcamp.com

 Another record which arrived late last year is the instrumental debut by two excellent finger style acoustic guitarists Henry Parker and David Ian Roberts “Chasing Light”. This album arrived whilst we were having a new kitchen fitted and it got lost amongst the turmoil that that entailed, I only found it again recently, so my apologies for the lateness of this review, however the record is timeless and is an excellent thing, so very good.

The title track refers to Welshman David driving to Henry’s Yorkshire home; arriving just as dusk was falling, trying to chase the light. It’s hard as a listener to hear who is playing what but they fit together so seamlessly. I won’t go into the individual tracks, it is a wonderful album, they were born to play with each other, imagine the two Pentangle guitarists John Renbourn and Bert Jansch jamming together sans Jacqui, Terry and Danny and you get the drift.  

A few of the album’s highlights for me are “Windy Pike Blues”, “Mayfly”, “The March Hare” and “Wedber Wood”, the album is best played whole, as intended, I spent a delightful half hour, listening to two masters of the acoustic guitar. It is released on Cup and Ring records and you can find it here  www.henryparkermusic.co.uk and www.davidianroberts.com.

Peter Daltrey has just released a fine album which has been garnering some good reviews “The Rhymer In The Long Tongued Room”, this is the umpteenth release by the very prolific ex frontman of 60’s UK psychedelic rock band Kaleidoscope. This one sees Peter playing everything; we get plenty of wheezy harmonica, whistling, keys, guitars, bass and drums.

It kicks off with the sixties tropes of “Geranium Rain”, a wondering of what ever happened to the dawning of the age of Aquarius. Again the songs tend to be in the folk-rock domain, mainly acoustic singer songwriter in nature, albeit one infused with Mellotrons.

The ghostly, Icarus of “Angelina” sees additional vocals by guest Juliette Axelie and his son Ollie contributes additional guitar, but mainly it’s Peter on his own, a downbeat Dylanesque atmosphere pervades, some of the highlights are the terrific “Bird-Hearted Man”, “Bethlehem”, the clever lyrics and wordplay of “Green Tea” and the knowing voyeur of “These Chelsea Butterflies”. This is a strong album from a prolific songwriter; it is released on the Think Like A Key record label www.thinklikeakey.com.

As is a new old record by a band from my neck of the woods, the UK’s answer to CSNY!  Unicorn  “Shed No Tear : The Early Late Unicorn”. This record features the earliest recordings by their former incarnation The Late which date from 1967-1969 plus fourteen songs Unicorn recorded in their garden shed which date from 1977-1978. These recordings have been released before but this new CD collects them all in one place and adds a very rare unissued before recording which is from the band’s live performance of “Weekend” a song from 1975, which was from their appearance on an episode of children’s TV show Magpie, unfortunately we don’t get to see the band as footage seems to have long since disappeared, but we do get to hear them. It was Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour who took the band to the Magpie television studio to perform the track live, he told the band that he had bought a new fangled home video cassette recorder and had set it to record the performance, but unfortunately Gilmour’s maid accidently shut it off and so the footage remains lost. www.thinklikeakey.com

Over now to Simon Lewis with few of his favourite new releases....

So, Spring has finally sprung, or so it appears, and the allotment is calling. What better time then to dive into another selection of Rumble-tastic music for your ears.

Hailing from Northern Italy, Kubri are an Improvisational quartet, plus guests, whose music travels around the globe taking in Folk, Jazz, Psychedelia,  Avant-Garde and Post-rock whilst sounding like none of them particularly.  Opening track “Amado Mio” is rather lovely as it drifts and ebbs across the room, a splash of Santana, a dash of Television and plenty of mellow Jazz harmonies creating a track that takes on a trip through sand -dunes and rolling seas. With some great Double Bass and chattering percussion, “Bolsa De Gatos” has a harder edge, with a prickly, repeated guitar line giving the piece tension. Over eight tracks the standard remains high, the musicians feeding off each other beautifully until the melancholic strains of “EscheVive” allow the sun to set around you, the perfect end to a fine collection of music. (Music | Kubri) 

Inspired/driven by a manic depressive episode that lasted far too long and had a profound influence guitarist/songwriter Lauren Gurgiolo used her band The Dialtones to help create the songs in her head creating a collection of five songs that showcase some dynamic guitar playing, concise song writing and a streak of strangeness that runs through the whole project.  With the band following her every move, the songs are tight and taught, the arrangements and sounds used forcing tension from the tunes, I am reminded of the Elephant 6 vibe with “Love To Live” being my pick from a strong bunch of worthwhile songs. I say that and then, as I listen again, the guitar work and Eno in his rock phase vibes of “Monk” could be my pick of the bunch, especially as it breaks down in the middle before roaring to conclusion. Hell, this gets better every listen, something new to hear every time you play the disc, maybe five songs are not enough, maybe it is the perfect amount especially as final tune “Risa” is a dense and stuttering piece that demands that you listen, exhausting but fabulous. (Static Sky | The Dialtones  )

I thoroughly enjoyed the self-titled debut album from Sussex based Shaw's Trailer Park, reviewed in this 'ere column, so I am more than happy to know that their second album “I Thought I Saw You...”  is just as good, even better, than the debut, being an energetic, fuzzed up romp through rock and roll wastelands, the tunes deserving plenty of volume and a cold beverage or two. The Opening salvo of “Overdriver” / “on the news” will shake out the cobwebs and get you in a weekend mood before “Crash Landing” slows things down a touch, a jangly psych tune full of melody, shades of the Rain Parade or Green on Red to be found within its grooves, that same desert vibe to be found on “Sunday” a fine slice of Rock and Roll, maybe a shot of Jim Beam would help proceedings. To be fair, if you are a fan of sleazy bar-room guitar led rock then this album is right up your tumbleweed infested street, as the band keep it tight but loose across the whole album with “Sun-Device” and “Lost and Found” being my favourite grooves.

Citing Hawkwind, Gnod and Throbbing Gristle amongst their influences, the psychedelically inclined Mind Control System live up to their choices on “Black Acid -Remixed”, a re-release of their debut record given a bit of a clean up whilst saving all the noisy goodness. Opening track “Pulse” arrives in a haze of done before a pulsing bass and drums allow for take-off,  distorted vocals and guitar adding to the righteous noise of the track, whilst some spoken vocals from Kenjo Siratori add some atmosphere to the mid point breakdown before the music drives ever onwards.

Basically a duo comprising of Kev McGuire and Dave Robinson, you have to assume this is a studio project given the range of instruments they both play something shown to good effect on “Medicate”, the lysergic cloud of sound that envelopes the room for the first five minutes finally giving way to electronic pulses and one of the best riffs Hawkwind never wrote, cutting through the room like a sandstorm of vast proportions, at eight minutes it all seemed to be over too quickly. Following on the title track is a more experimental affair, a multi headed beast with whispered vocals and a bleak ambience easy to get lost in. Finally the 13 minute “Manipulate” drags us into a black hole before spitting out the other side, one of those splendid rolling/psychedelic bass lines guiding us through the dense noise, some great sax playing adding lightness and texture to the piece. All rather fabulous and sounding much like those Hawkwind bootlegs recorded at free festivals, which is a good thing in my book. (Music | Mind Control System )

Aimed at completely different ears from the above, “Wow” is a generally mellow affair from “Hasco Enjoyments”, the saxophone sounding extremely laidback on the drifting, easy listening styling of opening track, “It's ok to put ketchup on your hot dog, if that's what you like to eat”.  Following on “Sprouse Reitz” has a weird almost exotica vibe whilst “the Seattle Mariners are my favourite baseball team” reminds me of Stereolab in holiday mode. Over 8 tracks the music never raises itself above languid, the soundtrack to swinging between two palms trees with your favourite cocktail in hand. However it is beautifully played, imaginative and wonderfully produced, I reckon I may be playing often in the summer months and you can only give kudos to a band who name a track “armed only with the jagged shard of an ortega brand taco shell”.

Those who like some diversity in their listening could do worse than checkout “Threshold” an album that compiles the best bits from the career of David Power, taking in Rock, Classical and Ambient moments, making for a varied and interesting listen. To begin “Two Messages” is obviously influenced by an early obsession with seventies Bowie and Eno, a slightly weird Glam workout which would sit nicely on “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy” and is completely different from track two as “Mosaic” drifts in with piano/strings and a beautiful chamber music ambience, sorrowful and rather beautiful. Follow this up with the Proggy groove of “Nuclear Gethsemane”and you have a opening trio of songs that take you all over the place and this journey continues for the whole album, the addition of some electronic ambience and the Stockhausen influenced and definitely the strangest piece on the album,“Thirteen” keeping things very interesting over the entire disc creating a collection that keeps you on your musical toes throughout.  (Music | David Power )

Next up an album from the long running series “why the fuck have I not reviewed this yet” this one hailing from 2023 (slightly embarrassing) and featuring two long experimental, psychedelic tracks recorded by Ashtray Navigation.  Entitled “One from The Another” the album is the work of Phil Todd whose guitar works stalks the musical landscape as all manner of noise, pulse, rhythm and electronic mayhem swirls and dances around him. Clocking in at 28:30, “Drink the Moment / Thin Fox Legs” begins with an electronic groove the sound of Herbie Hancock having a jam with Sun Ra before dense clouds of guitar and noise slowly overwhelms the pulse plunging the listener into a basin of joyful sound and happy chaos. Throughout there are hints of melody and flashes of light, brief sequences and plenty to listen out for, the music ebbing and flowing, beautifully controlled and designed by a musician who knows exactly what he is doing.  At just under 20 minutes, “The Return of the Sun of Dr Atur” continues the musical exploration opening in ambient splendour, sounds sparkling and glistening around the room creating a delightful vibe that just makes you feel better.  As the piece moves forward the a rhythm slowly breaks through a sea of bubbling synths, percussion and bass providing an engine for the music as we take off into a different realm.  Towards the end the pulse fades and the rhythm is taken up by sequencers in a very Tangerine Dream style, and sounding fabulous for it, the whole track drifting slowly to conclusion with some fine guitar work and babbling electronics. The more I hear this album the more I like it, a rather essential slice of Kosmiche music that wholly satisfys.  (Music | Ashtray Navigations)

Hiding in the same pile as Ashtray Navigation I found “Sooo Extra” a rather fine collection of Psych/Power Pop tunes from Ex Norwegian.  Flooded with melody, bright arrangements and a gentle psych aura, the album is rather wonderful from start to finish, with standout tracks including the bouncy ambience of “Bad Bunny” complete with a gloriously catchy chorus, or maybe the jangly “Improbably Improbable” which has a fine psych pop cloak, strings, a bit of fuzz and another catchy melody. Mind you, there isn't a duff track amongst the collection, a little bit Dukes Of Stratosphear, a little bit Luck of Eden Hall, a little bit Beatles, a whole lotta fun. (Music | Ex Norwegian ) 

Thanks for those Simon...it's never too late to recommend a gem!

 Crossing the ocean now to America and a new singer songwriter to me Keegan McInroe whose recent album “Dusty Passports and Empty Beds”, is pretty fine, he has self released this album which reminds me of Guy Clark and John Prine, whose “Lonesome Friends of Science” he covers here. It is a great album and highly recommended if you are a fan of country folk singer songwriters, the sympathetic playing of a full band highlights these well observed songs, accompanying him are Clint Kirby on drums, Aden Bubeck and Patrick Smith on bass, Matt Teader on guitar, Dirt Stinnett on fiddle and mandolin, Chris Watson on piano and organ, Jeff Dazey on saxophone plus Hannah Owens and Morris Holdahl on vocals with Grant Wilborn producing, if you like classic Texan singer songwriters than you may just have found your new favourite. www.keeganmcinroe.com

Another self released album, this time from Uncle Buckle front man Mark Brown. Mark has a new solo album out “Happy Hour”, this is classic Americana from an artist who started playing music in the mid seventies, after witnessing a Tom Waits show and being inspired by him. Mark has gruff, dusty voice which brings these songs to life.

 Opener “Scratch”,  is a frankly bizarre mix in which he melds funk and disco instrumentation with a country style delivery. Mark’s distinctive voice suits the songs, loose and raggedy, kind of like Tom Russell. The songs are informed by nefarious characters, painting scenes of tar paper shacks and back roads, a musical journey through the heartlands of new weird America.

He is accompanied here by long time friends Ken McGloin on guitar, Mark Murphy on bass, Dean Sharp on drums and Dean Jones on various keyboards, banjo and vocals. Highlights for me are the title track “Happy Hour” where he gets to rocks out, “Deer Cut and Wrapped” is another highlight as are the much slower “Broken Glass” and the knowing “Gasoline Hands”. www.unclebuckle.com   

Released on the Pigeon Cult record label is the new album from Octopus Syng “Insanity Is The Song We Sing”. This bunch hail from Helsinki, Finland and this is their ninth album in a career which began at the dawn of the Millenium. They create a merry psychedelic racket, from opening song “Beetroot Republic Rainbow”, which has shades of Syd and Hawkwind, through to album closer “Do You Have A Light”. I last reviewed anything by them back in 2018 with Victorian Wonders which mined similar territory. “Magic Box” is pretty daft, replete with an archetypal lead guitar solo. A dense atmosphere seems to permeate each of the tracks, a distorted fug through which the songs appear, things lighten up for “The World Is Big” and “Factory”. I believe this to currently be a one man band with Jaire Patari handling vocals and instruments, I found it all a bit lacklustre and repetitive. www.octopussyng.bandcamp.com

Beau “Palace Of Light” Another home recorded album now, this one begins with “Plagiarise Beethoven”. Beau is Trevor Midgley, has had a long and distinctive music career, he even released a couple of albums in the sixties on John Peel’s Dandelion label. Immediately off the bat I am reminded of Jake Thackeray, clever wordplay and what sounds like Autoharp backing on this track and a couple of others. Ah, I see, the album continues with more of the same, the comedy is sharp and current on the following “Twenty Twenty Vision”, I suspect that he has played a few folk clubs in his time, artists like Mike Harding come to mind whilst listening to these humour filled songs, mainly delivered accompanied by 12 and 6 string acoustic guitar.

The themes are current and again amusing, I particularly liked “Cultural Appropriation Blues”, “Epigram” a knowing look at social media, if humorous social commentary is your bag then you would do well to investigate further. It’s out on Cherry Red records, a label he has been with for the last ten years. www.cherryred.co.uk

Back over to the States now and an album out on Fluke records by Bob Bradshaw entitled “Live In Boston”.  Bob started his career fronting the band Resident Aliens and has now released ten albums over the last twenty years. This new live in the studio album has a crack band accompanying him throughout. Bob plays guitar and sings, Andrew Stern plays Electric guitar, Andy Santospago adds more electric guitar plus lap-steel and pedal steel, James Rohr keyboards, John Sheeran bass and Mike Connors plays the drums.

The album was recorded in a single day at Q Division Studios in Massachusetts, he cherry picks some of his favourites and presents new recordings of them. It’s a mix of roots rockers and ballads, the guitars ring out on “Talkin’ About My Love For You” and there’s a nice touch of south of the border informing the slower “Albuquerue”, I can imagine this one being covered by the late great Steve Young, indeed artists like Elvis Costello and John Hiatt would be good touchstones, I like this one a lot, good stuff indeed, another fine song is “Everybody’s Smalltime Now”. I love the piano on album closer “Exotic Dancers Wanted”, apparently he’s a big fan of Nick Lowe and Guy Clark. Find more here www.bobbradshaw.net.

Mystery Fix “Life To Life” This album may well appeal to our readers, Mystery Fix being one Tim Walters in collaboration with Anton Barbeau. Tim wrote the music and played many of the instruments plus also sings and Anton provides lyrics and voice, with the addition of Steve Adams playing a bit of tenor sax, Chris Grady trumpet and Scott Larson trombone. Ant also played some acoustical guitar on album closer “Life To Life”.

Tim has bleeped and blooped with Circular Firing Squad, Slaw, Reconnaissance Fly, Pledge Drive and Usufruct and Anton got stoned with Julian Cope and has played with various Soft Boys and the Frond. It’s a pretty good thing, inventive synth pop, well played and produced, check it out at www.garedunordrecords.co.uk

the illness “Macrodosed”,  Released on Sea Records. The accompanying note with the album says the following “Big fans of Terrascope, the top 100 albums has been a staple for our record hunting, also really enjoyed issue 24, hope you like the illness record”.

Well in fact I do [ and so do I! - Phil] , the band has quite a few members if the sleeve is correct, fourteen or so, including former Slint, Tortoise and Papa M guitar player David Pajo.

I think that the core members of the band are Dan Auld - drums, harmonium, percussion and vocals, Danny Trew - guitar, keys, percussion and vocals, Graeme Bell - bass, cello, guitar, percussion, synths, programming and vocals, plus Dom Berry - guitar, piano, synths and vocals.  

Instrumentation wise it is adorned by flutes, piccolo, vibraphone, clarinet, violin, French horn over a bedrock of drums, guitar, bass and keys. The album takes in many styles as it progresses, from the synth pop of “Glitter Witches” through to title track “Macrodoser’s” Krautrock meets Eno vibe. “The Ghost of Haxby”, heads in to Brian Wilson territory, before that we get Microdose 1 and 11, i also particularly like “Entropolis” which has shades of Morricone with some excellent vocoder. www.searecords.co.uk  

Pantomime Horses “Forever Polyester”. Formerly known as Candystash a Portsmouth based band in the early 90’s, the members each went their own way, moving to different countries and areas, until a chance email reunited them some thirty years later and they got to make the album that they should have made thirty years ago.

The three members are singer Rob Silber who moved to South Africa, Tony Laming, an original Terrascope subscriber from back in the day, moved to Spain, where he still lives and mysterious drummer Nigel Kirby, who waited patiently for them all to come back. Meeting up again at Christmas in 2023, they decided to rename themselves and get to work on “Forever Polyester” which was released last year in a very limited (125) CD run and have just recently privately pressed up a further 250 copies on vinyl.

The resulting album is very good and takes in a mix of styles, we get 80’s indie, albeit with sixties psych touches, melodic pop-rock and a very strong song writing basis. The album begins with “YLF”, a ‘beware the green eyed monster’ missive, with electronica touches. “Plastic Glasses” references XTC, a band I can imagine that they are fans of, as I also detect their influence. Rob’s voice kind of reminds me of Joe Pernice and Ian Button, in its hushed delivery.

The everyday hum drum existence of life in a slow lane town in “Cellophane”, is immediately relatable, with the incessant rain falling down, but hope on the horizon. “Lily Molita”, which is where the album got its title, is a well observed song. “Paris Gardens” is perhaps the most sixties sounding song and “The Figure Skater” the most minimalist of the bunch. I can identify with the protagonist in “Oh Faith” and we all all know someone down the pub who “Dressed Like Elvis”. The album ends with the trail blazing “Kryptonite”contact them at pantomimehorses@gmail.com

Finally we get to another Terrascope fan, Jefferson Pitcher who has kindly sent in a copy of his new vinyl album “Bellows”  along with a couple of his previous albums and a handwritten letter, it is released on the Lost Forest Records label. Jefferson gave up song writing a good few years ago, focusing his being on sound and the study of sound, playing and studying with mentor Pauline Oliveros, who’s less is more approach is what she is most famous for.

He obviously has an obsessive streak, he is also a master luthier and has practised meditation and martial arts, each of these disciplines require massive of amounts of dedication and practice. He has a long career in music working with various artists, also of heading up a free jazz unit.

So to “Bellows” the new album, a concept, ala Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, which deals in a post -apocalyptic world.  The first line of the opening song “Carriage: Horse”, is ‘You And I Saw The Lights Go Out’, which imagines a couple, sitting on the outskirts of some unknown city, watching the grid go down forever. Jefferson writes the songs, sings them and plays guitar and is joined on the record by Austin Hatch who plays bass, Rhodes, piano and guitar and by Michael Anctil who plays drums and percussion.

The three create quite a big sound, this kind of surprised me and was not what I was expecting, the record is also full of hope and nowhere near as bleak as the concept would suggest, in fact it is quite uplifting. The closest i can get to it would be Robbie Robertson’s 1987 self titled album made with members of U2, in fact the last track on the album “Erendira” is an anthemic sing along with big guitars fracturing into noise.

He uses his knowledge of sound to play with our senses, the songs often have progressive rock structures, a few of his musical influences are The National, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and The Smiths, which gives you an indication of his listening habits. I won’t go into each song individually because this project really needs to be listened to as one piece and comes highly recommended. www.jeffersonpitcher.bandcamp.com

Right, that just about wraps up another edition of Rumbles - oh no, wait, Phil's asked to add a late entry: 'Less Grounded' by Cosmic Kangaroos -  (Lollipop Shop)
There’s much on the new Cosmic Kangaroos LP to like - I always have been a sucker for their extended west-coast psych work-outs especially. Even though it’s 32 years since their last album, ‘Quake Moon Spark’ (which I well remember digging first time round) it shows that they haven’t wasted the intervening years, regularly getting together to jam and rehearse and even building their own studio. Recommended!

Take care and I hope to see some of you further on down the line. Until then, happy trails........    

Terrascopic Rumbles for Summer 2025 was brought to you by Andrew Young and Simon Lewis.

 Artwork, layout & direction by Phil McMullen - © Terrascope Online, 2025

Dedicated to the memory of Phil & Heather's Fox Terrier Bob who has passed away at the venerable age of 14. Requiescat in pace, Mr. Bob x