Top 5 Record (March)

1: Flyying Colours

2: Shearwater - jet plane and oxbow

3: St. Lucia - matter

4: Wolf Alice - morning Lisa smile

5: Chairlift - moth

MV : "Yr euog" by Yr Eira

More great Welsh pop, diolch.

The Bordellos - The Bordello underground tape Vol 4

The Bordellos are prolific post-punk psychedelic heroes and produce too much stuff to release "properly" hence the decision to release extra material from their archives on free EPs of which this is volume 4 and can get downloaded here.

Don't expect the straight forward, instead the mysterious sonic meanderings of "Bring me the disco king" and the acoustic lament-into-thrash of "Punks not dead". Its weird, its brilliant, you'll probably spent half the time wondering what the hell that noise was.

MV : "Long goodbye (live session)" by Basia Bulat

Love this.

Marvin Gaye - what's going on

Well one of the masterpieces of soul music released in 1971, one of the great albums of the 1970s blah blah. But is it any good? The album was a reflection of all that was going wrong with America after the 60s such as police brutality, poverty and despair (so much has changed right?)

The problem with "historic" albums is that they carry so much weight and baggage its hard to assess them in their own right. Are you liking this song because you generally like it or because you are afraid of being uncool if you don't? Happily this album is full of good tunes though the history and contextual impact outweigh anything else. In the early 1970s this was Earth-shattering, nowadays its simply very good. Enjoy the pop beauty of "Mercy mercy me" and "What's happening brother" and the slinky groove of "Right on" and the world might seem a better place.

MV : "Giving up" by Haerts

Poppy!

Lycia - a line that connects

The 10th album by dark-wave legends Lycia and fully reuniting the classic line-up of the band. So is a return to the classic sound? Well Lycia cover so many bases from full on doom to ethereal to (gothic) synth pop and the latter is present on the album highlight "The rain". The album covers a number of moods and at times connects to Lycia in what many regard its best period and sound in the 90s but the sound is also forward looking and complicated, textured and melancholic. "Monday is here" is a prime example of that, a downbeat meander that erupts into a sonic tidal wave.

MV : "Quiet Americans" by Shearwater

This rocks the office at the moment more than anything else.

Wolf Alice - blush EP

Wolf Alice are one of the best bands around right now, this early EP from 2013 just a taste of things to come. The title track is powerful, emotional indie rock underpinned by a solid and irresistible melody. "She" is also an excellent track, throwing in some tasty electronics to beef up the beat.

MV : "Tyrd yn Ôl" by Plu

Beautiful just beautiful.

St. Lucia - matter

St. Lucia's brand of neo-synth pop is pretty high energy and in-your-face and to be honest that is something i find refreshing. You need a break from bleak electronica and the dark sometimes. "Dancing on glass" is a smashing track, that literally explodes into a chorus. "Physical" though is something else. Its a sonic riot, a blistering pop track with a chorus that actually sounds like a siren. Its not subtle but it is brilliant.

The only criticism maybe is that the album is a little too much at times, like being bludgeoned by a pop sledgehammer, it can be a bit exhausting and maybe is a little superficial. But pace yourself and let yourself go and this album reaches the pop parts few others can reach.