So many submissions and so little time. Like all blogs, review sites and radio stations we receive a constant influx of submissions, and this means there are some singles, EP and albums we don’t have the time to cover in depth. Our irregular feature Little Bundles of Joy is designed to shine a light on some of these releases that are too good to let slip by.
ALBUM: Tibshelf – Understander
Understander is the second album by the artist ‘Tibshelf’ AKA Lee Etherington (founder of TUSK festival / former member of tape manglers ‘Posset’). Understander is the follow up to ‘Supreme Flounder’ that Tibshelf released in March 2023 and is another release of cleverly spliced and cut up tracks featuring blissed out hip hop (‘Bump It’), tv/film dialogue, minimalist drum and bass (‘Deep Joy’), power electronics (‘Kill Power’) and absolutely everything in between.
Across the 8 tracks, Tibshelf allows himself free reign to experiment, improvise, and simply re-write the rules of experimental music, cut up method and splicing. A surprisingly laid back and utterly joyful album from start to finish. Highly recommended.
Understander is available to buy and download digitally here, as well as a limited run (35 copies) of a cassette of the release on Cruel Nature Records. Out now.
Tibshelf socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube
Review by Ioan Humphreys
ALBUM: Photographed by Lightning – NO, Not Now, never
Photographed by Lightning is made up of Syd Howells (voice, words, music, instruments) and D M Mitchell (music, instruments, painting) and NO, Not Now, never is the first material released by the Welsh band in 20 years. It’s ironic that I should be writing this in the week that Damo Suzuki passed away PBL are undoubtedly influenced by the avantgarde and Krautrock.
Upbeat and (actually) danceable tracks such as ‘Dead Sparrow’, ‘Flop House’ and ‘Spanish Archer’, are mixed with more experimental tracks such as ‘I Wish I Could Be Sure’ and ‘Cantilever’ (echoes of Radiohead here!). Just like Can, The Fall, Sonic Youth, etc, this is difficult music that one does not just ‘get’ on the first listen. It seeps under the skin and rewards repeated listening. Final track, the 7-minute opus ‘Some One Thing’ being a case in point.
NO, Not Now, never is available to buy on CD (50 copies) and download digitally here. Out now.
Photographed by Lightning are on Facebook
Review by Ioan Humphreys
ALBUM: Ëda Diaz – Suave Bruta
French on her mother’s side and Colombian on her father’s , artist Ëda Diaz is someone who has been able to juggle both of her inherited cultures and soaked up the musical influences that these brought. With ten years dedicated to learning classical piano performance at the Conservatoire de Boulogne Billancourt she says “the double bass saved me. When I discovered the double bass I also discovered the joy of playing an instrument and blending with it with my vocals. It’s a foundation instrument in Latin styles of bolero, danzon, salsa, the rhythms that accompany me every day.”
The sounds and rhythms are a mix of organic and electronic with Diaz’s intoxicating voice woven around everything. It has the incredible ability to draw on the traditional music of tangos, boleros, vallenato, bullerengue, danzón, Ecuadorian vals, and currulao* and then add the warp and weft of treated sounds alongside sonic experimentation. Rarely has an album been able to mix traditional and modern in a way that treats each with respect and creates an album of effervescent electronic-organic joy.
* The many styles of Colombian music are covered on this Wikipedia page.
Ëda Diaz socials: Facebook| Bandcamp | Instagram
Review by Paul F Cook
SINGLE: Gabbarein – Ra Rising Sun
It’s not often you read the phrase “ethereal Nordic folk duo” in a press release but that had me clicking through to the preview and I wasn’t disappointed. Gabbarein’s ‘Ra Rising Sun’ is a hypnotic slow procession that unfolds in slow motion revealing a little more as it progresses. The band say “this track represents something ancient, something ancestral, something beyond words. In fact, I think it is the track that best reflects our style, displaying the arc of gentleness to intensity that is a defining character of the album.“
Sit back, relax and let this song transport you to an ancient stone circle set in a clearing of a dense forest, the smell of petrichor in your nostrils and the feeling that the natural world is trying to communicate with you.
Ra Rising Sun is taken from their self-titled debut album out on April 5.
Released through Our Silent Canvas Records: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter) | YouTube
Gabbarein: Instagram
Review by Paul F Cook
SINGLE: Greebo – ‘Reminiscing’
This track slipped in under the wire as we were putting this feature together and it cried out to be included. Greebo are Ash Condon, Matt Solomon, Harry Munson and Charlie Masterson and ‘Reminiscing’ is a rambunctious tumble of scratchy guitar, woo-woo synth with powerhouse bass and drums driving everything to the party. Part talk-sing and part anthemic sing-song chorus this is the track that I imagine gets the club jumping at every gig. This is a party at a demolition derby with cheap cider and caviar, a 3-minute blast of Saturday shenanigans in a bottle.
Greebo socials: Instagram | Spotify | Facebook | Youtube
Review by Paul F Cook
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