Feature: "Lars Of The International Playboys: Mr Horntveth Of Jaga Jazzist Interviewed" (The Quietus)

So there I am, back on the very boat that saw me attempt yoga for the first time, this time for what can only be called an Anti-Yoga Safari, when I realise that one of my fellow passengers on what's meant to be a cod fishing expedition is none other than Mr Lars Horntveth, star of Jaga Jazzist and the man behind 'Kaleidoscopic', one of the albums I mentioned in my recent Sunday Times piece about the 'neo-classical' movement. Well, naturally I had to corner the poor, exhausted man after he'd finished his sauna, hot tub and hammam for a chat about Norwegian music, Norwegian stereotypes, and his career to date. It's all here.

"Over the next few days Lars makes a fair stab at unwinding. He soaks in the hot tub in a woollen hat, declining the beers clutched tightly in the hands of other passengers from lunchtime until the small hours. He roasts himself in the Hammam until his skin is puce, then lowers himself tentatively into the freezing pool, only to emerge into the fog once more. He endures prolonged bouts in the sauna as the monochrome mountains pass by the windows, emerging briefly on one memorable occasion in just a towel to take charge of a fishing rod for a brief burst of angling amidst a howling gale..."

Feature: "Lars Of The International Playboys: Mr Horntveth Of Jaga Jazzist Interviewed" (The Quietus)

Feature: "Radiohead: Probing Beyond The Hits" (The Quietus)

And back they came, Oxford's finest, with another album released at short notice. Whether or not The King Of Limbs matches the wonderful In Rainbows is open to question, but it gave The Quietus a fine excuse to look at the hidden gems in their back catalogue. It's far from exhaustive, but I like to think my contributions shed a little light on at least a couple of lesser known nuggets, including the early B-side, 'Coke Babies'. Dig deeper here.

"'Myxomatosis (Judge, Jury And Executioner)', from the band's patchy sixth album, is one of their most menacing. Perhaps its impact is increased for me personally by a childhood memory of watching an infected animal bludgeoned to death with the back side of an axe."

Feature: "Radiohead: Probing Beyond The Hits" (The Quietus)

Album Review: Nils Frahm & Anne Müller's '7Fingers' (BBC Music)

18 months on from his last album of solo piano improvisations, Nils Frahm is back, this time collaborating with Berlin's own Anne Müller. The first, teeth-fixated fruits of their work can be found on the fine Erased Tapes label, and the BBC asked me what I thought. "Frahm is no more averse to surprises than he is to collaboration," I claimed, "and it’s clear that the inspiration he found working with Müller has led him to focus on more contemporary aesthetics." The rest is here.

Album Review: Nils Frahm & Anne Müller's '7Fingers' (BBC Music)

Feature: "News Of The World: Kate Adie Interviewed On Music And War" (The Quietus)

The thing about being a music journalist is that you know there's a chance, from time to time, that you'll meet your heroes. But you don't always expect to meet heroes from outside your field of (ahem) expertise. But here I am, chatting with the celebrated Kate Adie, one of the legends of broadcast journalism, about The Fall, Madonna, PJ Harvey and, inevitably, war and journalism.

"You do not hold power with a camera or a notebook. That is a myth. You do not shame people into better behaviour when they are at a level of determination you can hardly guess at. That's a very important lesson." She shares more in this surprisingly intimate interview, and I also get to provide a portrait of the great lady...

Feature: "News Of The World: Kate Adie Interviewed On Music And War" (The Quietus)

Album Review: Eat Lights; Become Lights - Autopia (Uncut)

3/5
Impressive kosmische debut from London three piece

Given their acknowledged debt to krautrock – their second 7” was called ‘Klustered’ and they’ve toured with Silver Apples – it’s perhaps unfair to expect new tricks from these strangely monikered revivalists. Fortunately their debut’s mixture of motorik rhythms, droning guitars and swirling electronics is exciting enough, with ‘Dark Matter’’s especially fierce assault recalling both Trans Am and Sheffield’s underrated Plone. Debut single ‘They Transmit’ and the unimaginatively titled ‘Musik For Motorways’ showcase a gentler side, but the towering, ten minute ‘All Aboard’, complete with sci-fi spoken word samples, proves that hackneyed constituent parts never prevent them from taking off.

Album Review: Eat Lights; Become Lights - Autopia (Uncut)

Album Review: Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place (Uncut)

4/5
Third album of wordless vocal acrobatics

Recalling the extraordinary power of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, albeit free of dissonant throatsinging, Brooklyn resident Barwick loops her voice intricately to create a masterpiece of largely instrument-free choral ambience. Its devotional leanings are inspired by a cappella hymns she sang during her Louisiana childhood, but though its meditative spirituality hints at New Age tendencies, the additional percussion that cuts through the layered harmonies of ‘Prizewinning’ could provide a rude awakening. There’s also a naïve wonder evident that recalls the bewitching power of Sigur Ros, and the piano that weaves out of closer ‘Flown’ would make Harold Budd proud.

Album Review: Julianna Barwick - The Magic Place (Uncut)

Album Review: Various Artists - The Art Of The 12” (Uncut)

4/5
ZTT helped refine the concept of the ‘extended remix’, and this double CD offers rarities like Art of Noise’s ‘Moments in Love (Beaten)’ and unreleased material including an impressive Hibakush-ah! mix of Frankie’s ‘Two Tribes’. The more playfully indulgent experimentalism at the label’s heart is also in evidence, plus mixes for lesser-knowns like Andrew Poppy and Act, Claudia Brücken’s post-Propaganda outfit.

Album Review: Various Artists - The Art Of The 12” (Uncut)

Album Review: Dustin O'Halloran - Lumiere (Uncut)

4/5
Devics member and Neo-classical pianist expands his palette

After two albums of solo piano work and contributions to Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette soundtrack, Berlin-based American O’Halloran here bulks out his compositions, assisted by New York’s contemporary classicists (and Grizzly Bear collaborators) ACME Ensemble. Peter Broderick is also on hand, while fellow classical revivalists Jóhann Jóhannsson and Nils Frahm help out on mixing and engineering duty respectively. Melancholic piano melodies remain the focus – ‘Opus 44’ is another solo work – but imaginative chamber arrangements and deft electronic flourishes on pieces like ‘A Great Divide’ and ‘Fragile No. 4’ lend extra gravitas and a refined, sophisticated allure.

Album Review: Dustin O'Halloran - Lumiere (Uncut)

Album Review: East River Pipe - We Live In Rented Rooms (Uncut)

4/5
More classic bedroom sadness from New Jersey recluse

Formerly homeless, and still working at his local Home Depot, F.M. Cornog has spent eighteen years painstakingly crafting intimate tales of life’s losers, his small but devoted following including David Byrne and Kurt Wagner, both of whom have covered songs. His seventh album sees few stylistic changes, with ‘Backroom Deals’ and ‘The Flames Are Coming Back’ offering typically diaphanous arrangements of shimmering guitars around Cornog’s world-weary yet optimistic vocals. But ‘Tommy Made A Movie’, about a porno-fixated wannabe director, adds splashes of 1980s synth, while ‘When You Were Doing Cocaine’ sounds like an unusually candid Jimmy Webb.

Album Review: East River Pipe - We Live In Rented Rooms (Uncut)

Album Review: Belong - Common Era (Uncut)

3/5
Ambient shoegaze from The Big Easy

Five years on, New Orleans’ Turk Dietrich and Michael Jones return with nine rather more conventionally structured songs than the nebulous, shapeshifting drones of their debut, October Language. The addition of a drum machine and vocals wafting in from another galaxy only emphasises their debt to dreamy shoegazers like Slowdive, while their relentlessly washed out backing exhibits an intense familiarity with Kevin Shields’ glide guitar technique. But there’s a genuine, still beauty to tracks like ‘Perfect Life’, which sounds like an early but anaesthetised Cure, and plenty elsewhere for Flying Saucer Attack and Labradford fans.

Album Review: Belong - Common Era (Uncut)