It’s a great time to be a Yes fan. Various members of the band’s extended family tree are incredibly busy right now. The band have announced the release of a new album, ‘The Quest’ due in October. In addition, Steve Howe will be releasing ‘Homebrew 7’ – another collection of home demos at the end of July and ex-keyboard player Tony Kaye is getting ready to release his first ever solo album.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
JIM BOB – Who Do We Hate Today
The global pandemic of 2020 knocked everyone and everything for six. People found themselves working from home and only meeting their friends virtually across a connected network of webcams. Businesses closed – both temporarily and permanently – and some places became ghost towns. Seaside tourist industries suffered; restaurants and pubs wondered if we’d truly reached the end times, and the entertainment industry ground to a halt with gigs being endlessly postponed. For James Robert Morrison, this seemingly endless landscape of bleakness became something of an inspiration. As man who’d always centred his work around social commentary, current affairs and the state of things in his immediate surroundings, the seemingly broken world and the online anger and self-entitlement surrounding it resulted in a huge burst of creativity.
PIERCE FROLIC – Zinnia EP
Like a lot of people, Pierce Frolic turned to music as an escape from the heavier aspects of life. It was something he truly needed, since he struggled through school and, in his own words, “crashed out of college”, survived an automobile accident, ended up hospitalised through other misadventures and found himself surrounded by death. With friends having committed suicide or having their lives cut short through accidents, a dark world got even darker. With all of that in mind, it’s no wonder his debut release ‘Zinnia’ is obsessed with mortality.
MATILDA’S SCOUNDRELS – The Devil’s Dues EP
Although Matilda’s Scoundrel’s announced they’d be taking a hiatus from the end of 2019 – every hard working musician needs a rest eventually, unless they’re Frank Turner – a few previously unreleased tracks have slipped through the cracks since then. Their contribution to a Revenge of The Psychotronic Man tribute release (‘Rrose Selavy’) blended fuzzy post-punk guitar noises to a ska rhythm which, when topped with various mandolin style sounds, became a great four minute example of the band’s abilities to cross genres even when working with other peoples’ material, and a couple of left-overs from the sessions for their 2017 release ‘As The Tide Turns’ crept out on a 7” at the beginning of 2021.
FRENCH GIRLS – French Girls
When Rum Bar Records reissued the French Girls’ self-titled 2013 EP at the beginning of 2021, it instantly gave the band some well deserved exposure, such is the label’s enthusiasm for digital mailouts and keenness on spreading the word via social media channels. For those who missed French Girls the first time around, this timely reissue more than set out the band as an act to watch out for. That EP’s four songs worked a fierce and distorted approach that could rival many a raw, DIY garage punk band. Those with sharper ears may have detected occasional nods to old 60s girl groups, but in the main, the short release had most of its intents set on creating a gloriously raw noise. It was thrilling – exactly the kind of thing you’d expect from ex-members of Les Hell On Heels and Sympathy For The Record Industry signings The Peeps.