When drummer Terry Chambers left XTC in the early eighties, gave up music and subsequently emigrated to Australia, few people expected him to ever return to the UK; fewer still expected him to return to the recording studio. Upon his return, he rekindled an old friendship with bassist Colin Moulding, who had since resigned from the inactive XTC in 2007 and was “not interested in making music any more”. It came as an even bigger surprise when XTC’s classic rhythm section unveiled an EP of new recordings towards the end of 2017, without so much as a word hinting that anything was genuinely afoot.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
Marillion Brave 5.1 Super Deluxe box set: complete details
On Sunday, we teased at a few of the contents for the upcoming Marillion box set containing a new Steven Wilson mix of Brave alongside various extras.
The full specifications of this super deluxe box set are now known.
PARADISE ASYLUM – The Phoenix Rising EP
Paradise Asylum released their debut EP ‘The Storm Queen Cometh’ in 2013. The release was recorded on a meagre budget and vocalist Carla Warnes sang fairly flat throughout, but a couple of tracks demonstrated a can-do attitude that showed that even when they got it wrong, the band clearly loved playing together. Subsequent releases trod pretty much the same path.
SULTANS OF PING F.C. – Casual Sex In The Cineplex
1992 and 1993 were bumper years for the NME reader. For those less interested in the Transatlantic grunge wave led by the globe conquering ‘Nevermind’, there was a whole world of other music to explore. So much, that in fact, this period could certainly be seen as a genuine musical landmark. In 1992, Carter USM reached the top spot on the album chart with their third long player, ‘1992: The Love Album’ and The Orb achieved a similarly unlikely feat with ‘UFOrb’ barely two months later, surely to the dismay of the omnipresent Mick Hucknall. The Wonder Stuff were riding high off the back of some great singles and Manic Street Preachers released ‘Generation Terrorists’, a hugely grand double platter of a debut. They’d always said it was to be their only LP; you have to wonder how things would have panned out had the Blackwood boys stuck to their word. In ’93, Carter made a headline appearance at the Glastonbury Festival and upset Michael Eavis, appeared at the Smash Hits Poll Winner’s Party and upset Phillip Schofield and still found time to record a new album. Suede ushered in a new era of Bripop with their debut album and some great singles, Radiohead hit the charts for the first time, while Senser made waves with a crossover mix of rap, rock and electronica.
OUTTACONTROLLER – No Echo EP
Having previously regaled the world with tales of TV Zombies, R. Stevie Moore and Pizza on their ‘Television Echo’ LP in 2015, Canada’s Outtacontroller begin 2018 on a similarly energised and fuzzed out wave with four more more songs of trashy debauchery.
Although comprised of recordings made at a brand new session, thematically speaking, there’s common ground covered on their ‘No Echo’ EP, since ‘Prime Time’ echoes their love of TV and ‘Something Wild’ hints at a band who believe firmly in the old Spinal Tap maxim “have a good time, all the time”. There may only be ten minutes’ worth of new music here, but this disc represents quality over quantity.