Taking a side-step from the relatively accessible English language material that filled their 2023 album ‘Discordia’, ‘Lille Flamme’ showcases Perpacity’s multi-national heritage by presenting songs in Danish. The release also feels markedly different in its choice to share a couple of spikier arrangements, which sometimes gives the English-Danish duo’s work a darker and more intense quality. These factors mean the material is possibly geared a little more towards those who are already familiar with Perpacity, but you certainly couldn’t accuse them of merely repeating themselves and adopting a safe and formulaic approach to their art.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
SUPER GLUE ANXIETY – First Row Seats
When a band advertises themselves as crossing genres, their reasoning and chosen styles can sometimes appear quite obvious. The world has seen a vast amount of rap metal and ska punk blends. The marriage between country and rock is a hugely natural one, and also the decision to give folk a bit more muscle with the assistance of indie and rock often works really smoothly. What if a band decided to chuck a load of different styles together without any thought to how naturally they would work together? Chances are, you’d discover a musical landscape like the one inhabited by Finnish musicians Super Glue Anxiety – a band who aren’t easing anyone into a world of weird gradually, but choosing to hit their audience between the ears with a cocktail of oddity on their debut album with zero regard for commercial potential.
ALAN WHITE – Ramshackled
Taking some well earned time between band projects in 1975, the five members of the then current Yes embarked on solo ventures. As you’d expect, each release had elements which tipped the hat towards the mothership – especially strongly in the case of Chris Squire’s excellent ‘Fish Out of Water’ – but the freedom of writing alone and working with other musicians also brought a fresh angle. When heard as a whole volume of work, those five albums – Squire’s ‘Fish…’, Jon Anderson’s fanciful ‘Olias of Sunhillow’, Steve Howe’s underrated ‘Beginnings’, Patrick Moraz’s ‘I’ and Alan White’s ‘Ramshackled’ – make for an interesting listen. In some ways, the finest elements from each can be cobbled together to make a great Yes album that never was.
Predictably, the releases from Anderson, Squire and Howe all achieved UK success upon release, charting at #8, #25 and #22, respectively. Moraz’s rather complex ‘I’ has gained cult status over the passing decades, but White’s sole venture has often been considered the runt of the litter.
LAEL SUMMER / THE LAEL PROJECT – Do What You Want, Be Who You Are / Make You Whole (Remix)
Appealing to pop performers, jazz musicians, and even a section of the melodic rock crowd, the music of Daryl Hall & John Oates is incredibly enduring. In talented hands, their work takes on new life, often sounding like something written for the performer in question.
THE CANDY SNATCHERS – Good Riddance / Round Up
On their self titled record from 1996, The Candy Snatchers ripped their way through sixteen high octane tracks in a little over half an hour, setting a brilliant punky blueprint that would suit the band going forward. With tunes like ‘Yeah You’ and ‘Haunted Road’ playing like an unholy hybrid of the Misfits and Electric Frankenstein, and ‘Sauced Again’ tapping into some even more razor sharp rock ‘n’ roll, the band immediately set themselves in place as a force to be reckoned with.