BUZZARD BUZZARD BUZZARD – Skinwalker

On their Mercury Prize winning debut album ‘Backhand Deals’, Welsh band Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard were unafraid to wear a very retro heart on their sleeve. The bulk of its tunes took a very melodic approach and fused a great set of pop and rock influences on a record that occasionally sounded like a 90s band who’d discovered a bunch of old vinyl LPs from the 70s in their parents’ loft. Instantly familiar but always entertaining, it was the kind of guitar driven, melodic pop/rock collection that seemed destined to rival The Feeling’s brilliant ‘Twelve Stops Then Home’.

Then, somewhere between the promotion for that record and the recording of their follow up ‘Skinwalker’, they had a drastic rethink.

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BOULDER FIELDS – With All The Other Ghosts

Singer songwriter Cam Fraser has had a long career on the fringes of stardom. The cult musician first became known to some as a member of The Cataran, a band whose three albums gained the band a following in the 80s, and he latterly ventured further into the realms of jangly indie as a member of Borrowed Books, whose 2020 album presented a timeless sound where a very 90s feel was underscored with occasional folk-rock rhythms, taking influence from Lou Barlow’s Folk Implosion. Under the name Boulder Fields, Cam explores the avenues of Americana – albeit from a Scottish perspective – going deeper into the folky, but without losing his roots, and although 2024’s ‘With All The Other Ghosts’ sometimes values atmosphere over immediacy, his sense of melody and lyricism often comes through in massive waves.

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Editorial Comment: Neil Young’s ‘Archives III’ – Unaffordable, Frustrating, Elitist

The world hasn’t had a shortage of “new” Neil Young material recently. Between the beginning of 2022 and July 2024, he’s released TWELVE different stand-alone titles, bulking up his already huge discography somewhat considerably.

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