LARSEN – Tiles EP

Formed in 1993, Larsen are an experimental band from Italy. Their members have managed to keep a fairly low profile over the decades, but that didn’t stop their 2002 LP ‘River’ achieving critical acclaim in both Europe and the States. In 2008, the band were joined by Ann O’Connor (aka Little Annie, aka Annie Anxiety Bandez). Little Annie, a New York performance artist – formerly of Asexuals and known for collaborations with Current 93, Nurse With Wound and Kid Congo Powers – gave the band an extra dimension when adding spoken passages to their disjointed sounds.

Eagerly awaited by fans, their 2019 EP ‘Tiles’ ends a three year recording silence. Its four tracks teeter between darkly gothic and just plain difficult, but it’s often it’s more than possible to understand where this avant-garde/art rock collective are headed.

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THE YOUNG ROCHELLES / THE NERDY JUGHEADS – Split EP

At the end of 2014, Tokyo punks The Nerdy Jugheads released their first recordings on an intense EP that took the core sounds of Screeching Weasel and transplanted them via Japan, creating music that blended fine Ramonescore with the nerdy oriental quirks of Hi-Standard. The result was an all-thrashing, all-bouncing five tracker that no pop punk fan should be without. The band returned in the summer of 2016 with three new tracks, issued as one half of a great split release with New Yorkers The Young Rochelles. It’s East meets West in this spit EP face off…who will win this global punk battle of the bands?!

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Kate Bush ‘The Other Sides’ due on stand-alone CD set in March

At the end of 2018, Kate Bush’s catalogue of albums was reissued as two expensive box sets.  The first, covering the earlier albums, featured remasters of ‘The Kick Inside’, ‘Lionheart’, ‘Never For Ever’ and ‘The Dreaming’ for the first time.  The big draw for most fans – especially those without a copy of the now rare 90s box set ‘This Woman’s Work’ – was the inclusion of several b-sides and non album tracks.

With that second set retailing at over £80, it seemed like a lot for fans to shell out, especially since there were still various b-sides and leftovers not included.

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Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe release new video for the politically charged ‘Change My Way’

His name might not be instantly familiar to rock fans, but saxophonist Karl Denson was once a member of Lenny Kravitz’s band and has been a touring member of The Rolling Stones since 2014.

Regarding his jazz and funk oriented day job, he co-founded the excellent jazz-funk band Greyboy Allstars and has recorded with Jack DeJohnette, Stanton Moore, Dave Holland and others, as well as maintaining a fairly prolific solo career with his own Tiny Universe.

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Watch: The Riven unveil new lyric video ahead of album release

Swedish retro rockers The Riven are set to return on March 1st with their new self-titled opus.  ‘The Riven’ follows 2017’s ‘Blackbird’ EP and is better in almost every respect.

Fans of the EP can expect similar 70s influenced sounds on the upcoming full-length, only this time, the great riffs are complimented with better songwriting and much better production values.  The album is a hard rock highlight of 2019’s first quarter.

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