MUSIC FOR THE MASSES - SOME NON DEPECHE MODE REVIEWS AND PREVIEWS

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll have noticed that the content has not been as varied as it might have been due to the mid life crisis that is The Global Spirit Tour Project. To find out what that is, click the link there to see. This is a non DM related post and it's going to stay that way.

The seemingly never ending Depeche tour has meant that, the odd review aside, this blog has focused entirely on one band since May last year. That'll remain the focus in a week's time when they kick off again so this is the ideal chance to talk about some other music that's been on heavy rotation in recent weeks. 

First up, Happy Robots Records, home of the superb Rodney Cromwell has put out a couple of superb releases in recent weeks. Sinosa's If U Must Dance is a curious but wonderful mix of electrpop and skewed disco with Kraftwerk lurking somewhere in the background. It's available on the label's Bandcamp page digitally and on striking clear vinyl 7".

Label boss Rodney Cromwell is also back. The superb Comrades takes off from where the still marvellous Age Of Anxiety left off. It's a prime slice of synthpop of a quality that is harder and harder to find. The song heads up the forthcoming e.p. Rodney's English Disco which adds three new tracks and 4 remixes and is available digitally and on 7" red vinyl from 25 May. As with all Rodney Cromwell releases, it's one you don't want to miss.

Seeing as we are talking about bands I've gone on a lot about on here before, the news that Apostille is back is a great thing. His new album Choose Life is out on the 8th of June and it is destined to be one of my records of the year. The first single from it, Feel Bad, came out in March and it's simply brilliant, as is its video.

Sticking with Glasgow and its seemingly endless supply of outstanding electronic artists, HQFU's new album For Inhumanity (reviewed here) is still proving hard to put down and is highly recommended. 

Graham Crossan, ex of Machines In Heaven, released two new pieces of music via his Bandcamp page in March with the dark electronics of Feel Everything (below) and earlier in the year in January with the superb GLVXGOW (Skip Ad) e.p. Graham's work with his new band Polis is also well 

Going back to the pop side of things, Priest returned in April with a new e.p. The Lost Lions which is available in all the usual digital places. As you'd expect, it's yet more synthpop goodness and features the superb Our Time Will Come which came out earlier this year.

Finally, three releases I'm looking forward to taking with me on the road to Berlin for the final two DM gigs of the year. The 25th of May sees the return of blood blood, Davey from Machines In Heaven's side project. Black Tarot promises to be another superb blood blood offering and the small sample available on Facebook certainly whets the appetite.

The new Your Silent Face release, The Fallen e.p., which is out this Thursday is a full on techno affair and from the Soundcloud preview (below), there's a lot to be excited about

Finally, Gus Harrower is back with a new single Wonder on the first of June. Gus' justified reputation as one of Scotland's best new singer songwriters has been enhanced by an ever increasing number of live shows and Wonder is only going to see his reputation grow and grow. You can find all his releases on his Soundcloud page (https://soundcloud.com/gusharrower) and on Spotify.

And that's that bar for a couple of things. Firstly, other than very occasional things like this, I'm going to step back from reviewing music on here. Unfortunately, the combination of further Depeche Mode projects on the way and real life mean I don't have the time to do bands justice and there's no point in providing half arsed reviews as that's not fair on the people that work so hard on their music. Thanks very much to everyone who has sent me so much music over the last few years. From it's start as the home of Depeche related geekery to what it became, running the review part of the blog has given me so much pleasure and introduced me to so many lovely people and bands. Thanks to everyone who's ever sent me things to review and sorry if I didn't get round to them.

Secondly, and not at all related to anything above, I just wanted to say how sad I was at the untimely passing of Scott Hutchison last week. He was a genius and Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight is proof of that alone. Like everyone else, my thoughts are with Scott's family and friends  - he will be much missed.

GUS HARROWER - GIRL I DIDN'T KNOW

Edinburgh singer/songwriter Gus Harrower releases his debut single Girl I Didn't Know today, following up his well received Mystery e.p. which popped up on Soundcloud earlier in the year. The song is a full on pop cracker that has many layers to it, with Paul McCartney in his Wings pop phase like guitar lines and melodies running throughout the song. It's as catchy as anything you'll have heard in a while and it's certainly worth checking out.

The single is available on ITunes and Spotify (links below) and it's accompanies by Stuck On You which you can hear below. 

Girl I Didn't Know is a remarkably confident debut single and it's testament to the talent Gus clearly has as you can hear for yourself at the launch show at The Mash House in Edinburgh tomorrow night (7 November). On the evidence of this single, it's safe to say we'll be hearing a lot more about Gus in the very near future.

Girl I Didn't Know by Gus Harrower is available now on ITunes (https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id1055385188?app=itunes), Spotify and other digital retailers.

Gus Harrower Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gusharrowermusic/?fref=ts

ALMOST SCOTTISH FICTION VOLUME 5

Every month, I team up with Neil from Scottish Fiction to put together a six track e.p. showing off the best new Scottish music which we then make available to you lovely people to download entirely free of charge. You simply couldn't get better value. This month's e.p. is a cracker and can be obtained, once again at no cost to you at all here:

https://almostpredictablealmost.bandcamp.com/album/almost-scottish-fiction-volume-5

This month's tracks are:

EARTHS - KANGERLUSSUAQ

Kangerlussuaq demonstrates a new, previously unseen side to Earths. Stripped away from the fuzz and lo-fi elements, we see uplifting guitars, crisp percussion and haunting vocals.

POOR FRISCO - WHAT'S LEFT OF IT

Taken from their forthcoming debut album, What's Left Of It showcases Poor Frisco at their best. With shades of The Shins and The Pixies at play, What's Left Of It is a great track from the East Kilbride five piece

THE MAYBES - WHAT YOU CAN REMEMBER

The Maybes are a Glagsow based duo whose recent e.p. Contra Todos features this track, What You Can Remember, which displays their melodic indiepop at its best.

GUS HARROWER - MYSTERY

Mystery is the lead and title track from the debut e.p. by Edinburgh's Gus Harrower. At only 17, Gus is already a talented singer/songwriter who brings to mind the likes of Bon Iver.

YuTaNi - MT. MINAKAMI

YuTaNi is the solo project of Machines In Heaven's Connor Reid. His album, At The End Of A Day, is a superb mix of downtempo and ambient eletronica. Mt. Minakami is the album's centrepiece - a beautiful slice of eletropop influenced electronica and one of this year's outstanding tracks.

NOTHING UNIVERSE - PYRE

With a track from the band's live e.p. recorded at King Tut's, this track showcases the direction Nothing Universe, previously known as Phases, have been taking with their music. Layered, dense and intriguing, Pyre builds things up only to tear it all down in a climatic frenzy.

Stream the whole album below and then go and help yourself to a download:

Thanks once again to all the artists for taking part and thanks to you for listening. Make sure you check out all the bands' various social media pages.

GUS HARROWER - MYSTERY EP

Mystery is the debut e.p. by Edinburgh based singer/songwriter Gus Harrower who, despite only being the tender age of 16 years old, has produced an e.p. that displays fine songwriting abilities and an ear for melody that is really rather wonderful. I should declare something of an interest here as Gus' uncle John is a lifelong friend of mine and the two of us have a band that first started before Gus was even born which makes me feel incredibly old. By releasing this e.p. Gus has already achieved much more than we ever did and, if Mystery is anything to go by, there are exciting things to come from this obvious talent.

As all good e.p's should be, the e.p. contains four tracks. Lead track Mystery is the standout; melodic acoustic guitar led pop that is underpinned by piano and keyboards. The key element is Gus' vocals and harmonies both of which are hugely impressive. I'm not as bang up to date on the modern pop world as I perhaps ought to be beyond a fully understandable love of Taylor Swift's 1989 but I hear the likes of Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago in this track and others on the e.p. and that's no bad thing. Go But Don't Quite Leave is a pacier track that has all the qualities of Mystery present throughout, whereas Try is just Gus and a piano and again it displays truly gifted songwriting. We end on Deeper Under, a slower, more mournful track that rounds the e.p. off nicely. 

What really strikes you about this release is the quality of the songwriting and performance throughout and, for a debut release, it's an impressive thing indeed. I'd recommend you go and check it out.

Mystery by Gus Harrower is available now on ITunes.

Gus Harrower Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gusharrowermusic?fref=ts