Nothing But Green Lights ceased publication over a year ago, but an afterword is necessary before it self-destructs. In its time NBGL received praise from Q magazine as "Britain's best mp3 blog" and was nominated for an NME award. It's the best thing I have ever done. Sharing and writing about music was an unending pleasure until the day it ended. Right now I live in Copenhagen, work as an associate editor at Change.org, and help The Morning News as an assistant editor, writing the Surveys column . [...]
MP3 : Marina and the Diamonds - Mowgli A new Queen has risen! Born alongside Micachu *, Marina was fed golden grubs, taught tiger stalking, and learnt to control the rainforest. With roars that ride the canopies, she chases the outsiders out. A big shanty is sung on the rainforest's tall-ship. All turns cuckoo!
Marina and the Diamonds - Mowgli A new Queen has risen! Born alongside Micachu *, Marina was fed golden grubs, taught tiger stalking, and learnt how to control the rainforest with her eyes and voice. With roars that ride the canopies, she chases the outsiders out. A big big shanty that they sung on the tall-ship that got lost up the River Congo for years and years back in the bad old days. All turns to madness; madness and whistling and cuckoo! ***************************** * Dan at Said The [...]
MP3: Bark Cat Bark - Iceland Iceland slides from its continental shelf, and goes looking for a place to sleep undisturbed, leaving a huge flat plateau centimeters below sea level. They didn't get very far with the little coal they had left.* Having waltzed 400 miles south, Iceland is slightly warmer. If only it could go a little further—Iceland would fit nicely into the Bay of Biscay. Stars of The Lid are for galaxical measurement and minute concentration; Bark Cat Bark is the tide's breath & the moon's tricks. Both are [...]
MP3 : Bark Cat Bark - Iceland Iceland slides from its continental shelf and looks for a place to sleep undisturbed, leaving a plateau centimeters below sea level. They didn't get very far with the little coal they had left. Having waltzed 400 miles south it was slightly warmer, warmer in the Bay of Biscay. Stars of The Lid are for galaxical measurement and minute concentration but Bark Cat Bark 's ( mp3 ) tidal breath & lunar tricks are more real, arcing across the night sky.
500-seconds of astonishment good. Ex-NME/tabloid darlings The Horrors are born again, proving that a really bad track record can be forgotten by one marathon performance, one huge jump across the sand-pit. With help from Portishead's Geoff Barrow on the production desk, we witness a distant and heavenly acid-thunderstorm of dark prog spreading across European motorways. Swimming through the rain, The Horrors have locked up the old garage-rock, prefer to search for fields oil and set them alight. "After all, what a miracle has happened here. A formerly self-obsessed, hype-loving indie band have devalued their media image and released [...]
I've been playing with a Buddha Machine all day—it's a little battery powered box that drones at you. Afterwards, Ghost Hunter ( mp3 ) sounds fantastic. It's minimal, human, and hidden away in that cave on the hill, every sound outside hums of progress, a planet breathing. After fake apocalyptic tension, this is exactly what I want: Wind & rain fresh beats, pumping life, noises that interest and enthrall like every story should, sharpening the senses. [Photo credit: Shapeshift .]
Bat for Lashes lets loose, reaching deeper with second album Two Suns , introducing alter-ego Pearl. They swim through rivers of fantasy, dry off in the locks of golden boughs, warm up beside sparks of electronica and flames of dazed trip-hop. Debut Fur and Gold had whistling winds, howls, circus tricks, mist and lake mirrors; Khan played a chanteuse of druid-rock in possession of a dark energy. Two Suns burns all that energy, alchemizing Björk, Kate Bush, and Tolkien. As Two Suns begins, with Khan marches armies to the beat of a Song of Solomon , [...]
MP3: It Hugs Back - Work Day "Others Cars Go" was one of my favourite tracks of the last year, now It Hugs Back release their debut on the marvellous 4AD. Album Inside Your Guitar is just as dreamy, weathered, and soft. "Work Day" smooths and Cures your harsh edges; it's driven and it echoes through the tunnels we take to get home, the clouds we notice once in a while. ***************************** I also recently written about Werner Herzog's documentary Encounters at [...]
MP3: It Hugs Back - Work Day "Others Cars Go" was one of my favourite tracks of the last year, now It Hugs Back release their debut on the marvellous 4AD. Album Inside Your Guitar is just as dreamy, weathered, and soft. "Work Day" smooths and Cures your harsh edges; it's driven and it echoes through the tunnels we take to get home, the clouds we notice once in a while. ***************************** I also recently written about Werner Herzog's documentary Encounters at [...]
Werner Herzog continues his quest for ecstatic truth in Encounters at The End of the World. The Academy Award nominated documentary shares the lives of people shaken down to Antarctica, interviews matched with choral-led underwater photography. Herzog's voice and narrative echoes through the film; colorful characters struggle to match his omniscient pronouncements. It's an ideal introduction to his work: light-hearted, yet deep and occasionally surreal, revealing that his art, above all, is storytelling and discovering great epiphanies. Herzog pushes imagination and dreams so far that such questions fall flat. It's balanced, stark and perfect for a winter when the last [...]
1. Link: Damn Arms - Desination Pt I : Yacht-house. 2. Link: The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition . 3. Video: James Yorkston - Woozy With Cider. 4. This National Geographic article about escaping North Korea is great too . Though you'd already you know that if you were following The Morning News' Headlines , to which I contribute every morning. 5. Also: I wrote some words about Fever Ray (The Knife), Anni Rossi, Morrissey, and Emmy The Great . Emmy The Great starts [...]
1. Link: Damn Arms - Desination Pt I : Yacht-house. 2. Link: The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition . 3. Video: James Yorkston - Woozy With Cider. 4. This National Geographic article about escaping North Korea is great too . Though you'd already you know that if you were following The Morning News' Headlines , to which I contribute every morning. 5. Also: I wrote some words about Fever Ray (The Knife), Anni Rossi, Morrissey, and Emmy The Great . Emmy The Great starts [...]
I've been playing with a Buddha Machine all day—it's a little battery powered box that drones at you. Afterwards, Ghost Hunter ( mp3 ) sounds fantastic. It's minimal, human, and hidden away in that cave; every sound outside hums of progress, a planet breathing. Wind & rain fresh beats pump life, noises that interest, and enthrall like every story should, sharpening the senses. [Photo credit: Shapeshift .]
MP3: The Deer Tracks - Yes This Is My Broken Shield Telephone lines intertwine with vines, bearing life & new organisms as these Swedish* operators recover from the EMP that wiped every computers' memory. "YTISMBS" is rediscovery, minimal shoegaze & folk, and guitars burnt for warmth; a post-rock climax, dreams of super volcanoes . Nature is the exciting one, they just channel it. We channel it. * As noted in the sidebar, this blog covers some European music. MP3: The Deer Tracks - Slow Collison : [...]
MP3: The Deer Tracks - Yes This Is My Broken Shield Telephone lines intertwine with vines, bearing life & new organisms as these Swedish* operators recover from the EMP that wiped every computers' memory. "YTISMBS" is rediscovery, minimal shoegaze & folk, and guitars burnt for warmth; a post-rock climax, dreams of super volcanoes . Nature is the exciting one, they just channel it. We channel it. * As noted in the sidebar, this blog covers some European music. MP3: The Deer Tracks - Slow Collison : [...]
MP3: Ghost Hunter — In The Early Months of the Emergency I've been playing with a Buddha Machine all day—the little battery powered box that drones at you. Afterwards, Ghost Hunter sounds fantastic. It's minimal, human, and hidden away in that cave; every sound outside hums of progress, a planet breathing. Wind & rain fresh beats pump life, noises that interest, and enthrall like every story should, sharpening the senses.
Posting has been slow due to writings with The Morning News. I've been spending a lot of hours writing up thoughts on all these amazing year-end lists we are blessed with. Erik Bryan and I have collaborated on a series of three posts. Rather than write about our favourite records, we have steamed through a few dozen year-end lists in search of the lost diamonds and best music that passed us by earlier in the year, but found its way to us in the form of some really great end-of-year recaps. Diamonds From [...]
Posting has been slow due to writings with The Morning News. I've been spending a lot of hours writing up thoughts on all these amazing year-end lists we are blessed with. Erik Bryan and I have collaborated on a series of three posts. Rather than write about our favourite records, we have steamed through a few dozen year-end lists in search of the lost diamonds and best music that passed us by earlier in the year, but found its way to us in the form of some really great end-of-year recaps. Diamonds From [...]
MP3: Meursault — Salt Part 1 Salt Part 1 is arms stretched to 20 feet up, or two leagues below, reaching for bright and promising new worlds, More parts Beirut than Kraftwerk–Highland genesis, French dreams, European oils.
Nothing But Green Lights
Watch: Trailer for Dave Grohl’s documentary, Sound City
Childish Gambino - "Heartbeat" (Official Music Video)
First Aid Kit – Emmylou
Hardwell Bootleg Pack 2012
James Blake – Live Album
