ALBUM REVIEWS
Shygirl – Club Shy
English singer and DJ Shygirl has masterfully blended elements of dance and electronic music with house and pop in her new EP Club Shy.
The London-based artist received wide acclaim following the release of her 2022 debut album Nymph, which made the 2023 Mercury Prize shortlist.
Her experimental pop style, linked to sub genres that include hyper pop and deconstructed club, is present in her new offering, featuring barely legible lyrics and melodies that chop and change.
Club Shy is packed to the brim with club bangers that incorporate a number of different musical influences, thanks to the artist’s collaboration with some of the industry’s leading producers and DJs – including Boys Noize and SG Lewis.
Cast – Love Is The Call Review by Andrew Steel
For a moment amid Britpop’s boom phase, Liverpudlian indie rockers Cast seemed poised to break through to the big time.
The group charted a host of top ten singles and albums without ever hitting the peaks of their peers, before their sudden dissolution in 2001. The John Power-fronted group’s reunion has eclipsed their original tenure, but even as their contemporaries scale new commercial heights, this collection favours their chief songwriter’s vision over anything else.
A sprinkling of gems abound – Far Away, coloured by soaring vocal lines and chiming guitars, the glam-rock bounce of Starry Eyes, and the swooning country twang of Tomorrow Calls My Name – but otherwise, this is business as usual, pleasant to a fault.
Can – Live in Paris 1973 Review by Janne Oinonen
Can’s taste for improvisation may have suggested an ethos aligned with prog. As proven by this electrifying fourth instalment in a series of archival live releases (the first to feature vocalist Damo Suzuki), the legendary German band actually excelled in ‘regressive rock’, with the musicians scaling back every ounce of flab to arrive at a pure essence of groove that unveils a lean, fiercely potent European brand of avant-funk.
Elements of Can’s 1971’s album Ege Bamyasi glide by, but they are mere launch pads for explorations that unite the seemingly conflicting impulses for sweaty physicality and cerebral experimentation.
Recorded over 50 years ago, it’s difficult to think of a more timelessly fresh live album being released in 2024.
J Mascis – What Do We Do Now Review by Alexander Hoggard
One of the most influential guitarists of his generation, J Mascis returns with his delightfully warm fifth studio album.
Having found fame as the singer, guitarist and lead songwriter for Dinosaur Jr, his solo career has seen him focus on acoustic folk rock rather than the alternative noise rock his band is most known for. While the rhythm parts remain acoustic, the Massachusettsbased musician adds drums and electric leads for the first time on a solo release.
Earnest opening track Can’t Believe We’re Here showcases Mascis’s new approach to his solo work, merging comforting acoustic guitar with one of his trademark wailing electric solos. The album provides the perfect, soothing accompaniment to banish any new year blues.