Whirring into life like a comet lowrider being fired up, Usurper of the Universe is an ever expanding cloud of trippy space dust gritty with derision. Who, or perhaps what, is SÖNUS is a question the answer to can change with every listen; the six track album as much space rock opera—a beer and bong infused version of Queen’s Flash Gordon score with SÖNUS playing both band and Ming—as a frustration-driven social commentary not only on the world we currently live in but always have.
Reviews
Welcome to the Carnival known as DUIR!
A substantial aspect of DROME is the matter of time, so appropriate then that its first listen transports me back to the mid seventies and a trip up North to see relatives which included a visit to the fabled Yorkshire Dales.
Nothing of the actual visit remains in memory beyond it being uneventful. It’s all the things said about the place by family members beforehand that spring to mind. The potential for heavy mists to suddenly descend and leave anyone there disorientated on the vast expanse of open land hard enough to navigate at the best of times.
Continue readingRich Brown: the new shining light of Folk?
Rich Brown’s EPs Pandemo and The Misinformation Age get their first listens with my customary no attention paid to any of the review package notes.
Brown genres as Folk, something that as a rule is only enjoyed by me when live in a pub and drunk enough to think I know the lyrics.
Continue readingIt’s not a style I know much about and what I’m hearing puts me in mind of a low-key Greenday or a smooth Pogues.
Ian Arkley: one; reflections on
Somewhere in an isolated corner of Wales there is an unassuming shed with a humble wooden door and simple brass knocker.
It’s unlikely anyone would ever stumble upon this rudimentary little shelter, but if they did the sort of welcome they could expect is indicated by the presence of a lock.
Continue readingSÖNUS: Worlds Undreamed Of; a Space Rock Review
Having tentatively recruited a drummer, David Wachsman was in the final stages of assembling and launching musical vision SÖNUS when Covid-19 and Lockdown struck.
Undeterred (and suddenly with a lot more time on his hands) he decided to learn anything he didn’t already know—a combination of tech, software and instruments—and go it alone.
Guillotine Dream: Damaged and Damned; une Critique
“Pre-empting the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown, Guillotine Dream sequestered themselves in a gloomy cavern in order to create their second full-length opus Damaged and Damned. When this didn’t work, they decided to use a recording studio instead.” Continue reading
From Beale Street to Timbuktu
Timbuktu: located at the edge of the Sahara Desert nine miles north of the Niger River in the country Mali; though only so since incorporated into what France considered its colony of Mali in the 1890s.
Map by Joe LeMonnier.
Starting as a seasonal city it became permanent in the 12th century; from there soon a major—and so extremely rich—trade hub dealing in slaves, salt and gold in particular.
Continue readingBrigitte Bardon’t: Pink; a Review
During Covid-19 there’s been some incredible music made that without lockdown would never have happened; Brigitte Bardon’t’s Pink is one of those albums with bells on.
My Silent Wake: Damnum Per Saeculorum; a Review
My Silent Wake, formed 2005, are generally listed as Gothic/Death/Doom. Damnum Per Saeculorum, the band’s eleventh full-length release, is described as Continue reading
Brigitte Bardon’t: Radio Songs – a Review
I’ve never written an album review before and start questioning volunteering to given this is a serious piece of work being released and I don’t know a single name given as inspiration in the accompanying review package notes: Continue reading
N. P. Ryan 