Music Reviews

As we drove around New Zealand in the campervan we got a chance to listen to lots of music which my brother Andrew had sent me or we had blagged from David & Lynne's collection in Texas. Here's a few quick reviews of some of the stuff we've been listening to over the last month or two.

Smog - 'A River Ain't Too Much To Love'
Bill’s back with another collection of dark gems and twisted tales all loosely about a river. This might not contain anything as immediate as perennial party favourites “Cold Blooded Old Times” or “Held” but it more than makes up for it with glorious melancholic stories all bathed in the golden light of the mellowing Mr Callahan’s dark humour



Tungg - This Is...
If you could imagine a laid back folky Beta Band playing the “Wicker Man” soundtrack you would be halfway there, if not go and buy this lovely album which bubbles away into your subconscious, Beautiful and Light.





Laura Cantrell - Humming By The Flowered Vine
More tales of drunken regrets and missed opportunities from DubCentral’s favourite Queen of the bar-room ballads. The sound doesn’t venture too far from her usual country template but Laura’s voice elevates the sometimes Nashville hokum into heartfelt hymns to the lost and lonely.





The Magic Numbers - The Magic Numbers

Decent poppy stuff with some good male/female vocal interplay that reminds me of the Wannadies but a whole lot better, not sure about back in the UK but they are getting a fair amount of airplay in Oz at the moment.





Ambulance Ltd - Ambulance Ltd
Ticking all the right dubcentral boxes with their spaced-out instrumentals, cool cover versions and the catchiest song of the last few months (“Anecdote”). At times sounding a bit like Wilco or Beulah this band who I know nothing about seem to be heading in the right direction.




DubCentral’s Top Sing-a-Long-a-CamperVan Tunes

Iron Vest (Chase the Devil) - Max Romeo
The Whisky Makes You Sweeter- Laura Cantrell
Anecdote - Ambulance Ltd
The Well - Smog
Hummingbird - Wilco
Bernadette - The Four Tops
The Drifter - Ray Pollard
Dance Crasher - Alton Ellis & The Flames
My Doorbell - The White Stripes
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order
Drivin’ on 9 - The Breeders
Forever Lost - The Magic Numbers
Cut Your Hair - Pavement
Freak Like Me - Sugababes
Gigolo Aunt - Syd Barrett