Ballad

Eels – End Times (2010)

What is it about Eels? Arch miserabilist Mark E possesses the uncanny ability to conjure aural magic from an extremely limited palette. Recorded at home, on basic equipment, familiar chord sequences and the patent Mark E croak chart the end of an affair in often heartbreaking terms. Against all odds, an arresting album, uplifting even

Fyfe Dangerfield – Fly Yellow Moon

The exuberantly talented Guillemots frontman in unplugged mode. Well not really; this being Fyfe Dangerfield, an extravagant string driven flourish is never far away, in fact on the single She Needs Me he seems to be on a one man mission to rehabilitate late period ELO, but the trademark kaleidoscopic whirl has largely been suppressed

Tindersticks – Falling Down A Mountain (2010)

The bartender wordlessly slides a tumbler of cheap whisky across the counter. In a corner, the blonde puts a quarter in the jukebox. Her hips sway to a skeletal beat. On the cramped stage, the bass player nods, picks up his instrument and softly at first, joins in. Frowning, he leans into the beat, as

Lhasa de Sela

Lhasa de Sela 1972 – 2010
The Living Road
(Lhasa de Sela, Francois Lalonde, Jean Massicotte)
Soon this space will be too small
and I’ll go outside
To the huge hillside, where the wild winds blow
and the cold stars shine
I’ll put my foot on the living road
and be carried from here to the heart of the world
I’ll be strong

The Best of the Rest…

And so, having survived the icy wastelands of Yorkshire, Chimera Musica returns to the South Coast, only to find temperatures plummeting to hitherto unrecorded depths. The roads being too icy to drive, the sensible option is surely to take a moment of calm reflection, to evaluate some of the gems that were somehow missed in

Lloyd Cole – Solo show, Live at Brighton Komedia

Lloyd Cole – Live!
A filthy night in Brighton is not for the fainthearted, but Lloyd Cole is a talent worth braving the elements for. For those not in the know, Cole’s star burned brightly in the eighties when he was lauded by the music press as one of the most distinctive and literate songwriters around. [...]

Rickie Lee Jones – Balm in Gilead

Rickie Lee Jones – Balm in Gilead (2009)
A perplexing, iconoclastic talent; responsible for one of the best and most heartbreaking albums of the eighties, or maybe any decade in “Pirates“, Rickie Lee Jones does exactly as she pleases with zero regard for the vulgar business of commerce. “Balm in Gilead” continues the return to form [...]

Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter

Richard Hawley – Truelove’s Gutter (2009)
In which we enter a world of gentlemen’s hairdressers and brylcream, bakelite trimmers, a little something for the weekend. Outside, a fine drizzle and the lights reflecting off the soaking cobblestones. A bus hisses by, the smell of diesel hanging in the air, kaleidoscopic patterns in the rain filled gutter. [...]

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions – Through The Devil Softly

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions – Through The Devil Softly (2009)
For some, Hope Sandoval will always be synonymous with Mazzy Star, a band whose particular brand of opiated country balladry casts a long shadow down the years, making itself felt in the music of the Cowboy Junkies and more recently The XX, to name [...]

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