Lennon and McCartney go head-to-head yet again.
Ram was McCartney’s second solo album, released in 1971, and is a prime example of how popular music, on its release, is adjudged by so many factors other than music. Macca was in disfavour in 1971, regarded, wrongly, as the man who broke up The Beatles and also as the politico-spiritual lightweight of the quartet (Ringo has always been given a pass on these matters!). 50 years later, disconnected from all such blather,
Ram is a jolly thing, scrappy but fun, with an unpretentious thrown-together quality, songs such as lo-fi Beach Boys pastiche “Dear Boy” rubbing up against the entertainingly silly, music hall rockin’ ode to marjuana “Monkberry Moon Delight”. It does, indeed, sound like a man decompressing after the monumental, generational expectations placed on his previous band. In gatefold, it also comes half-speed mastered so sounds great. Lennon’s first solo effort, the
MetalMatters: The Best New Heavy Metal Albums of April 2021
This month in metal: Spectral Lore push progressive black metal’s boundaries, post-rock pioneers Godspeed You! Black Emperor return, and modern thrashers Evile tweak their sound to arise after eight long years.
This month crosses the whole spectrum of heavy music. On the slow, heavy edge, the doomed have risen, first with epic metallers Wheel and then with doom/sludge hybrids in the latest offerings from Oryx and the crushing experimental takes of Body Void. Taking things a step further and into the extreme doom/death edge, Alexander provide an alternative take on the grim perspective of the genre. The logical next stop is death metal, with great representation from Iron Flesh who deliver on the promises made in their debut record, with an excellent sophomore album,
Dannii Leivers
, April 8th, 2021 08:09
Kjetil Nernes and Karin Park decided recently to take Årabrot forward into a new era. Dannii Leivers met Karin to talk about how her glittering pop career is influencing their new album, Norwegian Gothic, which is streamed here in full. Årabrot portraits by Olle Lundin
In April 2014, just days after her partner, Årabrot vocalist and guitarist, Kjetil Nernes had been diagnosed with malignant throat cancer, Karin Park watched the band perform on stage at Bristol venue, The Church of St Thomas The Martyr.
Backed by an ornate reredos and flanked from above by two carved angel statues, Norway’s noise-rock band sounded as caustic and uncompromising as ever. But, unknown to the crowd, a vulnerability had crept in, masked by the gnarliness of the music, albeit just as threatening. For Park, the scene brought the reality of the situation into sharp, grave focus. “It was such a crazy picture to look at knowing that maybe he’s going to die,
Christian Eede
, January 28th, 2021 22:11
It s the lead track for the band s recently announced album
Norwegian Gothic
It s the first song to be unveiled from the Norwegian band s forthcoming album,
The World Must Be Destroyed. You can listen to The Lie above. The Lie is a rock song, says Årabrot s Kjetil Nernes. The Lie is not about telling a lie. It is about living a lie. No wonder, I spent months reading philosopher Theodor Adorno when writing The Lie . We lived in an apartment in Oslo with a friend and my memories of this specific time are very vivid. The weather, the smell, what we were cooking, what music we were listening to. Even the dirty floors. Less than a year later our friend died in a terrible boat accident. It all became part of something bigger.