REVIEWS

Vital Weekly review
The Bones You Break
The vocal piece uses voice, guitar and harmonium and has a great pop sensibility to it. The other side has a great early summer breeze feel to it, like a fresh wind through your hair. A lovely gem, but I expected nothing less from Static Caravan.
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Losing Today review
The Bones You Break
Sound wise very much informed by the much missed Fahey and Rose with the crystal clear clarity afforded to each and every scratch and scrape of the nylon strings appending a sense of the natural and the archaic with Jones’ use of space and drama perfectly pitched by the metering shift in pace from the lull of thoughtful murmurs to the onward rush of the chase - quite captivating if you ask me.
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Boomkat review
Don't Say A Word
Tula’s own stunning voice that carries us through the songs. Sort of like Empress, Mazzy Star or Stina Nordenstam, there’s something homespun and beautiful yet sad and urgent about Tula’s songs.
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Losing Today review
Don't Say A Word
Like a wood chipped folk trimmed Mum reshape of Laurie Anderson’s ‘o superman’. Quite something else.
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Vital Weekly review
Don't Say A Word
Reminds me of This Mortal Coil.... Too short, but that's life. Sad but true.
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Norman Records review
The Harrowing
It has a piano motif and refrain that will melt even the coldest of hearts. Well that's a bold claim I know, but the songs on this record are really beautiful. The vocals sound ace, the musicianship's lush and the whole thing is a folk-style slab of awesome awesomeness. Almost perfect.
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Vital Weekly review
The Harrowing
Hauntingly beautiful. Spring has indeed arrived. Excellent.
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Losing Today review
Pig Sick
More impishly funky in a tab toking Amon Duul II meets freaked out Goblin kind of way.
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Vital Weekly review
Pig Sick
With vocals it could have been an alternative hit. Another excellent 7" on one of my favorite labels. (FdW)
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Mixmag review
Pig Sick
Perfect for weirdos' dancefloors..like a brain damaged Battles' 4 stars
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Norman Records review
Pig Sick
Plank are a bunch of new lads on the block crafting sweet variants on Krautrock themes...that bring to mind the first track of Fugazi's 'Red Medicine' or Tortoise and the track glides like the best Yes proggrooves.
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TheLineOfBestFit.com review
The Broken Wave
Hannah Peel's album succeeds because it never ventures too far from its most beautiful facets. It experiments without becoming experimental. It soothes without being boring. It explores before turning self-indulgent. The Broken Wave triumphs due to its balance and provides steady footing for Peel to move forward.
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NME review
The Broken Wave
Really, to pair such intimate melancholy with ambition like this is no small feat. 8/10
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The Guardian review
The Broken Wave
Maddy Costa hears surprising boldness combined with cool restraint in Hannah Peel's debut.
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Drowned In Sound review
The Broken Wave
The release of Broken Wave heralds the arrival of a genuine creative force in British folk music, and one of the scariest things about it is that you get the impression that Peel hasn’t really even got going yet. As she grows in confidence and experience she will surely get better, which is quite a prospect.
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citylifers.co.uk review
The Broken Wave
Opening track, 'The Almond Tree', almost serves as a manifesto for the rest of the album. The folk quotient is immediately present and correct - lilting melodies and lyrics about a murderous deer (and you can never have enough songs about murderous deer). It's swiftly joined by a wonky, off-kilter rhythm. And the whole thing is deftly wrapped up in Hannah Peel's velvet vocals and inch perfect harmonies, a deliciously dissonant guitar break providing a neat counterpoint.... Like I say, a star on the rise...
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Bearded Magazine review
The Broken Wave
The Broken Wave is Peel's debut LP and is full of the kind of rich, often theatrical instrumentation Rufus Wainwright would be envious of.
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Shindig review
The Broken Wave
A stunning voice to savour.
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Uncut review
The Broken Wave
The songs are catchy, memorable and after just one listen in their tilted melodies, and her lyrics really impress me: they're clipped and minimal, but suggestive of huge backstories. Vibrant folk-pop with a stunning voice to savour.
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The Fly review
The Broken Wave
Her dreamily pretty songs take in off kilter folk, spectral ballads and deftly executed, thrumming electronics. A promising first effort.
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Q review
The Broken Wave
Capable of charming the birds off any tree, swooningly sensyal, ebbing and flowing folk-pop. Inventively arranged, sweet without being cloying, there's just the right hint of weirdness and mystery lurking beneath the fragile folk pop surface... in a word, charming.
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Vice Magazine review
The Broken Wave
A timely antidote to the plethora of vacuous, coma-inducing, Marling-apeing, fem-folk automatons.
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Boomkat review
Primitive Neural Pathways
Full of life-sustainingly positive melody, swirling electromagnetic synth gusts and purposeful bassline gravity.....highly recommended to fans of OPN, Stellar Om Source, Arp or classic Sci-Fi themes!!
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Vital Weekly review
Primitive Neural Pathways
The best record of this week, for being so uncool and yet so warm and great. Topped off in a great cover too.
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Norman Records review
Like No English
'Stars' is the standout, a gently building rolling melody that is short enough to leave you begging for more. The folky vignettes are spliced by darker ambient material that serves nicely as a contrary element.
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Vital Weekly review
Like No English
Following an intro piece of something that could pass as field recordings, we are treated with six songs of folk like songs, with a male voice. Sweet intimate music with an occasional dark cloud hanging over it...A small treasure.
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Losing Today review
You Call This Your Home
A dash of the fanciful folly of a youthful Kate Bush and the demurring dimpling of a daydreaming Hafdis Huld, both magnetic and surrendering.
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Vital Weekly review
You Call This Your Home
One of the most interesting surprises earlier this year was the 7" by Hannah Peel.....Now she returns with something that is perhaps more conventional.....Peel sings, plays piano, synthesizers, violin and trombone, while receiving help for acoustic guitar, saz, bass, dulcimer, vocals, trumpet and drumsTwo fine tunes, a fine record. Not with the same surprise as the first one, but with same great quality.
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Losing Today review
Crook In The Creek
Will fly from racks quicker than Liverpool Football Club conceding a goal (okay maybe not that fast then)
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Cyclic Defrost review
Barehed
Psychedelic take on instrumental rock, big guitar licks and experimental noodlings....As usual packaged with nice art by Ben Javens, pressed on translucent yellow 7” vinyl, Static Caravan remain one of the few truly independent indie/folk/electronic/rock labels, every release is special in its own way.
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Piccadilly review
Barehed
Top notch instrumental psyche-rock stonker with a real stoned 70s feel to it, another cracker on Static Caravan. (Record Of The Week)
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Norman Records review
Barehed
On yellow vinyl (the good people at Static Caravan don't just throw these things together you know). . . the type of lovely composition that Pell Mell or Scenic might have come up with in their hey day. It does have a bit of the Allman Brothers in it but thats no bad thing right?
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Boomkat review
Salt Marsh
'Salt Marsh' builds an eerily lush sound, taking influence from the jazz into folk findings of Pentangle and traces of Six Organs of Admittance's psyched strums. The expanded lineup now includes harmonium, marimba, Fender Rhodes, hurdy gurdy, bowed cymbals and string machine to flesh out his lonesome guitar, coupled with an exceptional production job from Johan Berthling of Tape and the Hapna label.
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Piccadilly Records review
Salt Marsh
A truly beautiful album that recalls the darkness of Six Organs, and intricacies of John Fahey and Pentangle. His best yet!!
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Norman Records review
Salt Marsh
Another lush album of tender folk musings imbued with ambient tones, hushed feedback, lovely atmospherics & light non-intrusive percussion.
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Sunday Experience review
Hornblower Brothers
It’s the Small Faces as done by the 14 Iced Bears.
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Record Collector review
Seahawks
Remote viewing sessions with dolphins and satellites, amid aquatic starlit shoals, that see these nautical aviators tap into the sun-bleached drift of the nu-Balearic, nuzzling close to the pellucid atmospheres of Studio, Lindstrom and Prins Thomas.
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Piccadilly Records review
Seahawks
They're calling it "Discoid Cosmic Yacht Rock". I say, amazing blissed-out coastal sounds for your all night beach party or afternoon boating soiree! More exciting stuff in the pipeline too from this fresh new band.
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Norman Records review
Seahawks
It's like swimming the briny depths of the ocean with a (waterproof) spliff chuffing away and a James Ferraro record playing on your i-pod. The production is mind-bendingly good and beneath the waves of space tone madness I can make out an almost afro-beat style rhythm.
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Losing Today review
Seahawks
They craft a mind expanding stew of chilled out radiating psychotropic bliss groove to which seasoned fans of Ghost Box, Trunk and the more playful moments from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop back catalogue will swoon.
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Vital Weekly review
Seahawks
A lovely fat picture disc 7" and some copies have a free CDR to go along. Now that's value for money.
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Vital Weekly review
Inch-time
Great light music, burning like a small sun, as quiet as a campfire. I wish I had a car, so I could put this in and drive around. Lovely orange tape in an edition of 100, with a badge.
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Bearded Mangazine review
Serafina Steer
This album could as easily have graced Rough Trade’s glorious early 80’s period of idiosyncratic releases as Static Caravan’s today. In conclusion, then, there’s no marking time here. This is a fine piece of work and not one that’s going to date.
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Bleep review
Serafina Steer
Co-produced by Capitol K and Benge with a number of guest appearances including Mercury nominees Seb Rochford (drums) and Emma Smith (violin), "Change Is Good Change Is Good" is Serafina Steer's most accomplished work to date. A tapestry of quote-un-quote 'Delia Derbyshire meets Arthur Russell' in a lusicous melting pot. Quite lovely.
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Vital Weekly review
Serafina Steer
There are synth lines, synthetic and real drums, and even an up-tempo song like 'Margoton', which reminded me Nouvelle Vague. It pushes, from time to time, the folk aspect of Steer's music to the background and makes it even more (hurrah) pop-like. An excellent CD, the perfect anti-dote after a long day of 'difficult' music.
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Norman Records review
Hannah Peel
I'm particularly impressed with the Soft Cell and New Order tracks, those music box arrangements are true genius. Nice one Hannah!
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Vital Weekly review
Hannah Peel
She renders all four from the original form into something very much her own. Did I just mention Nouvelle Vague? Hannah Peel does something equally ground breaking I think.
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Vital Weekly review
Iris to Hypnos/Fieldhead
Such sweet music could have lasted a bit longer as far as I'm concerned. Much longer. This simply sounded like more! How sad. How great.
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Vital Weekly review
Inch-Time
Vaguely exotic, mildly dark, this is nocturnal music. Delicate music, foot tapping rather than dancing music. Excellent stuff.
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emusic review
Erland & The Carnival
No matter its musical lineage, Erland & the Carnival is a balls-out folk-rock triumph — bold, inventive, age-old and brand-new.
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Norman Records review
Erland & The Carnival
I had one of those moments the other day where I was at home listening to this CD, whilst brewing a cup of tea, this vocal hit me and I nearly started crying, in a really happy way....A wonderful album with total across-the-board appeal. It's OK, they can be your little secret if you want, I can't see them seriously bothering the charts, they're far too good for a start.
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Losing Today review
PHIL((M)MIX)
Imagine the honey tipped kaleidoscopic pop detailing of say the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band dimpled with the mindset of Half Japanese or Jonathan Richman and applied with the skeletal threadbare touch of Guided by Voices.
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Piccadilly Records review
Songs You Can Sing On Your Own
Can't really think what to say about this, other than I really like it! [Folk/Americana ROW, 18th Jan 2010]
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Boomkat review
Songs You Can Sing On Your Own
The group have achieved a charming concoction of indie folk styles with 'Songs You Can Sing' using stately piano, minimal guitar and softly > burred vocals for intimate effect.
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Nieuwegeluiden review
Songs You Can Sing On Your Own
Because of the city (Manchester), it can be easy to make comparison to Elbow, but with the organ led sounds in Songs You Can Sing, giving the number such a sacral feel, that it is maybe closer to that of the recent Choir of Young Believers. Look out for this group...
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Vital Weekly review
Billy Mahonie
Jazzy, complex, math oriented, total post rock. If ever there was a need for a template of the music, I'd say play this and you know what it is all about.
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Boomkat review
Billy Mahonie
The band retain a purity to their sound that can be linked back to the genre's progenitors like Slint, for largely unconditioned, effects-free compositions that flow and languish in melody.
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Alternative Ulster review
Hot Toast Vol. 1
‘I Will Return, I Promise’ is an euphoric gospel marching chant – if there can be such a thing. Guaranteed to make you smile – BJH is definitely going to be one to watch in 2010. 8/10
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Drowned In Sound review
Hot Toast Vol. 1
A re-pressing for the sold-out EP (from the label with my favourite logo ever)
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Wears The Trousers review
Hot Toast Vol. 1
If there’s a Volume Two waiting in the wings that is anything like as enjoyable as this, we can only hope Houghton keeps her promise to return.
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Bearded Magazine review
Hot Toast Vol. 1
Beguiling and intoxicating at every turn, this is a superb offering from a glamorous Geordie songwriter with an extraordinarily bright future. A must listen.
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Pitchfork review
Shape Of The Shape
Shape of the Shape draws upon a rather weird combination of cosmic country and space-age Moog drones, resulting in a sound that is considerably more distinctive and almost wholly unexpected.
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Selby Times review
Shape Of The Shape
Quite simply stunning!
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MusicOMH review
Shape Of The Shape
If The Old Grey Whistle Test could ever return to our screens, S&BB would be the house band. Hélène Gautier caps a delightful set of performances that put her somewhere close to Sandy Denny passing off as a Ye Ye girl. Solid is rarely an epithet that connotes much excitement, but Starless & Bible Black turn that adjective on its head with this daringly unfashionable album.
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Piccadilly Records review
Shape Of The Shape
Gone are the dulcimers and banjos of the first record, replaced by an electrifying wall of Telecaster and Moog, and standing in the centre of this bold, widescreen sound resides the earthy and husky voice of Hélène Gautier. RECORD OF THE WEEK.
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NME review
Shape Of The Shape
Channelling all the sounds of the 70s, from British Folk and Classical psychedelic rock to smokey, continental balladry.
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Mojo review
Shape Of The Shape
Singer Helene Gautier channels Sandy Denny over Cortez The Killer-period Neil Young.
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Music Dash review
Shape Of The Shape
This is a record that’s hard to put away and so far, is definitely an album of the year so far. Ingenious, moving and beautifully crafted, “Shape Of The Shape” looks very much like a Manchester classic.
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Vital Weekly review
Inverted Island
A pity that the proceedings are so short. I could have easily enjoyed another three or four of these. That's perhaps the only negative aspect of this record. Otherwise: top. More, please!
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Addict Music review
Summer Solstice
I’ve set myself up to loathe them absolutely, but then half way through ‘Summer Solstice’ my head is wobbling jauntily and my sceptical streak is wavering uncertainly. There’s a lush clover of strings and the tug of a gentle horn section. It’s all a bit bloody nice. There are delicate string arrangements. The whole thing reeks of village fêtes and cream scones.
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Boomkat review
YMB vs Time and Space Machine/Xela
The flipside, however, is the absolute showstopper with some incredible re-wired tracks from John Twells aka Xela. His 'Muddled and Spiked' version of 'Lunadelica'/'Chimney' opens a release valve for his burgeoning Goblin fixation, releasing a deadly nerve gas of analog drones...one you need! Highly Recommended - Single Of The Week.
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Phonica review
YMB vs Time and Space Machine/Xela
The big one for us though, is the remix of "Polaris" - it gets stretched to infinity with almost balearic beats, psych fx and general loveliness.
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Bleep review
YMB vs Time and Space Machine/Xela
Psych-prog warriors Yellow Moon Band get the refix treatment here on this lush slab of zinging green vinyl. Richard Norris (Time & Space Machine), fresh from studious moments with Erol Alkan as Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, takes hold of one side with vivid, warped psychedelia. Type Records boss, Xela, delivers some typically amazing versions of his doomy, drone scape sonics. Spellbinding matter...
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Vital Weekly review
YMB vs Time and Space Machine/Xela
A great rework taking the original into a new territory.
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Losing Today review
Live In London
Frankly sounding like a chilled and clearly zonked out Acid Mothers incarnation - deeply transcendental, dense and blimey after several plays and prolonged sitting in its vicinity we swear you can actually get high.
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Losing Today review
Golden
Succulently drizzled within an aura of beguiled and genteel soft psych folk and sprinkled with several dollops of fairy dust, ‘golden’ tenderly skips, hops and jumps its way into your affections like some sort of timeless rustic apparition endowing and bathing all in its magical and mystical glow of renewing potions whilst simultaneously sounding as though its been excavated given a dusting down and rescued from a life of misery and obscurity during a recent trawl of a long since forgotten record vault.
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Cyclic Defrost review
A Beard Of Bees
This is a new bread of folk music, time to grab your guitar and go sit in a field. Static Caravan yet again give us another classic release.
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Gigwise review
A Beard Of Bees
'Jet Age Kids' is even better - oblique lyrics and a staunch work of space-folk a la early Brian Eno melanged with Turin Brakes and a Beta Band topping serve as a strident contrast to the daydreamy noodle, and 'Lead Boots' is a spirited piece of Tunng-like psychedelic folk that bolsters a charge. 4 stars
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Terrascope review
A Beard Of Bees
With a voice that contains traces of Wyatt within its tones, the music on the album is whimsical and playful, containing a Canterbury vibe and an English heart, whilst comparisons with Tunng are inevitable, although, perhaps, should be avoided.
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Flux review
A Beard Of Bees
...such is the quality of Dollboy's song-writing, it renders A Beard Of Bees a consistent and rewarding listening experience. Imagine the kind of soulful, flowing, home-baked fare found on Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom album and you're nearly there. Sublime.
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The Times review
A Beard Of Bees
If the Tardis spat Edward Elgar out into a Shropshire glade with a Roland DX7, a guitar and no direction home, you suspect that the results would not be dissimilar. 4 stars
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Boomkat review
A Beard Of Bees
The untreated delivery really reinforces that this isn't just another case of an electronica guy having a go at 'proper songs', and on first listen it would seem that Oliver Cherer (for he is Dollboy) is giving Tunng a run for their money at the top of the folktronica tree. Splendid.
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Subba-Cultcha review
A Beard Of Bees
This work is both pastoral and evocative; think David Sylvian and Zero Seven covering ‘Scarborough Fair.’ Cherer’s work is about the sea and Englishness. ‘A Beard of Bees’ is folktronica to enjoy privately in the bath at home.
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Cyclic Defrost review
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
You could almost believe that if this was the era of progressive rock, it would be on such a good label as Vertigo, but it's now, and Static Caravan is the label, once an electronic album, now a label of diversity, originality, and musical wonder.
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various reviews
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
The results are fresh and groovy - The Independent
A collection in which rootsy chords are overwhelmed by 1970's cosmic metal riffs - Metro
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Uncut review
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
This tracks back to Focus and Pentangle via their wyrd-folk contempories, with an admiration for Comets on Fire detectable in the blasted "Domini" and (more suprisingly) of Clinic on closing motorik raga "Lunadelica".
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Q review
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
Even If they didn't run their own festival, they would warrrant a slot in the line up.
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various reviews
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
It's the nice new hair cut of jam records - PLAN B
Wholly commited to the cause, this is pretty horizontal stuff - THE CRACK
It's not even January yet and already I'm looking forward to the summer, and to seeing this record at the top of the writers End of Year lists - SHINDIG!
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Mojo review
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World
Moments of glory abound on this bright, funky and - particularly for folk music- outstandingly groovy album. Groove Locked Neo-Prog.
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Losing Today review
That Fuzzy Feeling ep
A humbling slice of quiet majesty easily deserving of a table placing next to both the aforementioned Shady Bard and Low. Perfect in case you haven't already guessed for yourselves.
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Boomkat review
Bronnt Industries Kapital
Drawing together clockwork devices, mellotrons, transistor organs, clarinet and a variety of unique string instruments. Wonderful stuff - highly recommended.
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Sunday Times review
Circus Devils
Ataxia is Yes’s Tales From Topographic Oceans remade in miniature from pottery fragments and human toenail clippings (Stewart Lee)
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Subba-Cultcha review
Cheval Sombre
Dark, mysterious mumbles weave their way through a laconic mix of ringing guitar chords and ethereal keyboard.
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DJ Magazine review
Cheval Sombre
Sombre by name but beautiful by nature, this piece of dreamy folk from New York's Christopher Popora is backed by an equally dreamy, although somewhat less conventional rework of The Supremes 'Where Did Our Love Go'.
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Vital Weekly review
Wrangler and Scanner
If you love that old sound, the real fat sound, then this is one true gem. Lovely. I'm glad they still do things like this: the right equipment, the right format.
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Aquarius Records review
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer
A continuous grinding low end assault, that makes Khanate and Bunkur seem downright musical, which they actually are compared to BSBC, who seem to be more interested in evoking terrifying feelings with sound, of creating a bleak and soul shattering soundworld from walls of black buzz and rumbling doom drenched drones.
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Dusted Magazine review
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer
Humming, swarming, electrocuted terror. That's all I can place here - a full, scarring outcry against the inhumanity of our times.
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Norman Records review
Iris To Hypnos
Iris To Hypnos are responsible for VAN 166. It truly is a sublime offering. 'Hypodermic' is an intoxicatingly warm piece of music that recalls prime FSOL (Future Sound of London to me and you P x) ambient works with it's melancholy piano and pretty shimmering tones and electronic glitches.
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Terrascope review
Teaism
Highly entertaining, this could be the perfect Christmas gift for a tea loving friend. (Simon Lewis)
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Warpmart review
Teaism
Highly conceptual long-player on Static Caravan that pays homage to the great British tradition. Features efforts by AM/PM; Herbert collaborator, Max de Wardner; Tunng; Dollboy; Xela; Carlos Nino of AmmonContact and more. 'Builders' strength all the way and not one lukewarm contribution. Presented on a lovely, 'untreated' card gatefold. Goes well with cake.
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Norman Records review
Teaism
It's 15 tracks of prime tea inspired folk, experimental & electronic beauty.
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The Wire review
Teaism
Throughout, filligree melodic lines curl through limpid atmospheres, just as an aromatic infusion spreads with stealthy, Brownian motion through a pot of boiling water.
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Losing Today review
Teaism
Another one please - milk and three sugars thanks.
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Mojo review
Smile Down Upon Us
It's a luxuriant blend of delicate folk-tinged playing, electronic texture and sweet sing-song.
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Subba-Cultcha.com review
Smile Down Upon Us
I’m not a spiritual person, but there is a magical feel about the way in which this music is conveyed; it’s a hugely promising debut from a brilliantly talented group of musicians.
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manchestermusic review
Smile Down Upon Us
Phelan Sheppard don’t actually really know moo and vice versa, but the album they’ve produced as strangers is built on live instruments, hypnotising loops and barely decipherable lyrics; but this is at times an international folk triumph...
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new-noise.net review
Smile Down Upon Us
Where does this leave us? Is there much time in our society for slow, whimsical, dream pop sung in Japanese? Whatever you think, Smile Down Upon Us are doing their best to try and give you an hour of peace and tranquillity often lacking in our hectic schedules.
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Norman Records review
Smile Down Upon Us
It's an album that just screams to be hosted by Static Caravan & I already feel it's my favourite since the first Tunng album, it's that cosy, breathtaking & charming!
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Cyclic Defrost review
Smile Down Upon Us
Their combined strength is in subtlety, when moomLooo's vocals and found sounds float atop Phelan and Sheppard's organic arrangements. 'A Vessel in the Fragrance', nestled inconspicuously towards the end of the album, is simply exquisite. Thudding drums, mesmerising parlour guitar and that vocal in perfect harmony make it the pinnacle of a gloriously spellbinding collaboration.
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Terrascope review
The Owl Service and Alison O'Donnell
Classic early seventies folk/rock, especially on the traditional "William and Earl Richards Daughter", a tune that will have fans of the genre salivating with glee.
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Losing Today review
The Owl Service and Alison O'Donnell
The musical chemistry between the duo is breathless, observers of Collins earlier releases should not be surprised as to how at ease he is at peeling back the years to apply a timeless craft that sounds for all the world as though its just tripped out of 60's folk commune, lest we forget that with 'a garland of song' he in his own words hoped to touch on the magic and mystery of Fairport Convention's career defining 'liege and life'. An absolute must have release.
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Warpmart/Bleep review
Ass - My Get Up And Go...
Over ten tracks he channels the ghosts of John Fahey and Burt Jansch, captured with a rich, rounded tone that sometimes it seems only Northern Europeans seem to be able to do, every held note, harmonic and reverb, is recorded in all it's intimate detail.
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Vital Weekly review
Ass - My Get Up And Go...
Most instrumental, but his voice matches the music perfectly. Like said, hardly music that belongs the daily digest of a reviewer for these pages, but perhaps just because of that, this is a very fine record.What else can I do other than play the record again.
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Warpmart/Bleep review
Robin Saville - Peasgood Nonsuch
Beautifully presented long player from one half of Isan, Robin Saville. The music is as colourful and the cover photo - chromatic, shimmering and delicately 'pop'. The guitar arrangements are awash with warm nostalgia and have that slightly exotic phrasing that you might hear in Savath & Savalas. The 'pops' and 'whirrs' of static provide a rudimentary rhythm, however, the programming is very sophisticated and lends itself to the schooling of, say, Raster Noton as opposed to the clumsy 'new wave'.
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Cyclic Defrost review
Robin Saville - Peasgood Nonsuch
Peasgood Nonsuch is a gentle, caressing work from one half of Isan, Robin Saville. It contains one of the underlying characteristics of most good music - a fine tension between simplicity and complexity.... sounds exotic, but there’s not a hint of tackiness or fetishism for its own sake in the music. ‘Cloud Pathology’ ends the album with some reversed guitar bursts punctuating mesmeric synth and wordless vocal melodies.
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Fact Magazine review
Robin Saville - Peasgood Nonsuch
Robin’s solo offering harks back to the Isan of old, suffusing his Eno-esque soundscapes with an organic quality. It sounds human, nature-nurtured, lovingly produced.
The album breezes by in celestial, low-fidelity cuts’n’clicks style, with 'Colin The Lazy Cormorant Part 1' the high water mark; tenderly tentative pinch harmonic guitars, frankly cheeky fretless bass, and quietly oscillating synthesizer drones all conspire to make something truly unique.
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Vital Weekly review
Robin Saville - Peasgood Nonsuch
If you liked ISAN before, or anything where popmusic (for whatever that may be) meets up with modern classical music (say Harold Budd's 'Serpent In Quicksilver', this album is a perfect meeting place.
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Birmingham Post review
Serafina Steer - Public Spirited
The standout track, though, is Day Glo, which may be the best song Steer has crafted so far. Eerie and with a defiant sense of melancholy, her harp playing is at its most dextrous, and there’s an unwavering ethereality about her performance which is remarkable.
The stark beauty of the songs is matched only by the packaging. The disc itself is housed in an intricately folded cardboard sleeve designed and produced by local illustrator Ben Javens. An essential purchase - you really would regret missing out. 5 stars [Simon Harper]
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Brokenface review
The Accidental 7"
“Knock Knock (Tunng Mix)” is somewhat scracthy and beat-based while the flip is quite stunning with spacey synth pop sounds that manage to also be mysterious and abstract. File somewhere along a line starting with Pram and ending with Four Tet.
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Brokenface review
Ass/Blood Music split
The Ass/Blood Music split 7” on the same label is actually even better. Here we find two Swedish one-man bands sharing space and although I’ve heard them both before this nicely colored wax display what they’re capable of at their very best. My favorite side is Ass AKA Andreas Söderström whose two folk and conutry-induced tracks work like string mysteries that evoke a walk through seasons with streams of pictures, stories, moods, rhythms and colors that I’d love to here in the full-length format.
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Losingtoday review
Ass/Blood Music split
Scrumptious. Equally inspired and introspective is the piano and string led 'turn the boat, turn the boat' - a melancholic and noire-ish gem that takes its cue from those quieter moments before the climatic storm gatherings as found on those early and crucial godspeed releases - in short you need this - limited to just 500 copies.
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Vital review
Ass/Blood Music split
Great 7", of course and of course, once again.
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Piccadilly review
Maybach
Second single from The Yellow Moon Band, and it's another stonkin' classic. Taking in prog, rock, psyche and folk and melding a cool laidback spliffy Summery vibe to it, YMB have come up with three tracks to take us to the sun and the stars and back again. Wonderful stuff!!!
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Fact Magazine review
Maybach
Like Keith Moon jamming with an amped up, cranked up, fret board shredding, finger-tapping John Renbourn: the soundtrack to the greatest folksploitation film of your wet dreams. Hot damn!
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Rough Trade review
Maybach
Three tracks of Fleetwood Mac (more the Peter Green version this time) meets Trans Am, all killers!
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Losingtoday review
Maybach
For us though the sets best moment arrives in the shape of Focussed - possessing something irrefutably wide open, liberating and pastoral, this slender and meandering free spirited spot of bewitchment has enough vintage early 70s accents about its wares to suggest its been scented and sourced with classic era traces of Dandelion, Vertigo and Island while simultaneously casting nods in the general direction of Buffalo Springfield, CSN and to a lesser degree serving it up with math / prog undercurrents a la King Crimson. As ever you need this.
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Drowned In Sound review
First, The Winter...
'From The Ground Up' may have been omitted from many end-of-year Best Of lists, but make no mistake about it: Shady Bard made considerable inroads both on record and live throughout 2007. Their music conveys both depth and humanity without resorting to walls of noise or (occasionally) even the merest hint of a vocal. Ultimately, it's probably fair to say they are one of the most unique bands in the country at present.
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Boomkat review
The Bird and The Worm
Smith takes the QOTSA standard 'No One Knows' with a mightily impressive arrangement on his guitar, turning the whole thing into a nifty ragtime-style romp. Ace.
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Delusions Of Adequacy review
Games Of Position
Recalling both the more sedate strands of the Dirty Three's repertoire, the dusty meditations of Calexico's Travelall and the ghostlike glide of Miles Davis's infinitely influential In A Silent Way. A gorgeously-packaged piece.
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Black And White Mag review
split ep
There are exceptions to every rule, and this hipster-ready Textile Ranch / Charles Atlas split is a glorious exception.....This EP isn't full of your conventional lendings, albeit indie or not, but both artists here capture the essence of what left-field electro and post-rock is all about. I highly recommend this EP.
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Kidvinyl review
On The Night Plain
The vocals are stronger, the rhythms more compelling, and just when you thought you had George Washington Brown pinned down as a clever-but-cute folkster to file alongside Badly Drawn Boy and Iron and Wine, you’re confronted with the psychedelia-tinged pop sound, in truth not a million miles away from The New Pornographers. This is an incredibly assured, accessible-yet-engaging record, a dirty little secret for the lover of imaginative pop.
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Stylus Magazine review
On The Night Plain
The record itself feels open-armed and friendly. And, importantly, still fun. It starts in an almost timid fashion, with lone voice and acoustic guitar emerging from some understated drones and chimes, mumbling about hearts and brains and other Wizard of Oz-like matters. As this motley collection of notes make their way down the yellow brick road, they gain courage in voice and by the time their song is closing it feels as though a full chorus is linking arms and skipping in unison, delighting in the fact that "it still rains."
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Fact Magazine review
On The Night Plain
An exceptionally consistent record, a slow burning love affair with the heart - here's to this year's best lost gem already.
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Organart review
On The Night Plain
Is that a Melotron? Psychedelic in an uncluttered unobvious Beatles, Beach Boys, Village Green Preservation Society kind of way – but no, that’s wrong as well, well maybe if you came at Sargent Pepper in that English sounding post Guided By Voices, Elliott Smith way that no one else actually has until now. This is wonderful actually, mainly because the songs are so good, but then also because of the details in those songs – the sounds, the instrumentation, the mellow pace, the texture, the uncluttered warmth, the lyrics, the style, all the piss and vinegar and wholesome positive way that it just confidently knowingly flows and just feels so right – this really is a work of expansive unassuming captivating beauty, yes, a cherishable thing and yes, a very modern timeless honest record.
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Gaz-Eta review
Cheap Demo Bad Science
Her debut, ironically titled "Cheap Demo Bad Science" shows her to be a talent that is screaming to get out. Playing the harp and keyboards, she creates a world that is serene, soothing and quirky.
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Black And White Mag review
Cheap Demo Bad Science
Think freak-folk with the 'freak' part being very introverted. "Tiger" is playful yet timid acoustic-pop, never veering too far from Steer's limit of comfortability. Quiet music is rarely as profound as this, and Cheap Demo Bad Science never falls into the trap of cliches. I'd highly suggest this album to people who like FR Luzzi, RF & Lili De La Mora, and Animal Collective.
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Boomkat review
Cheap Demo Bad Science
No doubt this will achieve comparisons galore to Ms Newsom, but what I find so unique about Sefa's work is that it has its roots deeply embedded in classic British folk tradition, from the vocals to her very distinctive instrumental touch, even down to the lyrical content. With tracks as unashamedly attractive as 'Tiger' (which comes with a spiffy stop-frame video from Sam Steer) and the foot-stomping 'Dawn Chorus' this deserves to be an album that crosses into a world past the pages of the blogosphere and onto radio airwaves near you. I predict great things, so do yourself a favour and clasp you hands around something lovely - who knows, if we all think about it at the exact same moment we might even get a summer yet! Recommended...
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Rant Magazine review
Cheap Demo Bad Science
The music itself is often intriguing and pretty, yet like Eno’s work, it’s the voice that keeps it from being sickly-sweet.

It’s neither too restful nor too tranquil, but that’s not a criticism; the album is perfectly pitched to remain either as mere background melodies or a full up-front distraction – one of Eno’s tricks, and a difficult one to pull off, especially in modern folk, and it’s that which makes the album worthy of praise.
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Boomkat review
Cine
Absolutely lovely and ridiculously limited so be quick - I'd say for fans of Broadcast or Pram this would be indispensable.
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Q Magazine review
From The Ground Up
Shady Bard could easily be filed alongside the british whimsy of the Beta Band, Soft Hearted Scientists or even Tindersticks
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Boomkat review
From The Ground Up
Shady Bard must qualify as one of the least electronic sounding acts in Static Caravan's history, but based on the calibre of "From The Ground Up" they stand every chance of achieving the same sort of breakaway success that Tunng found with the label. Recommended.
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New Noise review
From The Ground Up
Shady Bard reveal themselves to be worthy challengers to British Sea Power’s throne of pastoral worry-rock. We’ve gone way off the middle of the road by this stage and are ploughing gleefully through the adjacent field. Something that at first seemed ordinary has revealed itself to be something quite unusual – and really very good.
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The Organ review
From The Ground Up
Sometimes quiet is the most powerful thing, a beautiful glowing album.
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Drowned In Sound review
From The Ground Up
Their closest allies in a musical sense are probably the likes of iLiKETRAiNS and Low, if only for the former's haunting melodies that veer between spoken-word symphonies and mesmerising soundscapes, and the latter for the evocative harmonies that echo those that spill out of the mouths of Shady Bard's Lawrence Becko and Jasmin Hollingum every so often.
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Alternative Ulster review
From The Ground Up
'From The Ground Up' is Shady Bard's debut and it's nothing short of spectacular.
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Wireless Bolinger review
From The Ground Up
They're pastoral folk-rock, like Grandaddy or Midlake, with the fullness of Sigur Ros, minus the Icelanders' epic bent. The title track, 'From The Ground Up', is the most obvious of the Sigur Ros comparisons. An instrumental, the layered strings and subtle guitar effects lead to a drum-driven crescendo that would not have seemed out of place on Takk. You can't escape the feeling that they would be far more at home playing a gig on a cold, wet, winter morning in a country field than in a seedy little pub or bar....
From the Ground Up is as assured a debut as I've heard, and consistent enough in its themes, instrumentation and song-craft for it to be an 'album' in all the word's connotations.
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Losingtoday review
From The Ground Up
'From the ground up’ is simply beautiful, there’s no other word for it - bleak, bruised, beguiling and burning with inward regret. It has over the course of the few days in the company of our hi-fi literally reduced this particular listener to moments of tears like no other full length before it making it something of a feat, for myself, to get through from start to finish in one sitting.
In short ‘From the ground up’ is in a class of it’s own.
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The Wire Review
Ylid / Matthew Rozeik
"It would be a mistake to view this four track EP from friends Rozeik and Ylid as a split release, even though they both contribute two songs apiece. Close friends and secret sharers of a common muse, this is not the first time that they've worked together in such a fashion, blending guitars, strings and the subtlest of rhythmic beds into finely crafted songs. Of the two, Rozeik, with a background in composing soundtracks for short films, has the melodic edge, favouring smoother lines and more arresting arrangements. In return, Ylid goes a little deeper into the click and the cut, but it's what draws the two together that gives this project its distinctive edge."
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Birmingham Post Review
Treeology EP
Birmingham-based quintet Shady Bard have left critics salivating with this mellifluous EP, their debut recording. Perfectly showcasing their shimmering folk-pop, these six tracks arrive as if filtered through the minds of Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce and Sparklehorse mainman Mark Linkous. Bobby and These Quiet Times are simple yet oddly ambitious, and seem to be custom-built for festival crowds bathing in the afternoon sun. From the Ground Up, meanwhile, is resonant of the elegant chamber-rock swells of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. A fantastic release, this marks out Shady Bard as a band to watch closely this year. Catch them while you can.
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DJ Magazine Review
Icicles & Snowflakes/Almond Eyes
If there were awards for quiet and unassuming services to indie music, then Static Caravan would surely be up for the prize. With each and every year their catalogue expands slowly but surely across the acoustic/electronic spectrum with unusual, interesting, yet all to often overlooked music. Doing his bit for the cause then, Stefan Panczak delivers another perfectly poised and perfectly tempered piece of sparkling, chiming and seductive electronica that's as subtle and beautiful as it is impossible to resist.
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Electronic Desert Review
A Rainy Mile
"A Rainy Mile" is Cheju’s debut release for the honourable Static Caravan label. The beautifully packaged four track 3” CD single starts off with “Traces”, Cheju’s signature is clearly audible and it would be the beats that would give him away, however isn’t there a very familiar yet foreign element in this track as well, a sample of another great electronic musician. “Adrift” features devastating vocals and imposing guitars fused with a healthy beat to keep things moving along quite unlike Cheju and at the same time not. “Hikari” brings the big drum and Cheju sounds to go, it’s just a great seminal track. “Prolonged Reflection” is in a sense a retake on one of his own tracks and probably my favourite of the four on this EP. The build-up is superb, beats, melody and bassline to die for and kind of reminiscent of Bauri’s work actually, but still being a Cheju affair. “A Rainy Mile” - a lovely 3-inch release from Static Caravan counting in at 112! It’s only a 200 series’ run, so I suggest you get your self a copy before it’s too late...
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Etherreal Review
A Rainy Mile
Déjà auteur de nombreux EP en 2005 (sur Boltfish, qu'il co-dirige, mais aussi sur Rednetic, Kahvi Collective ou Laced Mikl Technologies), CHEjU débute 2006 avec un nouveau maxi, paraissant cette fois-ci sur Static Caravan. CD-R 3", boîtier en plastique de couleur, electronica mélodique : tout laisse à penser qu'il s'agit là d'un des volumes de la série Residents Association de Cactus Island Recordings. Rythmiques précises et légèrement appuyées, mélodies classiques mais agréables, on est bien ici dans l'electronica traditionnelle, teintée de certaines sonorités plus métalliques ou plus grésillantes. Parfois plus agressives (Hikari), les pulsations sont néanmoins tempérées par la dimension chromatique de la musique de l'Anglais et notamment ses notes s'apparentant à un clavecin digitalisé. Opérant dans Adrift dans des climats plus évanescents, Wil Bolton propose d'extatiques nappes de synthé et une rythmique plus laid-back bientôt rejointes par une guitare aérienne et des cliquetis pour un résultat tout à fait probant. Dans une même atmosphère apaisée, Prolonged Reflection dispose de petites notes graciles, presque caressantes, idéale clôture d'un maxi particulièrement convaincant.
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Channel 4 Teletext Review
Treeology EP
'One of our Faces Of 2006, ambition and beauty resonate from every note of an EP that's both beautifully tender while rocking like Lost's polar bears. Hard not to say how gorgeous this is without being pretentious. How about "lovely"?' - Planet Sound, Channel 4 Teletext (p.355)
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Losingtoday Review
Treeology EP
Sublime in the way it literally destroys you this EP is quietly magnificent, sensitive, mellow, melodically perfect and one for snuggling under the blankets to. Autumnal of that there‘s no doubt, hurting and lost in a maddening world of quick firing three minute fumbles in the sack of pop - Shady Bard’s compositions are measured, elegant cast and lasting. Once the frosty opening of the introductory instrumental thread of ’The Origin of Trees’ with it’s yawning strings and lullaby-esque piano keys passes into the ether from out of the snowbound daybreak comes the enchanting softly treading ’Treeology’. Think of the more mercurial and less fractured moments from Thom Yorke’s psyche, add to it a vocal that sounds not unlike a younger and tearfully stained King Creosote and the gentle but subtle haunting splash of conscience pulling cascading chords braided by an complement of softy impatient strings that together hover ominously with the implied threat that they’ll soon unhook themselves from their serene mooring. Absolutely amazing stuff. The equally arresting ‘These Quiet Times’ next which you feel would be enhanced immensely by a backdrop of snow drifts outside, horse chestnuts roasting on a roaring open fire and an array of some suitably ’Giles’ inspired choir singers outside distantly peddling their Xmas fair into the cold night air.
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Boomkat Review
The Pioneers
The magnificent Tunng is back..and this time with a fabulous dual-format EP for Static Caravan featuring a cover version of Block Party's 'The Pioneers' stripped of the histrionic herky-jerky guitars and XFM vocals, to be replaced by a very satisfying trickle of electronic folk. The product of Tuung (Mike Lindsay and Sam Genders), 'The Pioneers' exists somewhere between the Beta Band, The Notwist and Nick Drake; a sound they honed to nigh-perfection on their LP 'Mother's Daughter'. Backed up by 'Tale From Black' (a throbbing cohabitation of Ye Olde folk, dusty samples and rigid beats), 'Pool Beneath The Pond' (oak-lined bass, sonorous vocals and skin-itching tronica) and the video for 'Fair Doreen' (CD only, of course), 'The Pioneers' is as satisfying a chunk of rustictronica you're likely to hear. Highly Recommended!...
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Losingtoday Review
Dreams of Tall Buildings vs. Scott Smallwood
’Songs of Opposites’. Without doubt the best looking thing we’ve received in yonks this - limited or should I say strictly limited to just 100 copies (and word is on presales alone this is fast dwindling) cute thing comes packaged like one of those old floppy disc things from the 80’s - housed in a neat Memorex sleeve to boot. At first we thought uh-ho given that previous dotb releases have either come pressed between planks of wood or as mummified soap slabs, maybe, just maybe this would be another release to merely drool over for looks alone, but hey we are veterans of the Krypton Factor and having pondered after a sleepless night found our way into said package to unearth a CD with 8 tracks to boot - whoopee! Be warned though it’s a lights on to be played in the day time type release, this isn’t your playful dotb here this is their impish alter ego hell bent on frazzling your head and into the process scaring you shitless. Resorting to sound manipulations, distortions and drone-scapes ’Songs of Opposites’ creates a deceptive barren like collage of moods as eerie as we’ve heard since Tears of Abraham’s ’Sacrificing the Text’ earlier last year and perhaps further still to those all important early outings of Pimmon (especially on ‘Red becomes black‘). It’s not all doom and gloom though - okay then we are talking degrees of doom and gloom here - after the disturbing opening shot of ‘96 small squares’ which to these ears possesses shades of Barry Gray’s closing credits to ‘UFO’ the doomy bleakness of ‘Feed’ soon dissipates as the organic augmentation begins to take shape a la Set Fire to Flames. On the other hand ‘Black Ice Letters’ could easily be the long lost art of Martian communication chattering incessantly inside your head while the quite frankly ominous and dare we say bed wetting ‘Patience knows these hands’ is distracting only for the fact that you’ll either keep checking behind the sofa expecting to be met by something with large teeth and a taste for human flesh or have the overriding need to impishly scream ‘It’s behind you’. Perhaps the most together cut to be found on this collection is ‘Propaganda Film’ which itself belies an oddly Far East resonance while being equipped with all manner of bells, chattering clicks and spooky creaks and groans - not so much a song as such but rather more a passing through a point of reverence. Personally though for me the ornate after dark down tempo vibe of ‘Victory found in books’ serves as the high water mark here as for once the abstract / concrete tendencies and the visibly alien terrains are left aside in their place warmer textures and a lunar like calm not unlike the type Warp used to frequently engage in pervades throughout. Eclectic and erratic they may be but Dreams of Tall Buildings can and never will be accused of being dull. Essential and indeed worrying your life mightn’t be made any more enlightened for the experience of having it but your record collection will certainly be that much cooler. Consider yourselves told.
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Losingtoday Review
Besnard Lakes ‘Would anybody come to visit me’. More Static delights with which to spend your unused Xmas record vouchers on is this diamond release from Besnard Lakes. Lovingly pressed on 10 inches of sumptuous vinyl each of these 500 pressings comes equipped with a screen print insert and if that wasn’t good reason for a spot of cheering and bunting hanging then the two tunes neatly packed between the grooves may well rekindle your belief that pop music can touch, tease, tussle and do strangely wonderful things to your head. With a follow up full length to ‘Volume 1’ in the can and ready awaiting release this twin set provides ample proof as to why these kids are already the subject of hushed mutterings among those in the know. The beauty of Besnard Lakes sound is that it doesn’t hit you immediately instead preferring to leave enough trace elements of something unknown to snag your senses and put that doubting thought in your head that it might just be a good idea to let the stylus do is thing once more. Three plays in and you are hooked ‘Would anybody come to visit me’ softly unfurls not so much in a rush of colour but more so exacting a slow dripping hue, quietly stirring within an array of familiar sounds and yet not familiar sounds, partly kaleidoscopic, partly epic if only for the way it slyly seduces with it’s soft centred folds. Don’t be fooled by its opening ambit the vibrant array of cloud piercing feedback that whine and shimmer as they soon acquit themselves of their task in creating an atmospheric entrée and having done so exit stage left leaving in their wake the most off centred slice of laid back coolness you’ll probably find hard to better all year a kind of meeting of minds between early Butterflies of Love (think ‘Rob a Bank’ here) and Galaxie 500 found skulking under a stairs swapping notes on the merits of both Morricone’s effective skeletal spaghetti western scores and John Barry’s mercurial aural sculptures. Likewise BL supply a bagful of crucially gentle strumming, supplant copious amounts of heart sapping finger licking drop dead gorgeous guitar string plucking, throw in some frankly unreal harmonies and mash it all together into something that’ll break hearts of stone at the drop of a hat. Preferring not to let the side down over on the flip there’s the wonderfully hypnotic lull of the sample heavy ‘Life rarely begins with Tungsten film #2’ which comes across deceptively docile to slyly crush you beneath the weight of its hidden beauty - play loud to get the most from it’s spellbinding seduction taking care to avoid the ’Cars’ like intro as it builds layer by layer along the way making visible post rock nods so much so that you might throughout the duration be forgiven for thinking you’ve stumbled across a secret union between early Arab Strap, San Lorenzo and the much loved Workhouse (which reminds us - are Bearos and Awkward Silence records still around?). Essential stuff.
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Birmingham Post - December 2005
Strange Sounds Orchestra
The brainchild of musician and author Mark Brend, this single from Strange Sounds Orchestra is simultaneously kitsch and highly sophisticated. Exotic, futuristic lounge music, it's an uncanny approximation of how Stereolab would sound if Joe Meek was among their ranks. It could easily have made the perfect soundtrack to a cult 1970s TV show. There's an accompanying book written by Brend (published by backbeat books £16.95) exploring some of the most weird and wonderful crannies in pop history, essaying such gloriously oddball instruments as the theramin and the stylophone. Lovingly put together, it makes for a riveting package.

Future Music Review - December 2005
Strange Sounds Orchestra
"...Strange Sounds is entertaining and informative throughout, and comes with a CD full of samples of the various instruments detailed in the book. The author has also recorded a single as The Strange Sounds Orchestra - four songs of gorgeous retro-futurist pop released in conjunction with the book and the Static Caravan label." 9 out of 10
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Pennyblack Review
Build your own snowglobe
'A myriad of musicians and 'outfits' record a digital mish mash of acoustic, vocal and computer performances these days. The Library Trust delivers the eloquent tranquility you expect yet a teenage angst wee went into this EP. Since this is the debut of Simon from last year's Under 19, it is forgiven. His pure voice makes 'Build Your Own Snowglobe' the friendly listen, like an umbrella and moreover he has a talent for melody. 'Beyond Blue' closes off this intimate session with the tension that turns you curious for more '
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Piccadilly Records
Build your own snowglobe 'Static Caravan once again edge away from their usual electronic fare with this release from Rob Edwards aka The Library Trust. This four track EP is a collection of beautiful, frail songs. The delicate acoustics and finely crafted songs are inevitably gonna draw comparisons to Badly Drawn Boy's first EPs, but where as Badly's songs had a playful charm, the tracks on this EP have a much darker bittersweet edge to them, more akin to the songwriting style of The Montgolfier Brothers perhaps. Whatever comparisons you care to make, this is truly lovely stuff. A strictly limited vinyl EP record in a seven-inch picture sleeve in an edition of 400 copies. Grab one now before everyone cottons on to The Library Trust's charm!'
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City Life Review
Build your own snowglobe 'Little is known about the Library Trust other than the fact that he grew up in deepest rural Lancashire and now lives in Manchester. The son of two librarians, he was encouraged to read from an early age and his lyrics suggest a lifetime immersed in stories and fairy tales. Songs like 'Eveline' and 'A Shove in the Mouth' capture the raw frustration and loneliness of small town life, while Harbour suggests there's a river of secrets and lies flowing beneath the lake District. On a more intimate note, 'Beyond Blue' exposes the pain and pleasure of heartache and unrequited love. Endearingly executed with just acoustic guitar and strings for instrumentation, this is a lovely debut that's well worth seeking out.'
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Silentage review
Virtute Et Industria
There are few British labels left that you can take a chance with your pound on but Static Caravan is that rare, rare thing. Each and every release is never anything less than fascinating. Quite how this tiny West Midlands label has survived these past few years is anyone’s guess – particularly when it’s production runs are often limited to a mere 500 and until recently, it’s most favoured format was the record store-unfriendly 7” vinyl. Even so, Static Caravan is arguably the closest thing we’ve got to a spiritual heir to Wurlitzer Jukebox – the remarkable 90’s independent that discovered and gently kick-started the careers of wonderful units like ISAN, Broadcast and Plone.

Geoff Dolman, the ‘van’s A&R filter has no less a talent for panning gold in a river of copyist shit. Bronnt Industries Kapital are, therefore, the most recent in a long line of intriguing discoveries. What’s most interesting here for me is the juxtaposition of some incredibly grave, often intense keyboard and loop work with off kilter, downright fearsome, machinated rhythms. And though that description might bring to mind, perhaps Aphex Twin, this is considerably less polished; gritty; coughed up. Indeed, though BIK’s production smacks of weed-aided, late night home recording, there’s a wealth of tone and texture here – mainly greys and blacks/browns in tool steel and bromide.
www.silentagerecords.co.uk/bronnt
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Birmingham Post Review
Reviewed by Simon Harper - 09 May 2005
Virtute Et Industria
'Like hearing the words "After the break, Lorraine Kelly ...", the debut album from Bristolian duo Bronnt Industries Kapital inspires a deep sense of foreboding. The work of Guy Bartell and Nick Talbot, Virtute Et Industria is a defiantly unsettling record, its dark, glitchy electronica recalling Cabaret Voltaire and Aphex Twin.
Endless Pressure revolves around a sparse melody; it’s simultaneously chiming, charming and chilling.
Yet it also appears remarkably human, rather than robotic – the grim, horrific side of humanity buried within the ominous atmospheres. Virtute Et Industria will command your attention, although it’s probably best to listen with the lights on.'
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Independent Review
Reviewed by Andy Gill - 07 January 2005
This is Tunng
'As might be expected of a duo who perform "Maypole Song" from The Wicker Man in their live shows, there's a distinctly bucolic tone to Tunng's debut album - albeit one tempered with a sharp edge of modernity, courtesy of the beats and samples with which producer Mike Lindsay embellishes the folk-song stylings of singer Sam Genders. The result is a quirky, distinctive blend of ancient and modern, its combination of acoustic guitars, folksy ruminations and glitch-tronica rhythms resembling a digital-age Pentangle. It's one of the more successful exercises in folktronica since Momus first coined the phrase back in 2001, thanks largely to Genders' ability to draw on elemental imagery both metaphysical (lines such as "Thou art not Satan's girl" and "I saw the sun fall on everyone") and scientific ("Like Watson and Crick, you seem to look into my soul"), and Lindsay's knack for disrupting any cosy nostalgic tendencies with sudden interjections of things such as door-intercom buzzers and canned applause. Best of all is "Tale from Black", in which lines such as "She knows when they jail her they'll grind down the key" capture something of the dark, cataclysmic extremity of traditional folk songs.'
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Guardian Review
Reviewed by Dorian Lynskey - Friday January 7, 2005
This is Tunng
'Following in the footsteps of Adem and Four Tet are singer Sam Genders and producer Mike Lindsay, whose CV includes a spell writing soft-porn soundtracks for Richard Desmond's Fantasy Channel - not that there's any obvious connection, unless one of the films he worked on was called Confessions of a Wicker Man.
The 10 songs here all sound as if they were composed on some remote Scottish island, then electronically interfered with en route. People Folk has the clattering, mantric drone of early Beta Band, while Surprise Me does exactly what its title promises, with Genders extending a homely invitation "to light the fires when the sun goes down" over unlikely ray-gun spurts and rattling dancehall jolts.'
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Tunng
Tale from Black
BoomKat Review
'Absolutely fabulous new 7" on the ever-adorable, reliable and on-the-mark Static Caravan imprint. "Tale From The Black", incredibly, is the debut release from Mike Lindsay, aka Tunng, striding a gloriously accomplished line through folk and all the marvellous permutations it seems to have spawned over the last few years. We hope Static hold on to this guy, you just know listening to this remarkable debut that there'll be a clamour of interest in an artist destined for big things. Killer.'
Review www.boomkat.com
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Tunng
Tale from Black
Norman Records Review
'One of the biggest surprises this week is the new Static Caravan 7" by Tunng. Early Beta Band & Badly Drawn Boy, The Wicker Man soundtrack & "Elizabeth My Dear" by The Stone Roses spring immediately to mind. Beautiful folk guitar, dreamy Ian Brown esque lullaby vocals & a drum machine. Would love to know what that brief sample is lifted from, Geoff old boy! Yep. My single of the week, just wicked!'
Review www.normanrecords.com
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CULTUREINDUSTRY
dj ascetic loves himself badly
Drowned in Sound Review
'As debut singles go, the first offering from [CULTUREINDUSTRY] on Static Caravan does notably well at giving its listeners the willies whilst barely batting an eyelid, so better fear for your (and their) sanity when then look like they’re struggling. Having recruited former musicians from both The Others and Hope Of The States, hauled themselves around at gigs and club nights (hi there, Don’t Piss On The Fish) and got themselves into the mighty Sick Room Studios, the group are now honed enough to ably imprint their fear and loathing onto wax.
Don't have nightmares.'
Review www.drownedinsound.com
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D_rradio
U_nderscore
Blow Up Magazine Writer - Davide Gualandi
'It is difficult to foresee the future for d_rradio. Making hypothesis and suppositions on their role as innovators of the overpopulated english scene. Despite the fact that their debut "long player" does not turn upside-down other musicians approach, its content is actually impossible to underestimate. First of all because on u_nderscore there's everything that we have enjoyed in last years, from post-rock to IDM. D_Rradio use sounds like Boards of Canada with an indie attitude, like Hood or Dntel, but they have their own great songwriting, which is a primary detail. U_nderscore is an assembly of touching tracks, in an ocean of sadness (listen to the piano in No more reaction) but with sparks of analogic light & rhythms here and there. Like a modern issue of the Mogwai Young team, for here and now.'
Review Blow up magazine
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D_rradio
U_nderscore
Comes with a smile
Writer - Andy Slocombe
'Keeping the ball rolling ahead after suitably well-received 7" releases on Static Caravan and Awkward Silence - seemingly the only two labels keeping that format alive, and all power to them for it - this 38-minute mini-album from the promising North-East quartet is very much a continuation of the template laid down by their vinyl output, and lives up to expectations comfortably. Maintaining an eerie, slow-motion pace in the course of the 7 instrumental tracks here, Death Row Radio (yep) have struck upon and fine-tuned a graceful, timeless sound without the peaks and troughs that some of their closest peers seem duty-bound to include. Minimal, warm and widescreen in composition, this is neither electronica nor post-rock, yet the end product is almost solely an amalgam of the two - which suggests they've found a perfect balance whether by accident or design that leaves them impossible to classify and without direct comparison, somehow; nothing new in terms of the component parts, but that's where the craft lies.'
Review Comes with a smile
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