Last Dinosaurs "KYORYU" (2024)

KYORYU

release date: May 21, 2024

format: digital (13 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,12]

producer: Last Dinosaurs, Oscar Dawson & Scott Horscroft

label: Nettwerk - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Keys to Your Civic" - 3. "Self-Serving Human Being" - 4. "Paranoia Paradise" (feat. Glaze) - 5. "14 Occasions" - 6. "Wait Your Turn" - 10. "Afterlife"

5th full-length studio or a compilation (?) album by Australian dream pop and indie pop quartet Last Dinosaurs following 1½ years after From Mexico with Love (Oct. 2022), which again followed Yumeno Garden (Oct. 2018). Since their 2022 album, the band released two EPs, RYU (Nov. 2023) and KYO (Apr. 2024), and the tracks from these two actually constitute KYORYU, basically reducing the album to a compilation, but then this has become a quite common promotion procedure - regardless, what you may think of it. But it means that the first five tracks are identical to KYU, and tracks #7-13 are all taken from RYO. The digital issue (from the band's bandcamp site) comes with one extra track (track #6), and the total running time clocks in at 49 minutes.

It's all fine melodic indie / dream pop focusing on harmony-driven arrangements. At times it's a bit too slick, a bit too sugary. For my taste. I find, there's a turn towards K-Pop music on this, but it's nevertheless nicely executed. I just don't suspect, it's an album I will return to that regularly. I simply miss more edge, and a bolder original sound.

2023 'RYU' ep

2024 'KYO' ep

Papir "7" (2022)

7

release date: Jan. 14, 2022

format: digital (4 x file, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,55]

producer: Lars Lundholm (rec.]; Troels Bech [mast.]; Papir [mix.]

label: Stickman Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "7.1 (part I-III)" - 2. "7.2" - 4. "7.4"

7th studio album by Papir following close to three years after VI (May 2019) is the band's third album on Stickman. This new album comes with four compositions and with a total running time at nearly 41 mins. The first track - consisting of three parts - is by far the longest with a running time at almost 20 mins, whereas the three remainders are all well under 10 mins each. Also being released on vinyl, the first track takes up all of the A-side, with the three shorter tracks filling the B-side, it seems natural if all three would have been labelled '7.II (part I-III)' - but they're not. Perhaps the band just think of them as too different, or they want to have you ponder in the dark?

7 is yet another instrumental journey within a post-rock universe but it's also something new to this trio as dreampop-founded AND without the space rock characteristics. Track "7.3" is literally ambient, and that's taking it a bit too far for my taste, but they have successfully tuned down on the fabulating instrumental excess and instead found a calm and slow evolving progress, which to me, sounds as an improvement.

In my ears, this is bliss and it's also the band's so far best album.

[ bandcamp ]

[ 👉SputnikMusic 4 / 5 stars ]

Mazzy Star "Among My Swan" (1996)

Among My Swan
release date: Oct. 29, 1996
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: David Roback, Hope Sandoval
label: Capitol Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Disappear" - 2. "Flowers in December" (4 / 5) (live) - 3. "Rhymes of an Hour" - 5. "Take Everything" - 7. "All Your Sisters" - 8. "I've Been Let Down"

3rd studio album by Mazzy Star follows (another) three years after their sophomore So Tonight That I Might See (1993). All songs here are credited David Roback and Hope Sandoval.

The album introduces a change of style as the album is primarily founded on the use of acoustic guitars instead of the feedback electric guitar sound on the first two albums, and the bond to both the 'baroque pop' of the '60s as well as to Velvet Underground has been accentuated.

The album produced the UK top-40 single "Flowers in December" but apart from that the album was seen as a lesser album, and also music critics seemed less drawn to the change of style.

After the release, the band went on a live tour and also began work on a follow-up, but they found the demands of the record label management intolerable with "the money people" interfering in their creative craftmanship and Sandoval and Roback eventually asked to be released from their contractual obligations. Without officially dissolving, the band went on a hiatus in '97 that should last fourteen years and Among My Swan was eventually followed by the fourth album in 2013, Seasons of Your Day.

I find this one on a completely different level than the first two albums. It simply tastes too much of the '60s. It's good but not really essential.

[ allmusic.com 3.5 / 5 stars ]

Mazzy Star "So Tonight That I Might See" (1993)

So Tonight That I Might See
release date: Oct. 5, 1993
format: cd / vinyl (2022 reissue)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]
producer: David Roback
label: Capitol Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Fade Into You" (4,5 / 5) (live on Later) - 2. "Bells Ring" (4 / 5) - 3. "Mary of Silence" - 7. "Unreflected" - 9. "Into Dust" - 10. "So Tonight That I Might See"

2nd studio album by Mazzy Star following nearly 3½ years after the debut She Hangs Brightly (1990). Since then, the band signed with Capitol after the Rough Trade division closed in the US, and it appears that although both Keith Mitchell and Will Cooper of Opal participate on the album, they are merely additional personnel, and Mazzy Star has become what it basically always was: the duo-project of composer, guitarist and pianist David Roback and songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Hope Sandoval.

At first, the album sounds much alike the predecessor, in tone and especially sound, as the style has become even darker and mesmerising with drone-like guitar-sequences with Sandoval's haunting vocal on top.

"Fade into You" became the band's first and only top-100 single in the US peaking at #44; however, the band may never have aimed at making hit songs and becoming mainstream artists, but the album is often found listed among the best Dream Pop albums ever made [Pitchfork's 30 best dream pop albums].

The album comes out as the aural version of a highly original dream landscape - both hauntingly beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Roback and Sandoval appear more laid back on this, although, some tracks are 'noise rock' influenced and the title track sounds unimaginable without thinking of "The End" by The Doors and (perhaps also) "Heroin" by Velvet Underground, but overall I find it bettering their debut. This is simply their best studio album.

Now, did anyone say Lana Del Rey? Well, I betcha she heard this one!

Highly recommendable.

[ allmusic.com, Uncut 4,5 / 5, NME, Sputnikmusic 4 / 5, Soundlab 5 / 5 stars ]

Blaue Blume "Country" (2022) (single)

Country, single

release date: Sep. 9. 2022

format: digital (1 x File, FLAC)

[single rate: 4 / 5] [3,88]

producer: Blaue Blume

label: HFN Music - nationality: Danmark

Tracklist: 1. "Country" (4 / 5)

Single release by Blaue Blume and the band's first actual release Bell of Wool (Nov. 2019) except from the remix of "Loveable" - the first by Trentemøller (released Feb. 2020) and one by Emil Rottmayer (released Mar. 2021). Since that album and in the span of the most recent months the band has been reduced to a trio following the leave of guitarist Robert Buhl Jensen, who then leaves behind a band consisting of vocalist Jonas Smith, guitarist & bassist Buster Lassen, and with Søren Buhl-Jensen on keyboards & drums.

"Country" has so far only been issued in digital format, and the song is a laidback and quiet track with traces to Talk Talk with a certain jazzy quality and with elements from country and progressive pop, and with the pompous production of Blaue Blume in behold. It's beautiful and heartfelt, and it still shows the band's great potential. The single may be found on the band's bandcamp-profile.

Lightning Bug "A Color of the Sky" (2021)

A Color of the Sky

release date: Jun. 25, 2021

format: digital

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,75]

producer: Lightning Bug

label: Fat Possum Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "The Return" (live) - 2. "The Right Thing Is Hard to Do" (live) - 3. "September Song, Pt. II" - 4. "Wings of Desire" - 6. "Song of the Bell" - 7. "I Lie Awake" - 10. "The Flash"

3rd studio album by American indie pop band Lightning Bug is the band's first on an actual record label, as their first two albums were pure self-releases. Yet the band is still in full control with keyboardist Logan Miley as mixer and the band themselves in the role as producer. On the their first two outings, the band was a trio but it's now expanded to a quintet with the addition of bassist Vincent Puleo and drummer Dane Hagen, and thus it has been possible to record the album live in the studio, where vocalist and songwriter Audrey Kang previously both played bass and drum tracks.

The style has become more laid back, more spacious and ethereal bonding stronger to dream pop, although it also sounds like a natural extension of the band's second album October Sky (2019). Still, Cocteau Twins and other 80s and 90s dream pop bands pop to mind, but on the album here you may also notice a more apparent inspiration from the two final albums by post-rock band Talk Talk as well as Mazzy Star. It's a fine mix of ambient noise and primarily melodic harmonies, and the album appears to me, as the band's finest to date.

[ allmusic.com, SputnikMusic 4,5 / 5, Slant 4 / 5, Pitchfork 3,5 / 5 stars ]

Fritz "Pastel" (2021)

Pastel

release date: Feb. 12, 2021

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,52]

producer: Fraser Marshall

label: Inertia Music - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Sweetie" - 2. "Arrow" - 3. "Pastel" - 4. "She's Gonna Hate Me!" - 7. "Die Happily" - 9. "Jan 1"

2nd studio album by Australian music project Fritz (stylised FRITZ) consisting of Matilda Murphy (aka Tilly Murphy) on vocals, rhythm guitar and bass, Cody Brougham on (lead) guitar, and with Darren James on drums. Or at least that's what you could think, and then in the band's music videos you may also see a (second) bass player and a keyboard player, although the band members apparently only count Murphy, Brougham, and James. Matilda is also credited as songwriter and composer. The band is based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, and before Pastel they released the self-promoted album FRITZ in 2017 - which makes Pastel the band's debut on an actual label.

It's music somewhere in between The Vaccines, Jezabels, and Dum Dum Girls with clear inspiration from My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Breeders and Swedish The Radio Dept. with a balance between light noise pop, classic dream pop and what perhaps should be referred to as pop-grunge. The album consists of nine songs with a modest running time of just under half an hour.

It may be the kind of music that sounds as if made in the 90s, but it has a naive freshness and unimpressiveness that could stem from the fact that the band members have only just stepped out of their teenage years. Musically, it could be described as somewhat narrow - both in terms of production sound and in the variation of the individual compositions - but it's nevertheless delightfully refreshing at a time when music is something that ideally requires a new producer (or preferably several) for each track, and where the compositions should ideally be piled up in countless soundtracks and advanced arrangements to perhaps cover up the fact that the good songs are basically missing. After a quick spin, you might feel like uttering 'was that it? I mean, the whole album?' And yes, it is kinda short, sweet and most of all, it sounds promising for the future, so we have another real alternative to Eilish (and bro), Del Rey, multi-billionaire West and all the other overrated and overproduced hitmakers.

Recommended.

[ 👍Awfultrackrecord.com 3,5 / 5 stars ]

I Break Horses "Warnings" (2020)

Warnings

release date: May 20, 2020

format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,92]

producer: Maria Lindén

label: Bella Union - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Turn" (4 / 5) - 2. "Silence" - 4. "I'll Be the Death of You" - 6. "The Prophet" (4,5 / 5) - 7. "Neon Lights" - 8. "I Live at Night" - 9. "Baby You Have Travelled for Miles Without Love in Your Eyes" (4 / 5) - 10. "Death Engine"

3rd studio album by I Break Horses as a follow-up to the more than six year old Chiaroscuro (Jan. 2014) is much as usual produced by the band's dynamo, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer Maria Lindén, and it's like the duo's two previous albums released on British label Bella Union.

Six years is a long time between releases in modern popular music culture, but it's the pace of Lindén and percussionist Fredrik Balck who seem in complete control, although part of the explanation for the long wait may have to do with Lindén's perfectionism and the fact that some recordings were lost. The album consists of 12 tracks varying from 1 to 9 minutes and with a total running time of 54 minutes.

Musically, the album lands somewhere in between the first two albums - Hearts from 2011 with its guitar-driven shoegaze and My Bloody Valentine-esque wall of sound versus the more electronic synthpop release from 2014. You'll find energetic uptempo tracks with almost inaudible guitar as background instrumentation, but otherwise it's a more strict synthpop and electropop version of dreampop guided by keyboards, synths, and drum programming, the duo presents here. Lindén is undoubtedly the duo's leading figure - in addition to her vocal contributions, she handles guitar, bass, and keyboards, while Balck, in addition to his part of co-songwriter, apparently is content to contribute as the duo's rhythmic planner.

Warnings has been released to fine reviews, and it's an album that may leave you with a feeling of something ingenious and original pointing back to the best by The Knife, but which also borrows from Cocteau Twins and Radio Dept., but cleverly avoids imitation, because it appears thoroughly new. Lindén doesn't reveal an impressive vocal as some contemporary pop artists, but on Warnings the vocal side is more of a contribution to the tone of dreampop in line with the sound of a synthesiser or the keyboards, and the rhythmic contribution of percussion and drum programming varies from trance-like monotony over more traditional simple rhythm structures to something almost dynamic organic as you would find on albums by The Creatures.

With Warnings, I Break Horses has made a minor masterpiece by balancing the positive energy of their debut with the greater rhythmic complexity of the follow-up. It's a huge musical overview with ties to various styles, which creates rare dynamics, and it's an inviting and captivating sound that deserves all the great reviews. With Warnings the duo has made a most surprising leap to the front of bus.

Highly recommended.

[ allmusic.com, Under the Radar 4,5 / 5, NME, 👍The Line of Best Fit 4 / 5 stars ]

2020 Favourite releases: 1. Gorillaz Song Machine, Season One - Strange Timez - 2. Kesi BO4L - 3. I Break Horses Warnings

Lightning Bug "October Sky" (2019)

October Sky

release date: Sep. 6, 2019

format: digital

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,54]

producer: Lightning Bug

label: selvudgivet - nationality: USA

2nd studio album by Lightning Bug is like the debut Floaters (2015) self-released and may be found on bandcamp. The band consists of songwriter and vocalist Audrey Kang, who also handles bass and drums, Kevin Copeland on guitar, and with Logan Miley on synthesizer and as sound engineer.

Stylistically, Lightning Bug lands somewhere in an indie pop sphere with a distinct shoegaze / dream pop touch, which brings to mind artists such as My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and Flaming Lips without being a mere copy.

October Sky is quite an exciting and original release.

Blaue Blume "Bell of Wool" (2019)

Bell of Wool

release date: Nov. 8, 2019

format: digital (9 x File, FLAC - HFN 99)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]

producer: Blaue Blume

label: HFN Music / Universal - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Swimmer" - 2. "Someday" (live) - 3. "Morgensol" - 4. "Vanilla" - 7. "Sobs" - 8. "Loveable" (live) - 9. "New Navel"

2nd full-length album by Blaue Blume follows two years after the release of the 4-track ep Sobs and four [!] full years after the sophomore Syzygy (Oct. 2015). The band followed the debut by playing concerts and at festivals but were forced to withdraw from further band activities in 2018 as front figure and lead vocalist Jonas Smith was overtaken by depression, which explains the long time in between albums.

Bell of Wool sort of continues from Sobs with more instrospective songs - some of which is said to have evolved from Smith's lyrics about personal experiences and sentiments during his time out. It's still music bonded with 1980s dreampop but also with links to Talk Talk and Antony and the Johnsons, and then there's athe addition of a stronger electronic sound, which bonds with contemporaries like Beach House, ultimately making this the band's so far most varied album. And on top of the various styles, the songs are both with English as well as Danish lyrics, although, only "Morgensol" is in Danish. The track was released June 14, 2019 as the album's first single, and then followed by the singles "Loveable" (Sep. 13, 2019) and finally "Vanilla" (Oct. 11, 2019) before the album release.

Smith still executes the lyrics with his strong vibrant and technically skilled vocal, which perhaps forever will bring to mind Elisabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins but Jonas Smith is much more than just a mere copyist and the production sound always delivers on highest level.

The album is without doubt one of the best Danish albums of the year.

Highly recommended.

[ bandcamp ]

[ Soundvenue 5 / 6 stars ]

The Cranberries "In the End" (2019)

In the End
release date: Apr. 26, 2019
format: vinyl (LTD. gatefold cranberry vinyl) / digital (11 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,06]
producer: Stephen Street
label: BMG - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "All Over Now" - 2. "Lost" - 3. "Wake Me When It's Over" - 5. "Catch Me If You Can" - 9. "Summer Song" - 11. "In the End"

8th and final studio album by The Cranberries released more than one year after the accidental and most tragic death of lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the band, Dolores O'Riordan, Jan. 2018.
The album has been a long way in the making - partly because of O'Riordan's untimely departure, and for the remaining band members having to come to terms with the fact that what was to be a restart of the band with a ready-made promotion plan and a scheduled tour list, was all of a sudden something completely different - and final. Also, what had been recorded of Dolores' vocals were only demo takes, so what could easily have ended as a shelved half-finished last album had to be mixed and arranged to fit what had been laid down.
Stylistically, the band aims at the core of its own strengths: their special blend of soft alt. rock jangle pop and dream pop in a singer / songwriter outing, thanks to O'Riordan's talent for songwriting, which in a way takes the band back in time to its more successful releases of the '90s.
Stephen Street is credited as additional musician and he has mixed and produced the album so skilfully that you forget the circumstances that were at play. Without O'Riordan's sparkling demo vocals these songs could only have been shelved. Instead we are blessed with one final last chapter - all thanks to The Cranberries: Dolores O'Riordan, Noel & Mike Hogan, and Fergal Lawler.
The album has been met by positive reviews, and after only two days, I dare already say that it's truly a fine accomplishment. The album contains sincere ballads and uptempo rockers in a tone that puts the album at the very top of all the band's releases.
In the End may be one of the saddest ends to a great band, but at the same time it's a gem to have been handed to us all - despite devastating circumstances, and it's definitely highly recommendable.
So far a certified top 3 album of the year!
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👍The Guardian, Clash, The Independent 4 / 5 stars ]

2019 Favorite releases: 1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds Ghosteen - 2. The Cranberries In the End - 3. Rammstein Rammstein

Robin Guthrie & Mark Gardener "Universal Road" (2015)

Universal Road

release date: Mar. 23, 2015

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,04]

producer: Robin Guthrie & Mark Gardener

label: Soleil Après Minuit - nationality: UK

Track highlights: 1. "Universal Road" - 2. "Dice" - 7. "Sometime" - 10. "Blind"

Collaboration album by Robin Guthrie and Mark Gardener produced by the duo and released on Guthrie's label. Guthrie's most recent release was yet another collaboration work, the 2014 soundtrack album White Bird in a Blizzard, made with longtime collaborator Harold Budd for a movie by Gregg Araki, who also directed the film for which Guthrie and Budd made their collaboration debut Mysterious Skin: Music from the Film (2005). Guthrie's most recent solo album is Fortune from 2012.

Together with Gardener the two artists share a common background in "classic" 1990's dream pop. Guthrie was one of the founders of the Scottish trio, The Cocteau Twins, who released eight full-length studio albums from 1982 to 1995, and Gardener is lead vocalist and guitarist in the English shoegazing quartet, Ride, who debuted with the acclaimed Nowhere back in 1990 - a band who originally released four studio albums from 1990 to their split in 1996. However, the band reformed in 2014 and they have released a fifth studio album in 2017 and have a sixth album have been announced for release later in 2019.

Musically, the album comes closest to the music by Ride as it's dream pop with Gardener's typical melancholic vocals and a strumming guitar sound, which doesn't really rhyme too strongly with Guthrie's discography. Guthrie's ethereal swirling and echo-fused guitar appears here and there as background fill but it doesn't really put a solid fingerprint on an album where Gardener seems to "steal the show".

It's all very nice and well-composed but it also sounds very much like music made at least two decades earlier. Sometimes you find Guthrie starting a song quite nicely after which Gardener's vocal and britpop harmonies turns it into something else. And it's not so much that Gardener destroys Guthrie's intro, but more that their mutual efforts backfires into something less original. I'm not impressed and feel they could have utilised their individual strengths better - instead it sounds like bits and pieces from their earlier works smashed together without obvious attempts in making new music.

A bit of a disappointment.

Last Dinosaurs "Yumeno Garden" (2018)

Yumeno Garden

release date: Oct. 5, 2018

format: digital (10 x File, FLAC)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]

producer: Last Dinosaurs, Jean-Paul Fung

label: Dew Process - nationality: Australia

Track highlights: 1. "Eleven" - 2. "Dominos" - 3. "Bass God" - 4. "Sense - 5. "Happy" - 7. "Italo Disco" - 9. "Shallow Boy"

3rd studio album by Last Dinosaurs following three years after Wellness (Aug. 2015) is a welcome back to producer Fung, who produced the band's 2012 full-length debut In a Million Years (Mar. 2012), although, this appears as the first album with the band in the role as co-producer.

It's still first and foremost indie pop but Yumeno Garden introduces a stronger dimension of dream pop, which immediately had me thinking of Swedish band The Radio Dept. e.g. Pet Grief (2006). The band sticks firmly to a basic soundscape of simplistic indie pop, and you could argue that the band doesn't seem eager to explore new territory or to experiment with styles, but with a gift for pop and harmony-driven arrangements Yumeno Garden stands as the band's so far best album.

Recommended.

[ AlbumOfTheYear 75 / 100, TheMusic.com.au 3 / 5 stars ]

Efterklang "Piramida" (2012)

Piramida
release date: Sep. 24, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]
producer: Efterklang
label: Rumraket / 4AD Records - nationality: Denmark

Track highlights: 1. "Hollow Mountain" - 2. "Apples" - 3. "Sedna" - 4. "Told to Be Fine" - 7. "Black Summer" - 10. "Monument"

[ Trailer for the new album ]

4th studio album by Efterklang following 2½ years since the last album Magic Chairs (2010). Since that, Thomas Husmer left the band and Efterklang was then reduced to a trio consisting of vocalist and songwriter Casper Clausen, keyboardist Mads Brauer and bassist Rasmus Stolberg. German electronic musician Nils Frahm feature on tracks #1, #7, and #8.

Here the band take their style further into indie-pop territory but also explore a dream pop universe and more so leave some of the classical and art rock experiments somewhat behind. Before recording the album, the band went to the deserted arctic island of Spitsbergen, Norway, to make field recordings and by the use of senses gather up a natural source of sound structure that would eventually make a starting point and a foundation for their successive writing of songs for the album.

It's still unmistakably the sound of Efterklang with progressive song structures filled with rich organic textures and influences from ambient electronic but still with more focus on traditional song structure, and here and there (tracks #2-4, and #10) Casper Clausen makes me think of Matt Berninger of The National. I really enjoy this new-found blend of theirs and easily find it the band's so far best album.

[ allmusic.com, Under the Radar 4 / 5, 👍PopMatters 3,5 / 5, Drowned in Sound 4,5 / 5 stars ]

The Cranberries "Something Else" (2017)

Something Else
release date: Apr. 28, 2017
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,72]
producer: The Cranberries
label: BMG - nationality: Ireland

[ playlist of album songs ]

7th studio album, or: 7th official band release is a collection of ten previously released songs in acoustic versions recorded live at the University of Limerick, Ireland with the addition of three new songs (#2, 7 and 13). The album follows a series of live albums (8 albums in 2010 recorded at various European locations and another 2 live albums in 2012 also in Europe), and it presents some of the band's most popular compositions in acoustic / orchestral versions with the addition of the Irish Chamber Orchestra, which really distinguishes this from ordinary live albums.
The album was met by positive reviews and a following European live tour was scheduled, but during its initial stage in late May, the remaining dates were cancelled due to O'Riordan's health problems. Also the American tour was subsequently cancelled in July, and the band didn't get to do any further live performances that year. However, they managed to record O'Riordan's vocals for a forthcoming album when in Jan. 2018 it was announced that she had been found dead at London's Park Lane Hilton hotel. So in a way, this material feature the last official live recordings of The Cranberries and by Dolores O'Riordan, although, a successive and final album, In the End would be released in 2019.
As for track highlights, I find it too difficult a task to pick tracks at the expense of others 'cause there really are no fillers nor any mediocre tracks on an album that may require some familiarisation to these arrangements, but in the end, it's a truly fine result and a recommendable album.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]

The Durutti Column "Chronicle" (2011)

Chronicle
release date: Apr. 30, 2011
format: digital
[album rate: 2,5 / 5]

Tracklist: 1. "Fanfare" - 2. "Synergetic" - 3. "Ananda" - 4. "Accord" - 5. "Time to Lift" - 6. "Anguish of the Text Message" - 7. "What Is It Worth" - 8. "Someone Got Away" - 9. "Jeeves and Wooster" - 10. "Friends" - 11. "Emptyness" - 12. "No More Close to Me" - 13. "Resolution"

22nd studio album release by The Durutti Column issued on Kooky Records and produced by ? [Vini Reilly?]. The style and music here is in the same area as Idiot Savants (2007) and Rebellion (2001), which is to say, a return to ambient dream pop, though, I think, it has some post rock feel, or at least a meditative progressiveness.
The album release comes after Vini Reilly has experienced a heavy degree of misfortune - firstly, his relationship with Poppy Morgan came to an end during the recording process, something he mentions in the liner notes had a huge impact on the finalising of the album, and once the album was put together, he was inflicted by two consecutive minor strokes in late 2010 - another followed in early 2011. The result of this has made it impossible for him to play the guitar, thus it seems unlikely that any new guitar music will be realised from his hands.
The overall experience is not that it's one of his best albums. Some tracks sound like outtakes or rough demos, and I find it hard to rate fully. It's also a typical The Durutti Column album that touches on modern classical.

The Cranberries "Roses" (2012)

Roses
release date: Feb. 14, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,48]
producer: Stephen Street
label: Cooking Vinyl - nationality: Ireland

Track highlights: 1. "Conduct" - 2. "Tomorrow" (4,5 / 5) - 4. "Raining in My Heart" - 6. "Schizophrenic Playboy" - 9. "Astral Projections" - 11. "Roses"

6th studio album by The Cranberries feature Stephen Street, who produced the band's two first albums, back in the producer seat, and that is a welcomed return. Street did help the band creating a fine balanced and broad sound, which in a way dissolved somewhat on the following albums.
The album doesn't contain that many great tracks but I find that the sound is back on track - O'Riordan's vocal and backing harmonies in collaboration with jangle pop elements and string arrangements secure a rather fine comeback album that may better the last 3 albums by The Cranberries, but which frankly, only just contain good enough material for an ep, as it also contains a number of clear fillers.
[ allmusic.com, PopMatters 3,5 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

I Break Horses "Hearts" (2011)

Hearts [debut]

release date: Aug. 22, 2011

format: digital

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,33]

producer: Maria Lindén

label: Bella Union - nationality: Sweden

Track highlights: 1. "Winter Beats" - 2. "Hearts" - 3. "Wired" - 5. "Pulse" - 6. "Cancer"

Studio debut album by Swedish duo I Break Horses consisting of composer and multi-instrumentalist Maria Lindén and percussionist Fredrik Balck. Five years earlier, Lindén helped forming the band Friska Viljor in 2006, and shortly after, she also became a member of the band Blackstrap. Fredrik Balck is former member of several bands including Aerospace and the band Strip Music, and after breaking up with these he was included in the trio Pueblo. Around 2009, Lindén came in touch with former Cocteau Twins bassist Simon Raymonde, who is one of the driving forces behind the independent record label Bella Union, and Raymonde offered Lindén to release her music and with Balck, I Break Horses became a reality.

All music is composed by Lindén, who in addition to singing also handles guitar, bass, and keyboards, while Balck is credited as songwriter and percussionist. The album consists of nine tracks and has a total running length of 40 minutes.

Stylistically, it's probably what you could call shoegaze revival deeply inspired by My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Cocteau Twins without much new under the sun. These are original tracks, where the inspiration from classic shoegaze and dream pop is quite evident. The album garnered international attention and received enthusiastic reviews, but also criticism for not being particularly innovative. And yes, the soundscape is familiar and has been trodden many times in the 90s, and in that way Hearts doesn't bring anything new to the table, but the compositions are justified by offering something new to a style you may appreciate.

A somewhat anonymous but exciting start.

[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Mojo 3 / 5, Gaffa.dk 4 / 6, Under the Radar 4 / 5 stars ]

Blaue Blume "Sobs" (2017) (ep)

Sobs (ep)

release date: Nov. 17, 2017

format: digital (4 x File, FLAC - HFN 70)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,65]

producer: Blaue Blume

label: HFN Music - nationality: Denmark

Tracklist: 1. "Macabre" - 2. "Ebony" (4 / 5) - 3. "Mayhem" - 4. "Haven't You"

4-track ep by Blaue Blume following its debut album Syzygy (2015). Since then, the band has moved to the German independent HFN Music ['Hafen Music'], a label who has released albums of several other Danish acts including Trentemøller, Reptile Youth, Lydmor, Kasper Bjørke and Jacob Bellens. Furthermore, the quartet now consists of lead vocalist Jonas Smith, guitarist Robert Buhl-Jensen, new bassist Buster Lassen, and drummer Søren Buhl-Jensen.

"Macabre" was produced with Nis Bysted and released as standalone single in March, and it's here with the uptempo killer "Ebony" the ep's strongest tracks but the two remainders are not bad, making this a strong release with great promises for a forthcoming album.

[ bandcamp ]

The Durutti Column "Tempus fugit" (2004)

Tempus fugit
release date: May 2004
format: digital
[album rate: 4 / 5]

Track highlights: 2. "Shooting" - 3. "Lullaby 4 Nina" (4 / 5) - 6. "Violence" - 8. "Love Song on Quattro" - 9. "Tempus fugit" - 10. "The Man Who Knows" - 11. "Slipping Away" - 14. "Salford Harmonics"

14th studio album by The Durutti Column is a 15-track release issued on Kooky Records produced by Laurie Laptop [aka Laurie Lexicon, aka Laurie Keith] and Vini Reilly. The album has its own distinct 'dreampop' style. Before this, Reilly released the album Someone Else's Party (2003), in homage of his late mother. This album is entirely made by Reilly and it seems like an extraordinary personal and quiet, almost meditative, release, often done with unusual strumming on acoustic guitar. Only other performer on the album is Jill Taylor who adds vocal harmonies to many tracks. The album's title refers to the songs, and is underlined in the front cover, showing Reilly's conception of how "time flees".
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5 stars ]