The Set Up. The Delines

On stage in Rotterdam singer-songwriter Willy Vlautin told us that after he had heard Amy Boone sing a single ballad, he decided there and then that he would write songs for her. Here we are many years later, realising he was totally right.

Just about a year ago The Delines released 'Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom'. Vlautin kept bringing songs in that did either not fit that album or needed reworking. The result is The Set Up. Just as in his novels, a Richmond Fontaines show in Leiden to this day is the only show I went to coming home with a book instead of an album, most song are about situations from the so-called other side of the tracks. The Delines turn these observations from life into melancholy tracks, that could have been soul ballads in the mid 1970s.

This comes through in the slower tempo of the tracks, the warm organ sound, the soulful electric guitar and the warm, slightly ruffled voice of Amy Boone. The combination makes The Delines a somewhat anachronistic band, yet one that is extremely pleasant to listen to.

I'll own up to never have heard much in this band. If Chris Eckman, formally of The Walkabouts, had not played a support act for The Delines in April last year, I would never have started to listen to the band's music. From a band to pass up on, I went to whoa, a new The Delines album already. That show was so good and atmospheric. Coming home, I heard that vibe immediately in 'Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom', that I had missed scanning that and previous albums superficially, and now again in The Set Up.

I am not going to single out individual tracks. The one may be a little slower, the other has more horns, the next is more piano than organ based, but all have a late night bar atmosphere where the band does a last slow song for the insomniacs and night cats. Unwind with The Delines by listening to The Set Up.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The Set Up here:

https://thedelines.bandcamp.com/album/the-set-up 

These Fighting Machines. Katherine Priddy

Singer Katherine Priddy from Birmingham, U.K., recently released her third album and finds herself on WoNoBlog on the basis of this album. Both her previous albums, 'The Pendulum Swing' (2024) and 'The Eternal Rocks Beneath' (2021) are here as well. Yet, I have to admit that the name Katherine Priddy did not ring a bell.

On 'The Pendulum Swing' I wrote, in a most positive way, that the album was one to fall asleep to. One to play on a headset in bed before falling asleep, as I used to do a long, long time ago. These Fighting Machines does not give me that feeling. No, it is is not an invigorating up tempo album. Katherine Priddy is a singer-songwriter who operates in the mid tempo range and always presents a listening experience without obvious effects. Where effects are used, they are modest, tasteful and like modest adornments in a private home.

For These Fighting Machines Priddy worked with producer Robert Ellis, known for his work with P.J. Harvey and Anna Calvi, to mention two. Should everything be stripped away, there would be the folky voice of Katherine Priddy and an acoustic guitar. From there the songs are built up to what I'm listening to right now. Opening song 'Matches' shows that basis regularly, but opens with modern day, crackling atmospherics and a soft but deep drums percussion. From there different instruments enter and leave the song, to put accents where deemed important. In the meantime Katherine Priddy soars higher and higher, just like she's singing about learning to fly. "The witches" come home to roost in this song, as they have matches too.

Photo: Matty Deveson

'Matches' is the "heaviest" track on the album. Many of the songs are singer-songwriter with obvious folk elements, but firmly in a modern way. There is no U.K. folk nostalgia for the The Fairport Convention era here. Katherine Priddy is for the 21st century alright.

Her voice is the dominant instrument on These Fighting Machine. Harmonising with herself she adds extra colour to her album. The bio accompanying the album shares that this is the "most sonically varied of her career" and I immediately believe the statement. This album is rich, at times even lush in sound. Priddy and Ellis did not mind adding an extra instrument, percussion and vocals to the songs.

The result is a warm album. These Fighting Machines is a fine sonic experience that allows the listener to slow down time and only absorb the music, leaving all else behind. The kind of album a person needs every once in a while in hectic and interesting times like these.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order These Fighting Machines here:

https://katherinepriddy.bandcamp.com/album/these-frightening-machines 

Mosquito. Hater

Hater can be found on this blog for nearly ten years, but I noticed that the Malmö, Sweden based band's last album was reviewed by Erwin Zijleman. Translated to English he wrote in 2023 that "'Sincere' is considerably better than the already good, yet dreamy 'Siesta'". Well, I copy his words here, as I think Mosquito is better yet again.

The band, Caroline Landahl, Måns Leonartsson, Adam Agace and Rasmus Andersson, delivers (again) with its latest album. The mix between the dreamy and indie pop-rock is just about perfect. The album opens with the poprocker 'Landslide', where the rock is supported by atmospheric sounds that pop in and out of the track. Landahl puts herself right in the middle claiming the song as hers. She shows her different voices in the harmonies, making the song sound varied, with the full support of the band. 'Landslide' is the kind of song that makes me prick up my ears straight away, moving into full listening mode.

The contrast with 'Angel Cupid' is considerable. The tempo goes down, an electronic rhythm leads the way assisted by something close to sleigh bells, without creating a Christmas vibe. The bass driven intro of 'This Guy?' creates a rock vibe that the rest of the song does not necessarily have. It is somewhere in between, with the bass and drums going for it and the rest of the band appear to be dreamy. And then the lead and rhythm guitars joins in, making the song ever tougher, while not disturbing Caroline Landahl's mood. As I wrote before in week 51 of last year, 'This Guy?' just grows and grows.

Quite often I write some more on an album. In the case of Mosquito that is not necessary. Hater continues along the line of the three songs described in the above. If you put them on and like what you are hearing, I assure you you will enjoy the rest of the album as well. Hater delivers full time, balancing between the three corners of its triangle, pop, indie and rock.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Mosquito here:

https://hatermalmo.bandcamp.com/album/mosquito 

DOGA. Juana Molina

Juana Molina maakt inmiddels al zo’n 30 jaar hele bijzondere muziek, wat een stapel unieke albums heeft opgeleverd, waar deze week, na een stilte van acht jaar, het bijzonder mooie DOGA aan wordt toegevoegd.

Het is knap hoe de Argentijnse muzikante Juana Molina de afgelopen 30 jaar albums met een volstrekt uniek eigen geluid uitbrengt. Het zijn albums die zich in theorie flink ver buiten mijn muzikale comfort zone bewegen en die het experiment stevig omarmen, maar op een of andere manier is de muziek van Juana Molina niet ontoegankelijk. Ze heeft de tijd genomen voor haar nieuwe album DOGA en dat hoor je, want het nieuwe album van Juana Molina loopt over van de goede ideeën. Al die goede ideeën moet je even laten landen, maar vervolgens is DOGA een album waarnaar je wilt blijven luisteren. Het was veel te lang stil rond de Argentijnse muzikante, maar gelukkig is ze terug.

DOGA, het nieuwe album van de Argentijnse muzikante Juana Molina, verscheen in dezelfde week als LUX, het inmiddels in opvallend brede kring erkende meesterwerk van ROSALÍA. Beide albums zijn voor een belangrijk deel Spaanstalig en bijzonder eigenzinnig, maar waar LUX met een ongekende hoeveelheid 5-sterren recensies de hemel in is geprezen, bleef het relatief stil rond DOGA, al merkte een deel van de Britse muziekpers het album gelukkig wel op, met de eretitel ‘album van de maand’ in het Britse muziektijdschrift Uncut als hoogtepunt. 

Nu heeft Juana Molina natuurlijk niet dezelfde status al wereldster ROSALÍA, maar de muziek van de Argentijnse muzikante schreeuwt al wel een aantal jaren om aandacht. Ik vond de muziek van Juana Molina bij de eerste kennismaking bijzonder, maar niet echt mijn ding, maar al snel raakte ik in de ban van Segundo (2000), Tres Cosas (2002), Son (2006) en Un Día (2008). De afgelopen twaalf jaar was ik misschien nog wel meer onder de indruk van haar vorige twee albums, Wed 21 uit 2013 en Halo uit 2017. Op het eerstgenoemde album schuurt de Argentijnse muzikante hier en daar tegen de folkpop aan, terwijl het tweede album wat experimenteler van aard is en meer invloeden uit de Latin muziek bevat. 

Het laatste album van de muzikante uit Buenos Aires was inmiddels acht jaar oud, maar met DOGA is eindelijk weer een nieuw album verschenen. Ook DOGA is een eigenzinnig album dat niet past in bestaande hokjes, maar net als Wed 21 en Halo is het ook een album dat een groot deel van de tijd best toegankelijk mag worden genoemd, al is toegankelijk in het muzikale universum van Juana Molina een relatief begrip. 

Op DOGA heeft de Argentijnse zich vooral omringd met elektronica, die in verschillende gedaanten uit de speakers komt. De ingezette elektronica is soms tegendraads en schurend, maar tekent op hetzelfde moment voor zwoele ritmes, die de Latin invloeden in de muziek van Juana Molina aan de oppervlakte brengen. Het doet af en toe wat psychedelisch aan, maar Juana Molina is ook niet vies van dromerige klankentapijten. 

DOGA krijgt hier en daar ook het album folktronica opgeplakt en daar is wel wat voor te zeggen, al maakt Juana Molina, mede door de Spaanstalige teksten, folktronica die geen aanknopingspunten biedt met andere albums in het genre. DOGA is vanaf de eerste noten een spannend album dat de fantasie heel stevig prikkelt. Veel tracks op het album zijn lang tot zeer lang, waardoor de tien songs in 55 minuten muziek, maar zelden aansluiten bij de toegankelijke popsongs met een kop en een staart. 

En toch is DOGA een album dat lekker in het gehoor ligt en goed is voor een spannende maar ook aangename luistertrip. Het is een luistertrip waarin heel veel valt te ontdekken, want achter de lagen elektronica zitten ook nog fraaie gitaar- en strijkerspartijen verstopt. De arrangementen op DOGA zijn zeker niet alledaags, maar wat zijn ze mooi en bijzonder. Het is misschien even wennen aan de bijzondere klanken, maar wanneer je eenmaal in de flow van het album komt, laat de muziek van Juana Molina je niet makkelijk meer los. 

In muzikaal opzicht is DOGA een fascinerend album en het is een album dat aan kracht wint door de bijzondere zang van Juana Molina en haar Spaanstalige teksten. DOGA wordt hier en daar net als LUX van ROSALÍA een meesterwerk genoemd en daar is wat voor te zeggen. Nu maar hopen dat Juana Molina met haar nieuwe album de aandacht trekt, al is het maar een fractie van de aandacht die haar Spaanse collega de afgelopen weken krijgt.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Doga hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://juanamolina.bandcamp.com/album/doga 

Two of Us. Bertolf & Nomden live. Phil, Haarlem Friday 6 March 2026

Photo: WdN-vdB

Bertolf Nomden and Diederik Nomden met  for the first time at a Paul McCartney concert in 2003. Unbeknownst to them their musical lives would interact for the decades ahead culminating in the duo album 'All Good Things' in 2026.

They are touring behind the album as a duo with just a few acoustic guitars, a piano and a few props on stage. In the show they tell stories, anecdotes and explanations of songs. Besides their own songs they play many a Beatle song and then more specifically, Paul McCartney songs. Starting with the song that gave the name to their show, 'Two Of Us'. Somehow the song set the mood for the evening. Not a song that the less than average Beatles fan would know, as it is an album track from the 'Let It Be' album, which is not the band's most favourite with fans.

Slowly bit surely the band started weaving in its own songs into the show. When they started with Beatles songs, I truly wondered whether the duo songs would hold up against all those famous and well-loved songs. That answer is easy to give, yes they do. The two wrote several excellent songs. Where on record I thought some songs to be a little too well-behaved, played live in a duo setting, the songs all came more than just alive. They sparkled and blended in very nicely with the Beatles tracks and Stealer Wheel's 'Star'.

I am not going to give away any of the stories, as that spoils the show should you wish to go there (and you should). I will mention the props: Johan Cruyff and Paul McCartney', certified chairs from 'De Meer and football jerseys. The why and what you can hear from Bertolf and Nomden.

Photo: WdN-vdB

Both are excellent musicians and Bertolf played some very intricate if not virtuoso runs on his guitar. The solo in 'I've Just Seen A Face' was close to mind boggling. Thank you for the reminder by the way. I always think that 'Help!' is not really worthwhile playing and then 'I've Just Seen A Face' comes by. Exceptional musicianship came earlier on for The Beatles than I remember thanks to The Analogues. I sort of stopped listening to what came before.

What Two of Us shows, is that a good musical night out does not take much more that two guitars, a piano and two great voices singing together, while combining it all with great enthusiasm, talent and a love for music.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 P.S. Busstop, Diederik!!! 

2026, week 10. 10 singles

Late winter with unlikely temperatures? Trees ready to bud and bulbs shooting out of the ground all at the same time. Some too late, others too early. Welcome to the too early spring of 2026 in a time in which we seem to be living 'Wag The Dog' for real. An important lesson from the past is that messianic dictators rather go down leaving no stone unturned. Unfortunately we have a few of them at the same time. Good luck to us all! In the meantime, here's another selection of 10 recent singles for you to enjoy.

Queen-Size Life. Mountaineer

On route to the new album Mountaineer releases a new single. What the previous single already suggested, is shown here even more: this album came with a bigger budget. The regular band setting is more in the background, while up front a trumpet tries to steal away all your attention. Don't fall for that trap! Queen-Size Life is a ballad, slow but extremely beautiful. It is a song like Marcel Hulst already has a few to his name. This one is just bigger, because of the trumpet(s), the strings and the angelic background vocals that weave themselves around Hulst's voice full of melancholy observations and more than just a hint of sadness. The cherry on the cake are the few sparse and oh so slow piano notes closer to the end. As I already wrote, I have heard a song like this from Mountaineer before but never at this level. Two songs into the album, I can't wait to hear more. A little more patience is called for before 'Country Dragon' sees the light of day on 3 April.

The Best Is Yet To Come. Lise Catherine

Lise Catharine is releasing her singles faster than I can keep up with. In between my review of two weeks ago, there is also the single 'Ticket To The Moon'. The Best Is Yet To Come is also a slow ballad with the clear sheen of melancholy longing hanging over it. You can find the song in a bare version on You Tube from 2022. In 2026 that guitar is still there, but around it Lise Catherine not only plays with your mood and but also with your ears. All sorts of atmospherics and treated vocals come by, turning the song into something far more mysterious than just a woman's voice and an acoustic guitar. What I arrive at, is that Kate Bush is all over The Best Is Yet To Come, without it becoming a typical Kate Bush song from say 1981 to 1985. For that it is far too itself. The best description is, The Best Is Yet To Come is intriguing song, while pleasing at the same time. 

Days Of Ash. U2 

"You have the right to remain silent, or not" opens the EP that U2 dropped unexpectedly recently in the song 'American Obituary'. Let's face it, this is no 'Vertigo', the last U2 song that truly shook me. It is a song that breathes life and that is more than I can say from any U2 song since 2005. I can be mistaken but I don't think I own a single U2 song since the album holding 'Vertigo'. Now U2 albums and me is not, never has been a successful combination. Even the two best of albums are too much of a good thing for me. Listening to Days Of Ash, six songs short, I am not held back by the length of the album and not by the quality of the songs. The EP is not earth shattering but it is good and I'm glad to be able to say so. With drummer Larry Mullen jr. back behind his drumkit the band is complete again also. In 'The Tears Of Things' U2 does a Bowie. In general, I notice that the band does not try to be bigger than itself. The band lets the songs do the work and not the band work the songs. Because of it, U2 comes down to earth and shows itself as a sort of naked truth version of itself, unplugged without plugging out. I have to say that this is a U2 I rather like. Until very recently, I expected never to want to buy a U2 record again. It looks like I have to change my mind.

Javelin. Kevin Morby

Okay, does anything really, really happen in Javelin? If I'm honest, no there isn't. My ears tell me the same chords go over and over. Then why am I so attracted to Javelin? I can't tell you from a technical, rational level. Where the feeling side of things is concerned, the song makes me feel warm inside. The way it slowly but surely becomes bigger, the way more instruments and voices come in that change not so much the atmosphere of the single as expand it, simply touches me. To find Kevin Morby on this blog, you have to go back ten years to find a review by Erwin Zijleman. I have encountered the name Kevin Morby for sure but never got into his music. If you ask me to compare this song, then I arrive at The War on Drugs. Luckily, Kevin Morby does not draw Javelin out to seven or more minutes. This single pleases me no little. Album 'Little Wide Open' arrives in stores and online on 15 May.

Koneko featuring Liana Flores. Mei Semones

In 2025 Mei Semones stayed in London with Liana Flores and her impressions of that visit were turned into Koneko, where the two harmonise together. Those who have read my reviews of the Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mei Semones know what to expect. Koneko, her latest single, does not make any move towards not meeting expectations. The bossa nova and jazz is all over Koneko. If you ask the average person where this song comes, 99.99% will answer Brazil. What is missing here is the indie twist Mei Semones usually throws into a song, making things far more confusing. This is a perfectly relaxed bossa nova tune that is released to announce an extensive tour of North America. 

Window Loop. Postman

Postman? What is this rapper who has gone out of style over twenty years ago doing on a French label?, I wondered when I read the announcement in an email. Luckily for Ukranian singer-songwriter Kostiantyn Pochtar ('Postman' in English) I read beyond the title, because what I am listening to is an interesting singer-songwriter song. Postman worked on his new record in the Polish mountains. Window Loop is on the one hand a song that has a traditional build up. Kostiantyn Pochtar sings and is accompanied by an acoustic guitar played in a muted way. Slowly more enters, an electronic beat, a bass, some kind of synth and an electric guitar playing one chord stroke, leaving space and time before the next chord. Later on crackling enters giving the impression of an old 45 that has been abused a few times too many. Postman always keeps the lid on things. Window Loop is not exploding, things move underneath the surface here. More is underway. EP 'Phantasma' is set for release on 17 April.

Gayfever. Vera Ellen

New Zealand singer-songwriter Vera Ellen is back. Her album 'Ideal Home Noises' still comes by regularly in my home and car. It is one of the better albums coming out of New Zealand this decade and one of the best subtoppers all over. With Gayfever Vera Ellen is delivering once again. She manages to attract with her way of singing and talking and everything in between the two. The music both supports and decides to go its own way in the right moments, creating two interesting moments at once. Yes, I can multitask as I am able to follow both paths at the same time. Gayfever is reassuringly Vera Ellen and yet is more exultant. The extras in the song are almost overdone for a Vera Ellen song (as I know them). They are not, this is what musical richness sounds like. The video though is quite weird but no less surprising. Her new album, ‘Heaven Knows What Time’, is released on Flying Nun on 1 May. 

Me And My Shadow. Fini Tribe

Fini Tribe formed in 1980 in Edinburgh during the postpunk era. The six piece band recorded during the years 1982 - 1987 and is re-releasing its output forty plus years down the line. The single Me And My Shadow is typical for the time. There's little light let into the music, if any. The singer puts on the deadest voice he is capable of (not very, I'm afraid). The rhythm is almost machine like. Forty years before AI could be asked to produce such a mechanic beat. The two guitars and the keyboard take care of the melody, of course stocky and in a straightjacket with an extra pull on the wraps. The song works though, exactly because of how the guitars and keyboard play off each other. The single was recorded in a session when most of the boys were still in secondary school. Taking this fact into account, the single is quite alright. Album 'The Sheer Action of Fini Tribe: 1982-1987' was released on 11 February.

Sweetiepie. The Sophs

It has been a while since I listen to a Violent Femmes song. Even my favourite album 'Hallowed Ground' has not been put on for quite some time. The Sophs could have fooled me, if Sweetiepie had been released as a long lost Violent Femmes song. The only thing that would have put a little doubt in my mind perhaps, is the fact that the song does get a poppy feel, where the band of old always had some darkness around it at the time. Sweetiepie is an uptempo country-rockabilly song with a moutharp and all. The Sophs play with the rockabilly sound like it should, with the little moments where only the drums keep up the song and rhythm before everybody joins in again. This song is just big time fun, let's not mince any further words on it.

Carved Skull. Abrasive Trees 

We have to go back to the Covid years to find Abrasive Trees on this blog. With a new album under way, as yet unnamed but slated for May, the band around Matthew Rochford releases a new single called Carved Skull. Yes, the music is almost as dark as the title suggests. No, this is not death metal, not even close. I would put the music somewhere between symphonic rock and 1980s doom and gloom without moving into postpunk. So, expect a deep bass and a drums that pounds the skins and layers upon layers of guitars that all together take their time to play the song home. The mood is created and drawn out. Listening to the intro I'm even remembered of the way Sadeness integrated Gregorian singing into pop somewhere around 1990. Monks have gone mostly out of fashion, but their ghosts hover in Carved Skull. Jay Newton (guitars, backing vocals), Matthew Rochford (vocals, guitars, synth) and Will Tyler (drums, bass, backing vocals), assisted by Ben Roberts (electric cello) and Yunala Songweaver (backing vocals) create a mood that is somehow befittingly sacred for the second quarter of the 21st century.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght 

Porcelain. Nancy Brick

Niet meer verwacht, maar toch nog gekomen, een album met maar liefst dertien niet eerder uitgebrachte songs van het Nederlandse duo Nancy Brick en wat is ook Porcelain weer mooi, intiem en bijzonder.

Ruim dertien jaar geleden wist Nancy Brick me te betoveren met een werkelijk prachtig debuutalbum. Het is een album dat anders klonk dan alle andere albums van dat moment. Het is een album waarop geen noot teveel wordt gespeeld en gezongen en waarop ook stilte een krachtig instrument is. Lange tijd leek er geen opvolger van het debuutalbum van Nancy Brick meer te komen, maar nu is er Porcelain. Het is een album met vooral ruwe demo’s van songs die het debuutalbum van Nancy Brick en de geplande opvolger niet haalden, maar het is ook een album met prachtige Nancy Brick songs. Hopelijk is Porcelain de voorbode van een nieuw Nancy Brick album, maar ook met het nu verschenen album met demo’s ben ik heel blij.

In de herfst van 2012 verscheen het debuutalbum van het Nederlandse duo Nancy Brick. Het album kreeg op zich redelijk wat aandacht, maar werd wat mij betreft in veel te kleine kring op de juiste waarde geschat. Ik nam het eerste album van het duo dat bestaat uit zangeres Rieneke Batelaan en gitarist en pianist Ron Valeri op in de middenmoot van mijn jaarlijstje, maar met de kennis van nu schaar ik het titelloze debuutalbum van Nancy Brick onder de allermooiste albums van het betreffende jaar. 

In een jaar waarin in alle opzichten vol klinkende popmuziek domineerde, imponeerde Nancy Brick met zachte, subtiele en zich langzaam voortslepende muziek en al even zachte en subtiele zang. De songs van het Nederlandse duo zijn op het debuutalbum ontdaan van alle opsmuk, waardoor alleen de essentie en hier en daar stilte overblijft. 

Het debuutalbum van Nancy Brick deed uitzien naar veel en veel meer, maar Rieneke Batelaan en Ron Valeri hebben het geduld van een ieder die hun debuutalbum in 2012 omarmde flink op de proef gesteld. In 2016 verscheen een titelloze EP met slechts 15 minuten muziek. De songs op de EP deden niet onder voor de songs op het debuutalbum en wakkerden de hoop op een tweede album van Nancy Brick aan. 

Na 2016 werd het echter stil rond het duo, dat een sabbatical aankondigde. Rieneke Batelaan en Ron Valeri gingen andere dingen doen, waardoor de aangekondigde sabbatical een periode van ruim negen jaar werd. Afgelopen zomer kreeg ik opeens een e-mail van het duo, waarin een nieuw album werd aangekondigd en dat album is vlak voor het einde van 2025 verschenen. 

Porcelain bevat geen nieuwe muziek van Nancy Brick, want het dertien songs tellende album is gevuld met demo’s die tussen 2009 en 2016 werden opgenomen. In de meeste gevallen thuis met eenvoudige middelen, maar Porcelain bevat ook twee tracks die in een studio werden opgenomen. Het zijn allemaal songs die niet eerder zijn uitgebracht, waardoor Porcelain wel een beetje aanvoelt als een nieuw Nancy Brick album. 

De openingstrack van Porcelain, het bijzonder mooie Its Wings & Ways, klinkt wat voller dan we van Rieneke Batelaan en Ron Valeri gewend zijn, maar het album bevat verder vooral sobere en wat ruw klinkende demo’s van songs. Het past wel bij Nancy Brick, want de ruwe versies van songs die nooit werden uitgebracht, bevatten nog wat minder opsmuk en komen nog wat dichter bij de essentie van de songs. 

Ik luister nog geregeld naar de muziek die Nancy Brick in 2012 en 2016 uitbracht en ben blij met de nieuwe songs van het Nederlandse tweetal. Porcelain staat vol met songs die van een tweede Nancy Brick album een prachtig Nancy Brick album zouden hebben gemaakt en ik koester Porcelain inmiddels dan ook als het album waarop ik ruim negen jaar geleden hoopte. 

Niet alleen de songs op Porcelain zijn goed, wat ook de uitvoering is weer fantastisch. Ron Valeri heeft de songs op het album voorzien van sobere maar zeer smaakvolle klanken, terwijl Rieneke Batelaan echt prachtig zingt. Een aantal tracks zijn opgenomen met een eenvoudige 4-sporen recorder en dat hoor je, maar het voorziet de songs ook van een ruwe charme. Het leek er de afgelopen jaren op dat Nancy Brick het zou houden op een album en een EP, maar met Porcelain is het oeuvre van het duo nog wat indrukwekkender en hopelijk blijft het hier niet bij.

Erwin Zijleman

Re-Open The World. Lily Lyons

De jonge Britse singer-songwriter Lily Lyons schoot in 2024 als een komeet omhoog en dat dit terecht was hoor je op haar wonderschone en met name in vocaal opzicht opzienbarende debuutalbum Re-Open The World.

Aan jonge Britse folkies hebben we momenteel geen gebrek, wat het voor starters niet meevalt om op te vallen. Dat de jonge Britse muzikante Lily Lyons op moet gaan vallen is voor mij zeker, want met Re-Open The World heeft ze een zeer fraai debuutalbum afgeleverd. Het is een album met aansprekende songs en persoonlijke teksten. Het is bovendien een album dat subtiel, maar bijzonder mooi is ingekleurd. De meeste betovering komt echter van de stem van Lily Lyons, die echt prachtig zingt, zeker als je je bedenkt hoe jong ze nog is. De Britse muziekmedia riepen haar in 2024 al uit tot grote belofte voor de toekomst en na beluistering van Re-Open The World kan ik ze alleen maar gelijk geven.

Lily Lyons is een jonge Britse singer-songwriter, die een paar jaar geleden Londen verruilde voor het zuidelijkste puntje van Engeland, om een studie popmuziek te gaan doen aan de Falmouth University. Na het afronden van haar opleiding ging het snel voor de jonge Britse muzikante. 

Een eerste EP werd goed ontvangen, waarna de Britse muziekmedia haar onmiddellijk schaarden onder de grote talenten binnen de Britse popmuziek. Het is me eerlijk gezegd helemaal ontgaan, want de naam Lily Lyons zei me echt niets toen ik begin november door het lijstje met de nieuwe album liep. Na snelle beluistering vond ik haar album echter interessant, al vond ik het niet direct verplichte kost. Dat werd het wel toen ik het album wat beter beluisterde en het door de Britse media beschreven talent van Lily Lyons alleen maar kon bevestigen. 

Lily Lyons maakt op haar debuutalbum Re-Open The World vooral ingetogen folky songs, waarmee ze de aansluiting vindt bij een flinke groep jonge Britse muzikanten. In de openingstrack van Re-Open The World hoor je vooral de akoestische gitaar en de stem van Lily Lyons met af en toe wat bijdragen van de viool. Het klinkt direct bekend in de oren, want er zijn zoals gezegd heel wat jonge Britse muzikanten die dit soort muziek maken, maar de muziek van Lily Lyons heeft iets bijzonders. 

De relatief sobere klanken vullen op bijzondere wijze de ruimte en de stem van Lily Lyons is niet alleen hele mooi, met heeft ook iets aparts. Ik kan er niet direct de vinger op leggen, maar de openingstrack van Re-Open The World doet iets met me want lang niet alle songs in dit genre doen. Het kon een toevalstreffer zijn, maar de tweede track op het debuutalbum van Lily Lyons had eigenlijk hetzelfde effect op me en ook de rest van het album deed iets met me. 

De jonge Britse muzikante laat zich beïnvloeden door Britse folk van vele decennia geleden, maar de songs van Lily Lyons klinken zeker niet traditioneel of oubollig. Ze noemt zelf Nick Drake als vergelijkingsmateriaal, maar voegt er ook Frank Sinatra aan toe en zo circuleren er meer lijstjes waarmee Lily Lyons duidelijk dat ze haar klassiekers binnen de muziek, maar ook in de film en de literatuur kent. 

De Britse muzikante had nog geen song geschreven toen ze Londen verruilde voor het zuiden van Engeland, maar ze heeft veel geleerd en is met veel bagage begonnen aan haar debuutalbum. Die bagage slaat neer in haar songs, die stuk voor stuk eenvoudig maar ook razendknap zijn, en in de persoonlijke teksten, waarin Lily Lyons zichzelf niet ontziet. 

Als ik luister naar Re-Open The World hoor ik eerder een gelouterde muzikante dan een debuterende muzikante en dat is knap. Wat bij eerste beluistering nog vooral aardig klonk, is inmiddels een hoogstaand album, waarop echt van alles te ontdekken valt en waarop alles alleen maar mooier wordt. In de muziek op het album zijn iedere keer net weer andere versiersels aangebracht, waardoor de sobere instrumentatie geen moment saai is, en de stem van Lily Lyons wordt alleen maar mooier wanneer je het album vaker hoort. Het is een stem die me inmiddels zeer dierbaar is. 

Dat Lily Lyons in 2024 omhoog werd gestuwd door de Britse muziekmedia begrijp ik inmiddels volledig, maar rond Re-Open The World is het helaas nog veel te stil. Ik zou dit prachtalbum echter zeker gaan ontdekken, want de muziek van Lily Lyons wil je echt niet missen.

Erwin Zijleman

.NoWordsNeedeD, 5 March 2026

 https://youtu.be/j_rjZoEu-S0

.No

Highway To Heavenly. Heavenly

In 2029 it will be 40 years since Heavenly first formed. The band released four albums before disbanding in 1996, after losing their drummer. In 2023 the band decided to re-release its records, played a few shows and from one came the other. Single 'Portland Town' was released in the summer of last year. Now there is an album called Highway To Heavenly followed by an extensive tour taking the band through the world for old fans and new fans, like myself.

What amazes me since running this blog, how many bands out there that are still active or are active again, that I never even heard of at the time and today I'm instantly attracted to. Heavenly is one of these bands. The (bitter)sweet music on the band's fifth album is simply a joy to listen to. Original members Amelia Fletcher, Peter Momtchiloff, Rob Pursey, who were later joined by Cathy Rodgers and new drummer Ian Button who has taken the place of Matthew Fletcher joined forces once again. Together they seem an unbeatable team.

Above all Highway To Heavenly is a pop album, that taps in to everything U.K. pop is. Or, better, was in the first half of the 1980s. The album is an extremely nice trip down memory lane, where everything you remember comes forward shiny and new. The voices of Fletcher and Rodgers cannot hide their age in 2026, but still create that vibe that once was and is today. Heavenly managed to tap into what they once were and aligns itself to bands that today come from New Zealand, like The Beths and Voom.

Photo: Alison Wonderland

The music is both upbeat and bittersweet. Nearly all the songs have that combination, that make songs like this so good to listen to. That organ that cuts through the pop and poprock songs. A delicious up tempo song like 'Excuse Me' really rolls itself into my ears, not holding back, conquering my brain to settle there for the times to come. By then you are halfway into Highway To Heavenly. 

The album has already pleased you for five songs. The pop feel is all over the album, presented in a lush production. Opening song 'Scene Stealing' is the right example to explain the album by. Heavenly shows different sides to its musicianship within a few minutes. From a rich arrangement, to empty and return to the full pop vibe of the song. Dynamics are in full use, but so are all the little extra's. One more guitar, the Farfisa sound besides the regular organ, it is all there to discover.

Heavenly does it all for one whole album long. Okay, the band had decades to prepare for the album, but supposing that it used the past three decades building this album, as Voom allegedly almost did, the time was extremely well spent. Comeback album Highway To Heavenly is a superb album and, well, heavenly.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Highway To Heavenly here:

https://heavenly.bandcamp.com/album/highway-to-heavenly 

The Bootleg Beatles live. Phil, Haarlem Saturday 28 February 2026

Photo: WdN-vdB

The previous time I was ill and had to give my ticket to a friend. This time I was there and listened to a selection the four imitation Beatles made from the five best selling albums of The Beatles. 'Rubber Soul', Revolver', 'Sgt. Pepper's', The Beatles' and 'Abbey Road'. The five albums that can be called the big bang in pop music. The albums where the band threw away most of the existing conventions and started to blend all influences from modern pop and beyond, to create something completely new that still inspires younger generations today, to make music based on this short period of five years from 1965 to 1969. And the period in which George Harrison played an ever bigger part with fabulous songs of his own.

The Bootleg Beatles are, despite being great musicians and singers, imitators. From a distance three of the four could easily be mistaken for Ringo, George and John. Paul has the least likeness. He is also the one who changes the less of the three. The wig is just a little longer and a glued on moustache in Sgt. Pepper is all. The other three change far more radically.

Photo: WdN-vdB

What The Bootleg Beatles do very well, is play a hommage to all the other things going on in these five selected years. Hitsingles come by, mostly little clips of the artists from each individual year, politics, fashion and such. It sets the stage for the next album and gives the four Bootleg Beatles the opportunity to change clothes and hair. They speak with the accents and tone of each Beatle and joke like they used to do. It gives the impression to be looking at the real thing, even though The Beatles did not perform behind three of the five albums. What we are presented, is what it could have been like had The Beatles kept playing live.

Behind the foursome were three brass players, two strings and one person who plays it all and even sings in big choir settings. That allowed for intimate songs like 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'She's Leaving Home' to be played, but also big songs like 'A Day In The Life' or 'Good Morning' in a very convincing way. Of all possible songs, 'Yellow Submarine' was the one that got the hall going, 'Revolution' was the song where people could not remain seated.

Photo "Mr. Kite": WdN-vdB

My personal highlight? "While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. I got to know the song through 'the blue one" after my birthday in 1974. I knew immediately it was special, but my appreciation of the song still grow. Of course there was much more. 'And Your Bird Can Sing', 'Come 'Together', the 'Abbey Road' finally, with pictures of all important people associated with The Beatles, that are no longer with us today, ending with George and John. This includes some contenders for the "fifth Beatle" title. In my view? Stuart Sutcliffe was physically the fifth Beatle, at the time when Pete Best played drums. But the only one really deserving it, is of course George Martin. Without his musical training and willingness to create something special for the whole of the time, Beatles records would not have been the same.

Did I personally miss anything? Yes, that song that since 24 February 2022 can not be sung any more, 'Back In The U.S.S.R.' My band decided to steal it back from Mr. Putin. F*ck him.

Photo "Prudence": WdN-vdB

Although The Bootleg Beatles dress up and pretend, do not let this distract you. The quality offered is extremely high. This is not a clown show, but one that brings The Beatles as close as one can come today. This show is not at the same level as The Analogues, that can be found multiple times on this blog. They had a near academic approach to recreating the music of The Beatles and did so at an awestruck level. The Bootleg Beatles allow some fun to exist as well, just like The Beatles presented themselves in the first half of their career. When the quality does not suffer in any way from the dressing up, etc., both bands deliver, delivered for The Analogues, as the band broke up late 2024. "A splendid time is guaranteed for all", in 2026 as it was on that poster from 1843.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght 

The Devil's Door. And Also The Trees

Search and you will find two albums by And Also The Trees on this blog, 'Untangled (An Introduction To)' and 'The Bone Carver'. With The Devil's Door a third is added. Put it on and you are pulled into a listening session that is somewhere between 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles' and late night jazz in a smoky club from decades ago.

And Also The Trees started out as a post punk band in the U.K. in 1984. As I wrote before, I've missed it all at the time. Early in its career the band supported The Cure. In 2026 it will once again for three shows in June in Nîmes, so I suppose in the famous Roman theatre there. Full circle, but with a beautiful album on its hands. If post punk is hiding somewhere in The Devil's Door, it is in how the lead guitar plays here and there, but certainly not in the music as a whole.

The Devil's Door is a moody affair, a serious album of epic proportions. The band has not held back to make its latest album sound huge and impressive. Not by hiring a symphony orchestra, no, by putting a lot of attention into detail and atmospherics. Full use was made of synths and (weird) sounds to support the songs. Just listen to how the instrumental song 'Rooftops' plays out. So deceptively relaxed, yet so full of tension.

Singer Simon Huw Jones croons with his darkish voice. Moving through the songs like a snake, slow yet very deliberate. Not unlike Nick Cave I realise. Jones' voice has a lighter though. Together with Justin Jones, guitar, Paul Hill, drums, Grant Gordon, bass and Colin Ozanne, clarinet and various, Jones has created a jazzy environment in which it is good to dwell.

If I had to compare this music further, I can only come up with Tindersticks. Now I have never liked this band, so I could be wrong. Where Tindersticks fails my ears, And Also The Trees pulls me into its new album by the song until it takes over all else in my mind. Simon Huw Jones sings slow. He takes his time to share his lyrics with us. You can see him in that late night jazz club, crooning into the microphone, cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling up in the spotlight aimed at him. Totally having become one with the music, oblivious of all else, in the club and elsewhere.

The Devil's Door manages to create this illusion for the whole of the album. The band plays so subtle, supporting the singer, place an accurate accent here and there and taking short spots in the limelight in the moments without lyrics. Song by song the album delivers.

The rolling drums, the eastern European feel in the way strings and notes played in 'Shared Fate' closes the album in a great way. The song takes me far away from home. And when the album automatically starts playing again, I realise that opening song 'The Silver Key' has that same feel. It makes The Devil's Door a European album and far from British. An album of mesmerising beauty to cherish.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order The  Devil's Door here:

https://andalsothetrees.bandcamp.com/album/the-devils-door 

2025, week 9. 10 singles

This week is most likely the saddest in my life so far. Sad and bad news kept piling up. All this was written before it got really bad. So, enjoy it, enjoy life, family and friends!

Not Around Anymore. Broken Social Scene

With the title of its upcoming album Canadians Broken Social Scene make a jump towards a time where A.I. has replaced us. 'Remember The Humans', 8 May, points out the paradox the A.I. creators share constantly, that they are about to wipe out humanity but forge on nonetheless with developing A.I. Single Not Around Here Anymore puts the dot on the i, should we not have gotten the message. Musically, the single reminds me of the mid 80s jazzy folk episode with bands like Everything but the Girl and Working Week. What this band adds, is some more modern, albeit laidback grooves and atmospherics. The result is a pleasant single that allows Broken Social Scene to make its debut on WoNoBlog.

Might See You There. Weird Nightmare

The solo project of ex-Metz' Alex Edkins keeps putting fun singles out. The 2.02 minutes long Might See You There is no exception. It is a punkrock track with a great pop feel, as Edkins is able to put this feel into his vocal melodies, that simply invite singing along to. It is built on a pop tradition of ages. Singer Julianne Riolino adds the female voice that makes listening to Might See You There even more pleasant. Of the song Edkins says to have been listening to The Undertones a lot. Now that is a band that evolved quite a lot over its four albums (before its hiatus), but I can hear where he's coming from. Punk and pop was written all over the band's first two albums, with 'Teenage Kicks' as absolute highlight. Might See You There is not that good, but absolutely so nice. Album 'Hoopla' will be out on 1 May.

There Goes The Neighborhood EP. Steve Geraci

After releasing a few singles, here's the whole four track EP. Steve Geraci is the front man of a band called The Tear Downs but made this EP with producer Dave Westner, who plays the keys, drums and bass. Geraci himself plays guitar and bass. With the title song, the EP starts with a rock track that is a neat version of rock. Neat as in, it doesn't fly off the road nor cuts corners. Neat as in a golden melody and a lot to like. It opens the door to the EP wide. Geraci and Westner brought their scissors to 'Voice In My Head' and show they can rock a bit more dirty, with a great rhythm on the drums and stop-start guitar and bass work. As I wrote last year, the name springing up is Dan Baird and in this year it still is. I'm sorry to say, to quote Steve Geraci in 'Paradise Lost', it is not for me. The song does not come alive for me, although that sax, that could be taken from a Spandau Ballet song, does its utmost. Everything is alright again with the punky 'Save Yourself', that for me is the prize song of There Goes The Neighborhood. It rocks and is extremely sleazy. In 1977 it would have come with a free safety pin and all.

Eb en Vloed. Claude

Had ik geweten dat Cloud, wat ik verstond, Claude was dan had ik misschien niet naar dit nummer gaan luisteren. Maar het is inderdaad de nieuwe single van de man die Nederland vertegenwoordigde op het Eurovisie Songfestival in 2025. Eb en Vloed is een lekker pop nummer dat aansluit bij muziek zoals die gemaakt wordt door een Amerikaanse band als The War Against Drugs, maar dat met a) een enorm shot pop en b) de mystiek die vaak te horen is bij een band als De Toegift. Claude speelt met alle drie deze onderdelen, geassisteerd door producer/co-schrijver Jeroen van der Voort. De derde schrijver is Arno Krabman. Zoals bij The War on Drugs heeft het nummer die enorme drive voorwaarts. Het tempo is niet zo zeer enorm hoog, maar laat je de hele tijd voorwaarts denken, als het surfen op een draaikolk. Ik ben prettig verrast door dit nummer van Claude, die overigens op een enkel woord na, volledig in het Nederlands zingt. Ook dat zette mij daarom op het verkeerde been. Cloud, eh, Claude, onthoudt die naam.

Pain. Janne Schra

There is a lot to write about Pain. How short it is, 1.45 minutes. The video could have been the set up of photo shoots of which each individual photo could go into a museum. More importantly, is the conclusion that it is a beautiful, serious song. In the past I have never been attracted to Janne Schra's music. It was just not made for my ears. Today I'm writing about a second single from her upcoming album, 'Work Out'. Pain is a bittersweet song, that mixes resignation and expectation, but above all is so warm. That warmth comes for an important part from the electric piano and from Janne Schra's voice. There are also some very nice details in the arrangement. The more you listen, the more details come forward. Pain is a beautiful song. 

Victim Of Luck. Metric

Canadian band Metric is on route to the release of its tenth album, 'Romanticize The Dive', 24 April. The new single announcing the album rang a faint bell. Metric? Searching the blog I found two albums, one from 2012 and one from 2015 (and a solo album by singer Emily Haines reviewed in 2017 by Erwin Zijleman). After that silence on these pages. What to expect of a new single? In short, a pleasant pop track with an electronic angle. Singer Haines has a voice like I mentioned recently in GUNMOLL's debut album, including a reference to Danish band The Astroid Galaxy Tour. All together that makes for a pleasant listening experience. Metric does not rock the boat in any way. It wants to please and succeeds.

Planet I.C.E. Dropkick Murphys 

It took the music world a while but protest songs are totally back in fashion. Now leave it to Dropkick Murphys to lead the punk pack. No nice Irish folk punk, uilleann pipes or tin whistles here. The band around singers Al Barr, who seems to have gotten out of hiatus for this song, and Ken Casey is angry and lets the world know it is, loud and proud. There is no holding back, pointing to scumbags and all. The song is one fast flow of anger oozing out of band and record. It's time more artists start speaking their minds as to all appearances democracy in the U.S. is in peril. "May you live in interesting times", is a famous Chinese quote. Well, at times things are becoming too interesting to my taste. Dropkick Murphys, sing loud, sing proud and I'll wear my hoodie from 2001 in support.

Qualm. KANT

More noise, but this time from Germany. The Aschaffenburg band KANT puts itself in the heavy psych rock niche and I can totally live with that. It takes a few seconds before the band takes off, where the tempo of the drummer already leaves no doubt where this song is going. The rest of the band is taking its time. KANT loves punk as much as heavy psych. The difference is the psychedelic effects on the guitars. Qualm is a song that brings the two sides together. This is a song that will invite one part of the fans to get into the moshpit while the others can move their heads up and down on the side and back of the venue, move on the spot and sing along. KANT knows exactly what it is doing and what effect it wants to reach. This tastes like more, but I understand Qualm is a 7" single only.

Camp Song. Lucky Break

What to make if 'Camp Song', one half of the single with 'City Lights' that both announce Lucky Break's debut album 'Made It' (8 May)? It is a short song, like the big hits around 1965, 2.30 minutes. The U.S. singer-songwriter, presents a song that can be played with an acoustic guitar around the campfire in the woods of Michigan where she wrote the song. What I hear, is a track that has a modern drumbeat and a wide arrangement in which a lot of things happen, especially in the choruses. Some sounds are easy to determine, others a bit harder. The combination makes for a song that has something of a singer-songwriter country song and an alternative twist. Believe it or not, I can, as it were, hear Tammy Wynette sing Camp Song, but also R.E.M. Now that is what I call a hybrid.

Deathwish feat. Mark Fry. The Haunted Youth

In 1979 The Cure released it's first album and one of the tracks, later re-released as single, is 'Boys Don't Cry'. 47 Years down the line the band gets an answer from a Belgium band correcting them. 'Boys Cry Too', is the name of The Haunted Youth's upcoming album (8 May). The single of the album has the uplifting title Deathwish. The music does not give that impression, unless its tempo suggests the equivalent of driving a car at full speed into a wall. It just may, listening to the chaotic end. The Haunted Youth goes at it like the siren rock of Big Country's signature song 'In A Big Country' and adds a relentless pace. The Belgian band sounds familiar because of this but because of the power it has put into Deathwish totally convinces. What the role of Mark Fry is in this song, I don't know. I do know this is not the Mark Fry who featured on this blog last year with 'Not On The Radar. The Demos'.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght 

Cuntry. Cleo Reed

Op Cuntry vermengt de Amerikaanse muzikant Cleo Reed op fascinerende wijze uiteenlopende invloeden, waaronder country en soul, folk en R&B en hiphop en jazz, wat een sensationeel goed album oplevert.

Ik heb afgelopen zomer niet heel veel gelezen over het debuutalbum van Cleo Reed, maar wat is Cuntry een indrukwekkend album. De muzikant uit New York krijgt vaak het etiket R&B opgeplakt, maar R&B is slechts een van de vele invloeden die zijn te horen op Cuntry. In vocaal opzicht klinkt het allemaal prachtig, zeker wanneer fraaie gospelkoortjes worden ingezet, maar in muzikaal opzicht is het debuutalbum van Cleo Reed minstens even indrukwekkend. Een album als Cuntry had afgelopen zomer moeten worden overladen met superlatieven, maar het bleef angstvallig stil en ook in de jaarlijstjes ontbreekt het album. Het is echt doodzonde. Cuntry van Cleo Reed is echt een geweldig album.

Toen Beyoncé vorig jaar haar countryalbum Cowboy Carter uitbracht verschenen er nogal wat verhalen in de media waarin de Amerikaanse superster een pionier werd genoemd. Ook een aantal muziekjournalisten van naam en faam sloegen de plank volkomen mis met hun bewering dat Beyoncé iets deed dat nog niet eerder was gedaan. 

Country en soul werden echter vele decennia geleden al vermengd door zwarte muzikanten en ook in het recente verleden waren er de nodige zwarte muzikanten die invloeden uit de country verwerkten in hun muziek. Dat deden ze bovendien een stuk beter dan Beyoncé, want persoonlijk vond en vind ik Cowboy Carter maar een slap album. 

In een jaarlijstje kwam ik vorige week een album tegen dat in alle opzichten klassen beter is dan Cowboy Carter, maar dat het helaas moest doen met een fractie van de aandacht die het album van Beyoncé kreeg. Het gaat om Cuntry van Cleo Reed. Het is het tweede album van de muzikant uit New York, die in 2023 debuteerde met het mini-album Root Cause en zichzelf ziet als non-binair persoon en queer. 

Het is een mini-album dat nog wel enigszins in het hokje R&B past, maar Cleo Reed, overigens het alter ego van Ella Moore, zoekt al wel de grenzen van het genre op. Dat gebeurt nog een stuk nadrukkelijker op het afgelopen zomer verschenen Cuntry, dat wat mij betreft in alle jaarlijstjes had moeten staan, maar dat helaas niet veel of zelfs verbijsterend weinig aandacht kreeg. 

Cuntry opent direct imponerend met het ruim acht minuten durende Salt N' Lime, waarin Cleo Reed me direct bij de strot grijpt. Het is een track waarin de Amerikaanse muzikant in eerste indruk maakt met een stem die zwoel en soulvol, maar ook karakteristiek klinkt, maar in muzikaal opzicht is de openingstrack van Cuntry misschien nog wel indrukwekkender. 

Het is een track met invloeden uit de R&B en de soul, maar stiekem sleept Cleo Reed er nog een breed palet aan invloeden uit de Amerikaanse rootsmuziek bij. Het klinkt direct bijzonder, maar het klinkt ook bijzonder lekker, want de muziek van de muzikant uit New York heeft een aangename flow, zeker als aan het eind van de track het tempo nog wat wordt opgevoerd met drumwerk met invloeden uit de jazz en de hiphop. 

Na de indrukwekkende eerste track verslapt Cleo Reed niet, want Cuntry is een album dat indruk blijft maken. Het ene moment betovert de Amerikaanse muzikant met een soulvolle strot en fraaie a capella gospel koortjes, maar ook wanneer folk en rap prachtig samenvloeien of als Cleo Reed toch kiest voor broeierige R&B zit je op het puntje van de stoel. 

Als Beyoncé vorig jaar een album als Cuntry zou hebben gemaakt had ik iets begrepen van alle superlatieven, maar Cowboy Carter mag niet eens in de schaduw staan van het weergaloze debuutalbum van Cleo Reed, die je track na track weet te verrassen met weer net wat andere wendingen en muzikale impulsen. 

Na de lange openingstrack volgen ook flink wat korte songs waarin de spanningsbogen minder hoog zijn, maar er altijd wel iets gebeurt dat je raakt. Cuntry wordt helaas nog vaak in het hokje R&B geduwd, maar voor een R&B album is de muziek op het album echt veel te subtiel en divers en ook qua zang blijft Cleo Reed flink uit de buurt van de gemiddelde R&B zangeres. 48 minuten en 5 seconden houdt Cleo Reed je in een wurggreep. Wat een indrukwekkend album.

Erwin Zijleman

 

Je kunt Cuntry hier luisteren en bestellen:

https://cleoforshort.bandcamp.com/album/cuntry 

Amy Macdonald live. Ancienne Belgique, Brussel, zondag 22 february 2026

Foto: HareD

De vaderliefde voerde ons dit keer naar Brussel. Mijn zoon is al jaren dol op de muziek van de Schotse zangeres Amy Macdonald. Haar concert in Tivoli was al uitverkocht, er was ook nog een optreden in Groningen, maar dat was ook midden in de week. Dus op zondag op en neer naar Brussel was het meest geschikte alternatief. Nooit een straf natuurlijk, en ook voor de muziek hoefde ik mij niet op te offeren.

Amy Macdonald is singer-songwriter, met vooral uptempo werk. Haar debuut in 2007 This is The Life was direct ook haar grote doorbraak. De titelsong stond in zes landen op nummer 1, en haalde de top 10 in nog eens 11 andere landen, zo meldt Wikipedia. In Nederland, Verenigd Koninkrijk, Denemarken en Zwitserland bereikte ook het album zelf de nummer 1 positie.  Inmiddels zijn we 5 albums verder, maar geen van de opvolgers behaalde het enorme succes van nummer 1. Maar dat zegt niet zoveel over de kwaliteit van de songs, want Mcdonald maakt simpelweg mooie nummers, die goed zijn gezongen. Hoogstens is de variatie wat beperkt.

In Ancienne Belgique was ze ook in goede doen, samen met haar vijf man sterke band. Fijne zaal ook, perfect geluid, bar gewoon buiten de zaal dus niet de hele tijd mensen die tig keer heen en weer lopen. Het kan natuurlijk toeval zijn, maar de Belgische toeschouwers om mij heen praatten veel minder tijdens het concert dan in Nederland. Ook prettig.

Foto: HareD

We kregen een fijne selectie van de zes albums voorgeschoteld, met nadruk op de jongste boreling Is This What You’ve Been Waiting For? (zomer 2025). Met het titelnummer trapte ze af en ze ging uptempo door met Dream On. Een vroeg hoogtepunt was haar tweede grote hit Mr. Rock and Roll. Andere mooie nummers waren Don’t Tell Me That It is Over, Slow it Down en Can You Hear Me. Amy is nogal een prater, dus we werden ook nog vermaakt met talloze anekdotes en observaties. Zo leerde we dat de band en rest van de entourage bijzonder blij waren met de wasmachine in Ancienne Belgique, omdat ze al een tijdje op pad waren in de twee grote tourbussen die prominent naast de zaal stonden geparkeerd. De set sloot af met This Is the Life, waarna we op een toegift van drie nummers werden getrakteerd, met als mooie afsluiter Let’s Start a Band.

Het was geen levensveranderend concert, maar wel een bijzondere goede besteding van de zondag. Aanrader!

HareD

Existence Is Bliss. DEADLETTER

With 'Hysterical Strength' DEADLETTER stormed into these pages about one and a half year ago. Here is the follow up record already. Now one of the things I had read after the release of the album was that saxophone player Poppy Richler had left the band, so I wondered what the new DEADLETTER would sound like.

There's no need to worry. Existence Is Bliss is just as good, if not better than the debut album and there's is a saxophone still, the instrument that makes DEADLETTER stand out so much from all the other contemporary bands. The trio that started the band, Zac Lawrence, Alfie Husband and George Ullyott, are mentioned in the bio. I do not have any further information here.

Existence Is Bliss continues where the debut left off. The album sounds extremely self-confident. This is a band that knows what it is doing and has found its stride. Of course, the music is still postpunk and qualifies in multiple ways. Just read my previous album review for that. What I rejoice at, is the swagger with which the band presents its new album. It is so confident, that it dares to not open the album with a bang, but with more an atmospheric intro instead. Singer Zac Lawrence takes his usual place, singing like a new wave, doomed singer from the early 80s. Just listen how the song gets its punch when the rhythm section, Alfie Husband (drums) and George Ullyot (bass) joins and then 'Purity I' gets its next level punch when the lead guitars come in and the drummer starts playing his hi-hat as well. This is how you make a slow appearance, to deliver the hook and sinker and reel the listener into an album. 'Purity I' does all this and makes me want to hear more, now!

DEADLETTER's music does not come out of thin air. The band listened to Fontaines DC but is also faster in its development. It already has a 'Romance' by itself, as Existence Is Bliss shows. The London band is able to play with moods and that saxophone plays a big role there. In 2024 I opted to point out the similarity to Bowie's 'Blackstar' album and that still makes sense. The songs on Existance Is Bliss as such have nothing to do with Bowie's swan song, that saxophone style of playing and its function creating a certain mood has. It makes DEADLETTER's music clearly more interesting and fascinating.

Zac Lawrence would have been a great singer in the early 80s as well. Except, I would not have liked his band much most likely at the time. Bands strove to not make songs that please. DEADLETTER does. All the songs have elements that combine listening, dancing, singing along and are intriguing. This band manages to do it all combined, stimulating different sides of my music receptors. Song after song, 12 in all, have it. It makes Existence Is Bliss one of the better released albums in 2026 to date.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

The music of DEADLETTER is on Bandcamp:

https://deadletter-band.bandcamp.com/ 

 

Dungeon Vision. Earth Tongue

The thing with duo bands is, that they are, well, a duo. The result is they, at least alternative rock duos, do sound somewhat the same. The blueprint by far most people will think of is of course The White Stripes. Ever since the duo broke in the early 00s, they are the mall for all others following and have the most famous alternative rock duo anthem of all, 'Seven Nation Army'. Even football stadiums can not escape the tune, although the Dutch version is so non-woke a blog like this cannot repeat it.

Enter Earth Tongue from New Zealand but currently based in Berlin. The band made it here for the first time in June 2024 with its album 'Great Hunting'. I am sure that everything I wrote there can be repeated here. Just change a few titles and no one would notice.

It would be selling Gussie Larkin, guitar, vocals and Ezra Simons, drums and vocals short. On Dungeon Vision the duo once again is oozing with energy. The album is absolutely charged. Riffs fly around as if no one had invented them before this album. Of course it all sounds dirty, while the rhythm feels like wading through molten tar, but is simply great.

You will find that Earth Tongue even takes a breather. An acoustic guitar comes in, the fuzz is gone. There is a bass and something like a Mellotron. Gussie Larkin takes a swipe at singing without turning on the fog horn quality she has in her voice.

After this point of reflection things go crazy once again. The fuzz pedal is pushed in deeply and it's even possible to make the sound even dirtier in the choruses. I'll be honest. When I listened to the album for the first time, I thought, 'okay, been here, done that'. After I put on the album once again there was no holding back and it went on repeat. Yes, Dungeon Vision is not a giant step forward from 'Great Hunting', but such a pleasant continuation that I can't resist it. Last year it was Italian duo The Devils with its eponymous album, in 2026 it's Dungeon Vision that is the alternative rock duo standard bearer.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

 

You can listen to and order Dungeon Vision here:

https://earthtongue.bandcamp.com/album/dungeon-vision