This is a power trio of multi-instrumentalists who hide under the pseudonyms Linnon Winston, Rob Winston and Enro Winston, but that are, surprisingly, three well known characters of the Italian indie-rock panorama; their real identities are, respectively, Lino Gitto, a constant presence in multiple releases and events of the Milan scene, Roberto Dell’Era, best known as the bass player in Afterhours, and Enrico Gabrielli from Calibro 35, Mariposa and Der Maurer.
As a result of a strong long-lasting friendship and a series of concerts played together all over Italy, The Winstons was born; in a ‘70s revival period like this, they explore a genre that almost no one has dared to face, the aforementioned ‘Canterburian Prog-rock’ (but the album also contains references to beat, garage rock and psychedelia), and do so with a truly amazing mastery!
VBR~221 kbps | 67 MB | UL | OB |
Nadine Khouri is a British-Lebanese musician and songwriter currently based in London, whose output has been described as “music born of perennial outsider status”. Mojo magazine recently featured Khouri as a Rising Artist To Watch and in recent months, Nadine’s also performed in renowned London venues like The Union Chapel and Cecil Sharp House.
Nadine was “discovered” by John Parish (producer associated with PJ Harvey and Giant Sand), and approached to sing on a track on his own Screenplay LP, following which she was invited to record a full-length album. Hence The Salted Air, which was recorded live by Parish and Ali Chant in a basement studio in Bristol, with a band comprising Huw Bennett, Jean-Marc Butty, J. Allen and Ruban Byrne, and featuring guest contributions from Adrian Crowley, Emma Smith and Florian Tanant and Parish himself.
The Salted Air presents Nadine’s personal reflections on loss and transformation. There’s a consistent meditative atmosphere about the sequence, although some tracks more compelling than others. The opening song, Thru You I Awaken, is especially arresting, a defiantly eastern-sounding melisma from Nadine’s a cappella voice giving way to a drone-based accompaniment for the final section. It’s reverential, and the mood is extended through into the epic I Ran Thru The Dark and the haunting, moody Broken Star, the swirling evocation of Daybreak, the hushed drifting murmurings of the title song and the languid, Hammond-bedecked aura of the final track Catapult. The tracks in between feel more like lazy dream-pop interludes which are less melodically distinguished. Shake It Like A Shaman, which as its title implies, is a repetitive quasi-gospel chant (just voices and percussion). Despite this, there’s sufficient intriguing music within the collection to confirm the assessment that Nadine Khouri’s one to watch.
Tim Showalter’s latest release as Strand of Oaks, ‘Hard Love’, emanates an unabashed, raw, and manic energy that embodies both the songs and the songwriter behind them. “For me, there are always two forces at work: the side that’s constantly on the hunt for the perfect song, and the side that’s naked in the desert screaming at the moon. It’s about finding a place where neither side is compromised, only elevated.”
Drawing from his love of Creation Records, Trojan dub compilations, and Jane’s Addiction, and informed by a particularly wild time at Australia’s Boogie Festival, he sought to create a record that would merge all of these influences while evoking something new and visceral. These influences coupled with an uninhibited and collaborative studio experience moved an initial concept for a singularly feel-good record to something more complex and real. As much as Showalter wants this record to seem like a party, it’s more than that. It feels like living. “You went away…you went searching…came back tired of looking” is how Showalter begins the title track, a sentiment that epitomizes Showalter’s own mentality in beginning ‘Hard Love’. As the record progresses, so do the themes of dissatisfaction and frustration with love, family, success, and aging, both in personal experience and songwriting.
