A long twelve months later - after rapt reviews and a stint modelling for Hedi Slimane in Paris - Howard’s second album is here, and the changes are marked.
“This is an album about opening up. Ark is the cold album, closed-off, obscure and confusing. I obscured lyrics and hid behind reverb and mumbling. For this album I wanted to reach out more. In some ways it is darker than Ark. I feel that I struggle to connect with a lot of people and I want to connect somehow. Love to Give is about opening up and becoming more of a human being.”
In his new work, Howard has replaced apprehension and doubt with a muted hope, and just as the sentiment has shifted, as too the compositions and arrangements have moved into the real world. Ark’s electronic templates have ceded to - as Howard says - “embrace the sound of human beings”, and the instrumental palate has widened: brass, tuned percussion, woodwinds, and organs now flesh out the tracks, with digital percussion only used for texture rather than structure. Much was recorded in a theatre in London’s Woolwich, with Howard’s vocals recorded naturally in the large main hall, and passing traffic and street noise can be heard faintly throughout the album.
Opening track ‘Love To Give’ builds from hymnal acoustic reverie to a wall-of-noise breakdown, before ending on a military brass finale; the seven minute centrepiece ‘Aria’ leads with a solo xylophone into interweaving Kraut percussion and strings lines; ‘Forelsket’ contains a freeform pitch-shifted saxophone, evoking Sun Ra alongside a Justin Vernon vocal line and symphonic swells; and closer ‘Body Eraser / Avalanche’ ends the album on a few minutes of haunting ambience.
The album is not a clean listen; lyrics and vocal melodies are still lost occasionally to the music, creating an hazy, sometimes impenetrable aura, and even the direct, sparser guitar-and-voice-tracks ‘Aside’ or ‘You Must Learn To Live Again’ rely on a heavy atmosphere rather than narrative. Instead of relying on clearer melodic control, what is more apparent is the growth in Howard’s compositions - his ability to breathe life in to sentiments of cold confusion and loss across dense, shifting arrangements.
‘Love To Give’ is a weighty, masterly executed album - a step away from anxiety towards light

Gravenhurst is a band from Bristol, England signed to Warp Records. Their latest album, Fires in Distant Buildings, was released in October 2005. The singer, guitarist and songwriter, Nick Talbot, is also one half of self-described "Victorian Clockworktronica" ensemble, Bronnt Industries Kapital.
Nick Talbot also recorded some solo works under the pseudonym of Exercise One (the name presumably taken from the song by Joy Division, of whom Nick is a known admirer). These releases were “Sonar Valley” (HUSH001) and “Serial” (HUSH004) on his own Silent Age label.
Gravenhurst's music is often described as dark and highly atmospheric, veering between the noisy shoegazing sound of guitar bands such as My Bloody Valentine, and the more traditional singer-songwriter territory of Simon and Garfunkel, Bert Jansch and Nick Drake. Earlier releases were grounded in acoustic and folk styles, while Fires in Distant Buildings made moves towards psychedelic rock. Flying Saucer Attack, a cult Bristol outfit who released a series of feedback-drenched, folk-inspired albums in the early 1990s, have been cited by Talbot as a major influence.
Gravenhurst have recorded cover versions of Hüsker Dü's "Diane", and "See My Friends" by The Kinks.
A constant in the Gravenhurst sound is Talbot's fragile voice and unsettling and mysterious lyrical themes.
Talbot keeps a weblog entitled "The Police Divers Notebook".
A fifth album is due for release on September 10th 2007. It is entitled "The Western Lands", and the tracklisting is: 01. Saints 02. She Dances 03. Hollow Men 04. Song Among The Pine 05. Trust 06. The Western Lands 07. Farewell Farewell (a Richard Thompson cover) 08. Hourglass 09. Grand Union Canal 10. The Collector
The album will be preceded by a single, "Trust", with B-sides "Underfoot" and "The Foundry".

Benjamin John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He self-released his debut EP Games in the Dark followed by two more EPs, These Waters and Old Pine. He is currently signed to Island Records.

2008 debut album from the Ambient Electronic Space Rock trio from South London. Our Sleepless Forest's music is multi-layered, complex and dense, yet dedication and attention are rewarded as the intricate slow-build melodies are revealed beneath the feedback, crackle and hiss. Reminiscent at times of the likes of Loscil or even Radiohead's more out-there moments but on the whole avoiding the predictable comparisons associated with music of this genre, this is an album that simply has to be heard. Resonant.

Originally released in 1981 on Rough Trade as ROUGH 026.

这套双CD收录的30首Cocteau Twins作品，全部是他们在BBC电台的录音，因而带有些许Live的性质，和录音室版本不尽相同，但Cocteau Twins那种别无分号的音乐表现丝毫未见减退。
第一张CD及第二张CD的前半部分是他们早在1982到1984年的录音，其时Cocteau Twins刚刚加盟处于草创期的4AD，音乐风格偏向核心为迷幻摇滚的后朋克/歌特，和乐队Siouxsie & the Banshees比较相象。这些作品的录音室版本主要来自他们这一时期的代表专辑，如《Garlands》和《Treasure》等等，Live版本不论是从乐器的演奏还是人声的演绎来说都和录音室版本比较接近。
八十年代末期开始，Cocteau Twins开始转向所谓的“仙音派”，以吉他手Robert Guthrie的空灵演奏和女主音歌手Elizabeth Fraser如云似雾、不食人间烟火的演唱为标志，并成为“4AD之声”的支柱乐团。其实早在1984年的《Treasure》专辑中的部分单曲如《Ivo》和《Otterley》等已经露出了乐队转型的端倪，在这张《BBC Sessions》第二张CD收录的84年作品的最后两首便是《Ivo》和《Otterley》，用这两首歌做了一个承上启下后。
第二张CD的后半部分就是Cocteau Twins解散前的最后作品，录制于1996年三四月间，一共7首，几乎全部来自他们1996年的最后一张录音室唱片《Milk & Kisses》。在完全没有录音室设备渲染下的Elizabeth Fraser的声线和在录音室唱片当中听到的相比较就有些许不同，如果说录音室版本中的Frazer是云端的歌咏仙女的话，那这张《BBC Sessions》中的Frazer就是堕入凡间的精灵了。可能很多人对《Serpentskirt》有一些印象，因为在《Milk & Kisses》亚洲版中此曲由Cocteau Twins和王菲合作，一派完全梦游意象，而此番的BBC电台版本则多了一份脚踏实地的感觉，虽然我们仍然听不懂Fraser在梦呓什么。又是呓语哦。

Fortunately for Mt., they're much better at making music than keeping a drummer. After a string of EPs, Lethologica is the debut album from the young English band. As a three piece, Mt.'s sound is not one that attempts to blow the listener away by sheer force. Instead, close attention is put on melodies and transitions, as well as time-signatures and overall cohesion. In all these areas Lethologica excels. The album does fall short in the drumming department (which, we suspect, is due to the revovling door of drummers attached to the band). Lethologica's drumming leaves something to be desired. If the act picked up an additional guitarist the drumming would be less of an issue--the added sound would do well to cover up the sloppy drumming, but as a three piece the drummer must be able to hold his own. As a debut album Lethologica is a solid album and the future is promising for Mt., and with a bit of adjustment this band will flourish.

The stories told by this Leeds five-piece are set to carefully structured, adorning melodies with instrumental patterns capable of creating an incredible range of emotions. "Progress Reform" contains unique, inspiring, and rousing songs, and brims with exceptional characters and historical events. "Brilliant, unique, wry: iLiKETRAiNS are at odds with pop's present trends, but then weren't all the best bands out of time?" - NME. "Intelligent, witty songs are matched by hauntingly powerful riffs. These make you think of The Smiths and Interpol joining forces with Sigur Ros...This mini album boasts some remarkable tracks" - The Sun.

There’s a strong, vibrant formal tradition in hip hop: the story rhyme.
Rather than the bragging and boasting of many raps, in a story rhyme the MC presents a narrative – a street update of Ovid or Homer if you want to get hifalutin about it. Traced back by some to “The Message” by Melle Mel, few would dispute that it reached some sort of a peak with Slick Rick’s first album, and was carried forward by the likes of Biggie and Eminem. It also had a profound influence on rap in the UK, with artists like Roots Manuva using the form to represent themselves and their city in a myriad of new ways.
Kate Tempest is best known as a poet, perhaps a performance poet or a spoken word artist. She has a novel coming out next year with Bloomsbury. But ask Kate what she is and she’s more likely to say she’s a rapper who writes. That’s her first love. Listen to her voice, her cadences, the accent, and you’ll hear more of Skinnyman than Seamus Heaney, a veteran of Deal Real’s legendary Friday night rap battles but also someone at home doing a book reading at Foyles.
Kate Tempest understands the story rhyme, loves it. Which is why Everybody Down is something like a “novel rhyme” – twelve ‘chapters’ telling one long, complex story, a unique, one-off project, almost unique in the history of the form.
Dan Carey aka Mr Dan is one of the UK’s best known and most highly-rated producers. He’s worked with or remixed Bat For Lashes, Toy, MIA, Chairlift and Hot Chip (and just about everyone in between). When the two met, Carey invited Tempest to come through to his South London studio to muck about on a track or two. In a burst of intense creativity, they put down the whole twelve track album in a fortnight having spent almost a year developing the characters and story.
The result is a revelation. Tempest takes the tropes of the hip hop story – drugs, money, gangsters – and brings them to life in a whole new way, a London way, but also a completely personal way, where she inhabits the different characters and shows the boredom and fear in their lives rather than some faked glamour, shows more than anything their need for love.
Carey, meanwhile, sculpts soundscapes that pay tribute to the roots of hip hop while melding into the themes Tempest addresses, tough and gritty but intensely musical, the sound of a wet winter’s night out in London. He even got US singer-songwriter Willy Mason to contribute a chorus! In the end we get an audio story Dickens might have tried to write, one which is, in Tempest’s words, quite simply about “loving more.”
Kate Tempest has released records on Greco-Roman and Speedy Wunderground and for a long time fronted the band Sound Of Rum (Sunday Best). She won the Ted Hughes Poetry Prize for her play “Brand New Ancients,” which led The Guardian to describe her as “one of the brightest talents around.” Her forthcoming novel for Bloomsbury features the characters and the world built in Everybody Down, with a chapter correlating to each track.
But it’s here on this stunning, sustained piece of work, where each track works on it own, that music fans will hear beyond doubt just what a talent she is.

Following the title track and "Share It All", Jessie Ware has released a new single from her upcoming record, Tough Love. Hear "Say You Love Me" below. It was produced by BenZel, aka Benny Blanco and Two Inch Punch. The record is out October 21 in the U.S. and October 6 in the UK via PMR/Island. "Say You Love Me" is out September 29 in the UK.
Ware worked with tons of collaborators on Tough Love—in addition to executive producers BenZel and Devotion co-conspirators Dave Okumu, Julio Bashmore, and Kid Harpoon, she enlisted Miguel, Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford, Nineteen85 (who co-produced Drake’s “Hold On We’re Going Home”), and Ed Sheeran (Taylor Swift, One Direction). Dev Hynes also wrote on Instagram that he worked on a track.

英国民谣金

'Sordid tales collected from the end of smoky bars from around the globe. Enthralling, sinister and audacious'-Spin Magazine. Ten tracks including 'She's the Mistake', 'Woke Up Dow n' and 'Honey Why'. 15 tracks. 2001 release.