Following on from various self-released albums, Footfalls Echo is the latest offering from West Yorkshire born, Krakow based artist Hayden Berry, aka Visionary Hours. Always aiming to offer something different with each release, Visionary Hours uses a wide variety of acoustic instruments to create slowly evolving ambient/modern-classical pieces, full of space and gently revealed micro melodies.
Strings, guitar, vocals, flute and clarinet are all in check on Footfalls Echo. Together with Richard Formby (Spectrum, Mogwai, Dakota Suite, The Jazz Butcher), Berry combined these instruments with genuine tape delay created through a Revox B77 reel to reel tape recorder. Various other tape effects were also used to create warm swathes of sound to underpin melodic lines, with recordings of acoustic instruments being reversed or slowed down before a final mix on to high speed 4-track cassette. Analogue recording plays a very important part in the creation of this album, something that is reflected in the abstracted tape reels of the cover.

‘How To Be A Human Being’ is a scrapbook of the bands time spent on the road, gathering memories and perceptions of different types of people from all around the world.
Unveiled in mid May as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record, ‘Life Itself’, the first single from the album, has already elevated the band’s sonorous buzz to a whole new level. The track is an immersive, exotic and characteristically off-kilter earworm, reintroducing the band in the wake of their sensational ascent into a force to be reckoned with.
Glass Animals’ debut ‘Zaba’, released on Paul Epworth’s label Wolf Tone, has so far sold nearly half a million copies worldwide and amassed a staggering 200 million Spotify streams, obliterating all expectations simply by word of mouth. Their anomalous rise has gained the Oxford four-piece a legion of fans all over the world, including festival appearances at the likes of Falls in Australia, Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury and has resulted in the band playing 2 sold out headline shows at LA’s 2000-capacity Wiltern and NYC’s 3000-capacity Terminal 5.
To those expecting another album like Zaba, this album may end up as a disappointment. Glass Animals found success on a rather unique and creative sound and continued to expand their inner-weirdness and creativity by not playing it safe, instead opting for more ambition. This approach has paid off admirably as How to Be a Human Being is more than just a collection of stories told through characters like the ones on the album’s art, but is also a showcase of the band’s talent. Taking this talent, expending as much creative energy and ridiculousness as possible while deviating from their beloved sound, the result is an album that one would be hard pressed to find a comparable output to; and that’s a fantastic dilemma.

KT Tunstall returns with an explosive 11 track collection of songs on her fifth studio album KIN. Produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Fitz and the Tantrums), and written and recorded by KT in LA, it exemplifies the very best of guitar pop.
It has been over ten years since KT released her multi-platinum debut, Eye To The Telescope, and in KIN, KT sees its full bodied and blooded follow up. The album's new focused sound is exemplified by the teaser track 'Evil Eye'; a stripped back, primal rock 'n' roll track that seeded the whole record. The album's lead single 'Maybe It's A Good Thing' shows KT in top form: a moment in life captured in a bright, powerful pop song with an irresistible and unforgettable melody.
The diverse collection also includes a duet with KT fan James Bay, the raucous rebellion of 'It Took Me So Long To Get Here, But Here I Am', 'Run On Home', the call to arms of 'Hard Girls', and the beautiful album closer 'Love Is An Ocean'.

Modern classical, piano

Philip David Charles Collins LVO is an English drummer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor, best known as the drummer/singer of the rock band Genesis and for his solo career. Between 1982 and 1990, Collins scored three UK and seven US number-one singles in his solo career.

Let Them Eat Chaos, Kate Tempest's new long poem written for live performance and heard on the album release of the same name, is both a powerful sermon and a moving play for voices. Seven neighbors inhabit the same London street, but are all unknown to each other. The clock freezes in the small hours, and one by one we see directly into their lives: lives that are damaged, disenfranchised, lonely, broken, addicted, and all, apparently, without hope. Then a great storm breaks over London, and brings them out into the night to face each other--and their own last chance to connect.
Tempest argues that our alienation from one another has bred a terrible indifference to our own fate, but she counters this with a plea to challenge the forces of greed which have conspired to divide us, and mend the broken home of our own planet while we still have time. Let Them Eat Chaos is a cri de cœur and a call to action, and, both on the page and in Tempest's electric performance, one of the most powerful poetic statements of the year.

Lisa Papineau is a songwriter from New England who now resides in Paris, France. She is the songwriter and vocalist for L.A. band, Big Sir, who have released three albums. Lisa has also loaned her vocals to other bands, including Air, M83, Anubian Lights, Farflung, P.O.D., Crooked Cowboy and the Freshwater Indians, and recently collaborated with Japanese composer Jun Miyake on his album Stolen From Strangers.
Lisa received initial recognition when her band, Pet, co-founded with composer Tyler Bates, was featured on The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack, and then the Blue Note Records soundtrack for the film 'The Last Time I Committed Suicide." Pet's self-titled album was executively produced by Tori Amos on her label, Igloo Records. Papineau's long awaited solo album, Night Moves, was released stateside in 2006 on LunaticWorks. Her latest record Red Trees, is set for release in May/ June of 2009, through Enja-Yellowbird Records and (Harmonia Mundi in France.)
Papineau was the co-producer for the avantgarde film Treasure Island directed by Scott King. In Addition, she has narrated the movie Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down.

Remastered version of their 1995 album. Sleeve notes by Melody Makers Ian Watson. This was the band's final album resulting in a more spacey ambient feel. Castle. 2005.