Both prefiguring the urgency of post punk, while simultaneously providing a continuation of utopian counter-cultural impulses, Harmonia’s Deluxe is the sound of the faultline running through the mid 70s, says Toby Manning

By 1975, the ornery optimism of the early 70s had declined into a laid-back complacency, with the period’s political stasis paralleled by the mainstream hegemony of unchallenging soft rock. In response, Harmonia’s second album, Deluxe represents a defiant continuation of countercultural impulses – experimentalism, improvisation, communality – while prefiguring the unease and dissatisfaction soon to be exemplified by punk. Consequently, Deluxe executes a constant pull and push between placidity and urgency, tranquility and anxiety, calm and agitation that is the very sound of the faultline running through the mid-70s….

The post Sometimes Easy, Sometimes Hard: Harmonia’s Deluxe at 50 appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/opinion-and-essays/anniversary/harmonia-deluxe-review-50th-anniversary/

After providing Severance with the soundtrack to its “defiant jazz” scene, the endlessly explorative work of legendary multi-instrumentalist Joe McPhee is enjoying a moment of rare mainstream crossover. With a new taster compilation coming this autumn, Stewart Smith provides 10 points of entry into his sprawling discography

Photo by Žiga Koritnik

A beloved figure in jazz and underground music, Joe McPhee has recently found a wider audience after his free-funk classic ‘Shakey Jake’ was featured prominently in Apple TV’s science-fiction drama Severance. Asked to choose some music as a reward for their work, the office clerks opt for “defiant jazz”. Their cheerfully sinister manager drops the needle on McPhee’s 1971 album Nation Time and leads the workers in a dance routine. It’s…

The post The Strange World Of… Joe McPhee appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/interviews/strange-world-of/joe-mcphee-discography-best-album-strange-world-of/

Water From Your Eyes

It’s A Beautiful Place

They’ll take your brain to another dimension. Pay close attention

It's A Beautiful Place by Water From Your Eyes

In 2025, human existence on Earth is somewhat nonsensical – one look at the news headlines makes this clear. In their first album since their breakthrough release, Everything’s Crushed (2023), Brooklyn-based duo Water From Your Eyes respond to this state of affairs with cautious but optimistic existentialism, namechecking Ween as influences on their ironic, rather absurdist approach to music-making.

In lead single ‘Life Signs’, vocalist Rachel Brown mumbles, subdued, “It’s so sad in this beautiful place” before reversing their view with “The world is a paradise” later on in ‘Born 2’ – and there are musical contradictions here…

The post Water From Your Eyes – It’s A Beautiful Place appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/water-from-your-eyeswater-from-your-eyes-its-a-beautiful-place-review/

They’ve also shared new single ‘Fundraiser’

Photo by Rankin

bar italia have shared details of their fifth studio album, Some Like It Hot.

Set for release in October, the follow-up to 2023’s The Twits and Tracey Denim features 12 tracks, including recent single ‘Cowbella’. They’ve also shared a video for new single ‘Fundraiser’, which stars Peep Show actor Matt King and can be watched below.

To support the record, the band will head out on a tour of Europe and North America through October and November. The run of shows will include a sold-out album release gig at London’s The Dome on October 18, followed by shows in Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Liege and Amsterdam through the remainder of the month. Tickets for the tour…

The post bar italia Detail New Album, ‘Some Like It Hot’ appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/news/bar-italia-detail-new-album-some-like-it-hot/

This year’s Green Man might be the Welsh festival’s finest edition yet, say Julian Marszalek, as they report back on top drawer sets from CMAT, caroline, Joshua Idehen, Beth Gibbons, Underworld and many more

All photos by Jan Rijk

Frequently shrouded in the mist and cloud of Bannau Brycheiniog in South Wales, Green Man 2025 unfurls like a sun worshippers dream. With nary a cloud to be seen for the best part of the weekend, this still-intimate gathering ramps up several gears as 25,000 party hungry revellers embrace the atmosphere, as much as each other, with added zeal.

Even after all this time, Green Man remains a unique and special festival, not just because of its broad musical remit, but talks, films, comedy,…

The post Moving Mountains: Green Man 2025 Reviewed appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/live-reviews/green-man-2025-review-cmat-underworld-wet-leg-joshua-idehen/

The record is centred around field recordings that the artist captured at night

Photo by Katherina Squier

claire rousay has shared details of her new album, a little death.

Due to be released via her frequent label home of Thrill Jockey, the eight-track record is centred around field recordings that the artist captured at nighttime. It’s said to form the final part of a trilogy of albums that has previously included a heavenly touch and a softer focus.

Speaking about how a little death compares to previous studio album sentiment, rousay said: “sentiment was a different way of working that helped refresh my music-making habits and usual flow. This record is a return to what I see as my core solo practice, a re-dedication…

The post claire rousay Unveils New Album for Thrill Jockey, ‘a little death’ appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/news/claire-rousay-unveils-new-album-for-thrill-jockey-a-little-death/

The new edition of Surfing On Sine Waves will feature three added tracks

Aphex Twin’s sole album under his Polygon Window moniker, Surfing On Sine Waves, is getting an expanded reissue.

Due for release on vinyl, CD and cassette formats next month (a digital version is already available now), the new edition of the album features three additional tracks: ‘Bike Pump Meets Bucket’, ‘Quoth (Wooden Thump Mix)’ and ‘Iketa’ – all of which featured on the 1993 EP Quoth.

Originally released in January 1993, Surfing On Sine Waves was the second album in Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series, following a various artists compilation. Its release came just a couple of months after Richard D. James put out his classic debut album as Aphex Twin,…

The post Aphex Twin’s Album as Polygon Window Set for Expanded Reissue appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/news/aphex-twins-album-as-polygon-window-set-for-expanded-reissue/

Wolf Alice

The Clearing

The award scoopers’ fourth album fails to live up to its bombastic lead single, says JR Moores

Let it be said that Wolf Alice’s ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ is one of the most delightfully bonkers singles of 2025. It opens with a repetitive piano motif as though a minimalist master like Steve Reich had laid the foundations. The drums, bass and percussion enter the fray with tightly composed crispness. The proggier verses find their foil in the grandiloquently anthemic chorus. This segues into the second verse with several pauses, a wild yelp, one tiny blast of lead guitar and a similarly brief drum roll. Vocally, Ellie Rowsell seems to be channelling Kate Bush on one section, a feral riot grrrl…

The post Wolf Alice – The Clearing appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/wolf-alice-the-clearing-review/

Patrick Clarke’s guide to the best in strange, left-field and underground traditional music returns, with reviews of 10 essential new releases that take in everything from Irish fairy forts to Japanese rivers, strange parallel worlds and stark protest songs

This is the fifth edition of Radical Traditional, my column exploring experimental, left-field and forward-thinking takes on traditional music from across the planet. It also marks the project’s first full trip around the sun, in which time it’s been pleasing to see that the kind of music it was established to cover continues to sprawl into new directions.

The anniversary also marks a change in the way the column’s being presented this time around. As regular readers will know, Radical Traditional has usually…

The post Radical Traditional: Folk Music for Summer, by Patrick Clarke appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/folk-music-reviews/radical-traditional-folk-music-for-summer-by-patrick-clarke/

Various Artists

The Alien Territory Archives: A Collection of Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music from 1970s San Diego

Featuring music by Pauline Oliveros, Harry Partch, Diamanda Galás, David Dunn and others, this compilation of experiments from 1970s Southern California is an essential collection, finds Antonio Poscic

The Alien Territory Archives: A Collection of Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music from 1970s San Diego by Nyahh Records

Journalists, musicologists, and historians alike are quite fond of the concept of the music scene. Scenes are a helpful prop, a methodical way of connecting artists’ individual stories into remarkable overarching narratives. But the process of envisioning an artistic milieu implies a degree of apophenia, of establishing relevant connections even when, in truth, they might be tentative or…

The post Various Artists – The Alien Territory Archives: A Collection of Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music from 1970s San Diego appeared first on The Quietus.

source https://thequietus.com/quietus-reviews/alien-territory-archives-a-collection-of-radical-experimental-irrelevant-music-from-1970s-san-diego-review/