I’ve been catching up with my podcasts, such as the wonder Morning Becomes Eclectic from KCRW to discover that Joseph Arthur has a new album out – which can be downloaded directly from his website (here) and only asks for a Donation!!!!  Nice to see some brave thinking.  I’ve made an initial donation and downloaded the album, if the album is good then we’ll donate some more.

In addition to this, Joseph also released Nuclear Daydream which has been very quietly been released – I don’t think I’ve seen any reviews for it in the UK press, including the likes of Uncut, which is a shame, as I’ve been listening to a copy on and off since I found out about its release earlier in the year. Perhaps not as stunning as Our Shadows Will Remain, but still a worthy purchase (despite beingh an import).

I’ve been listening to this album on my MP3 player for the last week or so and enjoyed it, but last night I finally listened to it through the HiFi, and boy is this the mutts nuts!  I find electronca hard to write about – so here is a reasonable review for you : http://www.progressive-sounds.com/Music-Reviews/Hybrid-I-Choose-Noise.asp.

 Hybrid’s I Choose Noise at Amazon

I’ve been a little remiss in album reviews of late, so I here a quick look a new album.  In the UK, Ray Lamontagne’s first album has been relaunched four or five times (but the record company never seems to follow through). As a result Trouble has been out for sometime now and the multiple launches has delayed the release of his second album here in the UK, which is a shame as the sequel- Till The Sun Turns Black, seriously eclipses his debut Trouble, not that Trouble was a poor effort, far from it.

Till The Sun Turns Black sees Ray’s vocal delivery coming across a little sweeter and a little less dry than on Trouble, and the instrumentation is far richer, running from a Stax/Memphis Horns backing on a couple of tracks to a muted trumpet that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Northern England brass band, then there is the purest simplicity of a guitar and voice (Lesson Learned); then we have a simple string backing on the title track.  The overall effect is that the music carries you along without detracting from the Ray’s vocal performances.

This gets lots of thumbs up, you can purchase the album through Amazon – Till The Sun Turns Black.  To add to the joys Ray is touring the UK over the coming months – more information can be found on his website here.