The House Of Love – “Marble”

Depending on who you ask A Spy In The House Of Love, the 1990 release from The House Of Love, is either a compilation of b-sides and rarities – this is what Wikipedia says – or the band’s unofficial third studio album – we’ll call this the Discogs reviews position. Guy Chadwick goes with the […]

The making of Brian Eno’s Another Green World

While most peoples’ “all-time favourite desert island discs” lists tend to coincide with whatever they were listening to in their late teens/early twenties when their musical tastes were coalescing/calcifying – mine certainly did, at least when I kept such a list – sometimes you come across a record much later in life that is instantly […]

mercvrial – “Be That Someone”

Brief Algorithms, the just-released second album from Mexican multi-hyphenate outfit mercvrial comes with an interesting hook for those unfamiliar with them – half the tracks feature guitarwork from twice-former House Of Love guitarist Terry Bickers. And it’s not a “Paul McCartney chewing celery” sort of cameo; his trademark shimmering tones can be heard all over […]

The Japanese House / Clean

I’m probably in the minority of people who’d categorize Amber Bain’s work as The Japanese House as dream-pop. She’s more commonly lumped in with electronica and/or indie-pop and reasonably so, but to my ears the way she uses electronic textures and processing to accent and enhance her songwriting along with her somnambulant vocals perfectly create […]