Rock news is in the spotlight in this November Quick Hits selection, with Egyptian Blue, C-MAT and many others.
Also find our previous Quick Hits selections.
Egyptian Blue – A Living Commodity
★★★
Supported by their compatriots from Idles and Foals, this group does not do old English lace but the arsenic of an ultra-vitalizing punk rock. A more than promising first album!
Squirrel Flower – Tomorrow’s Fire
★★★
Surrounded by the musicians of Angel Olsen and Bon Iver, Ella Williams lets her guitar express itself here in its most (post-)grunge and outlet, signing classics that are as instantaneous as they are fiery.
Flamingods – Head of Pomegranate
★★½
This sparkling London group, whose members met as children in Bahrain, is celebrating its tenth anniversary by varying the psychedelic pleasures, if possible on the dancefloor. Exciting!
The Mountain Goats – Jenny from Thebes
★★½
More than 20 years after its birth, the group led by John Darnielle is more prolific – and inventive – than ever. As proof, this album is both narrative and playful, around a heroine named Jenny.
Wild Nothing – Hold
★★½
Jack Tatum, aka Wild Nothing, condenses here his experience as a young father and the harms of the pandemic in intimate lyrics and a synthpop and alternative framework, under the assumed influence of Orbital.
Allah Las – Zuma 85
★★★
The enfant terribles of Californian surf rock 2.0 return with an album that is still sunny, but further plows the furrow of DIY prog rock. Or how to reinvent yourself (brilliantly) without getting lost along the way.
C-MAT – Crazymad, for Me
★★★
A new country voice made in Dublin, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson signs a second album which will be that of her consecration: accomplished, rocky and romantic, and with an unstoppable duet with John Grant.
Multi-performers – The Birth of Surf Rock
★★★★
Going back to the “hula blues” of Sol Ho’opi’I dating from 1933, Bruno Blum brings together the jewels of old school surf rock: The Ventures, Duane Eddy, Dick Dale, The Tornadoes and, of course, the Beach Boys.
Nicolas Comment – Coat of arms
★★★
It is (well) accompanied by Brisa Roché, the Limiñanas, and Milo McMullen that the French musician delivers a third solo like a poetically written novel. Ambitious, rock’n’roll and Gainsbourgian.
Beirut – Hadsel
★★★
Sound, trumpets and horns! But also organs and ukuleles. Recorded on an island in Norway, the new intimate album by American multi-instrumentalist Zach Condon shines with its melodic timelessness.
This Quick Hits selection is available in WECB n°157, available on newsstands and on our online store.
