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Whispered Something Good - GS Schray

I bought this back in June and had left it waiting for collection on a shelf at World Of Echo since then. One of the more trivial worries I have in the event of my sudden death is “how many records will go uncollected in the capital’s record shops"?”. The other thought that has been known to keep me awake is “Will Heidi realise how many Nectar points I have collected"?”. I don’t know what it is about this record that has me feeling so morbid? The music can best be described as Ambient Jazz Guitar, reminiscent of Vini Reilly. There are plaintive horns throughout that bring a lot of whimsy to the party. My record collection is now 80% music my teenage self would be ashamed to know he would be listening to in later life, and Whispered Something Good would definitely be an LP i’d hide under a bed from him. But i’m into it, I can’t deny, even if it does sound like an alternate soundtrack to On Golden Pond. Music for an infinite Sunday.

Tony Morris - House Of God

This week saw the first official single release by Tony Morris on the Optimo label. I’ve been waiting for this music for months ever since I first came across Tony on Instagram reels of all places. Tony Morris is a 72 year-old former Taxi driver from Glasgow and House Of God, originally performed by Dimensional Holofonic Sound, is his first single. As much as Morris has a totally singular approach what i find really inspiring is that he attacks making music in exactly the same way a teenage bedroom producer with a a cracked version of FL studios would. On a recent appearance on the Today show he characterised his life up until the point where he began to experiment with making music and video as a series of failures. The task of finding your own distinct voice is always the most challenging part of being a musician and to see this septuagenarian manage it with such finesse makes this a SOTY contender. How to describe his sound? the primitive synths recall Suicide and the plunderphonic artists at the turn of the Millenium like V/Vm but its his voice that entrances, part latter day Leonard Cohen and part Ivor Cutler. No indication if there’ll be a vinyl release but if enough people buy at Bandcamp below, maybe we’ll get the pressing this deserves.

Society Exists

The live music industry hasn’t really covered itself in glory of late . So to attend the recent Society Exists free festival in Gillett Square in the heart of Dalston felt like a healing experience. High Vis alongside DHP put together a diverse and exciting lineup of artists including James Massiah and Jawnino and charged nothing to get in. To add to the for-the-people-by-the-people vibe the bar even charged a pre-2008-financial-collapse £4 for a beer. Even though he barely played 15 minutes (it was free) Jawnino was a highlight, his tune Westfield, which seems to extol the virtues of doing class A drugs in shopping centres, is another SOTY contender. But few bands seem to create as charged or communal an atmosphere as High Vis. About to release their 3rd album Guided Tour on the illustrious Dais record label, High Vis are scene veterans who get better with every release. Maybe its because its so difficult to squeeze them into any box, undoubtedly they’re Hardcore band, with Hardcore values but they’re a Hardcore band whose last single Mind's A Lie sounds more like Flowered Up than Fucked Up. In Graham Sayle they have a totemic frontman, between songs he speaks passionately about the importance of collective community action, he wears his politics on his CP Company lensed sleeve. The discourse around male mental health can sometimes feel suffocating, its hard not to be suspicious about the motives of the various writers and tech companies who have turned it into an industry. When High Vis sing Trauma Bonds I find my cynicism leaves my body entirely. Their album Guided Tour is out October 18th, as with all Dais releases there’s about 20 different vinyl variants, i’ve pre-ordered 2 it seems the least I could do to show my appreciation for putting on this amazing event .