Honest, in-depth album reviews by KLOF Mag – championing and curating intelligent, uncompromising voices in contemporary and experimental music since 2004.
Albums
by Mike Davies
Produced by Jeff Tweedy, Alpenglow is Trampled by Turtles’ tenth album and is, without doubt, the band’s most contemplative album to date; one in which to immerse yourself.
by Danny Neill
Goat have risen and served notice of their return with ‘Oh Death’, the most earth-shakingly punchy album of their career so far. The effect these ten tracks leave on the listener is head-spinningly wonderful; lose yourself in the giddy delight of the experience.
by Mike Davies
A creative director, designer and photographer, at 40, Joseph Shipp is only now stepping out into a new career as a singer-songwriter with his debut album, ‘Free, For A While’; it’s unquestionably one of the year’s best.
by Bob Fish
Aoife Nessa Frances may have been caught in the wonder of the moment, trying to figure out where she fits in, yet Protector is a most generous gift, where she plays not to the crowd but to the sound and swirl of her own heart.
by David Pratt
Only a few albums warrant being designated genre-defining and/or so important that they changed music…The Watersons’ Frost & Fire is one of them; it remains a revelatory and seminal album and this vinyl reissue by Topic Records is an essential purchase.
by Thomas Blake
With A Tarot Of The Green Wood, Burd Ellen successfully tread entirely new ground. It is a suitably bewitching, disconcerting and often profoundly moving experience from the most innovative duo in folk music.
by Danny Neill
Eliza Carthy’s Queen Of The Whirl is all top-drawer…the element that fires listeners up the most is that voice. As far as natural-born instruments go, it is one of the best and wow, does she know how to use it.
by Mike Davies
Shot through with threads of resilience, Samuel James Taylor’s ‘Wild Tales and Broken Hearts’ is an album that reignited his love of music and songwriting.
by Danny Neill
On ‘Edyf,’ Cerys Hafana’s sound is simultaneously ancient in feel yet intriguingly modern with a vital 21st-century edginess. On each listen, new layers reveal themselves…it doesn’t follow any recognisable path or template, but then aren’t these the records that endure the longest?
by Billy Rough
On ‘Time Was Away’, the perfectly matched Emily Portman and Rob Harbron have delivered an elegant and understated gem that’s beautifully atmospheric and gently beguiling. Take time to savour this treat; you’ll be much rewarded.
by Danny Neill
On The Cinder Sheet, the delicate psych-folk sound of Sairie is delightfully unpredictable. They steadfastly avoid well-trodden routes with remarkable results. Anticipation grows for where they can take their open-eared psych-folk vision next.
by Bob Fish
As a songwriter, part of what makes Robyn Hitchcock so unique is that he doesn’t write songs like anyone else – ‘Shufflemania’ is no exception as it teases, turns and twirls to its own muse – we are all the richer for it.