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Review: Colemine Records has devoted itself to releasing top notch soul music for close to 20 years now. Those who follow the label closely trust the purveyor of the label (Terry Cole) enough to blindly pick up each and almost every release. The label's knack for finding and sharing some of the best versions of soul music is clearly evident from the latest by a group called The Splendids. Originally recorded in 1961, these two songs were destined to launch this talented ensemble. Two things' happened in 1962 though. Beatles music made Doo-Wop almost irrelevant overnight. In addition, members of the group got called into Vietnam. 63 years later after originally forming, the surviving three of the five members recording once again. The result is phenomenal and makes us feel like we are back in the 1950s. Only 500 copies in total have been pressed.

Review: A triumphant return for modern synth-pop chart-toppers Everything Everything, Mountainhead is an album-length analogy for our present condition, and an oozing forth of slick, joyous music at that. "Making a mountain out of a molehill" is certainly lent a positive spin when considered in light of "starting from nothing", i.e. music career-making; Everything Everything did just that in the mid 2010s when they charmed their burgeoning audience with their sophisti-synth prowess, and this is a sophistication that can only be continually reinforced hereon. For their latest concept album Mountainhead, all of society is imagined as working towards the creation of a manmade mountain; at the top is rumoured to be a huge mirror that reflects endlessly recurring images of the self, and at the bottom of the pit is a giant golden snake; the primal fear of all believers. Everything Everything make joyous work of the dreaded maxim, "the taller the mountain, the deeper the hole", delivering glitzing, falsetto'ing gems in the form of 'Cold Reactor' and 'R U Happy?', both of which transcend their initial synthpop reveries to become more than their constituent sum.