Tough Love Schallplatten & CDs

Review: RECOMMENDED
We're struggling for many ways to describe Free Advice, aside from 'a genuinely wonderful listen'. The second record from San Francisco-based gems Cindy, it's an outing that remains understated from beginning to end, and yet somehow manages to deliver gritty, gruelling rock 'n' roll, euphoric day-tripping anthems, honest love songs and more.

At the most sedate, 'Seeing Double' sounds like it could almost frighten itself, a cute but damaged, delicate and loose arrangement. 'Wrong Answer' is more like a slap in the face but through a wall of static, fuzzy guitars and a thick layer of white noise helping keep what could be a runaway train in check. Just about. 'Fixed Idea' is bound to make you feel like there's still so much hope to cling to, and is among the most quietly empowering things to sound a bit like Velvet Underground we've had the pleasure of hearing in quite some time.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Often the most apt quotes come from unexpected places. The Great Spans of Muddy Time isn't just a great album title, it's reference to depression, originating from TV gardening legend Monty Don. It has now been re-used for the name of William Doyle's latest album in his post-East India Youth years, which have thus far been marked by a series of blissful instrumental LPs and the excellent, song-focussed Your Wilderness Revisited in 2017.

Things look to combine both here, with The Great Spans of Muddy Time an exceptional example of lo-fi folk-electronica, at times epic and monumental - huge, expansive synth builds - in other moods there's a Casiotone for the Painfully Alone quality to the more rhythmic tracks. An accomplished addition to an already exceptional oeuvre.

Review: The Town That Cursed Your Name is a welcome return from Glenn Donaldson aka The Reds, The Pink, The Purples. The LA-based artist says of the record that "I realised as I was piecing it together that it's a song cycle about trying to live while also feeling called to make music. The album addresses that duality ably with wry observation and a mix of the micro- and macroscopic realness Donaldson is so well-loved for. This record is heavier than the last with more fuzzy guitar textures and heavier lines throughout. From lo-fi to college rock, the influences here are varied and the songs are both beautiful and dazzling.

Review: Four piece outfit The Umbrellas call themselves "renegade romantics" and they are adept at making irresistible indie pop hymns. 2021 marked the year they dropped their successful breakout debut album and in the wake of that they went on national tours and got plenty of critical acclaim. Fairweather Friend is the difficult second album that didn't prove so and brought yet more lush and candied melodies with confident guitar, great vocals and plenty of studio finesse. Not bad for a group that met at San Francisco record emporium Amoeba Music.