Painter, writer, blogger, teacher, paper pusher, bespoke influencer
MD Alternative National Treasure (Feb 26, 2021)
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Rod Waterman
POSTDATA's 'Twin Flames' Wears Its Dark Heart on Its Sleeve
Twin Flames, the new solo album from Wintersleep’s Paul Murphy under the POSTDATA banner, is a rare and paradoxical combination in that it manages to be modestly epic, humbly grandiose, painting large screen technicolor romantic pictures by stealth. How he manages to do this might be the big trick of Twin Flames, although it’s by no means the only one.
Jane Weaver's ' Flock' Is a Virtuosic Tour de Force
The press materials that accompany Jane Weaver’s new album say the following: “Flock is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favor of writing pop music.” With all due respect to our Fire Records colleagues, there’s a good deal to take issue in that statement.
Brijean's Electro Lounge-Pop Songs Defy Time on 'Feelings'
Brijean’s Feelings is a solid set of 11 pop-dance-lounge songs, and that might be more than enough. The instrumentation and arrangements are tasteful and sophisticated, the lyrics elliptical and intriguing, and it’s the kind of album that can just easily live in the foreground or the background, in the living room, or on the dancefloor. It’s a great album to herald the proximity of spring, to get us through the last of winter and perhaps the beginning of the end of our confinement.
Cloud Nothings' 'The Shadow I Remember' Is a Life-Affirming and Defiant Statement
Cloud Nothings have been a going concern for over a decade now. During that time, they have established themselves as a punk-pop band of the highest caliber. Between their debut, Turning On in 2010 (recently reissued to commemorate the anniversary of its first arrival) and 2018’s Last Building Burning, they released a total of seven albums, including 2015’s collaboration with Wavves, No Life for Me. They have been a one-label band, except for the Wavves release, working with Carpark Records.
Sleaford Mods' 'Spare Ribs' Offers a Rich and Welcome Catharsis
Spare Ribs Sleaford Mods Rough Trade 15 January 2021 A thumbnail sketch of Britain's state in 2021 will provide a useful entrée into the quite brilliant new Sleaford Mods album, Spare Ribs.
Apparat's 'Soundtrack: Capri-Revolution' Stands Alone As a Great Ambient Experience
Soundtracks: Capri-Revolution Apparat Mute 1 May 2020 The latest offering from Sascha Ring's Apparat is a soundtrack from the 2018 film Capri-Revolution by Italian director Mario Martone. It's the first in a series of soundtrack albums for theater and film that Ring will release in 2020. This particular release has been re-edited and remixed by Ring and Philipp Thimm from the original 2018 score.
Half Waif's 'The Caretaker' Is a Small Art Pop Treasure
The Caretaker Half Waif Anti- 27 March 2020 The Caretaker, Nandi Rose's second album as Half Waif, the follow-up to 2018's equally beautiful and accomplished Lavender, is a deceptive artifact, beautiful and shimmering, eschewing grand statements in favor of a plaintive series of interior miniatures whose common denominators are the throughline of Rose's purifying vocal and an impeccably curated set of observations about everyday life, affirming and poignant simultaneously.
Hiss Golden Messenger's 'Forward, Children' Offers "Beauty in the Broken American Moment"
Forward, Children: A Fundraiser for Durham Public Schools Students Hiss Golden Messenger Merge 27 March 2020 "One way to look at it... is that we are all lost, we were already lost the day we were born.
Four Tet's 'Sixteen Oceans' Explores a Rich Sound Palette
Sixteen Oceans Four Tet Text Records 13 March 2020 It is hard to believe that Kieran Hebden has been making music as Four Tet for over 20 years and that Sixteen Oceans is his tenth album under that name, not to mention his countless mixes, remixes, mix albums, collaborations, and solo releases during that time.
Electronic Artist Burial Creates Flawless Music of Bewilderment and Compassion
Tunes 2011-2019 Burial Hyperdub 6 December 2019 For a while, the identity of the artist known as Burial was a mystery, not to say a secret. But even when William Bevan was revealed in 2008 as the name behind the persona, we weren't any the wiser as to who Burial/Bevan actually "is". That is partly because Burial depends to a large extent on a sleight of hand that both offers and withdraws confidences, in his music and his intermittent and gnomic lyrics.
Monomotion's 'Fujisan' Effortlessy Synthesizes Beats and Ambience
Fujisan Monomotion Fake Music 26 July 2019 Sometimes you have to go back to back, or even just look back before you can look or go forward. In the case of Monomotion (comprising Parisian Erol Engintalay and his frequent collaborator Yoann Feynmann), we have to look back on Fujisan's predecessors Behind the Moon (2015) and Leaving (2017) before we can consider the new work with any true perspective. The new piece is the final part of a trilogy of EPs that comprise a wonderfully satisfying whole.
Mark Mulcahy's 'The Gus' Is an Elusive and Mysterious Delight
The Gus Mark Mulcahy Mezzotint 5 July 2019 Mark Mulcahy might be part of a dying breed of old-fashioned songwriters who just continue to plow a furrow of excellence regardless of the trends, trials or tribulations swirling wickedly in the world around him. Nevertheless, he is paying close attention to the lies and treacheries at work in that same wicked world he may be trying to ignore.
Thom Yorke's 'ANIMA' Offers an Uplifting Kind of Dystopia
ANIMA Thom Yorke XL Recordings 27 June 2019 Around the time of Radiohead's Kid A, the band seemed to develop some kind of desire not to sound like Radiohead anymore, at a time that also coincided with an awakening of their interest in electronic music. The template they chose to deploy for this change in direction seemed to identify a rather specific point in the trajectory of the music being put out by the Warp label, and more particularly by bands like Autechre.
Liz Harris' Nivhek Project Is an Exercise in the Ineffable Nature of Grief
After its own death / Walking in a spiral towards the house Nivhek Superior Viaduct 8 February 2019 This new piece from Liz Harris was originally issued digitally in the winter, and subsequent other formats have been released in something of a staggered manner.
Jane Weaver's 'Loops in the Secret Society' Offers a Glimpse into the Mystic and Her Creative Process
Loops in the Secret Society Jane Weaver Fire 21 June 2019 The French post-impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard was, according to a legend which can be fairly well substantiated by historical evidence and the opinions of his contemporaries, either quite fond of revising and tinkering with his paintings, or somewhat incapable of knowing when to draw a line under them and say that they were finished.
Fruit Bats' 'Gold Past Life' Is an Exhilarating Trip Down Multiple Memory Lanes
Gold Past Life Fruit Bats Merge 21 June 2019 Gold Past Life is the eighth Fruit Bats album in almost 20 years. It is also, according to the band's new label Merge, "the end of an unintentional thematic trilogy" (whose other pieces were E.D. Johnson's 2014 solo album EDJ and the band's Absolute Loser from 2016) that "encompassed years of loss, displacement, and the persistent low-level anxiety of the current political climate".
Stereolab's Recent Re-Isssues Are Re-Imagined, and Re-Contextualized to Stunning Effect
Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements/Mars Audiac Quintet Stereolab Duophonic 3 May 2019 Mars Audiac Quintet Stereolab Duophonic 3 May 2019 The matter of the album reissue, and more particularly the expanded album reissue, is a vexed one. How many times, for example, are you prepared to buy the same Elvis Costello albums, with different liner notes and the same extra tracks in varying orders?
Vanishing Twin Travel the Spaceways on 'The Age of Immunology'
The Age of Immunology Vanishing Twin Fire 7 June 2019 Vanishing Twin come to us laden with mystery and a somewhat heavy set of accompanying concepts, some of which might need to be contextualized (or at least acknowledged) so that we can give this impressive album its due. To begin with, the band name comes from a medical syndrome involving the effective disappearance of a twin or a multiple in the uterus during pregnancy.
Birth of a Nation: Inevitable Records: An Independent Liverpool, 1979-1986
Birth of a Nation: Inevitable Records: An Independent Liverpool, 1979-1986 Various Artists Cherry Red 26 April 2019 The Cherry Red label has a long and fascinating history, and it would take entirely too long to trace all of its triumphs, vicissitudes and other twists and turns here.
Fujiya & Miyagi's 'Flashback' Takes a Compelling Look at Our Present Moment
Flashback Fujiya & Miyagi Impossible Objects of Desire 31 May 2019 Flashback is the eighth album from Fujiya & Miyagi, who are not, contrary to the expectations suggested by their name, a Japanese duo, but rather an English quintet whose stock-in-trade over almost 20 years has been a continuing exploration of the nuances of post-Krautrock possibilities.
Flying Lotus Does Not Always Soar on 'Flamagra'
Flamagra Flying Lotus Warp 24 May 2019 The new album from Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison) offers a plethora of material for your listening consideration. At 27 tracks and over an hour long, the listener has the opportunity to dig into a wealth of genres and moods, with a host of guest appearances from Anderson Paak, George Clinton, Little Dragon, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, David Lynch, Shabazz Palaces, Thundercat, Toro y Moi, and Solange, among others.
Protomartyr's 'No Passion All Technique' Contains Plenty of Both
All Passion No Technique Protomartyr Domino 3 May 2019 The reissue of Protomartyr's first album from 2012, offers a welcome opportunity to reappraise their opening statement as an indicator of how their sound would develop. The title is something of a bluff because while there is indeed a lot of technique, that does not mean that there is not also a good deal of passion.
Cate Le Bon's 'Reward' Is a Rich Prize
Reward Cate Le Bon Mexican Summer 24 May 2019 It is slightly jarring to realize that Reward is Cate Le Bon's fifth album because it feels like she just got here. At the same time, it feels like she's always been here, a permanent and delightfully strange fixture. It's also jarring to realize that it's been three years since her last album, Crab Day.
The National's 'I Am Easy to Find' Is a Tangle of Beautiful, Messy Humanity
I Am Easy to Find The National 4AD 17 May 2019 I Am Easy to Find is the eighth album from the National in almost 20 years. In that time they have also issued two robust EPs and curated the rather mixed blessing that was the Grateful Dead tribute behemoth, Day of the Dead (2016).
Olden Yolk's 'Living Theatre' Is Both Vital and Dramatic
Living Theatre Olden Yolk Trouble in Mind 17 May 2019 The press release for Olden Yolk's new album, Living Theatre describes their sound as "oscillating between art rock tendencies and delicate, yet angular ballads", and that seems like a perfectly fine description as far as it goes. But the description doesn't seem to go nearly far enough in depicting the grand scope, the minute points of nuance, and the entire world of emotional and aural experience contained in just 35 minutes of music.
A Certain Ratio's Legacy Is Immense, and Impressive
acr:box A Certain Ratio Mute 3 May 2019 Last year's acr:set distilled A Certain Ratio's oeuvre down to a single disc of 17 songs. With acr:box, we now get a gigantic and fantastic companion to that release, consisting of 53 songs over four discs or seven vinyl LPs, and it constitutes a fascinating (not to say rather exhausting, and indeed pretty exhaustive) survey of the band's career arc, all while resisting the urge to tread too much old ground.
A.A. Bondy's 'Enderness' Is a Soundtrack for Our Current Moment
Enderness A.A. Bondy Fat Possum 10 May 2019 Augustine Arthur Bondy, also known as Scott Bondy when he was in the band named Verbena, now and latterly known as A.A. Bondy is, as you might infer from this nomenclatural restlessness, something of a tricky entity to pin down. Enderness is his fourth solo album. It is 37 minutes long.
Big Thief's 'U.F.O.F.' Embraces the Unknown and the Unknowable
U.F.O.F. Big Thief 4AD 3 May 2019 Big Thief's third album U.F.O.F. is a powerful synthesis of the two main components that both characterized and somewhat fractured their first two excellent albums, Masterpiece (2016) and Capacity (2017). Those two components are, more or less, a plaintive and often somewhat unsettling kind of folk music alongside or up against the counterpoint of a bigger, dirtier, rockier, fuzzy guitar sound.
Reigning Sound's 'Abdication... For Your Love' Gets a Welcome Reissue
Abdication...For Your Love Reigning Sound Merge 26 April 2019 Abdication…For Your Love was originally commissioned by Scion (yes, the car people) for a promotional giveaway in 2011. It subsequently became something of a rarity. It has now been reissued on Merge Records, and the world is a better place as a result.
SOAK's 'Grim Town' Is Surprisingly Cheerful
Grim Town SOAK Rough Trade 26 April 2019 There was some criticism of SOAK's first album, Before We Forgot How to Dream (2015), complaining that the production distracted from Bridie Monds-Watson's voice or worse, covered up for some songwriting flaws, both of which cavils seemed (and remain) entirely churlish and unfounded, as if it was hard to imagine, much less accept that such a precocious talent (Monds-Watson was 18 when the album came out) could be genuine and must, therefore, be somehow...
Apparat's LP5 Asks a Lot of Questions and Provides Some Answers
LP5 Apparat Mute 22 March 2019 Apparat is the brainchild of Sascha Ring. Ring is also one-third of Moderat, a collaboration with members of Modeselektor. While both Apparat and Modeselektor have been prolific over time, the collaborative undertaking of Moderat seems to have more or less sidelined their respective original projects, such that we haven't heard from Apparat since 2013's Krieg und Frieden (Music and Theatre).
Kevin Morby Speaks in the Tongues of His Forebears on 'Oh My God'
Oh My God Kevin Morby Dead Oceans 26 April 2019 Kevin Morby's epic new album (his fifth, remarkably) is, by his own admission (if not confession) a "non-religious religious record". It is a frankly dizzying experience that takes no little unpacking. Oh My God is an album of seeking and discovering, of affirming and negating, loss and redemption, of musical and spiritual exploration, tribute and invention, and often of running to stand still in an act of extended meditation.
Fennesz Reimagines Space and Time on 'Agora'
Agora Fennesz Touch 29 March 2019 The agora has historically been an important physical, cultural, political and symbolic space. In ancient Greece it was a place of community assembly, a place where military, political and commercial activities would take place, alongside other events, whether recreational, religious, or otherwise.
Martin Frawley's 'Undone at 31' Is an Eclectic and Mostly Joyous Adventure
Undone at 31 Martin Frawley Merge 22 February 2019 Range Anxiety (2005), which turned out to be the last Twerps album, seemed to gnaw away at a memory as it sought to identify its references and influences. With the passing of time and the achievement of some perspective, the album's title might, after all, seem to have been a wry nod in the direction of Pavement with range anxiety replacing the range life that would have allowed Martin Frawley and his bandmates to settle down.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Rod
Contact Rod, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack