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Before the Dust Settles is a series of instant gig reviews, written immediately after the show and limited to 200 words.

Band: Lush
Venue: Oslo, Hackney
Date: 11th April, 2016

This post comes with a spoiler alert and those of you who are planning to see Lush over the next few months and don't want to know the make-up of the set should hit "back" right now.

Tonight was a big deal as it was nearly 20 years since Lush's last show and people were crammed in to this 400-capacity venue to see what was effectively a warm-up for a world tour. After a low-key entrance with Miki making a comment about her hair not being red anymore and telling us to "get over it", they launched into 'DeLuxe' - one of their very finest tunes. It's a great opening; the band sound like they haven't been away and they proceed to play a 20-song set compiled from all of their records, including the fine new single 'Out Of Control'.
Having said that, the Split album gets the most attention, as do the early EPs (Scar/Mad Love), but they only played 'Ladykillers' from their Britpop period. It felt like they may be using this tour to re-position their legacy away from Britpop towards the post-mbv, post-Cocteaus sound of their earlier records. I didn't expect the set to be skewed this way, so I was pleasantly surprised, and my three favourite moments were that opening 'Deluxe', the main closer 'Sweetness and Light', and the strobe-heavy 'Leaves Me Cold' as part of the first of two encores.
I left the packed sweaty venue with a smile on my face, delighted that they have returned. Now go and see them!

Someone has posted the setlist here and much of the video footage has made it to youtube.

Well the site may have been quiet in March but the new releases kept coming and our twitter tried to keep on top of tracks of the day throughout the month. List and embedded playlists can be found below...

61. Good Word's Gone - Yeti Lane
62. Can't See At All - Woods
63. Go Home - Summer Cannibals
64. Little Black Buzzer - Yorkston/ Thorne/ Khan
65. There's a Little Passing Cloud in You - Ulrika Spacek
66. I Can Illustrate - Robert Pollard
67. Left Handed Kisses - Andrew Bird (featuring Fiona Apple)
68. Molly - Palehound
69. Dhoodan - Ryley Walker and Charles Rumback
70. Nebula - Julianna Barwick
71. Akimahenka - Otoboke Beaver
72. Space Carnival - the comet is coming
73. Milk - Magic Potion
74. #5(edit) - Nissennenmondai
75. Get With You and Get High - A Giant Dog
76. Wars - Eliza Shaddad
77. Way of Sorrow - Altered Hours
78. Jump into the New World - Shonen Knife
79. Love - Syracuse
80. To Think That I Once Loved You - the Drones
81. The Tape of You - SULK
82. If You Want Me Now - Happy Meals
83. Golden Days - Whitney
84. Nonchalant - Steve Taylor and the Danielson Foil
85. Mercy - Eric Bachmann
86. Undo - Dan Michaelson and the Coastguards
87. Breadcrumb Trail - Slint
88. Get Him Off Your Mind- The Sun Days
89. I Don't Mind - Psychic Ills and Hope Sandoval
90. Dorothy - Kevin Morby
91. No Sleep - Grieving

Two decades in to a music career David Holmes is still reinventing his music and keeping things fresh. Unloved is his latest project, created in Los Angeles in collaboration with the composer Keefus Ciancia and the songwriter and vocalist Jade Vincent.

Ciancia and Holmes's paths crossed on soundtracks for Good Vibrations and The Fall, and in 2013 when Ciancia and Vincent had started a regular Tuesday night residency in Los Feliz called The Rotary Room, Holmes was invited to DJ between the live acts. These acts were made up of some fine LA session musicians who had played with the likes of T Bone Burnett, Beck and John Cale, to name a select few, and shortly afterwards the seeds of Unloved were sown. During recording the list of guest contributors grew to include Jim Keltner (John Lennon, Ry Cooder), Wayne Kramer (MC5) and Tommy Morgan, who played harmonica on the original 'Good Vibrations'.

The spirit of Sixties girl groups and expansive Morricone-esque soundtracks have influenced them to a great degree, but so has haunted electronica, and the likes of Broadcast have been mentioned in many reviews. Unloved is into Raymond Scott as much as Phil Spector, I reckon.

Amongst all this name-dropping and cultural references they have remembered to write some decent tunes. 'Guilty of Love' is the opening track and probably the true solid gold classic in the set, a tune we will be hearing years into the future.

'When A Woman Is Around' is another killer tune, like an updated Shangri-Las, Jade's world weary lead vocal contrasting beautifully with the chorus of backing singers, a tactic which also works on the catchy ear-worm 'Damned'.

The musical influences collide to great effect on 'I Could Tell You But I'd have to Kill You' which harks back to Holmes's first few albums with its beats and sinister electronica, and manages to seamlessly combine the reverbed female vocals within the mix. Closing track 'Forever Unloved' manages to be both creepy and beautiful at the same time.

Overall Guilty of Love works well as an ensemble recording, so it's appropriate that they have gone under a fresh band name, and it's not a case of 'David Holmes presents..' or a new 'Jade Vincent Experiment' or whatever. This record was a long time coming, and I'm not sure if Unloved would ever get around to making another one, but if they do they can take their time, as there is plenty to love and explore here.

Concentrating mostly on new releases and newer acts, although there are a couple of old faves in there too - Kath Bloom on Valentine's Day, Poison Girls to mark Vi Subversa's passing, and Death and Vanilla, as it's still the most under-rated album of last year. The tracks are mostly on soundcloud and spotify this time, hence this larger embedded playlist below.
 32. Planet Sizes - Steve Mason
33. Lion in Chains - Nap Eyes
34. Please - TEEN
35. Make It Right - The Coathangers
36. Wide Majestic Aire - Trembling Bells
37. Birthday - Soft Fangs
38. Crippled Shining Blues - The Hanging Stars
39. No Paths - A Dead Forest Index
40. Your Hollows — Heron Oblivion
41. Deep Six Textbook - Let's Eat Grandma
42. Goji Berry Sunset - Jealous of the Birds
43. You And I — Malcolm Middleton
44. Mothers of the Sun - Black Mountain
45. Come Home - Kath Bloom
46. Power - Eskimeaux
47. Faithful -woodpigeon
48. Self Realization - The Vryll Society
49. Dirty Boy - Audacity
50. California Owls - Death and Vanilla
51. Ideologically Sound - Poison Girls
52. Violets - Matt Kivel
53. Written In The Wind - Nicholas Krgovich
54. Garden of Love - The Limiñanas (feat. Peter Hook)
55. When A Woman is Around - Unloved
56. Invincible Trees - The Hanged Man
57. Still Dark- Sennen
58. Out of Control - Lush
59. Radiant Mountain Road - Arbor Labor Union
60. Blind - Jennylee

by: Jonathan Greer

Cavern of Anti-Matter's public profile has been almost non-existent up until now. A double album Blood Drums came and went without much fuss, and following a much-lauded appearance at Deerhunter's All Tomorrow's Parties festival in 2013, two other singles failed to catch much attention. In many ways all of that feels like a rehearsal for this release, especially as the end product here is an audacious triple album, which somehow manages to feel like a debut.

If you don't already know, Cavern of Anti-Matter are a trio comprising of Stereolab co-founder Tim Gane, Holger Zapf on synths and original 'Lab drummer Joe Dilworth (also of Th' Faith Healers and many more, and in his other job as a photographer he was responsible for press shots of all your favourite bands of the 90s).

Given the personnel and that this is the first release on Stereolab's label for quite some time, it is hard to distance it from Gane's previous group. However, Cavern have embedded themselves more deeply within the worlds of Krautrock and electronica than Stereolab did, or indeed would have done in the future. This record is a bigger leap for the musicians than it would have been if it was simply another Stereolab record.

One difference is that this album is a mostly instrumental take on classic motorik and techno beats, with some lengthy jams and workouts sitting well beside prettier pieces. It's certainly not a case of Stereolab without the singer, as the one conventional vocal performance from Deerhunter's Bradford Cox on 'Liquid Gate' sticks out a bit in the middle of the instrumental bliss-outs. It's a straight forward rock vocal although his delivery reminds me more of Destroyer than Deerhunter this time.

The other vocal performance 'Planetary Folklore' also stands out but for different reasons, as it is a spoken word effort from Sonic Boom, where he intones some theories about the "plastic arts" in the style of Spacemen 3's classic 'How Does it Feel'. It fits better within the album, maybe because a dubby version of opening track 'Tardis Cymbals' is bubbling away as the underscore.

So Void Beats/ Invocation Trex may have ticked lots of the "musical good taste" boxes but is there anything new here, or is it simply a parade of influences gleaned from thumbing the racks in the sections marked 70s Krautrock and 90s electronica? Thankfully there is plenty here to enjoy and as I hinted at earlier, this is a jump away from what could have been "Stereolab 2.0". In fact they sound more like a band who have taken Stereolab as an influence rather than a band who used to be in them.

'Echolalia' has the jazzy chords associated with Gane's songwriting but the rhythms have more of an electronic bounce to them. This is brought to a head on 'Hi-hats bring the hiss' which is almost a piece of banging techno, albeit in a more minimalist way.

Throughout the album this pattern emerges - the strong and often pretty melodies which Tim Gane is known for join really well to some repetitive rhythms. 'Melody in high feedback tones' is an absolute highlight, with its gorgeous floating melody, as is 'Pantechnicon'. 'Blowing my nose under close observation' is a bubbling house-jam and 'Insect Fear' is another pulsating one this time driven along by a garage-rock organ riff.

'Void Beat' has more manic electronics, whilst 'Black glass actions' is a subdued reflective piece, with a Kraftwerk-esque melody. For all the beats and lush arrangements it is the melodies which stay with you and make this album into one of the most memorable to be released thus far in 2016. Appropriately it closes with 'Zone null' which is a delicate little sci-fi tune with no beats, just a music box melody and underscore. Six sides of vinyl and not a moment wasted, it's fair to say Cavern Of Anti-Matter have finally made their mark.

Before the Dust Settles is a series of instant gig reviews, written immediately after the show and limited to 200 words.

Band: Teeth of the Sea
Venue: Electrowerkz, Islington
Date: 13th February, 2016

This London based four piece are surely one of the most innovative acts around. We know what to expect by now – trumpets, synths, flying-Vs and plenty of drumming – but they still manage to extend and develop their sound. Some vocal trickery which turns the voice into a distorted scream is the fresh element tonight which adds to the intensity.
Most of the music is drawn from their impressive Highly Deadly Black Tarantula album which emerged late last year, and the brooding, ominous nature of that release is well reflected in their performance.
The last time I saw Teeth of the Sea in this venue they were pumping out beats for most of the set. Their blend of krautrock, techno and dystopian soundtracks were ably supported by impressive lights. This time around the lights are more subtle and there is a steady fog of dry ice. The appearance may look softer but the music is no less intense.