Rock

Gazpacho
Magic 8-Ball
K-scope KSCOPE3036; LP: KSCOPE1271

Gazpacho is an odd band name, but back in 1996 the Norwegian six-piece felt that the ‘bastard of soups’ made of vegetables ‘served cold’ reflected their personal differences and peculiar chemistry. Now established at the forefront of neo-progressive rock, here they explore themes of identity, fate and time. While that will take some unpacking, it’s strong on melody from Jan-Henrik Ohme’s warm, affecting tenor. Gazpacho come close to Marillion in their grand dynamic surges and intricate details, like the complex drum figures on ‘We Are Strangers’. Thomas Juth – who has worked with Sirs Elton and Macca – mixes this panoramic spread of keyboards, guitars and strings, and he gives it a spectacular depth and heft. MB

Sound Quality: 90%

I Was A King
Until The End
Hype City LP HCM004LP

I Was A King have attracted acclaim over their 20-year career, but have tended to fly under the radar. The Norwegian group have collaborated with Robyn Hitchcock and Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub and on their tenth album those influences permeate some of Anne Lise Frøkedal and Frode Strømstad’s songwriting. Other comparisons are Mazzy Star at their most animated, and Dinosaur Jr. on the grungy guitars of ‘Sleepless Nights’. But their approach is exemplified by ‘November’, which finds them panicked in a ‘question-marked world’, but ultimately soothed by their own song’s chiming guitars and glowing vocal harmonies. MB

Sound Quality: 85%

Stuart Moxham
Winter Sun
Tiny Global Productions PICI-0071-CD; LP: PICI-0071-LP

Stuart Moxham shot to indie fame as the main writer of Young Marble Giants’ widely influential 1980 album Colossal Youth, a minimal mix of vocals and guitars, organ and drum machine. His subsequent output has been erratic and sporadic, but on his first fully solo album in 30 years his voice sounds youthful, the tunes strong and immediate, and the lean instrumentation of guitars and synthetic drums draws a line back to YMG, with added electronics and keyboards from producer Dave Trumfio. Moxham’s lyrics are vivid: he revisits an old flame on ‘Cottonmill Lane’ and describes the subject of ‘The Quiet One’ as ‘Like a loaded gun/he has something to say’. MB

Sound Quality: 80%

The Utopia Strong
Doperider
Rocket Recordings LAUNCH420CD; LP: LAUNCH420S

Former snooker world champion Steve Davis is currently nearing the end of a talking tour with fellow potters Dennis Taylor and John Virgo, but as a synthesiser player in The Utopia Strong he has released a third album based on the titular comic book character, a stoned, motorbike-riding skeleton. He’s accompanied in this very different world by synth player Mike York, formerly of Coil, and Kavus Torabi from Cardiacs and Gong. The trio produce finely detailed matrices of pulsing electronica. Torabi’s crunchy guitar chords help shape ‘Prophecy’, Katherine Blake adds ethereal vocals to ‘Harpies’, and ‘Doperider’ ebbs and flows, full of light and texture. MB

Sound Quality: 80%