Listen Neo Retros

Supper's Ready is a band from Luxemburg who released only one album in 2000 named "Listen to the Pictures". With a band name like Supper's Ready it's hard to not think of Genesis. And Genesis is where the music is firmly rooted, except for the vocals. Just add some Camel to the formula too, and then you know how this band sounds like. If you have heard the Swedish band Twin Age you're even closer.

Blind Ego is the "solo" side project of RPWL guitarist Karlheinz "Kalle" WALLNER. Wallner states that the Ego part of the name is derived from his desire to make music from a very personal space. He says that Blind comes from his total commitment to this solo work…

For Ntjam Rosie, music was literally everything in her life. But as the years went by, being a partner and a mother made her realize there is more to life than music. This awareness led to the release of the new album 'Family and Friends', part II of a trilogy and the milestone that would mark the start of several rigorous steps.

The sophomore effort from Georgia-raised, Britain-based vocalist Kristina Train, 2012's Dark Black is a brooding, atmospheric collection of slow-burn pop songs that put her burnished, sultry croon at the fore. Picking up where 2009's Spilt Milk left off, Dark Black finds Train once again working with British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt, as well as songwriter/producer Martin Craft. Together, they've come up with an album that builds upon Train's twangy Southern roots layered with a baroque, cinematic aesthetic. Train's vocals are often drenched in an echo-chamber sound, often backed with boomy, resonant percussion, languid piano parts, eerie orchestral sections, shimmering baritone guitar lines, and even some light electronic flourishes. In that sense, the album brings to mind the work of such similarly minded contemporaries as singer/guitarist Richard Hawley and neo-soft rock singer Rumer as much as it does the classic soul-inflected '60s sound of Dusty Springfield.

Malmsteen's playing on the follow-up to the epochal Rising Force is slightly more raw and aggressive, but the most notable difference is the addition of lyrics on many of the songs. By his own admission, Malmsteen isn't much of a lyricist, and his frequent use of occult and pagan imagery (demons, Vikings, and so on) isn't as effective at producing a dark, gothic mood as his compositions and guitar playing are. Still, those aspects of the album are vital and stimulating, making Marching Out a worthwhile listen.

The phrase 'Lovely Thunder' suggests a beautiful sound with an undertone of menace. One need go no farther than "Gypsy Violin," the last song and centerpiece of the album Lovely Thunder, to hear how Harold Budd takes the phrase and forges a musical equivalent. Underneath the plaintive melody of the synthesized violin and an occasional foghorn-reminiscent bass note lies a bed of synth chords that are present throughout, sometimes adding notes, sometimes dropping them, sometimes moving a chord up or down a key and into dissonance with the rest. The overall result is an undulating base that never quite lets the listener settle onto firm ground, giving the song a distinct edge. Drones do figure prominently as a musical base for many of the album's other songs, yet the music is generally more akin to the reverberated keyboard treatments Budd utilized to stunning effect on his two collaborations with Brian Eno. Those looking to explore beyond The Plateux of Mirror and The Pearl would do well to give this album a listen, as they will most likely be both challenged and satisfied.

Radiate Like This - Warpaint’s much anticipated new record, not to mention their first in almost 6 years - arrives with its own very modern mythology intact, continuing the strange, brilliant, beautiful story of the band and quite neatly picking up where Heads Up left off. If the previous album was the coming of age, Radiate Like This presents Warpaint mk II in all their glory, a luminous coalescence of sound and vision which stubbornly belies its genesis, with the quartet of Kokal, Theresa Wayman, Stella Mozgawa and Jenny Lee Lindberg all recording their parts separately in various cities. “It’s the first time we’ve ever made an album like that, but in a weird way, it made us take our time with everything”, muses Kokal. “The process felt more meditative, less rushed”. This new sense of quiet confidence can be heard all through the album, in the hushed, slow build of first single “Champion” the beguiling push pull of “Proof”, the delicate intricacy and complexity of tracks like “Melting” and the winking “Send Nudes”. It’s an album that pulsates with ideas, energy and- most crucially – gorgeous melodies. Listen on in wonder.