On Rotation: Our pick of July’s releases

Flying into the second half of 2021, here are some of our choice releases of the last month in our regular On Rotation round up.

Stephen Fretwell
Busy Guy
(Speedy Wunderground)
An album that’s been a lifetime in the making. It is a very simple record wracked with fragility and vulnerability. It is a response to the world around him falling apart during the process of crafting it. The silence and spaces in the songs often have as much impact as the guitars and the words in creating the effect that you’ve been let into the most private thoughts, emotions and fears of its creator.
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Acid Dad
Take It From The Dead
(Levitation/Greenway/RAS)
2021 is shaping up to be another year of fantastic psych revival and Acid Dad are one of many exciting bands making waves right now. Take It From The Dead is yet another great album from the band. The only thing is that at eight tracks they leave you wanting more, but with so many ideas floating around, simply flip it back over and start again on a new trip.
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Descendents
9th & Walnut
(Epitaph)
The Descendents seem to have achieved a compromise between their initial DIY approach and quality studio sound. This is not a revival record, yet, 9th and Walnut definitely celebrates the band’s beginnings and documents the transition moment in the Californian music scene. The melodious texture on some of the songs seems to balance out adrenaline with an endorphin-like effect of the 60s Californian power-pop and British beat scene.
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Desperate Journalist
Maximum Sorrow!
(Fierce Panda)
as a body of work, Maximum Sorrow! proves to be another significant step forward for Desperate Journalist with so many more layers interwoven into the sound and thoughtful lyrical construction. For a band to produce such an outstanding album in such difficult circumstances demonstrates how much they have developed and I for one cannot wait to hear these songs performed live for the first time in the brave new world that now beckons.
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Blondie
Vivir en la Habana
(BMG)
Featuring some of Blondie’s most loved classics with a Cuban twist performed with Cuban band, Sintensis. You all know the history of the band, you may have read Debbies autobiography, so all I need to do is walk you through this latest release. Basically though, it’s the best thing that the current line-up of Blondie have released.
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The Holy Family
S/T
(Rocket Recordings)
This is an exciting debut from a very promising band. It is an album that you will want to keep revisiting as its unsettled nature allows for many interpretations. The Holy Family allows you to see the potential in a cohesive and progressive unified front and its explorations are worth every penny of the ticket price. Get onboard…you would not want to be left behind.
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For all our album reviews, head over here.