TLD ScrollerWell, it’s an interesting one. You can certainly pick out the indie influences (Radiohead for a start) but this adds a few touches that take it several rungs above 2016 shoegazing. “Looking Glass” starts with a simple bass riff leading in to an acoustic guitar part which sounds like the theme from a murder mystery set in a southern Italian village and keyboards which thicken the sound out while still leaving plenty of room for the high, ethereal, almost keening vocal. The guitar part alone sets this apart from most current indie bands, but the addition of saxophone as the song builds creates a very interesting soundscape. It’s a hypnotic and almost soporific sound which leaves you intrigued and eager to hear more.

As a first single, “Looking Glass” is good enough to stand on its own merits while hinting at the bigger picture of the album “Duelism” which is released on March 11th. If you want to see The Lazlo Device live they’ll be doing album launch gigs at Camden Barfly on Friday March 12 and Brighton Green Door Store on Sunday March 20.

Meanwhile, here’s the video for “Looking Glass”:

 

Radio (in my) Head editOK, the cat’s at least halfway out of the bag now so I suppose it’s about time we gave you a bit more gen on the Radio (in my) Head album.  The project was conceived a few years ago by Bandhouse Records MD John O’Sullivan as a college project at the London College of Contemporary Music.  He realised that Radiohead songs were a common frame of reference for musicians from all over the world and that every musician seemed to have an interesting take on a Radiohead song (although, personally speaking, I draw the line somewhere short of Brad Mehldau).  By 2012, the college project was completed, but the concept wouldn’t lie down; John had graduated from LCCM and started up the Bandhouse organisation, working with fellow alumni and new contacts on the London music scene.

But the expansion didn’t stop there; the internet (particularly Soundcloud and social media sites) enabled the project to become truly global with contributions coming from eleven bands and/or producers from (wait for it) Italy, Serbia, Russia, Israel, USA, Ireland, France, South Africa, Colombia, South Korea, Norway, Iceland, India, Singapore and Estonia (and good old Blighty).  I make that eleven tracks put together by contributors from sixteen countries.  I think that pretty much ticks the world music box.

I heard a few whispers about this project just over a year ago and that says a lot about how long it takes to get something like this together.  John got the official Radiohead seal of approval for the project at about this time last year, but the whole process of mastering, tying up all of the legal and publishing loose ends and generally giving the project the final polish it so richly deserves takes time, so here we are in September 2013 with the first single released and the album almost ready to go.

I really wish I could tell you more about the album at this stage but most of it’s still very tightly under wraps apart from Ido Livni and Re’ut Szekely’s cover of “Videotape” which was released today on iTunes.  What I will say is that I’ve heard pre-master versions of several songs and they’re all very, very good.  We’ve reviewed live and recorded material from several artists involved in the project here at MusicRiot and we can’t wait to hear their contributions.

We’ll have more news for you about this intriguing album very soon.

Keep an eye out for exclusive news on this one coming very, very soon.