THE ACTIVE LISTENER

Møtrik - Earth

2026-05-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

Møtrik are “America’s Best Krautrock Band” according to their band bio, which seems like a pretty bold claim.

But in all seriousness they might be onto something.

Granted there aren't many (or any) other U.S bands that I can think of that are as Krautrock as this Portland quartet. And by Krautrock I don't mean that challenging hippy commune free form stuff. No, this is Krautrock for the masses, of the crowd-pleasing Neu / Kraftwerk / Can variety.

This does exactly what it says on the tin. Their dedication to - and application of - the motorik groove is to be commended. It is absolutely relentless and where you'd think this might get a bit wearisome over the course of a whole album, in their very capable hands it becomes hypnotic and strangely addictive.

Largely this can be put down to two things. Firstly, this is a really nicely layered record with lots of kaleidoscopically lovely kosmische synths adding texture and shade, and secondly these are just really appealing songs that are guaranteed to worm their way in after a few listens. It's probably more Krautpop than Krautrock really given how catchy these songs are, and has substantial crossover potential.

If, like me, you've been enjoying the neo-Krautrock albums that Andy Bell has been putting out in recent years you've possibly just met your new favourite band.

EARTH by Møtrik

The Junipers - The Solid & The Hollow

2026-04-29T02:01:00.000-07:00

Great to see a new release from another of our old favourites, this time Leicester’s The Junipers.

I've loved everything they've released, and that status quo remains unchanged here. If anything, they're getting better.

The Junipers are one of those bands whose albums sound very carefully crafted in the studio, but also give the impression that if you wandered into their rehearsal space on any given Sunday afternoon you’d hear something with equal polish. It all sounds so natural and unlaboured that it’s hard to reconcile these guys having to go off and do day jobs as it sounds like they do this 24/7. It’s unjust for someone to do something this well and not be able to earn a full time living from it.

But what does it sound like you ask? A more democratic Wings. A contemporary Honeybus. A more pastoral Teenage Fanclub. Just go and listen to it.

With The Solid and The Hollow, the Junipers have gifted us with yet another instant classic. Absolutely essential listening for anyone with an ear for timeless pop music.

The Solid and the Hollow (Album 2026) by The Junipers

The Golden Samphire Band - Dream Is The Driver

2026-04-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

After only recently catching up with Junkboy’s 2023 release Littoral States, I was delighted to find I wouldn’t have a long wait for new music from the brothers Hanscomb, albeit in a slightly different context to what we’ve heard from them previously.

Dream is the Driver is the debut from The Golden Samphire Band, their new three piece outfit with vocalist Hannah Lewis (who made a couple of memorable appearances on Littoral States).

Lewis’s vocals take centre stage here, with the brothers’ musical arrangements stepping back and playing a more intuitive supporting role, with a much more traditional and timeless approach that brings to mind more adventurous albums of the late sixties / early seventies folk revival by the likes of Shirley and Dolly Collins and Anne Briggs.

As on Littoral States, their shared fascination with the Sussex coastline permeates much of the album, with the increased focus on vocals making this even more apparent. As a listener from a much younger country on the other side of the world (New Zealand), this deeply rooted folk tradition holds a particularly exotic appeal to me.

“Life is a journey, not a destination. If I wish to change the path, my dream is the driver”

Dream is the Driver by Golden Samphire Band

The Eighteenth Day Of May – S/T Expanded Reissue

2026-04-14T02:51:00.000-07:00

The Eighteenth Day Of May only managed one album in their short lifetime, and I've been a long time fan but have never found an opportune moment to cover it until now.

The band splintered off into a number of other much longer lasting musical projects, notably Lake Ruth, the Hanging Stars and The Left Outsides, all of which have been covered here at various points over the years, but it was their brief time together as the Eighteenth Day of May which was a magical breeding ground of intersecting musical tastes coalescing into something unique in a way that hadn't been seen since Sandy Denny joined the scruffy lads of Fairport Convention in inventing UK folk-rock. While clearly not as pivotal as Unhalfbricking and Liege and Lief, the Eighteenth Day of May is equally as irreverent in its treatment of the genre, with plenty of jangly, psychedelic edges to what might otherwise seem a reasonably traditional UK folk-rock album. Indeed it is said that they were just as likely to cover Spacemen 3 as Bert Jansch in their live repertoire of the time, and vocalist Alison Brice often sounded like she'd be just as comfortable fronting a dream-pop band, which more or less came to fruition with Lake Ruth, although they're equally hard to tie down to one genre.

Tragically they were never able to complete a second album but Cardinal Fuzz / Feeding Tube Records put together a wonderful retrospective double LP set in 2020 which included the original album in full, doubling its original length with a wealth of material intended for a second album. That second album must have been almost ready to come out of the oven, and judging from what's on here would have been even more immersive than their first, with the beautifully trippy Tell Me Tomorrow being something of a career highlight that we're privileged now to be able to hear.

Naturally the Cardinal Fuzz release sold out before I knew of its existence, but new London label Circuitry Recordings has seen fit to reissue it in a limited run of 300, due in May. These are bound to sell quickly too but can be pre-ordered through Bandcamp below where the album can also be heard in full.

The Eighteenth Day of May by The Eighteenth Day of May

The Lazy Eyes - Songbook

2026-04-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

Here's another excellent band that popped up during our long hibernation.

I was initially drawn to The Lazy Eyes when I noticed they had chosen to cover Broadcast, surely the actions of a band with impeccable taste.

Their 2022 LP is an impressive, fully formed debut with that very distinct Antipodean psychedelic flavour that no one else seems to quite be able to grasp . I'm getting Pond and Violet Swells vibes from this, and that is always welcome.

There's some serious psychedelic baroque pop songcraftery going on in songs like Starting Over, Imaginary Girl and Nobody Taught Me, which sound really carefully constructed with not a note out of place, but there's also another side to the band where they like to stretch out with some pretty wigged out instrumental jams which is where I think their strength really lies. The relentless propulsive beat of Fuzz Jam and the Where's My Brain??? are both pretty unbeatable in this regard, while the motorik drive of Tangerine finds common ground between early Tame Impala and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard in the most irresistible fashion.

A really nicely balanced debut here.

SongBook by The Lazy Eyes

Willow Tea - Death And Life And All That Lays In Between

2026-04-01T13:23:00.000-07:00

'Naive melodies for imaginary films and short walks' is how the Berlin based Willow Tea describe their music and their latest, Death And Life And All That Lays In Between certainly conjures images of something stalking the land.

This is very much my sort of comfy synth project with lots of lovely wobbly flutes and eerie mellotron choral vocals crafting a sense of creeping incidental unease in a similar fashion to earlier Active Listener favourites The Soulless Party or The Heartwood Institute. Fans of either of those acts would do well to investigate immediately.

And a serving suggestion if I may: I had this on heavy rotation while reading David Barnett's latest folk-horror opus Scratch Moss and it paired very nicely with Barnett's tale of an ancient evil stirring from deep within the earth.

Available to stream or download (on a name your price basis) here:

Death And Life And All That Lays In Between by Willow Tea

Telegraph - Topography of Mind

2026-03-26T01:17:00.000-07:00

If I was given this as the subject of a blind-folded taste test and asked to guess its country and date of origin I would more than likely have posited UK, very early seventies. And I'd be wrong on both counts.

Topography of Mind, released in February, is the second album from Israel's excellent progressive rockers Telegraph and is probably my favourite album of the year so far.

The four long tracks (all around the 10-12 minute mark) contained within evoke many of the giants of the early seventies UK prog scene and are beautifully constructed pieces without a second wasted.

Apart from a couple of short verses of wispy treated vocals (think Greg Lake on the quieter tracks from his stint in King Crimson), this is entirely instrumental. Guitarist Tal Rubinstein has a lovely economical style that can't help but bring to mind Camel's Andy Latimer. Telegraph believe in playing to their strengths, and his unhurried, lyrical guitar leads fit in perfectly where other bands might feel they need to shoehorn in more vocals unneccesarily.

There's nothing too busy going on in any of these tracks which is very welcome. Relaxed, pastoral flute and acoustic guitar passages appear frequently (the opening of Valley of Delerium could almost be a madrigal), but they're just as comfortable floating off into space; the second half of album closer Somewhere Along These Lines is distinctly Floydian with keyboardist Eze Sakson's synth leads playing superbly off of Rubinstein's guitar vamps like a lost middle section of Shine On You Crazy Diamond.

Very highly recommended to those who (like me) prefer prog rock of the vintage persuasion.

Topography of Mind by Telegraph

Analysing A Ghost By Electronic Means

2026-03-23T10:21:00.000-07:00

This one is a little more niche than what I would normally cover and given its very specific theme, it’s probably already known by a lot of its potential audience (especially as I’m late to the party). But as I’m only just now learning of its existence, I’ll assume there are others among us who are also still in need of the good word.

2022 saw the 50th anniversary of Nigel Kneale's classic BBC Supernatural thriller The Stone Tape, an occasion that prompted Hidden Britain to approach a group of the UK's leading wyrd electronic artists and commission a new series of works in tribute, leading to the release of Analysing A Ghost By Electronic Means in 2023.

Inevitably with a project like this there will be some disparity about what the actual brief is, but I’d say that 80-90% of this fits together seamlessly which is pretty remarkable given the number of busy minds involved. Those with more diverse tastes than myself may find the hit rate even higher for them.

With artists associated with labels previously championed here such as Clay Pipe Recordings, Wayside & Woodland and Castles in Space, it's no surprise that this is the success that it is. A well balanced mix of more melodic themes and dark ambient incidentals, there's very little here that would have sounded out of place on the original broadcast.

Particular kudos to The Night Monitor - It's In The Computer would be right at home in an early seventies episode of Doctor Who, as well as to the always excellent Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan who can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

Stream / download here:

Analysing A Ghost By Electronic Means by Various Artists

The New Eves - The New Eve Is Rising

2026-03-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

Brighton folk-punk quartet the New Eves drag the folk tradition kicking and screaming into the 21st century on their superb debut LP. It’s a true Esoteric Britannia statement with their deeply ingrained and quietly terrifying Albion roots merging effortlessly with the anarchic post-punk of the Slits and the Aupairs, the hypnotic rhythmic grooves of Can, and droning strings ala Velvet Underground era John Cale. For a start.

It’s a truly visceral experience, and reaches Comus like levels of intensity at times.

Check out their wonderfully unhinged modernisation and deconstruction of the Alfred Noyes narrative poem The Highwayman, previously put to music by Phil Ochs for a primer. Poor old Phil would not cope.

Great stuff and would potentially have been my album of the year last year, had I known of it then.

The New Eve Is Rising by The New Eves

Bressa Creeting Cake

2026-03-18T11:08:00.000-07:00

I've been revisiting this old favourite of late and thought I'd share it here as its largely unknown outside of New Zealand, and to be fair they're far from a household name even here in their homeland.

Their self titled (and only) album is - in this writer's opinion - the best Flying Nun album of the nineties.

It's a beautiful, off-kilter pop record which boasts more memorable choruses than most bands would manage in a career, but sadly they were too weird and individualistic to make an impression on the general public and are now a bit of a cult favourite, with a small but rabidly loyal fanbase.

A vinyl reissue a few years back appended the rest of their recorded output (EP tracks and tribute album appearances) and this is what you'll find if you care to investigate them on Spotify or Bandcamp. And I urge you to do so if you're looking for something strange and beautiful that you can obsess over for a lifetime. You won't regret it.

Bressa Creeting Cake by Bressa Creeting Cake

Spooky Eyes - S/T

2026-03-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

This Tasmania three-piece's debut is a great old fashioned psychedelic power trio album that doesn't sound a day over 1970 and is seriously deserving of a Keef cover.

I bet guitarist / vocalist Jude Hastings has a great record collection. He's clearly a scholar of the era when proto-heavy metal was still heavily blues based, with a strong Tony Iommi influence to his lead guitar work which would sound right at home on Sabbath's debut. The rhythm section of Piper Rayner and Jaxon Bassett are pitch perfect for this material too.

Their originals are full of memorable, energetic riffs and are so well constructed that the only nit I can pick with this is that their mid-album cover of the Count Five's Psychotic Reaction comes across as an unnecessary distraction from the excellence of their own material.

A top album that will fit nicely between the May Blitz and Sir Lord Baltimore LPs on your shelf.

SPOOKY EYES by Spooky Eyes

Takeshi Terauchi - Eleki Bushi 1966-1974

2026-03-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Japan in the sixties was surf guitar mad, enough so to spawn its own sub-genre, Eleki. Upon their first tour of Japan the Ventures became superstars, and soon enough the Eleki Bumu was in full swing, fusing the Venture's surf guitars with the melodies and sometimes instrumentation of traditional Japanese folk music.

Takeshi Terauchi's mother was a music teacher who played the traditonal Japanese stringed instrument the shamisen, the strings of which are typically played with a more vigorous staccato attack than those on a guitar. Terauchi himself took up the guitar at the age of five and applying his mother's shamisen technique to his own guitar playing he was well on the road to becoming Eleki's undisputed master with his distinctive style. His style would evolve considerably over the years, often incorporating elements of heavy psychedelia.

This post is intended to serve two purposes. Firstly to draw your attention specifically to this excellent 2023 collection of Terauchi's work issued by French label 180 g. It's a fine companion piece to the more expansive Big Beat Records Nippon Guitars collection which helped introduce Terauchi to a wider Western audience in 2011 and there's not much material doubled up between the two so you should own both.

Secondly, although Nippon Guitars was a revelatory release at the time, Terauchi's back catalogue otherwise remained elusive beyond Youtube streams and torrented vinyl rips. Fortunately this is no longer the case with 180 g following up Eleshi Bushi in 2025 with reissues of six of his most well regarded albums from the sixties and early seventies which can all be had in full through their Bandcamp page here.

Dig in, it really is a treasure trove of inspirational guitar music.

Eleki Bushi 1966-1974 by Takeshi Terauchi

Sun Dial - Overspill Sessions

2026-03-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

Sun Dial's archives have been getting a pretty thorough combing through over the last few years and I'm all for it.

Firstly I'm operating on the assumption that you, dear reader, are familiar with the band. If not, you need to be listening to their classic 1990 debut Other Way Out right now. Set that going and head back here.

During this era the band had a great thing going with vintage Beatlesque UK psychedelic songcraft filtered through a spectrum of heavy Hawkwind meets Stooges space rock. They released two albums and a series of EPs in this style before pivoting to a more contemporary shoegaze sound with 1992's Reflecter.

Overspill Sessions is the latest in their archival release series and dating from 1991, falls smack bang right in the middle of my favourite era for the band. Coming from the same productive sessions that were responsible for the original Overspill EP and the Return Journey album (confusingly released after Reflecter), Overspill Sessions is both a great look at how the material evolved in the studio and an excellent album in its own right.

Looking at the track list you'll see a few familiar names if you know those original releases, but you'll find that here they're either substantially different performances or presented in new mixes that serve the material extremely well. There are also several songs that I believe have never been released before (Let It Go and Black Light) and they're very worthy additions to the Sun Dial canon. And the covers from these sessions (It's All Too Much and Interstellar Overdrive) could almost serve as a manifesto for the band during this era.

Highly recommended listening and if you fancy digging deeper into this era I'd also recommend the archival releases of Other Way In (outtakes from Other Way Out), Never Fade: A Collection Of EP's 1990-1992, and Rays Of The Sun - Demos 1991-1992 all of which are superb.

Overspill Sessions by Sun Dial

Abronia - Shapes Unravel

2026-03-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

This six-piece Portland band are making some of the most impressive tribal psychedelic rock I've heard in recent years. Their 2022 release Map of Dawn grabbed me on first listen, but their new album Shapes Unravel is exponentially better in every regard.

Shapes Unravel really does sounds epic. Abronia are unusually diverse musically, stretching beyond the normal palette of instrumentation you'd expect to find on a psychedelic rock record, facilitating the sort of world building that you just can't achieve with the standard guitar / bass / drums set up.

Pedal steel guitarist Rick Pedrosa is used superbly here, crafting wide open vistas that really help to give these tunes a sense of enormous scale. And vocalist Keelin Myer is a force of nature. Kosmische spaghetti western - who knew that was a thing?

Don't sleep on this one. Check it out below:

Shapes Unravel by Abronia

Candidate - Avellenau (Songs from The Wicker Man)

2026-03-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

The return of Candidate has been one of the most welcome occurrences of recent years and while Point Clear, their first album of original tunes since 2007 is reassuringly superb, it's another release we'll turn our attention to here.

I've written before of my love for their album Nuada, an alternative soundtrack to the classic folk-horror film the Wicker Man featuring their own compositions and steeped in atmosphere provided by visiting the original filming locations (and even staying in the hotel featured in the film).

Avellenau is a welcome extension of Nuada, featuring Candidate's interpretations of four of the films most important songs. There's really no need for me to write anymore here. You know the songs. You know the band. You know they belong together.

Sadly, I discovered the existence of this EP too late to secure a physical copy of the very limited CD (dammit!) but it's all here to be streamed or downloaded from Bandcamp:

Avellenau (Songs from The Wicker Man) by Candidate

Simon Crocket - Predecimal

2026-03-09T01:32:00.000-07:00

There's nothing I like better than some cosy and unashamedly vintage synth and Simon Crocket's Predecimal is one of the best albums of this type that I've heard in a long time.

While these sorts of releases can sometimes focus a little too much on ambience and atmosphere at the expense of composition, Predicimal is perfectly balanced. Crocket's attention to period detail is admirably deployed here, but first and foremost this is a varied and memorable set of melodies. Think of the more concise efforts from the early eighties Tangerine Dream catalogue and you're roughly on the right track.

Opener Half Penny is an early highlight, a theme tune in search of its own pseudoscience documentary, but best of all is the duo of Crown and Thrupence which delightfully reimagine the IPCRESS file as space-age pop.

This is the ninth (!) album in his yellow and black series and if the others are even a patch on this, I've got some good listening ahead of me as I work my way backwards. Hooray!

predecimal by Simon Crocket

The Owl Service - A Tribute to Sandy Denny (Expanded Edition)

2026-03-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

The Owl Service's sizeable discography has had a fair bit of tinkering with over the last few years, with an intimidating number of releases (both new and archival) available on Bandcamp and Spotify. The good news is you can pretty much wade in anywhere and be rewarded for doing so, such is the consistency of their output.

This arrived in my mailbox a few days ago and it's as good a place to start as any for a novice.

Originally released as a 2 track 7" by the Fruits de Mer label this expanded 6 track CDr and digital edition is uniformly excellent.

Dorothy Chappell has the unenviable task of tackling Sandy's vocals on these tracks (with the help of Mellow Candle's Alison O'Donnell on Genesis Hall) and appears undaunted by the task. And Steven Collins arrangements are - as usual - sympathetic and always in service to the song.

Highlights are many, best exemplified by the full band arrangement of soundtrack rarity Here In Silence which to me betters the original, accentuating the bleakness of the lyric in ways the original could only hint at.

A Tribute to Sandy Denny (Expanded Edition) by The Owl Service

Dream Sequence

2026-03-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Emerging from Trieste in 1972, Dream Sequence (Elena Leitner, Giulia Leitner, and Sofia Martini) forged an Italian take on the Berlin School and a true scuola cosmica italiana through Moog synthesizers and ethereal textures. Their legacy is a sonic journey between technical precision and cosmic mystery, an echo of the analog era weaving through cables and constellations before the final silence.

Or so they would have us believe.

This introductory text accompanied the eight releases from this previously unknown trio which suddenly popped up out of nowhere on Bandcamp in February. Suffice to say I'm extremely dubious, but whoever is responsible for these recordings is a proper scholar of the Berlin School sound of the era it purports to come from.

There's a right treasure chest of kosmische booty to be unearthed here, with the lengthy pieces contained within unfolding in the unhurried manner of the best Berlin School releases of the era.

If densely textured, slowly evolving analog soundscapes are your thing (and as you're reading this, I'll assume they are) then you know what to do.

Listen to the Dream Sequence catalogue here or book a one way trip through one of the embeds below.

KS Session by Dream Sequence

Nebbia by Dream Sequence

Sequence by Dream Sequence

Escola Massana Barcelona by Dream Sequence

Beat Rhythm Fashion - Bring Real Freedom + Beings Rest, Finally

2026-03-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

On this second go around for the Active Listener I intend to occasionally share some deserving music from my home country New Zealand. We're a little country with a small population, tucked away in our own corner and due to our geographical isolation and comparatively small music industry not a lot of our music makes it internationally. So what I share here will be known by very few offshore, beyond a small community of collectors.

Beat Rhythm Fashion, based around brothers Dan & Nino Birch were the ultimate NZ post-punk band. Their wistful dreampop-before-its-time sound compares favourably with The Cure circa Seventeen Seconds. For those that want to read an in depth history of the band I'd direct you to their profile page on the excellent NZ music website Audioculture here. This post is only intended as an introduction to get you listening.

Sadly they never released an album proper during their initial run in the early eighties, but they did manage three absolutely classic singles, of which the gorgeous Turn of the Century (embedded below) is the undisputed crown jewel. Get that playing now while you read the rest of this, you'll not be disappointed.

Christchurch (by way of Japan) label Failsafe Records have managed to collate two fantastic archival collections of recordings by the band from this era over the years, both of which are available through Bandcamp.

Bring Real Freedom constitutes the three singles and their b-sides plus a selection of well recorded live material which would have likely appeared on a debut album if they'd had the opportunity to record one.

Beings Rest, Finally digs even deeper to complete the picture, with rare compilation appearances and more live material that has been extensively restored and sounds absolutely superb.

Though both collections are revelations, I'd start with Bring Real Freedom. These two releases belong in the collections of anyone who is a fan of the Cure, Sad Lover & Giants, the Lines, the Sound, the Chameleons and the like.

Unfortunately Dan passed away in 2011 but Nino has released several albums of new material as Beat Rhythm Fashion since 2018 with Caroline Easther, former drummer for the Chills. They can also be found on their Bandcamp page.

Listen to Bring Real Freedom on Bandcamp.

Listen to Beings Rest, Finally on Bandcamp.

Bring Real Freedom by Beat Rhythm Fashion

The Garrys - Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Original Score)

2026-03-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

This Saskatchewan trio's regular fare is pretty closely aligned to the La Luz school of surf guitars and girl-group vocals - which they do very well - but this is something else entirely.

Recorded to accompany a 2019 showing of the classic 1922 film Häxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages, this is a beautifully realised synthesis which on paper shouldn't work, but proves to be inspired.

The Garrys' sound translates to this medium surprisingly well. Largely bypassing the rapid-fire, staccato guitar runs you'd normally expect of the genre, the Garrys here conjure a dread atmosphere by amping up their doomy Shangri- La's vocal harmonies, providing the perfect haunt factor with their witchy chanting and spooky oohs and aahs, atop an ominous bed of swelling tremelo guitars, cymbal splashes and mournful trumpet. And the walking basslines take on a 'being stalked in the dark' quality in these surrounds.

It stands up perfectly well on its own but for the full experience you can watch the film and score synced together on the Garry's YouTube channel here.

Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Original Score) by The Garrys

Ghosts of Jupiter - Keepers of the Newborn Green

2026-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Here's another that's not new (but new to me and hopefully some of you too). Ghosts of Jupiter is the sort of band that I'd have championed endlessly on my first run of the Active Listener if I had only known of their existence. Just goes to show that there is always something great that you've missed, and make no mistake, Ghosts of Jupiter are great.

I'll focus on their latest release, 2021’s Keepers of the Newborn Green, as it’s what I’ve listened to the most from their catalogue, but from what I’ve heard of the others you’re pretty safe jumping in anywhere.

Now, there is an elephant in the the room, so let’s get that out of the way first. Yes, this sounds an awful lot like Midlake, but that’s no bad thing as far as I’m concerned as I can never get enough of them. Forest prog I guess you could call it and there are certainly moments on here (especially during some of the instrumental passages) that strongly evoke the moodier elements of some of my favourite early 70s UK prog albums from the likes of Ginhouse, Tonton Macoute and Steel Mill, so if that’s the sort of vibe you’re looking for you’d do well to get stuck in here.

Highlights for me are the mid-album duo of Sea of Madness which has a great hook and superlative flute and keys interplay, and the spacey synth washes of Battlekat, which revels in its Floydian grandeur.

Definitely one to spend some time with.

Keepers of the Newborn Green by Ghosts of Jupiter

Junkboy - Littoral States

2026-03-01T11:53:00.000-08:00

Junkboy's previous album Sovereign Sky was one of my favourite albums from my first stint on the Active Listener so it's only natural that I should belatedly draw your attention to its follow up, 2023's Littoral States.

Like Sovereign Sky, it's an exquisitely arranged and produced affair, with gorgeous string arrangements that can trace their distinctly English lineage back to Robert Kirby's work for Nick Drake, and beyond.

Sussex folk singer Hannah Lewis is a welcome presence on a number of tracks, but for the most part this is a wistful instrumental ramble through the Sussex countryside, evoking a strong sense of place - not surprising given their interest in psychogeography (they were interviewed for Phil Hubbard's book "Listening To Landscape" which looks fascinating and is on my to-read-when-I-can-find-a-copy list).

It's all impeccably done of course. A perfect Summer listen which has accompanied me on many trail walks already with many more to come I'm sure.

Others have already covered this more eloquently, so I'll leave it to your ears to be the judge, but anyone who enjoys investigating the meeting place between hauntology and pastoral folk will find plenty to enjoy here.

Littoral States by Junkboy

Magick Brother & Mystic Sister

2026-02-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

Discovering the music of this Spanish duo was pretty much single-handedly responsible for me reviving the Active Listener. They really opened my eyes (ears?) to how much great music was still being made out there, and this is just too good to not share.

The Gong inspired moniker makes it pretty clear what to expect, and these two have really got their vintage seventies space-rock / psychedelic / progressive vibes honed to an impressive degree.

Their self titled 2020 debut shows no signs of trying to find their way and aptly demonstrates how fully formed their sound already was at that stage, but it's their two Tarot albums, released six months apart in 2024 that really show the full mastery of their craft. Beautifully produced, these albums make full use of the sonic spectrum and the spacious mixes give the rich instrumentation (including plenty of mellotron, flutes and sitars) plenty of room to shine. And the treated vocals are absolutely on point.

Broadcast meets early seventies Pink Floyd would I guess be a starting point, but there's plenty more touched upon here and it's all done masterfully. These would be holy grail albums if they'd been released in the seventies, no doubt.

I'm sure a lot of you will already be familiar with these albums but for anyone who has yet to discover them, now's the time. Superb stuff.

TAROT part I by Magick Brother & Mystic Sister

TAROT part II by Magick Brother & Mystic Sister

Magick Brother & Mystic Sister by Magick Brother & Mystic Sister

Luster

2026-02-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

This Belgian group describe themselves as "the missing link between Mazzy Star, Pentangle, Broadcast and Enhet for Fri Musik", so in all honesty there was no way I was not going to check this out.

Often with these press-releases the reality can't match the hyberbole but in this case they're right on the money - no pipe dreams here.

It's spooky and a bit ethereal and has some doomy drones that give it a bit of a ritualistic folk-horror vibe at times. And at other times it's beautifully evocative and naturalistic.

This 2022 release was ten years in the making apparently. Hopefully a follow up doesn't take that long to manifest.

Luster by Luster

A Return + Moonrite

2026-02-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

Six years! It's been a while since I was last on here.

How you all doing?

Life got pretty busy here and for the longest time I almost completely stopped investing time in new music. I got comfortable listening to what I knew and found that I had to really work to connect with anything new.

But over the last month or so I've made some positive lifestyle changes which have, among other things, put me in the right sort of headspace to start being receptive to new music again. And it turns out that there's a lot of pretty impressive stuff still happening out there. So I'm going to start sharing it again.

Time won't allow for anything like the scope of what was going on here before. It'll just be me, not the wonderful team I had working with me previously. I won't be posting lengthy reviews or compiling samplers. But the urge to share has returned with the urge to discover so I'll be posting links and sharing my thoughts on music that speaks to me as I come across it. And we'll see where things go from there. I've got a lot of catching up to do it seems.

Here's a new discovery to get the ball rolling:

Moonrite are a French duo (two brothers) who released two albums and a 7" between 2016 and 2019 but seem to have shut up shop since then which is a pity as they really had a handle on what they do, namely early seventies style psychedelic occult rock. Not your garden variety stoner / doom either, we're talking serious vintage sounds here. And the treated vocals are amazing.

Check them out - and if anyone knows what they're doing now, let me know.

Moonrite by Moonrite