John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

December 14, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

AIRBORNE (azobell.bandcamp.com/) 8/10 The term “elite” has been hijacked by the lunar right to have pejorative connotations in all areas except sport, when obviously excellence should be celebrated in all its guises. Take Azo Bell, who represents the pinnacle of ukulele playing in Australia. This century has seen an explosion…

December 12, 2016 / Concert Reviews - Archive

Foundry 616, November 12 7.5/10 Singer Gian Slater was a fitting artist to round out this year’s Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival, as her collaboration with pianist Barney McAll and drummer Simon Barker is all about opening up possibilities rather than closing them down in the pursuit of a specifically…

December 9, 2016 / Album Reviews - Archive

TRAVELOGUE (hellosQuare) 8/10 If the sounds on Sensaround’s last opus were like a mist, here they have thickened into the sort of fog in which your first awareness of the proximity of another creature is colliding with them. The wonder of the use of electronics, Fender Rhodes and percussion by…