Why Bristol matters and other thoughts...

I have issues with Bristol. I lived there from early 1990 until late 1995.
I shall try and explain that statement elliptically, in the context of two recent releases.
The first and most recent of these is the third full length from Bristol-based multi-instrumentalist Laura Kidd; it follows Disarm (2010) and Little Battles (2012).

Direction of Travel - She Makes War (The State 51 Conspiracy, 8 April 2016).

Attempt to place Direction of Travel in a pigeonhole at your own peril. It is dark-edged but often rather uplifting. The opening track 'Drown Me Out' starts with a portentious drum figure. The lyrics are uncompromising and unsettling too; that's just the opening salvo. Even a megaphone is not unknown. 

Elements of pop, grunge, folk and electronica, as well as vocal loops, slither in-and-out like Medusa's serpents and with a coterminous unpredictability. 

The one thing that this most certainly is not is comedy for, as she says herself:

She Makes War... because love is a battlefield.

The video to Paper Thin was shot in Boston and New York, February 2016.

To follow this might appear to be something of a problem. That it is not so is the result of a complete oversight on my part!

This next album should probably have been included in my selection of 'Albums of 2015'. Better late than never, I suppose, and again I will make no effort to put the content in any neat little box. Bristol, Brighton and Plymouth are involved here too.

On The Inside - Wildflowers (Caroline International, 28 August 2015).

A trio comprising sisters Siddy and Kit Bennett, and Joe Ashbury, On The Inside is their first full length release. One quote, regarding life on the south coast of England where Siddy Bennett lived between the ages of ten and sixteen, is really rather interesting.

I had a magical childhood, but Plymouth changes a person.

Taken from the album this is 100 Personalities recorded live at The Crypt Sessions, 4 April 2016.