We Heard Wonders - music review podcast from Scotland

A discursive quality and literary bent to this week’s @weheardwonders, with references to John Dunne, Dylan Thomas and, er, Eddie Van Halen. We play and review new music from transporting indie-rockers Corridor, art-rock auteur St. Vincent, Americana mainstay Iron & Wine, South Indian ambient-jazz scholar Ganavya and exciting, uke-wielding upstart Amelia Coburn. Something ravishingly verbose has The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

We’re a music review podcast, so of course we have some thoughts on the biggest music release of the year (deepest sympathies, Cowboy Carter, it was fun while it lasted) from the biggest pop star of her era(s). Find out what Iain and Andrew (podcasters don’t come more tortured or poetic) make of Taylor Swift’s latest grand statement. It’s not exclusively planet-swallowing superstars on their 11th album on @weheardwonders, however - we also play and share our thoughts on tracks from four of 2024’s more notable debut LPs, courtesy of indie noise-merchants Friko, noir-pop boat-dwellers Ederlezi, pop-funk perfectionist Fabiana Palladino and DIY sound-collagists Guests. Something immaculate and timeless has The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

Iain and Andrew are Taking Care Of Business on the latest @weheardwonders (don’t ask them why - it just felt right, alright?). Join them for juicy music-based discussion covering avant-folk artist Hannah Frances, word-of-mouth indie-sensation Cindy Lee, the accomplished, well-read English Teacher, reed-master Shabaka Hutchings, and Barcelona’s psych-fantasists Magick Brother & Mystic Sister. Finally, a whoop-inducing flute-led banger has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

Home-improvement hounds Iain and Andrew put down their paintbrushes and rollers long enough to play and pore over new musical offerings from Somali freedom fighter Sahra Halgan, Brooklyn no-wavers Gustaf, psychedelic national treasure Jane Weaver, sub-zero Texan synthesists Khruangbin and “Cornish high priestess” Daisy Rickman. Central Belt upstarts Diving Horse make a splash, and one side of a classic Brit-psych 45 has The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

After a few weeks away, Iain and Andrew reconvene to catch up and cast their critical eye over three of the year’s most hotly tipped and anticipated releases - Waxahatchee, Adrianne Lenker and Julia Holter - as well as something eyebrow-raising from Indonesian psych collective LAIR and something decidedly more low-key from Steve Gunn-collaborating Irish songwriter Oisin Leech. Finally, something “Something”-related has The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

On this week’s @weheardwonders, soaring singer-songwriter Nadine Shah sings her life, MGMT add slacker alt-rock shagginess to their usual neo-psych, and Real Estate return. We also discuss the remarkable story of how Kurdish/Syrian singer & bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan found himself performing at the Cork Opera House, and spin a track from Ghost Funk Orchestra’s new “jazz-funk space odyssey” - are we along for the trip? Finally, Andrew won’t let the small matter of his records being in storage get in the way of selecting something stately by an art-pop elder-statesman for The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

There’s only one didgeridoo thing to do! It’s another globetrotting edition of @weheardwonders, with intrepid explorers Iain and Andrew delving into new music from all around the world. Up for discussion are five tracks by artists from four continents, including Sweden’s Dina Ögon, Brittany Howard and Grandaddy from North America, Australia’s Yirinda, and Les Amazones d’Afrique from, er, Africa. A heart-melter from one of Andrew’s ultimate musical icons has The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

On the latest @weheardwonders, one track inspired our Iain to reach for the “G” word, while another offended him so much that he had to reach for the “mute” button mid-recording. Can you guess which artists and tracks inspired such visceral and opposing reactions? Up for debate this week are rollicking barn-rockers David Nance & The Mowed Sound, new great hopes The Last Dinner Party, cinematic shoegazers Bolts Of Melody, heir-to-the-reggae-spoils YG Marley and returning queen Beth Gibbons. The worst greatest hits by your favourite artists are discussed, while something big, blustery and brilliant has The Vinyl Word. Apologies for the slight lag in sound in the opening section of the episode. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

No effort required on Iain or Andrew’s part to crowbar the R-word into this week’s @weheardwonders discussion - the big alternative music release being, of course, the second full-length from The Smile, featuring a certain Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. We’ve cast our eyes (and ears) over Wall Of Eyes - find out what we make of it. Also played and dissected are new releases from mind-bending pop-mage Gruff Rhys, dog-loving psych-punk-rocker Ty Segall, hyperactive hip-hop upstarts They Hate Change, and confessional contemporary-folk artist Daudi Matsiko. Something classic and egg-related has The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

Yes indeedy, @weheardwonders are back to put some pep in the step of your blustery seemingly-never-ending January. Iain and Andrew play and review a veritable smorgasbord of new musical treats, including: YĪN YĪN’s Asian-inspired disco-funk; graceful Crazy Horse-play from Rosali; Omni’s arch art-punk; a diaphanous Spanish-language bop from Kali Uchis, and a monolithic, monochromatic interstellar epic from doomy space-rockers SLIFT (it’s what they do!). We also play the new track by Scottish singer-songwriter Kevin Bennett, and pay tribute to a great soul voice in The Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

How about some new reviews of new music to kick this new year off in style? Iain and Andrew are back back BACK, and they’re doing what they love best: casting their eyes and ears over a selection of box-fresh tuneage on @weheardwonders. Is Liam Gallagher & John Squire’s long-threatened collaboration just another rainbow-dyed baggy/Britpop throwback? Just how PROG are progressive upstarts Plantoid? Has anybody had a better start to 2024 than Irish country-blues guitarist & singer Muireann Bradley? Will Bill Ryder-Jones’ cinematic return leave us all aquiver? And - perhaps the biggest conundrum of all - just who is Nino Gvilia? All this, plus something simultaneously backwards and forward-facing has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; tell your friends that we’re back; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

Music by Masters Of Song of various stripe is up for discussion on the latest @weheardwonders pod: Cory Hanson’s country-rock guitar explorations inspire some uncharacteristically blue (Crazy) Horsin’ around from your cherubic hosts; Swedish psychedelicist Per Svensson aims to take the listener on a magic trip; Ivan Moult’s hushed third LP leaves a lasting impression; and there’s a new release from an evergreen recording artist by the name of Bob Dylan - you may have heard of him. Afro-futurist collective BCUC raise the blood-rate and a trusty Sunday morning classic has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

After a fine run of guest interviews, Iain and Andrew are back in “classic” pod mode this week, catching up on five recent tracks, played and contextualised for your listening pleasure. Thirty-plus years in, can Teenage Fanclub still deliver the melodic, bittersweet goods? Is ‘Everything Harmony’ a fitting album title for high-kickingly glamorous siblings-of-song The Lemon Twigs? And what will we make of Mong Tong’s sample-based Taiwanese psychedelia? Kassa Overall’s distinctly contemporary collisions of jazz, neo-soul and hip-hop and Emma Tricca’s progressive take on acid-folk are also given room to breathe. Finally, a 10/10 indie-pop gem has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

Practitioner of post-genre, post-pub-couldn’t-get-in-the-club music John Bryden aka Eyes Of Others is the latest guest in We Heard Wonders-land. John chats to us about ice-baths, sun-beds, and the wonderful and frightening world of Nico, as well as his ace debut LP, just-released on Heavenly Recordings. He also selects four cool tunes for us to play. Not only this, Iain and Andrew have three new music reviews for ya, sharing thoughts on Blur’s big return, Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy and the Ironsides. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show’s bio). Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

Iain and Andrew have a date with the Night (Caller) on the latest instalment of @weheardwonders pod. Danny from Leith gutter-pop lotharios Night Caller joins us to chat Grease, break-ups, cats and the group’s devilishly catchy debut single and EP. Danny also picks and plays five slickly-produced, thematically-linked tracks. Iain and Andrew review fresh tunes from hard-rock heavyweights Queens Of The Stone Age, brand-new-retro soulsters Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints and Mali’s “first female solo electric guitar player” Fatoumata Diawara. All this, plus a live report from this year’s Liverpool-hosted Eurovision Song Contest courtesy of friend of the pod Matthew Keeley from The Traidar Podcast. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show bio). What did you make of this week’s tracks and interview? We’d love to know! Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

On this week’s @weheardwonders, Andrew and Iain - especially fanboy Iain - are buzzing to be joined by Michael M Physics, offa purveyors of “fast existentialist nerd rock for people who like sighing but also fighting” Slime City, We Are The Physics and Twitter. Topics up for discussion include Slime City’s highly entertaining new record Slime City Death Club, manifestos, mangling pop’s past, and eye-popping encounters with Art Brut and Jared Leto’s Thirty Seconds To Mars, while Michael selects some ace tracks that are important to him. Iain also can’t resist taking Michael down memory lane and revealing why it’s all Michael’s fault that he plays music. On top of this, Andrew and Iain review new tunes from BC Camplight and Modern Cosmology. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show bio). What did you make of this week’s tracks and interview? We’d love to know! Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

A GROOVY selection of tracks on this week’s @weheardwonders - either groovy in the “this’ll get you outta your seat, get you moving” kind of way, or groovy in the hip, sixties-inspired sense of the word. Following the triumphant What’s Your Pleasure?, Jessie Ware’s new record finds her in disco-diva mode once more - but is she still capable of transforming the most modest of kitchen discos into an opulent party palace? Why does Nabihah Iqbal’s post-punk/new-wave leave Iain feeling so nostalgic? Wirral-upstarts The Dream Machine make us feel very old - is this a good or a bad thing? Should psych-chanteuse Isolde Lasoen be hired to do the next Bond theme? And has closet botanist Rudy De Anda been cultivating his talent since his 2020 debut? So many questions, and the answers can be found within! Finally, a masterclass in modern leftfield pop has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show bio). What did you make of this week’s tracks? We’d love to know! Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

This week’s selections give Andrew and Iain even more of an opportunity than usual to flex their analytical muscles with not one, not two, but THREE published poets among the artists up for discussion. We dive into the hotly-anticipated and hot-off-the-press new track from PJ Harvey, the meaty debut album by former U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate Kara Jackson, and a wonderful collaboration between Constant Follower, Scott William Urquhart and Scottish titan Norman MacCaig. Also, Durand Jones steps out on his own without his Indications, and Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection splits the panel. Something sassy and psicodélic has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show bio). What did you make of this week’s tracks? We’d love to know! Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

At the third time of asking, a new precious @weheardwonders pod is here! It’s yours, take it! New music by graveyard-dwelling Sub Popper Lael Neale and your favourite singer-songwriter’s favourite producer & singer-songwriter in his own right Jonathan Wilson is put under the miscoscope. Plus, we ride the lightning: Iain - his devil-horns-aloft - tells Metallica-neophyte Andrew what he finds so deathly magnetic about the legendary metal survivors and we share our thoughts on their eleventh studio offering 72 Seasons. Finally, something eccentric and orchestral and wonderful has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show bio). What did you make of this week’s tracks? We’d love to know! Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders

A vast expanse of musical ground is covered on the latest @weheardwonders podcast. Hey, it’s what we do! We move from the sunlit Zimrock of Mokoomba to the mysterious medieval hijinks and levitating bananas of Immaterial Possession; from the latest inspired team-up (this time with El Michels Affair) of hip-hop firebrand Black Thought to producer-extraordinaire James Ellis Ford’s idiosyncratic lurch centre-stage, and the warmly soothing and quietly profound Appalachian trance of Powers / Pulice / Rolin. Andrew discusses his Great Vinyl Migration, Iain freestyles about freestyle, and something swampy and funky has the Vinyl Word. Listen to We Heard Wonders on your podcast platform of choice; like, subscribe and recommend; catch up with previous editions and support the show by buying us a Coffee (link in the show bio). What did you make of this week’s tracks? We’d love to know! Support the Show. www.instagram.com/weheardwonders www.buymeacoffee.com/weheardwonders