Bill's Board

Bill's Board is a music discovery and review blog covering new releases, and the back catalogues of artists you may have been overwhelmed by or missed.

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Bill’s Board 2015-?

It should be pretty obvious that BB has been lacking for the past month or so. In short, BB’s gonna be put to rest for a little while (at the very least). It has become simply too much, and now with full time jobs and other commitments, it’s not possible to maintain this to the standard we once had. If you found this interesting, helpful, easy to disagree with, enjoyable, or at least a guide of stuff you may have missed or not known about, that’s more than enough. Cheers.

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Top 5 of 2016 - Alan Cunningham

1. Black Peaks – Statues Came out of nowhere and absolutely stunned me. Combination of all the best bits of math rock, prog and metal that piqued my fading interest in heavy music. It can't be overstated how much I love this album, it's an absolutely flawless assault on the senses from start to finish. 2. Frank Ocean – blond After four long years, Frank didn't disappoint. Leaving behind the warmer R&B elements of his debut, blond opted for a more subdued approach and it paid off in spades. 3. Fat White Family – Songs for Our Mothers Crazy, unhinged take on post-punk that's both intensely angry and deeply unsettling. They're not a new band, but like Black Peaks they came out of nowhere with me not being previously aware of them. Having already released another single following Songs for Our Mothers a few months ago, they look to be a prolific band going forward. 4. Anderson .Paak – Malibu Another newcomer, his soulful take on modern hip-hop knocked established rappers like Kanye, Kendrick, Danny Brown and Schoolboy Q out of the park to gain 2016's hip-hop crown. Another one to watch, the key to his sound was the seamless incorporation of soul and R&B elements into the established hip-hop sound in a way that hadn't really been done before. 5. David Bowie – Blackstar Possibly the greatest, most respected and influential artist all time dropped his final album, which literally turned his death into a work of art. There's not much to say about this album that hasn't already been said, but it's a stunning send-of to an all-time great.

Artist you’ve discovered this year that you’re excited about for the future: Black Peaks As is evident from the preceding list, quite a few new discoveries were made this year, but the single best discovery has to be Black Peaks. Album of the year, with a fantastic, intense live show to match, they really did make the year.

Artist you’ve gone off this year: Chance the Rapper I still have no love for Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book. It seems he struck lightning with 2013's Acid Rap, and anything coming after that isn't doing much for me, so I probably won't be keeping as much of an eye on him in the future. It's a shame really, especially since his verse on Kanye's 'Ultralight Beam' suggested great things from him.

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Top 5 of 2016 - Luke Marshall (ex-Up River)

1. Nicole Dollanganger – Natural Born Losers Released at the tail end of 2015 I decided to include this in my best of ’16 list as I only got round to listening to it this year. With a brooding melancholic soundtrack, Nicole’s bittersweet vocals and at times painfully honest lyrics leave you wanting more. Think Daughter but with more teenage angst.

2. Deftones - Gore I don’t think Deftones can release a bad record? Whilst not living up to their 2012 record Koi No Yokan It still provides soaring melodies and crushing 8 string riffs. How Deftones are still relevant after over 20 years since their inception blows my mind.

3. Wren – Host Released through Holy Roar earlier this year, Host has a perfect blend of violent groove and tender melody with vicious yet yearning vocals to top it all off. Despite only being around for a couple of years, Wren have released a mature and utterly deep EP.

4. Boston Manor – Be Nothing What could be seen as just another pop punk record, Boston Manor have included an emo tinge that sets this record apart from their peers. The choruses are still catchy as hell but it all seems much less cliché from what else is happening in the same genre.

5. In Depth With Whales – From 0.00 to 11.02 This 2 track EP by the young Italian post-rockers is a sublime follow up from their previous EP Northwood cementing themselves as a creative force to be reckoned with. They don’t suffer from not having a vocalist as the instrumentation speaks volumes and is far from repetitive leaving you wishing that this was longer than 11 minutes and 2 seconds.

Artist you’ve discovered this year that you’re excited about for the future: Nicole Dollanganger Artist you’ve gone off this year: Twitching Tongues

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Top 5 of 2016 - Tom Reed

1. Denzel Curry - Imperial You ever get hold of an album and listen to it 4/5 times a day for a couple of weeks, well, with Imperial I must have done this for about 6 months. It encapsulates everything I love in hip hop, wit, lyricism, crisp production, massive choruses, and beats that work just as well in headphones as they would on a night out. Denzel Curry absolutely nailed it on this mixtape and the very idea of having anything else as my album of the year never even crossed my mind.

2. Every Time I Die - Low Teens This was always going to be in my top 5, even before I heard it, I’m a total mark for this band, but you can forgive me for that when they’ve just added another album to a run of amazing albums which has been going since the early 2000s. Yet again they’ve changed their sound, not drastic enough to alienate current fans, but just enough to keep it interesting and fresh. Still furious, still melodic, still catchy, and they still make me want to dive off a stack of speakers.

3. Wormrot - Voices I really like grindcore, so fast it’s silly and so heavy it makes you want to go fight someone. Unfortunately it doesn’t normally produce many outstanding albums in my eyes. It can lean on being generic and sitting inside a formula which has been established since Napalm Death put out Scum in the ‘80s. So it was an excellent surprise hearing just how outrageously good this is. Keeping it short, sweet and to the point while also managing to fit in enough experimentation that you never know what’s coming next.

4. Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition I was super excited when I heard that Danny Brown had signed to Warp records, the home of Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada and Autechre always meant that it was going to be interesting even if it wasn’t that good. Luckily it’s got both in spades. XXX was a very ‘independent’ hip hop album, a backpacker and Pitchfork readers choice. Old was an album of two halves, the first was quiet and introspective, the second was about doing loads of drugs and doing stupid stuff. Atrocity Exhibition is something completely new entirely. It’ll jump wildly from something Joy Division-esque, to a song which is mostly him shouting over a sample of a horn. If you have even a fleeting interest in weird music then you probably still won’t know what you just listened to, i’m pretty sure I don’t.

5. Black Foxxes - I’m Not Well In terms of rock albums this year, this stood head and shoulders above everything else, from the lyrics and raw emotion to the riffs and nods to some essential ‘90s bands, it wasn’t hard having this in my top 5.

Artist you’ve discovered this year that you’re excited about for the future: Full of Hell I was always previously aware of Full of Hell, but in the last 3 or so months they’ve finally clicked. So much variety and fresh ideas brought to the table on everything they’ve done. Keeping a strong base in grindcore and powerviolence, but the collaboration with Merzbow, The Body, and the split with Nails has shown what a forward thinking band they are, never afraid to make something so mind meltingly intense that it can be hard to listen to. Whether it’s putting straight up noise music on their releases, or dabbling in black metal, it’s always going to be an experience. Seeing what they do next and where they’ll take their sound is a very exciting prospect.

Artist you’ve gone off this year: Death Grips It feels wrong saying it, but, Death Grips. Their first 3 albums I will stick with for a long time. Bringing something new to hip hop and constantly changing it up. Unfortunately though, everything since has done basically nothing for me, and this years Bottomless Pit just made me realise I don’t care anymore. It felt safe, the songs aren’t as interesting, and now they feel edgy for the sake of it. I will probably give a listen to what they come out with next, but I doubt I’ll get that pang of excitement I used to when I saw that a new album was coming. Tom Reed

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Top 5 of 2016 - Owen and Rob (Wren)

1. Sumac - What One Becomes A continuation of the high standards they set on The Deal. Having Ballou behind the desk at Mt Eerie's The Unknown didn't hurt either. 2. The Body & Full Of Hell ‎- One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache Disorientating experimentation from two of metals most innovative groups. Interesting to hear them venture out of their individual styles and remain as disturbing as ever. 3. Neurosis - Fires Within Fires The pioneers still showing us peasants hows it done. 4. Oranssi Pazuzu ‎- Värähtelijä Kings of what they do. Clever use of repetition within a combination of styles that shouldn't fit together so cohesively. 5. Irkallian Oracle - Apollyon Grim as fuck black metal from Gothenburg. Super raw, blistering blasts and inventive riffs.

Artist you’ve discovered this year that you’re excited about for the future: Noxagt  Norwegian noise rock that our new drummer introduced us to. Churning grooves throughout.

Artist you’ve gone off this year: Baroness and Mastodon The freefall past mediocrity continues.

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Top 5 of 2016 - Ashwin Bhandari

1. Venom Prison - Animus Bridging the gap nicely between extreme metal and down tempo hardcore, Venom Prison have truly blown me out of the water with Animus. Mixing hardcore and death metal in the past has left us with some awful "riffs for days" bands in the past but Animus really cements the fusion together and doesn't try to comprise with drawn out "gaze" sections. With every shit thing that's happened in 2016 so far it's good to have a record to really channel that ongoing sense of nihilism for our future.

2. Modern Baseball - Holy Ghost I'm always a bit iffy about emo when it comes to dealing with topics regarding mental illness and death as it tends to be overshadowed with whiney friendszone vibes, even if that wasn't the original intention of the band or artist in the first place. Thankfully Modern Baseball have reignited my passion for emo with how down to earth and well crafted this record is. You get a real sense that Brendan and Jake are retelling moments in their lives as verbatim and while the goofiness of their previous efforts has departed I appreciate the mature take on their songwriting this time around.

3. Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow Dominic Palermo and co are back at it again with their brand of crushingly miserable shoegaze but this time around lean towards dreampop and traditional rock forms. It's a record about merely surviving rather than complaining about the impossible dreams of youth. As I've mentioned before in a live review of theirs, it's really haunting to write such defeatist music over such deceptively euphoric guitar and vocal melodies. No idea where they'll take their music next but Tired of Tomorrow has really seen the Philly shoegazers come into their own.

4. Touché Amoré - Stage Four I'll try not to repeat what's already been said countless times by other critics but this record for me is the best thing the band have ever released. Instrumentally it builds up on the post rock influenced stuff they flirted with on Is Survived By and rewritten into something more refined and reserved with a lot of the tracks on this record. I can't even begin to imagine how difficult it was for Jeremy Bolm to write this record but the finished product is a beautiful tribute not only to his mother, but to anyone who's ever lost someone dear to their heart.

5. Descendants - Hypercaffium Spazzinate. Continuing on from their reunion in 2004 and now only been active whenever vocalist Milo Aukerman can get the time off work, their latest LP relies on puerile humour, satire and universal angst, a winning formula that I wouldn't have any other way. They recognise that they are getting much older and as men with families they can't pretend to be the teenagers they were 30 years. That being said it's refreshing to hear a band take notes from their youth and let it grow instead of simply just rehashing what they did at the beginning of their careers. 18 tracks of pure unadulterated energy with some very catchy pop hooks showcase that Descendents never truly went away and I hope they continue to stay relevant for years to come.

Artist you've discovered this year that you're excited about for the future: True Love Any band that takes influence heavily from Morrissey and American Nightmare is a winner in my books and True Love are no exception. I'm usually not a massive fan of straight edge/youth crew associated bands but they're thrashy, down to earth and energetic enough to have me wanting to stagedive off the nearest object taller than my head. They're continuing the OG melodic hardcore sound of the early ‘00s while still breathing new life into a genre filled with cookie cutter edge bands. Fingers crossed they come to the UK at some point.

Artist you've gone off this year: Parkway Drive I'd lost interest a while back for the metalcore Aussie lot because I'm getting older and just don't listen to that genre unless it's something really groundbreaking. The release of Ire last year with its dogshit dad rock riffs and seeing them play said material with over the top production at Reading really nailed the coffin for me. Pandering to a commercial audience that doesn't exist with a sound so cringy that I almost wish they went in an Attack Attack synth breakdown style direction instead, I have no interest in revisiting Parkway Drive or seeing them again. Ashwin Bhandari

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Cowards - Still (2016)

Vocally similar to Converge, this isn't a bad point of reference to start in the context of Cowards' latest EP. Breakneck metallic hardcore with hints of black metal and sprinkled with blast beats, the production on Cowards - by Francis Caste - does a brilliant job of, predominantly, dividing guitar lines that would otherwise overpower, the positioning of guitars within the mix doing a significantly noteworthy job of complimenting each other and the overall abrasive sound; it's a breath of fresh air hearing abrasive music done through technique and thought through production, rather than a shitty amp and too much distortion. The 3 original tracks flow effortlessly despite their varying content and pace, to the point where you'll be taken aback by the fact you didn't notice the 3 tracks and their 12 minute run time pass by. The EP closes with 2 covers - The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' and The Horrorist's 'One Night In NYC' - both of which, in short, detract from the EP rather than add anything enjoyable; the spoken passage in the latter about giving drugs to a women and then "FUCKING HER ALL NIGHT", even if it is a cover, is pretty brash to say the least. Cowards would have done themselves a favour by ending this 3 tracks and 12 minutes in without tacking on 2 out of place and coarse covers. Bill Waters

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Nails / Full of Hell - Split (2016)

Three songs in four minutes makes this what will probably be the shortest release that gets mentioned on here for a while. It doesn’t hang about either, cramming in as many riffs and blasts into that time as feasibly possible while still making something interesting and so mind meltingly heavy that you’ll keep going back to it over and over again. Luckily because it’s so short, this is completely feasible as well. Covering grindcore, black metal, crust, death metal and sludge in such a short time frame is very impressive, never sticking to one thing, constantly moving and changing. It would be hard to call this catchy, because it is SO unrelentingly heavy, but that’s not really the point of music like this, it’s about being the oral equivalent of being bludgeoned with a blunt object until you can’t move anymore. If you’ve got a spare 4 minutes (which you definitely do), you should make this your number one priority. Tom Reed

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Bill's Board - November 2016

Bill's Board turned a year old this month. In that time, I've had Tom come on board and, because of him, Ashwin, Dave, James and Alan all got involved in the Summer. It's been great reading their stuff before it all got posted, and for the most part ("come on guys: 90s, not 90's") it's been painless. That said, in the past couple months, Bill's Board has become unsustainable - in time, energy, and consistency. Since May, so much has changed for a lot of us, and in turn, our energy and motivation has moved elsewhere. Bill's Board isn't ending. But even the previous step backs in content quantity hasn't been enough and so, in short, reviews, BRTNs and articles will simply be going up whenever they're done and we're happy with them. A schedule has become too rigid for our, now, very busy and fluid lives, and the declining enjoyment is no help either. I fully intend on taking a solid break from this for at least a month but, for anyone who's been following, I do intend on finishing my BRTN on Cat Power; we will continue to do BRTNs and reviews; and we have quite a few end of year lists from bands, labels, promoters, and ourselves for next month.

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Up River - If There Is A God That Is Judging Me Constantly (2016)

Clocking in at just under 10 minutes, Up River waste no time in their latest, If There Is A God That Is Judging Me Constantly. Taking notes from metallic hardcore, Up River give their own take, twisting from melodic guitar lines, angular, metallic riffs, and straight up hardcore - all within the 2 and a half minutes of opener ‘Shallow’. Instead of the aforementioned’s merging and display of genres, the following 3 tracks instead predominantly focus on individual elements - a riff-fuelled hardcore on ‘Deaf Waltz’; ‘Ghost Particle’ and a leaning towards Converge-esque, skittish metallic chord progressions; and the brutality of chugging hardcore in the short and meat ‘Charnel House’. Closer ‘Escher’, very much like ‘Shallow’, touches upon everything before it, whether it be riffs, chugging, those Converge-esque guitar lines, or staccato hardcore - and it’s done with absolutely no bullshit or macho mentality. With only a few years under their belt, you’d expect this type of release from a band far more matured, especially considering the cohesion of ideas and the overlaying and intertwining vocal styles from Huntington and Collins. This doesn’t deserve to stay in the shadow of other Holy Roar affiliates - don’t be an idiot and sleep on this. Bill Waters

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BRTN: Cat Power - The Covers Record (2000)

Consisting almost entirely of covers, as the title suggests, Marshall once again uses this as a place to develop her transitions and movements through a full length. Opening with a sombre rendition of The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ into a muted ‘Kingsport Town’ and ’Troubled Water’, Cat Power does what she’s become great at doing, and slowly moves the down tempo covers from a simple sadness to a layered, more complicated emotion. From her updated version of ‘In This Hole’ and onwards, Marshall’s covers take a more upbeat approach, but somehow come across as more subtly devastating than previously. Her cover of Johnny Mathis’ jazz ‘Wild Is the Wind’ shows Marshall’s full capabilities as a vocalist, and is nothing less than haunting. ‘Red Apples’ isn’t much different, and closer ‘Sea of Love’ sees Marshall take a more light hearted but equally emotive stance. Used at a time when Marshall struggled to play her own material, she confidently takes an LP worth of classic and longstanding tracks and makes them her own without lazy repetition or formula. With cover records often coming across as jarring to an artist’s fanbase, this fits in nicely to Cat Power’s occasionally difficult but always emotional back catalogue. Bill Waters You can find the previous Better Rate Than Never reviews on Cat Power here

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ICYMIM: Press to MECO - Good Intent (2015)

Press to MECO's debut, Good Intent, offers an interesting, modern and original take on existing progressive rock and math rock tropes. Taking the polyrhythms of math rock and bouncy guitar lines resembling modern djenty progressive metal and infecting them with a healthy dose of pop sensibility, Press to MECO create a sound that's really like nothing else. This is a successful combination which shows not only Press to MECO's chops on their respective instruments, but also a penchant for vocal harmonies and a fantastic songwriting talent. A track like 'Honestly' manages to flawlessly put together such elements as ethereal-sounding verses, a chorus that soars, and hardcore-style gang chants; while 'Autopsy' carries a level of emotion and shows Press to MECO's aforementioned vocal harmonies on full display. Elsewhere, 'Manipulate' makes use of interesting riffing, and 'Affinity' is a full-on banger. 'Tired Bones' offers perhaps the best example of the cumulation of all elements of Press to MECO's sound, featuring mathy riffing, liberal use of the band's signature harmonies, and the pairing of heavy instrumentation and an accessible song structure. Overall, Good Intent is a fresh of breath air in the heavy music scene, not sounding quite like anything anyone else is offering at the moment, and managing to pull together many different musical elements into a cohesive sound. Alan Cunningham

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Violent Magic Orchestra - Catastrophic Anonymous (2016)

An album made up of Paul Régimbeau who writes dark techno music; Japanese experimental black metal collective Vampillia; vocal features from Attila Csihar of Mayhem, and Chip King, guitarist and vocalist of The Body... This was always going to be so challenging that it would be borderline unlistenable - it’s essentially just that, although a lot more interesting than the description makes it sound. Yes, it does feature some very distorted black metal blasts with an almost silly sounding scream to go with it, and yes it does become so grating at points that it makes you want to turn it off. There are no song structures or hooks, but there’s just something about it that will keep you coming back for more. Towards the end of the album is where it gets more interesting though, when the electronic elements and almost horror movie-esque samples make an appearance, it changes it up a bit, toning down the bits that just sound like the TV has been left on and actually introducing structure and something you can latch onto. Something like this is a really hard sell to most people, but if you’re into weird dark experimental music and going to the edge of your comfort zone, then you might dig it. Tom Reed

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Alcoa/Choir Vandals - Split (2016)

Alcoa’s side boasts a brighter and prouder production than previous material, with Archambault sounding more rounded and full, doing both himself and the music a great compliment through accompaniment. Admittedly there’s not much else besides a pretty voice and some pretty guitar lines, but considering the frontman’s main place in Defeater and the calculation behind their post-hardcore, this is almost certainly done with meaning and emphasis on 2 undemanding tracks. Choir Vandals’ side of the split maintains this easy going nature, vocally reminiscent of Seahaven’s 2014 Reverie Lagoon: Music for Escapism Only, with lightly played, bouncy guitar lines to accompany. Keeping well within indie rock territory, Choir Vandals are just as enjoyable as Alcoa’s side of the split, with both bands asking very little of a listener, whether new or previously informed of both bands. There’s no new ground to be made here, but if there was anything to show that sometimes that’s ok, it’d be these 4 tracks. Bill Waters

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BRTN: Cat Power - Moon Pix (1998)

On her 4th record, Marshall takes the electronic experimentation on ‘Bathysphere’ from What Would the Community Think and introduces the record with it on ‘American Flag’, a reversed beat being at the forefront of the mix. Continuing to experiment with layering, wood instruments are heavily mixed in on ‘He Turns Down’, and a number of guitar lines interweaving on ‘No Sense’. Despite the interesting composition decisions, these 3 tracks are the sole evidence that Cat Power isn’t perfect up to this point, with each track feeling disconnected and flat to the listener, the usually emotive Marshall watered down and becoming upsettingly bland. Thankfully ‘Say’ returns to Cat Power’s distinct sound and darkness, matured and with lo-fi elements returning without engulfing the mix or record. Throughout the rest of the record, Marshall returns to layering and stripping back, with penultimate track ’Cross Bones Style’ and the closing ‘Peking Saint’ juxtaposing with each other, in turn emphasising the difference in material that now comes under the Cat Power banner; with the former brimming with vocal harmonies, guitar lines and a minimalist but mix-filling drum beat, emphasising the emptiness and entirely minimalist closer. Despite an early hiccup, Cat Power continues to pour from her never ending well of indie rock/blues rock gold, Moon Pix being a worthy addition to her already stellar back catalogue. Bill Waters You can find the previous Better Rate Than Never reviews on Cat Power here

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Vermin Womb - Decline (2016)

There’s really nothing that divides Vermin Womb from the other uninspiring black metal/grindcore bands that take the generic characteristics of the genre and run with it till it’s lifeless, as every single track of Decline sounds like the last with nothing distinct whatsoever. There’s a change of pace from one track to the next that’s not just insignificant, but only truly noticeable when you cut everything else out and focus solely on this numbingly boring record. Vermin Womb’s reliance on drop tunings and blast beats fails miserably when every single track simply has the same drum pattern, and the same low end chords are recycled as if there’s nothing left to choose from. To top it off, vocals are predominantly single syllable “ahhhh” and they rarely venture past this. If the offensive lack of variation isn’t enough, there’s always how Vermin Womb have made a usually abrasive and extreme genre god damn boring to the point of inoffensiveness. List under ‘faceless’ and leave it there. Bill Waters

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BRTN: Cat Power - What Would the Community Think (1996)

Taking the repetitive and intense nature of her first two LPs, Marshall built on this sound with more construction within the composition, all the while moving away from the lo-fi aesthetic. Opening with 'In This Hole' and 'Good Clean Fun', Cat Power moves through a number of tightly played, structured sections that give off an air of maturity, in comparison to the great but deeply cathartic and arguably reckless nature of Dear Sir and Myra Lee, especially in regards to Marshall's vocals on these 2 records compared to the aforementioned tender 'In This Hole'. The sparse but layered 'Nude as the News', featuring Steve Shelley as returning producer, admittedly sounds like later, sparse Sonic Youth, with Marshall's indie rock addition merging with the alternative rock mix - it's too easy to make the comparisons between Marshall and Gordon here, but their vocal deliveries are admittedly pretty similar on this track. The rest of the record is a mixture of slow, moody pieces ('They Tell Me', 'Taking People', 'King Rides By', 'Enough'); and unnecessary experimentation ('Bathysphere'), Marshall developing and maturing and although not getting it completely right, it's certainly a step up and quite some way in the right direction. Bill Waters You can find the previous Better Rate Than Never reviews on Cat Power here