BBC: "Three years on from Cuckooland, Comicopera is just that: A tragicomedy split into three parts dealing with matters domestic, political and spiritual. Robert Wyatt is a man who we’ve come to expect to behave like an ‘institution’, if only by dint of the fact that he’s now been turning out brilliant work virtually undiminished since the late 60s (including his amazing work as Soft Machine’s drummer). Thus, it seems like a rude awakening that the first third of this album concerns itself with a story of domestic strife that mirrors his own recent battle with alcoholism." Read on
soundopinions.org: "Robert Wyatt has been making music for five decades, but he's as much of an innovator now as he was when he was a member of the pioneering English psychedelic band The Soft Machine. Tune in to hear his conversation with Jim and Greg and get a taste of his new album, Comicopera."
insound.com: "Banhart's whole "freak folk" tag is gone, replaced with this classic, gorgeous rock album. Some songs are fragile and solipsistic, others have a pronounced tropicalia influence, and still others are wildly electric and epic."
"Automated Acoustics is the one-man-band of Lawrence Gill. I've been playing & recording music since I was 8, on my little Casio keyboard (do you smell cheese?). I now work & play with Mbira, Steelpan, Cello (bowed & plucked like a mini double bass), Autoharp, Violin, Guitar, Organ, Synthesizers, Drums, Percussion, Bass, Piano, Beatbox, 808, 909, Vocals."
"Truly monumental in scale, Cosmos is composed almost entirely of recordings of classical instruments, a process which Corona (aka Murcof)describes as "expanding the possibilities of acoustic instruments through electronics." It's a move away from the micro-programmed sound he helped to pioneer, and his seamless integration of these apparently opposed forms is almost unprecedented." Stream the whole CD
Read Richard Cook's Epiphany, originally published in The Wire’s 20th anniversary issue, and published online in tribute to this former editor of The Wire, who died on 25 August 2007 of bowel and liver cancer. Read also a selection of his editorials.
