We Heard Wonders - music review podcast from Scotland - podcast cover

We Heard Wonders - music review podcast from Scotland

Iain McKinstry and Andrew Hallwww.buzzsprout.com
Two Scottish music fans, Iain McKinstry and Andrew Hall, review tracks, albums and artists old, new and some with a personal twist.
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Episodes

New Music - Liam Gallagher & John Squire! Plantoid! Muireann Bradley! Bill Ryder-Jones! Nino Gvilia!

Send us a text 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 & ...

Jan 11, 20241 hr 30 minSeason 5Ep. 1

New Music - Cory Hanson! Bob Dylan! Per Svensson! BCUC! Ivan Moult!

Send us a text 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....

Jun 07, 20231 hr 29 minSeason 4Ep. 14

New Music - Teenage Fanclub! The Lemon Twigs! Mong Tong! Kassa Overall! Emma Tricca!

Send us a text 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 co...

Jun 02, 20231 hr 45 minSeason 4Ep. 13

New Music - Blur! Alogte Oho & His Sounds Of Joy! The Ironsides! Plus our interview with EYES OF OTHERS!

Send us a text 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 Soun...

May 24, 20232 hr 11 minSeason 4Ep. 12

New Music - Queens Of The Stone Age! Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints! Fatoumata Diawara! Plus our interview with NIGHT CALLER!

Send us a text 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 Mal...

May 17, 20232 hr 2 minSeason 4Ep. 11

New Music - BC Camplight! Modern Cosmology! Plus our interview with MICHAEL M PHYSICS!

Send us a text 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 Mi...

May 10, 20231 hr 54 minSeason 4Ep. 10

New Music - Jessie Ware! Nabihah Iqbal! The Dream Machine! Isolde Lasoen! Rudy De Anda!

Send us a text 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...

May 05, 20231 hr 33 minSeason 4Ep. 9

New Music - Durand Jones! PJ Harvey! Kara Jackson! Spencer Cullum! Scott William Urquhart & Constant Follower!

Send us a text 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,...

Apr 27, 20231 hr 35 minSeason 4Ep. 8

New Music - Lael Neale! Jonathan Wilson! Metallica!

Send us a text 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 th...

Apr 22, 20231 hr 25 minSeason 4Ep. 7

New Music - Mokoomba! Immaterial Possession! El Michels Affair, Black Thought & Kirby! James Ellis Ford! Powers / Pulice / Rolin!

Send us a text 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 Po...

Apr 13, 20231 hr 32 minSeason 4Ep. 6

New Music - Murray A. Lightburn! Altin Gün! Eddie Chacon! James Holden! Anona!

Send us a text Iain and Andrew reconvene for more reviews and rambles of a musical persuasion. On this week’s @weheardwonders, you will hear something graceful and tasteful and made with obvious affection from Murray A. Lightburn; Altin Gün are up to their old Anatolian-psych-rock antics; Eddie Chacon’s career resurgence continues apace; progressive-dance producer James Holden finds the cosmic in the communal; and “Goddess of the Harvest” Anona delivers gentle jazz-folk. Go-to motivational tunes...

Apr 05, 20231 hr 24 minSeason 4Ep. 5

New Music - Lankum! Lana del Rey! Plus our interview with GURRY WURRY!

Send us a text There’s a gurry wurry at @weheardwonders headquarters this week! No, Iain and Andrew haven’t come to blows…on the contrary, they’re getting along famously with Dave King, the brains behind ambitious weirdo-pop outfit Gurry Wurry. We discuss new album Not As Bad As It Sounds, home recording, the joy of a sad song, and play some of Dave’s inspired and eclectic musical selections. We also spin and review hefty new offerings from contemporary folk doomsters Lankum and the increasingly...

Mar 29, 20231 hr 52 minSeason 4Ep. 4

New Music - Taylor Swift 'Eras' chat! Ulrika Spacek! Clark! Death and Vanilla! Yves Tumor! Baby Rose & Smino!

Send us a text Hear thee! Hear thee! It’s another episode of We Heard Wonders-ee! Yep, @weheardwonders are back with five smoking hot new platters to revolve and review: the bad-trip psychedelia of Ulrika Spacek; the impossible-to-ignore rave ramblings of Clark’s Town Crank; the diaphanous dream-psych of Death and Vanilla; the post-genre posturing of Yves Tumor; and the satisfyingly versatile soul stylings of Baby Rose. We give our thoughts on Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras’ concept and a perfect jazz-inf...

Mar 22, 20231 hr 18 minSeason 4Ep. 3

Now That's What I Call New(ish) Music Vol. 2!

Send us a text Join us for the second and - likely final - volume of @weheardwonders’ short-lived but celebrated “Now That’s What I Call Newish Music!” series (that’s right, from next week, it’ll be nothing but box-fresh bangers guaranteed!). Iain and Andrew review more tracks from noteworthy albums released between January and now: the highly-collaborative return of industrial-gospel revolutionaries Algiers; Lil Yachty’s Questlove-approved psych-pop-funk-soul pivot; Rogê’s fresh update on the B...

Mar 09, 20231 hr 28 minSeason 4Ep. 2

Now That’s What I Call New(ish) Music Vol. 1!

Send us a text We’re back, baby! After a longer than anticipated break, it feels good to be back behind the mics and serving up the first @weheardwonders of 2023, an episode we’re catchily titling “Now That’s What I Call Newish Music Vol. 1!” Iain and Andrew play and dissect tracks from noteworthy albums released in January and Feb: the solo career of The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss continues apace; African psych-rockers Orchestra Gold again deliver what they say on the tin with new LP Medicine; Ju...

Mar 01, 20231 hr 34 minSeason 4Ep. 1

Albums of the Year 2022 - part three!

Send us a text Praise be! The third instalment of the @weheardwonders 2022 Review is upon us! Iain and Andrew again reflect on the year that was, playing and discussing seven tracks from seven of the albums to have found their way onto Andrew’s epic album rundown. Expect pastoral orchestral loveliness, restless future-soul, fuzzy power-balladry, vintage-sounding biker-psych, devilishly dexterous hip-hop, sublime seventies-influenced song-craft, and kosmische-folk. What did you think of our selec...

Dec 21, 20221 hr 29 minSeason 3Ep. 13

Albums of the Year 2022 - part two!

Send us a text It’s part 2 in a proposed trilogy: The Two Towers of the @weheardwonders End Of Year review, if you will - but with nary a talking tree in sight. Iain and Andrew highlight six more standout albums from 2022, playing and discussing selected tracks for your delectation. Genres include country-soul, globe-swallowing disco-pop, spidery baroque-rock, throwback R&B, otherworldly neo-classical, and wonky progressive folk. What did you think of our selections? What have been some of y...

Dec 14, 20221 hr 28 minSeason 3Ep. 12

Albums of the Year 2022 - part one!

Send us a text It’s the most wonderful time of the year…especially for list-loving music fanatics like us! In the first of three End Of Year specials, @weheardwonders spin and reflect upon a typically diverse batch of stand-out 2022 releases, with jazz, electronica, psychedelic folk-rock, and even Zimbabwean street-music thrown into the mix. Iain and Andrew also have their say on two of the year’s most ambitious and talked-about LPs. What did you think of our selections? What have been some of y...

Dec 07, 20221 hr 57 minSeason 3Ep. 11

New Music - Crazy P! Ghost Woman! SOYUZ! Temps (James Acaster)! Florence Adooni!

Send us a text One November spawned a monster in the shape of this podcast: @weheardwonders play and review new tunes from disco-house collective Crazy P, scuzzy garage-rock apparition Ghost Woman, Brazilian-music-besotted Belarusians SOYUZ, and wonderful Ghanaian gospel singer Florence Adooni. We also share our thoughts on the first offering from international posse Temps, the sprawlingly ambitious musical project spearheaded by James Acaster - will it be a tasty morsel or a hot mess? All this,...

Nov 16, 20221 hr 37 minSeason 3Ep. 10

New Music - Heather Trost! A. Wesley Chung! Ghost Funk Orchestra! Andrew Wasylyk! June McDoom!

Send us a text We may be hurtling towards End Of Year List Season, but @weheardwonders still comes through with a mighty fine crop of just-released new tunes. Heather Trost’s persuasive kosmische leaves us hypnotised; power-pop craftsman A. Wesley Chung serves up Something Old, Something New; Ghost Funk Orchestra’s suavely skronking fish-men seem determined to put all the lugubrious lounge lizards of the world out of work; the brilliant-named June McDoom rewards repeated listens, while Andrew Wa...

Nov 09, 20221 hr 23 minSeason 3Ep. 9

Our interview with Greg from The Deadline Shakes! Plus Benjamin Clementine! Rahill! GIFT!

Send us a text Things get Heavy, Baby on @weheardwonders this week as we’re joined by Greg Dingwall - vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist and presumably brains-of-the-operation in Glasgow art-pop combo @thedeadlineshakes. We talk theatricality, friendship and tipples of choice, as well as the band’s fine new album, the eagerly-anticipated ‘Documentaries’. Guitarist Iain is also here. Iain and Andrew then play and review new tunes by Benjamin Clementine, Rahill and GIFT: rest assured, there is much ...

Nov 02, 20222 hr 16 minSeason 3Ep. 8

Our interview with Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai! Plus Peter Matthew Bauer! Alvvays! Eyes Of Others!

Send us a text A happy pod for happy people this week, as @weheardwonders hosts singer/songwriter/guitarist and founding member of Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite (@plasmatron). We discuss Stuart’s excellent just-released memoir Spaceships Over Glasgow, the thrill of sonic assaults, the magic of the Barras, “The Conjuring series of instrumental rock songs”, the perils of performing on poppers and acid, and so much more. Stuart also selects some tunes for us to spin! All before Iain and Andrew share t...

Oct 19, 20221 hr 31 minSeason 3Ep. 7

New Music - LCD Soundsystem! Run Logan Run! Polyphia!

Send us a text NY’s hippest hipsters LCD Soundsystem are under the @weheardwonders microscope this week: we discuss our respective listening histories with the band, before offering up our thoughts on their latest comeback comeback track. Elsewhere, does Polyphia’s all-the-genres-all-of-the-time, why-play-one-note-when-I-can-play-twelve? approach to music make for an enjoyable listening experience? And could progressive psych-noir-jazz outfit Run Logan Run be any further up Andrew’s alley? Somet...

Oct 05, 20221 hr 10 minSeason 3Ep. 6

New Music - WITCH! Loyle Carner! The Mars Volta! Vieux Farka Toure & Khruangbin! Ari Lennox!

Send us a text Andrew files a weekend gig report and salutes a departing @weheardwonders hero, before the guys share some thoughts on modern listening habits. Then it’s on to the matter of New Music: are Zamrock legends WITCH still capable of causing havoc? Where do we stand on The Mars Volta’s streamlined new direction and self-titled LP? And can Vieux Farka Toure, with Khruangbin in tow, take the acclaimed work of his father into an interesting new space? Elsewhere, lovely South London lad Loy...

Sep 28, 20221 hr 35 minSeason 3Ep. 5

Screen Dreams: Music Biopic Special!

Send us a text This week @weheardwonders take a trip to the movies discussing the good, the bad, the ugly and best-in-show in the genre that is The Music Biopic! Joining Iain and Andrew to separate the Hits from the Misses, the Curios from the Admirable Failures is film enthusiast and expert in American cultural studies, Fraser McCallum. We identify and dissect the top tropes used in the telling of so many of these often-mythic tales of rock’n’roll excess (from Ray and Walk The Line to Bohemian ...

Sep 21, 20221 hr 42 minSeason 3Ep. 4

New Music - Charlie Clark! Weyes Blood! Alex G! Jockstrap!

Send us a text Iain’s in his element, while Andrew is slightly more trepidatious, as @weheardwonders - having had to abandon their previously scheduled programming at the eleventh hour - soldier on in order to furnish you, dear listener, with precious content. We play and give our instant reactions to new music from Glasgow power-popper Charlie Clark, sensationally sumptuous songstress Weyes Blood, the now-not-so-lo-fi Alex G, and the inscrutable, uncategorisable Jockstrap. Finally, the Vinyl Wo...

Sep 14, 20221 hr 2 minSeason 3Ep. 3

New Music - Montparnasse Musique! JID! Lee Fields! Ashenspire! The Orielles!

Send us a text Even by @weheardwonders’ standards, this week’s show is a veritable smorgasbord of musical delights. Montparnasse Musique deliver a club-ready twist on Congotronics, The Orielles reach for their Magritte coffee-table books and Oblique Strategy cards, while soul septuagenarian Lee Fields demonstrates that class is permanent. Elsewhere, Scottish avant-metallers Ashenspire quicken the pulse and acclaimed Atlanta rapper JID leaves us lunging for the “repeat” button. Something Eno-rela...

Sep 07, 20221 hr 23 minSeason 3Ep. 2

New Music - Arctic Monkeys! Caitlin Rose! Goat! Silvana Estrada! Cass McCombs!

Send us a text We’re feeling the love this week on @weheardwonders. Andrew gives his verdict on last weekend’s @connectfestsco and Iain salutes a singular album celebrating its 28th anniversary. Then it’s down to the new releases: big returns from Arctic Monkeys (now that he’s checked out of the Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, where will Alex Turner take up residency next?), alt-country singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose and pagan psychedelists Goat (will Iain be tempted to join fully-paid-up c...

Aug 31, 20221 hr 23 minSeason 3Ep. 1

FIDDY

Send us a text In celebration of their 50th episode and a full one year of podding, Iain and Andrew play jazz with the @weheardwonders format! We field queries from our lovely listeners (discussions include the Best Year For Music Evz and The Most Powerful Spice Girl), play out comments and spin some choice tunes - each selecting a stand-out song from the pod archive, as well as a Track That You Just HAVE To Hear. We also feature exclusive new music from @thedeadlineshakes. Listen to We Heard Wo...

Aug 24, 20222 hr 10 minSeason 2Ep. 33

New Music - Abraxas! Star Feminine Band! Panda Bear & Sonic Boom! Iraina Mancini! Stephen Sanchez!

Send us a text Another round of substantial chat about engaging new music on @weheardwonders. Abraxas take us on a hazy desert sojourn, Star Feminine Band bring a lightness of touch to a heavy subject, Panda Bear & Sonic Boom are psych-simpatico, Iraina Mancini steps out on her own by channelling her record collection, and Stephen Sanchez lives out his Back To The Future fantasises. Finally, The Vinyl Word leaves us feeling happy and as one. Also, it’s our 50th episode next week (whoop whoop...

Aug 17, 20221 hr 15 minSeason 2Ep. 32
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