Reviews

Chicken Pants (Album)

I’m listening to Paul Hayworth’s latest CD called Chicken Pants. This is such a new direction. This time he delves into punk, grunge, and power pop. I’m really digging it. This album will be showcased on my upcoming Psychedelic World Of Magic Mark radio shows for Voodoo Radio UK.                                                                                                                                                            ______________________________________________________________________________

Love ‘n Suicide (Album)

Love ‘N Suicide is a psychedelic album that could definitely be the soundtrack to a good trip. The ten-track record is the latest from Paul Hayworths impressive discography, released in 2017 on Electrocuted Wilma Tunes. Having released a staggering sixteen albums (and one EP) since 2011, Hayworth’s creative juices are still flowing. Some notable releases from his collection includes a series of four lo-fi experimental albums, all recorded on a four-track tape recorder. Needless to say, the Englishman’s works are worth exploring, and can all be found free on his Bandcamp.

For fans of bands like the mighty Hawkwind, Hayworth’s music will transport you out of this world and into the realm of space rock. The opening song “The Signal” prepares you for the journey, putting you in a trance with a hypnotic drum-and-bass rhythm that allows washy guitar tones to begin to stir your mind. Hayworth’s vocals on this song, and for most of the album, are smooth and laid back. They slice through you like a warm knife through butter and help keep you sedated by the music. Songs like “Seashell” and “Chillwave” are similar vessels that have you bobbing your head while being totally zoned out. The term ‘chillwave’ refers to a genre of music characterized by this retro-pop sound. The moderately paced, lo-fi, psychedelic songs on this album are bang on examples of the genre.

The tracks all come together to create one uniform piece, but they do so without becoming stale and repetitive.  “Marshmallow” delivers a smooth 60s or 70s-era groove that provides a break from the washy interstellar travel. It is my favourite track on the album as it hits those Doors and Pink Floyd vibes. Another notable song is track number seven, “Ghosts On A Bridge.” It has a haunting guitar melody brought to life by the magic of reverb and delay. The rhythm is dragging and heavy, but not overtly aggressive, and the vocals are drawn out to make everything flow in slow motion. It is these kinds of songs that take the edge off your reality and help you retreat into your thoughts.

By the time you’re touching down with the closer “Spellbound,” you begin the return to full consciousness. Whether your mind has travelled to past memories or to imaginary worlds, you’ve definitely been taken somewhere. You have been spellbound.  If you didn’t dig this spell in particular, Hayworth has a lot more to offer. Hop on his other trips and explore some new music. For Montrealers trying to catch this kind of space-psych wave locally, check out A Devil’s Din‘s new album One Hallucination Under God. All-around, great psychedelic music.

Score - 8/10

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Love ‘n Suicide (Album)


Cosmic yet mundane sounds from England’s secret merchant of psych.
There might be a plethora of releases available via Paul Hayworth’s Bandcamp page, but you’ll be forgiven for having never heard of him – just because for the last five years the British artist’s been operating on the fringe of underground, and is finally beaming out of it now. That’s why, if one has to get their message through, “The Signal” would be a perfect start, steady beat ushering in shards of spaced-out guitar that will get dirty along the way, as Hayworth’s deadpan delivery takes it all down to earth to shatter the piece’s psychedelic swirl. And that’s how he emerges as a rhythm-and-blues avatar on “Scorpio’s Moon” which might be the album’s most romantic moment – this side of the dancefloor-bound “Together Forever”: a story of a transgender who fell in love with themselves.
In comparison, the six-minute “Seashell” may seem shallow in its twangy ebb and flow, yet there’s something riveting about the song, especially when the tune is undercut with a serrated riff that’s also buried deep in the groove of “Chillwave” to puncture the trance-inducing bass. But while “Tecumberlam” is possessed with heavy gloom, and “Smokey On The Highway” revs up in a hard rock fashion, “Ghosts On The Bridge” sounds transparently spectral, arguably capturing the very essence of “Love ‘n Suicide” and exposing Paul Hayworth’s music for all to see and marvel at. A worthy record, this one.

Dmitry M. Epstein

http://dmme.net
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Love ‘n Suicide (Album)


2017 has been a great year for Indie Rock with releases from the likes of VANT, Aaron Buchanan, Pleasure House, and now with his new album, Paul Hayworth looks to donate generously to the already impressive catalogue. As the album proceeds to make an entrance, ‘The Signal’ and ‘Seashell’ immediately bring to light how developed and deep the sense of variety could be on this record. Their charismatic Indie tempos work as commendable starting points, that are used by Hayworth to create a spree of docile energy.
As ‘Love ‘n Suicide’ advances, so does the diversity and range of genres included through ‘Marshmallow’. Subtle bulletins of Indie Riff Rock and Funk Rock splice up the complexion of this highly experimental track. In terms of relating to the vibe of this album, ‘Chillwave’ perhaps has the most fitting title. Through this song, the chilled, captivating atmosphere continues to remain a dominant factor in the albums evolution, progression and determination.
The consistent nature of the album does inevitably provoke some minor similarities with other musicians; as is the case for ‘Scorpio’s Moon’. As blissful psychedelic chimes echo passively through this song, the Indie roots also give a slight Oasis and stripped back Gin Blossoms appeal. Similar courtesy’s however, do not extend to ‘Smokey on the Highway’, and its enigmatic, energy tinted guitar constructs. Songs such as this are undoubtedly crucial to breeching the Alternative Indie boundaries and as a result, they allow Paul Hayworth’s release to progress.
A certain theme of calm and stillness runs across ‘Love ‘n Suicide’, like an undisturbed surface of a country lake. But, the height of this enticing stillness proves to be an ideal habitat for both ‘Ghost on the Bridge’ and ‘Tecumberlam’. Even though these songs boast few correlating features, they both adequately support the personality of the record.
The final stab of charisma is injected by ‘Together Forever’, before the finale founded Indie and Alternative conventions, is played out by the previously mentioned ‘Tecumberlam’ and ‘Spellbound’. In summary, you will find it challenging to encounter a more soothing Indie release than this in 2017. Paul Hayworth effortlessly and expertly balances the consistency and experimentation of ‘Love ‘n Suicide’, to ensure its success.


Review Rating: 7

- AC Rock Reviews

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Coastal Legends (Album)

"Sixty-two minutes of classic rock about subjects as diverse as hills in the south Cambridge area and murdering women.

I’m going right ahead and awarding this a stellar, Five Star Fidanza review, based mainly on the fact I don’t want the persons responsible for it arriving at my doorstep holding a lump hammer and wearing a frown."

Five Stars (out of a possible five).

Collective-zine
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Ultra Violet (Album)

"Alternative Indie - Rock , in the sense generic Psychedelia
( from Folk to Space Rock ) and the most classic of Progressive , with broad utilization of electronics , even the most danceable and entertaining sorts. All the influences of the best from the Alternative Rock scene of the Nineties combined with an obvious passion for Hawkwind , Robert Calvert and Steve Hillage , filtered by a melodic taste of flavors from the vague new wave ... Echoes of Spaceman 3, Spectrum, Sun Dial , Radiohead and Church.  Join us in listening to an Opera"
                                         
- Arlequins webzine (original in Italian)
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Goodlove & The Dirty Plan (Album)

"A twelve minute Folk Instrumental opening for the debut album? Is the man completely mad? Yes, he is - but in a positive sense. The English choice Vienna and ex-Freud-guitarist dives feet first, to lay an intimate solo abum on a rock floor. The best proof that the guitar players are too often underestimated in the background. 5 Stars"

Connection: Primal Scream, Pulp

- Volume Magazine (Original In German)
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Phantom Nomad (Album)

"What really sets this undertaking apart is the breadth of the vision and ambition."

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Export (Album)

"My first thought was wow, this sounds like lo-fi Beatles on acid. It’s not The Beatles but it’s from the U.K. warm, lo-fi, tripped out, and musical from the brilliant mind of Paul Hayworth"

- Deftune Independent Music Blog
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Ultra Violet (Album)

"Paul Hayworth is a solo musician from Cambridge in England whose recent releases span genres from indie to space rock. He’s also a prolific artist, having released nine albums and an EP in little over a year – a brief listen to his most recent few left me wondering how one man could produce such diverse music.

For the sake of brevity I’m going to concentrate on his latest release, the nine track LP Ultra Violet, which came out on the 6th May 2013 and is an especially intriguing one as it is the first in a collection of four albums which explores some of Paul’s previously unreleased back catalogue from the 1990s.

From the start this album is laden with psychedelic overtones, with an emphasis on spacey composition rarely heard in modern times. I’m a sucker for trippy music and this fits the bill nicely.
The opening track, White Sun, is akin to an indie-psych Radiohead without the crisp production. Indeed, the entire collection is a little rough around the edges, but the artist explains the material was recovered from an old 4 track recorder left to gather dust for the best part of two decades, so the ambient hiss and odd crackle is perfectly in keeping with the theme.

If White Sun wasn’t enough to sway your opinion of this collection then perhaps Black Hole will finish the job, with its dreamy vocals, melancholy piano melody and moody synth work.
Title track Ultra Violet (UV) displays a more upbeat psych-rock persona which verges on dream pop, with muted percussion and a pleasingly pulsing rhythm.

With its hazy swagger and ostentatious intro, Engineer is one of the most memorable tracks on the album, reminding me a little of early Porcupine Tree.

The final track Propeller Boat ends the collection with a definite “bang”, going for a more focused composition which flows very nicely indeed.

At times the production is somewhat muddy and lacking in overall crispness, which is a shame as there tends to be is a lot going on at any one time, but once again this is no doubt due to the age of the material and rarely spoils the experience. Overall this is a really nice assortment of hazy-day songs, and a perfect accompaniment for long journeys and sunny afternoons.

Hopefully the rest of this collection will be released soon and the artist can continue to create some original and varied music."

- Indie Bands Blog
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Floorstare Kids (EP)

"This Vienna-based artist has a ton of potential -1990 top 5 tracks of the week!"

- Rex Manning Day Music Blog
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Terrania (Album)

"Extraordinary cover art by Nicole Marie Boitos."

Jungle Indie Rock (Spain)
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Scar (Album)

"Austrian composer and musician PAUL HAYWORTH isn’t the most highly profiled artist in his homeland nor elsewhere, although I do understand he has experienced some relative success as a member of the band Freud. He appeared as a solo artist in 2011, and throughout 2011 and 2012 he made a plethora of his solo recordings available on the Bandcamp website. When and where these were originally made I don’t really know, nor of they have ever been released previously. If the latter is the case, then it’s been done in a rather subtle manner though, to the extent that one can’t Google some documentation on that fact. “Scar” is one the dozen or so albums by Hayworth, and was made available in July 2012.

The name of the game on this occasion is what I’d describe as lo-fi pop/rock. It sounds like it could have been recorded anytime from the late 70’s or onwards, to my ears and mind sometime in the late 1990’s would be an estimated guess. But the sound is timeless in a very lo-fi manner, and the music itself doesn’t reveal any characteristic features that binds it to a certain time period that I can establish with my musical knowledge (or lack thereof).

The individual compositions are by and large vocal driven affairs, the instrumentation providing a backdrop for Hayworth’s voice and textured inserts between the vocal passages to a greater extent than being a part of a total whole where the vocals is but one element. Besides Paul’s melodic but slightly gruffy vocals, the combination of acoustic and electric guitars is a central element throughput. The former providing a stable melodic core, the latter adding darker toned textures, the occasional soloing runs and a fair amount of psychedelic oriented details on a number of occasions. To the point that quite a few items here should be of interest to those with a dedicated taste for psychedelic rock. Hayworth’s vocals also reflect this mood on those occasions, opting for a lighter toned, clean and somewhat distanced delivery adding and somewhat emphasizing  a 70’s mood to the proceedings.

Mix and production are the main reasons for me branding this music lo-fi. Unbalanced, and not at all clean and orderly in the manner we’re used to in this day and age of Pro-Tools and other digital tools that empowers even home and amateur artists with the possibility to create recordings that sound professional. This may be an intended element for Hayworth however, specially as there’s a market and general interest in lo-fi rock music despite of or possibly because of the slick soundscapes we encounter whenever we listen to contemporary music of any kind.

As far as the tracks themselves are concerned, they tend to stick and stay in the pleasant department for me. Hummable, likable pieces of music that I could listen to anytime and anyplace, but without making a grand impact of the kind that gives me a strong desire to deeply investigate them through and through. Music for any odd occasion, and I suspect that this is an album that would really thrive in the car stereo. A couple of compositions do stand out however: Opening piece Hate the Throwbacks, a nifty bass driven affair with psychedelic details and subtle electronic effects in an otherwise energetic setting. Later on the somewhat more straight forward When You’re Feelin Blue also makes a subtly stronger impression, an effective combination of acoustic and electric guitars supplemented by rough vocals and an all around forceful display of 80’s/90’s indie rock."

- House Of Prog
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Teen Rage Evolution (Album)

'It's quite old school sounding 90's Indie with a Psychadelic Space Rock edge / Black Rebel Motorcycle Club / Dandy Warholes / Pink Floyd thrown in, a few 'journey tracks' and decidedly English yet exotic to boot!"

- Off Beat Indie Bang
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Freud (Collaboration) - Best Most Beutiful (Album)

"Just over a year after forming this is their first baby. "Best Most Beautiful" is the more than successful debut of Viennese band and sounds freshly imported from the British Isles. The first singles "Sex You Again" and "Kiss Me 4 Times" made it already up to the tips of the indie charts, the current single "Last Another Day" should be in no way inferior. Pretty: the self-deprecating "Best Most Beautiful Band", that will probably develop into a club-length firecrackers. In between there's pensive ("Grey") and Oasis-esque moments ("Something New"). It was produced by the electric luminaries Pulsinger / Tunakan who Freud so much that they have specially established a rock Sub label Cheap Records Rocks. Friends of innocent eroticism should take a peek at the album sleeve and then the inside."

Volume Magazine (Original In German)
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Dimentions (Album)

"The list of musicians that put out new music at a prodigious rate is very short. Jack White. The Weeknd. Bob Dylan. Jonathan Mann (that guy that writes a song a day and uploads them onto Youtube. Not a bad idea, just a shame that most of them are absolute garbage). Perhaps the most interesting, and certainly most accomplished, example of recent times is The Weeknd (sorry Jack, but that ship has sailed thanks to all The Dead Weather shenanigans). Last year, the media-evading Canadian released three albums that effectively remoulded R&B in his image. Three career-defining albums…in one year. Most men would baulk at the prospect. Not Paul Hayworth. ‘Three albums in one year?’ – one might expect him to remark – ‘How about six albums in six months?’
Seemingly disinclined to stay within one genre for too long, in many ways Dimentions (album number six) can be considered Hayworth’s “early-Bowie record”, as most (if not all) of the eight songs on Dimentions look to the pop icon for structural and musical inspiration. This comes in the form of the viscous ephemeral quality of ‘The Sting’ – a sprawling ode to life past and present, its primary concern that of finding balance – and the stratospherically charged ‘Spaceboy’. 

To underscore this album as a mere Bowie tribute would be unfair, and more importantly way off the mark. ‘Petkovitch’ starts off in New York Dolls mode, before changing gear and steering towards Britpop with the major chord changes of the chorus. ‘The Old Haunts’ showcases Hayworth’s high falsetto reminiscent of Muse’s Matt Bellamy at his most vulnerable, and is effectively an electro infused ‘Every Shining Time You Arrive’ (Sunny Day Real Estate). Throughout all of this musical wankerage (and I mean that in the nicest possible way), there are Hayworth’s vocals, so soothing, so tender and so very much Julian “son-of-John” Lennon.

All that being said, there is one criticism. And it’s a 40-inch chest one: Programmed drum loops. The drums are so blatantly those of a digital nature that they can become rather distracting (for all the wrong reasons) at times, ultimately lowering the standard on tracks such as ‘Petkovitch’ and ‘Stick Together’. Fortunately, the true gems still manage to shine through regardless, and it is because of these that Dimentions is still well worth a listen."

- My Dad Rocks
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Floorstare Kids (EP)

"Great EP it does have that 80's feel to it but sounds great!"

- MRU Social

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Bubular (Album)

"Loved your stuff, reminded me of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club at their best."

Rev. G. Smiley
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Soft Culture (Album)

"Multi-talented, European artist Paul Hayworth is finally releasing his “Chill Out” album entitled “Soft Culture.” The album was recorded back in 2001 using classic drum machines, sound loops and ambient textures to create an atmospheric piece of music. Why the wait? Paul Hayworth has been busy as a guitarist for the Austrian band Freud, as well as multimedia specialist for Sony and for The Bitmap Brothers. He is finally finding the time to release his back catalogue of solo projects.

The 10-track album is full of drumbeats and soundscapes as Hayworth tries to captures moods and atmospheres with his music. The songs range in length from the moody, 4-minute “Electrostatic” to the over 9-minute “Bambi Rasta.” The acoustic guitar in “Mish” and the soft, simple guitar in “Sunpool” is a nice break from the constant attack of electronic sounds in “Doctors of Empathy” and “Little Indian.” The album closes with the quiet flow of “Metropolitechnic.”

- JP's Music Blog
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Phantom Nomad (Album)

"The new album of Paul Hayworth ‘Phantom Nomad’ takes us into a world of sounds in which your senses may sail between waves of progressive rock, with a hint of shoegaze and the right touch of folk sounds. Guided by the extraordinary voice of Paul Hayworth, perfectly basted among sounds and lyrics that fit around it, each track is giving an harmonic shape to the whole album,  letting you to do a route of sounds from the 70s and 80s, to a perfectly adapted XXI century Psychedelia.

Listening the album, and when you think that you’re absolutely imbued with the spirit of this fourth album of the British musician, with issues very in style as 'Hurricane Delta Blues’, 'Wishing Well’ or 'Windy Lake’, however the quality of the album is even increasing until the end with a clear thread in the voice and guitar of Paul, well arranged with psichedelic organ sounds and backing vocals from Nicole Boitos Hayworth (author of an excellent cover art), and climaxes with amazing songs like 'Electric Cloud’, 'Orbital Gravity’, or the shocking 'Spider Tree’ that lead me again, in a so fresh way, to the British sounds of the 90s that inspired, in part, the birth of the neo-psychedelia.

We recommend you to listen to the whole album, to enjoy every one of its nuances, its psychedelic corners, and each sound emerging from the best rock, progressive ( including seconds of symphonic rock), shoegaze, indie, and experimental notes, that make this album something very special."

- Psychgazer
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Scar (Album)

"The sound is timeless in a very lo-fi manner. Hummable, likable pieces of music that I could listen to anytime and anyplace. An all around forceful display of 80's/90's indie rock."

- Progressor Magazine
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Phantom Nomad (Album)

"This spring Paul Hayworth released the fourth chapter, Phantom Nomad, of the musical quadrilogy he began in 2013 with Ultra Violet, Terrania, and Export. Paul is a multi-instrumentalist who plays guitar, drums, and a range of synths. I did not know what to expect when I first received this disc, but on listening I was quite impressed to say the least. The disc opens with “Hurricane Delta Blues” that is more progressive rock than Delta blues. It has a catchy riff and a repeated lyric “some day in Knoxville” that is way off geographically from the Mississippi Delta. But this nit does not detract from enjoying the music. Most of the songs are neo-psych and would be at home on any Fruits de Mer release. Paul’s voice reminds me at times of both Anthony Moore and Bob Dylan. On the two instrumental tracks, appropriately named “Instrumental One” and “Instrumental Two,” Paul stretches his experimental chops. “Instrumental One” is quite abstract with electronic washes, while "Instrumental Two” is a majestic riff on a pipe organ. Songs that I find particularly intriguing are the bucolic “Windy Lake,” the trippy “Minus 20,” and the catchy neo-psych “Spider Tree,” that reminded me of Chicago’s The Luck of Eden Hall. Paul varies his approach, instrumentation, and orchestration across the 13 songs thereby keeping your interest while at the same time communicating that this is all his music. An interesting aspect of the quadrilogy is the colorful psychedelic artwork that unites all four discs. I hesitate to refer to it as a triptych as that means three parts. So if there is such a word, the art is a quadtych."

Expose Online
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Coastal Legends (Album)

"O grave of legendary Anglo-Saxon king Raedwald in eastern England, the last battles of Boudica and Ikeda Celtic against the Romans, the legend of 'lizard queen' doing spells and drink human blood, the mermaids of Orford and the hills of the giants Gog and Magog in the Cambridge countryside, including British gothic fiction stories, is the subject of the songs of the new collection of the British heavy psychedelic guitarist and songwriter Paul Hayworth. If I tell you that knows how to write songs, and you need anything else?"

- Wild Thing Magazine (original in Greek)
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Progstravaganza Compilation of Awesomeness - Part X (interview)

"Releasing his solo efforts in a reverse order, paying tribute to plenty of different genres, he is to be classified as a man of vision. "I basically ignore the rules which were laid down by major labels to help market music, and most musicians follow because I am not an accountant, I am an artist."

- Prog-Sphere
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Freud (Collaboration) - Sex You Again (Video)

"The Freudian band lineup impressed by a wrong mix of people. Foremost singer Axel Pöhnl that is known in the Vienna party scene especially as DJ Excel. His trademark hanging up is an old telephone receiver he used to listen to the plates. Axel is one way the veterans of the Vienna Britpop- and mod scene, as well as guitarist Oliver Dam.

The role of the bass player accepts the Swede John Normann, a Brit Popper the first hour and a fan of cult bands like Ride or the Charlatans. He was the one who checked Freud a record deal, via his buddy Erdem Tunakan. The turn is head of the Viennese electronic record company "Cheap Records". So the Brit popper of Freud are curiously at a techno label.

In keeping with the Brit Rock Sound plays Freud with also an Englishman. Although Paul Hayworth plays great guitar and operates the way a very prosperous 'Party Pub' in Vienna. The percussion with Freud is Carinthian Jürgen Welser. He is full time pilot and passenger at the aircraft controls Austria's largest airline. Rounding out the sextet of keyboardist Ociro. He is originally from Mongolia, but is Czech and has lived in Vienna for years. 

Their band name is linked to the well-known Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud so GO-TV hosted by Freud has tons of cool Britpop vibes."

Go TV (original in German)
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Goodlove & The Dirty Plan (Album)

"The former guitarist of Freud and chief co-ordinator of the Vienna’s own and very much loved nightspot The Flying Pig Pub (Kirchbergasse) has decided to take time out to release his own solo album ‘Goodlove & The Dirty Plan’. Dusting off his vast collection off material from over the years his first endeavour is quite a treat with a few new tracks thrown in along the way."

- Frock And Roll Blog
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Ultra Violet (Album)

“Ultra Violet” by Paul Hayworth was recorded on cheap home 4-track tape machine, left to gather magnetic radiation scars for two decades and then slowly roasted in a Walkman, re-mastered on 16 track digital and now turned into an ‘atmospheric supernova’ on Bandcamp. So there you go."
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Nibiru (Album)

"The musical story of  a molten metal cataclysm of doom that is hurtling our way. "Space Opus"

- CKCUFM 
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The Going Away Album (Album)
"I could tell as soon as I pressed play on the first track of this album that I was going to fall in love with it. ‘The Going Away Album’ stands out more than any album I have heard in a while"
"This album is definitely designed for long, leisurely car journeys in the sleepiest, hottest part of summer. It is not one to miss out on, and I would recommend anyone with any interest in music to give it a good, long, rewarding listen."

- Independent Music News
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Dimentions (Album)

"Dimentions is one of those albums that I find singularly difficult to criticise, a million miles from awful."
              
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Goodlove & The Dirty Plan

"OMG this is perfect to my ipod. Good tunes" 

Indie Music Rock (Peru)
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Hit The Killswitch (Album)

WLOY "The singles sound good!"

WOBC FM "The video sounds good"

CFRC "I like the throw-back, mod sound"



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