Top Ten – B-Sides
The B-side is every music geek/fan’s favourite thing to debate over. It’s the one place where an artist is allowed to record whatever they see fit, and the one place where a fan can expect
Lykke Li – Wounded Rhymes
A break-up album like no other, Sweden's pop princess Lykke Li hits an emotional core that has Webcuts in awe.
Beach House – Devotion
Bella Union, 2008 [9/10] Baltimore's Beach House first appeared in 2006 with their self-titled debut, a gorgeous collection of dizzying songs built around Victoria Legrand's awash-with-reverb harmonies, church-style organ and Alex Scally's languidly strummed guitar.
Kaki King – Dreaming of Revenge
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [rating:6.5/10] Having scored a Golden Globe nominated film soundtrack with Eddie Vedder, appeared on recent albums for Tegan and Sara and the Foo Fighters, and being named by Rolling Stone magazine as
Love of Diagrams – Nowhere Forever
Our love for Love of Diagrams knows no bounds especially for the Melbourne noise merchants freshly minted third album.
Centro-Matic / South San Gabriel – Dual Hawks
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [5/10] (Centro-Matic) [7/10] (South San Gabriel) Will Johnson can seemingly do anything. A prolific songwriter, Johnson has spent over a decade playing indie rock in Denton, Texas' Centro-Matic, putting out a succession
Elliott Smith – An Introduction To…
It's hard to believe that he's been gone 7 years now. This collection attempts to define one of last great songwriters of the 20th Century.
Wendy James – London – 9 June 2011
Why hello, Wendy James. It’s been a while. Almost 20 years since I saw Transvision Vamp play at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney. A mostly unremarkable show except for the amount of intimidating drunks in attendance and the fact they played their current ‘hit‘ twice. Australia loved Transvision Vamp, almost in the same way it loved Blondie, decades before. Stick a blonde wig on a mop, put it in front of a bunch of guys in leather jackets and you're set. Transvision Vamp at that time were in their career descent with Little Magnets Versus The Bubble of Babble (my head still shudders at the idiocy of this title) and this was their last roll of the dice.
Joker’s Daughter – The Last Laugh
Producer Danger Mouse and vocalist Helena Costas come together as Joker's Daughter. It's a mixed deck by all accounts.
Beach House – Teen Dream
Makers of mood music for moderns, Baltimore's daydream duo return with their sweet and sombre third album, Teen Dream.
The Strokes – Angles
Thumbs down for the skinny ties and tight jeans brigade on their fourth go-round. Surely it can't be worse than First Impressions Of Earth?
Destroyer – Kaputt
Lyrically and musically, simply one of the best records you'll hear all year. Dan Bejar -- Genius. Kaputt -- Divine.
Washed Out – Within And Without
Washed Out's debut album couldn't have arrived at a more perfect time. The water's just right for a little chillwave.
Amanda Blank – I Love You
Welcome to the Blank generation - potty mouthed, vacuous, and promiscuous - with the music to match.
Stephen Malkmus – London – 9 December 2009
Stephen Malkmus has been ‘jicking’ for as long now as he was leading the charge in Pavement, releasing as many albums, yet never reaching the same heights. His solo career seemed to be in constant war of expectation over delivery. It's not Pavement. It's not a bunch of twenty-year-olds fighting their generation. But the louche stage prescence, that hazy cynical drawl, the greying hair framing the eyes in a semi-slacker curl, little has changed over the years.
Cloud Control – Interview (Static, 2010)
A Tale of Two Cities? Not bloody likely. While both appear on the forthcoming Laneway bill Cloud Control and Rat vs Possum are worlds apart and aren't harbingers of any Sydney or Melbourne scene. Although there are groups of like-minded musical acts in all Australian cities and towns they're is no discernible Sydney sound or Melbourne sound. Cloud Control's indie-folk rubs shoulders with Parades' and Jonathan Boulet's dense polyglot pop while Rat vs Possum's tribal skewed pop sounds share the same general geography as Love Connection's murky shoegaze and Super Wild Horses girl fronted garage. It's not where you come from, it's where you're at.