Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Merge, 2007 [rating:9.5/10] It's almost an established fact that once a band hits album number 4 or 5 they're practically running on empty. Creative juices have all but dried up, different directions are attempted, band
Who The Hell Are… Seize The Chair?
You have to question the motives behind a band who put a picture of two gurning band members on the front cover of their debut 7", or when asking the record company for a promo photo being offered 'the one where they're all dressed up in drag', or 'the one where they're chewing grass' (we passed on both). Sheffield's Seize The Chair have the air of a band who clearly and delightfully just don't give a fuck. In fact they probably just want to make music and have a laugh. Which, if you've seen that record sleeve, you'll be laughing too.
Eels – Hombre Lobo
America's rock werewolf Mark Oliver Everett otherwise known as Eels howls twelve songs of desire on his seventh studio disc.
Metric – Fantasies
Canadian/American synth-rockers Metric return with their fourth (or third) album. Fantasies. Will it be yours though?
Shearwater – London – 22 November 2008
"I don't know. I feel a bit naughty playing here", confides Jonathan Meiburg, singer with the Austin, Texas outfit Shearwater, sitting in front of a grand piano in St. Giles in the Fields, an 17th
Grizzly Bear – Interview with Ed Droste (Static, 2010)
We hunt down Ed Droste from Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear and get our claws into their move from a studio to live band, how they keep songs fresh, and how they came to record with Yacht rock legend Michael McDonald: "Michael McDonald is one of the coolest Yacht rockers around. We let him know we were fans and he ended up coming to a show and we really liked him and approached him with the idea and he was totally excited to do it."
She & Him – Volume Two
Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, a perfect pop couple if there ever were one, are back for a second helping of doo-wop and pop.
Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
Jagjaguwar, 2008 The Austin boys in Okkervil River are back with another album and like always it's filled with surprising stories, dense lyrics and great tunes that stick with you. The
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Album number six for these free-wheeling long-haired holdin' on to black metal giants of Southern Rock.
Layabouts – Savage Behaviour
Homeless Records, 2011 To call Layabouts chest-beating/car-loving/girl-banging rock n' roll as being derivative is to say rock n’ roll is derivative of rock n’ roll. If you stay true to
Pixies – Brisbane – 31 July 2010
Although the Pixies had visited Brisbane only back in March this time the set list was uninhibited by the myopic focus on Doolittle. Thus we got the full spectrum of the Pixies’ canon.
HTRK – Work (Work, Work)
Work (Work, Work) is the sound of HTRK collecting themselves after tragedy and loss. A difficult time creates a difficult album.
Blood Orange – Coastal Grooves
Putting aside Lightspeed Champion, the chameleon musician/producer known as Dev Hynes unveils his latest project Blood Orange.
Kings Of Leon – Come Around Sundown
"a polished genre grab bag record of mostly stale, completely innocuous songs". Kings of Leon - Win!
Who The Hell Are… The Capitalist Youth?
Consider The Capitalist Youth, a trio of former high school classmates who play “acoustic indie rock combining a living room full of misfit instruments with lyrically driven songs about summer camp, existential crises and gubernatorial indiscretions”. They don’t write and play the kind of music that will leave listeners dumbstruck over their redefinition of a genre, but they’re able to adeptly inject something into their music that only a handful of others have done well: humanity, with a laid back sense of humor, and without any of the awkward pauses that come from other bands who get lucky on a song or two and can’t maintain things the rest of the way.
The Church – Sydney – 6 December 2012
The Church Factory Theatre, Sydney 6th December 2012 The most remarkable thing about The Church, and there are many remarkable things about this enduring Australia band, is how better they get with















