And now for something completely different… We’ll admit we don’t feature many non-Western acts here at Webcuts but when, out of left field, comes a piece of ear candy from the east like The Suzan’s “Home” we do listen. And look. With a cute glockenspiel intro, maracas-a-plenty, chunky bass and soothing if indecipherable vocals culminating [...]
In the space of the just two weeks one singer-songwriter who hails from Essex in England, Gemma Ray, has set up residence in the speakers and hearts of at least two of us here at Webcuts. The source of such an impact was the new album It’s a Shame About Gemma Ray, a 16 track covers album of timeless (Buddy Holly, Etta Fitzgerald) and alternative (Mudhoney, Sonic Youth, The Gun Club) classics. The first track is the sparse take on Gallon Drunk’s dark but delicious “Put a Bolt In the Door” from their album The Rotten Mile. Featured above is an acoustic session from Le Cargo! which successfully conveys the stripped down and dirty nature of the recorded version. Note the large kitchen knife tucked away at the back of the fretboard which Ray regularly uses in concert and studio in place of a slide. The Ray of light (or dark) will continue in the next week when we’ll feature a lengthy interview with the chanteuse about the album and future recordings.
For The Morning Benders, a big echo doesn’t necessarily mean a big noise, but the latter is certainly what these Californian boys encountered following the release of their sophomore album Big Echo earlier this year, easily giving Webcuts one of our favourite albums of 2010. Perfectly formed and lavishly constructed, Big Echo stretched its influences across the decades, from the lush ’60s doo-wop harmonies of “Excuses”, the ’70s Californian pop-rock of “All Day Day Light” to the peer rivaling, stark echoes (which the album lives up to its name) of “Hand Me Downs”.
Impressive third album from these exemplary Scots. It sounds like the Winter Webcuts had… except more productive.
Oh, summery shimmery albums. Why must you hook us so? Berkeley, CA’s, The Morning Benders serve up a treat.
With every other blog and dishrag praising these young Brooklyn upstarts, Webcuts feels wholly obliged NOT to review the album (in all fairness, nobody is knocking down our door waving a copy in our faces either). Though in an attempt to retain an essence of impartiality, we’ll let you decide whether The Drums are playing [...]
When we spoke to the head turning three piece School of Seven Bells a year ago they said they had ten tracks waiting to be finished. Seeing as their second album Disconnect from Desire is scheduled for release on 9th July on Speak N Spell/Inertia in Australia that they certainly have done. S7B will head [...]
For a band who call their music “post-classic rock”, Canada’s Plants and Rags have at least one thing going for them.
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.”
Finding unexpected notoriety through their collaboration with electronic arsonists Crystal Castles, Los Angeles Noise Rock quartet HEALTH have been a prominent musical force in the LA scene over the past couple of years. With their second album Get Colour released late last year, the band have evolved beyond being nihilistic noise makers into an act that is pushing the textural accessibility switch.
Crystal Castles go disco (mutated to CC standards but still disco) on “Sad Eyes”, the third track taken from their third album (III). The clip for “Sad Eyes” features live footage of the band performing mixed with shots of Alice Glass lip-syncing along and other randomness. The melodic synth lines of the track screams ABBA (no, seriously), and is another departure from the screaming and soundsystem destroying sonic meltdowns that Crystal Castles are notable for. Having just caught the band on tour in Australia last week, they were on their usual deafening form, working the writhing masses into a frenzy. Life’s got to be a gas in that band, I tell you.
