Webcuts Music

For the third Sunset Sounds festival it rained, it poured, it pelted down. Water came down in sheets, hell it came down in slabs. Even those who came with waterproof clothing were completely soaked not just to the bone but to the very marrow. Sunset Sounds became Sunless Sounds, Soggy Sounds and Mudset Sounds. It brought out the worst in some people and the best in others. Still the show went on and so we report on Sleigh Bells, Cold War Kids, Ladyhawke, Pubic Enemy, The National and Interpol on day one. While for the second day we braved the wet again to deliver reports on The Soft Pack, Peaches, Junip, The Morning Benders, Washington and Paul Kelly.

Concert cornucopia time once again for Aussie kids: The Lemonheads are doing It’s a Shame About Ray “Don’t Look Back” style. Last seen in these parts by Webcuts in 1993 we’re looking forward in re-visiting the past a-la “Hot Tub Time Machine” with The Lemonheads in November. Meanwhile in January Junip featuring the gentle Swede Jose González are playing Sunset Sounds and doing two sideshows, likewise Interpol. Finally classic loving Canadian Owen Pallett who in a perplexing move is not doing any festival slots or classic albums in full at all but just coming out here to play a normal run of shows. Hurrah!

The Lights are on but the tunes aren’t home on Interpol’s disappointing fourth otherwise known as #4.

Another week, another round of Australian tour news. Lucky us. Tickets for the third Sunset Sounds festival which takes over the Riverstage and Botanic gardens over two days – January 4th and 5th 2011 – are now on sale. We have a sneak peek at seven of the acts and also give you dates for The Drones Gareth Liddiard’s solo tour (in support of his debut solo album Strange Tourist and also details of Birmingham’s Stereolab-lite act Broadcast December visit, their first ever to our shores.

The end of winter and the onset of spring then summer in the Southern Hemisphere means one thing. Well it means warmer temperatures obviously but it also means more international tours for us antipodeans starved of name acts over the winter months (excepting Splendour and its sideshows of course). A number of big names have been announced in the past week including The Manic Street Preachers, The Charlatans, Concrete Blonde, The National, Interpol, The Morning Benders and Joan Jett!

In an attempt to gather back the black-clad flock that disappeared after their disappointing third album Our Love To Admire, Interpol are giving away a fresh new recording for free. “Lights”, taken from sessions for their as yet untitled fourth album, is available from the band’s official site Interpolnyc.com. According to the band, the song will be the first of several to be released in the next few months.

XX marks the spot for mixed treasures on the much lauded London foursome’s debut LP, an album for the post-sunset hours.

Paul Banks discovers that the best path to seduction lies in reduction on his first solo outing as the mysterious Julian Plenti.

The parcel, delivered by broad shouldered security guards in an ominous looking black van and labelled Top Secret, fills us with trepidation. Inside is an album promo by someone called Julian Plenti, ostentatiously titled Julian Plenti is Skyscraper.

Capitol/EMI, 2008 Our Love to Admire was one of Webcuts’ favourite albums of 2007. In fact we considered the third album by Brooklyn’s Interpol as their most consistent and fully realised work to date. Keyboards, once mere adornments, were now fully integrated into the band’s epic songs adding atmosphere and depth. The repetitive yet beguiling [...]