Touring Australia on the bequest of the all-conquering Coldplay, Mercury Rev stopped into visit Static’s Chris Berkley to talk about their latest album Snowflake Midnight and an impressive career that cannot be reigned in by simple film analogies.
Second Splendour line up in full and interview with Splendour promoter Jess Ducrou about the tremendous success of the festival, the process for picking the line-up and this year’s bands, future expansion of the site and the improvements in ticketing technology.
The Blue Depths which focussed on ambient old school synths and majestic, dreamy mood-scapes yielded great dividends resulting in Odawas’ most cohesive album to date. We recently spoke to Michael Tapscott about the beautiful depths of The Blue Depths, the Odawa live experience including SXSW, soundtracks and the mystery of the sea.
Having just released the second single “Summertime Clothes” from their acclaimed eighth album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Chris Berkley from Static spoke to David Portner from Baltimore, Maryland’s favourite sons, Animal Collective and asked, among other things, what lurked behind the eye-catching artwork and whether or not they had been invited to play the venue they [...]
As predicted Metric have blown up, but not blown away, big time. Fantasies reached number eight on the Canadian charts and crept into the Australian Top 40 and US Top 100, while incessant touring in Europe and North America has further strengthened their fan base. Webcuts emailed Metric guitarist and half of Metric’s lead songwriting [...]
A collaboration between Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines and twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza of On-Air Library, the School of Seven Bells (founded in name from a mythical South American pickpocket academy) that surprised all with their ethereal, haunting charms that found them in perfect company of shoegaze/dreampop acts like M83 and Prefuse 73. [...]
The Veils’ recently released third album Sun Gangs displayed astounding depth, warmth and honesty across its ten tracks. Ranging from emotive ballads (“It Hits Deep”, “Sit Down By the Fire”) to epic Velvet Underground/Nick Cave art-rock (“Three Sisters”) and something in-between (“The Letter”) it provides further proof of the compelling voice of main man Finn Andrews. Chris [...]
Having pulled up a chair with the The Stills in London to have a drink and talk about their most recent album Oceans Will Rise late last year, we continue to follow their adventures as The Stills join the Kings of Leon on tour in Australia, where Chris Berkley of Static catches up with both [...]
Arriving on the scene way back in 2002 with the gritty Black Rooster EP, The Kills took the garage rock aesthetic and beat it down, creating a skin and bones strut that stank of sex and cigarettes. In the following years, The Kills haven’t strayed too far from their original lo-fi blues/rock blueprint, yet still [...]
Flowers and chocolates? We brought neither but Brooklyn three-piece the Vivian Girls graciously didn’t hold that against us.
One of Webcuts favourite albums of 2011 was Coastal GroovesBlood Orange aka Dev Hynes. It was our “dancing in the dark, alone” album, or club grooves for loners. Directed by Haley Wollens, the video for “Champagne Coast” features an assortment of jerkily animated girls dancing in each of their specifically designed bedrooms, while Dev Hynes stands idly by. As Dev explained recently in The New York Times: “The song, as with every other piece of music I seem to make, is mostly about longing, creating scenarios in regards to an unrequited lover, plans that will never see fruition. So you’re left alone in your digitally created interior to dance by yourself”. We can also announce that Blood Orange has been confirmed to play at this year’s Field Day Festival in London’s Victoria Park on June 2nd. Further UK dates are to be announced.
