Webcuts Music

Critic proof Canadian indie-poppers release their fifth disc of tunes but like its subject matter we find it lacks substance.

More emotional missives from angry, intense, young American men. What steady diet do they feed you on?

While the new STARS album may be a mixed bag it nonetheless contains several stellar tunes including “We Don’t Want Your Body” which imagines Torquil Campbell and Amy Milan as two sordid lovers in London, lying in the gutter looking up at the stars — figuratively speaking — combining Afropop with arpeggio organ and an [...]

What’s to say about Crystal Castles that hasn’t already been said before? A notorious Canadian electro-duo comprised of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, Crystal Castles have been a contentious musical presence since the release of their first single “Alice Practice” in 2006. Their second self-titled album was released last month and the evolution of the band’s sound, whilst still maintaining an experimental, aggressive edge, has come under scrutiny by fans and critics alike for the mature, mainstream approach of some of the tracks. Webcuts has no qualms with quaffing from the mainstream, and the Ibiza rave groove of “Celestica” is close to being one of our favourite singles of the year. We also love the zombie-strolling Glass as she and Kath listlessly invade a local London cemetry too. An official video clip from Crystal Castles. How times change… Fan vid makers take that!

The old guard  of alternative rock, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, remixes the new upstarts of punktronica, Crystal Castles, turning their recent single “Celestica” into something more earthly. Taken from their just released second eponymous album (confusing, much?) the track is transformed from a dreamy synth-pop number into a decidedly more rock’n’roll version with guitar and [...]

Heaven is here, and if the album is half as great as this review, then The Hold Steady should be counting their lucky stars.

More depressing pop dressed up espionage style on the fifth album from this diminutive guitar goddess. “Junior”, indeed.

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.

“Listening again to everything The Hold Steady recorded. Is this the greatest American band now? They just got me through a rough month.” Bret Easton Ellis, Twitter Nov 2009. Lauded by fans, critics and other creative minds for the scope, depth, truth and heart that they bring to chronicling the American rock myth, Craig Finn and Tad Kubler of The Hold Steady hold court to discuss (via impersonal record label Q&A) their forthcoming blue collar opus Heaven is Whenever, due for release on May 3.

As a teenage music fan, one of my prized possessions was a bootleg LP of Joy Division recorded on the same stage Bad Lieutenant are playing tonight, 30 years later. You think Bernard Sumner, guitarist in both bands, would mention the significance, or perhaps the memory has left him, like his own introduction to an Electronic song later in the set “This is called “Tighten Up”, I’ve no fucking clue what it’s about”.