Webcuts Music

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It’s hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. One thing our favourite tracks of 2010 all had in common was that they appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge.

It seems Stars’ Amy Milan has a passenger along for the ride as the band recently announced that she and dad to be and co-member Evan Cranley are expecting their first baby due March 2011. Hang on… March 2011, isn’t that when Evan said they were aiming to tour Australia? Expect bottled milk instead of vodka in the rider from then on but in the meantime they’re cramming in as many US dates between now and the end of the year. Also we reveal dates for The Church’s “An Intimate Space” acoustic tour of Australia and Passenger’s “Golden Thread” wonderful video clip.

The new Stars album The Five Ghosts is a focused and streamlined record that in some ways harks back to their synth-pop roots of their first album, albeit being much darker in tone and theme. While Stars’ diminutive front-man Torquil Campbell, and its glamorous front-woman Amy Millan, may get the most of the star light we recently had words with the quiet achiever of the band, Evan Cranley. Evan reveals to us details about the process and direction that the new album took, the decision behind the Séance EP, his jack of all trades role in the band, the novel approach to touring the new songs and how to create a fantastic remix.

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

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 [...]

It may’ve taken eight long years but Canadian indie pop quintet Stars made their way to Australia for the first time recently on the back of their fourth LP and one of 2007′s best releases, In Our Bedroom After the War — a record brimming with heartfelt pop and rock with electronic and soul flourishes. [...]

We graze of the green pastures of 2007 and find the cream of the crop including Damn Arms, Grinderman, Spoon, The Concretes, Feist, Faker, John Doe, The Shins and more.