Webcuts Music

You have to question the motives behind a band who put a picture of two gurning band members on the front cover of their debut 7″, or when asking the record company for a promo photo being offered ‘the one where they’re all dressed up in drag’, or ‘the one where they’re chewing grass’ (we passed on both). Sheffield’s Seize The Chair have the air of a band who clearly and delightfully just don’t give a fuck. In fact they probably just want to make music and have a laugh. Which, if you’ve seen that record sleeve, you’ll be laughing too.

What is it with twee pop types and ‘going cuckoo’. Is it something in the music? Should people be warned? Back In July we announced the release of cinematic psychedelians Still Corner‘s debut album Creatures Of An Hour and gave away the first single “Cuckoo” as a free download, which as you can see now, has its own suitably shimmery video. “Cuckoo” shines in its simplicity, a single drumbeat, ghostly guitar, and distant organ highlighting Tessa Murray’s haunting soprano as she asks, “I’d like to read your mind/can you read mine?” “It’s about confusion,” explains bandleader Greg Hughes. “It’s about being confused. Am I going crazy? Does this person like me? What’s happening? That’s the vibe of the whole record really”. Now it all becomes clear. Creatures Of An Hour will be released on October 10 through Sub Pop.

Released last week and reviewed here was Coastal Grooves by Blood Orange, the latest musical project by ex-Test Icicle and Lightspeed Champion Dev Hynes. A lo-fi urban-sounding synth-pop record, Coastal Grooves has Hynes playing the Prince card and relishing the role, producing something fresh and unexpected. Originally appearing on two 12″ singles, you can listen [...]

Putting aside Lightspeed Champion, the chameleon musician/producer known as Dev Hynes unveils his latest project Blood Orange.

Never in the history of doing these ‘Who The Hell Are… ?’ spotlights has a band come along and answered each question so thoroughly and excitedly that to praise them any further would make it seem like we’re actually in this band or take bribes (we do. email for details). From the same stable of acts (and household one would presume) that brought you the percussive pop concussions of We//Are//Animal and the not-very-French-at-all Masters In France, come spicy indie rock quartet Fennel Seeds. Further proof that North Wales these days is a happening place or one that naught much else happens.

There’s nothing more frustrating or confounding for a band to be dealt such hardships as was handed down to Sheffield’s The Long Blondes when their guitarist and songwriter Dorian Cox succumbed to a stroke at the unlikely age of 27. Their second album “Couples”, released only a few months before, was such a mammoth leap [...]

Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus And Mary Chain are due to reissue their entire back catalogue in deluxe 2CD/1DVD editions this September/October, starting with two of their greatest albums – Psychocandy and Darklands – on the Edsel label. Psychocandy is still one of those divisive albums that even decades after its 1985 release is enough to make a conventional music fan reach for their ears and go ‘what the fuck is this?’. I mean these days, throwing feedback over a beat and adding vocals is old hat, but the Mary Chain did it first, well, maybe not first, but definitely best.

On a day when the once great Morrissey lost his goddamn mind, alienating fans and supporters with his ill-considered opinion about the Norway tragedy in a desperate attempt to appear controversial and relevant, it seems a timely occasion to announce the latest addition to The Smiths shop floor. Rhino Records, in their continuing attempt to bleed the collaborative corpse of Morrissey and Marr dry, have prepared for fans the Rolls Royce of Smiths collectables with their Deluxe Collectors Boxset, containing remastered versions of the entire back catalogue on vinyl and CD and mostly everything else you have already.

A once Test Icicle and with two albums to his name as Lightspeed Champion, Devonté Hynes has remained constant with his musical outpourings. Residing in New York City for the past three years, Hynes has been concentrating on writing and producing for other artists (Solange Knowles, Bleeding Knees Club), while continuing to work on new songs, compiling them onto mixtapes that he would listen to while travelling around the city at night (a process adopted by Wes Eisold of Cold Cave for their second album). Informed by such diverse artists as Chris Isaak, Billy Idol, 80′s Japanese pop such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and French singer F.R David, Hynes gave this new project a fresh name Blood Orange and took the songs that form Coastal Grooves on a trip to the West Coast where he started turning the ideas into an album in which the Prince-like, Twin Shadow-echoing urban groove of “Sutphin Boulevard” is the first taste of what to expect.

Without wanting to be dictatorial and draw a line between the good festival and the bad festival, we’ll let you make that decision for yourself. But if you’re interested in a festival that focusses on the more innovative side of current alternative acts and djs, while placing them a little closer to home, and by home we mean London, then there’s no better choice than Field Day. Celebrating their fifth year, Field Day happens on Saturday August 6 and attempts to brings together many of London’s alternative concert and club promoters (Eat Your Own Ears, Adventures In The Beetroot Field, Bugged Out!) to produce a day of music set in London’s Victoria Park.