Webcuts Music

As the year slowly winds down we get reminded, we being Webcuts, of the albums we just didn’t get around to reviewing. Either because our plate was too full or because well… yawn, where does the time go? So, look, we’d like to apologise to Scottish indie-pop quartet Zoey Van Goey who released their second album Propeller Versus Wings way back in February for not expressly recommending it’s quirky brilliance and tender moods (walking the same halls as Camera Obscura and early Belle & Sebastian). “You Told The Drunks I Knew Karate” is more of the former, an adorably perfect tale of a night out gone awry now made complete with its own karate-themed video. The track is being released as a single through Chemikal Underground on November 21. A digital single that is. Not something small, plastic, and awesome. Sigh.

New Jersey outfit Real Estate’s shares their first music video from their album Days for the lead single “It’s Real”, filmed in Ridgewood, New Jersey and directed by Weird Days. Days was recorded over the course of five patient months in a remote New Paltz, NY barn-cum-studio, and is a coming of age moment for childhood friends Martin Courtney (Guitar and Vocals), Matt Mondanile (Guitar) and Alex Bleeker (Bass). A gorgeous suite of guitar-pop songs, Days is a testament to the sonic formula developed on their 2009 self-titled debut album, heralding the arrival of a new, genuine and enduring group of voices in American independent music. Days sees the band tighten and refine their brand of timeless, melodic and genuine music – consolidating the breezy sketches of their earlier work into considered, graceful pop songs.

Given the dream-like quality of the music and the wide scope of the title for visual artists to work with, Okkervil River have unsurprisingly released a second video for the song “Your Past Life As A Blast” taken from I Am Very Far. How do you capture a memory? This is the main question director [...]

London-based swoonsome twosome Summer Camp have just released the first proper single “Better Off Without You” from their forthcoming debut album Welcome To Condale (don’t look for it on a map, it doesn’t exist). There are those amongst us no doubt chowing down on Elizabeth’s brownies or Jeremy’s um, book collection, from participating in their Pledgemusic fundraising campaign. As you can see, your money has been put to good use in this no-expense-spared, home-shot video clip. “Better Off Without You” shows Summer Camp doing what they do best, making bright n’ cranky little pop songs in the “I want you. Nope, changed my mind” vein, which’ll make Welcome To Condale all that more a trick-or-treat surprise when it’s released on October 31.

Okkervil River‘s Will Sheff has taken the literal approach while assembling a video for the track “Your Past Life As A Blast” by using home movies of the Sheff family shot by his father. Sheff said about the clip — “Like many kids of the late 70s and early 80s, my dad was often hovering around with a Super 8 camera, filming my mom and me and – as time passed – my younger brother and sister. I remember him projecting these movies on a bare wall and, eventually, the movies becoming as much a part of my memory as the original events he had filmed. I thought it would be cool to use actual footage of those memories in the video itself, to make a really personal kind of rock video”. Soon to be traversing the globe taking in shows in Australia and Spain throughout October and November, the band will be rounding out a busy year touring I Am Very Far with a final batch of shows in UK and Ireland, culminating in their largest London show to date at Koko on the 22nd.

It’s a rich Richie-remembering, good times documenting, trip down memory lane for Manic Street Preachers with their video for their cover of The The’s “This Is The Day”, taken from the forthcoming complete singles collection, the wryly titled National Treasures. It’s been a good long while since Manic Street Preachers last released a cover version [...]

Following their self-titled grammy-nominated 2009 album, alt-country icons Wilco return with their eighth studio album The Whole Love released on September 26 through their dBpm Records label. The second single taken from the album is the idiosyncratic rocker “Born Alone”, filmed by
Chicago-based videographer Mark Greenberg. Greenberg, who was on hand during the The Whole Love sessions created the video for the Chicago band as “a super fast-paced scrapbook of the band’s studio loft and the sessions that went into the recording of the new album,” said Greenberg. “For the “Born Alone” video, I wanted to capture as many of the beautiful little details of the loft and all its contents — bits and pieces of the art and the creature comforts that help create their beautiful little hideaway”. Wilco will be touring the UK in late October, culminating in two dates at the Roundhouse in London on the 28th and 29th.

Having reeled us in with the provocative teaser track “Surgeon”, we’ve now been given “Cruel” the first proper single taken from Strange Mercy, Annie Clark aka St. Vincent‘s third studio album due out September 12 on 4AD. Directed and produced by long-time collaborator Terri Timely, the video provides the perfect visual accompaniment to the sinister lyrical themes that cut through the song. Seeing Annie Clark situated in various stages of domestic anguish, the video evokes the off-kilter suburban ennui of The Stepford Wives, and is proof positive that Strange Mercy will be St. Vincent’s most memorable work yet. She’ll be touring the UK with a full band this autumn, starting November 10 at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London and finishing up on the 16th at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds.

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.

Since giving away “Winter Beats” as a free download last month and backed by regular spins of their forthcoming debut album Hearts at Webcuts HQ, we’ve become quite fond of this track. In making the video, director Alex Southam captured the feeling of I Break Horses lush electro-shoegaze perfectly with stark and hypnotic imagery, including a cameo from actor Cillian Murphy. Described as invoking memories of Cocteau Twins and Slowdive as well as the emotional synth-pop of M83 circa Saturdays = Youth, Swedish duo I Break Horses are clearly hitting every mark. For those just tuning in, I Break Horses is the nom de plume of Maria Lindén and her musical partner Fredrik Balck. Residing in the Swedish capital of Stockholm, the duo have spent the last two years meticulously crafting the nine tracks that make up debut album Hearts released on August 22 through Bella Union.