The rise and rise of Melbourne's British India has been something to behold. They've gone from their first release in 2005, the rough and ready Counter Culture EP, to 2007's incendiary debut Guillotine, and from feted Triple J acts to top five chart placings with second album Thieves. We stole some time with guitarist Nic Wilson
But it was the harmony rich blend of disco, psychedelia and pop that made Hissing Fauna... and The Sunlandic Twins surprise alternative pop classics that had The Zoo crowd dancing into the groove.
Erlend Øye and company break some rules but also unwittingly create them on their second album entitled, you guessed it, Rules.
Many a rock band have experimented with electronica but can Scotland's most successful export since kilts and haggis pull it off?
Capping off an incredibly busy year with a singles compilation for 2008, Nashville native Jay Reatard has been relentlessly touring the globe and still hasn't stopped to catch his breath. Recently blowing away audiences in Australia with his demented hair-shaking garage rock, Chris Berkley caught up with Jay in Sydney and spoke to him about
We brave the laneways of Brisbane to report on No Age, Jay Reatard, The Hold Steady, Cut Off Your Hands, The Drones, Stereolab, Spiral Stairs, Augie March and more.
Ladies and gentlemen, the envelope please! Webcuts favourite albums of 2008 as argued and fought over by us, including star-studded appearances from Beach House, My Morning Jacket, Fleet Foxes, Nick Cave, Santogold, Okkervil River and many more...
The much lauded ATP festival reaches Australia and we give you the rundown on the Brisbane leg including reviews of Robert Forster, Spiritualized, The Saints and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
We review Brisbane's inaugural Sunset Sounds Festival and see how the likes of The Hives, Santogold, The Kooks, Franz Ferdinand, Faker, The Grates, Tegan and Sara, I Heart Hiroshima and more measure up in the sweltering heat.
"How you doin'? You alright?" asks an out of breath Gaz Coombes during their first Brisbane show in several years. The assembled punters shout back "yeah!", hoping that the next song will be the golden goose turned albatross hit "Alright". It isn't, but no one is really displeased when it turns out to be
It may come as some surprise that for a band who always seem to be on the cutting edge The Faint have actually been in existence for over a decade, combining punk attitude and guitars with a hellava lot of synthesizers and electronics. Static's Chris Berkley sits down with The Faint's keyboardist, Jacob Thiele, and
Gothenburg's 2008 Way Out West Festival - Buzzcocks, The Sonics, Okkervil River, Sonic Youth, The National, Grinderman, Broder Daniel, Silverbullit, Caesars, Neil Young,.
A great set isn’t achieved by luck and prowess alone. Kent have always kept a keen eye on quality control throughout their career — they have yet to record a bad album, or even average album and new songs such as “Ingenting” (“Nothing”) rank among their best.
Inertia, 2008 [7.5/10] Malcolm Middleton, previously one half of gritty Scottish miserabilists Arap Strap, establishes the modus operandi for his fourth album Sleight of Heart right from the get go. When he sings "We're having a week off/We're having a rest" from "Week Off", he means it; Sleight of Heart is a lighter, more relaxed
Hailing from Helsinki Husky Rescue are the brainchild of songwriter/bassist Marko Nyberg assisted by the magnetic Reeta-Leena Korhola on vocals, Miika Colliander on guitar, Ville Riippa on keyboards, and Anssi Sopanen on drums. Webcuts questions Marko, one of Finland's finest, about the new album, Ghost Is Not Real, the Finnish countryside, blueberries and all things
Downtown/Inertia, 2008[rating:7/10] "The rules are...there are no rules" intoned one time (Transvision) vamp Wendy James and is a maxim which Santi White, better known as Santogold, takes to heart. Older and wiser than most of her peers -- her C.V. includes stints as A&R rep for Epic Records and singer in rock/ska band Stiffed --
Interview with all four members of Coventry's great lost 1990s indie band Adorable about their compilation album, Footnotes 92-94, released in 2008.
Pete Fijalkowski former frontman for two of England's most criminally ignored bands, Adorable and Polak, talks about his solo album Broken Heart Surgery.
We talk with Tindersticks keyboardist and founding member David Boutler about version 2.0 of Tindersticks, the stunning new album The Hungry Saw, the re-issue of their back catalogue, Songs for the Young at Heart and more.
Cherry Red, 2008 [7/10] England 1979 -- punk was morphing into the more experimental post-punk and saw landmark releases from PiL, Gang of Four, The Cure, Joy Division and The Pop Group. And then...then there was The Monochrome Set. Instead of vitriolic and/or depressive lyrics, distorted guitars and dub and funk influenced bass The Monochrome
National, 2007 [rating:7/10] The twelve month period denoted by the title of this compilation (that's how the logical Swedes write the date) was an ultra productive period for Stockholm's Linda Carlsson otherwise known as Miss Li. Her debut album Late Night Heartbroken Blues, released in November 2006 established the Miss Li blueprint: a simple piano
Anthony Gonzalez is the driving force behind French band M83. Since 2001 M83 have released several albums of hypnotic electronica combined with effects laden guitars, and softly sung vocals. Static's Chris Berkley managed to track down Anthony on his first Australian tour and discussed airline mishaps, growing up on the French Rivera, the new M83 album Saturdays=Youth
Review of mid-90s band, Adorable, compilation album that combines singles, album tracks from their two LPs and b-sides.
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.
Capitol/EMI, 2008 [rating:7.5/10] Our Love to Admire was one of Webcuts' favourite albums of 2007. In fact we considered the third album by Brooklyn's Interpol as their most consistent and fully realised work to date. Keyboards, once mere adornments, were now fully integrated into the band's epic songs adding atmosphere and depth. The repetitive yet
If success was awarded by the amount of struggle and heartbreak an artist had endured, and took into account the innate talent the artist had, Jacob Golden would be multi-platinum and headlining London's Royal Albert Hall by now. He's not there yet, but after a very successful 2007 this year should see Golden's star
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.
Vapor/Sire, 2007 [rating:8.5/10] Although always writing separately, the initial blueprints for The Con, saw the twins geographically distanced -- Tegan in Vancouver, Sara in Montreal. Reunited and with demos in hand the pair moved to Portland with producer Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists) at the helm, recording in his basement studio. Tegan
During the decade that was the 1990s Jackie McKeown fronted the highly influential but commercially ignored Glaswegian act The Yummy Fur, an ensemble that went through as many reshuffles as a blackjack dealer in Vegas. Two years ago he formed the band 1990s a mix of The Rolling Stones, Motown soul and power-pop with Michael
Former Brisbanite Anne Booty is the leading force behind genre defying Brighton-London based act Coco Electrik. We grill Anne about debut LP Army Behind the Sun, performing live and receive an answer to the question: Are Friends Electrik?
Echo, 2007 [rating:9/10] Those lucky enough to catch Jacob Golden's live know just how extraordinary he can be armed with only an acoustic guitar and his angelic voice. His self titled debut EP in 2001 bottled some of that magic but his debut long player, Hallelujah World released in 2002, partly obscured his natural gifts
Just call it the comeback. While the Shout Out Loud's debut album Howl Howl Gaff Gaff showed promise few could have predicated the seismic improvement for follow-up Our Ill Wills -- a veritable treasure chest of '80s and '90s influenced alternative pop and rock with strings, layered percussion and crisp production. We sit down with
Lick were one of Britpop's great forgotten bands. Forming in Camden in 1994 they made a splash with glam anthems, penchant for eyeliner and sexually charged lyrics. But the dream was all over two years later on the cusp of releasing their debut album. We feature an in-depth Q&A with lead singer Gary Cosby about the band and the their unreleased album Turbulence.
Interview conducted via email with Pete Fijalkowski from 1998 when the dust had settled from Adorable and his then new band Polak had just released their first single "2 Minutes 45".
A decade ago, at the tail end of Britpop, art-rockers Mansun were one of the biggest bands in the UK, seemingly ready to take on the rest of the world. Six years later the band imploded in the wake of backlash towards their third record Little Kix. Webcuts chooses to remember them at their peak with this 1997 interview.
