The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
Oh my god! The third album from this Rhode Island folk trio proves to be a natural selection.
Who The Hell Are… Silk Flowers?
Dial back to the summer of 2010 having spent the afternoon hanging out with electro-be-spectacle Amanda Warner aka MNDR, we get a tweet from her inviting us to come down to Camp Basement in Old Street to watch synth experimentalists Silk Flowers, a Brooklyn three-piece that she’d recently produced an album for. Standing facing each other in a semi-circle surrounded by banks of synths, the band were undoubtedly not of this planet, but one Krautrock based in nature, appearing wholly entranced in their own music which veered from instrumental collages to deadpan delivered pop.
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Karin Dreijer Andersson one half of The Knife now gives us Fever Ray, in the morning and fever ray all through the (Swedish) night.
The Wedding Present – London – 13 December 2010
These are confusing times we live in. The past and the present have merged into one. Bands come back from the dead, sounding better than ever (The Primitives), artists who are clearly dead keep on making dreadful albums from beyond the grave (do we need name names?), and bands will play their best album in full and it becomes ‘an event’ (The Wedding Present). There are few albums in the history of music that deserve to be played in full (though tell that to Echo & The Bunnymen...), there's always at least one track (or more) of filler, or one completely misjudged stinker, but nostalgia has a price and it pays handsomely, so hey, on with the show!
of Montreal – Brisbane – 4 March 2009
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.
Camper Van Beethoven – Popular Songs of Great Enduring Strength and Beauty
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [7/10] Listening to a Camper Van Beethoven CD is like opening a time capsule to an era where the alternative music scene was more of a nascent beast than what it is
Daestro – Moondagger
Will it be knives out for Detroit's Randoph Chabot aka Daestro or maybe a friendly slap on the back instead?
Deerhunter – Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Hot on the heels of Microcastle comes this warmly welcomed five track EP from Webcuts' band de jour.
The Walkmen – London – 25 August 2010
“You’re one of us, or you’re one of them“. Hamilton Leithauser, fist wrapped tight around the microphone as if he's trying to strangle it, is howling those words. The rest of The Walkmen, heads bowed (as they remain throughout most of the set) play complicit and provide the carnival-esque roar to ram Leithauser’s words home. It’s not so much a question or a suggestion but a statement. For better or for worse, for way back when the band were selling their own white label records at the Middle East in Boston in 2001, I’ve been one of "us".
Friendly Fires – Interview with Edd Gibson & Ed Macfarlane (Static, 2009)
The friendly folks from indie-dance sensations Friendly Fires stroll into Static's studio to talk the good talk about their new single "Kiss of Life", the Mercury music prize and more -- "It’s good to kind of feed off the energy of the crowd: suck them like vampires."
Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper
Paul Banks discovers that the best path to seduction lies in reduction on his first solo outing as the mysterious Julian Plenti.
Lightspeed Champion – Life is Sweet! Nice to Meet You
Dev Hynes brings us more songs of bittersweet romance on his sophomore release as Lightspeed Champion.
HTRK – Marry Me Tonight
New No Wave or Narco-Electro? Whatever the case, Marry Me Tonight is well worth making an engagement with...
The Stills – Oceans Will Rise
The Stills channel an environmental apocalypse with Oceans Will Rise. Will anyone be left to hear it?
Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Ragged fist-pumping fury from outta New Jersey. Named after one of Shakespeare's earliest tragedies. Fact.
Tegan and Sara – The Con
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