The Charlatans – Brisbane – 10 November 2010
It's been a long time time between drinks for The Charlatans and Australia. Fresh from playing their Some Friendly 20th Anniversary shows around the UK The Charlatans were down under recently with a more conventional touring schedule. It's certainly not the fan fest that they are used to back home but a rapturous welcome still greets the band. With a set drawn mostly from their very early material honed through recent tours, and the obligatory new songs that every band pulls out, it's a different set to what fans might expect but shows the depth of quality over their long career.
Ipso Facto – London – 31 July 2008
Ipso Facto Pure Groove Records, London 31st July, 2008 Having caught our attention last year with their goth and garage graces, Webcuts ventured down to Pure Groove records in East London to catch Ipso Facto
Lydia Loveless – Columbus – 30 September 2011
A couple of songs into Lydia Loveless’s evening set, and it’s difficult to tell where Lydia the singer ends and Lydia the person begins. It’s simply hard to imagine a woman like this, barely in her twenties, and standing a little over five foot tall in her boots, could be so worldly and explosive. And yet, there she is, muttering a string of f-bombs during a song break because she can’t get her guitar tuned quite right. The attitude, the weathered, sarcastic smile. The edge. That’s pretty damn tough to fake.
Splendour in the Grass 2009 (Day 1)
We give an in-depth rundown on 2009's Splendour in the Grass festival including the good - The Flaming Lips, Happy Mondays, Bloc Party, Doves, Sarah Blasko, Specials, You Am I, MGMT and the frankly rather appalling - Kram, Grinspoon.
Who The Hell Are… The Capitalist Youth?
Consider The Capitalist Youth, a trio of former high school classmates who play “acoustic indie rock combining a living room full of misfit instruments with lyrically driven songs about summer camp, existential crises and gubernatorial indiscretions”. They don’t write and play the kind of music that will leave listeners dumbstruck over their redefinition of a genre, but they’re able to adeptly inject something into their music that only a handful of others have done well: humanity, with a laid back sense of humor, and without any of the awkward pauses that come from other bands who get lucky on a song or two and can’t maintain things the rest of the way.
Weezer – Death To False Metal
Just how many albums are Weezer going to release (or re-release) this year? What's one more for Christmas?
The Vines – Melodia
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [5/10] How times and fortunes quickly change. Where once The Vines were heralded as being part of some new rock and roll explosion, they became its first liability and not even a
Who The Hell Are… Pris?
Uh-oh, here comes trouble. Pris are a four piece from London featuring Cat on vocals, Agatha on guitar, Mary on bass and Sam on drums. Imagine Blondie with an attitude problem, Manics before the middle life spread and Kenickie without the big bones.
Metric – Jimmy Shaw Q&A (2009)
As predicted Metric have blown up, but not blown away, big time. Fantasies reached number eight on the Canadian charts and crept into the Australian Top 40 and US Top 100, while incessant touring in
Mental As Anything – Essential As Anything / Tents Up
Both mental and essential, Sydney's pop legends Mental as Anything return with a career-encompassing collection and a brand new studio album.
The Heavy – The House That Dirt Built
UK retro-funk n' soul act The Heavy roll out the grooves and ask the question "How you like me now?". Our answer awaits.
Jay Reatard – Watch Me Fall
The ever-prolific Jay Reatard is back with his most potent pop record to date. Watch Me Fall trades sharp licks with cheap tricks.
Bob Mould – London – 25 May 2008
Bob Mould Koko, London 25th May 2008 Bob Mould turns to the crowd and informs them that they last time he played this venue, then named Camden Palace, it was 1985 and the band was
Suzanne Vega – Close Up Vol. 1 Love Songs
A thematic collection of stripped down tracks from Suzanne Vega's songbook, beginning with the love song.
Hop Farm Festival – Kent – 1-3 July 2011
In the history of modern music festivals, few line-ups could compare with the distinctly 70's flavoured action offered at the Hop Farm Festival last weekend. While The Eagles were wheeled out of retirement as headliners on the first night, the purportedly Morrissey-curated second day included such rock pantheon artists as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith. All in all, it's a jaw-dropping stroke of genius, with Morrissey having the hardest of acts to follow the swathe these three so cleanly cut through the Kent countryside. Oh, and did we forget to mention Prince was there too?
The xx – xx
XX marks the spot for mixed treasures on the much lauded London foursome's debut LP, an album for the post-sunset hours.