Kent – Gothenburg – 25 July 2008
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.
Continuum Books 33 1/3 – Elliot Smith – XO, Big Star – Radio City
A look into Continuum's must-read 33 1/3 series of books that investigate the history and stories behind some of the greatest albums ever made, including reviews of the most recent releases in the series -- Big Star's Radio City and Elliott Smith's XO.
Factory Records – Communications 1978-1992
Long-overdue retrospective from the label that brought you the Happy Mondays, but don't hold that against them...
Coco Electrik – Interview (2007)
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?
Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong
The title may be Everything Goes Wrong, but to our ears, everything goes right for the Vivian Girls on their sophomore release.
Luke Haines – Bad Vibes
A timely assault on the looming spectre of the Britpop revival, Luke Haines unleashes his arsenal and takes aim. Camden, look out.
Girls – Talking Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011)
San Francisco's Girls self-titled debut of 2009 garnered widespread acclaim based on its fancy-free and free-love attitude that offered irresistible pop gems bathed in x-rated video clips ("Lust for Life" anyone?). Sex and pop, what more do you want out of music these days? For their sophomore album Father, Son, Holy Ghost, the Girls duo of Christopher Owen and Chet "JR" White have upped the songwriter stakes to put together an album that's impressive straight out of the blocks. Static's Chris Berkley spoke with Girl's JR over the phone in the midst of a very suspect (if you're to believe what he says) video shoot.
Windsor for the Derby – How We Lost
How did we lose this CD? Never mind, we finally give Austin's other post-rock band's eighth album a run through.
Blur – Midlife: A Beginner’s Guide To Blur
The predictable commercial foibles of a greatest hits compilation are largely avoided here; each of the tracks have been carefully selected by the band and many of them are touched-up or alternative versions.
Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
The stakes are high on Deerhunter's 4th album. Can they beat Webcuts album of the year 2008, their own magnificent Microcastle?
The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh
Providence, Rhode Island indie-folksters The Low Anthem fail to im-press the smart flesh on their sophomore release.
Dappled Cities – Zounds
The new album from Sydney art-pop five piece Dappled Cities reached forty eight on the Australian chart. Gold Zoundz indeed.
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.
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.
Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band
Eric D. Johnson’s Fruit Bats sink their teeth in a third album of sweet pop with The Ruminant Band.
Top Ten – Soundtracks
Some of these selections are pretty obvious. Some are from movies you've probably never seen nor have a desire to ever see.















