Dry Wood Music, 2008 [rating:8/10] Paul Westerberg fronted one of the last truly great rock and roll bands with The Replacements. The entire Replacements oeuvre is currently being remastered and re-released for those who missed the boat or who want some audio clarity amidst the drunken rock and roll and Westerberg's dyslexic art. To strike
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [rating:6.5/10] Having scored a Golden Globe nominated film soundtrack with Eddie Vedder, appeared on recent albums for Tegan and Sara and the Foo Fighters, and being named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the new gods of guitar, you'd think that everything is coming up roses for Kaki King, the 28
Domino Records, 2008 [6/10] Post punk, new funk, even if its old junk, it's still rock and roll to me. Call it what you want, but history shows that Manhattan's Liquid Liquid were essentially a dub/groove-based band that while in their short lifespan became incredibly influential on the New York music scene both then and
Rough Trade, 2008 [7.5/10] Never has a record so wrong-footed me like Evil Urges has. Louisville's My Morning Jacket were always a band with broad influences in their sound. 2005's Z was the strongest indication that their fret-tapping southern rock roots had run their course. Playing a solo show in London to promote the album,
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 --
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 Hüsker Dü. There are cheers and screams, hoots and hollers. Having already sprinkled his 90 minute set with choice tunes
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 now, where bands like REM, The Replacements and Husker Du reigned supreme. The Zappa-influenced Camper Van Beethoven fell somewhere inbetween,
Spoon Centre Stage, Atlanta, GA 14th April 2008 It's Britt Daniel's birthday but you wouldn't know it. There's no cake and candles, no rambunctious behaviour or jokes. You'd be expecting the band to be soused and swaying, playing covers and celebrating the occasion, using the opportunity to cut loose. In fact Daniel looks embarrassed as
Matador, 2008[rating:9/10] There are musicians who would flinch when accused of doing it "for the birds", reducing the act of making music to a mating call, but Jonathan Meiburg and his band ornithologists in Austin, Texas' Shearwater would find delight in such an accusation, after all, a shearwater is a species of seabird. Their passion
XL, 2008 [6/10] Junior Nashville punk rockers, Be Your Own Pet caused something of a stir at a show in London recently. Previewing tracks from their follow-up to 2006's self-titled debut, the band engaged in a food fight, whereby vocalist Jemina Pearl walked away from the melee with a fetching black eye. It's a decent
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [5/10] (Centro-Matic) [7/10] (South San Gabriel) Will Johnson can seemingly do anything. A prolific songwriter, Johnson has spent over a decade playing indie rock in Denton, Texas' Centro-Matic, putting out a succession of albums before splitting his eclecticism in half, looking for a more contemplative approach to making music while still performing
Austin post-rockers Explosions in the Sky have been weaving their instrumental magic for almost ten years now, releasing four revered albums and one soundtrack over that time. During their recent Australian tour Static's Chris Berkley talked to Chris Hrasky drummer with the band about creating their last disc, All of a Sudden I miss Everyone,
Rough Trade, 2008 [6/10] Colin Meloy. You either love him or you hate him. At times I've found myself wanting to do both. He's the perennial literate geek come celebrated indie star. He's charming and ruggedly handsome, self-assured and intelligent, with a Morrissey fetish that is second to none. When he speaks in that rich
Matador, 2008 [rating:7/10] Times New Viking are the future. They're not my future, they're probably not your future, but they are the future. Rip It Off is their third album and first on Matador records as their latest darlings. The title could be interpreted as an invitation to, or a connect the dots as to
Penguin Press, 2008 [rating:7/10] "I don't wanna stay at your party/I don't want talk to your friends/I don't wanna vote for your president/I just wanna be your tugboat captain." Over simple chords, and a shaky voice listing in an ocean of reverb, it was with those words that first signalled the arrival of a little
Bella Union, 2008 [9/10] Baltimore's Beach House first appeared in 2006 with their self-titled debut, a gorgeous collection of dizzying songs built around Victoria Legrand's awash-with-reverb harmonies, church-style organ and Alex Scally's languidly strummed guitar. It was their style and approach, reminiscent of Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo and This Mortal Coil, that found favour
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
Matador, 2008 [rating:6.5/10] Chan Marshall walks into a Manhattan recording studio, one arm weighed down by a stack of vinyl and the other carrying a large Starbucks cappuccino. She sits down on a couch by the mixing desk and begins rifling through the records, absently muttering to herself "Nah, done that. Maybe. Could do. Think
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 if
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
Merge, 2007 [rating:9.5/10] It's almost an established fact that once a band hits album number 4 or 5 they're practically running on empty. Creative juices have all but dried up, different directions are attempted, band friction comes to the fore and as the years go by each new release just isn't a patch on former
