‘Be Calm’
It’s New Years bloody Eve, why are you reading this instead of rolling around in a puddle of vomit, cheap whiskey and party-popper innards? That is what fun is all about isn’t it?
Well not quite.
When pianist Andrew Dost quit superb Chicago indie ensemble Anathallo in 2009 (leaving them with a [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘reviews’
December 31, 2009
fun. fun. fun. !!
December 18, 2009
Spokes — People Like People Like You
Spokes — People Like People Like You (Counter, 2009)
Listen on myspace
Shakespeare once said: “Brevity is the soul of wit” (ie don’t waffle on). And, while no one ever seems to disagree with him, the Manchester orchestral-pop group, Spokes, have taken this statement to its logical extreme.
Their five-song, 35-minute debut mini-album, People Like People Like You, contains only [...]
December 17, 2009
Pantha Du Prince delivers an Xmas techno gift!
Pantha du Prince — The Splendour (Rough Trade, 2009)
Whatever you say about the British record-buying population, you can never knock their enthusiasm.
Just as the chart-influencing plebeians have promoted acts such as the Crazy Frog and the Fast Food Rockers, the valiant population of our proud nation have now taken it upon themselves to topple Dr [...]
December 9, 2009
The Talon-ted MECHANICAL OWL
‘Row Your Boat’
Mechanical Owl – Snowdonia (The Beard Collector)
Mechanical Owl’s self-released EP, Snowdonia, has, unbeknownst to me, been out for some time. It has garnered acclaim from household names such as Adam Walton, as well as being recorded as a BBC session with Bethan Elfyn.
However, the innovative songwriting and inspired instrumentation on [...]
December 4, 2009
PRE-RELEASE REVIEW!: Shoes and Socks Off – To Where the Skyline is Fortified with Windows and Doors
Shoes and socks off – To where the skyline is fortified with windows and doors (Big scary monsters, 2009)
‘Smash and Grab’ – live
Judging by his myspace page — boasting a grand-total of two friends, and no music from his new, or for that matter previous, release — Tobias Hayes of Shoes [...]
December 2, 2009
REVIEW: Au Revoir Simone — Still Night, Still Night
Au Revoir Simone — Still Night, Still Night (MoshiMoshi, 2009)
‘Shadows’
If you gave Brooklyn synth-pop trio, Au Revior Simone, a stone, they would no-doubt draw a blood-bank’s-worth of type-O-negative, such is the emotion they achieve with such limited raw materials.
Their third release, Still Night, Still Night, uses Casio bleeps, unadorned drum [...]
December 1, 2009
REVIEW: Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care
Junior Boys – Begone Dull Care (Domino, 2009)
‘Hazel’
When is an electro record not an electro record? Probably, listeners of Junior Boys’ Begone Dull Care might answer, when its idiosyncratic brand of nonchalant ennui provokes, not the floor-filling ‘2003′ vibe elicited by some of it’s more rambunctious cousins, but a soporific, hypnotic foot-tapping.
Indeed, [...]
November 4, 2009
REVIEW: We Were Promised Jetpacks – These Four Walls
When any band comes from a geographically-distinct location, a little left of the listeners’ normal periphery perhaps, they seem to get lumped in with the last NME-bothering, flannel-shirt-wearers to share their postcode.
It happened with the stupefyingly-good Phoenix (“ohhh, they sound loads like Air” — no they don’t, they’re just both French). It happened with pretty [...]
