January 2012
18 posts
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EP REVIEW: Veils - Clarity
Veils – Clarity
Out on Tangled Talk Records on 30th January 2012
Tightly recorded and blissfully produced, the new EP from Cornish DIY punkers, Veils, has massive potential…
The EP, Clarity, is quite a tidy little five-track, clearly well-constructed and performed by talented musicians. The double names of the tracks and the extended use of parenthesis would suggest that the EP was...
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RECORD REVIEW: First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
Out now on Wichita Records
It’s always an easy job for a reviewer when an album as perfect as this falls into their lap. After numerous listens, The Lion’s Roar by First Aid Kit continues to impress. It’s music that wouldn’t appear out of place sitting on a beach supping cocktails, wrapped up in a Snuggie on a Sunday afternoon or perhaps, to use more of a...
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RECORD REVIEW: Golden Glow - Tender Is The Night
Golden Glow – Tender is the Night
Out now on Mush Records
This is What It’s Like to Be Lonely…
Pounding drum beat, catchy guitar riff, echoes of early New Order, all sounding promising, then up steps songwriter Pierre Hall to utter forth “they say the beat goes on, yeah the beat goes on” and any flicker of a flame is extinguished before one can mutter Ian Brown.
Does it help to know that...
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RECORD REVIEW: The Rose West - When The Road...
The Rose West - When The Road Darkens
What is Emo? It eludes me. The phrase appears to have been dropped on us; like a fat baby being let go by a stork that was just too tired to carry the burden any more. The baby then got fatter and fatter until it took up a considerable part of the metal industry (“metal music” as opposed to “metal works”).
Emo seemed to begin as a classification by the music...
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LIVE REVIEW: Deaf Club @ Thekla, Bristol
Deaf Club @ Thekla, Bristol, UK
12th January 2012
They sounded like a band that sounds like some other bands but mainly itself. Still, it was difficult to hear them over the shrieking indifference of the crowd. Luckily Geoff was there. It didn’t seem like anyone knew who he was. He was doing his thing down at the front, which inspired a couple of people to dance, only they danced through...
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EP REVIEW: Jealov - Framework
Jealov - Frameworks
Out now on Mush Records
Push the ‘play’ button – be it physically on your music player or virtually on your PC – and take a dive into the world of Jealov. Into another dimension, perhaps – somewhere on Mars, like that of Ray Bradbury’s fantasies, or the rainy, weathered stories of Edgar Allen Poe. Complete, of course, with the obligatory gothic mansion, fog...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Seluah - The Other Side Of The Gun
Seluah – The Other Side Of The Gun
Out now on Karate Body Records
After a six-year hiatus, Seluah – AKA touring musicians Andrew Killmeier, Matt Johnson, Andrew Peace and Edward Grimes – have regrouped with a bold, guitar-driven sound. Clocking in at just three seconds shy of the seven-minute mark, The Other Side of The Gun explores various themes in its hefty running time.
Solid and...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Woman's Hour - Jenni / Human
Woman’s Hour – Jenni / Human
Out now on Dirty Bingo
Hailing from Kendal, the gateway to the Lake District, and now based in London, Woman’s Hour are setting out to make both sparse and dense indie pop songs. This is perfectly illustrated on their Dirty Bingo debut: double A-side single Jenni / Human, which encompasses influences from various prevalent trends in indie guitar music over...
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RECORD REVIEW: Bosco Delrey - Everybody Wah
Sometimes judge an album by its cover…
Bosco Delrey - Everybody Wah
Released via Diplo / Mad Decent
For those too young to remember Oliver Stone’s 1991 film The Doors please Google the soundtrack cover art. For the rest of you, you may recall Val Kilmer pouting blankly from the cover, hair aflame. Enter Bosco Delrey stage right – or, at least, enter his album cover stage right. To pay...
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RECORD REVIEW: White Denim - Last Day Of Summer
White Denim - Last Day of Summer
Released via Downtown Music / V2
Originally released as a free, download-only release, White Denim’s latest offering lives up to the feel of its title through sun-splashed, languid vibes and a hazy production evoking nothing more pleasant than a space cake and ale afternoon. That’s not to say that the music here is in any way ‘lazy’ as the rhythm section of...
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EP REVIEW: Astrobal - Poetry and Science Fiction
Astrobal - Poetry and Science Fiction
Out now on Plug Research
Clearly the product of a lifelong devotion to Jean Michel Jarre, Astrobal’s Poetry and Science Fiction will not be to everyone’s taste.
Slickly produced and deeply ethereal in nature, the songs on the EP range from those that wouldn’t sound out of place on the closing credits to a Bond movie to those that seem more...
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RECORD REVIEW: The Glorious Veins
The Glorious Veins raise pulses with their energetic, high tempo sound…
The Glorious Veins - The Glorious Veins
Out now
The self-titled album from The Glorious Veins is a clean cut, musically strong and, in part, dramatic LP that easily matches the bands description of “bluesy post-punk dance rock from Mars”.
Formed with members from the US, England and the Philippines, the New York-based...
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EP REVIEW: Carrousel - Darling
Carrousel - Darling
For a band that’s been performing and writing for two years now, it’s surprising that Carrousel’s debut EP consists of only three tracks. Still, contrary to this is the delight in hearing how exceptionally polished and well crafted this handful of gems is.
Brimming with whimsical melody and lilting vocals, the Tallahassee duo of Joel Piedt and Brad Harris chanced upon their...
December 2011
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RECORD REVIEW: The Darcys - The Darcys
The Darcys – The Darcys
Released via Arts & Crafts
The Darcys is a name that has been lingering in the peripherals of our consciousness for the past year or so. A band who have already played with the likes of Deerhoof and Tennis and have swept up gleaming reviews on their live shows, The Darcys have finally become the centre of attention with the October release of their self-titled debut...
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RECORD REVIEW: Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu
Lou Reed & Metallica - Lulu
Released via Vertigo
In February 2011, Metallica announced via their website that they were starting a new secret project some time in April or May. This project turned out to be Lulu; an unlikely collaboration between the band and Velvet Underground lead man Lou Reed.
The album was mostly written by Reed to be performed by himself and Metallica. According to...
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BEST OF 2011: Dry The River - No Rest
Dry The River – No Rest
Released via RCA.
One of the most exciting tunes released this year came from London five-piece Dry The River. Titled No Rest, this track is nothing short of a beast.
Containing an amalgamation of genres from alternative folk to rock with smatterings of gospel, americana and punk, it almost sounds too out there to really work. Call it their manifesto, if you will, as...
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VIDEO: James Blake - A Case Of You
Wunderboy extraordinaire James Blake recently released the video to his Joni Mitchell cover A Case Of You.
Shot in London and directed by film maker Seb Edwards, the video stars actress and Joni Mitchell fan Rebecca Hall (The Prestige / Vicky Cristina Barcelona / Frost/Nixon).
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LIVE REVIEW: The History of Apple Pie
The History of Apple Pie
8th December 2011 @ O2 Academy, Bristol
Do not be put off. The History of Apple Pie are far, far superior at writing and performing their scuzzy, noisy, pop-tinged tunes than they are at thinking up a band name.
Opening for New Yorkers The Drums at the O2 Academy in Bristol, the fresh five-piece appear to be relics from a Dinosaur Jr / Sonic Youth / My Bloody...
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BEST OF 2011: The Naked and Famous - Passive Me,...
The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You
Released on Fiction Records
It’s a rare occasion, perhaps twice in a good year, when a song manages to successfully wrap it’s mighty tendrils around your insides and capture your imagination so entirely on a first listen that you seemingly have no choice but to go out and purchase the necessary album immediately – and then proceed to listen...
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RECORD REVIEW: The Big Eyes Family Players -...
The Big Eyes Family Players - Family Favourites
Out now on Karate Body Records
There’s a song on here called Lewis. If it was at the dining table it’d be the exquisitely-whittled serving implement your girlfriend sent you while she was in Vietnam right before she changed her name and you never heard from her again. The room in which it sits would be The Big Eyes Family Players and...
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BEST OF 2011: The Antlers - Burst Apart
The Antlers - Burst Apart
Released on Transgressive Records
Love. People want it, need it or have it. It´s seen as the Holy Grail on this long road we call life and must be the most sung about theme in music. It’s guaranteed that nearly every top selling album contains this magic word somewhere in its lyrics. People sing about yearning for it and how great it feels to be in it or even...
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RECORD REVIEW: The Fervor - Arise, Great Warrior
The Fervor - Arise, Great Warrior
Out now on Karate Body Records
You’re driving down some dusty road in New Mexico and the heap of junk you hired has slowly ground to a halt. It’s hot, the desiccated landscape holds no sign of civilisation and you have no phone signal, but you know there is a town about 10 miles away. You start walking with your travelling companion as the sun is just...
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FREE STREAM: Gruff Rhys - Atheist Xmas
Super Furry Animals frontman and Welsh experimental extraordinaire Gruff Rhys releases his new EP Atheist Xmas today. In order to properly celebrate such an anti-festive event, he plans a “pilgrimage” of shows: first at Spiller Records in Cardiff (12pm), then Rise in Bristol (3pm) and finally Rough Trade East in London (8pm).
If you can’t get to any of those shows, don’t despair:...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Binary - Prisoner
Binary - Prisoner
Out now on Luv Luv Luv Records
With their new single Prisoner, London four-piece Binary offer us a time machine back to a dark, spider-infested corner of the 1980s most commonly found occupied by the likes of The Cure and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. Consequently, their use of such influences offers a refreshing contrast to the hoards of other artists who pilfer their...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Queen Kwong - Bitter Lips
Queen Kwong - Bitter Lips
Out now on Smoky Carrot Records
Advertising, fashion, television: every day we witness the effects that attractive surfaces have on people. The intriguingly-named Queen Kwong seem to have played with this idea for their first UK-released single Bitter Lips. After being discovered by Nine Inch Nails frontman and industrial overlord Trent Reznor, the band has moved on...
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EP REVIEW: Bleached - Searching Through The Past
Bleached - Searching Through The Past
Out now on Suicide Squeeze
Out of the ashes of deceased punkoid cuties Mika Miko, and just in time for the bleak winter weather and equally depressing economic forecast, comes this perfect summer song from Bleached. Only a truly hard heart would deny the pleasures of Searching Through The Past as it breezes out of the speakers with a beach pop sound that...
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FREE STREAM: Radiohead - The Daily Mail
Presumably named after everyone’s favourite fascist rag, Radiohead dropped new single The Daily Mail onto our airwaves this week. Full of beauty, grace and an angelic poetry that speaks volumes, The Daily Mail was unveiled on BBC Radio 1 mere months after the release of latest LP The King Of Limbs.
Stream it below.
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EP REVIEW: Last Under The Sun - Hooligan Jihad
Last Under The Sun - Hooligan Jihad
Out now on Iron Man Records
With a title like Hooligan Jihad, one thing is very clear; these boys aren’t messing around. From the outset, the record smacks you in the face like a Molotov cocktail – and the nihilism that oozes through the lyrics suggests that this is pretty much what Last Under the Sun had in mind.
The latest offering from the Birmingham...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Willy Moon - I Wanna Be Your Man
Willy Moon - I Wanna Be Your Man
Out now on Luv Luv Luv Records
If a striking, memorable image and catchy sound are the keys to a successful start in the music industry, then there is little doubt that Willy Moon is going to go far.
I Wanna Be Your Man draws upon numerous influences in order to create a sound which is both familiar and deeply intriguing. The similarities begin with the...
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MIXTAPE: 12/12/11
This week, Kemptation Mixtapes brings you a dazzling display of sonic goodies from the likes of Sinkane and Latin Bitman, Swami excellence from The Night Marchers and a classic from Talking Heads. Only a fool would refrain from excitement.
Get involved!
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FREE STREAM: Django Django - Default
Fresh off their latest tour of the UK, Django Django have announced the release of their self-titled debut album for 30th January 2012. Amongst such excitement, the band will drop the first single off the album, Default, a week earlier on 23rd January 2012.
A passionate cavalcade of arena guitars, psych-computer effects and wub-wub kickback, Default is sure to please any party-goer. Have a...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Mark Flash - King of Light
Mark Flash - King of Light
Released on Underground Resistance
The title track off the latest 12” EP from Underground Resistance is sure to get bodies moving and feet stomping. A prime example of great, melodic, fist pumping Detroit techno.
An ideal track to start your set with, King of Light begins with an eerie, melodic synth riff, followed by a pounding bass kick and a backing of latin...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Deco Child - Pray
Deco Child - Pray
Released on 9th December 2011 via Ninja Tune
Deco Child, real name Alex Lloyd, releases his debut single Pray on the 9th December 2011 through Ninja Tune.
Formally known as PRDCTV, though sounding quite unlike anything made under that name, there will be a Deco Child full length coming in 2012.
Apparently inspired by a walk through Battersea, which ended with the...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Lady Gaga - Marry The Night
When this song was released as the fifth single off her new album no one was really sure what to expect. Of course, with Lady Gaga being Lady Gaga, this has now become the norm.
Unless you’ve been living in a box, you cannot escape Gaga’s musical ability. Her third album Born This Way sold over one million copies in its first week. Whether you love her or hate her there is no...
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VIDEO: NOFX - Occupy LA (unofficial theme song)
Could this be the theme song to Occupy LA or even Occupy Worldwide? If any band today flies the flag for downtrodden classes across the globe and antiestablishmentarianism, it has to be NOFX, right?
Filmed at an acoustic set in front of Los Angeles City Hall during OCCUPY LA on Sunday 27th November 2011.
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RECORD REVIEW: Caveman - CoCo Beware
Caveman - CoCo Beware
Out now on Magic Man!
Currently turning heads all over New York City and other parts of the US, five-piece chamber pop genre-benders Caveman have had quite the year-and-a-half. Formed in January 2010, the band has quickly moved from opening for the likes of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes and Yuck to headlining their hometown’s very own Bowery Ballroom.
How...
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FREE STREAM: Tennis - Origins
While on a 14-hour roadtrip to Denver and the start of their December tour, husband and wife duo Tennis found the time to get an Internet connection and tell their fans about their latest single release. Origins / Deep In The Woods comes out tomorrow in the US and UK as a digital release and on limited edition blue 7” vinyl.
Click below to listen to Origins now.
Origins / Deep In The...
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SINGLE REVIEW: Smith and Burrows - When The Thames...
Smith and Burrows - When The Thames Froze
Out now on Kitchenware Records
Wham! Mariah Carey. Justin Bieber. Bing Crosby. The overwhelming abundance of such famed Christmas acts may well make you want to choke on a turkey bone or take a dive into the eggnog, but don’t despair for there’s a new superduo in town to make this Christmas the best yet.
Editors frontman Tom Smith and Razorlight...
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SINGLE REVIEW: A Very Paul Cook & The Chronicles...
Paul Cook & The Chronicles - A Very Paul Cook & The Chronicles Christmas: Mine For Christmas / Exmas
Released on 5th December 2011 via Grandpa Stan Records
Mine For Christmas slides right into your mind like a stranger’s hand under a public toilet partition. The first two words out of presumably Paul Cook’s face are “cold nips” and they raise questions: was this...
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