The Veils – Interview with Finn Andrews about Sun Gangs (Static, 2009)
Chris Berkley from Static talks to the rather talented Veiled one about the new album, the band's love for The Wire and possible antipodean tours.
St. Vincent – Actor
The honeymoon of Marry Me is over for Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, as she sets her gaze on the big stage in Actor.
The Organ – Thieves
Mint Records, 2008 [9/10] Vancouver's The Organ shared that same shadowy intellectual existence that made them sound like a darker version of The Smiths, without Johnny Marr's trademark flair and Morrissey's veiled humour. Helmed by
HTRK – London – 9 March 2009
HTRK Lexington, London 9th March 2009 I first witnessed Melbourne/Berlin noise-makers HTRK in action at a time where any favourable impression would not come forthwith. This was in a dingy low ceilinged East London venue
Wire – Red Barked Tree / Gang of Four – Content
Wire and Gang of Four wrote the book for post-punk, kind of. Are they still innovators or merely curators with Red Barked Tree and Content?
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 Beasts of Bourbon – Box Set
Crucial re-release of the first three albums by these hard rocking legends. From The Axeman's Jazz to Black Milk, the gang's all here.
Dean Wareham – London – 8 December 2010
Long before he cleared the air/dished the dirt (whichever way you look at it), on his band mates in his autobiography Black Postcards, it was widely known there would never be a proper Galaxie 500 reunion. In the intervening years since their disbandment in 1991, both Dean Wareham and the unit known as Damon and Naomi have gone their separate musical ways to moderate degrees of success. With Wareham’s post G500 outfit Luna winding up in 2005, he’d now put to pasture two bands presumably allowing him time to reflect on past glories with a renewed desire to not let that youth go to waste.
They Might Be Giants – Join Us
Join Us finds They Might Be Giants at their "quirkiest, catchiest and most clever", which is simply music to our old-school fan ears.
Who The Hell Are… We//Are//Animal?
The arrival of their four digit debut single "1268" caused seismic speaker-blowing waves in the Webcuts offices in 2010. It truly was, and still is, a "What the fuck was that?" moment. It was in essence, Gang of Four meets LCD Soundsystem in an abandoned factory in North Wales. An electro pulse and surging beat, sheet metal guitars, inimitable Welsh vocals, it had 'post-punk dancefloor smash' writ large all over it, and had We//Are//Animal been from London instead of Wales, everybody would've been knocking down their door, kneeling to kiss their cossetted behinds (cough The Vaccines).
Destroyer – Trouble In Dreams
Rough Trade, 2008 [8/10] Daniel Bejar is the Woody Allen of pop music. His idiosyncratic, poetic touch opens up another world, planting himself square in the middle around a revolving cast of characters (mostly women),
My Morning Jacket – Circuital
Album number six for these free-wheeling long-haired holdin' on to black metal giants of Southern Rock.
The Stills – Oceans Will Rise
The Stills channel an environmental apocalypse with Oceans Will Rise. Will anyone be left to hear it?
Wilco – The Whole Love
Wilco -- "They’ve solidified themselves as the greatest American band playing today, possibly of all time".
Beach House – Teen Dream
Makers of mood music for moderns, Baltimore's daydream duo return with their sweet and sombre third album, Teen Dream.
Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper
Paul Banks discovers that the best path to seduction lies in reduction on his first solo outing as the mysterious Julian Plenti.