The Dandy Warhols – This Machine
Beat The World, 2012 At this stage in their career, The Dandy Warhols stand as an infinitely renewable resource. With the major label shackles thrown and now releasing their own
Pony Up – Stay Gold
Give it up, or rather give up your gold, for one of Montreal's premiere exponents of indie-pop Pony Up, and their sophomore album.
Stephen Malkmus – London – 9 December 2009
Stephen Malkmus has been ‘jicking’ for as long now as he was leading the charge in Pavement, releasing as many albums, yet never reaching the same heights. His solo career seemed to be in constant war of expectation over delivery. It's not Pavement. It's not a bunch of twenty-year-olds fighting their generation. But the louche stage prescence, that hazy cynical drawl, the greying hair framing the eyes in a semi-slacker curl, little has changed over the years.
The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
Oh my god! The third album from this Rhode Island folk trio proves to be a natural selection.
Helvelln – Interview with Jeremy Gronow – Part 1
It's ok for you to think "who? never heard of 'em". Honestly, you'd have to be aged 35+, Australian, and a regular listener of Triple J or Triple R. Maybe you watched Neighbours. In the finicky annals of Australian music history, and with no disrespect to Helvelln, they barely warrant a mention. To briefly summarise, Helvelln were an inspired pop/rock 3-piece formed in Melbourne in the late 80's, released two singles and one album and then broke up in the early 90's. Google them and you'll get pictures of mountains. Impressive and rocky, but hardly rock n' roll.
The Breeders – London – 3 September 2008
The Breeders Shepherd's Bush Empire London 3rd September 2008 For a long time The Breeders seemed to go the way of the Pixies. As both Deal sisters battled their demons, Kim with liquor and Kelley
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.
Arcade Fire – Los Angeles – 8 October 2010
You know you've had a good day when you wake up in a resort in Palm Springs and end up almost 24 hours later face down, literally face down, in a plate of tacos in downtown LA, head throbbing and ears ringing. There’s no way to rationalise it, nor the fact that between such decadent highs and lows, Webcuts was in attendance to witness the second night of Arcade Fire’s two night stand at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. On a night where the streets (well, one street) were filled with yellow NYC cabs and fake snow, Arcade Fire required no illusory set-dressing to impress Tinseltown.
Deerhunter – London – 18 May 2009
Deerhunter Scala, London 18th May 2009 Palpable expectation, a sold out crowd, a critically received album, a loud northerner standing beside me naively exclaiming “I hope they play something off Turn It Up, Faggot" and
Helvelln – Interview with Jeremy Gronow – Part 2
Part 1 Bedroom critic that I am, I'd be amiss not to suggest that only thing that lets Side 1 down is the lugubrious "Temptation". If I had my way, I would've swapped it for
Atlas Sound – Logos
Bradford Cox of Deerhunter makes us seem like we're slavishly supportive of everything his hand touches, but we mean every word. Honest.
The Dodos – Time to Die
There's a time to be born and, as The Dodos, given their extinct namesake should know, a Time to Die. But man, what a way to go.
Drop Nineteens – Delaware
Welcome reissue of Boston shoegazers debut effort from 1992 complete with bonus tracks. It's wicked pissa!
Kaki King – Junior
More depressing pop dressed up espionage style on the fifth album from this diminutive guitar goddess. "Junior", indeed.
Who The Hell Are… The Rifle Volunteer?
It's an audacious pronouncement to commit to releasing 12 singles in 12 months. The Wedding Present set the benchmark in the 90's. Ash tried the same thing recently, in a mixture of desperation and overkill in numbers too large to comprehend and tarnishing the very idea of a single. It's not just two songs on a slab of vinyl (or cd, or one of those less satisfying digital w/artwork jobs). It's a living, breathing statement. A trojan horse in disguise. A rallying cry to fall behind. A rallying cry... See, The Rifle Volunteer comprehend this. "I'll Sleep When That Damned Sun Is Dead", the first single in their year long campaign, is what we're talking about. Here is a band that means business.
Stars – Interview with Evan Cranley on The Five Ghosts (2010)
The new Stars album The Five Ghosts is a focused and streamlined record that in some ways harks back to their synth-pop roots of their first album, albeit being much darker in tone and theme. While Stars' diminutive front-man Torquil Campbell, and its glamorous front-woman Amy Millan, may get the most of the star light we recently had words with the quiet achiever of the band, Evan Cranley. Evan reveals to us details about the process and direction that the new album took, the decision behind the Séance EP, his jack of all trades role in the band, the novel approach to touring the new songs and how to create a fantastic remix.