Teenage Fanclub – Los Angeles – 11 October 2010
Blake, McGinley & Love doesn’t have the same ring as Crosby, Stills & Nash, but there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be held in the same breath or as widely known. These three Scotsman and the outfit they've steered for the last 20+ years have consistently made albums that rich in harmonies and heart-on-sleeve emotions. If Teenage Fanclub had a spiritual home, it would be a tie between Nashville or Los Angeles, or perhaps started in Los Angeles and ended up in Nashville (as found on their most recent album Shadows).
No Age – Everything In Between
No Age push the 'mature album' button while still managing to shred and transcend on their third release.
Helado Negro – Awe Owe
Will you be in awe of Helado Negro's Latin American infused mix of folk and sampled beats? It's very tasty.
Windsor for the Derby – How We Lost
How did we lose this CD? Never mind, we finally give Austin's other post-rock band's eighth album a run through.
Sleeper – Smart / The It Girl
Putting on our Britpop goggles yet again, Sleeper's debut album Smart and its follow-up The It Girl get the reissue treatment.
Why? – Eskimo Snow
The unlikely paring of hip-hop and indie rock actual make for compatible bedfellows with Californian band Why?'s fourth full length album.
The Clean – Mister Pop
New Zealand indie legends The Clean are still going, well maybe strong is too kind a word, for their new release Mister Flop, er Pop.
Elliott Smith – An Introduction To…
It's hard to believe that he's been gone 7 years now. This collection attempts to define one of last great songwriters of the 20th Century.
Rat vs Possum – Interview (2010)
I'd heard murmurings of a Melbourne band who subscribed to the "let's give them a real show" theory of concert performance - glitter, paint bombs and bubble wrap - along with a huge wall of
Top Ten – Soundtracks
Some of these selections are pretty obvious. Some are from movies you've probably never seen nor have a desire to ever see.
Against Me! – White Crosses
Fifth album from these Floridian punkers. File under "anarchy, unfulfillment and frustration".
Bob Mould – London – 25 May 2008
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
Exlovers – London – 28 February 2011
There really is something enthralling about watching a band not just perform music but energetically project themselves into it. It's akin to standing against a gale who's presence is to overpower you and anything in its way. That would in part, sum up the appeal of Exlovers -- they cut a forceful, harmony-fuelled rug. The other part is they're the most attractive bunch of tattooed scruffs that you'll ever encounter. Put all this in the context of their latest single "Blowing Kisses", a song that transcends simple indie guitar music and that gale hits like a perfumed fist that still makes you want to stand up and take more.
Okkervil River – The Stand Ins
Jagjaguwar, 2008 The Austin boys in Okkervil River are back with another album and like always it's filled with surprising stories, dense lyrics and great tunes that stick with you. The
Lightspeed Champion – Interview with Dev Hynes (Static, 2008)
Dev Hynes was once a teenage Test Icicle but now goes it alone under the name Lightspeed Champion. This year's Falling off the Lavender Bridge surprised many, especially Test Icicles fans, as its charming mix
of Montreal – Brisbane – 4 March 2009
But it was the harmony rich blend of disco, psychedelia and pop that made Hissing Fauna... and The Sunlandic Twins surprise alternative pop classics that had The Zoo crowd dancing into the groove.