Doves – Kingdom of Rust
Fourth album in from these Mancunian maestros, offering a slight return to their electro/house days as Sub Sub.
The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
EMI/Rough Trade, 2009 [7/10] Where once The Decemberists were a modest modern rock band, albeit outsiders with literate leanings that rarely leaned toward rock's excesses, they have gradually extended their artistic aspirations into the musical
HTRK – Marry Me Tonight
New No Wave or Narco-Electro? Whatever the case, Marry Me Tonight is well worth making an engagement with...
Cut Copy – Zonoscope
Melbourne Modular boys gone global return for their third album with mixed results. Just what the hell is a Zonoscope anyway?
The Soft Pack – The Soft Pack
No hard hits from San Diego's The Soft Pack, just bland indie rock with some scant memorable moments.
Devo – Something for Everybody
There are people who write for this website who weren't even born when Devo last made a record. This is not for them.
A Hawk and a Hacksaw – Délivrance
Business as usual for New Mexico's A Hawk And A Hacksaw? Just ask "The Man Who Sold His Beard".
Washed Out – Riding the Chillwave (2011)
As 2011 continues to reveal an abundance of new artists and great music, it's of no surprise that one of the more anticipated debut albums was that of 28-year-old Atlanta based songwriter and producer Ernest Greene, AKA Washed Out. Full of blissful harmonies and gently shifting arrangements, augmented with hip-hop beats and samples, Within And Without quickly became the preferred summer spin at Webcuts. Static's Chris Berkley recently caught up with Ernest to talk about all things Within And Without -- recording the album, the process behind it, and amongst other things, 10CC's "I'm Not In Love" and the 'raunchy' cover art.
The Charlatans – Some Friendly (20th Anniversary Expanded Edition)
20th Anniversary? Seriously? You're twisting my melon, man! Wait, wrong band...
Splendour in the Grass 2009 (Day 1)
We give an in-depth rundown on 2009's Splendour in the Grass festival including the good - The Flaming Lips, Happy Mondays, Bloc Party, Doves, Sarah Blasko, Specials, You Am I, MGMT and the frankly rather appalling - Kram, Grinspoon.
Friendly Fires – Interview with Edd Gibson & Ed Macfarlane (Static, 2009)
The friendly folks from indie-dance sensations Friendly Fires stroll into Static's studio to talk the good talk about their new single "Kiss of Life", the Mercury music prize and more -- "It’s good to kind of feed off the energy of the crowd: suck them like vampires."
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 Decemberists – The King Is Dead
The Decemberists discard the costumes and dispense with the theatre slipping into more familiar musical threads on album number 6.
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Columbia, 2008 [9/10] From the Jesus and Mary Chain through to Franz Ferdinand, every once in a while the sound of Scotland will seemingly unleash an act that will take the music world by storm.
The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps / Wake Up!
One of these albums is pure genius. The other went straight to #1. Bow down to The Boo Radleys, Britpop's forgotten heroes.
Black Cab – Brisbane – 17 July 2010
It took eleven years, three albums and a European tour for Melbourne space rockers Black Cab to broach Brisbane but they did and yes, it was worth the wait. Even the prospect of a half empty venue, an OCD stricken punter and the one colour Hi-Fi lights were not enough to dissuade Black Cab in performing anything less than a mesmerising set of original material and two stunning encores that paid homage to the whole space/drone/shoegaze rock genre. Able support was provided by Brisbane alt.rock kings Grand Atlantic.