Otouto – Pip
Melbourne four piece Otouto prove that art pop is not a dirty word on their impressive debut album Pip.
Pete Fijalkowski – Interview about Adorable & Polak (1998)
Interview conducted via email with Pete Fijalkowski from 1998 when the dust had settled from Adorable and his then new band Polak had just released their first single "2 Minutes 45".
The Vines – Melodia
Cooking Vinyl, 2008 [5/10] How times and fortunes quickly change. Where once The Vines were heralded as being part of some new rock and roll explosion, they became its first liability and not even a
Times New Viking – Rip It Off
Matador, 2008 [rating:7/10] Times New Viking are the future. They're not my future, they're probably not your future, but they are the future. Rip It Off is their third album and first on Matador records
Twin Sister – London – 25 November 2010
Latching hold of our ears earlier in the year with their double EP release Colour Your Life/Vampires With Dreaming Kids, Long Island’s Twin Sister had secured a place on our date card long before their they announced their first UK tour. Sneaking across the pond in October, we’d caught the band supporting rising stars, The Morning Benders at the Music Box in Los Angeles (apologies boys, I owe you one live review) and were suitably impressed. Jaded beyond jaded as the years drag on and the revolving floorshow of new bands yawn in our faces with old ideas, it was refreshing to witness a band breathe colour and life into their music.
Hop Farm Festival – Kent – 1-3 July 2011
In the history of modern music festivals, few line-ups could compare with the distinctly 70's flavoured action offered at the Hop Farm Festival last weekend. While The Eagles were wheeled out of retirement as headliners on the first night, the purportedly Morrissey-curated second day included such rock pantheon artists as Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith. All in all, it's a jaw-dropping stroke of genius, with Morrissey having the hardest of acts to follow the swathe these three so cleanly cut through the Kent countryside. Oh, and did we forget to mention Prince was there too?
Contiuum Books 33 1/3 – Television, Rolling Stones, Dinosaur Jr
Behind every great album is more often than not, an even greater story waiting to be told. The pursuit for higher understanding of artists and their most influential pieces of work and how the two came to pass has long been the ultimate goal of the ardent music fan who thrives on having every recorded nuance and historical detail mapped out like a combined atlas and encyclopedia of the human body. One of the more indispensible series of music books published that actually does, more or less, what is expected above, has been Continuum's 33 1/3. With the recent addition of The Rolling Stones Some Girls, Dinosaur Jr's You're Living All Over Me and Television's Marquee Moon to their honour roll, 33 1/3 show no sign of scraping the bargain bin anytime soon.
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.
Various Artists – SCORE! 20 Years of Merge Records: The Covers
A star-studded cast pay tribute on this anniversary compilation, but who invited Times New Viking?
Kele – The Boxer
The (Bloc) Party is over. Now, it's a dance party and there's nobody here, except Kele and a few diehard Bloc Party fans looking bored.
MNDR – Feed Me Diamonds
Ultra, 2012 "Pop music is a platform to say something. You don't have to only talk about parties." Interesting quote from ex-noise artist now shiny electropop-idol-in-waiting, Amanda Warner. Pop music has always been
Beach House – Bloom
Bella Union, 2012 Since their self-titled debut in 2006, Portland duo Beach House have become a band synonymous with the 'dream-pop' side of contemporary music, a tag that suitably sums
Splendour in the Grass – 2010 – Woodford
It's Summer festival time in Europe, but over in Australia it's Winter and Webcuts was there to brave the chill and celebrate Splendour in the Grass' tenth birthday with 32,000 others at the new Woodford location in Queensland. Over the three day weekend our reviewers witnessed a phenomenal selection of old and new favourites including -- Ash, Band of Horses, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Cloud Control, The Drums, Grizzly Bear, Jonsi, LCD Soundsystem, Paul Kelly, Pixies, School of Seven Bells, Scissor Sisters, The Strokes, Tame Impala, The Vines, Yeasayer, and believe it or not, a whole lot more!!
A Place to Bury Strangers – Interviw with Oliver, Jason, Jonathan (Static, 2010)
We trap the loudest band the land - A Place to Bury Strangers - in the Static studios to talk the good talk about their beginnings, effects pedals and not being labeled shoegaze, but are disappointed to learn that they aren't in fact the loudest band from New York -- "Jono: It was Time Out New York, they came to our rehearsal studio and had a decibel meter while we were rehearsing, but then they went to Music Hall of Williamsburg, which is this huge 500-capacity venue and then they recorded Black Dice and they were louder than us."
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.
British India – Interview with Nic Wilson and Matt O’Gorman (2009)
The rise and rise of Melbourne's British India has been something to behold. They've gone from their first release in 2005, the rough and ready Counter Culture EP, to 2007's incendiary debut Guillotine, and from feted