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.
Ape School – Ape School
Former member of Natural, Lily's and Holopaw, Florida's Michael Johnson aka Ape School shows off a whole new set of skills for his second album.
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
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.
Mr. Maps – Brisbane – 12 Feb 2011
Photos of Mr. Maps' launch for Wire Empire their debut (and so far only) album. Brisbane, February 12, 2011.
Dark Mean – Dark Mean
Canadian folk-sters Dark Mean deliver a "must-listen album with staying power, and one of the year’s best" on their self-released debut.
Grand Atlantic / The Lovers of Modern Art / We All Want To – Brisbane – 26 June 2009
Not ones to throw angular shapes the boys here strive to find the right notes and the majority of the time they hit them.
Beach House – Australian Interview about Teen Dream (Static, 2011)
Baltimore's Beach House first appeared in 2006 with their self-titled debut, a gorgeous collection of dizzying songs built around Victoria Legrand's awash-with-reverb harmonies, church-style organ and Alex Scally's languidly strummed guitar. It was their style and approach, reminiscent of Mazzy Star, Yo La Tengo and This Mortal Coil, that found favour with a like-minded audience. Recently touring Australia and appearing as part of the travelling Laneway Festival, Chris Berkley caught up with Victoria and Alex of Beach House to talk about their gradual rise and amongst other things, how to keep cheese out of the live set.
M.I.A. – MAYA
Send out the search parties -- Missing in action on the latest album from M.I.A. -- "melody, listenability, and some semblance of a point".
Jess Ducrou – Interview about Splendour in the Grass (2009)
Second Splendour line up in full and interview with Splendour promoter Jess Ducrou about the tremendous success of the festival, the process for picking the line-up and this year's bands, future expansion of the site and the improvements in ticketing technology.
Spoon – Interview with Britt Daniel and Jim Eno (Static, 2010)
Spoon's latest album, Transference, seemed to show the band finding new ways to tie their own shoelaces, searching out their own "Mystery Zone" or what Britt Daniel will later say in the interview "we gotta try to please ourselves first". Notable for being our first interview where the band asks us the questions, Spoon have perhaps realised there's more to making music than pleasing yourself. You've still got to please your Mom too...
Atlas Sound – Sydney – 19 June 2009
I'd be surprised if the majority in attendance were familiar at all with Atlas Sound, but the crammed in masses of which Webcuts was one of the last to make the cut, were calling out requests that even Cox felt too obscure and unplayable.
Destroyer – Kaputt
Lyrically and musically, simply one of the best records you'll hear all year. Dan Bejar -- Genius. Kaputt -- Divine.
HTRK – London – 24 October 2011
HTRK The Garage, London October 24, 2011 HTRK have always been a difficult band to love. Once you got used to their narco-minimalism and faceless anonymity that pervaded their artwork, you realised they weren't a
Spoon – Transference
The anticipated follow-up to the fan and critic fave Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, fails to meet expectation, begging the question, 'Where were Spoon transferring to?'.
Cold Cave – London – April 4 & 5 2011
In a long black leather jacket and hoodie and stacked heels, Cold Cave's Wes Eisold looks like any other kid you see in Camden on a Friday night, except that he's not and it isn't and before he even opens his mouth, you're thinking "wow, that leather jacket really is the shit" and it is. It's also a special day for 80's synth-obsessives Cold Cave, as Eisold curtly informs the assembled at Rough Trade Records - "Welcome to our album birthing day". Their second album, the strangely positive sounding Cherish The Light Years showing a marked change from the same Cold Cave that played London back in May 2010.