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Caribou – Australian Interview with Dan Snaith (Static, 2010)

Caribou (aka Dan Snaith) is not an artist prone to repeating himself. His second album, 2007's Andorra took '60s psychedelic pop and merged it with complex rhythm patterns, while his LP from last year Swim saw Snaith heading into a denser electronic direction while still retaining a fair amount of pop smarts. Caribou with long time friend Kieran Hebden better known as Four Tet will soon be the Antipodes for a series of shows but late last year Chris Berkley caught up with Snaith whilst on the seemingly never ending tour for Swim where Dan took time out to talk about the art of Caribou live versus recording, his electric friends, how some people perceive Swim to be his dark album and how to win over the doom metal crowd.

By |2021-01-10T02:21:57+00:00February 5th, 2011|Categories: Interviews|Tags: , , , , |Comments Off on Caribou – Australian Interview with Dan Snaith (Static, 2010)
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No Years Festival – Brisbane – 31 December 2010

New Years Eve’s are traditionally unplanned, last minute events, involving clubs or house parties especially in laissez-faire Brisbane. This year was different. An independent music festival at the Powerhouse, brazenly named No Years! offered a tempting program. 21 bands in total: 14 local, 5 interstate and 2 international acts, over eleven hours at lovely New Farm location. We cast our NYE net on Australia's Bleeding Knees Club, Parades, Love Connection, Jonathan Boulet, The John Steel Singers and Oh Ye Denver Birds. And see who ranks best out of America Neon Indian and Sweden Shout Out Louds.

By |2021-01-14T01:20:29+00:00January 11th, 2011|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment
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Webcuts Favourite Tracks of 2010 – Part 2

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It's hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. One thing our favourite tracks of 2010 all had in common was that they appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge.

By |2021-02-25T01:59:39+00:00January 3rd, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment
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Webcuts Favourite Tracks of 2010 – Part 1

So that was 2010. What does Webcuts remember most about it? It's hard to say, really. The landscapes shift, the memories flickr and 365 days blur into one long unending soundtrack. One thing our favourite tracks of 2010 all had in common was that they appeared like one night stands that lingered a little longer than usual, almost all of them attached to a singular memory of the song being performed, either from a distance or elbows resting on the stage in mute admiration, or maybe just there emanating from a speaker aimed direct into our inner consciousness, refusing to budge.

By |2021-02-25T01:49:26+00:00January 1st, 2011|Categories: Features|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |1 Comment
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Who The Hell Are… Lion Island?

Lion Island were first encounted playing a free show in Brisbane's King George Square. Their ability to fill a large stage with eight members and the cavernous square full of wondrous music bolstered my mood and had casual passerby's on their way to the train, stop and listen. When seen again three months later at The Hi-Fi Bar a liking for the band was affirmed and proved that Lion Island are one of the city's most ambitious and talented acts. Here are a band able to switch from solo singer-songwriter folk, then become a Brisbane Beirut by adding brass and violin to the acoustic guitar and drums to full out orchestral rock, as if Finn Andrews was fronting The National.

By |2021-01-01T06:46:59+00:00December 29th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Are… Lion Island?
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Who The Hell Are… Zoo Animal?

Picture the scene... in a dark Minneapolis jazz club, three anonymous musicians take the stage. The usual rituals of tuning and testing, smiling and carrying on, and then the lead singer steps up to the microphone. It only takes a few songs to appreciate the underestimated prowess of the band; the churning bass, the precision in the drumming, and a fiesty singer whose melancholy adroitness shines through her toned-down Joplin-esque voice and ferocious, half-prostrated guitar solos. This is Holly Newsom and Zoo Animal, a band marked by a soulful yet minimal electrofolk sound and introspective, sometimes spiritual lyrics.

By |2021-01-06T01:26:27+00:00December 21st, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Are… Zoo Animal?
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The Wedding Present – London – 13 December 2010

These are confusing times we live in. The past and the present have merged into one. Bands come back from the dead, sounding better than ever (The Primitives), artists who are clearly dead keep on making dreadful albums from beyond the grave (do we need name names?), and bands will play their best album in full and it becomes ‘an event’ (The Wedding Present). There are few albums in the history of music that deserve to be played in full (though tell that to Echo & The Bunnymen...), there's always at least one track (or more) of filler, or one completely misjudged stinker, but nostalgia has a price and it pays handsomely, so hey, on with the show!

By |2021-01-11T00:38:44+00:00December 20th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , , , |Comments Off on The Wedding Present – London – 13 December 2010
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The Charlatans – Brisbane – 10 November 2010

It's been a long time time between drinks for The Charlatans and Australia. Fresh from playing their Some Friendly 20th Anniversary shows around the UK The Charlatans were down under recently with a more conventional touring schedule. It's certainly not the fan fest that they are used to back home but a rapturous welcome still greets the band. With a set drawn mostly from their very early material honed through recent tours, and the obligatory new songs that every band pulls out, it's a different set to what fans might expect but shows the depth of quality over their long career.

By |2021-01-30T09:51:55+00:00December 16th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on The Charlatans – Brisbane – 10 November 2010
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Dean Wareham – London – 8 December 2010

Long before he cleared the air/dished the dirt (whichever way you look at it), on his band mates in his autobiography Black Postcards, it was widely known there would never be a proper Galaxie 500 reunion. In the intervening years since their disbandment in 1991, both Dean Wareham and the unit known as Damon and Naomi have gone their separate musical ways to moderate degrees of success. With Wareham’s post G500 outfit Luna winding up in 2005, he’d now put to pasture two bands presumably allowing him time to reflect on past glories with a renewed desire to not let that youth go to waste.

By |2021-01-06T01:40:43+00:00December 15th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , |Comments Off on Dean Wareham – London – 8 December 2010
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The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of… / This Nation’s Saving Grace

Two classic, career defining Fall albums get the deluxe box set treatment.

By |2018-07-18T03:09:34+01:00December 12th, 2010|Categories: Album Reviews|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on The Fall – The Wonderful And Frightening World Of… / This Nation’s Saving Grace
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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.

By |2021-01-09T08:42:08+00:00December 9th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Are… The Rifle Volunteer?
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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.

By |2021-01-11T00:20:46+00:00December 8th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , , , |Comments Off on Twin Sister – London – 25 November 2010
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MNDR – Electro Pop Freakout (2010)

Even with the worldwide chart-smash of "Bang Bang Bang" under her belt as part of Mark Ronson's Business International, Amanda Warner aka MNDR is still something of an underground unknown to the general populace. Having spent the last 10 years making music with psychedelic oddities Triangle, or more recently as MNDR, it's been a non-stop battle that's about to pay off for this Fargo, North Dakota farm girl. With the media baggage ascribed Ronson in the UK from to his work with Amy Winehouse and his own Versions album, MNDR's French-slinging co-write on "Bang Bang Bang" arrived at the right time for everybody to sit up and take notice.

By |2018-08-19T01:48:19+01:00December 2nd, 2010|Categories: Interviews|Tags: , , , , |1 Comment
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Jonneine Zapata – Brisbane – 7 October 2010

Jonneine Zapata's Cast the Demons Out came out of nowhere and managed to do what it said on the tin. And all indications were that live was where she excelled. Comparisons were bandied around from PJ Harvey and Patti Smith for there strong vocal ranges to Jim Morrison and Mick Jagger for their bold sexual stage presence. Apart from the smoldering mic stand gripping, her onstage persona also alternates between standing still with an ice cold stare, holding her arms aloft swaying like an eagle, and my favourite, lurching around the stage like a drunken marionette. Unsettling? Maybe but never boring.

By |2021-01-30T11:12:35+00:00November 18th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , , , |3 Comments
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Who The Hell Are… Civil Civic?

There aren't that many great instrumental duos in the history of rock and roll. I've thought about this for about 20 seconds or so and bored already. To arrive at that musical decision, and to arrive at that musical decision when your bandmate doesn't even live in the same country, is as perverse as it is stupid. Being as they are Australian, perverse stupidity is our calling, and it's why Civil Civic succeed where others have just gone "Dude, we need another member". With the title still up for grabs (or until some smart-ass avant-garde freak shoots me down), Civil Civic could turn out to be the greatest instrumental duo in the history of rock and roll. Wouldn't that be just dandy?

By |2021-01-11T01:49:07+00:00November 16th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |2 Comments
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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.

By |2021-01-30T09:54:55+00:00November 16th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Arcade Fire – Los Angeles – 8 October 2010
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Factory Floor – Interview (Static, 2010)

Part extreme noise terror, part euphoria, East London’s Factory Floor have made a name for themselves as being loud and uncompromising, or as they stress in the interview below "brutal". Having walked half-way in during their set supporting American synth act Cold Cave earlier this year, Factory Floor's performance was very much a "what the fuck?" moment, unsure as to either quickly vacate the room or take stock of the diffused electronic/industrial free-form concotions they were composing. We stayed, with reservations... Chris Berkley of Static caught up with Gabriel Gurnsey and Nik Colk from Factory Floor shortly after their appearance at the Offset Festival in London in September to find out more.

By |2021-01-03T02:38:47+00:00November 11th, 2010|Categories: Interviews|Tags: , , , , |Comments Off on Factory Floor – Interview (Static, 2010)
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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).

By |2021-01-30T09:57:57+00:00October 22nd, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Teenage Fanclub – Los Angeles – 11 October 2010
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Belle & Sebastian – Los Angeles – 8 October 2010

On an odd rainy night in downtown Hollywood, weather befit more for their homeland than ours, Belle and Sebastian, Glaswegian art school rockers of yore, played to a sold out crowd of mostly thirty-somethings, brave enough to stand outside...in not just any ordinary venue. Instead, they stylishly bowed and plucked their instruments amongst the mausoleums and graves of some of Los Angeles’ elite. Adding to the macabre setting was the screening of Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting that preceded the show. Taking the stage, B&S lead singer Stuart Murdoch asked “Did you see me? I was in the bar scene!”.

By |2021-01-30T09:59:54+00:00October 21st, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Belle & Sebastian – Los Angeles – 8 October 2010
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Neon Indian – Pills, Chills and Genre Ache (2010)

Astute music fans have probably heard of the genre chillwave – a blend of 80s synths, psychedelic pop and liberal amounts of distortion – put upon acts like Memory Tapes, Toro Y Moi and Nite Jewel. The band most closely associated with that word is Neon Indian whose main man Alan Palomo, who also has a solo project VEGA, had a chat to Chris Berkley recently in London about the c-word, the beginnings of Psychic Chasms, the Yacht remix, his collaborations with Australian dance merchants Miami Horror, how he loves to make music that messes with people’s heads and the forthcoming Australian tour for the Texan group.

By |2018-08-19T01:44:59+01:00October 14th, 2010|Categories: Interviews|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on Neon Indian – Pills, Chills and Genre Ache (2010)
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Dum Dum Girls – London – 28 September 2010

California girls. Beach Boys praised them, Katy Perry revived them, but Los Angeles' Dum Dum Girls are the kind of girls that either Brian Wilson or Katy Perry had in mind. Palm trees, bikinis and suntans aren’t their domain, in fact, it would be surprising if daylight ever graced their chalk-white skin, looking as they do Josie and The Pussycats meets Tim Burton. Making a return visit to London in the newly opened (and un-divey) East London venue XOYO, Dum Dum Girls are Dee Dee. The all-girl band she's assembled acts as both an extension of her psyche, and a mirror to how she dresses.

By |2021-01-25T10:06:53+00:00October 12th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on Dum Dum Girls – London – 28 September 2010
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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.

By |2021-01-07T10:26:29+00:00October 12th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Are… The Capitalist Youth?
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Who The Hell Are… Big Scary?

While on first glance Big Scary are neither that big or scary, listen to any of their EPs and the name starts to make sense. At the Mercy of the Elements released earlier this year gave us an idea of the versatility of this Australian band: The Led Zeppelin meets White Stripes heavy rock of "Hey Somebody" rubbed shoulders with epic piano driven pop "Falling Away" and the aptly named "Creature of the Night". Those tracks signposted a more a more mellow direction which was continued on the second of their four season EPs Winter. Currently touring with the impressive folk influenced Spring with Summer just around around the corner and a bunch of live shows in regional Australia we attempted to crack open the hardworking twosome.

By |2021-01-07T10:32:27+00:00October 8th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |1 Comment
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Who The Hell Is… Jonneine Zapata?

From the first syllables sung by Jonneine Zapata on her debut album Cast the Demons Out, on an intro which segues into the simmering let's-get-it-on pop of "Good Looking", the LA siren had us hooked. Before the record made its way into the world Zapata was best known as a concert draw, gaining rave reviews in the US and catching the attention of Mark Lanegan and Jack White who had Zapata and band support Soulsavers and The Raconteurs respectively. We attempted to get some background ahead of her first Australian tour. While that was accomplished we also learnt that apart from an amazing voice and song writing chops Zapata has a wicked sense of humour.

By |2021-01-07T10:34:38+00:00September 29th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , , , |4 Comments
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Black Cab – Brisbane Interview (2010)

Sometimes the best music is just under your nose, as in literally right under your nose on your desk hiding in a spindle of CDs. That’s what happened with Melbourne's Black Cab as after receiving a promo of their third album Call Signs mid last year it was put on said spindle and largely forgotten about until the video for the first single, the chugging rock epic “Church of Berlin” was seen, which quickly made me hunt out the promo disc and give it my full, rapt attention. With Calls Signs recently being given an European release we talked to Andrew and Steve about their visit to the sunshine state, the sexiness of “Sexy Polizei”, the allure of Germany as a source for lyrics, covering alternative classics and new recordings.

By |2021-01-07T10:57:47+00:00September 29th, 2010|Categories: Interviews|Tags: , , , , |Comments Off on Black Cab – Brisbane Interview (2010)
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The Darling Buds – London – 22 September 2010

You’d be forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu here. Is it 1989? Did The Primitives and The Darling Buds really both play London within a week of each other? Having been absent from the live scene for most of the '90s and all of the past decade, for both bands to surface at the same time is unthinkable. Unthinkable, but pretty damn cool. It brings back memories of a time when the music magazines invented a scene called ‘Blonde’, where bands were lumped together purely based on the colour of the lead singers hair. Which by their way of thinking meant you were either a Blonde, a Goth or in Fairground Attraction.

By |2021-01-11T00:41:31+00:00September 24th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment
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Who The Hell Are… Janus 4-14?

Janus 4-14's tag is 'indie pop that won't make you cringe', but they fail to recognise that statement itself is cringeworthy. Despite being presumptious of their own sound, Janus 4-14 do make for great music. They exist in a time that some would regard as the golden age of music, that mid-90's alternative scene when American bands owned their airwaves. They took their influences from the UK, as well as their own country, and put together something that sounded like The Ramones meets The Buzzcocks, that in itself was almost a new breed of rock n' roll -- fast or slow, these were raging guitar-driven, melody-led slices of imperfect perfection.

By |2021-01-06T01:31:22+00:00September 22nd, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Are… Janus 4-14?
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Who The Hell Is… Joel Edmondson?

Originally known to us as one of the curators of the Hangar venue and lofly label in Brisbane we shouldn't have been surprised that Joel Edmondson had a musical project -- the collective have more fingers in pies than Georgie Porgie after all. What we weren't expecting, seeing as his label mates lean more towards the electronic and experimental side of the musical spectrum, was the polished pop and rock awaiting us on his MySpace page. We fired off our standard 15 questions to Mr Edmondson and his swift response proved wry and illuminating, much like his songwriting.

By |2021-03-08T23:16:05+00:00September 17th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Is… Joel Edmondson?
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Is Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” the Greatest Pop Song Ever?

Inescapable, inexplicable, infuriatingly addictive and an irrefutable pop phenomenon. She is Lady Gaga and she has come to take your children. If this were true, I'm sure it would be a fair trade but in reality, her goals are much, much higher. She is Lady Gaga and you know full well why she is here. A fashion and style icon, Gaga has made her two years in the public eye seem like a special kind of Chinese water torture. Chances are you’ve either succumbed to her spell, or fighting the effects with all the strength you can muster.

By |2021-01-16T09:05:46+00:00September 12th, 2010|Categories: Features|Tags: , , |1 Comment
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Who The Hell Are… COOLRUNNINGS?

How Webcuts first encountered Knoxville, Tennessee's Coolrunnings could be best described as a lucky accident. And it's no surprise that the best way to get someone's attention is to slap a photo of some naked chicks skateboarding on the cover of your EP and let them sell it for you. The appropriately titled (and NSFW) Babes Forever was clearly the product of talented and warped minds. The creepy, schizoid mayhem of "Trippin' Balls at Der Wienerschnitzel" and the inspired, almost unabashed, synth-pop of "When I Got High With You" sounded like they were made by some slacker Bill & Teds who'd already embarked on their own excellent adventure.

By |2021-01-07T04:38:26+00:00September 9th, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |1 Comment
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Warpaint – London – 26 August 2010

It’s shows like this which give birth to the very nature of rock and roll. The hip-swaying sounds of a band as they rock back and forth, eyes closed, mouths pressed against the microphone with their feet marking the beat. It’s an undeniably sexual thing. This isn't news. It’s why they tried to ban Elvis in the 50’s. He turned young girls on, and it wasn’t so much the man, but the music, the stage, the sweat, the motion -- the rock and roll of it all. Wedged together in this barely ventilated Old Street basement, Los Angeles' Warpaint are presiding over something that had this been the 50's, would've gotten them banned too.

By |2021-01-30T10:03:40+00:00September 7th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , , |Comments Off on Warpaint – London – 26 August 2010
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Who The Hell Are… Ramona?

It's not so much lurking in the 3 minute bluster of their debut single “How Long”, but a part of its DNA, where you quickly catch onto Ramona’s game. In the first 10 seconds alone they manage to answer the eternal question of “What if Debbie Harry joined The Ramones?”. You see it in

By |2021-02-22T06:32:49+00:00August 31st, 2010|Categories: Features, Who the Hell Are|Tags: , , , |Comments Off on Who The Hell Are… Ramona?
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The Walkmen – London – 25 August 2010

“You’re one of us, or you’re one of them“. Hamilton Leithauser, fist wrapped tight around the microphone as if he's trying to strangle it, is howling those words. The rest of The Walkmen, heads bowed (as they remain throughout most of the set) play complicit and provide the carnival-esque roar to ram Leithauser’s words home. It’s not so much a question or a suggestion but a statement. For better or for worse, for way back when the band were selling their own white label records at the Middle East in Boston in 2001, I’ve been one of "us".

By |2021-01-09T08:34:28+00:00August 27th, 2010|Categories: Live Reviews|Tags: , , , , , |Comments Off on The Walkmen – London – 25 August 2010
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