Matador, 2012 [rating:7/10] Time and distance, be it geographical or emotional, have always been great assets to a songwriter. The ability to cease all activity, to step off the treadmill and get his/her shit straight, to let real life take precedence. In a career that's had its share of ups and downs, Chan Marshall has
Concept albums, rock operas, the artistic chasm of failure widens as Fucked Up take the challenge and make the album of their career.
Cold Cave's debut album of 2009 Love Comes Close was a unique display of synth-oriented mood disorder, venturing out from the bedroom to the dancefloor, filled with idealistic tales of romance and disillusionment. Band leader Wes Eisold’s spin on the world appeared to share a voice (in both dour baritone and content) with Magnetic Fields Stephin Merritt, if he'd spent his adolescence listening to The Cure and Depeche Mode instead of showtunes. On their second album, Eisold moved beyond the testing of the waters that was Love Comes Close and turned its successor, Cherish The Light Years into his dark dream made manifold.
Ex-New Zealander's Unnecessarily Long Band Name evoke retro 60's thrills on their self-titled debut.
Can goth new-wavers Cold Cave come close to the lo-fi synth-brilliance of their debut Love Comes Close? Now, that's the question.
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.
"I don't wanna work/but I don't wanna sit around/all day frowning". Kurt Vile, you speak to us in a way few artists ever do. You can stay.
Over-indulgent Gothic melodrama from Brighton's Esben And The Witch. How do you like your nightmares? Black with 2 sugars, thanks.
The Lights are on but the tunes aren't home on Interpol's disappointing fourth otherwise known as #4.
An album that makes us love them more, but not enough to wear their t-shirts. The New Pornographers get it Together.
Of Harlem, this brief explanation should suffice -- "those who don’t sicken quickly of energetic, repetitive three-chord rock will have a lot to love".
Shearwater seem to have run aground on The Golden Archipelago. Not quite paradise, nor a place you'll likely return to soon.
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.
More Pop(ular) Songs from New Jersey's finest. No condo screwing around here, just Yo La Tengo's consistent quality.
Born Again Revisited or bad idea revisited? Public opinion be damned. Is this the worst album we've heard all year?
No, not Nick Cave's new backing band, Seattle's The Cave Singers have crafted a rich and rewarding second album.
The ever-prolific Jay Reatard is back with his most potent pop record to date. Watch Me Fall trades sharp licks with cheap tricks.
Paul Banks discovers that the best path to seduction lies in reduction on his first solo outing as the mysterious Julian Plenti.
The Enternal is Sonic Youth's celebration of newfround freedom. I guess that mean's no more working for the man.
Who are the Condo Fucks? What is a Fuckbook and is it any good? So many questions, but are you prepared for the answers?
Capping off an incredibly busy year with a singles compilation for 2008, Nashville native Jay Reatard has been relentlessly touring the globe and still hasn't stopped to catch his breath. Recently blowing away audiences in Australia with his demented hair-shaking garage rock, Chris Berkley caught up with Jay in Sydney and spoke to him about
"I don't know. I feel a bit naughty playing here", confides Jonathan Meiburg, singer with the Austin, Texas outfit Shearwater, sitting in front of a grand piano in St. Giles in the Fields, an 17th century church in London's West End. As a packed audience crammed pews to watch in rapt appreciation, Shearwater settled in
A christmas gift from Chan Marshall aka Cat Power. You might want to keep the receipt...
Matador, 2008[rating:7/10] Memphis native Jay Reatard (Jay Lindsey) has been making a name for himself since the late 90s, in bands like The Reatards and Lost Sounds, mixing up garage rock and synth punk. Recently signed to Matador Records under his own name, his output with them to date has been a succession of hit
Matador, 2008[rating:9/10] There are musicians who would flinch when accused of doing it "for the birds", reducing the act of making music to a mating call, but Jonathan Meiburg and his band ornithologists in Austin, Texas' Shearwater would find delight in such an accusation, after all, a shearwater is a species of seabird. Their passion
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 as their latest darlings. The title could be interpreted as an invitation to, or a connect the dots as to
Matador, 2008 [rating:6.5/10] Chan Marshall walks into a Manhattan recording studio, one arm weighed down by a stack of vinyl and the other carrying a large Starbucks cappuccino. She sits down on a couch by the mixing desk and begins rifling through the records, absently muttering to herself "Nah, done that. Maybe. Could do. Think
