indie
Sharon van Etten, Oran Mor, GlasgowFriday, 13 July 2012
It is sometimes hard to be enthused by midweek gigs. Last night was one of those occasions, at least for the 30 seconds I thought I was going to be watching most of the show on the iPhone screen of the six feet of beard that planked itself in front... Read more... |
CD: Meursault - Something for the WeakenedThursday, 12 July 2012
The first thing that strikes you is the voice. At once coarse and warm, like the creak of the stairs of your childhood home as it settles in at night, Meursault’s Neil Pennycook sounds like a man with more than a few stories to tell. Of course it... Read more... |
CD: Go-Kart Mozart – On the Hot Dog StreetsMonday, 25 June 2012
Bloopy Seventies synths. Glitter Band drums. The fuzz guitar of Sweet’s “Blockbuster”. Eighties electro-robot-pop. New wave chug. The hot dog streets of West Bromwich. Morning TV. Bailiffs at the door, The secularisation of institutions and the... Read more... |
CD: Saint Saviour – UnionMonday, 18 June 2012
The moment you reach “I Call This Home”, the third track of Saint Saviour's debut album, it’s obvious this is an album to stick with. A pulsing rhythm beds guitars that reverberate like vintage Cure. The voice is quavering, anguished. Then it opens... Read more... |
First taste of new Grizzly Bear album, due in SeptemberWednesday, 06 June 2012Critically acclaimed New York indie darlings Grizzly Bear have released the tracklisting for their as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2009's Veckatimest. The album, which is due out on 17th September on Warp Records, will be accompanied by an... Read more... |
Extract: The Stone Roses - War and PeaceSaturday, 02 June 2012
There is film footage of those opening magical, transformative moments: of Brown intoning, “The time, the time is now. Do it now, do it now.” Film, however, could not capture the effect the band’s arrival had on the mood of the crowd; it was a jaw-... Read more... |
CD: Guillemots - Hello Land!Saturday, 19 May 2012
It's hard to remember sometimes, as you hum along to the singalong refrains and soaring choruses of their relative hits such as "Trains to Brazil" or "Get Over It", that Guillemots have never been a pop band. Rather, the four-piece have always... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: My Bloody Valentine, Loose Tubes, Fela KutiSunday, 13 May 2012
My Bloody Valentine: Isn’t Anything, Loveless, EPs 1988-1991Kieron TylerEach of these three CDs is essential. My Bloody Valentine’s 1988 Isn’t Anything and 1991’s Loveless were era-defining albums that time has done nothing to tarnish. The EPs they... Read more... |
CD: Beach House – BloomThursday, 10 May 2012
Traction isn’t a very rock‘n’roll word, but sometimes it’s difficult to understand why one act achieves a hold where another doesn’t. So it is with Beach House. They are great, but so are – say – the similarly positioned and styled, but less-lauded... Read more... |
CD: Best Coast - The Only PlaceTuesday, 08 May 2012
Any concerns that Best Coast might have abandoned the sun-kissed California scuzz-pop sound that made their 2010 debut, Crazy For You, such a runaway success are answered in its opening - and title - track. “So leave your coat behind / We’re gonna... Read more... |
CD: Haight-Ashbury 2 – The AshburysThursday, 03 May 2012
Choosing such a loaded name is wilful. Scottish trio Haight-Ashbury are going to be identified with psychedelic-era San Francisco whatever they do. Should they wish to extend their musical wings, diversions into drum and bass or metal aren’t going... Read more... |
Gravenhurst: Interview & Video ExclusiveWednesday, 25 April 2012
Gravenhurst is Nick Talbot, a Bristolian multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter who recently completed his sixth album, The Ghost in Daylight. Ahead of its release on Warp Records next week theartsdesk premieres the unsettling film made for... Read more... |
