Blog: Crack In The Road

With Grimes and Mozart's Sister carrying the torch for Montreal,  Melanie Guay aka Fight Flowers has thrown her hat into the ring, with her new offering Don't Know Where . Closer to Ellie Goulding than Portishead (lazily drawing comparisons from the tags), it's out and out pop music relying on hooks rather than lyrical proficiency. Whilst it's may not be as 'indie' or quirky as the aforementioned Canadian counterparts, it's equally as enjoyable.

LA is hot at the moment. With the rise of acts like NO, The Neighbourhood and Pacific Air, we've also witnessed a second generation of acts following closely behind, artists like Hunter Hunted and electro-pop duo BEND. Their new double A single Short Crush / I'm Taking Care Of Him is an intoxicating mix of the previously mentioned acts, alongside touches of Vampire Weekend and Death Cab For Cutie. Verging upon sickly sweet at times, it's slightly brash but expertly composed pop music, earmarking BEND as one of the finest new talents around.

Electronic pop from France? Oh, what a cliche. But hold up a second, Parisian outfit Wolvs might not be as painfully upbeat as Daft Punk or Phoenix, but what they lack in smiles they more than make up for in sinister synth lines and a foreboding sense of self-inflicted fear. Debut track Pieces glides over a repeated Foals-esque jerky guitar line, whilst the synth line is not quite club banger, yet not quite indie classic, filling the murky void somewhere in the middle. As unsettlingly as it is enjoyable, Pieces is a startling ambitious [...]

With each and every song Gleemer puts out into the world, he's gradually building upon his fanbase and also strengthening his sound. This fitting video encapsulates much of Gleemer's aesthetic; lo-fi recording combined with a youthful exuberance. Bedroom may well be Gleemer's most complete track to date, drawing from his debut release Death Sky, Soft Eye , whilst dealing with darker themes than we're used to from Corey Coffman . Check out the Jack Garland directed video below.

With each and every song Gleemer puts out into the world, he's gradually building upon his fanbase and also strengthening his sound. This fitting video encapsulates much of Gleemer's aesthetic; lo-fi recording combined with a youthful exuberance. Bedroom may well be Gleemer's most complete track to date, drawing from his debut release Death Sky, Soft Eye , whilst dealing with darker themes than we're used to from Corey Coffman . Check out the Jack Garland directed video below.

Scheduled to drop yesterday, but pushed back due to "technical difficulties" , Kool A.D. and Kassa Overall have just put up their collaborative mixtape Peaceful Solutions . We all know Kool A.D. from his time with the transcendent Das Racist and his solo mixtapes , while Kassa Overall is a producer, rapper & drummer, who has put together tracks for the aforementioned group, as well TECLA. Kass oversees production on a number of tracks, but other names that contribute beats include Busdriver, Keyboard Kid and Amaze 88.  Peaceful S olutions  finds Kool A.D. [...]

You heard right folks! Jeff Mangum and his merry quartet are coming to stain your local mountain tops, well, that is if you live within range of their rather disparate tour dates. OCTOBER 22, 2013 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club OCTOBER 23, 2012 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club OCTOBER 25, 2013 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium NOVEMBER 28, 2013 Taipei, Taiwan Hostess Club Festival DECEMBER 1, 2013 Tokyo, Japan Hostess Club Festival Never fear though, for this is surely just the cusp of what is to come, with Jeff slowly eking his [...]

Eighteen months on from first unearthing London wonderkid Jamie Isaac , and he's finally releasing his long awaited debut single and EP. Softly Draining Seas , previously heard in demo version, is an atmospheric, touching number; poignant and haunting in equal measures. Having seen him performing at CitR Live #001 at the end of last week, it's clear that this kid is going to go far and deservedly so. Check out Softly Draining Seas below.

On the 8th May, London is turning gold (come on, I couldn't not open this article without a reference to that song ) with Trinidad Jame$ and DJ Semtex set to play a show at Village Underground. I've been a fan of Mr Jame$ for a little while now and, like pretty much everyone else, absolutely adored the video for 'All Gold Everything'. Still, Trinidad Jame$ is more than a one-trick pony, as his mixtape-cum-album Don't Be S.A.F.E showcased. The Trinidadian rapper, who is supported by the UK's DJ Semtex, should put [...]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =XCRWxw0M1sw 20112s Native Speaker was one of my favourite albums of the year and I cannot tell you how hyped I am about Braids returning. The Canadian group found a great balance between experimentation and accessibility on their first release and they appear to have continued in this vein on 'Amends'. Their newest track toys with repetition, the music rolling and bubbling underneath Raphaelle Standell-Preston's seductive vocals, and, after a couple of listens, it does a fantastic job of worming itself into your head. 'Amends', which is being released as a double [...]

Frances Quinlan sounds like she's always almost about collapse. It doesn't matter what she's yelling, whether it's the obsessive-destructive "nobody deserves you the way that I do" , or bottomlessly sad like "there are some parents whose child ren long for divorce", or getting hopeful with "you are my favourite because you're a long shot" . It doesn't matter whether she's chucking out playground taunts like "my mom says your mom's a lesbian " over a pure pop piano stomp, [...]

Having torn the roof off infront of a packed room at CitR Live #1 on Thursday evening, London's hottest new talent Moko has released a new demo for Saturday afternoon listening. Homesick showcases just a portion of the versatility and energy that she injects into her performances. With the Bussey building packed out with scouts from every label under the sun, it's surely only a matter of time before Moko puts pen to paper. Also, not only is her music fantastic, having witnessed her dancing to Kirk Spencer, I can safely say that this girl has some smooth [...]

After the highs and lows of the first CITR LIVE party, we’re having to play catch-up. This new cut, taken from Young Fathers' second tape entitled Tape Two, due out in June via Anticon, takes the bands dusty and damaged visual persona and drags it kicking and screaming into an even more dramatic and fully realised space. The track is also bold and adventurous with the bands 3 vocal elements melding perfectly; sweet and serine singing, monotone and sinister rapping with distressed cries peppering the track. Young Fathers [...]

Bipolar Sunshine continues his boyish, indie-centric exploration with this frantic and at times glorious new jam, Rivers . Perhaps more than his last 2 efforts, the focus, at least sonically, is very much on fun. The melodies are catchy, the breakdowns satisfying and every drop is predictable yet thoroughly admirable.  “been low, but I’ve been higher’ – the tracks final message sums up the track perfectly, sugary sweet, but only in memory. Rivers is taken from Bipolar Sunshine 's debut EP ' Aesthetics ' released 17th June [...]

SUNSHINE! London in the sunshine is glorious. It is possibly my favourite place to be in the sun, forget your beach holidays or countryside walks there is just something about finding a little suntrap in some barely-green square outside a Pret. As horrific as it sounds it feels great. Something else that the sun allows you to do is wander. For those in the West end it’s from Topshop to Zara. In the East end it’s from gallery to gallery. That sounds terribly pretentious but I actually did it so I’m not pretending... Hold your judgments [...]

Sail yourselves down to Spike Island . Bristol’s native contemporaries have new offerings that will be running until 16th June (you might even need sunnies by then!) As one of two final installments as a solo production company, Picture This will be joining Spike. This will result in a new film and video department within Spike, taking on their AV equipment hire, production and post-production services. A group show curated by artist James Richards opening on 6 July and Pley are their final projects. With this new chapter in Spike’s story and having fallen in [...]

Well, I’ll be definitely be going back to the Third Floor Gallery , that’s for sure. I found this little gem as a scoured the interwebs for exhibitions, and I must say, the exhibit and space appropriately intertwined to make my little mission a very enjoyable one indeed. ‘Life After Zog ’ portrays Tocci ’s quest to rekindle her childhood recollections of the Albanians that docked the shores of her hometown in southern Italy. As a child, she would imagine the stories of the families and country the people had left behind, as they [...]

Azekel , our brother from another mother, dropped a smooth as hell new track this morning, entitled No Ordinary Love. The cut is strikingly reminiscent of some of Frank Ocean ’s first mixtape, but it’s in no way a disservice to the track. Azekel ’s lyrics are pungently honest; he states his feelings rather than unnecessarily shrouding them in metaphor, which is frankly becoming a bit of an anomaly within the RnB world at the moment. Expect more soon.

Opening with a rather disconcerning Omar-esque whistling rendition of My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, Tree Tethered , the new track from Married in Berdichev aka Denver's Brittany Gould is unsettlingly disturbing. Foreboding and murky, the vocals clash with the overpowering synths, moving it closer towards Grouper / Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia territory than Braids or Grimes. Check it out below.

In May Cincinnati natives WHY? are returning to the UK for a series of intimate shows across the country. Following what must have been a successful European tour at the end of last year, the band are making another tour of the globe including dates in the US and Ireland. UK dates below and full listings can be found here . 5/7 - Liverpool, UK - Kazimier 5/8 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club 5/9 - London, UK - Islington [...]