Death Cab for Cutie 'Codes and Keys' (Atlantic) For a band to seem relevant seven studio albums in is quite a feat. But then we've been wise to Death Cab for Cutie's adroitness for well over a decade now - and 'Codes and Keys' is the latest example of such. The title track, a bushy-tailed, piano-led sketch nagged any faster could spring from Duran Duran's 'Rio', is one of the finest things these have ever formed. Same more or less goes for the instantly wistful 'Monday Morning' - Ben Gibbard's tone as soothing as ever - [...]
We already know that the world is made up of two lots of species: Those near-neurotic about The Wombats' zappy indie-pop, and those much hostile to The Wombats' phony infernal shtick. But see, what we may not know - or at least, the latter won't be versed in - is that this Mersey-based trio are in actuality way deeper than your regular pack of Smarties. Frontman Matthew Murphy was addicted to anti-depressants (as laid out in latest single 'Anti-D'), for goodness sake! That, a few extra bits of sombre wordplay ("Last night I dreamt I died alone through all my [...]
Elbow 'Build a Rocket Boys!' (Fiction/Polydor) Elbow may have detected some added pressure assembling fifth album 'Build a Rocket Boys!'. But if securing 2009's Mercury Prize did have any mastery over their practice, the North Manchester five-piece only appear to have prospered under it. Their rich, unshackling babel is felt from beginning to end, with a now-at-peace Guy Garvey having to dig deep to come by his blues - no right-minded Elbow devotee wants to hear about the sun's rays, anyhow. An eight-minute intro that actually feels like four precedes the anti-media-anti-hoody 'Lippy Kids', the handsomest [...]
Radiohead 'The King of Limbs' (Self-released) It was always going to happen like this. Far gone are the days of Radiohead embarking on a smartly-structured 'promotional model' to brief the planet of their long-awaited comeback. In fact, did they ever? Studio album number eight 'The King of Limbs' abides by the dulcet, soothing manner of 2007's 'In Rainbows', although a busier 'lectro habitat is grounded within its bulk. Lead single 'Lotus Flower' (or as close to a lead single these get to) is a throbbing, Gordian-but-delicate piece that should make even the most repressed trip the [...]
Best Picture Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter's Bone What should win? The Social Network This is not a movie about Facebook. I mean, it is, obviously. But this is a movie about friendship, love, greed, youthfulness, jealousy, competition, arrogance, hierarchy. With Aaron Sorkin penning, high hopes were to be had, but no-one could have predicted the profound (and brilliantly-told) statements it made on the current social climate. More often than not, films made [...]
DL – Engineers 'Forgiveness'
I'm not saying I don't want Michael and Holly to be together. Of course I do. But the way in which it was finally played out - she almost channelling his mind while he's lost in Scranton because Jim left him at a gas station - was atrocious. Idealistic and unconvincing. The US Office was at one point very funny and ep-after-ep gold. Now, we're lucky to get one decent story every few instalments. NBC won't end it 'cause they're desperate. Carell is right to exit. Somebody, please, finish this show pronto. DL [...]
*Only with not much coffee and lots of hot water, so you can't actually taste the icky caffeine. DL – Fall Out Boy '(Coffee's For Closers)'
White Lies 'Ritual' (Fiction) Whatever it was Editors were trying with their last 'industrial' record, it did not total a job well done. And Interpol, following the exit of bassman Carlos, they've seemingly lost all reason and their black charm. Ergo, the space of depressingly feel-good indie needs a big front to fill it - meet White Lies II. On their second LP, the white-picket-fence threesome are, well, kinda the same, only a bit less mousy with their amps. 'Bigger Than Us' was the swift-and-mighty single, but there's the poppy, Cure-like 'Peace & Quiet' [...]
Patronising script. Kids that can't act. Misguided cheese. Clint Eastwood helmed Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Changeling. What went wrong? Not to mention the fact it took 100 minutes to get going. Embarrassingly Hollywood. Not to also mention the fact it believed in a hereafter. Appalling. DL – Blink-182 'What Went Wrong?'
"Blink and you'll miss it, but it's just a little thanks to Steve Carell." No. No. No. Is Ricky Gervais not even wise to the legacy of his own David Brent? Does he not recognise that The Office was so perfect, nothing else from Britain will remotely compare in your and I's lifetime? And it wasn't even classy. We got a too-staged "That's what she said" AND a needless drawn-out hug. Not funny. Just wrong. DL – Eminem 'So Bad'
Matt Lucas and David Walliams really are brilliant. A few Daffyd sketches too many sadly marred their rep, but after six eps of Come Fly With Me - chiefly Little Britain in an airport only featuring fresh and as-knee-slapping funny personas - it's just unreasonable not to commend their artistry. You get me? DL – Foo Fighters 'Learn To Fly'
DL – Smashing Pumpkins 'Mayonaise'
I heart Dimitar Berbatov. There are some United players who when they score, I experience a bigger rush than I do for others. Alongside Dimi, the same currently goes for Wayne Rooney - goals are the only thing he's lacking at the moment - and Michael Owen - he never gets to play enough. All of whom pretty much happen to be paid to find the net. The deal with Berba, though, is that only this season is he starting to show he can do it for a BIG club. I'd be telling a lie if I [...]
DL – Bruce Springsteen 'Hungry Heart'
Why teach the curriculum when you can just show children a Woody Allen film every school day? And if you run out of films, just repeat them. DL – Bob Dylan 'Song To Woody'
Like Trophy Wife, Young Buffalo are from Oxford, only the one in Mississippi of the United States. Wikipedia will tell you that thriller author John Grisham has a home in the area, but otherwise there lies an opening for some sweet-ass straight-up indie rock to just burst at the city's seams. One of the best things about this trio is that they don't really look like a band. Another is that they're pretty effing great, as proven by free download 'Three Deep' and forthcoming debut single propa 'Catapilah'. With Kyle 'Slick' Johnson producing (he who engineered the latest Modest Mouse [...]
What with the 2010 Arcade Fire had, don't be taken aback if countless baroque rock replicas come out of the woods all at once. It's the way of the business. But Guards, solely led by ex-Willowz leader Richie Follin, is worth taking seriously. And that's even if the Californian himself doesn't take the project all that seriously - there's no MySpace to fiddle with but merely a Bandcamp page, albeit with a free download of a seven-track self-titled debut EP. Of which 'I See It Coming' provokes those Fire parities, all gung-ho euphonies and zestful wordplay. Mmm, let's hope there's [...]
Peppy indie-pop that sounds like it's been blessed by a double rainbow crops up merely once in a while, such as with 2007's debut Wombats album or last year's Two Door Cinema Club. Though the Los Angeles-based Grouplove are perhaps lower-maintenance - tossing in halo harmonies on the if-Bon Iver-dug-Madonna 'Naked Kids' - you can't help but emerge with the same yippy-yay-yoe sensation. And if their MySpace background isn't lying, a full-on EP is coming out in February. Traffic on the 101 will never be the same with these on the stereo. DL [...]
Shout and Twist
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
