Blog: Consequence Of Sound

The Cranberries arrived at a time when dream pop had begun its evolution into shoegaze, Madchester's baggy was cinching up, and the Smiths abdicated their throne to the likes of the Wedding Present. Formed in 1990 in Limerick, Ireland, the Cranberries' sound, much like that of the Sundays before them, fused together the sweet jangle of guitar pop in a post-Smiths era with pre-gaze dream pop's wispy airiness and texture. However, unlike the Sundays and vocalist Harriet Wheeler, Cranberries' vocalist Dolores O'Riordan's Irish brogue voice tends to rise above Noel Hogan's guitar leads, often punctuating her songs in such [...]

Though technically Childish Gambino's new video for "Heartbeat", mastermind Donald Glover prefers to describe director Kyle Newacheck's visuals as a "reflection" of how Glover was feeling when he recorded the song. "I thought the best way to convey the feeling that's in the song was to be confused ourselves," Glove told MTV , adding, "I wouldn't say it's so much a video as much as it is just a mood." Whatever the case, having just got home from a Midnight screening of Drive , I'm now really itching to buy a Scorpion jacket and driving gloves. [...]

Fans of Canadian post-rock were treated to a smattering of unexpected good news in the year 2012. In addition to Godspeed You Black Emperor! extending their reunion tour to include a ton of additional stops, a slew of festival dates, and the potential recording/release of their long-awaited fourth LP, the band announced that their sister project Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra had enough time before all that for a quick stateside tour. Fronted by the striking Efrim Manuel Menuck – the very same Menuck who serves as GYBE!'s fearless leader – Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra has been [...]

It's easy to feel over-fatigued from award shows right now. They all sort of bump into one another at the same time. Though, given that the Oscars dropped the ball, skipping a handful of solid releases and performances, and that the Grammys still feel like, "one giant industry jerk-off where the ones who pushed the most quantity are rewarded for quality," as Alex Young put it so eloquently last year, who in their right mind cares? Well, America does. If Twitter is any indication, millions of people still tune in and actually gripe about the wins and losses; [...]

On April 17th, Spencer Krug returns with another album from Moonface , the follow-up to last year's Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped . Titled Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravey , the 10-track effort is a collaboration with Finnish band Siinai, who previously toured with Wolf Parade in 2009 as Joensuu 1685. Recorded in Finland, the album pits Krug behind the mic and keyboard, while Siinai performs "the meat of the music," according to the album's press release. If one couldn't tell by the title already, the album revolves around - [...]

"Weird Al" Yankovic visited The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night, where he and his band of merrymen performed the celebrating-skewing "TMZ", from last year's Alpocalypse . After all, nothing says outrage over society's obsession with overindulgent pseudo-celebrities like a funky accordion beat. Watch the replay below.

Right above is the result of ABSOLUT vodka's collaboration with Gorillaz artistic mastermind Jamie Hewlett. As Branding Magazine reports, Hewlett was given the task of designing a bottle for the company's London brand. What he came up with is a "unique take on London's style and fashion pioneers over the past 200 years" featuring seven characters from the city's past, including the Dickensian, the 18th century dandy, the punks, the mods, the 50s pinstripe, the 60s chic, and the 80s casual. The limited-edition bottle will be available at UK department stores Selfridges and Harvey Nichols [...]

As far as childhood toys go, the kaleidoscope was criminally underappreciated. Picked up with eager curiosity, it was quickly discarded for other fare when the swirling colors became blasé. Erasure unearths the relic for their latest music video supporting their current single, "Fill Us With Fire". Filmed sometime during the band's 2011 tour, the video features performances and various eccentric imagery filtered through a fiery red-colored kaleidoscope that gels over the song's pounding synths with ease. Dive in below. Erasure's 14th LP, Tomorrow's World , is out now via [...]

"I understand it's punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy, and positivity, it seemed negative. It's such a teenager ... irrelevant thing to do ... there was such a feeling of love and unity there. What was the point?" - Madonna discusses M.I.A.'s middle finger with Ryan Seacrest (via TMZ ).

In breaking sports news, the World Snowboarding Championships, kicking off today in Oslo, Norway, has tapped the Party Caveman himself, Andrew W.K. , to act as "rock 'n' roll ambassador." In honor of this sacred charge, W.K. has written a brand new song for the championships entitled "My Time". The anthemic cut is a bit of classic punk rock, a bit of heavy-handed Meatloaf piano ballad, and every bit of inspiration a snowboarder would ever need to do a 900 or whatever. Stream it now at Noisecreep . "My Time" is actually the second song W.K.'s [...]

On Valentine's Day, Brooklyn's Your 33 Black Angels returns with their fifth full-length installment of psychedelic rock, Moon and Morning Star . Known for their rowdy live shows, this band of self-described "musical lunatics" can range in size from a core group of eight (with appropriately strange names like S. Sunshine, J. O!, and D. Zots) to "countless others." The organs backing Y33BA's rock and roll texture coupled with singer Josh Westfalt's languid delivery recall the early psych-rock of Roky Erickson and The Seeds. Check out the album's first single, "Patient Love", below. [...]

• Your 33 Black Angels - Patient-Love.mp3

With South by Southwest now just a month away, we thought today would be a good day to announce one of our events. As per the above poster, Consequence of Sound will set up shop at the Beauty Bar on Wednesday, March 14th for the first annual CoSigns unofficial day party. (If you don't get it, click here .) Presented by Louisville, Kentucky's Forecastle Festival , the six-hour long event will feature eight bands playing two stages, with the mighty Cloud Nothings and Titus Andronicus serving as headliners. [...]

New Brunswick punk outfit Screaming Females recently stopped by NPR for a Tiny Desk Concert performance of "It All Means Nothing", the lead single from their upcoming Steve Albini-produced fifth LP, Ugly . Now, the album version is available for streaming below (via RollingStone.com ). As the live acoustic preview indicated (you can re-watch it below), the album version is centered around a thick, vintage-y guitar sound and frontwoman Marissa Paternoster's jagged yet captivating vocal performance. Here's the NPR Tiny Desk performance: [...]

"We haven't planned the rehearsals yet, but there will definitely be another Blur album." - It's been a good year or so since our last vague, detail-less update on the state of Blur's long-awaited follow-up to 20032s Think Tank . So with the band set to perform live for the first time in three years at the Brit Awards later this month, guitarist Graham Coxon dished out the above quote in a new interview with The Daily Mail .

For the first time in some while, I am actually reading a book. It's Rolling Stone mainstay Will Hermes' tome entitled Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York City That Changed Music Forever . Essentially, Hermes looks at music in New York's five boroughs from New Year's Eve 1973 to New Year's 1977 and how the musical offerings of everything from salsa and disco to the rise of Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith forever changed the world. Pick it up as soon as you're done re-reading The Girl Who Played with Fire . [...]

The better of the two post-Oasis projects, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds , has unleashed the video for its latest single, "Dream On". In the clip, Noel referees a brutal boxing match which pits a hard-hitting woman against one unfortunate fellow. Watch it below (via Stereogum ). Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds the album is out now via Island/Mercury.

If you've been at a loss for words while listening to Bruce Springsteen 's latest single, "We Take Care of Our Own", then you'll want to watch its new video. In it, the song's lyrics wash over sharp black and white shots of The Boss walking in what appears to be a meat packing plant. It's sort of like those old Disney videos, only there's no bouncing ball. Also, the ending slightly apes the Jeff Daniels TBS classic Pleasantville , specifically when Springsteen holds his hands up to the dawning light, naturally restoring all of life's rich colors. [...]

Portland's The Dandy Warhols will follow up 20092s The Dandy Warhols Are Sound with a new LP this April. Titled This Machine , the group's ninth album has little to no details yet, but last year, amidst their Australian tour, they did debut two new songs: "Rest Your Head" and "The Wow Signal" . No word on whether or not either of those will be on the LP, but it's a little slice of material to consider. Meanwhile, fans can look forward to seeing them on tour this year; already, [...]

Imagine you're traveling somewhere. Anywhere. You can't sleep. You've managed to scrounge up enough money to afford a weekend in a nice, five-star hotel. Congratulations. You've earned it. You don't wear a robe at home, but since the hotel was nice enough to provide you with one, you opt to wear it on your trek to the ice machine down the hall. No matter how nice the hotel room, there's never enough ice. You fill up your ice bucket, careful not to get any on the tiled floor, and make your way back to your room. Maybe your [...]

New York noise quartet Pop. 1280 gets their name from a Jim Thompson crime novel, and like Thompson, the band paints a bleak picture on The Horror , their full length debut. On opener "Burn the Worm", tension-filled guitar lines and savage drums unleash a primal, yet controlled fury, accompanied by hideously visceral lyrics such as "two dogs fucking/digging for gold." Forget foreboding; the danger is already here. On album highlight "Bodies in the Dunes", vocalist Chris Burg grimly chants the song's title with a completely desensitized affect, while rusted nail guitars screech in agony. [...]