Jumping on this bandwagon a midge too late perhaps, but if there's even one person out there who hasn't heard about the utterly phenomenal heirs to the indie-Scot-rock throne We Were Promised Jetpacks , let us here at Cannibal Cheerleader let you know this group can only be described as utterly life-altering in their musical ways. While their name might inspire jeers and questions, focus not on the sci-fi inspired humorousness of the statement but the sense of emptiness and disappointment, the realization that childhood fantasies give way to harsh, cruel reality. Careening across the Western hemisphere, riding high [...]
Another ferocious find for Cannibal Cheerleader faithful today, as Toronto-based trio Die Mannequin came ripping and gnashing through out inbox, out our speakers, and down out throats like a poison-tipped sabre, except replace the poison with the malice that is singer Care Failure's slobbering, blood-guzzling bellow. Rocketing skyward on the backs of several successful EPs, having once featured former Death From Above 1979 members as well as E. Kath of none other than Crystal Castles, Die Mannequin remains one of the few alt-rock female-fronted groups with not only a sense of depth to their songwriting but a set [...]
Here's a hot find for you listless lovers out there - Mayer Hawthorne , the personality formerly known as DJ Haircut, recent signee to our favorite hip-hop label Stones Throw Records , and owner of the most soulful, sonorous voice this side of the racial divide, a nerdtastic white kid from Michigan, is here to make all your worries drift away. With a killer, blue-eyed soul sound and a taste for retro-arrangements recalling an understated Curtis Mayfield single, Hawthorne, having just released his debut album A Strange Arrangement , seems poised to smolder in the stereos of [...]
You'll all know our love of God Help the Girl and Stuart Murdoch's former (perhaps still current?) band Belle & Sebastian , so we can't help but find ourselves in a state of twittering excitement at the announcement of the upcoming Stills EP . Filled with the same flowery showiness and delightfully cabaret singing-style that separates God Help the Girl from it's predecessor, the Stills EP delights with its bite-sized tenacity and carefully crafted lyricism, feeling every bit as strong of a release as another Lazy Line Painter Jane or Books EP . [...]
Undoubtedly still topping our lists as one of our favorite finds of the year, the Joy Formidable continue to churn out absolutely spectacular tracks, from their first singles "Austere" and "Cradle" to their followup, the inimitable "Whirring", and sleeper hits like "The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade" the trio of Londoneers stand poised to mount an impressive assault on the unassuming masses. Recently the band released an excellent new track "Greyhounds in the Slip" featuring Paul Draper which you can find below and more importantly, a new live CD entitled First You Have to Get Mad [...]
When we first heard about Jemina Pearl's solo debut our fevered sniveling over the traumatic breakup of Be Your Own Pet was quelled - at least for a moment. Would the ferocious frontwoman bring the goods without her shredding sidekicks - would the songs maintain their high-flying heroics with the loss of the loose ends? By all means, by all standards, indubitably faith ful friends. But this isn't the Jemina Pearl we're all familiar with - instead of the stabbing, shrieking siren of olde, this horrifying hellion has herself transformed into a songwriting starlet, with pop hooks, loud-quiet-loud choruses, [...]
Thanks Cannibal Cheerleader faithful for another year - here's to much more blood, guts, and rock 'n roll in the future. Now onto the madness... As a staunch defender of actors' ventures into the world of indie-rock Cannibal Cheerleader has proven to be an unapologetic apologist. We stand by our love of Scarlett Johansson's Anywhere I Lay My Head and all of her subsequent work with other artists as well. So when we began to read stories on Ryan Gosling's foray into the music realm, complete with articles [...]
With each subsequent, sonorous release the ravenous Raveonettes continue to reinvent themselves - whether they be shoegaze saviors such as on Lust, Lust, Lust or rock revivalists like on Pretty in Black , it's never the same thing twice and In & Out of Control remains as no exception. In creating a haunting and lo-fi pop album reminiscient of driving fast down dark roads, scarf waving behind you as a brooding blonde smokes in the passenger seat, Sune Wagner and Sharin Foo might have crafted their finest release yet. With songs that feel [...]
Lissy Trullie , for all her understated attitude and low-range growl, nonetheless seems to write tunes with a boundless enthusiasm for all that electrifies us at Cannibal Cheerleader. For instance, her recently re-released and supremely excellent debut EP Self-Taught Learner , whose updated cover you can check out below contains a few new songs to justify slapping down the ten-spot yet again. Let us swear to you faithful readers, pay twenty, pay extra, give the cash to the indie-rock nerd-chic kiddo behind the counter because they'll want to grab this record just for these extra tunes as well. Shredding [...]
Crawling and shambling out of South Austin with a renegade rebel yell the likes of which would wake the undead, Captain Clegg and the Night Creatures , featuring Austin's own Jesse Dayton , have taken the world of horror-rock by storm as of late with their brand of zombified blues-rock and hellbilly honky-tonk. Originally conceived as a fictional group made to perform during the Phantom Jam scene of Rob Zombie's Halloween 2, Capt. Clegg has taken on a life of it's own with it's excellent self-titled debut, featuring hip-shaking, down-home tracks like "Transylvania Terror Train" and "Macon County [...]
Watching the rabid gyrations of Karen O perform at the Austin City Limits Festival earlier this month with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stunned us at Cannibal Cheerleader so completely, so devastatingly as to inspire a month-long self-imposed exile from the blogging community. The blazingly electric setlist, featuring carnal classics like "Gold Lion" and "Maps", new-wave crooners like "Skeletons" and "Runaway", and neurotically ferocious takes on barn-burners such as "Date With the Night" and "Dull Life", may go down as so utterly picture-perfect as to inspire every other band to call it a day. [...]
The behavior of Alice Glass is legendary - from her stage-diving antics at the past month's Reading Festival that resulted in her needing to be rescued by security, to the cancellation of this year's Crystal Castles performance in Dallas (at least we got to see 'em here in Austin!). And while we probably won't be hearing new material from the group anytime soon, their live performances, for all their voracious volatility, are a sight and sound to behold. Which makes all the more sense that Cannibal Cheerleader, your source for Crystal Castles news since [...]
Cannibal Cheerleader has long been the apologist blog for Scarlett Johansson's solo career, even though the brilliance that was Anywhere I Lay My Head deserved no such excuses, and her new album Break Up with Pete Yorn is no exception - here's a sure to be misunderstood record that features the starlet's haunting vocals alongside sparse instrumentation, all the while lamenting about love and loss. Not necessarily the most unique or original concept album but a winner nonetheless, considering the nuance and passion Johansson injects into every verse. Definitely worth a spin! [...]
Seems as if our favorite singer-songwriter hasn't quit the business as he purported after all - in fact it would seem the inimitable Ryan Adams has only begun, as he's reemerged from his self-imposed exile with a pair of wonderous new singles. Reviving his PAX-AM music label Adams has released via his website the "PAX-AM Digital Single #1" featuring "Lost and Found" and "Go Ahead and Rain". Definitely going to be looking forward to more tunes from this fantastic artist! Ryan Adams - "Lost and Found" [...]
While we're all still waiting for Sufjan Stevens '50 States Project' to wrap itself up, the Detroit singer and multi-instrumentalist has kept himself busy with side projects, helping the label Asthmatic Kitty and recently release the BQE , which, according to sources is "symphonic and cinematic exploration of New York City's infamous Brooklyn-Queens Expressway". A strange exercise no doubt but it nonetheless captures the child-like wonderment and harmonious beauty so characteristic of Stevens' work, and while it's no "Come on Feel the Lone Star State" it'll tide us over until then. [...]
John Darnielle represents quite possibly the darkest corner of the singer-songwriter mystique - a once drug-addled, abused youth with no direction and nothing to live for who has managed to pen his sharp and painful past into pictures of a shadowy underworld, a poetic realization of an America long forgotten. And while the Mountain Goats , the moniker under which Darnielle performs, have recently released a pair of albums with more lighthearted instrumentation ( Get Lonely and Heretic Pride ) the song nonetheless remains the same. On his newest record The Life of the World to [...]
2009 may just be the year of the Yeah Yeah Yeah , considering their blazingly original third LP It's Blitz! and the band's monumentally successful North American tour thus far. Now, not only have we received news that Karen O and company are replacing the Beastie Boys at Austin's own Austin City Limits Festival , but KO is helming the entirety of the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack. Check out the video for "All Is Love" below and be prepared to get your yeah yeahs out Austin. [...]
Rolo Tomassi , our favorite progressive-hardcore act from across the pond, have been tearing it up at festivals all summer long, as evidenced by this excellent new video featuring the band wrapping up their set at the Lowlands with a snarling take on "Curby" - check it out below. In other RT news plans are in the work for some EPs this year so stay tuned to this space for all your Rolo Tomassi needs and desires - Cannibal Cheerleader, official Rolo Tomassi American sponsors? We do love them and all! [...]
When Baroness release the Red Album in 2007 they earned themselves a considerable amount of metal credibility, their crunching, screaming metal shocks segueing seamlessly into droney stoner anthems. With the Blue Record the band has taken this formula and injected a great deal of progressiveness, much in the same way Mastodon managed to achieve with Crack the Skye . Exploring the same dark, naturalistic tops of yesteryear but featuring increasingly bizarre and markedly different instrumentation, complete with searing whip-crack riffs and the utilization of additional vocalists, Baroness' sophomore LP features a natural expansion of growing [...]
If Swedish songstress Fever Ray , aka Karin Dreijer Andersson of the Knife , decided to make a video for every song from her self-titled debut album you wouldn't hear any argument from this die-hard fan. Capturing the same dark mystique as her previous efforts while injecting new levels of voodoo horror, the video for new single "Seven" features some terrifying farmhouses, bizarre costuming, and an aging woman seemingly representing Andersson reminiscing on her life. One step away from animal sacrifices at this point, check it out. Seven from Fever [...]
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Miike Snow – Paddling Out (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
Lana Del Rey covers Lovecat magazine!
