For a while I was in two minds about whether or not to write a post about this album or not. This doubt had nothing to do with my own opinions of the record, but stemmed from the fact that I found out about it through a music blog myself; Tart, over at Love Shack, Baby has rather taken this band to heart, and it was only through her review that I became aware of Dutch outfit The Black Atlantic . All I know about this band is what I learnt from Tart's post, [...]
As promised in the last 'cast , here's the Bearfaced Podcast guide to what's going to be hot in the 2010 musical landscape. If I'm honest, this is one of the best playlists we've had on the 'casts to date; there's tracks from old BF Podcast favourites like Frightened Rabbit , Meursault and Lightspeed Champion - who all have albums out this year - as well as some new discoveries like The Kays Lavelle and The Black Atlantic . There will most likely be full reviews of all these [...]
Ah, as the release date for A Winter of Mixed Drinks fast approaches (March 1st) we're being treated to yet more Frightened Rabbit goodness. The band have released the album track Fun Stuff for fans to download, and there's now also a competition (gosh, how exciting!). Fun Stuff first emerged last year when a demo titled Last Tango in Brooklyn started doing the rounds. Other than the change of name, there's not much that's changed in the song - the production on this new version is just [...]
I often take great pleasure in being contrary; if most of the blogoshere says that 2+2=4 there's half a chance I'll say it's 5 (because on occasion it is...*). Every so often, however, I find myself agreeing with the throng. The new Maxwell Panther LP Do You Feel Different Yet? has just been released on Song, by Toad Records , and every single review that I've read makes quite a fuss of the production values. Everyone appears to be reveling in the low-fi nature of the recording, so naturally I'd made up my mind [...]
I often wax lyrical about how most of the albums that still stand up as favourites years down the line weren't the ones that really impressed on their first spin on the hi-fi. Most albums that impress straight away do so because they are, in a nut shell, shallow; that is to say, you hear everything that there is to hear instantly, and every repeat listen only serves to diminish the record's appeal. The albums that stand the test of time are more often than not the ones in which the currents run deeper; repeat listens are required to fully [...]
You may well have noticed that things have been a little stop-start at casa-EbM, and the reasons for this are twofold. Firstly, writing posts of any value is a time consuming occupation and I'm a busy man ("Fie!" I hear you cry, and maybe with good reason...). The main reason, however, is more of a semantic one. I'm only just beginning to emerge from a fug of indecision and uncertainty that has shrouded these pages of late. This fug was brought on in part by the DMCA trouble I got caught up in following some careless mp3 action on my [...]
I may be in danger of alienating some readers here, but I really don't see the appeal of remixes. I know a decent proportion of you will have been directed here from The Hype Machine - where remixes seem to be quite popular - so I guess a fair few of you are remix-connoisseurs, but I just don't understand it myself. Now don't get me wrong, a good remix can be an enjoyable listening experience, but stumbling upon the mythic beast that is a "good remix" is a very uncommon occurrence. It seems to me that 99% of them are just [...]
Despite my somewhat shoddy updating in the latter part of 2009, this blog sill attracts a surprisingly high number of submissions. I'm not for one minute implying that this is a bad thing, as some music industry types are prone to do ("you might think that free music day-in day-out would be great, but it's just boring. You try and fight your way through mountains of dreadful demos!") as getting sent free music was the main point in starting this blog, but getting through all the music I'm sent can be something of a challenge. There really aren't enough hours [...]
I don't really know where to put this record. The fact that it was originally released on the BBC's Late Junction label and has now been re-issued on Fat Cat 's "instrumental/classical" imprint, 130701 , places composer Max Richter 's album Memoryhouse in the hinterland that lies between the pop/rock and classical worlds. I've been sitting on this album for months now (I received my copy in advance of the Fat Cat re-issue in October last year) and I must say it took me a long while to [...]
Well happy new year, folks. The first Bearfaced Podcast of 2010 is upon us, and this time there's a slightly unusual playlist. The theme for this episode is "musical snobbery" and looks at all the stuff we really ought to have turned our noses up at; good songs by bands that we'd never actually admit to liking, and that sort of thing. There's also a couple of Christmas songs thrown in for good measure - now the joy of yuletide has past us by, how well does this year's crop of festive songs hold up in the [...]
It's not often that I dig out the ol' vinyl player. If fact, being the fresh faced youth I am, the world of vinyl is one of which I have only a cursory knowledge. Anytime I want to enjoy my (admittedly meagre) 73 collection I have to drag my dad's old Pioneer PL-112D turntable out of the attic... But it does appear that the 73 is still alive and well. An old flatmate of mine had quite an impressive collection - all released in the last few years - and most singles seem to get a [...]
This time last year the musical calendar was looking pretty darned exciting. With albums on the horizon by EbM favourites Broken Records, Emmy the Great, frYars, Esser and The Decemberists I was expecting great things of 2009. Sure enough, 2009 produced some great records and was an all-round "good year for music", but strangely none of the albums I was so excited about delivered on expectations. All the aforementioned albums were good , but none of them were great, and certainly nowhere near as good as we'd all hoped they would be; hype is truly a terrible thing. [...]
I first featured scotch "low-fi post punk" outfit eagleowl (note the deliberate lowercase "e") on this blog over a year ago, when I reviewed their debut EP For the Thoughts You Never Had . After the success of For the Thoughts... it could be seen as surprising that over twelve months later all they've released is this new single, Sleep the Winter , but as far as I can tell this fits in perfectly with the band's overarching mission. As with the last EP, Sleep the Winter [...]
This band has been scooting round the periphery of my musical awareness for quite a while now. With good reviews from all sorts of blogs that I respect I should really have made an effort to get into them sooner. Alas, it actually took a chance encounter at Radio One to alert me to the fact that this band are actually very good. Radio One, of all places! Christ alive, I never thought I'd see the day. Anyway, Mumford and Sons had recorded on of R1's Live Lounge sessions, and the track that hooked me in [...]
As I listened to this eponymous EP from US outfit The Touques I am ashamed to say my first thought was that they sounded pretty amateurish. The guitars sounded too loud, there were tuning issues all over the place and the whole thing sounded like one big mess. But then about halfway through the record something happened; I "got" what The Touques were doing. Quite frankly, this record is just mad enough to work. Since coming to this realisation I've had the EP on repeat constantly and it gets more and more enjoyable with every listen. [...]
The Big Pink 's debut LP A Brief History of Love comes out on the 14th, courtesy of the ever-popular 4AD records, but today sees the release of their single Dominos . To be honest, when I first heard the record I wasn't all that impressed. It wasn't bad, but the only thing I remember thinking was that it wasn't really my kind of thing. Somehow, however, Dominos ended up on my mp3 player and I have yet to skip past it. Not the most glowing praise you might be thinking, but hear [...]
Lock up your daughters, it's that time again; we've released another episode of everyone's favourite podcast . This, the latest installment, is rather on the long side. The reason for the length is due to our somewhat ambitious choice of topic; no less a theme than our top five songs of all time . It's at this point that any true music fans amongst you will be be shaking your heads and saying things like "surely not" and "heavens, that's not a task within the reach of any mere mortal man" and other variations on that [...]
Huzzah, summer's here! After a lovely walk along the Cornish cliffs - and suffering terribly from sunstroke - I took it upon myself to record another podcast for Bearfaced Records, the ersatz record label I run with a few of my friends. Normally these podcasts are brought on by an exclusive band session or exciting guest, but this time there's no purpose other than to give a warm and friendly welcome to the warm and friendly weather that (touch wood) heralds the onset of summer. As such, all the songs featured are of a somewhat summery nature, but [...]
This short EP (only four tracks long) was a surprising treat. I say surprising, but having heard nothing about Canadian band Dark Mean I was approaching this record with no preconceptions at all. As such, the quality of this EP was only surprising in that I first listened to it whilst trawling through a batch of less-than-average-quality records I'd been sent for review. You'd think that hearing music with no expectations or biases would mean you'd be more susceptible to a records merits, but I often find that I am actually more critical than usual. An [...]
I caught Matt Hegarty, who trades under the moniker Matthew and the Atlas , live at the Zenith Bar in Islington a week or so ago. I was thoroughly impressed with what I saw and managed to wheedle an EP out of the guy, and I'm pleased to report that, much like his performance that night, it's excellent. I'm not normally a fan of husky, honeyed vocals but in this instance I feel I must make an exception. His delivery is probably best described as "soulful", but that term's been so over-used by music hacks that it [...]
Leaked: MGMT – It’s Working
Ten I See.
Jonsi covers MGMT’s “Time To Pretend”
Sophie Ellis Bextor offers Bittersweet, one of the best songs of 2010 so far
