Facebook A pile of this and that from overseas to get to today, so why not start with the item that I'm sure the fewest people - statistically speaking - care about. And that's the return of The House Of Love . A cult band's cult band, the Guy Chadwick-led outfit has probably become better known for what they didn't do - which is become the biggest band in the UK, as many/most expected in the late-'80s - than what they did - which was release two brilliant (as well as one decent and one [...]
Stacey Hatfield As performing names go, Daughter certainly exists pretty far on the "not very" end of the Google-ability scale, but they're worth the effort. Originally a pseudonym for London's Elena Tonra, its scope eventually expanded to include guitarist Igor Haefeli and now, with drummer Remi Aguilella in the fold, represents the trio and is a proper band - one whose dark, quietly dramatic, atmospheric folk turned out to be one of the highlights of this year's SXSW . Considering that hot on the heels of their festival appearances came the word that [...]
The Guardian So yes, been away a little while - San Francisco was lovely, thanks for asking, I've just started putting up photos on Flickr - and yes, there's a bit of a backlog of stuff to get through. But there's also a dollop of jet lag to get over, so I'll just ease back into this if it's all the same to you. We may as well start with the only thing that I actually listened to from all the RSS/Twitter/email items immediately: yesterday's livestreamed Blur mini-concert from atop a [...]
Anton Coene Remember, not so long ago, when big-ass bands with memberships numbering in the double-digits were all the fuss? Me neither. Seems two is all you need to make a racket and an impression, as yesterday's post can attest and today's can reinforce. What sets Brighton two-piece Blood Red Shoes apart from most of the other outfits who can tour in a Cooper Mini are the fact that though they're plenty good at the loud, they're much less reliant on the white noise bombast to get their message across. [...]
Lilja Birgisdottir Advance album streams are pretty par for the course these days, but if anyone can make it a special occasion, it's Sigur Rós . And they're certainly trying to. Though their new record and first in four years Valtari isn't out until May 29, the band will be offering an advance stream of the record on May 17 - that's today, people - but for only one hour. Dubbed " Valtari Hour" , it will roll across the globe at 7PM local time for [...]
Nik Vestberg There's many things I loved about Allo Darlin' 2010 self-titled debut . The jangly guitars, strummy ukulele, and ebullient melodies that put the London-based foresome at the forefront of current bands unashamed to call themselves indie pop - absolutely - but what I found set them apart and made them really special was the way they used those traits to deliver songs that evoked the wistfulness and insecurity of growing up and out and apart. Far too often pure pop music feels strictly a youth movement but here was [...]
Facebook Or perhaps that should read, "Vikings coming, Vikings coming", seeing as how the last few days have seen a flurry of excellent concert announcements from Scandinavian bands. Not the biggest but certainly of interest is the return of barely out of their teens if even that Danish post-punks Iceage . Their debut New Brigade was as intense as it was brief - not even 25 minutes to get through a dozen tracks - but with enough melodic sensibility to appeal to those who need a little melodicism [...]
Facebook After writing up some bands lately whose names have either undersold or misrepresented the music they present, it's rather refreshing to have an artist whose public identity promises exactly what they have to offer. And that artist is Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny . A grandiose name, to be sure, and one that's matched by the title of their just-released debut album Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose . There's no way that labels like those could herald anything less than grandiose [...]
Facebook They'd announced some time ago that these were coming, but to actually see the dates and have something on the calendar to circle is still pretty exciting. I am referring, of course, to The Wedding Present's just-announced North American tour wherein they will not only preview material from their forthcoming eighth album - title and release date still to come - but mark the twentieth anniversary of their third full-length Seamonsters by performing it live, in its entirety. They did this on their last [...]
Beat London's Summer Camp likes them some make-believe, that much is clear. Their first appearance on the musical radar was in the guise of a Swedish septet with a taste for vintage photographs who'd met at a Summer retreat - hence their name. It didn't take too long for them to be outed as the English duo of Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey, which may have disappointed fans of elaborate back stories but should have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those who like enthusiastic boy-girl indie-pop. Not that [...]
Fat Cat There's been a few pieces recently about the growth of anti-marketing in music, with artists hiding behind disguises or pseudonyms and refusing to engage the media by giving interviews or offering a backstory. Scotland's Twilight Sad can't undo the profile they've gained in the past four or five years of making deafening, gloriously miserable rock music but on their just-announced third record, they're at least trying to get folks to avert their eyes - or at least that's what one surmises from their decision to name it No [...]
Summer Camp - Better Off Without You She had made all those men so alive, hadn’t she? So miserable, true, so aching, true, and breathing with limps, but didn’t the blood march so strong in their channels? They stuttered after her like full hearts on the brink of infidelity, their guts warped by nervous fuzz. They had dressed up for her in their dreams – of this she was aware. In turn, she taught them loneliness of a sidewalk depth, a reality often cloaked - made fair - by the arousal of their billboard [...]
Here we are, another September 2, another year, another "oh my god am I still doing this" post. As far at themes go, I was torn between the good ol' Eveready cat logo or some of Gustave Doré's illustrations from the ninth circle of Dante's Inferno - but I've gotten some grief lately over being a bit of a gloomy gus so I went with the cartoon kitty. And the "nine lives" bit? Maybe, but I'm certainly not on number one. So yes, still here, doing what I'm doing while noting [...]
Altsounds London's Summer Camp are clearly believers in the long game. Since emerging in the Fall of 2009 with their identities shrouded in mystery - they were originally thought to be a Swedish collective - they've gradually revealed more and more about themselves while keeping up a steady stream of '80s-worshipping, in both sound and theme, infectious electro-pop. Now, almost two years since first causing a fuss, the duo of Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey are ready to release their full-length debut which they've christened Welcome To Condale and set for [...]
The Independent One thing that should have been well-established over the run of this blog is that I am an irredeemable Britpop kid, having come of musical age in the mid-'90s with my nose buried in issues of Select and spending too much money I really couldn't spare on import CDs on their breathless recommendations. Many were pretty terribly, in retrospect, or even worse just wholly unremarkable, but one of my enduring favourites beyond the Oasis/Blur/Pulp triumvirate is Sleeper , whose three albums of scrappy pop have aged quite nicely, unlike some [...]
Adam Faraday To be clear, Portishead simply like to take their time. The eleven-year gap between their self-titled sophomore effort and 20082s Third ? They weren't broken up, just writing. And considering how scary good/just plain scary said record was, transcending the trip-hop genre they pioneered almost a decade and a half earlier, you couldn't say it wasn't time well spent. Similarly, just because they've only played one North American show this century - 20082s Coachella - after returning to the stage in 2005 following [...]
Frank Yang Full writeup of the evening's itinerary over here . Yuck - Hotly-tipped band of London youngsters who channel the spirit of the '90s, evoking the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr and Pavement on their self-titled debut . The Line Of Best Fit and Dirty Laundry have video sessions and The National an interview with the band, who open up for Tame Impala at The Phoenix on May 1. NPR has [...]
Chromewaves
TUNE THE PROLETARIAT
Prince ensaya con “Even Flow” de Pearl Jam
Listen to Prince really wail on a cover of Pearl Jam’s “Even Flow”
Stream: Disclosure | When A Fire Starts To Burn (Original Mix)
Hello Friday Remixes
