Tagged: tlobfrecommended

Niki and The Dove’s The Fox EP is pretty short compared to your standard extended player, but it’s oh so sweet. Cliché out the way then, let’s get down to what it is about these Swedes which makes all of us at TLOBF go all fizzy – almost to the point where we feel necessitated to set up a Twitter fan page, demanding they receive the respect and coverage they deserve. Almost. In a recent interview, the duo comprising singer Malin Dahlström and multi-instrumentalist Gustaf Karlöf, spoke of their refusal to leave the recording studio until [...]

• subpop - Niki and the Dove "The Fox" 12"

Whenever there’s something good coming out of Oxford, you can bet your life (well, a couple of quid at least) that Hugo Manuel is involved somewhere along the way. Whether it’s as Chad Valley , or as one quarter of Jonquil, he’s comfortably established himself as one of the most innovative artists around at the moment. But if you think that Equatorial Ultravox might see him resting on his laurels, you can think again. Hugo Manuel has never been ashamed to admit that his influences include artists such as Kylie and Aqua, [...]

The Canadian cavalier of eclectic indie-pop, best known for creating a catchy mismatch of tunes from his basement, has discovered new territory both with his latest release and his job as a full time father. Diaper Island , perhaps aptly named as a reflection on 3 years of parenthood, is by far Chad VanGaalen 's most consistent album to date. In the past, the listener would be treated to a variety of genres blended together; everything from folk tunes to bizarre synth creations spewed out with a [...]

To stand out from the competition in the music biz, do not estimate the importance of the Back Story. Add a dimension of heartbreak, misery and madness to the creation of any half-decent record, and watch the superlatives pile up. Sometimes, the circumstances surrounding the recording can overtake the actual music. Take Bon Iver's 2008 debut, for example: taped in a remote log cabin where Justin Vernon - at that point the sole member of this loose assembly of musicians - had retreated to get his head together after a painful relationship meltdown, commentators wasted no time in [...]

There is an easy route out here. That would be to say that there is absolutely no way that Burst Apart could ever live up to its predecessor, Hospice . It is a slur that has probably already been thrown at The Antlers , and more specifically founding father Peter Silberman, too many a time to be of any use to anyone. It would leave my job remarkably easy. Of course, that is an impossiblity. It was always going to be. But from the off it's clear that there should be no [...]

We've made absolutely no secret here at The Line Of Best Fit of just how much we love When Saints Go Machine , and indeed how the anticipation for Konkylie , their first full length release on British shores, has been absolutely killing us. Formed in 2007, When Saints Go Machine released their debut album in their native Denmark in 2009. It wasn't released in the UK, so as a consolation prize, the group offered us the Fail Forever EP, a collection of 5 tantilisingly atmospheric synth-led tunes. Konkylie, therefore [...]

A somewhat metaphorically gooey and im possibly optimistic mess is what I, and many other blogosphere tourchburners resembled the moment 'Go Outside' by Cults hit our collective eardrums last spring. The song was a mesmerising contradictory one-two punch of soul-shredding prettiness and distant but ever present eeriness. An off-kilter but genuinely catchy pairing of a speech extract from cult leader Jim Jones juxtaposed with a youthful, idyllic and innocent xylophone riff immediately announced them to be the leader of the nostalgia pack. Cults evidently knowledgeable of the fact that a perfect pop song always bears glints of darkness. Unsurprisingly it's still the best song from their eponymous collection of 602s pop homage songs. However, it's still a very competent  arrival with regular flashes of brillance by a fully-formed [...]

‘It Began In Afrika’ so said the brothers of a chemical disposition. A continent from which civilization emanated before the overarching mass jigsaw that was Pangaea detached into it’s respective pieces. Arguably the epicentre of music, it’s seismic trajectory tightly draped around the vernacular is felt from Buenos Aires to Brisbane via Bujumbura. In the digital age, music is readily consumed and discharged in a fashion not to dissimilar to a petite model eating a hamburger (and so on and so forth). On the other hand, there are rare figures that invest in eclectic enterprise providing a bond [...]

Despite having already put one record out, it’s fair to say that The Middle East ’s sophomore album is far more like a début than The Recordings of the Middle East , their first release . Whereas that initial foray was more a collection of songs, essentially a lengthy EP, I Want That You Are Always Happy is a cohesive, united work which not only sounds a lot more complete, but also marks a new beginning for a group who have already split up and reformed once. If [...]

The solo output of US songwriter Mickey Newbury (1940 – 2002) has always been overshadowed by more high-profile recordings of his tunes by stars the calibre of Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison (and more recently Will Oldham and Nick Cave). Apart from proving that Newbury was the by far the best interpreter of his own songs, this overdue, luxurious package that compiles three seminal yet long out-of-print early solo albums cut for Mercury and Elektra at Newbury’s late 60s/early 70s creative peak (complete with a fourth disc of demos, rarities and a previously unreleased radio session) leaves some [...]

Listening to Secret Cities latest record for the first time is a like opening a long-forgotten musical box again, and again, and again. Strange Hearts is packed full of what sound like familiar melodies and choruses, all jumbled up together and coated in a fuzzy layer of fond memories. The Midwestern melodramatists invite you to sway with their tender tones which slip lackadaisically from lo-fi calypso to crashing indie angst, as they opt for a slightly more dated sound than the one paraded on 2010 debut LP Pink Graffiti . And at first [...]

It's business as usual for the latest instalment in Mute's ongoing Bad Seeds reissue campaign that documents the, ahem, Evolution of the Cave-man. In other words, startling reminders of half-forgotten gems for long term Nick Cave fans and an eye-opening opportunity to bask in the majesty of prime Bad Seeds for newcomers. It's hard to think of another artist who could match Nick Cave's gradual ascension from the near-universal disdain The Birthday Party - Cave's early, notoriously unhealthy swamp-blues unit - were met with to the kind of liberal superlative-sampling that's welcomed [...]

From Dylan going electric to Gaga going jazz, there's always extra interest when an artist changes not just direction but dimension. On first listen, The Felice Brothers ' latest record comes from somewhere left of left field. Before Celebration, Florida , the band were best known for jaunty country stylings like 'Frankie's Gun' and shuffling, shambling ballads. However, even their more experimental cuts cannot quite prepare you for the extraordinary outburst of shouty hip pop chorus that graces 'Fire at the Pageant', a terrific, explosive, junkyard-meets-playground dead-man-walking rumpus; hustling, flustering and abrupt. [...]

The Flowerpot Sessions is the second compilation to be released from Communion Records, the brainchild of son of Mumford Ben Lovett and his label partners Kevin Jones and Ian Grimble. The trio decided to take over the legendary, yet sadly no longer with us Kentish Town venue, The Flowerpot and invite a bunch of their favourite musicians to come along, drink, collaborate and to record music during one extremely creative week. The result of these efforts takes the form of a two disc compilation featuring the likes of Angus & Julia Stone, Marcus Foster, Pete Roe, Sarah Blasko and [...]

With 80s-influenced synth pop oozing from every popular music pore at present any band signing up for this genre has to come up with something pretty special to stand out. Brooklyn trio Selebrities might just have done this – with their suitably hipster-friendly looks and NYC nonchalance, but most importantly, following a couple of promising singles and extended players, a full-length album that is more than up to the task. Having quietly slipped out their Ladies Man Effect EP last year,  Delusions gathers the promising notes paraded on that four-track [...]

The world of synth-pop is not undergoing any kind of a crisis as a result of a shortage of catchy choruses or danceable opportunities; there are far more bands who are decent purveyors of oscillating soundscapes rather than pedestrian artists with ill timed appreggiators, and finding interesting combinations of electronic beats and backgrounds is like finding hay in a haystack. Why should a duo based out of Germany stand out from the milieu? First off, they have a witty name involving word play paying tribute to the greatest synths of all time, the [...]

Mystery, anonymity and cryptic messages are all the rage it seems lately. The once imperative need for bands to stand against a decaying interior or wall graced with council estate grafitti, glaring a mixture of come-hither and angst has long since evaporated. Now, bands see it fit for their PR shots (if they have any) to be shrouded in a sense of allure and facade, relying on the good old 'show them less and they'll want to see more' pyschology theory. Don't get me wrong it works, but as always, you need the 'tunes', so to speak, to reinforce this yearning for more. [...]

It’s strange how Friendly Fires have been so successful without ever really having a proper hit single. Ok, so there was their slightly-limp-but-fairly-popul ar debut, ‘Paris’, but that failed to even make the UK Top 100. Then there was ‘Jump In The Pool’, which still missed out on a Top 50 chart position, with 'Skeleton Boy' faring only marginally better. And what about the totally unremarkable and completely forgettable ‘Kiss Of Life’? That performed slightly better than previous three, reaching the dizzy heights of number 30, but it still rounds off a pretty [...]

Full disclosure: I am, broadly, unconvinced by the oh-so-dark Scandinavian aesthetic. The wintry detachment that The Knife all but perfected has been revisited by countless others. They all aim for some sort of mystical aloofness, but more often than not the product is, to borrow from the Welsh, all surface, no feeling; too slippery, too unsubstantial. Many will, inevitably, file Austra away with the rest of the imitators. And this is not entirely without grounds. Feel It Break begins shakily, with the Andersson-aping ‘Darken Her Horse’ – a song that [...]

Was I The Wave? indeed. Fashions bleed into one another, even endless summers fade away eventually, but the blissful layered voices and spine-stroking melodies of The Beach Boys still form a crest on the pop surf, the zenith for anyone aiming to make something heavenly out of a few harmonies and a hook. In 2007, Miracle Fortress were the latest wave, their debut album Five Roses a jeweller's window of stunning gems, each of its dozen tracks offering up something to love, a tune to hold dear. Naturally, no one bought [...]