Tennis – Cape Dory

When Janelle Monae unleashed her magnum opus The Archandroid on us last year, it wasn’t just her impassioned blend of Prince meets Outkast funk-pop that ensnared the imagination. No, it was as much the ambitious story of a messianic android forced to go on the run after falling in love with a human that brought her extravagant vision to life.

While married couple Tennis, Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, might not inhabit the same musical circles as the aforementioned chanteuse, their debut, concept album Cape Dory, is based on a something as equally enthralling as Monae’s Afrofuturistic odyssey – the heady temptress of real-life adventure. … Continue Reading

Cake – Showroom Of Compassion

It would be naive to suggest that a lot of bands these days reform for anything other than a fistful of cold hard cash – for better or for worse, whether we like it or not, nostalgia has become a profitable commodity. While every now and then its exploitation can gift us the opportunity to see the likes of Pavement or Pulp rattle through their bulging back catalogues once again, for every Blur, there’s a Limp Bizkit waiting in the wings. … Continue Reading

Singles of the Week: 3rd January 2011

Our singles of the week column return for the new year, featuring Cheryl Cole, White Lies, Broken Records and more. … Continue Reading

DVAS – Society

DVAS - Society

At a time when the dance music is teeming with booming, convoluted dubstep-bass and the dark aggression of grime crossovers, amongst all the wobbling, DVAS’ debut is like a blinding hot, white light to the eyes. So much in fact that its arrival seems almost ill-timed. Exploding in waves of cascading rainbow colours, Canadian duo Jered Stuffco and Darren Veres’ synth-drenched electro is like a Carebear Stare brightening up the dark corners of our dance floors.

Pastiche is an integral part of the DVAS agenda and they plunder unabashedly and extensively from the ’80s, disco house and the majority of Daft Punk’s back catalogue. Of course the ’80s was abounding with pop synth duos, and comparable to the likes of Pet Shop Boys, Erasure and Eurythmics, it is muscular melodies and heady, feverish hooks that reside at the shiny core of DVAS material. … Continue Reading

Dios – We Are Dios

Dios - We Are Dios

Anyone who’s been wondering what the hell Dios have been doing in the last three years are about to have their questions resoundingly answered. The truth is that given the scope and weirdness of this, their third album, We Are Dios, we guess it was always going to take them some time to put it together.

After their 2004 self-titled debut garnered the LA band some much deserved attention, it was a shame 2007’s follow-up dios (malos) was derided in comparison. It seemed that in between having to change their name – from Dios to dios (malos) after metal veteran Ronnie Dio came creaking after them croaking legal action – and hiring a producer – incidentally Modest Mouse and Shins-man Phil Ek – they had forgotten how to write a good song. Thankfully though, the band have headed back to their home recording studio, the (malos) has been dropped, as has the malaise, and from the ominous opening of ‘Epileptic Tunnel Visions’ it’s clear they’ve dusted off that lo-fi, experimental and spacey ethos that served them so well before. … Continue Reading

Teenagersintokyo – Sacrifice

Teenagersintokyo - Sacrifice

Nestled amid Sydney’s disgustingly good-looking curves and sun-kissed sand and surf, while the hot-bod, bronzed ones roasted like BBQ chicken, indie vampires were lovingly caressing the city’s dark corners. And they were bewitched by throbbing basslines, ensnared by New Romantic-esque synths, and their hearts quickened to the likes of Ultravox, Depeche Mode and The Cure. … Continue Reading

Future Islands – In Evening Air

Future Islands - In Evening Air

Baltimore “post-wave” synth-wielders Future Islands may not walk with us through entirely original pastures – their woozy ever-so-slightly elegiac sound has been likened to of New Order, the Postal Service and general lost 80s dreampop – but that doesn’t prevent this, their second full length album, and their first with the Thrill Jockey label, from being one of the most surprisingly lovely releases of 2010 so far. … Continue Reading

Surfer Blood – Astro Coast

Surfer Blood - Astro Coast

If ever there was a band to take on the likes of the Beach Boys or Metallica for the accolade of having a moniker that most sonically embodies their soul and substance, it would be Surfer Blood. Put simply, Astro Coast is the perfect summer record; sun-drenched, breezy and uncomplicated, awash with visions of beach campfires under the stars and hedonistic youth. It sounds like music for surfers made by surfers but if blog-lore is to believed, these Floridians don’t catch the waves themselves – theirs is more conceptual style over lifestyle. … Continue Reading

Cate Le Bon – Me Oh My

Cate le Bon - Me Oh My

With her vampish bowl-haircut and blackened eyelids, Welsh chanteuse Cate Le Bon could pass as the third member of Telepathe. Only sonically, she’s opted to eschew layers of stroke-of-midnight hypnotics for simple, stark compositions, taking the listener to intimate places and keeping firm hold of those achingly hipster credentials.

And who knew things were getting so morbid over the border these days? Me Oh My, Le Bon’s witching (half) hour, was recorded for mentor and Super Furry Animal Gruff Rhys’ Irony Bored label after she appeared on his Neon Neon side-project album, Stainless Style. But whereas the sleazy electro glide of the track in question, ‘I Lust U’, didn’t allow for the eccentricities of her Nico-imbued vocal or her urge to write about death and darkness, the fact she initially wanted to call this debut ‘Pet Deaths’ speaks volumes about what fascinates her most. … Continue Reading

Ebony Bones – Bone Of My Bones

Ebony Bones - Bone Of My Bones

One look at Ebony Bones’ MySpace page and your eyes might pop. Listen to the tracks up there and you’re headed for an overload of the sense – bright colours, feathers, whistles and glitter all amalgamating with her mix of carnivalesque punk, funk, and afrobeat. Through a spate of animated, unpredictable shows and performances in wild costumes stacked up to the neck with home-made multi-coloured foam rings, Bones caught our attention. Now it’s time to see if her debut album can justify the hype.

Bones’ first desideratum was to create something that sounded like London – something glamorous, coquettish and fierce and which captured the cultural diversity and frenzied cacophony of the capital – and for the first half of her debut at least, she’s succeeded.

Opener ‘W.A.R.R.I.O.R.’ is an apt way to introduce her chaotic but catchy sound, with a hollow hand-clapped beat, squelchy bassline and crashing cymbals amidst tribal chanting. It establishes Bones as a feisty, no–nonsense breed of pop star. But it’s from the ensuing Orwellian-themed ‘We Know All About You’ where the album really begins to gather speed. The same oozing electronic nub is employed again, only this time with a sinister yet addictive undercurrent accompanying threatening lyrics (“where you live, where you go, we know all about you yes we do…”) and underpinning layers of cowbells, whistles, schizophrenic beats and shrill yelps. … Continue Reading