Solange - Losing You
Now Playing – twice every week, a roundtable of our writers will give their views on some of the recently-released new tracks. It’s as simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.
Track: ‘Losing You’ by Solange … Continue Reading
This Many Boyfriends - This Many Boyfriends
By Kenny McMurtrie
Having never been that much of a fan of The Pastels (despite Stephen Pastel running a tight ship in the music department at the sorely missed Hillhead branch of John Smith’s bookstores), there was a good chance myself and This Many Boyfriends wouldn’t get on in person seeing as track six on this enjoyably energetic debut album of theirs is called ‘I Don’t Like You (Cos You Don’t Like The Pastels)’. Best to get these things out in the open early on. … Continue Reading
Moon Duo - Circles
By Kenny McMurtrie
Having caught up quickly with Moon Duo’s previous output earlier on this year (and finding it more appealing overall than ‘parent’ group Wooden Shjips’ work) it was with great satisfaction that I learned there wasn’t long to wait for new material by the twosome.
Preceded by the release of the video for opener ‘Sleepwalker’, wherein King Khan oversees an exercise class you’d not see Eric Prydz dead at, this time around there seems to be some disco creeping into the space-rock template on Circles. The underlying drone is still very present but the urge to groove about the place supplants the more usual one of just head bobbing. … Continue Reading
Mika - The Origin of Love
By Stef Siepel
The release of Mika’s first album is as long as five years ago, though it seems like it must surely have been last year. The songs were popular, immensely so. The singles were vibrant, colorful, but also kind of hyper. Perhaps if you did not like the sugar rush of ‘Grace Kelly’ or ‘Big Girls’, there was not much else in the songs that might redeem it. So I guess it was polarizing to an extent, though attracting so many fans that, for them, who cares? It will be interesting to see though if on his new album The Origin of Love, with an armada of collaborators, Mika can find a sweet spot for both his fans and for those who tuned out when they had to hear ‘Relax, Take It Easy’ for the umpteenth time. … Continue Reading
Tame Impala - Lonerism
By Kenny McMurtrie
Album number three from the Australian quartet Tame Impala finds them in a ponderous yet heavy mode. Some of you will by now be acquainted with the Black-Sabbath-meets-Wizzard glam stomp of the track ‘Elephant’ from the trailer for the new season of E4’s Made In Chelsea – rather an odd choice for the band, but it’s all money in the bank I suppose. That’s probably the best song on the album but a number of others are not without merit. … Continue Reading
Efterklang - Piramida
By Russell Warfield
About the time that I started listening to Piramida, I happened to hear previous album highlight ‘Modern Drift’ pumping through a cinema theatre backing some self important advert or other, and it struck me how – in spite of their apparent understatement – Efterklang have always been writing for the big screen. And so it’s ironic that while Piramida manages to be the most ambitiously expansive and cinematic of their works so far, it’s probably the least likely to end up soundtracking the promotion of luxury goods, being as it is their most sparse and restrained offering to date as well. Taking its genesis from foraging for found sounds and ambience in a derelict town near the North Pole, its pulses of silence, sense of space and restraint are unsurprising. But Piramida retains all the power and uplift which Efterklang have come to be known for – the thinly populated bedrocks of arrangement making the stabs of colour shine all the brighter, rendering it perhaps the strongest and most engrossing of their LPs yet. … Continue Reading
By Robert Freeman
September 24, 2012
Permanently becaptacled James Yorkston writes interesting and strange songs that weave the personal with the anecdotal, oral tradition*, and so-called ‘tall tales.’ Yorkston is a product of his environment, fashioning beautiful pop music out of the landscape of the sea, the mist and the tides. As a live act he succeeds in balancing the sombre and personal with an irreverence and humour that is truly endearing. … Continue Reading
Tropics - Popup Cinema
By Stef Siepel
The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.
Track of the week: ‘Popup Cinema’ by Tropics
Last year British producer Chris Ward, aka Tropics, released his debut Parodia Flare, and this is a new track from his hand (seeing an EP release on the 5th of next month). It starts really atmospheric and, well, a bit slow really, with at one point the vocals coming in ever so British. Very fragile, which fits the track to that point. Then you get a little bit of percussion in there, but the real turn comes at 1:22 when the beat first appears. The piano still gives you that bit of a melancholic feeling, but now the pace is upped a bit as well. In the mean time, naturally, he continues to add sounds and altered vocals, and the latter sound like they’re trapped in a box and can’t get out. Then the clear vocals come in again in all their vulnerability. They get a bit of the spotlight on them as Tropics takes away the beat for a moment, and after that he first goes percussion before he lets the beat return again. I think it’s a really lovely track. Very delicate piece of work this, which still has a bit of pace because of the beat, and its high on atmosphere. Definitely ups the anticipation for his sophomore turn. … Continue Reading
Savages - I Am Here EP
By Paul Faller
It’s been a good week for Savages – not only did they release their debut EP I Am Here, they also gave an incendiary performance on Later… With Jools Holland that exposed Mumford & Sons as the tedious dullards they really are. For any band to release a live EP so early in their career is a bold move, but for Savages it’s simultaneously a logical one – it’s logical because the band’s current reputation is built around their live shows, and bold because it demonstrates a significant level of confidence in their own abilities.
For those who are new to the band, they’re a London based, all-female four-piece who make brooding post-punk that’s not afraid to get loud and chaotic – savage, if you will (sorry). Think Siouxsie Sioux fronting Joy Division, or for a 21st century comparison, a more focused version of what The Horrors were doing on their first record – less shock, more awe. (I don’t mean that in an unkind way, either – I liked the first Horrors record.) … Continue Reading
Wave Machines - Ill Fit
Now Playing – every week, a roundtable of our writers will give their views on one of the recently-released new tracks. It’s as simple as that! If you want to tell us what you think of the song, feel free to leave a comment below.
Track: ‘Ill Fit by Wave Machines … Continue Reading
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