Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me

Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me

Reviewing the new Joanna Newsom record mere days after its release feels like a self-defeating task.  While all music writing is essentially various attempts to express the inherently inexpressible (and you can either fail well or badly), the sheer size, scope and intricacy of Have One On Me guarantees failure – at this stage, fans, musicians and critics are still just listening; there should be no writing – I should probably stop here. This is an album that unwittingly acts as a retort to the people who bemoan the speed at which music is consumed nowadays – it’s a triple album, composed largely on a harp, and the second track is an eleven minute song about a daddy long legs. You can’t blog Have One On Me; you can’t cherry-pick the singles and delete the rest. Welcome back, Joanna Newsom. … Continue Reading

Jesca Hoop – Hunting My Dress

Jesca Hoop

You would think that there were enough kooky female singer-songwriters to go around. But while Jesca Hoop undoubtedly sometimes sounds similar to Bjork, Bat For Lashes, Regina Spektor and so on, somehow her own quirks come to the fore making her a very different and special proposition.

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Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

Tegan and Sara

Sainthood is an album will likely go by unnoticed in the majority of the public. For all of their brilliance in producing songs with intimate lyrics and superb hooks, Tegan And Sara have yet to make a huge impact in the UK, as they have done in their native Canada.

It’s not as if they don’t deserve the attention either.  Last year’s The Con was by and large praised by critics and fans alike in developing their sound, something that they refine in Sainthood.

Produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla, all the tracks feel tauter and there are fewer light-hearted tracks as may have been found in previous albums.  That’s not to say that they’ve lost the dulcet charms of previous singles like ‘Back In Your Head’, rather that the album is a split of pulsating, beat-driven tracks and throwbacks to the teenage sound of So Jealous. … Continue Reading

The Twilight Sad – Forget The Night Ahead

Forget The Night Ahead

It’s a given that music will, more often than not, become a vessel for emotion – a certain melody or the specific tone of a particular voice allow an artist to convey emotion, or become associated with a particular emotion by a listener. Songs originate from a specific emotional state and, somewhere in the space between the musician and the ears of whoever is listening, they become deeply connected to the most unrelated events. Noise works in much the same way – different sounds trigger different memories and emotions in different ways.

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New album by The Clientele due in October

The Clientele

The Clientele will release their fifth album on October 6th. Entitled Bonfires on the Heath, it is the follow up to 2007’s God Save The Clientele.

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Jay Z’s The Blueprint 3 has a tracklist and cover!

The Blueprint 3

Details on Jay Z’s new record, The Blueprint 3, have been gradually emerging over the past few weeks – now the record has an official cover and tracklist, and there’s special guests a-plenty.

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Richard Hawley’s Truelove’s Gutter on the way in September

Richard Hawley

Sheffield songwriter Richard Hawley will release his new album in September on Mute records. It’s called Truelove’s Gutter and is eight tracks long.

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Kid Harpoon – Once

Kid Harpoon - Once

For a while it seemed as if Kid Harpoon was a bit dormant. After two reasonably celebrated EPs, support slots for the likes of Mystery Jets and The Kooks and undoubtedly a bunch of others, it seemed as if Tom Hull (for that is his name) went for a snooze somewhere. In reality he seemingly had a bit of trouble to record his songs in a manner he felt comfortable with, which accounts for the much delayed resurgence of this singer/songwriter hailing originally from Chatham but who is kind of a Londoner now. New single ‘Stealing Cars’ was released earlier this year, and the debut album Once is finally ready to get to the masses.

Probably his most well-known track is ‘Riverside’, of the Second EP, a clip for it featuring Florence (she of The Machines), and one with a definite twist and bite. So surprising it perhaps is to hear ‘Stealing Cars’ and, batting third, ‘Back From Beyond’, of which the accompanying music feels kind of euphoric. “Put your hands up if you feel you’re in love,” he sings on the first. That’s positive. “Did you see the way that I was when I was down?”, he sings third. Well, egoistical notions a flailing, we kind of liked the music you churned out when you were (seemingly) down Tom. ‘Riverside’ with all its grit, not too shabby actually. … Continue Reading

Final Fantasy signs to Domino and announces new album

Final Fantasy

Canadian violin-looper Final Fantasy a.k.a Owen Pallett a.k.a. arranger of strings on pretty much every half-decent indie album from the last few years (and the new Mika album!) has announced that he has signed to Domino records. The label will issue his next album in early 2010.

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The Big Pink stream their debut album for free

The Big Pink

Much-hyped electro-rock duo The Big Pink have made their debut album available to hear for free from their official site. A Brief History of Love, due to be released on 14th September, is available at www.musicfromthebigpink.com for one week only.

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