• Preoccupations – Preoccupations

    September 13, 2016 - By 

    What’s in a name? For Toronto’s Preoccupations, their previous moniker ended up presenting more trouble than they could have anticipated. Releasing an EP and self-titled album as Viet Cong in 2015, their name seemed only to compliment the dark, unsparing and even brutal music that they played, with few reviews drawing any attention to the group’s political insensitivity (it had done little harm to their post punk forbearers Joy Division and Gang Of Four). However, as the band grew in stature so too did internet protests, questioning how four white westerners found it fit they should name themselves after violent Asian paramilitaries in search of some…

  • August Wells – Madness is the Mercy

    September 9, 2016 - By 

    Over 20 years since his emergence with shoegaze band Rollerskate Skinny (with none other than Jimi Shields, brother of My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin) and a CV that includes stints fronting New York alt-rock band Favourite Sons and his own solo project Kid Silver, Dublin native Kenneth Griffin shows no sign of letting up from his multifaceted musical pursuits, with his latest venture August Wells – formed in 2012 with New York pianist John Rauchenberger – recently signing to Cork’s FIFA Records (Forever In Financial Arrears) for this second LP. Griffin’s impressive croon is the first thing you hear at the start of opener ‘Here in the…

  • Angel Olsen – My Woman

    September 5, 2016 - By 

    I’ve never been able keep a diary. Having to articulate and make sense of the thoughts that muddle my mind used to be a terrifying and daunting ordeal. The first song I heard by Angel Olsen was ‘The Waiting’, from her first full length studio album, Half Way Home. In this song, she sings about fruitlessly and foolishly waiting for someone to reciprocate a feeling of fulfilment that we are capable of giving to ourselves. It just takes a little time to reach that realisation.That shift from interdependence to independence allows you to appreciate the inevitable contentions in life as a twenty-something with an unfettered honesty…

  • Factory Floor – 25 25

    September 1, 2016 - By 

    Factory Floor’s 2013 debut record on DFA records was a feat of vicious genre blending: the hammering of analog synths together with frenetic live percussion, the creeping noise and post-punk vocals being layered on top of metallic guitars. From the tribal drums and robotic vocal echoes on ‘Turn It Up’ to the frenzied synths and disharmonious mantra of ‘Two Different Ways’ it was a debut that assaulted the boundaries between techno and punk, feeling industrial and at times cold but simultaneously enveloping and remarkable. It triumphed in its disjointedness, in its chaotic sultriness, as capable of triggering a mosh pit…

  • James Vincent McMorrow – We Move

    September 1, 2016 - By 

    This being his third musical endeavour, Dubliner James Vincent Mcmorrow’s We Move is an exciting and re-energized collection brimming with eleven brilliant laid back grooves. His 2010 debut, Early In The Morning, served as a charming introduction to his style, his sombre tone slotting nicely into the indie folk genre, a record comprised of melancholic, angst-laden tracks. His 2013 neo-soul influenced follow-up however took an unsuspected turn, echoing elements of hip hop, electronica and R&B. What he would delve into after that was anyone’s guess. Having worked with major league producer Nineteen85, McMorrow manages to blend his original folk-inspired sound with something more unique. There’s a…

  • Teenage Fanclub – Here

    August 31, 2016 - By 

    Summer’s over, but summer’s here…how can that be? That’s the perennial effect of a Teenage Fanclub album – “Simple pleasures are all we need/ Sinful leisure, it’s all we need.” Recorded between Provence, Glasgow and Hamburg, Here is album number ten from a band that took the seeds sown by the finest B-bands – Big Star above all else – and made the heartlands of Scotland a rival to the American west coast when it came to pristine pop music. The time between their records has been unhurriedly expanding – six years on from Shadows the template remains unchanged as ‘I’m In Love’ strums Here…

  • Glass Animals – How to Be a Human Being

    August 31, 2016 - By 

    Glass Animals’ sparse, trip-hop influenced sonic textures, coupled with Dave Bayley’s quietly seductive vocals, made debut album Zaba a critical and commercial hit, selling an impressive 500,000 copies worldwide. Bayley’s obscure lyrics added to the record’s haze, more concerned with extending it’s dreamy ambiguity than in storytelling. Their second long-player, How To Be A Human Being, is a different story entirely, with each song seeing Bayley assume the voice of a different character the band met on the road in support of Zaba. Following up a successful debut with a concept album may seem like an over the top risk, but this is no Drones: the…

  • Frank Ocean – Blond

    August 30, 2016 - By 

    Fame is a funny thing; mercurial, fickle and often fleeting. Once back in the mists of time people became famous just for what they did but now, in our pervasive, insistent culture it’s hard to even distinguish between what someone is and what they actually do. And that’s Frank’s story, ever since his rise as the most credible member of internet championed dysfunctionals OFWGKTA Frank has existed in a place where he and his music are scrutinised, obsessed over and disassembled. Yet it is a wave that Frank doesn’t just ride, but seems to have actively tamed. Ever since the comments on his sexuality, the…

  • Lisa Hannigan – At Swim

    August 23, 2016 - By 

    Prior to the release of Lisa Hannigan‘s third solo album, At Swim, a wave of commentary washed away any preconceived perceptions people may have towards her musical style as she unveiled glimpses into a fuller, darker deftness to her repertoire. At Swim comes after a five year interim from her last record, Passenger. The eleven songs, lasting a concise thirty-nine minutes, are more pared but by no means feel compromised or lacking in either content, tone and instrumental arrangements to her previous albums. The discernment gone into making this record adds to the substance and timelessness of the songs born from sublime…

  • Exploded View – Exploded View

    August 19, 2016 - By 

    Formed in somewhat Atoms For Peace-esque circumstances, Exploded View came together in 2014 when ‘UK-born, Berlin-based political-journalist-turned-musician’ Anika put a band together in Mexico to tour her solo work there, before finding that her and her new group, made up of local musicians and producers Martin Thulin, Hugo Quezada and Amon Melgarejo, had a natural chemistry that deserved to be committed to tape. The resulting self-titled album, released on the ever reliable Sacred Bones label, is cut from similar cloth to Anika’s 2010 solo album – a collaboration with Portishead side project Beak – but is infinitely more accomplished and…