• Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest

    June 12, 2013 - By 

    When you do something that is almost undefinable, how do you satisfy an intense demand for it? This is the situation Boards of Canada face on their new album, and it’s a testament to the cohesive creative vision the band have displayed over their career that they not only manage to meet the expectations, but in some cases exceed them. But for those who’ve been waiting for Tomorrow’s Harvest, there’s going to be a few surprises in store.   Regardless of how you came to the band – long-term fan, or just swept up in the hype – Tomorrow’s Harvest…

  • Classic Album: Slowdive – Souvlaki

    June 7, 2013 - By 

    If we were to transport someone from the mid-90s to the present day, they’d almost certainly be in for a shock. Not at the political situation of the earth, although that is a cause for great concern in every single person’s life. They might not be shocked by the technological dominance in our society, perhaps seeing that as a sign that they’re in the future, and that far-out space-age technology now exists. They might even wonder where we keep our flying cars. No, the most shocking thing that our mid-90s time traveller would almost certainly encounter would be the continued…

  • Laurel Halo – Behind The Green Door EP

    June 6, 2013 - By 

    Laurel Halo originally emerged as a late starter in the much maligned chillwave explosion that took place a few years ago, although she could only be marginally associated with most of those acts. For better or worse, chillwave introduced a love of texture and ambience to pop music, allowing people to play about with concepts of time and temperature. Much of chillwave’s output captured a hazy, warm sound, redolent of infinite summer days on the beach, the kind of days most of us never had. On her latest release, Laurel Halo gives us something else. ‘Throw’ is all chilly, Balearic…

  • Getting Re-acquainted: ‘Breaking The Law’

    May 31, 2013 - By 

    Part of metal’s appeal is its terminal uncoolness. It can’t be co-opted, it isn’t ‘hip’, and it doesn’t easily translate to a mass audience. Sure, sometimes it has a dalliance with the mainstream, but there are always the hardcore contingent who take it to extremes, and they’re the ones who are still there when it slinks back to the darkness. Metal is, and always will be, outsider music. And if being uncool is what makes metal cool, then Judas Priest must be the coolest band on the planet. Their 1980 single ‘Breaking the Law’ remains their signature tune, and also…

  • The Story Behind: Hüsker Dü (Part II of II)

    May 25, 2013 - By 

    With Husker Du’s drive and aspiration was going to come into conflict with the orthodoxy of hardcore,  for the world at large, their meteoric development was continuing to deliver the goods, and their second album of 1985 would somehow manage to raise the bar even further. Flip Your Wig boasted improved production values, giving the band a sparkling and clean sound for the first time, as well as highlighting the intensely creative and rewarding songwriting rivalry that existed between Bob Mould and Grant Hart. The two men had been peppering the albums with gem after gem, but Flip You Wig…

  • “Social Consciousness and Bono”: Nomeansno interviewed

    May 24, 2013 - By 

    In 1979, two brothers got together in a basement in Canada, and began making noise. In 2013, that noise shows no sign of dissipating. Nomeansno have blazed a trail through punk rock, tackling the subjects that few others would dare to, and experiencing more reinventions than a gaggle of scientists at a reinventing convention.  Currently somewhere out there in the world, preaching the gospel, Steven Rainey caught up with guitarist Tom Holliston to get the low-down on the career that never should have been. Nomeansno are an enigma. Wrapped in a conundrum, if you like. Whatever suits you. A lot…

  • Classic Album: The Smashing Pumpkins – Adore

    May 17, 2013 - By 

    It starts with the sound of twilight, that special moment when the air seems to vibrate, and time stands still. Over plucked acoustic guitar, a breathy voice intones warm whispers, comforting and safe. “The sky’s cruel torch on aching autobahn.” It is a moment that signifies change, and just over an hour later, everything is different. Put simply, this was the end of an era. In a career categorised by controversies, Adore perhaps remains the Smashing Pumpkins’ most difficult moment. Music, and the world in general, was undergoing a period of transition, a tumultuous decade finally careering to a halt.…

  • Classic Album: Boards of Canada – Music Has The Right To Children

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    Having finally announced Tomorrow’s Harvest – the follow up to 2005’s magnficent The Campfire Headphase – Steven Edward Rainey casts his mind’s eye back fifteen years to revisit Edinburgh duo Boards of Canada’s landmark 1998, Warp-released debut album Music Has The Right To Children. _____ Gazing out at us, stand seven figures. Two are turned away, whilst the remainder are directly facing us. Against a mountain background, this sexless group of adults and children pose for a photograph, immune to the effects of time or geography, their faces rubbed away to reveal a smooth, featureless surface, betraying nothing. In a realistic…

  • The Story Behind: Hüsker Dü (Part I)

    May 3, 2013 - By 

    The sky is the colour of a television tuned to a dead channel. The ground is muddy and wet, and the detritus from wrecked automobiles are all around. Three figures stand, apart, but somehow together, and the air has the static charge of electricity. This is the Zen Arcade, and anything can happen here. When it was released in 1984, Hüsker Dü’s Zen Arcade immediately stood out as being something new. Previously, the band had been one of the initial glut of American bands inspired by the thrilling rush of punk, taking the form and making it harder, faster, more aggressive, becoming…