• Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Wig Out at Jagbags

    January 8, 2014 - By 

    Whether he likes it or not, Stephen Malkmus is one of the building blocks of indie rock, an essential strand of DNA that manifests itself in certain choices and attitudes towards music that have dominated the agenda since about 1990 or so. And since the messy dissolution of dear, departed Pavement back in 1999, he has more or less done everything he can to distance himself from that role, picking up his guitar, and soloing long into the 21st century, reinventing himself as a kind of Jerry Garcia for the post-Nirvana age. Which, it might generally be assumed, is a…

  • Various Artists – 30 Years of R&S Records

    December 11, 2013 - By 

    The compilation album has historically been a source of contention, usually compounded by the good and the bad and resulting in a scattershot collection of material that never quite satisfies. These glorified mix-tapes exemplify how little some labels actually care about providing good music to the consumer and it’s about time somebody gave the format a bloody good kick up the arse.  It’s with this in mind that we say thank you R&S records for dishing out said arse-kicking and delivering us from mind-numbing banality in the form of the celebratory collection, 30 Years of R&S which marks, funnily enough,…

  • Darkside – Psychic

    November 14, 2013 - By 

    With a sound residing somewhere between Tangerine Dream circa Thief and Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, the debut full length from Darkside (Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington) makes for a compelling mission statement that should have the hippest of Brooklynites dribbling with pleasure. The New York natives have created something special in Psychic; unique even by contemporary standards and perhaps best measured by the spirit of independence that Jaar brings to the mixing desk and, just as importantly, by the melodic, bluesy sensibilities that Harrington offers.  This isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. The sheer beauty of the soundscapes on this…

  • Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind

    November 5, 2013 - By 

    Having remixed and collaborated with some of the most influential artists of his generation (Aphex Twin, Thom Yorke and the xx to name a few), it’s a relatively safe assumption to say that Four Tet, aka Kieran Hebden, is a man who gets around.  That’s not to say he’s some sort of musical village bicycle, but he’s certainly not short of admirers or musicians willing to take the proverbial ride (ahem).  It’s with good reason though. Should you find yourself flicking through Hebden’s back catalogue, there is more than enough evidence to suggest that the man has both a swell…

  • Future of the Left – How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident

    October 31, 2013 - By 

    I think it’s fair to say that every now and then a person like Future of the Left frontman Andy Falkous is needed. He’s a man whose piss and vinegar vitriolic diatribes would fit comfortably with the George Carlins, Lenny Bruces, Charlie Brookers and Bill Hickses of the world. These are people who can stare into the unending abyss that we know as culture, see the gunk that halts the gears of progression and report back to us with details of the horrors from the underbelly that are steadily herding us toward the trappings of insanity, idiocy and incompetence. Plus…

  • The Dismemberment Plan – Uncanney Valley

    October 24, 2013 - By 

    It’s strange meeting an old friend after an extended absence. Will they be the same person that you remember?  I first listened to the Dismemberment Plan during a hospital stay and it was during this time that Emergency & I and the band who created that album became very close to my heart. So when the band announced their new album – their first in 12 years –  I was genuinely afraid to hear it. I didn’t know if I could stand listening to this band and knowing that what mattered so much to me was just a passing thing.…

  • Pelican – Forever Becoming

    October 22, 2013 - By 

    Woah. It’s apparent from the gargantuan opening thuds of ‘Terminal’ that Chicago riffmongers Pelican have undergone some major surgery in the four years since the lacklustre What We All Come to Need limped into earshot. Indeed, it transpires that founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec has flown the nest, to be replaced by The Swan King’s Dallas Thomas. Gone, too, are the grungy guitars, spacier textures and vocal dabblings of the previous record; Pelican 2013 is an angrier beast, pounding the listener with monolithic slabs of guitar abuse, pummelling rhythms and huge bottom end. If all this sounds strangely familiar, it’s because…

  • Mojo Fury – The Difference Between

    October 23, 2013 - By 

    Having successfully completed a pledge campaign to ensure its release, the ever singular Mojo Fury unveil the sprawling mastery of The Difference Between having reignited the fire in the hearts of their fanbase. Considering the almost necessary participation of the latter, not to mention the band’s own open-handed generosity in return, there is a very real sense of both camps being in it together. That said, with the grandiose silhouette of their groundbreaking 2011 debut album Visiting Hours of a Travelling Circus looming large in the background, the question remains: will the Mike Mormecha-fronted band falter in the wake of huge expectation or…

  • Grey Reverend – A Hero’s Lie

    October 17, 2013 - By 

    Getting tied up in a cycle of habitual listening is all too easy. Weeks can go by where Hip Hop turns to House, House turns to Techno, and Techno to IDM and so on until the breadth of music discovered becomes a cross to bear, outweighing the pleasure sought from the outset. Trapped, for lack of a better word, in one’s own rituals. With that in mind, breaking the habit with a chance discovery of an old favourite can be a useful exercise in re-calibrating one’s approach to musical tastes, if not a relief from the norm. As much as…

  • Gambles – Trust

    October 15, 2013 - By 

    New York-based singer-songwriter Matthew Daniel Siskin knows full well the traditions that he carries on his shoulders when he sings on his debut album, Trust. Siskin’s musical idols – the likes of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith – have all obtained legendary status in an overcrowded genre where vocals and an acoustic guitar are all that are needed to convey the most powerful of emotions.  But it’s true that for every Dylan or Tallest Man On Earth there are ten if not fifty unnecessary and unoriginal fanboy acts, which only serve to dilute the enjoyment that there is…