Featured releases
(Merge) CD & 2LP
It’s been a minute but Win Butler & co. still got the chops. The Suburbs retains the bombast & jubilation of the first 2 records, exploring middle-age frustration and malaise, not to far from the subject matter that The National hones in on. The classic Arcade Fire dynamic is still here, with the group still able to navigate emotional highs & lows, be it the punked up energy of “Month Of May” or the paced romanticism of “Wasted Hours”… welcome back!
Arcade Fires on the net
25 August 2010 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(Asthmatic Kitty) CD & LP
Victoria transplants Shapes & Sizes are an uncompromising avant-pop machine & on Candle To Your Eyes, they continue their string of challenging, artful guitar pop. Channeling no-wave geetars & their own distinct brand of mutant-indie-r&b, Shapes & Sizes confound again with another set of songs that weighs in heavy for fans of challenging, progressive indie-rock. For fans of Deerhoof & Menomena.
The size & shape of the internets
25 August 2010 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(independent) CD
Local Vic peeps with a penchant for intricate post-post-rock adventures. A hyper-literate bunch of virtuosic musicians contributes to a record that should turn the heads of those looking for intelligent, emotional music. Echoing the intensity of classic Mogwai & Godspeed, whilst displaying deft songwriting chops, this an album that deserves some local love.
You Versa The Web
25 August 2010 by Chris Long
| Local, Pop / Rock
After stints with New Pornographers & Immaculate Machine, Kathryn Calder steps out with a mature solo effort; Are You My Mother? orbits around Calder’s terminally ill mother & the songs borne of this are contemplative odes to the many paths one is offered in life. Balladry & pop hold hands all over this beautiful record.
Are you Kathryn online?
25 August 2010 by Chris Long
| Local, Pop / Rock
Midway through this year & we’re already saddled with a hefty amount of big’uns. The National, LCD Soundsystem, The Black Keys, Caribou & Broken Social Scene have all released stellar efforts over the last 6 months. But as always, mid-year is a great time to assess some of the not-so-hyped nook-&-cranny-type albums that you might not have heard or maybe just glazed over while reading a blog. So here thems is…
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today
(4AD) CD & LP
Ariel Pink has had a huge impact on DIY music over the last 3 years. The legend of his apparently vast vault of unheard music recorded to cassette from 1998-2002 is enough to hook the average music geek, but then there’s the tunes themselves; half-reimagined echoes of AM-radio pop & tuner dial errors. 80s new wave, lo-fi electro blippery, arm-in-arm feel good vibes & utter weirdness all blend together in a haze of modern tape-warped genius. Before Today bares a little more sheen than his historic swath of 7“s & cassettes but that’s fine, these tunes still retain the nostalgia & energy that keeps Ariel Pink one of indie music’s most enigmatic & magnetic fixtures.
Ariel Pink on the myspace
The Roots How I Got Over
(Def Jam) CD & 2LP
One of the great things about The Roots’ residency on Jimmy Fallon has been the affect it seems to be having on how they’re going to be remembered. Instead of “retiring” on the show (something the bad was apparently contemplating after a tough couple of years of slim sales & meek reviews), their creative fire has been reignited & the public’s perception of where they sit within the lineage of important hip-hop acts is being appropriately revised. THESE GUYS ARE LEGENDS. They’ve co-wrote, produced, collaborated & played live with virtually every important hip-hop artist of the last 15 years, seriously. Not to mention Tariq aka Black Thought (along with Pharoahe Monch) seems destined to go down in history as one of Hip-hop’s most underrated MCs… ANYWAY, How I Got Over – new album, chock full of emotionally grounded, mature, grown-ass hip-hop that sees The Roots collab with Jim James (of MMJ), Joanna Newsom, Dirty Projectors plus old haunts like John Legend & Dice Raw. Man, it’s nice to see some of hip-hop’s elder statesmen (Wu-Tang, Big Boi as well) reclaiming this bewildered genre.
The Roots on the myspace
Born Ruffians Say It
(Warp) CD & LP
Toronto-bred experimental poppers. Red, Blue & Yellow was a great post-Beach Boy vocal/guitar workout & Say it retains the agitated quirk & pep of that debut. Surf guitar, vox harmonies, neurotic wailing, spindly structures… in a world where Dirty Projectors are so highly regarded, Born Ruffians are certainly deserving of a second glance from fans of left-field, caterwauling indie-rock. “Sole Brother” fuses many disparate styles, but cohesively & fluidly; dry-as-bone guitar figures pin down otherwise sprawling ideas – it’s a great melange of what the fringes of pop has to offer at the moment.
Born Ruffians on the myspace
Blitzen Trapper Destroyer Of The Void
(Sub Pop) CD & 2LP
Another Portland band with serious chops, returning with another opus of 70s-inflected new classic rock. Eric Earley & crew straight up KNOW classic rock. From Laurel Canyon folkism to Band-era Dylan to Tom petty guitaring, they wrap all that’s good into one satisfying package that makes many plunderers of 70s lineage look silly. And that sums up Destroyer Of The Void. A great blend of everything that made 70s rock what it was: folk, prog, riffs, harmonies, saloon piano & killer harmonica. Plus relatable narratives that shimmy in cute aphorisms & ideas.
Blitzen Trapper on the myspace
Autechre Move Of Ten
(Warp) CD & 2 X 12”
After their return to melodicism coup-d’etat earlier this year, Sean Booth & Rob Brown hammer us with another 2010 release, the mechanical counterpart to the classic IDM ambiance of Oversteps. Move Of Ten is a rhythmic beast, grounded in tangible loops & recognizable meters of dystopian dissonance. As always, succinct sound design is the order of the day, but man, some of this stuff just straight BANGS. Ten new abstractions of rhythm, texture & pseudo-melodic inclinations. Opener “Etchogon-S” freaks 808 drums down a k-hole of verbed-out synths while “pce Freeze 28i” lumbers along at broken-beat measures… quietly, but surely, these two are cementing their place in the lineage connecting Kraftwerk, Detroit, Warp & the future. Truly mesmerizing, unearthly imaginings.
Ae’s Warp page
10 July 2010 by Chris Long
| Avant-Garde, Electronic, Hip-Hop, Pop / Rock
(Editions Mego) CD/LP
Emeralds leave the noise-glitch elements of earlier recording efforts behind for the refined burbling pop of Does It Look Like I’m Here. Compromised mostly of analog synthesizers and an array of harmonious guitar loops, this whole record arrpegiates around with relentless grandeur to paint out some serious cosmic space glimmer. Like an M83 interlude painted into a spiral galaxy.
Listen here...
30 June 2010 by Tara Campbell
(Merge) 3 X 10”
At long last, this masterpiece from Stephen Merritt appears on wax, filling in one of the largest gaps in any indie-rock fan’s vinyl collection. What can be said about 69 Love Songs that hasn’t already been said? I’m not sure what it’s lasting legacy is: the ludicrous scope of this massive anthology of ballads or the fact that through SIXTY NINE tunes, there’s nary a dud! Merritt was in amazing form here, from post-Smiths charmers & synth-pop ditties to crushing mopers & stripped down poems. It’s a relief that gems like “No One Will Ever Love You”, “Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure”, “(Crazy for You But) Not That Crazy” & “I Think I Need A New Heart” can now be played on yer trusty old turntable.
12 May 2010 by Chris Long
| Reissued / Remastered
(Dead Oceans) CD & 2LP
Another amazing record from local legends Frog Eyes & possibly the one to see them finally reap the acclaim they deserve. From the opening guitar stirrings of “A Flower In A Glove”, the band are in fine form, but particularly Carey Mercer, who’s vocals move from caterwauling howls to sarcastic barking, leading the typical Frog Eyes maelstrom in strong fashion. We are proud.
The eyes of frogs don’t really look at MySpace…
8 May 2010 by Chris Long
| Avant-Garde, Local, Pop / Rock
(Dead Oceans) CD & LP
A two person project burgeoning out from the whirling pop dreaminess of Massachusetts native Casey Daniel, Kairos’ relatively simple instrumentation is reminiscent in mood to Beach House. With vocals alluding to both Angel Deradoorian (Dirty Projectors) & Joni Mitchell, Kairos is whimsical but sincere, forming a well-tailored world between spectrums of ethereal pop & dub-flavoured ambience.
White Hinterland’s Myspace
8 May 2010 by Chris Long
| Pop / Rock
(Warp) CD, LP soon
Stephen Ellison returns after the slow build of global hype that surrounded Los Angeles. Cosmagramma still bears the claustrophobic funk of L.A., but is less concerned with traditional ”beat” blueprints – instead, FlyLo branches out & spends a lot of time star gazing; psychedelia is the order here, yielding some catatonic head nod gems. In truth, Cosmagramma is an ALBUM, looking for “the hit” is pointless – take it all in at once to receive the fruits. Harps, noise blasts, disco & a massive dollop of jazz make this a rewarding trek. Let’s see everyone try & bite this.
Flying Lotus’ MySpace
8 May 2010 by Chris Long
| Electronic, Hip-Hop
More featured releases...
