Foals – Total Life Forever
Foals’ debut Antidotes descended on my ears like a plague of locusts – scratchy, scritchy, and annoying as chronic livestock failure. Total Life Forever, thankfully, doesn’t make me want to
Swimming With Caribou: Dan Snaith Interviewed
We took a vote, and the results confirmed suspicions: the new Caribou album is the best thing ever. Infectious, viscous dance music with an unprecedented emotional depth, Swim is impressive…
Big Dish Go
Like footballers, the shelf life for promoters is notoriously short. One bad decision or dud gig can shut down shop immediately. That being said, the lads at Big Dish Go
Lone Wolf – Keep Your Eyes On The Road
You know what Peter Gabriel needed? A trucker ‘tache. Lone Wolf creates an admirable Tunng-like folk racket in ‘Keep Your Eyes on the Road’, and sashaying taster of his ‘Devil
Beardyman
Although he twice claimed the UK beatboxing championship, Beardyman has transcended the boundaries of his craft. Armed with four Kaoss pads, the Brighton based musician has perfected his innovative technique
LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls
LCD Soundsystem’s forthcoming third album is one of the most eagerly awaited records of the year. It now finally has a name: ‘It’s Happening’, a cover, and a lead-off single
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
If there’s one thing we can do as well as we destroy the natural equilibrium of the planet through greed and excess, it’s hating on ourselves. So it’s a little
Goldfrapp – Head First
During the 00s few pop acts were as quietly influential as Goldfrapp. Their second album (2003’s Black Cherry) rode the coat-tails of the much-maligned electroclash scene, introducing a blueprint for
She & Him – Volume Two
Indie pixie du jour Zooey Deschanel and acoustic tunesmith M. Ward combine to surprisingly pleasant effect on their second album, the intriguingly titled Volume 2. Deschanel’s voice alternates between country
The Redneck Manifesto – Friendship
This album’s release on firebrand label, Richter Collective, is akin to Talking Heads reforming and releasing a magnum opus on DFA. The label has become known for putting out snapshots
The Fall – Our Future Your Clutter
Mark E Smith is the Paul Scholes of the of the indie rock world. Maybe it’s a common Manc tenacity, but the Fall are consistently excellent, dependably creative, liable to
Just Friends: The Redneck Manifesto Interviewed
Kinetic. Locked-in. Cocks-out. Languid. Itchy. Singular. Familiar. Metal. Jazz. Funk. Souled-out. Ireland. San Franscisco. Sweden. Brazil. Phased. Unfazed. Thunder. Lightning. Tornado. Tempest. Tempestuous. Dramatic. Emphatic. Lysergic. Prismatic. Erratic. Pneumatic. Charismatic.
Ariel Pink – Round and Round
Ariel Pink and ‘big production’ are not two phrases that go together very often. His songs usually sound like they have been routed through 80’s ghetto blasters multiple times before
Clogs – On the Edge
Clogs is a joint project masterminded by The National’s Padma Newsome and Bryce Dessner that has flirted with post-rock and contemporary classical over three albums of mostly instrumental excellence, in
Ewan Pearson Talks Techno
Hailed as “the nicest man in techno” by Jon Averill, the promoter who is bringing him back to Dublin this month, Ewan Pearson has a reputation to precede him. Beginning
Two Door Cinema Club
From the dilapidated tourist town of Bangor, Northern Ireland, Two Door Cinema Club emerge wielding short, sharp indie pop songs to dance to. Alchemising guitar-driven melodies into floor-filling electronica, their
Marina and the Diamonds – The Family Jewels
What have the following records got in common; I Kissed a Girl, Bad Romance, Bonkers, Left My Heart in Tokyo? If you answered “they’re all chart-slaying pop classics that deliver
New Young Pony Club – The Optimist
FORGET EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB BECAUSE ON THEIR SECOND ALBUM IT’S ALL CHANGED. That’s right. You may have thought the London five-piece were a