Album Review: Beirut – The Rip Tide
Beirut (aka Zack Condon) is quite the peculiarity. His song writing technique is tantamount to musical colonialism (with all the positive and negative connotations involved) as he claims and manipulates great swathes of sovereign musical territory, and bedecks them with layers of semi-operatic baritone. On Gulag Orkestar he gobbled up much of Eastern Europe; on The Flying Club Cup France was devoured and on March of the Zapotec Mexico was also annexed… Condon’s ability to... Read More
LIVE: AIRSHIP – 26/08/2011
– A CELLAR IN CHORLTON, MANCHESTER – Ahead of the release of their new album (September 5th), I happen to catch Airship in concert at a 30th birthday house-party for the guitarist from my band. To say it is a ‘somewhat intimate venue’ might be an understatement, as fifty-plus people risk fire-related death, crammed in to one room of a suburban cellar. Most of the songs are new to me, as I last saw Airship a year ago and it’s been some time since... Read More
NEWS: BRETON – NEW VIDEO ‘THE COMMISSION’
Art pop architects Breton are releasing a stunning new video to accompany their new song ‘The Commission’. It was directed by BretonLABS and Stuart Sinclair, a motion graphics artist who makes computer generated clips of space and satellites. The actor is Patrick Lyons, a beat poet from Boston – and legend on the south London squat party scene. The pair met when Breton started out and regularly played the squat party circuit. ‘The Commission’ is taken from Breton’s... Read More
ALBUM: DJ SHADOW – THE LESS YOU KNOW, THE BETTER
Having followed DJ Shadow since the release of his seminal debut album ‘Endtroducing…’, I’ve yet to hear anything from the Californian producer that surpasses it. I still very much enjoy his work and follow his career, though nothing compares. ‘The Less You Know, The Better’ would appear to be an appropriate instruction, if I’m to give this new LP a chance. At his Manchester gig a few years back, Josh Davies started the show by declaring... Read More
NEWS: CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG TO RELEASE NEW LIVE AND UNRELEASED STUDIO TRACKS ALBUM
Charlotte Gainsbourg will release her new album ‘Stage Whisper’ through Because Music on 7th November. A double album of live and unreleased studio tracks, it will be the follow up to the critically acclaimed ‘IRM’ album, which came out in January 2010. ‘Stage Whisper’s studio material features collaborations with Beck, Conor O’Brien of Villagers, Noah and the Whale and Connan Mockasin. A new EP entitled ‘Terrible Angels’ will be released on 5th September. Available... Read More
NEWS: TUNE-YARDS – NEW SINGLE AND TOUR INFO & FREE REMIX
Following the recent success of second album ‘w h o k i l l’, released earlier this year, tUnE-yArDs return with both a new single and a handful of UK shows next month. This 12” takes the hip-hop inspired elements of ‘Gangsta’ even further with remixes from Adrock (Beastie Boys) and Cut Chemist (Jurassic 5, Ozomatli and DJ Shadow collaborator). The 12” is completed with not only the original but also with both the instrumental and a cappella versions of the... Read More
LIVE: SEBADOH – 23/08/2011
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – Sebadoh are the band you should love…why you ask? Basically, Lou Barlow is the lecturer that you wanted to teach you English literature and philosophy whilst Jason Lowenstein is the kool guy that you wished taught you the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards etc – mainly because he plays them all!!! Barlow and Lowenstein are out to run through a few Sebadoh classics, 32 to be precise!!!! By the time the opening chords for ‘On Fire’ ring... Read More
NEWS: 65DAYSOFSTATIC – 2 FREE DOWNLOADS AND TRAILER FOR ‘WE WERE EXPLODING ANYWAY’ & ‘HEAVY SKY’ RE-RELEASE
British electronic-infused post-rock group 65Daysofstatic announce the North American release of their latest album We Were Exploding Anyway in a special deluxe edition that also features the recent Heavy Sky EP. The expanded set will only be released in North America and hits stores on 2xCD, LP and Digital Download on October 25th, 2011 via Monotreme Records. The Cure founder and legendary songwriter Robert Smith lends his iconic vocals to the album track, “Come To Me”,... Read More
NEWS: DAVID LYNCH TO RELEASE SOLO ALBUM ON NOVEMBER 7th
Filmmaker David Lynch will make his solo debut as a musical artist this fall with Crazy Clown Time. Produced and written by Lynch, the album’s 14 original songs spotlight him on guitar and vocals. Independent British label Sunday Best Recordings will release the full album internationally on November 7 (US release is set for November 8). Two tracks released late last year – “Good Day Today” and “I Know” – already have American and British critics talking about the... Read More
NEWS: DAVE DEPPER RELEASES ‘THE RAM PROJECT’
Dave Depper’s album ‘The Ram Project’ was released on Monday, August 22nd on City Slang. Following on from the live video of ‘Too Many People’, we’ve got a live video of him performing ‘Monkberry Moon Delight’ with members of Musee Mecanique and Joan Hiller in Oregon earlier this year. Initially only intended to be a personal venture, ‘The Ram Project’ – an album that sees Depper take on Paul McCartney’s ‘Ram’ and re-recording it himself –... Read More
