September 2010
118 posts
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The Isles - Outside Beauty
words: Jamie Milton scribed for The Line Of Best Fit One idea bumps into another, the two briefly exchange words until one dithers off elsewhere, the other hanging around before the process repeats. “Scatterbrained” is an apt one-word description of The Isles’ latest offering; projecting itself like the product of a two-week drink and drugs bender. 17 casual clicks of the...
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mpfree: Hosannas - When We Were Young
words: Jamie Milton When you visit a country that’s completely new to you, however much you try to fight it, you suffer from a certain amount of culture shock - for me, it was seeing the hustle and bustle of Bangkok’s city streets distancing itself from the complete contrast of seeing the glum commuter faces walking across the Thames. I’ve never had pop music make me feel a...
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British Sea Power: Zeus EP
Words: Gareth O’Malley
Is that meant to be a lightning bolt? Sure looks like one. If so, it’s rather significant. The ‘power’ in British Sea Power is back - and back (yes, you guessed it) with a bang.
The band took a more meditative route with last year’s soundtrack to ‘Man of Aran’. Said soundtrack is now generally known as LP3.5. I had wondered how...
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mpfree: Young Montana? - Twenty3skidoo
words: Jamie Milton There’s most definitely an electronic taste in our tongues today. Young Montana? aka. depressingly young producer Jon Pritchard incorporates what Janelle Monae likes to call “classy brass” into a spacious, beat-heavy environment. Compare this to the dash-and-blast rush of ‘Sacre Cool’ and you come to realise just how versatile this music prodigy...
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mpfree: Glasser - Tremel (Jamie xx Remix)
words: Jamie Milton This re-imagination of Cameron Mesirow’s already quite inventive musings has been around for a few months now. But we thought it an appropriate time to introduce/re-introduce you to it, considering Mesirow’s debut album ‘Ring’ needs all the momentum it can get. It’s receiving good reviews across the board - we’re also big fans. Even more...
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mpfree: SOARS - Figurehead
| words: Jamie Milton Photo: N. Krebill The alarm bells ring incessantly, the bass throbs within an inch of your skull, ‘Figurehead’ is a homage to doing things drastically. This song progresses from one stance to the next, over and over again, but not once is anything done with subtlety or consideration for others. It’s bold music and it comes from a very bold...
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WatchAUDIOVISUALS: Gem Club - Sevens Almost a week ago we introduced ourselves, and some of you, to Gem Club. And in their latest effort, ‘Sevens’, dimly-announced strings and sedated piano chords couldn’t close closer to the very definition of sadness. If you fancy a good cry, if you know you’ve a few tears that need to come out at some point, let this video force them out. ...
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SALEM - King Night
words: Jamie Milton scribed for Thisisfakediy The past three years have seen a rise in what, amongst other titles, has been termed “witch-house” and a “drag-movement”. It’s given pace to an underground storm of new music, the likes of White Ring and Balam Acab reigning in and recording music influenced by electro, pop and primarily hip-hop but made in such a way that...
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Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest
words: Gareth O’Malley scribed for This Is Fake DIY If an album gets too much hype prior to release, it can often lead to a backlash when it is discovered that the record is not the best thing since sliced bread, as had been expected. It’s much better, in my opinion, if there is little to no fanfare surrounding an album before it’s released: that way, if it’s surprisingly good, it will...
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Glasser - Ring
words: Jamie Milton scribed for Thisisfakediy Cameron Mesirow just wants to express herself. Tired of living in a hole where freedom and innovation are restricted, where you’re at risk for thinking outside the box, where you can’t yelp with no barriers. Mesirow yelps, jolts, hiccups and seethes under the moniker of Glasser - unafraid of embarrassment and judgement. Her debut album is...
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Tennis Daytrotter Session
It’s one of the first times I’ve invested my time in a live Daytrotter session and it’s also the first time I’ve paid serious interest to Tennis. The tracks recorded here are really exciting and to me, expose Tennis as a seriously promising new act. Wonderfully classy, 60’s vibe - have a listen. [Click here for the session]
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Album of the week: No Age - Everything In Between
Excerpt from our review: ”There’s an outstanding flow to the record, one that you’re only likely to acknowledge after a handful of listens. Picking out individual songs for analysis seems a pointless exercise when the album works so smoothly in one piece.” ——————————————- Other publications’...
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Quick Fix: White Denim - Last Day Of Summer
words: Jamie Milton White Denim’s ‘Fits’ had two deadly assets; one being the ability to project aggresive rock jams, the other in exposing a new-founded softer side, producing silky, soulful love songs. The latter half of the album began to introduce the listener to James Petralli’s ecstatic chants of “Oh Regiinaaaa!” and lyrics that could be serenaded to a...
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mpfree: Houses - Soak It Up
words: Jamie Milton Let this weekend wash over you. Enjoy the very last of the mildly warm rays on the back of your neck before the dawning of the winters coats. Soak it up. Houses’ debut ‘All Night’ is a beautiful mix and match of sun-tinged anthems, each more relaxing than the last. It’s out on Lefse records and it’s worth knowing about. ‘Soak It Up’...
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mpfree: Our Broken Garden - The Departure
words: Jamie Milton
Flame from a candle lights up the derelict room. An aging, decrepit man sits alone on a piano stool, his instrument’s keys barely visible, his thoughts barely coherent. He sits in this near-darkness for some time, contemplating what’s been and gone and what lies ahead. He dreams of a woman to dance with. He also requires a stranger to play the songs that...
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mpfree: Naminé - Spacific Ocean
words: Jamie Milton As the ever-reliable Life Aquatic noted, the legacy of Washed Out is beginning to instill itself into a wealth of new music. Take Naminé’s ‘Spacific Ocean’ as an example; vocals swerve in and out of distinctiveness as kaleidoscopic synths drive against retro bass lines. It’s a song designed completely as per instructions but my word,...
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A Classic Education - Hey There Stranger
words: Jamie Milton / scribed for The Line Of Best Fit A Classic Education’s co-ordinates are scattered across Europe and Canada. Language barriers and thousands of miles tried to get in the way of the band committing themselves to a debut EP, but lo and behold, here arrives ‘Hey There Stranger’, a bold announcement from the part-Italian, part-Canadian six piece. Jonathan...
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Stream: Dutch Uncles - Fragrant
Recent signees to Memphis Industries, Dutch Uncles are bringing forth their leftfield-pop in the form of new single ‘Fragrant’. There’s some definite nods to (label-mates) Field Music guitar-wise and (non-label-mates) Wild Beasts vocally but the crescendo-heavy chorus has more of an eye on the charts than the aforementioned. It’s an infectious, hook-heavy...
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Stream: Trophy Wife - Microlite/Take This Night
words: Jamie Milton Signed to Moshi Moshi, Trophy Wife are releasing their two finest songs to date as a double-single. ‘Microlite’ and ‘Take This Night’ won’t blow your socks off, they’ll merely take them off for you with great care and tenderness. These are two delicate gems, well-formed and structured, seething with a subtly applied energy. Pop...
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No Age - Everything In Between
words: Jamie Milton scribed for This Is Fake DIY No Age unveiled themselves in 2007, with ‘Weirdo Rippers’. In sync with its emergence began a whole host of similarly-inclined acts, each originating from famed LA venue The Smell, which happens to grace the cover of the aforementioned debut. Since that time, a slight cynicism has appeared in the air whenever the words...
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mpfree: Gem Club - Acid and Everything
words: Jamie Milton With some shame we admit that Massachusetts two-piece Gem Club only made themselves known to us today through the form of a Perfume Genius recommendation in a Pitchfork interview. But hey, we found them eventually. Their music has a vulnerable edge to it, particularly in ‘Acid and Everything’ (taken from an EP of the same name), where soft piano and deft strings...
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Stream: Museum Of Bellas Artes - Watch The Glow
words: Jamie Milton With youthful exuberance and a dashing pace arrive Transparent signing Museum of Bellas Artes; their sweet, slightly disjointed dance grooves resembling the gorgeous innocence of jj, only with added zest and immediacy. “I am short sighted” is the mantra and whilst the candy-coated nature of this might hint at a naivety, whatever the band next produce will surprise...
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Manic Street Preachers: Postcards From A Young Man
words: Gareth O’Malley scribed for This Is Fake DIY
That was a mighty quick turnaround, guys. No sooner had we started wondering what Manic Street Preachers were up to, after they’d gone quiet for a while, than out of nowhere, an album appeared, announced scarcely a year after the thrilling and unique return to form that was ‘Journal for Plague Lovers’: the smallest gap...
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Emerging: Midnight Ghost
words: Jamie Milton Black Lips, Harlem and other Deep South American acts (to generalise a little) like their whiskey dry and their music raw; Midnight Ghost are no exception. There’s a calculated, woozy raucousness defining the bulk of their debut album ‘Monument’. Out of what’s below, we’d seriously recommend you at least catch glimpses of the smooth and abstract...
WatchAUDIOVISUALS: Foals - 2 Trees Peculiarly and amusingly displayed it may be, but ‘2 Trees’ is one of the real blow-you-away moments on ‘Total Life Forever’, an affirmed and beautiful expression of beauty that shows just how far the Oxford group have come in such a short a time.
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New The Fanclub? Yes please.
Well now, isn’t that kind of them. The Fanclub have made an acoustic take on a brand-new song available for peanuts. This comes ahead (two whole months ahead!) of the release of their second single, ‘Poets Die Too’, which is out on November 22nd. The single itself is basically excellent.
We’ve heard murmurs that indicate the debut album being due next year -...
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Mice Parade: What It Means To Be Left-Handed
Words: Gareth O’Malley
That is probably the best album cover I’ve seen all year. Not just because it is eye-catching and inviting (and it’s even better because of this) but also because it sums up perfectly what the new record from Mice Parade is all about: colour. Lots and lots of colour.
Adam Pierce (see what he did there with the band name?) is back with his seventh...
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Abe Vigoda - Crush
words: Jamie Milton scribed for The Line Of Best Fit Over the course of the last two years, Abe Vigoda have slowly, drip by drip, detached themselves from a record that blew many a grown human being’s mind. ‘Skeleton’ was as unafraid as an album gets, frenetically parting pieces together to form a punk rock gem, never pulling its punches. It harboured a sound so unique that to...
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Quick Fix: Grinderman - Grinderman 2
Words: James Dyke
Nick Cave’s latest art-work comes once again in the form of music. ‘Grinderman 2’ is the second album from the Australian garage rockers, made up of ex-Bad Seeds. ‘Grinderman 2’ is a spiky affair, surprisingly so from a bunch of 50-year-olds, although this is Nick Cave we’re talking about; he usually doesn’t fit into the...
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Error Operator: Mistakes
Words: Gareth O’Malley
There’s something rather eye-catching about that artwork, isn’t there? It’s probably one of the best covers I’ve seen all year, probably because it does such a good job describing the music within.
Error Operator’s ‘Mistakes’ is a superbly crafted slice of ambient electronica that also takes influence from post-rock ...
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Stream: Glasser - Ring
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A very special debut indeed. Review coming soon. [Out on True Panther]
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Initial Thoughts: Broken Records - Let Me Come...
[A.K.A. Thoughts on an Album (On A Website, September 2010)]
Words: Gareth O’Malley
I had been thinking about what Broken Records were going to do after the re-emergence of Arcade Fire earlier this year. Being a pale imitation of a band who have returned and are now bigger than ever before just wouldn’t cut it for the all-important second album. It was quite alright to try and fill...
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WatchAUDIOVISUALS: Abe Vigoda - Throwing Shade Vice Cooler adds sedated, twisted visuals to a sedated, twisted song. This will make you feel slightly uncomfortable, granted, but it’s a fine, ambitious piece to accompany a song and album of similar outlook.
[Stream ‘Crush’ in its entirety]
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mpfree: SOARS - Throw Yourself Apart
words: Jamie Milton
Sometimes three seconds of a song is more than enough of an indication as to whether you’ll like the piece as a whole. Such is the eerie, grand production on SOARS’ ‘Throw Yourself Apart’, that it simply states to me in an instant that this is my kind of thing. I’m a sucker for atmosphere and this song prioritises just that. The band are from...
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New The Drums track appears, is free, is...
We say ‘new’, but this offering from The Drums has been around since the release of the self-titled in June, albeit as an iTunes bonus track. How it didn’t make it to the album is beyond us, as this is better than pretty much anything on the debut, except for perhaps ‘Down By The Water’.
‘When I Come Home’ has now been made available for free, so now...