December 2012
12 posts
3 tags
The Knife Announce New Album 'Shaking The...
It’s been more than six years since The Knife last released an album, 2006’s fantastic Silent Shout, but all of that seems to be changing now with what appears to be a 0:43 video trailer the band just uploaded to their YouTube account. The album title is Shaking The Habitual, which can be found if you look at the source code of the band’s homepage, and the video has no music...
3 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 - #23: How To Dress Well -...
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
Read the original review.
Two years after his debut album Love Remains, Tom Krell aka How to Dress Well has come back with one of the most intimate albums of 2012. This little gem is the heartbreaking outcome of years of pain for Krell: the loss of his uncle and his best friend and the subsequent struggle with depression are all experiences that are tangibly...
3 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 – #24: DIIV – Oshin
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
This past year was great for bands emerging from other bands formations, and DIIV is an awesome new one: initially a solo project by Zachary Cole Smith - who plays guitars in Beach Fossils - it evolved into a band after Andrew Bailey, Devin Ruben Perez, and Colby Hewitt (formerly from Smith Westerns) joined. Previously called Dive because of the Nirvana song, it...
3 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 - #25: Sigur Rós - Valtari
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
Sigur Rós are true masters of sound; for 15 years they’ve released album after album of pure sonic perfection. Valtari is their most tranquil record to date, showcasing the carefully crafted ambient compositions that brought them into the limelight with 2002’s critically acclaimed (). Valtari is an exploration of human emotion, beauty, and intimacy....
2 tags
Phoenix To Release New Album In April
It’s been a long time coming, especially since Phoenix revealed back in May 2011 that they were in NYC working on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’s followup, but at a press even yesterday for Spotify, the band’s label boss Daniel Glass of Glassnote confirmed that their new, as-yet-untitled album will be out in April. As of yet there’s no word on a title, artwork, a tracklist, or...
3 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 - #26: Sea Of Bees -...
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
At this time last year I was completely unaware of the existence of Sea Of Bees, not even having heard the name in passing, though that all changed as Spring made way for Summer and a dear friend of mine sent me the video of Julie Ann Bee singing “Broke” in a tunnel in England. Her performance was beyond heartfelt enough for me to be completely sold...
3 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 - #27: Nedry - In A Dim Light
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
Nedry’s début, Condors, drew plenty of attention when it dropped back in 2010, thanks to its combination of Bristol sound, more contemporary London bass music, and post-rock. Arriving as it did at the peak of the dubstep wave it’s perhaps unsurprising that it featured plenty of wub, and two years on that’s not sounding quite so fresh....
5 tags
Listen: Twigs - EP
After already releasing two of my favourite tracks of the entire century in the last few months, the previously mysterious English lady known as Twigs has just revealed a new EP that includes two new tracks. Previously we fell in love with “Ache” and “Hide”, something you’d do well to do yourself, and today she’s dropped “Weak Spot” and...
3 tags
Best Albums of 2012 - #28: POP ETC - POP ETC
Win our top 31 albums of 2012! Read the original review.
When the morning benders re-branded themselves as POP ETC it came with a sonic shift that many have been quick to dismiss. And while it may be a case of excessive fanboy-ism on my part, I’ll continue to try and prove POP ETC’s strengths. The band have always made pop songs, and other than cleaning up in the production...
3 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 - #29: Hop Along - Get...
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
Hop Along consists of singer and guitarist Frances Quinlan, drummer Mark Quinlan, and Tyler Long on bass. However, Frances is the one with the magnetic appeal. Her lyrics are afflicted by steadfast pessimism, like on “Diamond Mines” where she playfully chants, “There are some parent’s whose/children long/for divorce”. While the lyrics on Get Disowned are absolute...
3 tags
Best Albums of 2012 - #30: Pepe Deluxé - Queen of...
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
The tagline for Pepe Deluxé’s Queen of the Wave reads “an esoteric pop opera in three parts,” and everything about the album - from the pop art cover, to the space-age/baroque pop/neo-psychedlic composition, to the “Dweller on Two Planets”-inspired story - testifies to the record’s premeditated maximalism. As rewarding as it is...
2 tags
Best Albums Of 2012 - #31: The Presets - Pacifica
Win our top 31 albums of 2012!
Read the original review.
This was the year for Australia’s favorite synth-pop duo, The Presets: after four long years in hibernation, the Sydneysiders finally returned with their third full-length, Pacifica and embarked on a nationwide tour of Australia headlining the country’s traveling festival, Parklife, where they absolutely killed their live...
November 2012
1 post
4 tags
Contest: Win Our Top 31 Albums Of 2012!
As has been the case in the last two years that we’ve run our Best Of lists, we’re also running a contest alongside it where you can win the albums on our list on vinyl, and it won’t cost you your soul. If this is your first time with our year-end list, it works like this: The list is a top 31 albums of the year and each day in December we reveal a new album on the list,...
September 2012
4 posts
9 tags
Listen: The xx - Coexist (Album Stream)
In the last week since we got our advanced copy of Coexist, the second and hugely-anticipated new album by London’s The xx, it’s pretty much all I’ve been listening to.
Naturally because of the success and critical acclaim of their self-titled debut, there’s a lot of excitement and expectations for Coexist, and having listened to it roughly seven times or so I can say...
7 tags
Video: Frightened Rabbit - State Hospital (Live...
It’s Labor Day here in the U.S. so most of the awesome music we publish today we’ll be non-US-based, in fact I might even just leave it with this Frightened Rabbit video.
This marks the fourth post we’ve done on “State Hospital” and the fifth it’s been mentioned if you count our post on their other new EP track “Wedding Gloves”, but this time...
10 tags
Listen: St. Vincent & David Byrne - Love This...
If you’ve been following the trajectory of this collaboration since its rumoured conveption, you’ll know that it’s been far too long in coming. Years in fact, but rest your weary hearts because now it’s a real (almost tangible), existing thing.
St. Vincent and Talking Heads frontman David Byrne have been working on Love This Giant amidst their busy schedules for the last...
7 tags
Video: Azealia Banks - 1991
Azealia Banks has released a new video for her song “1991”, the title track of her EP. Just like Azealia’s last video for “Van Vogue” the clip follows in a similarly trendy and chic pattern. Azealia sports what look like designer outfits and tease the viewer by interrupting the seemingly hip choreography with silly facial expressions where she takes on a Nicki...
August 2012
174 posts
10 tags
Listen: The Avett Brothers - Pretty Girl From...
Very few bands can filter into the mainstream with their integrity intact, the exceptions albeit rare are huge (ie Arcade Fire, The Black Keys), The Avett Brothers look to be one of those exceptions with their new album The Carpenter.
I don’t care if I’m sharing the same sentiment as ten thousand Justin Bieber fans… “I And Love And You” is an amazing song no...
9 tags
Video: Zebra Katz - W8WTF
The last time that we heard from Zebra Katz was back in January when he dropped his video for “Ima Read”.
Just like the sparse and thumping “Ima Read”, “W8WTF” is also barely there and makes way for echoing space and his gradually warping rhymes. The video is reminiscent of the artwork for The Weeknd’s album “House Of Balloons”, which I...
7 tags
Listen: Generationals - Lucky Numbers
We’re being treated to a new Generationals EP in October called Lucky Numbers, and it’s the first release from the band since their catchy-as-all-hell 2011 album Actor-Caster.
The title track leans more in a laid-back synth direction as opposed to some of their fat, jumpy bastards of songs from their LP, and changes in direction like this are welcomed by me at least. Lucky Numbers...
11 tags
Review/Listen: Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine...
Seldom do you find a new band with such a defined sound on their first effort such as Divine Fits. Embracing pop music from a different arsenal than the current trend, they are idealizing more straightforward new wave bands like Love and Rockets and The Birthday Party, including covering one of their early incarnations, “Shivers”, from their earlier band, The Boys Next Door. Working with The...
8 tags
Listen: The Vaccines - Come Of Age (Full Album...
The Vaccines are getting older, more mature, and louder, and that all makes for a better-sounding second album than their first.
If you’ve been paying attention then you’ll already have a little bit of an idea as to what their new album Come Of Age might sound like, after “No Hope” and “Teenage Icon”. If they left you feeling like you needed more spiky,...
6 tags
Video: The Royal Concept – In The End (Acoustic)
I love it when crazy-fun, indie pop groups put out something acoustic. It’s like they’re whispering softly into my ear, “Hey baby, let’s get personal.” That is exactly how I felt when I heard The Royal Concept’s Black and White Session of “In The End.”
The track is off their self titled debut EP, which came out in June. It’s a great...
8 tags
Video: Chairlift - I Belong In Your Arms (Japanese...
So…..this exists, and the world is a better place for it. A Japanese language version of Chairlift’s “I Belong In Your Arms”.
Now, I don’t speak Japanese other than Hello and Goodbye, and Kamikaze, but Caroline Polachek’s Japanese in this perfect. She may speak it, or maybe she just learned it for this song/video, but either way it’s sick. And obviously...
8 tags
Video: The Presets - Ghosts
You’d think it was Halloween with all the songs about ghosts that we’ve been posting in the last week or so.
Now it’s The Presets’ turn for their track “Ghosts”, that if you haven’t heard yet then the video below will have you hitting replay again and again, plus the video is pretty sick, too. There are zero bellyflops, though, if that’s what...
5 tags
Listen: Deerhoof - Breakup Song (Full Album...
Deerhoof have their newest album, Breakup Song, up on NPR as of Sunday where you can listen to it in full. We have already been graced with the gifts of both “Fête d’Adieu” and “The Trouble With Candyhands” (the former last week and the latter in July).
The album contains all the groovy little eccentricities, wiggles, and twirly vocals and noises you would expect from Deerhoof. They have...
13 tags
Review/Listen: Wild Nothing - Nocturne
Wild Nothing popped into my view at CMJ 2010; Jack Tatum’s dream-pop project played a lot of shows and then some more during that festival, which made it easy to see them at least once. I was impressed not by any charisma or theatrics at the show I checked out. Instead, I was impressed with how they made atmospheric music that managed to still catch the ear. This was shortly after their debut...
11 tags
Video: Astronaut, etc. – You Can Yell
Astronauts, etc. aka Anthony Farrar, has just released a video for his latest single “You Can Yell.” The 21-year-old Berkeley student blew up the blogosphere earlier this month with the release of “Mystery Colors,” a hauntingly electronic tune with similarities to artists like Bon Iver, Beach House and Grizzly Bear. His soft vocals and wistful melodies relax your brain and melt away your...
6 tags
Video: Melody's Echo Chamber - I Follow You
Check out the new video for “I Follow you” from Melody’s Echo Chamber below.
Connect with Melody’s Echo Chamber - Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr
Original Article
7 tags
Video: Yeasayer - Longevity
Whose bright idea was it to film Yeasayer’s new video for “Longevity” inside a church? The house of God is no place for the demonic vocals and brain shaking beat of this awesome track. Have we learned nothing from our friends Pussy Riot?
In the video, the band sets up to put on one HELL of a performance. Literally. As the song booms along, front man Chris Keating ages faster...
13 tags
Song + Video: Everything Everything - Cough Cough
It’s been a couple of years since Everything Everything dropped their stellar debut EP Schoolin’ and subsequent debut LP Man Alive, and now the band are ready to infect the shit out of your brains again like one of those dodgy grubs that burrow into your skull when you go swimming in rivers in Thailand.
Their new album Arc won’t see the light of day until January 14th next...
7 tags
Video: Bob Dylan - Duquesne Whistle
In about 45 minutes I’ll be taking myself to see this man live for the first time, so this is a nice little send-off before I get on the road.
The start of the video for “Duquesne Whistle”, the first single from Bob Dylan’s new album Tempest, is upbeat and lighthearted, but that quickly changes. You’ll learn two things from watching it: Don’t be a stalker,...
8 tags
Listen: Damon Moon And The Whispering Drifters -...
Damon Moon And The Whispering Drifters released the softly resplendent Lungs, Dirt And Dreams earlier this year, which has steadily become one of my favorite releases to revisit every few weeks. Damon Moon and his group of his aptly named drifters (Moon plays with an ever-expanding, ever-changing lineup of performers join him) have a new single out called “Gild The Lily”. With humble...
11 tags
Review/Listen: Poor Moon - Poor Moon
Poor Moon feature members of Crystal Skulls, Pedro the Lion, and even a couple Fleet Foxes, which speaks to the varied and soft-tempered tonality of the group. Earlier this year, Poor Moon released Illusion EP, a collection of songs that presented their solidified approach to seventies-inspired folk-rock, pointing towards heavy attention to harmonies accentuated by elements of baroque pop. Their...
8 tags
Listen: Frightened Rabbit - Wedding Gloves
At this point I probably shouldn’t have to explain that Frightened Rabbit have a new EP coming out in September, but just in case you weren’t aware: Frightened Rabbit have a new EP coming out in September.
Cool, now that we’re up to speed, we’ve already been graced with the EP’s title track “State Hospital” and it’s harrowing video, but last night...
9 tags
Listen/Download: Ben Gibbard - Teardrop Windows
In the middle of October the Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard will release his first solo album away from the band, and today he’s shared with us the first piece of music from it.
A month ago he shared his song “Ichiro’s Theme” written about Japanese Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki, but today we have “Teardrop Windows” which will be on the album,...
7 tags
Video: Houndmouth - Penitentiary
Though they’ve been doing the rounds on other sites and blogs for a few months now, this is our first post on Houndmouth.
The video, directed by Zach Hart from We Listen For You, is for their track “Penitentiary” from their debut self-titled EP. The band’s sound could fill the gaps between blues, old-timey country, and modern-day indie-rock, being swilled with a bottle...
7 tags
Video: Sigur Rós - Dauðalogn
The latest in Sigur Rós’ album Valtari Film Experiment sees director Henry Jun Wah Lee locate to the small Japanese island of Yakushima to capture its beauty in various scenes and lights.
It follows in the path of previous films for album tracks, and is the eighth in their 12-video series, each directed by someone different.
Connect with Sigur...
9 tags
Video: YesYou – Frivolous (Ft. Marcus Azon of...
If you own a Corvette and like driving at night, while blasting sweet dance tunes like Passion Pit or Flight Facilities, then put that shit in top gear and listen to this. Production duo YesYou have just released a video for their latest single “Frivolous” which features the dynamically, high-ranged, vocals of fellow Aussie, Marcus Azon of Jinja Safari.
The video is a great reminder that if...
8 tags
Listen: Young Cairo - Ghosts
This shit is fresh! Jorge sent the team this video this morning and I’ve watched it about 107 times already.
Young Cairo (Andrawis George), the son of Egyptian scientists presumably researching infectious indie-pop music, is almost unheard of. But today that should change, with his debut song and video “Ghosts” from his debut album Sing Don’t Sleep.
The video is...
11 tags
Review/Listen: Yeasayer - Fragrant World
During a recent conversation I had playfully discussed the kind of music that you would want to hear as you “die on the dancefloor”, we were mentioning a few bands, but none came as close to the harrowing, oft-brazen sounds of the latest from the Brooklyn trio, Yeasayer. With their patented off-kilter percussion and saturated bass, they have created an album for the end-times, without much...
16 tags
Introducing: CHAPPO
Earlier this year, Brooklyn foursome CHAPPO released their debut album Moonwater and have steadily seen their star climbing thanks to a steady slew of tour dates with none other than of Montreal, the infectious “Come Home” being used by Apple in a 2010 commercial and most recently getting primetime presence in an ad during a certain major internationally watched multi-sporting...
8 tags
Listen: Bob Dylan - Duquesne Whistle
On Wednesday I’ll get to fulfill a dream of mine since discovering Bob Dylan’s when I was a kid: I finally get to see him live, and I’m fucking pumped!
I still remember laying on my top bunk back home in Edinburgh watching VH1 Classics and his live video for “Tangled Up In Blue” came on, and I was instantly mesmerised. Since then I’ve been having a musical...
7 tags
Listen: Daughter - Smother
Daughter write hauntingly-honest songs of realized sadness which land so close to the heart they leave a chilling awe alongside a lingering sadness that is as real and true as art can get, “Smother” does nothing but solidify these already known tangents of their music.
To say that “Smother” invokes feeling would be a tragic understatement, the wave of realism embodied in...
11 tags
Listen: Cat Power - Sun (Full Album Stream)
We’re being spoiled like a collective of little bitches for great albums this year, and way, way, way up at the top of the pile is Cat Power’s latest LP Sun, her first since 2008’s Jukebox.
If you’re a fan then you’ve probably already been mesmerised by the insatiable “Ruin” and “Cherokee”, two of the strongest and most captivating tracks...
10 tags
Video: Trails And Ways - Mtn Tune
I was first introduced to Trails and Ways earlier this year when I stumbled on their amazing, bilingual, cover of “Miracle” by Ghost Beach. They transformed one of my favorite summertime, synth jams into a tropical, bongo infused, beat. They use the same treatment with other covers like “Animal” by Miike Snow and M83’s “Midnight City.” However,...
16 tags
Review/Listen: Jessie Ware - Devotion
After contributing melodies alongside fellow British vocalist Sampha on SBTRKT’s heralded debut album last year, Jessie Ware has unleashed her first album, Devotion. Devotion places an emphasis on R&B that has been seemingly untouched in recent past, filling the void between radio singers like Drake and electronic-heavy outfits like AlunaGeorge, earning Jessie comparisons to smoother singers...
10 tags
How To Dress Well - Cold Nites (Koreless Remix &...
It’s almost time, folks, it’s almost here! We’re only three weeks away from How To Dress Well’s eagerly-awaited new album Total Loss.
We’ve already heard the sublime “Ocean Floor For Everything” and this track “Cold Nites” before, but not in this way. First up there’s the lullaby-esque remix by Glasgow-based Koreless, and then...
7 tags
Video: Band Of Horses - Knock Knock
Back at the start of July Band Of Horses announced their new album Mirage Rock, revealing new song “Knock Knock” in the process, and today they’ve shared with us the song’s video.
The band go on a technology-of-old hunting expedition, or something like that, getting chased and catching snakerophones, as you do. Mirage Rock will be released on September 18th and below,...
7 tags
Video: Lianne La Havas - Forget
As far as I’m concerned, Lianne La Havas can record and release five different videos for each song on her excellent debut album Is Your Love Big Enough? and I’d still be clamoring for more.
Back in January she released the original video for “Forget”, one of many standout tracks on her album, but yesterday she revealed a new version featuring her walking the streets and...
