Chad VanGaalen has a knack for writing skewed interstellar pop music that sounds both childlike and futuristic at the same time. His album Soft Airplane was a particular favourite of mine (among the four he’s released) so it’s exciting to read he has a new LP Shrink Dust coming out on April 19th via Sub Pop. PREORDER Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Chad VanGaalen | Where Are You?
NEW RELEASE: On March 14th a Deluxe Edition CD and digital version of Sunnyboys’ debut album will be released. The album has been remastered and includes 24 bonus tracks – the entire album sessions, including later b-sides Stop & Think, Guts Of Iron & Physical Jerk. Also included for the first time on CD and download are the live tracks Thrill and Why Do I … Continue reading NEW RELEASE: Sunnyboys debut to be reissued
Noisy psych guitar pop is in abundance in New Zealand at the moment and the cream of the crop like Popstrangers, Surf City and these fine gentlemen, T54, are improving with each new release. Flying Nun is a natural home for the band as they deal equally and unassumingly in melody and adventurous sonics, soaking up the influence of their predecessors like 3Ds, JPS Experience … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: T54 | In Brush Park
Three years after their debut album, Surf City return with another batch of songs that maintain the dense, opulent melodies and archetypal kiwi indie sonics but now built around a more confident compositional core. From the outset the band fall straight back into the deep end of their hooky, slacker vocal delivery with oohs and doo doos aplenty. Their songs are deceptively simple, based around … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Surf City | We Knew It Was Not Going To Be Like This
Tex Perkins sure knows how to draw a gang of musicians together for each new band and project he convenes. From Beasts of Bourbon to The Cruel Sea, Tex, Don and Charlie to TNT, Perkins has always surrounded by some of the best players on the Australian rock scene and here, as The Ape, he’s joined forces with Raul Sanchez (Magic Dirt), Pat Bourke (Dallas … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Ape | The Ape
This is Cave and cohorts fourth live album, capturing them at in interesting junction in their career with Grinderman running its course, Push The Sky Away being the first album to not include founding member Mick Harvey and unlike some of its more varied predecessors it is for the most part considered and restrained in its delivery. Live from KCRW continues that mood, even when … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Live From KCRW
Increasingly electronic music is reasserting itself as a viable album length genre. Sure it still thrives on the single and the remix but more and more there are albums, primarily from the UK scene, that manage to straddle the headphone and dancefloor worlds or in some cases they work most effectively as immersive home listening experiences. Here are the albums that we found ourselves returning … Continue reading Favourite Electronic Albums of 2013
As the trend of deluxe, remastered, expanded, repackaged and newly compiled album reissues continues we were treated to some superb releases in 2013. From classic to more underground acts there was a veritable treasure trove for music nerds. Here are some of our favourites. The Band – Live at the Academy of Music 1971 Songs: Ohia – The Magnolia Electric Co. Sly & the Family … Continue reading DS Favourite Reissues of 2013
Anna Calvi’s debut album in 2011 marked her as a bold and confident songwriter that was matched by her exceptional voice and guitar playing. Two years later we have One Breath, a record that finds her retaining the dramatic and virtuosic elements of her music but also expanding its sonic scope by experimenting with new sounds and song structures. Eliza is an early standout with … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Anna Calvi | One Breath
The Grand Rapids’ debut album possesses a striking sense of purpose and confidence. This isn’t the skinny, frazzled-nerve psych rock that many contemporary acts trade in, this is muscular music; widescreen and bold. They employ many of the classic elements of drone and psych rock (effects, repetition and tumbling rhythms) but nothing sounds particularly generic, referencing all manner of rock from Jane’s Addiction to The … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Grand Rapids | Great Shakes
The Notwist (Germany) released one of 2002’s best albums in Neon Golden and now they’ve announced their new LP Close To The Glass will be released on February 21st, 2014. Word is the album finds the band working and writing as a cohesive unit rather than just a co-write by Markus and Micha Acher and Martin Gretschmann and it again features their seamless melding of traditional instrumentation with … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Notwist announce new album
After more than half a century Paul McCartney is still pushing his songwriter’s pen, seemingly with a desire to prove his worth in each successive generation. The last few decades haven’t been his strongest yet New, surprisingly, is something of a return to the essence of the ex-Beatle in terms of strong, melodic, pop songs. Not everything works, particularly on the lyrical front where he … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Paul McCartney | New
Doubtful Sounds 