Returning with their first album in seventeen years, it quickly becomes apparent that time doesn’t equate to change in the world of Mazzy Star. That is of course a good thing if you are fan of their earlier work as here they take those key elements of Hope Sandoval’s breathless, sensual voice and David Roback’s spacious, drifting musical canvases and wrap them around a batch … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Mazzy Star | Seasons of Your Day
Pond are and forever will be compared to Tame Impala, with whom they share a few members, and yes they both trade in retro-fitted psychedelic rock but dig below the surface and the two bands are clearly circling different planets. On Hobo Rocket they’ve pulled back on the overblown eccentricities that were generally to their detriment and produced a concise, freewheeling and fun album. The … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Pond | Hobo Rocket
Neko Case recently released her new LP The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You and it finds her in fine form, possibly her best. The kind folks over at Warner Music and ANTI- have given us a copy of the album on vinyl (including a CD copy) to giveaway to one lucky DS reader. The album … Continue reading GIVEAWAY: Win a copy of Neko Case’s new album on vinyl
Sydney’s Sister Jane are releasing Whole Wide World, the first single from their new album, on October 15th and have kindly sent a pre-release stream out into the digital aether. It finds them sounding impressively widescreen with tumbling drums, reverb-laden guitars peeling off all corners of the canvas and vocals that resonate with lush melodicism and barely contained urgency. There’s a decidedly UK post punk/indie … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Sister Jane | Whole Wide World
If you see King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live odds are you’ll be smitten with their rambling garage psych rock. It feels loose but it hits hard. Their debut LP 12 Bar Bruise was mighty fine and then they went and followed it up with the mystifying and not particularly great concept LP Eyes Like The Sky. Now you can hear the excellent I’m Not … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | I’m Not A Man Unless I Have A Woman
Sydney’s Greta Mob are picking up some great gigs at the moment (Beasts of Bourbon) and building some buzz around their music which is built on a visceral mix of Australian swamp rock and dirty post punk blues. We recently caught up with drummer Luke Millar who plugged in the memory card for Sonic Kicks and took a look at some of the albums that … Continue reading SONIC KICKS: Greta Mob
by Chris Familton The years roll by but New Zealand seems to have the consistent knack for throwing up bands that continue the lineage that was formed in the early 80s while still carving out a niche for themselves in the overcrowded world of left-of-centre guitar rock. Popstrangers have already released a stellar record this year and now Ghost Wave have turned potential into an … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Ghost Wave | Ages
by Chris Familton Over the space of a few years Julia Holter has quickly established herself as a composer, songwriter and singer with a special talent for creating sonically exquisite music. Hers is a musical style that channels classical, jazz, folk, electronica and the avant-garde and Loud City Song stands as her most fascinating and fully realised album to date. There is a feeling akin … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Julia Holter | Loud City Song
by Chris Familton On his debut album Daughn Gibson painted a fascinating world soundtracked by Americana, electronica and gothic balladry. The artwork for that album was subdued black and white and fittingly, in line with the music within, the cover of Me Moan is a darker themed explosion of pink and purple sexual and religious imagery. Gibson has taken the basic musical premise of All … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Daughn Gibson | Me Moan
by Chris Familton Choosing a name for the collection of songs that you’ve spent hours, days or often years sweating into existence can be a stressful and difficult exercise. There are countless tales of bands leaving it to the last minute with no inkling of what to christen their creative work. There are also many albums where the musician has a theme, concept and a … Continue reading What Should We Call It? (Naming an Album)
by Chris Familton Melbourne quintet Beaches produce an excellent debut album five years ago that reinforced the continued relevance of creative guitar music. Thankfully the group have again convened to collectively pen a new batch of free-ranging, sonically psych-imbued songs that highlight their ability to compose songs rich in melody across an expansive musical terrain. In some ways Beaches are an instrumental band. Sure they have … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Beaches | She Beats
by Chris Familton This feels like the big one for the Wellington sextet, even before it was released there were ads and editorial appearing in international music magazines like Uncut and MOJO and a real sense of coming of age has been in the air. Not that they haven’t already arrived, their preceding albums all contain absolute gems of literate guitar pop (Hitchcock, 40 Years, … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Phoenix Foundation | Fandango
Doubtful Sounds 