Hot on the heels of her collaborative album with Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam, Jesca Hoop backs it up with a new solo album that dives deeper into her experimental songwriting, drawing on folk, indie and art pop. The songs here are minimal, skeletal even. Simple percussive elements, at one point just the keys of a typewriter, form the basis for hypnotic melodies and lyrical … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Jesca Hoop – Memories Are Now
Margaret Glaspy + Slow Dancer @ Newtown Social Club, 6th March 2017 Slow Dancer had the task of warming the crowd and for the most part the Oh Mercy guitarist (Simon Okely) caught and maintained their attention with his brand of solo, soulful indie music. He has a fine line in emotive chords and a guitar sound like garage rock filtered through a slowed, stoned and hazy … Continue reading LIVE REVIEW: Margaret Glaspy
This is Bic Runga’s fifth album in two decades and comes as she is inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame. A collection of covers and two originals, it finds her tipping her hat to some of her influences, from the obvious to the obscure. Both originals (the title track and Dream A Dream) are lush rhythmic pop songs with tropical noir textures while … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Bic Runga – Close Your Eyes
Many may have expected the collaboration between Jim White (Dirty Three) and Cretan lute player George Xylouris to be a one-off collaboration but now they’re onto album number two which features Xylouris singing on more tracks and the pair digging deeper into their primitive jazz and post-rock sense of musical adventure. The mood of the album varies from languid to visceral. ’Forging’ is a galloping … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Xylouris White – Black Peak
Scotsman Kenny Anderson has long dwelled on the fringes of indie and experimental pop music, releasing over forty albums that traverse a large expanse of creative terrain. His latest finds him exploring graceful and emotive music, drawing on electronic and organic instrumentation and positioned between the terrestrial and ethereal. The results are often moving and transportive, the unifying element being Anderson’s rich Scottish burr of … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: King Creosote – Astronaut Meets Appleman
Swedish psych folk rock band GOAT have announced their new album Requiem will be out on October 7th. Here’s the first taste – the droning, hypnotic Try My Robe, which digs a Tinariwen-like hole in your synapses. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: GOAT – Try My Robe
M. Craft has a new album out called Blood Moon (Spunk Records) and it’s a mesmerising, and moving collection of songs created on the fringe of the Mojave Desert. We’ll have our review of the album up shortly but here’s the new clip to the song Chemical Trails… “Chemical Trails emerge from the desert haze with rich melodies, choruses and verses like Mercury Rev in a sad and beautiful … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: M. Craft – Chemical Trails (Video)
Writing and recording widescreen and cinematic music, where mood and atmosphere is paramount, and conveying it with minimal instrumentation shows both great restraint and ambition. That is exactly the musical world that Jessica Cassar and Darren Cross (Gerling) have created on their debut album Word Got Out. The cover image of the pair stepping out of darkness and into an unknown light sums up the … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Jep and Dep – Word Got Out
On her fourth album Melbourne’s Laura Jean decamped to Bristol, UK to work with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey) and the pair have created a sparse, lilting world of bare-boned, yet emotionally ornate folk music. With her unassuming voice and songs about everyday struggles and successes this is the most direct Jean has been with her songwriting to date. The music and both her and … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Laura Jean – Laura Jean
Sydney duo Jep and Dep have had quite the year beginning with an opening slot before Johnny Marr before going on to play shows with Matt Walker, Mia Dyson, Hatz Fitz and Cara, Kristen Hersh, Raised by Eagles, Tracey McNeil Band and Lindi Ortega as well as their own headline gigs across nearly every reputable venue in Sydney and other parts of the country. Over at our … Continue reading NEWS: Jep and Dep announce debut album, tour and new single
Fink, aka Fin Greenall, has been weaving his voice across electronic, folk, dub and soulful indie soundscapes as a solo artist for eight years now and on his fifth studio album he pretty much sticks to the same template which means varied and occasionally good results. He’s at his best when he ventures into darker territory like the depth charge minimalist dub of ‘White Flag’ and … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Fink | Hard Believer
Alison Goldfrapp tends to mix things up with each new album so it’s always great to see and hear what she comes up with each time. Her most recent LP Tales of Us came out last year and is filled with wistful, drifting folk music. Now she has released the beautifully shot clip for ‘Stranger’. Continue reading VIDEO: Goldfrapp | Stranger
Doubtful Sounds 