For a couple of years now there’s been talk of a 90s revival in music from the slacker tones of Yuck to the many vying for the title of the new Dinosaur Jr (J is still the king). Locally here in Australia there doesn’t seem to be quite the same desire to slavishly replicate the heroics of past compatriots from that era but those doing … Continue reading EP REVIEW: Hope Springs – Sooner Or Later
In late 2011 tindersticks were commissioned by the In Flanders Fields World War One museum in Ypres, Belgium to provide the soundscape for the new permanent exhibition being planned to commemorate the centenary of the Great War and beyond. Ypres was the epicenter of the Western Front in The Great War and was virtually destroyed by the conflict. It has since been rebuilt to its … Continue reading NEWS: Tindersticks release new museum soundtrack Ypres
In 2005, out of the ashes of Earth’s first phase of existence as a band immersed in heavy metallic drone, came a new beast. Still laden with slow-crawling repetition this was drone with quite different colours, textures and most significantly elegant desert-parched melodies that hung in the air rather than being sucked into a dense morass of guitars. With each album over the last decade … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Earth – Primitive and Deadly
As the title suggests, this is album number ten for the Maryland trio and as far as marking that milestone the record is something of a summation of their musical magpie tendencies. Across eleven tracks Trans Am swing from metallic post-rock to tranced-out kosmiche and krautrock grooves, some wispy folk and strange robotic 80s post punk diversions. Most bands tend to blur and blend their … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Trans Am | Volume X
The Horrors were a band that first appeared on the music scene in 2007 like a gothic cartoon brought to life. Ridiculed in some quarters for their solemn appearance and Bauhaus/Birthday Party’isms they seemed consigned to the shadowy perimeters of popular culture, flavour of the month at best. Somehow though they clawed their way onwards and upwards through Primary Colours and Skying, bursting through the … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Horrors | Luminous
Slint were a band whose influence far outweighed their popularity. Their type of post-punk infused post-rock spawned many an imitator over the ensuing decades and now their most important album Spiderland is getting the reissue treatment. The Spiderland (Remastered) Box Set will be released April 15th and includes: Slint’s 1991 album, Spiderland, remastered from the original analog master tapes by Bob Weston and pressed on … Continue reading NEWS: Slint to release remastered Spiderland box set
Ahead of the release of their 2014 LP Rave Tapes (out 21st January), Mogwai drop the second taster in the form of this Antony Crook directed video clip for The Lord Is Out of Control. Continue reading VIDEO: Mogwai | The Lord is Out of Control
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
News of a new Mogwai album is always reason to celebrate around these parts and so we were stoked to awake to read that their new LP Rave Tapes is set for release on 20 January 2014 via Spunk Records (Australia and New Zealand), Rock Action (UK and Europe) and Sub Pop (North America). The other good news is that producer Paul Savage (Mogwai Young Team … Continue reading NEWS: Mogwai announce new LP Rave Tapes and release first track
Hope Springs are a trio from the Sunshine Coast of Australia who trade in the kind of indie guitar music that intersected post rock in the 90s and created literate and emotive songs that played with structure and dynamics. The band have recently recorded a Balcony TV spot for their forthcoming single Sooner Or Later which will appear on their second EP featuring production work by … Continue reading WATCH: Hope Springs preview new single on Balcony TV
It has been a six years since Jamie Hutchings put Bluebottle Kiss on indefinite hiatus to focus on what has become a successful solo career with each solo release met with growing critical acclaim. Now Hutchings has returned to a fuller, noisier and more rhythmically intense sound with his new band Infinity Broke which features ex Bluebottle Kiss drummer Jared Harrison alongside regular Hutchings collaborators … Continue reading NEWS: Jamie Hutchings unveils new band Infinity Broke
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 