Sydney folk-noir duo Jep and Dep have released their first new music since their stunning 2014 LP Word Got Out. Honeymoon is a cover of the Lana Del Rey song which the pair have transformed into an epic and stirring track, overflowing with swooning heartache and lush drama. The echoes of Mazzy Star, Cocteau Twins and Julee Cruise are hanging in the air as the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Jep and Dep – Honeymoon (Lana Del Rey cover)
The Maladies are back! Well, they’ve been back gigging for the last year or so but this is the first new release since the Sydney group’s fine debut album With You Right By My Side, Baby The Deal Just Can’t Go Down came out in 2009. With a new album on the horizon, Something About Your Girlfriend previews their new sound – updating and expanding their swampy gothic blues … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Maladies – Something About Your Girlfriend
This is the last in a trilogy of albums that Jurado has released with producer/collaborator Richard Swift and it’s as immersive, wide ranging and often fantastical as its predecessors. Swift again brings a lushness of production to Jurado’s folk songs. He adds the drama, the texture and the light psychedelia that washes over the 17 songs. The album completes the tale of an individual who … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Damien Jurado – Visions Of Us On The Land
On The Drones last album, I See Seeweed (2013), there was a sense that the band had reached terminal velocity with their brand of dense, churning rock music and elegiac, snaking balladry. Where could they go from there without repeating the format they’d seemingly mastered? The answer is Feelin Kinda Free – the title alone signalling a breaking of the creative shackles. Between albums they also … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: The Drones – Feelin Kinda Free
Next year it will be 20 years since the vastly talented Buckley left this world at the age of 30. There have been regular posthumous releases of rarities, live shows and outtakes but the focus of You And I is on Buckley the interpreter. Included are covers of Led Zeppelin, The Smiths, Bob Dylan and Sly Stone in his inimitable emotive and ethereal style plus … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Jeff Buckley – You And I
Ex-Woods guy Kevin Morby has a new album Singing Saws coming out on Dead Oceans on April 15th. Here’s the first gently propulsive single from it – ‘Dorothy’. Shades of Dylan and The War On Drugs. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Kevin Morby – Dorothy
Here’s a new slice of White Denim wigged-out greatness. Yet again they dive into crazy psych boogie, glam pop glitter rock of the highest order. Their new album Stiff came out last week via Downtown Records/Create Control. Recommended as an antidote to the bloodless beige rock and no-soul electronic pop music poisoning the airwaves. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: White Denim – Holda You (I’m Psycho)
New Order continue to release singles from last year’s acclaimed Music Complete LP, the latest of which is ‘Singularity’. The video is a fast-paced collage of footage taken from B-Movie, the story of Mark Reeder’s life in 1980s West-Berlin. Damian Hale, the man responsible for the incredible visuals that make up New Order’s stage show, edited the video. “Singularity” features scenes of a city divided by the … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: New Order – Singularity
Their second album since reforming in 2010, Night Thoughts possesses the same trademark swagger and lush drama the band has been creating over the last 26 years yet it feels more considered, atmospheric and thematically pure. Brett Anderson explores his relationship with his parents and his own fears and neuroses as a father over an expansive musical backdrop. The epic art-rock guitar soundscapes and Anderson’s … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Suede – Night Thoughts
Rough Church is the moniker of Los Angeles-based musician Greg Franco and he’s releasing his new album Shhhh this month on the Auckland, NZ label Powertool Records. The other strong NZ connection is that Franco recorded the album with Tom Bell at Chick’s Hotel in Port Chalmers. He was also able to use the talents of two of the country’s most influential musicians in David Kilgour (The Clean) … Continue reading NEWS: Rough Church Announce New Album and NZ/AU Tour
Tindersticks have traveled their own considered career trajectory with intermittent suspensions of activity and then a return to active duty, always with the same ear for detail in their nuanced and ornate, soulful baroque pop music.The Waiting Room is yet another excellent entry to their discography. It’s measured and draws on found sounds, field recordings, guest vocalists, jazz, post-rock, pastoral psychedelia and just the right … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Tindersticks – The Waiting Room
Primal Scream are set to release their album Chaosmosis on March 18th. Here’s the clip for the single ‘Where The Light Gets In’ featuring Bobby Gillespie duetting with Sky Ferreira. It suggests the new album may have a more polished electronic sound, indeed here they’re showing acts like New Order and Depeche Mode how to keep making fresh sounding music with one’s trademark qualities intact. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Primal Scream – Where The Light Gets In
Doubtful Sounds 