I was pretty disappointed with Bloom, the last Beach House album. Something didn’t click for me, it felt too dissipated and bloodless. The good news for anyone who may have felt the same is that the first track to appear from the new album finds them back to mining woozy, droning psychedelic qualities to excellent effect. They sound ethereal and off kilter like a ghostly … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Beach House – Sparks
Wellingtonians The Phoenix Foundation have released a second single, the title track from their forthcoming new album Give Up You Dreams. It’s a pulsing Krautrock slice of pop psychedelia with a nagging melancholic chorus. The new album is out August 7th. Preorder HERE. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: The Phoenix Foundation – Give Up Your Dreams
Blank Realm have a new record on the way, their first proper studio recorded effort, produced by Lawrence English. Illegals In Heaven is due out on September 4th via Bedroom Suck/Fire Records. Here’s the first taste of it in the single ‘River Of Longing’ – all tangled guitars, meshed and spaghetti’ing across the stereo spectrum over a frantic drumbeat. Gloriously messy and vibrant brilliance as … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Blank Realm – River Of Longing
I’m listening to the new Love Migrate EP Shimmer Through The Night this evening and I’m damn impressed. It’s dramatic indie guitar pop music with swirling keyboards, urgent percussion and an overriding art-rock vibe. Think The Phoenix Foundation meets Blank Realm. The whole EP is recommended, here’s the first single from it – ‘Pippa’s In The Highlands’. The EP came out late last month and … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Love Migrate – Pippa’s In The Highlands
Faith No More were one of the few high-profile acts that injected humour, irreverence, brutality and puerility into the so-called alternative rock scene of the 90s. Formed in the 80s, they reached their peak in the 90s via a clever strategy known as originality and a penchant for genre collisions that marked them out to some as court jesters while to many they were musical … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Faith No More – Sol Invictus
Matthew Mondanile’s (Real Estate) side project Ducktails can’t really be called that anymore. Now he’s on the verge of releasing his fifth solo album St. Catherine which features guest vocals from Julia Holter and James Ferraro. It follows The Flower Lane, one of our favourite albums of 2013 and Ducktails’ finest to date. Below you can hear ‘Headbanging In The Mirror.’ 1. The Disney Afternoon 2. … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Ducktails – Headbanging In The Mirror
As our favourite Australian band slowly edge closer to releasing their elusive debut LP they’ve gone and done it again – released a killer single. ‘Cuffed & Collared’ possesses all the key ingredients for a Bad//Dreems song… inescapable melody, tangled and chiming guitar lines, super-tight and propulsive rhythm section and surging chorus. Sounding like The Angels if they were still relevant and releasing knife-edge rock n … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Bad//Dreems – Cuffed & Collared
Making use of a limited palette of instruments and ideas is an approach that has tripped up many a musician as they’ve endeavoured to get to the core of their creativity and cut out any frills and fireworks. Both Moon Duo and singer/guitarist Ripley Johnson’s other band Wooden Shjips have always attempted to do just that and almost without fail they’ve succeeded. Moon Duo’s fourth … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Moon Duo – Shadow Of The Sun
On the heels of last years superb debut LP River Mirrors Infinity Broke are gearing up to release the follow-up Before Before which was recorded during the same sessions as their debut. Here’s the first taste of the new record with the excellent first single ‘Only The Desert Grows’ which sounds like Neil Young and a psychobilly band playing a last stand at some sinister … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Infinity Broke – Only The Desert Grows
Dogheart are a trio out of Portland who are about to release their debut full-length What Burns The Best on February 17th. They cut a freewheeling guitar pop swathe through jangling guitars and sometimes distorted melodic vocals. There’s that slacker vibe that makes it all sound slightly DIY and homespun. You feel like you’ve heard it all before and you kind of have but on the evidence of their … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Dogheart – Holding Out
Torche return in 2015 with a new album Restarter and from the sound of this first taste ‘Minions’ they haven’t lost any of their unique blend of metal and melody with its grinding sludge that builds and holds tension for 3 minutes before opening up into a soaring psychedelic sprawl. Out February 24th on Relapse Records Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Torche – Minions
Guitarist Chris Forsyth widened his audience considerably last year with his album Solar Motel and now, with the band he formed to perform that album live, he has a new record Intensity Ghost which came out last week on No Quarter. Here’s the 11 minute epic opening track from it called ‘The Ballad of Freer Hollow’. Below you can also check out their very cool cover … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel Band | The Ballad of Freer Hollow
Doubtful Sounds 