New Zealand expats now based in the UK, Popstrangers already have a new album in the can and ready for release on May 27th via Carpark Records. Fortuna follows their excellent Antipodes LP, my favourite NZ album of 2013. ‘Country Kills’ is a tad less noisy and chaotic than their debut yet it still possesses their wonderful knack for chorus melodies. By the second chorus … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Popstrangers | Country Kills
Amen Dunes have a new album called Love coming out on Sacred Bones Records On May 13th. Damon McMahon, the main guy behind Amen Dunes, recorded Love in Montreal with Dave Bryant and Efrim Menuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. In addition to recording the sessions that McMahon produced, members of Godspeed also played on several of the songs. So did saxophonist Colin Stetson and … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Amen Dunes | Lonely Richard
A second track from the new Afghan Whigs album has been released. The Lottery sounds like prime Whigs in its rhythm and groove and Greg Dulli’s soaring chorus. The first single was very good but didn’t excite as much as this one does. I can’t wait to hear the rest of the LP Do To The Beast which comes out on April 14th via Sub … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Afghan Whigs | The Lottery
Ben Frost is one of those unique composers working in the electronic realm who is able to harness the visceral nature of music. His tools are synthetic yet he always seems to build tangible, almost organic elements into his work. Live he does the some thing, bringing a physicality to his performance as he bends and turns dials and switches. He was spellbinding at ATP … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Ben Frost | Venter
Amaya Laucirica (VIC) has a brand new record Sway ready to be released on April 14th and it features the great first single Prettier Than Sound which you can stream below. The song includes Adalita on backing vocals and JP Shilo on guitar and they conjure up a wonderful hazy, shimmering track with billowing harmonies and cascading textural guitars. Laucirica’s upcoming tour dates are also … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Amaya Laucirica | Prettier Than Sound
Jamie Hutchings’ new band Infinity Broke is something of a return to the noisier exploratory guitar rock that he mastered so well with Bluebottle Kiss. As well as featuring Scott Hutchings and Rueben Wills the quartet also includes Jared Harrison (Bluebottle Kiss) on drums and as they enter the final stages of pressing up vinyl copies of their debut LP they’ve just released a clip for … Continue reading INFINITY BROKE | New video + new single
Here’s Boys in the Wood, the first taste of the new Black Lips LP Underneath The Rainbow coming out on February 18th on VICE Records. Continue reading NEW MUSIC: Black Lips | Boys In the Wood
From their debut LP Seven Drummers (cos that’s how many they’ve had) due out in April here’s East Brunswick All Girls Choir’s recently released single Dirty Bird. A song that rips and roars like the demented offspring of The Drones and The Veils. The band are also running a Pozible campaign to raise funds to get their album (recorded with engineer Casey Rice (Dirty Three, Tortoise)) pressed … Continue reading NEW MUSIC: East Brunswick All Girls Choir | Dirty Bird
This is Cave and cohorts fourth live album, capturing them at in interesting junction in their career with Grinderman running its course, Push The Sky Away being the first album to not include founding member Mick Harvey and unlike some of its more varied predecessors it is for the most part considered and restrained in its delivery. Live from KCRW continues that mood, even when … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | Live From KCRW
Mark Kozelek returns with a new LP Benji early next month after a busy year in 2013 where he released 3 albums – a solo covers LP and releases in collaboration with Desertshore and Jimmy La Valle respectively. Continue reading LISTEN: Sun Kil Moon | Richard Ramirez Died Of Natural Causes
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
After more than half a century Paul McCartney is still pushing his songwriter’s pen, seemingly with a desire to prove his worth in each successive generation. The last few decades haven’t been his strongest yet New, surprisingly, is something of a return to the essence of the ex-Beatle in terms of strong, melodic, pop songs. Not everything works, particularly on the lyrical front where he … Continue reading ALBUM REVIEW: Paul McCartney | New
Doubtful Sounds 