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Capsula – Rising Mountains
Capsula
Other than selected single tracks here and there from long-dead sixties bands I don’t reckon I’ve heard much by Argentinian rock groups. For what is I think therefore justifiably classifiable as a first this, the second album from Capsula (late of Buenos Aires, now waiting to conquer the world from Bilbao), succeeded in grabbing my attention right from the start.
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
Sonic Youth
When it was announced that Sonic Youth, having honoured their contract with Geffen Records, had signed with much-admired independent label Matador, many of us came to the same conclusion: after the concise, streamlined accessibility of 2006’s Rather Ripped, it was time for the Youth to renew their love affair with the underground and pursue the avant-garde aesthetic that first inspired them.
Viva Voce – Rose City
Viva Voce
The major downside to being a music lover in the digital age is that it sometimes feels like there aren’t enough listening hours in the day. You can try to cut out mundane trivialities, like work and sleep, but there will still be bands who don’t get the attention they might deserve.
The Lions Constellation – Flashing Light
The Lions Constellation
Spanish JAMC/Pixies enthusiasts The Lions Constellation could just have become my favourite sub-genre of the Summer with the arrival of this album. The Barcelona quartet, who feature RJ Sinclair of Tokyo Sex Destruction, sing in flawless English and here release eleven great tunes in the same sonic vein as their obvious influences.
Au Revoir Simone – Still Night, Still Light
Au Revoir Simone
Having loved the initial single (’Shadows’) from this, Annie, Erika & Heather’s follow-up to 2007’s The Bird Of Music I was eager to see what else was on offer. I’ve not been disappointed either as this is as beguiling a collection of sweetly sung odes as you’re likely to hear anywhere this year.
Our Brother The Native – Sacred Psalms
Our Brother The Native
Materialism? Secularism? Western consumerist culture? So overrated.
Tortoise – Beacons of Ancestorship
Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship
I really don’t dance. But listening to this new Tortoise album, damn I wish I did. In fact, listening to Beacons of Ancestorship for too long makes me get involuntary muscular twitches that could soon escalate into dancing. I’m guessing here a few people are going to be scratching their heads and wondering if I’ve got the right band. The Tortoise we all know and love are a cerebral instrumental rock/jazz/misc outfit more likely to make us think and soundtrack our sense of sophistication that tap our toes.
It was noticeable on their last release – 2004’s It’s All Around You – that they were starting to get themselves pigeonholed as a band more likely to affect your brain than your heart, your feet or your genitals. Tortoise always seemed to stray away from prescribed genres, to flirt with a bit of post-rock here, a bit of funk there and so on but always to carve out a niche for their own. The problem was that this niche was becoming so well-worn they were in danger of creating a genre all of their own and never escaping it. … Continue Reading
Japandroids – Post Nothing
Janapdroids
Art and music is nearly always worth far more than the sum of its parts. I mean, all Van Gogh ever did was slap some oil paints with a horsehair brush onto cheap canvas. And all Shakespeare did was to dip a feather plucked from some poor bird’s backside into a pot of ink and scrawl on some cheap parchment.
Martyn – Great Lengths
Martyn
Over the last year, Martijn Deykers has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in the increasingly fertile crossover territory between dubstep and techno.
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