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
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.
Hockey
You know when hip new bands get used in the soundtrack of US teen televisual waffle; you might for instance have seen Death Cab for Cutie make a fleeting appearance on The OC, or heard Paramore spring up for a few seconds on The Hills when Heidi dumps Spencer for the twentieth time? Well now it appears that a whole genre of generic indie is coming through to fill those ten to twenty seconds where a dash of music is needed to add to the ‘drama’.
Esser at The Great Escape
Brighton is a bright and lively seaside town, renowned for its party scene and memorable nights out. But today, Friday, things are not looking so bright. We arrive to find rain bucketing down from the sky and gale force winds sweeping across the sea front. Is this really a great place to escape to? We stuck around to find out…
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.
You Am I - Hourly, Daily
Quite possibly the best kept secret in Australian music since The Saints had to leave down under and break London to get noticed, this album should by rights be part of the collection of anyone who has even a passing interest in guitar-based electric music – following on from the proto-grunge of debut Sound As Ever and the poppier Hi-Fi Way this is pure mod-pop heaven.
Fightstar are at the epicentre of their career with their new album Be Human about to strike and a headline tour to follow. It has been eighteen months since they released their last album One Day Son This Will All Be Yours (not including their b-sides album Alternate Endings which was released last summer) and in that time the band have parted ways with their record label and set out on their own.
Magnetic Morning
Side projects
: they’re often a great thing. In their most positive manifestations, they provide members of established bands with the opportunity to cut loose and try out new musical ideas, freed from the constraints of working within a band with a strict aesthetic or freed from the expectations and pressures emanating from an established fanbase.
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