FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs 8.5/10 Perennial critics’ favourites Yo La Tengo return with an album that reigns in some of the magpie tendencies of 2006′s sprawling ‘I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass’ with a more focused set. ‘Popular Songs’ [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Indie'
Top of the pops
August 22nd, 2009 · 3 Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Ambient, Folk/Acoustic, Indie, Music, Pop/Rock, post-rock
Tags:Alternative·Ambient·chamber pop·Experimental·Georgia Hubley·Indie·Ira Kaplan·pop·post-rock·Yo La Tengo
Where the wild things are
July 26th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Indie, Music, Pop/Rock
FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT Wild Beasts – Two Dancers 8.5/10 On their first album ‘Limbo Panto’ Wild Beasts got painted by some as peddlers of a contrived English eccentricity that was unfashionably arch, all barbershop harmonies and old world camp. While many were turned off by their falsetto front man Hayden [...]
Tags:Alt-rock·dream pop·Hayden Thorpe·Indie·Morrissey·Music·pop-rock·The Smiths·Tom Fleming·Wild Beasts
Black tie, White Denim
May 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Film, Folk/Acoustic, Indie, Music, Pop/Rock, post-rock, Prog, Psychedelia
FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT White Denim – Fits 8/10 Such is the strength and depth (to borrow a football cliché) of music Stateside at the moment that I find myself with three acts on heavy rotation at the moment from Austin, Texas, alone. OK, so Spoon haven’t done anything lately but [...]
Tags:Austin·classic rock·garage rock·hardcore·James Petralli·loops·psych·Texas·The Live Music Capital of the World·White Denim
They are the quarry
April 4th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Indie, Music, Pop/Rock, post-rock
FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT Album Review: Magik Markers – Balf Quarry 7/10 Magik Markers are the noise rock duo hailing from Hartford, Connecticut, comprising two core members in Elisa Ambrogio and Pete Nolan. ‘Balf Quarry’ is their first album on Drag City having previously released material on – among others – [...]
Tags:Connecticut·Drag City·drone·Ecstatic Peace·Elisa Ambrogio·Hartford·Magik Markers·noise rock·Patti Smith·Pete Nolan·Punk·Sonic Youth·Thurston Moore
What do antlers, tentacles, castles and stilts have in common?
March 21st, 2009 · 7 Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Indie, Music, post-rock, Prog, Psychedelia
Album Review: Crystal Antlers – Tentacles 7/10 FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT Among the many acts hyped in 2008 there was a proliferation of new bands called Crystal something. Crystal Castles, Crystal Stilts and Cystal Antlers all came out of the leftfield to get blog love last year. Having been totally confused [...]
Tags:Alt-rock·Crystal Antlers·hardcore·Ikey Owens·Jonny Bell·lo-fi·Mars Volta·organ·Prog·Psychedelia·Psychedelic·Punk·Victor Rodriguz
Album Review: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
January 20th, 2009 · 8 Comments · Electronica, Indie, New Wierd America, post-rock, Psychedelia, Uncategorized
“Will it just be like they’re dreaming?” 9/10 It’s definitely a funny time of year to be reviewing what could likely be the best album of 2009, especially one with such sunshine-drenched atmospherics, but Animal Collective may just have rescued us from the seasonally adjusted black hole that is January. Subject to pre-release hype not [...]
Tags:Animal Collective·Avey Tare·Baltimore·Dave Portner·Electronica·harmonies·LSD·Maryland·Noah Lennox·Panda Bear·Psych pop·Psychedelia·Sampledelica
Album Review: Fujiya & Miyagi – Lightbulbs
January 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Alternative, dance, Electro, electroclash, Funk, Indie, Music
Switched on 7/10 Fujiya & Miyagi – also known as the very un-Japanese and un-duo-like David Best, Steve Lewis and Matt Hainsby – are part of a indie/electronica scene, including the likes of Baikonour (aka Jean-Emmanuel Kreiger) and Imitation Electric Piano, that seem to share in Lee Adams a mercenary percussionist. Like Baikonour, Fujiya & [...]
Tags:Baikonour·Brighton·David Best·Electro·Funk·Imitation Electric Piano·Indie·Jean-Emmanuel Kreiger·krautrock·Lee Adams·Matt Hainsby·motorik·r'n'b·Steve Lewis
Album Review: Greg Weeks – The Hive
November 16th, 2008 · No Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Folk/Acoustic, Indie, Music, Pop/Rock, Prog, Psychedelia
FIRST PUBLISHED AT THE LINE OF BEST FIT Voice of The Hive 7/10 A sombre flute, the clunking toll of a bell, a solemnly plucked acoustic guitar … cue medieval clichés: misty moats, drawbridges, hooded monks, damsels in distress. But hold on, it’s not Led Zeppelin IV … a shimmering drone, Mellotron, and suddenly all [...]
Tags:Baroque·chamber pop·Espers·Greg Weeks·medieval·Prog rock·Psychedelic
Abum Review: Micah Blue Smaldone – The Red River
October 30th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Alt-country, Alternative, Folk/Acoustic, Indie, Music, New Wierd America
Micah Blues and Red Rivers 7/10 Micah Blue Smaldone is a former punk scenester from New England who has moved on to sparse, rootsy folk. ‘The Red River‘, his fourth solo record, is dominated by meditative, neo-traditional acoustica with an eye for theatre. While intimate in scale it much less personal than, say, Bon Iver, [...]
Tags:Acoustic·Americana·Folk·Ragtime·Singer-songwriter·Vaudeville
Album Review: Panda Bear – Person Pitch
September 1st, 2008 · No Comments · Alt-rock, Alternative, Electronica, Folk/Acoustic, Indie, New Wierd America, Psychedelia
Beach boys in a blender! 8/10 I’m probably the last blogger alive to post a review of Panda Bear’s 2007 indie favourite ‘Person Pitch‘ so I’ll try to keep this relatively brief. It featured on the end of year lists of many music magazines and blogs and having resisted it for over a year I [...]
Tags:Animal Collective·Beach Boys·Brian Wilson·cut and paste·harmonies·Noah Lennox·Psych pop·Psychedelia·Sampledelica