Demob Happy

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’ [...]

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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 [...]

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Album Review: Dark Was the Night: Red Hot Compilation – Various Artists 8/10 Most posts of Red Hot Organization’s ‘Dark Was the Night’ compilation begin with a summary dismissal of compilations in general, and particularly those in the name of charity. If such projects are as bad as people say, ‘Dark Was the Night’ – [...]

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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 & [...]

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Ghost in the machine 8/10 All the acrimony surrounding the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, in which Wilco left Warner/Reprise to resist attempts to make the record more commericially viable, seems bizarre now. For despite its moments of sonic chaos, YHF is a great, Beatles-esque, countryfied pop masterpiece with great hooks and immediately indentifiable melodies. [...]

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Little Mister Disappointed 5/10 I missed ‘Little Miss Sunshine‘ when it came out in the cinema and was keen to see what had been billed as one of the indie hits of the last few years. However I was really shocked at how mediocre this really is. The much bandied-about tag ‘Sundance-approved’ seems to equate [...]

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Alive and kicking 7/10 The Dodos are an exciting new band that blend freak folk with latin influences and blues. Their debut ‘Visiter‘ sees the duo create often cacophanous and frenetic songs mostly from acoustic (sometimes slide) guitars, banjo, pounding percussion and occasional horns. It is a raw template that recalls, by turns, The White [...]

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This month I’ve been beguiled by the latest side project by sometime DJ and Kings of Convenience member Erlend Oye. The Whitest Boy Alive hints at Oye’s interest in the hypnotic rhythmic concerns of house music but features the same Simon & Garfunkle-esque vocal style of KoC. Angular – but certainly not abrasive – guitars, [...]

Whitest Boy Alive - Burning [ 3:11 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yeasayer - Many Waves [ 4:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Octopus Project - Bees Bein Strugglin [ 3:48 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Ghost Of You Lingers 7/10 Although ‘Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga’ finds Spoon moving further away from their punk beginnings and broadening their sonic pallet, it is arguably their most accessible record yet. While ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’ registers one of their most experimental album tracks so far, a masterpiece of lo-fi minimalism (further [...]

Spoon - Finer Feelings [ 4:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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‘Ease Your Feet In The Sea’ 8/10 On first inspection the Amazon.co.uk review’s favourable comparison to the Smiths and the Velvet Underground seems a little generous. And while the lyrical concerns bear resemblance to those of Morrissey and Stuart Murdoch’s vocals make for a less smokey Nick Drake, Belle & Sebastian don’t quite reach that [...]

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