Demob Happy

Disappointing third album 6/10 M83′s ‘Before the Dawn Heals Us’ is an absurdly OTT space opera, pushing both the kitsch and the sonic noisescapes to 11. Now shorn of one member, M83 is now only Anthony Gonzalez, with lyrics apparently written by his brother as a soundtrack to an unmade film (yawn). Whereas the awesome [...]

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The band for whom ‘Oceanic’ was coined 7/10 It is not difficult to understand why AR Kane’s brand of pop failed to ignite the charts on its 1988 release. Despite its pop leanings, the songs on this album are ostensibly structureless, with the sweet soulful vocals drifting in and out of focus. It certainly predates [...]

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Kid You’ll Move Mountains 8/10 Manitoba’s ‘Up in Flames’ is a bold two fingers to the stale electronica scene and a glorious leap forward. Along with Four Tet’s ‘Rounds’ it has rekindled faith in the one-man-and-his-machine dynamic, dragging the laptop boffin kicking and screaming out of the bedroom and into a psychedelic love-in free-for-all (metaphorically, [...]

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Maximilimalism 8/10 French duo M83 (Anthony Gonzalez and Nicolas Fromageau) make sonic crescendos out of analogue synths to evoke the kind of electronic post-rock in the vein of Mogwai, spliced with the anarchy of electroclash stalwarts Add N to X and the shoegazing haze of MBV or Slowdive. It’s a dinstinctive and winning formula that [...]

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