The Envy Corps are from the rather unglamorous surroundings of Des Moines, Iowa famous for being the place to be for insurance companies and, err, Slipknot. So its little wonder then that this four-piece would seek inspiration from elsewhere. The United Kingdom to be precise. All the big names like Coldplay, U2 and Radiohead are present here with just a smattering of Doves thrown in for good measure.

The result is a pleasant enough listening experience, with summery indie-pop fare like ‘Story Problem’ but The Envy Corps have a tendency to reach for that predictable crowd pleasing anthem sound with ‘99-100′ and the god-awful ‘Walls’ being particular offenders. Talking of God, this band seem to spend a lot of time in His company as He is actually quite a prevalent theme on this record, with ‘The Keys to Good Living’ coming off the wrong side of preachy and we get a message to ’spite the devil’ in the decent ‘Rhinemaidens’. Nah, we all need a little bit of devil in us and Dwell could certainly benefit with a bit more. Continue Reading

This years End of the Road Festival just seems to be getting better and better. It’s not until September, but their line up is almost complete. To the already impressive rosta, they’ve now added the following acts to the bill:

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band (headline Friday), Absentee, Baby Dee, Bowerbirds, Clare & the Reasons, Dead Meadow, El Guincho, Kurt Wagner (Lambchop), Miracle Fortress, Pyramids, Robyn Hitchcock and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.

Already confirmed are the following:
Low, American Music Club, Two Gallants, British Sea Power, Sun Kil Moon / Mark Kozelek, Billy Childish, Micah P Hinson, Mountain Goats, Akron/Family, Kimya Dawson, Darren Hayman (Darren and Jack Play Hefner Songs), FM Belfast, Laura Marling, Devon Sproule, Angelo Spencer, Kelley Stoltz, Jeffrey Lewis, Jason Molina, A Hawk And A Hacksaw, Bob Log III, The Wave Pictures, Woodpigeon, Sons of Noel & Adrian and Friska Viljor.

Marvellous… don’t forget, tickets are on sale already and are, apparently, selling fast!

I love the opening forty seconds of ‘Violet Hill’, even though I know the radio will always cut it. I’ve always been a sucker for swirling soundscapes and had Chris and the boys called it quits when Eno steps back and the whacking begins, I would have been happy. Sadly, the Coldplay boys have to go and spoil it all with a song that at best could be described as adequate, despite its efforts to look like a musically muscle-bound bouncer at a festival.

Because the fact the opening forty seconds of noise are the most interesting moments of this piece do not bode well, do they. When it does finally start, it’s ponderous, over produced, thumping you into submission with little emotion or passion. Guitars squeal like slaughterhouse pigs and the solo is no-where near as impressive as it wants to be.

I am sure this song will sound colossal live with sparky pulsing lights to the beat of the dum-dum, but it is hardly an invitation to promote much promise in the new album. It lacks the sonic punch found in ‘Speed of Sound’ and is more of a throw-away b-side than a glorious return. “If you love me, won’t you let me know? ”. I am going to have to be a no on that one I’m afraid. Whilst I am still interested to hear what the album has to offer, my anticipation is now somewhat diminished.
48%

What do you, dear readers, think of the new Coldplay single? Let us know below…

Morning our faithful readers! Sorry for our abscence this morning, we’ve had a run in with the IFPI and our hosting company. They were concerned that the My Morning Jacket mp3 we’ve been hosting was illegal. Which it wasn’t. The PR company in the USA gave us full rights to host it and give it away.

So, now we’ve kinda sorted that out, we’re back up and running.

As a reminder, all mp3’s hosted on this site, were possible, have been cleared before hosting. If you, as the copyright holder, believe this to not be the case, then please email us and we’ll remove them. Just don’t contact our hosting company who, being of the draconian persuasion, will suspend our account again!

One of the great things about doing reviews for The Line of Best Fit is getting to hear music by bands that otherwise would almost definitely have passed underneath one’s musical radar. This great little album is a prime example. The Wave Pictures have seemingly been touring and self-releasing for five or so years, but until now I had not heard or read anything about them. Hopefully this release will get them the publicity and increase in acclaim that they deserve.

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Tapes ‘N Tapes have returned with their sophomore album. Whilst not quite hitting the heights of their debut, their twisted and slewed pop music has been amusing us at TLOBF Towers for some time. We caught up with their drummer, Jeremy Hanson to find out what he’s been upto recently outside of band practice…

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It makes perfect sense that Keiran Hebden’s songs resemble the staccato-heavy remixes fit for the dance floor but thoughtful enough for the laptop noodling that launched their musical birth considering he cut his teeth and still produces some of the finest remixes for indie and pop musicians alike. His recent dabbles outside of his one-man band Four Tet with veteran jazz drummer/percussionist Steve Reid continued to cement the long-held percussive and improvisational parallels between the realms of electronic music and jazz with 2007’s Tongues . Both explore their environs not so much through a set musical narrative but the whim of the artist and their embracing of space. Four Tet’s modus operandi was built on this first and foremost. Continue Reading

Recent Bella Union signee Our Broken Garden is primary singer/composer Anna Brønsted supported by a host of other musicians. Brønsted is a member of Efterklang’s live set-up, and it could be said that this EP carries a similar feel to that band’s work, but Our Broken Garden is certainly a different entity, with it’s own sound. Continue Reading

Mark Kozelek , the man behind the fantastic Red House Painters and now Sun Kil Moon, was good enough to answer a number of questions we fired off to him last week ahead of the release of his epic new album, April . We take in the music his listened to when he was growing up all the way to his thoughts on the "internet music revolution". Enjoy!

What was your life growing up in Massillon, Ohio? What music did you listen to as you were growing up?
It was the suburbs, Midwest - born in 1967. It’s just what it was. Fun was throwing corn at someone’s window, smoking pot behind a store, skipping school, listening to Pink Floyd. I listened to what I had access to - ELP, Yes, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Simon and Garfunkel. I discovered music at neighbor’s houses, in the bedrooms of friend’s older brother’s and sister’s. Continue Reading

I guess Coldplay have SO MUCH MONEY they can now “Do A Radiohead”. Well, not quite.

It was announced yesterday, sorry for being slow, that Coldplay are, from 12pm today, going to offer thier new single, Violet Hill, as a free download from their website.

At the same time, details have immerged of two free shows that the band will play, one in London and one in New York.

The free shows are:

LONDON BRIXTON ACADEMY - JUNE 16
NEW YORK MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - JUNE 23

Again, check coldplay.com for details of how to win tickets and do not contact the venues as no tickets will be available to buy.

Meanwhile, the release of Coldplay’s new album Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends has been brought forward four days in the UK to bring it into line with global release dates. The release date is now June 12.

Queen of heartbreak, El Perro Del Mar aka Sarah Assbring has announced she will be joining fellow Swede Lykke Li for a string of UK dates this coming June. Sarah will bring her heart-wrenching, beautiful overtures to the following venues:

2 Jun Night & Day Manchester w/ Lykke Li
3 Jun Hi-Fi Club Leeds w/ Lykke Li
6 Jun Albert Brighton w/ Lykke Li
7 Jun Stealth Nottingham w/ Lykke Li
8 Jun King Tuts Glasgow w/ Lykke Li
10 Jun Jericho Tavern Oxford w/ Lykke Li
11 Jun ICA London w/ Lykke Li

The dates coincide with the release of Sarah’s second full length on Memphis Industries, From The Valley To The Stars on May 19th.

Look out for a review of her latest album soon on TLOBF…

Are your favourite bands going to clash? Probably. It’s sods law after all. Plan your weekend here, so you can work out when to go back to the chalet for light refreshments. Our very own John Brainlove will be at the 16-18th May event, so keep your eyes peeled for a full report on TLOBF.

FRIDAY MAIN STAGE (doors 4pm)
WEEN - 9PM - 12AM
SEBADOH - 7.30PM – 8.30PM
VAMPIRE WEEKEND - 6PM - 7PM
THE CLIENTELE - 4.30PM - 5.30PM

FRIDAY 2ND STAGE (doors 3.45pm)
HOT CHIP DJS - 1.30am - 5am
GLASS CANDY + DJS - 12.30 – 1.30AM

REDD KROSS - 10.45pm - 12am
FUCK BUTTONS - 9.15pm - 10.15pm
SHIT AND SHINE - 8.00pm - 8.45pm
CAR SICK CARS - 6.45pm - 7.30pm
MAN MAN - 5.30PM – 6.15PM
JAY REATARD - 4.15pm - 5pm Continue Reading

Way too many ludicrous compound genres get tossed around when it comes to hellish task of trying to describe the type of music that Philadelphia band Man Man creates. Along with blog tags like, Tom Waits, Frank Zappa, and Captain Beefheart, things like “Viking vaudeville,” “swampy carnival punk,” and “dirty soul rock” have all been touted as adequate descriptors for a band that can’t be caged by musical genus. So yes, all of the aforementioned fail to truly wrestle to the ground the reason behind Man Man’s staying power both on and off the stage. Continue Reading

Mark Lanegan is surely one of the great collaborators of our time. The ex-Screaming Trees lead singer has worked with QOTSA, with Greg Dulli (ex-Afghan Whigs) as The Twilight Singers and more recently The Gutter Twins, with Soulsavers, and on one previous album with Isobel Campbell. Then there’s the several solo albums, the latest of which, 2004’s Bubblegum itself features a long list of contributers including Polly Harvey, Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin. He now returns once again with girlie “foil” Campbell (ex-Belle and Sebastian). Their first collaborative album – Ballad of the Broken Seas - was critically acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated. The experience obviously proving sufficiently satisfying to both artists to make them now return for a second bite of the cherry.

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Plus: Times New Viking, High Places, Bon Iver, Elf Power, HEALTH, Mahjongg, Icy Demons, Titus Andronicus, Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar

Bravo Windy City! Bravo! The lineup for the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival– blasting minds at Chicago’s Union Park July 18-20– is officially complete. And it looks very impressive.
Pitchfork filled out out Friday’s Don’t Look Back festivities (held in conjunction with All Tomorrow’s Parties), with lo-fi indie rock juggernauts Sebadoh, who will perform their soon-to-be-reissued 1993 album Bubble and Scrape in its entirety. They join Mission of Burma, toring through Vs., and Public Enemy, turning back the clock on the crowd with 1988’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Continue Reading

You love John & Jehn . And, if you don’t yet then you surely will soon.

Their songs are like darts from Cupid. As a couple, they’re the kind of spotlessly cool and genuinely charming people that everyone wants to know; onstage they effortlessly create the kind of authentic dynamism and tension that The Kills would kill for.

At tonight’s packed-out album release party, Jehn stands stage left as always, alternating between playing a huge Farfisa organ and bass guitar, shiny-eyed and fresh-faced, staring ceaselessly and adoringly across at her counterpart. John is stick-thin and art-star cool, playing driving, reverb-ridden rhythm guitar punctuated with bursts of electrifying noise. The songs are light of touch, lean and melodic, ranging from the exhilarating rock-out of ‘Fear Fear Fear’ to the Gallic shuffle of ‘My Friends’, from the giddy, lovestruck pop of their signature song ‘20L07′ to the achingly beautiful duet ‘Make Your Mum Be Proud’.

John & Jehn are something to cherish, a celebration of love, spirit and integrity as much as music performers in the traditional sense; two people joined together in making music that’s so much more than the sum of it’s parts.

You love John & Jehn. And, if you don’t yet then you will soon.

Photo by Steve Mullick

If you’ve been keeping your ear hovering roughly somewhere near the indie ground recently then surely you can’t have failed to come across John & Jehn, everything about whom is the stuff of music writer’s dreams (or at least music feature writers- IMO, they’re actually quite hard to review)- an uber-cool and ultra-good looking French couple living in London who make equally impeccably chic music that also manages to be, like them, somehow lovely, friendly, playful and utterly adorable too. They’re like everything hipsters should aspire to be- replacing cocaine sniffs with warm hugs and face-collapsing giggles. Continue Reading

We have a bit of an oddity here, folks. Never before have I reviewed an album that has left me quite so split since never before, in fact, have I listened to a band’s recorded output that I have found simultaneously an extremely enjoyable experience yet also pretty damned close to unlistenable. For those of you unfamiliar with the band, this demands some explanation. Continue Reading

This debut release from Aussie siblings Angus and Julia Stone barely rises above strummed acoustic guitars and stripped down drums, but after a few listens it’s clutch of gentle melodies have nestled their way inside my head as a summery delight come a few months early. Let’s hope the actual weather follows suit soon.

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