Deservedly longlisted for this year’s Polaris Prize for Canadian music, the debut album by Vancouverites Brasstronaut is worth the listens it takes to unfurl. Restrained and subtle but nevertheless a powerful album which packs a punch.
December, 2010
Best Coast – Scala, London 01/12/10
Looking around the room this evening the reign of Best Coast as the indie darlings of the moment is still clearly in place, their hazy sun soaked songs set to provide the soundtrack to this freezing cold, wintry night.
ATP: Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Butlins, Minehead 03-05/12/10
Gloomy French prison dramas and piano-playing chickens, star-jumping Japanese bassists and elderly saxophonists sounding like strangled cats in a wind-tunnel…yup, Canadian post-rock legends GY! BE emerged triumphant to curate the hipster’s festival of choice.
Snowblink – Long Live
Simple and elegant in design, Snowblink’s debut album titled Long Live never strays from the less-is-more approach. It is a stellar debut from the Toronto based dreamy folk-pop outfit, but it plays more like an EP than a long player.
Autolux w/The Berg Sans Nipple – Relentless Garage, London, 06/12/10
At one of their only UK shows of the year, LA-based trio Autolux prove that their absence and the live incarnation of their long-awaited second album has been well worth the wait. Heather Steele reviews, with photographs by Paul Bridgewater.
Zach Hill – Face Tat
He bangs the drums, but with a little help from from Devandra Banhart, No Age, Prefuse 73 and Deerhoof.
Mi Mye – Senc To The Shaking
‘Senc To The Shaking’ is far from being a perfect record, but if it was perfect it wouldn’t be half as charming. What Mi Mye have created is a debut filled to the brim with unique pop songs featuring melancholic lyrics that make you think as well as dance.
TLOBF Introducing // Cloud Nothings
Meet Cloud Nothings. They formed (properly) in 2009 when a then- eighteen year old Dylan Baldi decided to drop college, bring in some extra band members and pursue the lo-fi indie pop music he had created in his mum and dad’s basement.
Foxx Bandits – Gold Dresses EP
Foxx Bandits are really onto something. They’re ragged enough for the post-punks, psychedelic enough for the shoegazers, and (perhaps most importantly) catchy enough for fans of straight-up pop.
Ben Ottewell of Gomez announces debut solo album
Ben Ottewell (the gravely voiced one) from Gomez has announced details of his debut solo album Shapes & Shadows, released 7 February via Eat Sleep Records.
The Super Vacations – Thicker Milk
Thicker Milk, the new Super Vacations LP put out by totally lo-fi Shdwply Records delivers, and it really is as simple as that.
[Photos] Jens Lekman – The Green Building, Brooklyn NYC 09/12/10
Jens Lekman played The Green Building in Brooklyn last night. A highly intimate show that sold out in a staggering 7 minutes, our NYC based photographer Cory Smith was on hand to capture the magic in full.
Two Wounded Birds – Keep Dreaming Baby
With a beach style surf rock that is catchy, danceable and contagious you would think that Two Wounded Birds generated their sound spending time on the warm and sunny beaches of California, not Margate, England.
Tanlines – Volume On
Ubiquitous Brooklyn pair Tanlines have interesting, far flung histories. Their debut album impresses and frustrates in equal doses, raising as many questions as it answers.
TLOBF Introducing // Frankie Rose and The Outs
Ahead of her debut tour of the UK, we caught up with Frankie Rose – former Vivian Girl, Dum Dum Girl and Crystal Stilt – to see just what she had to say about life in the limelight and to get her *brief* thoughts on going it alone.
[Photos] Diamond Rings – Mercury Lounge, NYC 06/12/10
And you thought Patrick Wolf was camp. Check out photographs from Canada’s newest flamboyant pop export Diamond Rings as he played New York City’s Mercury Lounge. Photographs by Cory Smith.
