Mike Kinsella’s fifth album under the Owen moniker, Ghost Town offers moments of pure inspiration, tempered by those of mediocrity. Kinsella can conjure brilliance: just rather too infrequently.
Author Luke Grundy
“I’m not much of an interpretative dancer”: Catching up with Josh T. Pearson – Part Two
Part Two of The Line of Best Fit’s interview with the one and only Josh T Pearson, where we talk about finishing the record, The Dude and the first time he heard ‘The Sound of Silence’.
“I’m not much of an interpretative dancer”: Catching up with Josh T. Pearson – Part One
The unfathomably charismatic Josh T. Pearson joins The Line of Best Fit’s Luke Grundy to discuss his debut solo album, the Bible, and stretching heartbreak out through yoga.
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
Ryan Adams’ thirteenth studio album marks a return to the communicative country roots which so entranced us the first time round, and further enhance the North Carolina singer’s deserved reputation as a truly gifted songwriter.
Wilco – The Whole Love
Wilco’s eighth studio album combines the impetuous energy which helped boost them to icon status with the mature, reflective songwriting which has become their hallmark. The resulting elixir is one of their best records to date, and feels like a natural successor to the landmark Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
Can’t Stop The Signal: The Radio Dept.
With the recent re-issue of The Radio Dept. back catalogue on heavyweight 180g vinyl, The Line Of Best Fit take a look back at the three albums that have shaped and carved an undeniable arc in modern alternate pop culture. What follows is a wonderful insight into one of Sweden’s best kept secrets.
The Dead Trees – Whatwave
The Dead Trees’ second studio album is an extremely likeable, listenable record, but one whose brief running time and rough stylistic shifts stop it being a classic.
Watch: Vandaveer – The Great Gray
Already established as one of the most consistently intriguing folk acts currently working, Mark Charles Heidinger’s latest video reflects the same conflicts, the haunting tensions and the ethereal beauty his music (as Vandaveer) does.
The Flaming Lips – Alexandra Palace, London 01/07/11
On a fully movable stage containing, amongst other things, a pair of confetti cannons, two timpani and a giant projection curtain, the veteran American psychedeliacs are showing no signs of waning enthusiasm more than two decades after their formation.
Tom Waits, disillusionment and shit: The Middle East
The Middle East offer an insight into the musical diversity that makes their debut album so spectacular and challenging. Not that they’d admit to it. Luke Grundy takes a fascinating look at the genius that is I Want That You Are Always Happy.
Gomez – Whatever’s On Your Mind
While most bands lurch from musical brilliance to atrocity and back, Gomez never slip below solid, and Whatever’s On Your Mind is an enjoyable, catchy reminder that consistency is a virtue, not a curse.
The Middle East – I Want That You Are Always Happy
Despite having endured a fractured history to this point, Australian collective The Middle East’s first cohesive studio album is a fascinating, brilliant musical broth composed of a series of masterfully created sounds.
Manchester Orchestra – Simple Math
The third studio release from the Atlanta five-piece is bursting at the seams with new ideas, but while the climaxes remind us of what the band does well, an overabundance of new ideas leaves Simple Math feeling somewhat more complex and uneven than its title would suggest.
The Future’s Bright, the Future’s….Odd?
Ready (or more likely) not, Odd Future are coming. And we’d best be prepared.
Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
Okkervil River’s sixth studio album has all the ingredients of a good record, but all too often frustrates by not combining them coherently. At times brilliant, at times very frustrating, it never lives up to its own promise.
