White Denim’s debut album Workout Holiday (out this week) is a bright, brash and, can I say it, sexy take on angular guitar rock. We caught up with Steve Terebecki (bass) to find out whether they could handle our recently refreshed 20 Questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Geeky, clumsy, flourishes.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
The first record I ever bought was Volcano Suns Farced at Wax n Facts in Atlanta, Georgia. Continue Reading

Mothlite release their mesmerising debut album The Flax Of Reverie next week via Southern Records. It’s hard to pin a category on these guys - their music is simply epic. A whirring carousel of sound that occasionally feels like your listening to the end of the world happening before your very ears. Listen to some songs here or even better, buy the album here.

Find out what the London based duo have been watching/reading/listening to lately…

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
New bands of interest are few and far between. Fovea Hex has been working for me lately. That’s Clodagh Simonds’ ambient project with favourable collaborators… including Eno, Carter Burwell, Andrew Mckenzie, etc. Continue Reading

This week sees the release of What You Don’t Know Is Frontier - the new album by California’s finest purveryors of what I like to call Sludgecore (I like inventing genres - sue me). We decided it was time to catch up with Asva for some serious 20 Questions action. Their responses were, as you would imagine - short and to the point with a fair amount of blue language. Look away now kids.

Ooh and don’t forget! Our Southern Records sampler is still available to download which features an exclusive track from the new Asva album. Get it here y’all.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Glass. Ocean. Tranquility. Continue Reading

Momentum is gathering. Our 20 Questions are once again the talk of the land. This week we got the cheaky XX Teens to answer those questions, frontmen Richard Cash and Anthony Silvester giving us the most insightful answer to our Stoat / Goat question yet…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Richard: Modern
Anthony: Pop
Richard: Music Continue Reading

It’s that After Hours time of the week again..This week, it’s the turn of The Owl Service. An intriguing four piece who create a truly strange and beautiful sound, as if beamed in from another era. A track from their forthcoming album A Garland Of Song (release June 13th via Southern) can be downloaded for free from our rather awesome Southern Records Sampler. Grab the whole thing here folks. We caught up with founder of the band, Steve Collins to find out what he’s been reading/watching/listening to lately….

It’s our round, what are you having?
A pint of Adnams Broadside please, with a Jack Daniels chaser.

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
One of my favourite new bands is Rubus - a 3 piece centred around singer Emily Portman (who also plays in The Devil’s Interval with another fine singer named Jim Causley). Basically, they’re dedicated to playing traditional British folk music with great arrangements, all topped off with Portman’s stunning vocals. - What’s been the best album you’ve heard in the last 12 months?My favourite new album from the last 12 months is probably Wolves in the Throne Room’s “Two Hunters”. My favourite old-but-new-to-me album is Sandy Bull “Fantasias For Guitar and Banjo”. It’s the blueprint for the current freak-folk sound - you’d think it was Six Organs of Admittance, but it was recorded in 1964. Just amazing, timeless music. Continue Reading

Dirty electro indie-pop. Where would we be without it? Well, we wouldn’t have The Chap that’s for sure! Their debut album is due out shortly, so what better time to get the band to answer our equally sordid 20 Questions. You’d never guess they were fans of ELO, but then that’s why we’re here!

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Fun and Interesting. Phew, easiest one first! Continue Reading

Not only is he the newest member of the magnificent Fleet Foxes, Josh Tillman is also a highly respected solo artist in his own right. Having released three albums over the same number of years, Tillman has just finished his fourth Vacilando Territory Blues which is set for release at some point this year. We caught up with Josh a few days ago to find out what he’s been listening/reading/watching over the past few months.

To find out more about Tillman’s work, check out our TLOBF Loves piece on him from a couple of days ago.

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
An instrumental group from Texas called Balmorhea. It’s pretty classically informed and a great sucker-punch for the Western ear. “River Arms” has been great company on bike rides, etc.

What’s been the best album you’ve heard in the last 12 months?
The Daktaris “Soul Explosion”

What was the last book you read? Would you recommend it?
I just finished “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. Carrying that book around is something of a confrontation sandwich board and I’ve had to diffuse quite a few “witnessing” attempts on airplanes, gettng coffee, etc. I’d recommend it for private enjoyment, or to invest in a Bible book cover. Continue Reading

Bon Iver. Photograph by Sarah Cass.

The reputation of Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, precedes him like a particularly florid trumpet fanfare. Never mind the insular indie music press - if you’ve opened a Sunday supplement or flipped past Jools Holland recently, you’ll have seen his emotionally wrenching debut For Emma, Forever Ago hyped almost beyond the limits of logic or sanity. The tale of For Emma’s creation entered modern mythology pretty much immediately: Vernon had spent years chasing success with a number of bands, most lately Wisconsin four-piece DeYarmond Edison (true), endured a difficult breakup (true) and a nervous breakdown (untrue), retreated to a remote log cabin (true) and spent three icy months in total isolation, his only sustenance a few bits of melted snow and a deer he killed with his bare hands (almost true).

It hardly matters now what actually happened and what’s just wild exaggeration. Without even planning to record an album, Vernon emerged into the spring of 2007 with nine tracks of atmospheric, minimal acoustic guitar and octave-spanning vocals, layered into an intensely personal, primal sonic epiphany. (He’s said, beautifully and a little spookily, “I recognise that the record is enigmatic and special in a strange way. I can’t take full credit for it, and I was the only one there.”) He self-released For Emma to instant Pitchfork acclaim, was picked up by Jagjaguar in the US and 4AD in the UK and took this year’s SXSW by storm. Still, he’s a thoughtful, funny, humble soul who is more interested in international politics and music with a conscience. Continue Reading

For this edition of After Hours, we managed to track down NYC based Milena Mepris, one half of Transatlantic duo Pin Me Down. Ultimately a side project for Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack, Pin Me Down have been making waves with their current single ‘Cryptic’. Shedding the angular restrains of Bloc Party, Lissack has forged his distinctive guitar parts with infectious 80’s beats and Kim Wilde-esque melodies. Check out their myspace why don’t ya.. ‘Cryptic’ is released on June 2nd via Kitsune.

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
Milena Mepris: I quite like Santogold - she is based near us in Brooklyn and, for a while, we were sharing a drummer with her. Santi’s music is great - a mesh of a ton of genres - everything from electronic and hip hop beats to pure pop to ska guitars. She’s got a great ear for melody, a malleable voice, and a lot of personality. I think she will do really well. Continue Reading

Errors; the missing link between Clinic and Mogwai… well, maybe. They’re signed to Mogwai’s Rock Action records though and release their quite marvellous new album, It’s Not Something But It Is Like Whatever, next Monday. Go out and buy it, you’ll be a better person. Honest. Anyway, we caught up with James Hamilton to find out the answer to the most revealing questions on the internet… Continue Reading

Our infamous 20 Questions have had a bit of break whilst we reformulated them, now with 10% extra stuff… So, who better to kick off the Second Coming than Matthew Smith, guitarist/vocalist for the wonder of modern pop that is Hot Club de Paris who release new single ‘Hey! Housebrick’ on the Monday and new album Live At Dead Lake on 16th June, both through Moshi Moshi. Continue Reading

After recently signing their praises as part of our TLOBF Loves pieces, we managed to get Matt and Dimitri from the band to answer our quick fire questions about what makes them tick… They even gave us some photos to share!

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
Dimitri: They might like us?? …and Jack has a good new hair cut (I cut it!).
Matt: Surely you should never judge a band by their hair cuts Dimitri!? Continue Reading

So it’s one of THE great debuts by a British band, we’ve established that. But what do The Wave Pictures themselves think of the album? Dave Tattersall (lead singer, guitarist) sat down and wrote at length his thoughts on the classic that is Instant Coffee Baby .

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No, they’re not a Wilco tribute band. The Late Greats are, in fact, a guitar toting 4-piece from the rock n roll capital of the UK: Eastbourne. (That last bit was a joke by the way). Anyway - they’ve impressed us with their hook laden single ‘Futures Gold’ (released June 2nd), so we thought we’d catch up with them to pitch our ‘getting to know you’ questions. Here goes….

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
First question and its pretty tricky. We’d like to think that its 1- because we’re quite good. 2- because we’re quite good. 3- because we’re quite good. One of the best things that anyone has said about us after a gig is “I actualy quite liked them”. Not expecting anything from nothing but coming out pleasently surprised about the results. I guess you’ve got to come see us play to make your own judgement. We will do our best to tickle your inner souls. Continue Reading

The Acorn have been continually playing on our stereos at TLOBF Towers ever since a Canadian friend of ours lent us some mp3’s towards the end of last year. We’ve been completely bowled over by them in fact. Here’s hoping for them to get a UK deal in 2008. In the meantime, we managed to track down main man Rolf Klausener to pitch our notoriously devilsh 20 Questions to him… Continue Reading

I have an admission to make; until very recently, I’d not heard of The Drift . But, a slot on the Explosions in the Sky curated ATP event this month and finding themselves in my town of Cambridge the same week, it made me investigate their music. And what music it is. Evocative post-rock that features heavy use of brass instruments, giving their music an added dimenson and separating it in a genre that’s starting to sound tired. I caught up with guitarist and keyboardist Danny Grody to find out what’s behind the band. Continue Reading

Lykke Li

The Moshi Moshi record label are celebrating their first ten years in business this year. As part of those celebrations they have just released a rather excellent compilation of releases from their acclaimed Singles Club. Jude Clarke chatted with label co-founder Stephen Bass and found out his views on running a successful label, why he thinks negative reviews of Kate Nash are foolish and rude (oops!), and what acts he particularly rates from the past and present day. Continue Reading

We tracked down home recording auteur Kelley Stoltz a few months ago to pitch our enticing 20Q’s to him. He didn’t know what a stoat was, he has a bald spot and he is addicted to buying records on ebay. Where else but TLOBF would you find out important and vital information such as this? Wikipedia? No way jose. Circular Sounds is out now via Sub Pop. Continue Reading

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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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