Just announced, Frida Hyvönen will be releasing her new album Silence Is Wild this Autumn. Co-produced by Jari Haapalainen who worked with Frida on her debut Until Death Comes, the album will get its Scandinavian release on October 29th via Licking Fingers with our friends at Secretly Canadian handling things everywhere else on November 4th.

You can download the first single ‘Enemy Within’ for free from Licking Fingers’ website.

Frida Hyvönen on MySpace

You know how they were going on about Manchester like “rising again” and such with The Courteeners and The Ting Tings and that? Well, the whole time, I just wanted to hit people who wrote about Manchester in the context of bands like that and shove Cats In Paris in their ears. Cats In Paris are, firstly, the sound of the actual Manchester I inhabit- a Manchester by no means dominated by either major record labels or indeed Mancunians. Cats In Paris themselves can often be seen huddled together grinning at various gigs and clubnights. Even before I knew they were in a band, I thought they must be in a band, because, well… how could they not? The physicality of the band is amazing, from moustachioed drummer to dollar jacketed bassist to really tall girl keyboardist to bearded, ginger, glasses-wearing, yet undeniably Pan-like frontman Michael Watson (the very same Michael Watson behind the also-fantastic Michael’s Exciting Life webcomics, often featuring other members of the band). Continue Reading

Laguna Meth or Michael Laguna as he’s fondly known to his mum releases a brand new single ‘Sugar Shack/Stud Boy’ via Island on Monday (18th August). The printed press seem to have taken quite fondly to his acid tinged whimsy with Uncut citing his album Laguna The Puma as a “lost classic:”.

To coincide with the single launch, his label have made album track ‘Everybody Loves Acid On A Sunday Morning’ available as a free download. The two minute ditty sees Laguna invite you to “take a tab, just stick it in your mouth - yeah yeah yeah”. How irresponsible. Bloody hippies. *Tuts*

Drugs are bad, m’kay kids?

mp3:> Laugna Meth: ‘Everybody Loves Acid On A Sunday Morning’

Laguna Meth on MySpace

Despite unavoidable assumptions, Bluebeard’s Room is not an album made by pirates. Or for pirates. It has absolutely nothing to do with pirates, unless there’s some hugely subtle or coded reference, or a band member was a pirate in a previous life.

Another variable seems to be the band’s nationality. At times ( see ‘Johnny Bentham’s Dilemma’ and ‘I Couldn’t Get Off’) the vocals have a Dylan drawl and words run together, with a touch of Kings Of Leon lazy articulating, but the accent is as English as a good queue. On album opener ‘Runaway Pram’, and ‘I Do Know’ the vocals sound distinctly of Gallagher origin. Continue Reading

Beth Tacular, (Accordion, Bass Drum, Backing Vocals), Phil Moore, (Lead Vocals, Guitar, Tambourine), Mark Paulson (Violin, Pedal Keyboard, Bass Drum, Backing Vocals), are the three members of Raleigh, North Carolina’s Bowerbirds, a band that has crafted a brilliant album which could be called folk, but such a classification falls well short of truly giving justice to what they sound like. When listening to Hymns For A Dark Horse you get the feeling that these songs are physical objects as much as they are ephemeral waves of vibrations. Filled with ideas, imagery and metaphors in the lyrics, melodies, themes and rhythms in the instrumentation, songs seem so bursting with life that they are something you experience, something that you can walk around, prodding and peering at. Continue Reading

The War On Drugs. Photograph by Travis Newman

The War on Drugs‘ debut LP Wagonwheel Blues was released last month to quiet acclaim. This website called it an “incredible debut…accomplished, mature, understated”. Pitchfork rhapsodised about its “enormous first impression…they craft a big sound for their big ideas, so that Wagonwheel Blues fills the space between horizons”. From its woozily euphoric opening bars, the record carves out a path that links Springsteen’s bittersweet narratives to Eno’s textural noodling. Main man Adam Granduciel’s voice has been compared, not sacrilegiously, to Dylan; he also carries the lion’s share of musical composition and execution, with support from Philadelphia man of mystery Kurt Vile (shimmering 12-string guitar as well as the usual six-string), Dave Hartley (bass), Kyle Lloyd and Charlie Hall (both drums). On the eve of their first European tour, TLOBF caught up with Granduciel, who’s sweetly boffiny, scarily focused and as puppyishly excited about the tour as we are. Continue Reading

Quite a buzz has been surrounding Leeds based “post rock” outfit Vessels. With their first record about to be released this month, musical circles have been spinning with aplomb and excitement. And that excitement is well warranted. Their record White Things and Open Devices is one of those that, from the moment you begin listening, creates waves; the sort of waves you’ll most definitely want to ride.
Continue Reading

We’ve talked and talked and talked about how much we love The Acorn here at TLOBF so we won’t bore you even more. Just hang fire for some M-A-J-O-R gushing when the album review goes live next week. No - this is just a quick post. The fine folk over at Have You Heard have just posted up a fantastic and rather chaotic live session in which the band play five tracks from Glory Hope Mountain.

mp3:> The Acorn: ‘Crooked Legs’
mp3:> The Acorn: ‘Flood pt. 1′
mp3:> The Acorn: ‘Low Gravity’
mp3:> The Acorn: ‘Flood pt. 2′
mp3:> The Acorn: ‘Plateau Ramble’

Click here to head on over to Have You Heard if you want to download the session in a .zip file.

Photograph by Paul Wilcock

Jude Clarke has a long, fairly analytical phone conversation with folky-electronica wizz kid and all round nice chap Jeremy Warmsley, covering the new album, the benefits of a Cambridge education and whether it’s better making music for yourself or your audience.

Hello Jeremy I’ve just got a few questions to ask you, so thank you for giving us the time for the interview.
Of course.

How did your Transgressive tour go?  That’s just finished now, has it?
Yeah, oh - it was brilliant, it was so much fun.  All the bands on the tour were just super-talented and really nice and it was great to make some new friends and play a bunch of shows.  Things couldn’t have gone better, really. Continue Reading

On September 2nd, Australia’s The Drones will release the digital version of their limited edition picture disc, The Minotaur + A Brief Retrospective via ATP Recordings. The EP includes a selection of tracks from their Australian Music Prize Award nominated Gala Mill (2006) and AMP Award winning LP Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By (2005). Also featured is ‘The Minotaur’, a song that will find itself on the band’s highly anticipated fourth studio album, Havilah (releasing early 2009).

Recorded in a mud brick house somewhere in the mountains outside of Myrtleford, Victoria, ‘The Minotaur’ is a lusty and brutal blitz, that over three and a half minutes, manages to draw the historical line between ancient Greek mythology and current-day time-wasting.

Download ‘Baby2′ originally released on Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By at the bottom of the post.

The Drones will be touring the US throughout August and September including All Tomorrow’s Parties New York with My Bloody Valentine, Shellac and Built to Spill.

August 13 - 3 of Clubs - Los Angeles, CA
August 18 - Spaceland - Los Angeles, CA
August 24 - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
August 28 - Hemlock Tavern - San Francisco, CA
August 31 - Echoplex - Los Angeles, CA (w/ Polvo & Trans Am)
September 13 - Piano’s - New York, NY
September 20 - Kutshers Country Resort - Monticello, NY (All Tomorrow’s Parties)
September 21 - Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA *
September 22 - The National - Richmond, VA *
September 23 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC *
September 24 - Ram’s Head Live - Annapolis, MD *

* w/ Built To Spill, Meat Puppets

mp3:> The Drones: ‘Baby2′

A rushed Monday morning commute was not the most conducive environment to give this album its first airing, but some tracks from Micah P.Hinson’s third and latest are so heart-wrenchingly poignant that I was almost welling up onto another mans shoulder. That’s an indication of the usual cattle crush ride on the tube rather than a little nugget of personal disclosure, but you get the picture.

With a passing resemblance to a young myopic Elvis Costello, the slow rumbling Texan drawl that emerges from Hinson’s wry frame seems to much closer match expectations based upon his unsettled personal history of addiction and mental illness, money problems and vagrancy, a jail term, and a painful back condition that endured during this recording. I suppose I’m a subscriber to the ‘troubled artist’ theory - at least to have had experiences from which to draw creative intensity if not currently facing obstacles; and all that is, as typically for Hinson, evident here. But the album also often hints at a flickering light at the end of the tunnel, and at those points seems to be some kind of cathartic celebration. The biggest source of his salvation must be his new(ish) wife. He actually proposed at the end of a show at London’s Union Chapel late last year, and parts of the album are practically a love letter to his muse. Continue Reading

“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”

That quote itself could have been the perfect review for The Ascent Of Everest’s debut How Lonely Sits The City. Now, I admit to being a bit of a lazy person, but even I’m not that lazy… So here goes: Post-rock has never really been my “thing”. Perhaps it’s my short attention span doing battle with the often marathon-length tracks, or maybe it’s my partiality to things like, say, lyrics. Upon receiving HLSTC, I was admittedly daunted by the album’s scant five tracks, ranging in length from seven to fourteen minutes. Still I approached it with the same open mind I try to approach any new music, and I came away considerably moved by the album’s mixture of subtle beauty and crashing intensity. Continue Reading

In what turned out to be the most entertaining 20 Questions we’ve done in a while, NYC punk outfit Stalkers took some time out of promoting their Ramones-esque single ‘In Your Street Today’ which was released via One Little Indian last week. We caught up with Raze Regal (guitar), Andy Animal (vocals), Danny Gold (bass), Lefty Flowers (guitar) and Josh Styles (drums) to see what they made of our infamous questions. As you’d expect, the answers read like a ‘How to be a Rock n Roll band 101′: Fucking, amyl nitrate, whiskey, beating eachother up, riding motorcycles into swimming pools and the most important one of all - using human tears as a lubricant during masturbation….
Continue Reading

The follow-up to Edinburgh-based pianist/composer Max Richter’s last album comes the release of the gorgeous, intriguingly framed 24 Postcards In Full Colour (out in the UK, Europe, and the rest of the world on 25 August - US and Canada get it on 23 September). Richter’s music has always seemed transient - like a dream wafting through the room - but his new collection adds another layer to the oeuvre he’s been building for himself since his time with Piano Circus in the 1990s. This time he tackles the oft-vilified musical realm of ringtones. The German-born composer/producer explains his M.O. well: “Thinking about how we listen to music today, I wondered why it is that ringtones have so far been treated as unfit for creative music… Who says ringtones have to be bad? It’s like saying LPs or CDs are bad – its just a medium.” Continue Reading

While it might be better known for the likes of Fatboy Slim, The Kooks and 80’s Matchbox B-line Disaster, Brighton is quietly developing a new folk scene to rival any city in the UK. And we aren’t talking the coffee table smugness school of folk that the likes of Adem insist on peddling, nor the one man/woman with a guitar that gets plastered across our tv’s and sunday supplements then used to sell us butter. This is folk that scares or unsettles you, a way of passing on stories and legends. The figures of Birdengine and Mary Hampton both deliver dark brooding folk music with a passion and with lyrics to chill you to the bone. Add to that the instrumental magnificence of -A+M and the massed tribes of the Willkommen Collective (of which Sons of Noel and Adrian are a part) and you realise the city is really very lucky, even as it stands to be invaded by a couple of thousand drunken morons for the beach party in September. In most other cities, this would be considered a ‘scene’, but with so many various micro-scenes, there is no cohesive ‘Brighton sound’ as yet. Continue Reading

The new-folk revolution is unstoppable and is taking over. If ten years ago Belle and Sebastian were a singularity in the rock scene, nowadays, from Toronto to Brighton, Seattle to Liverpool, fiddles and brasses have become cooler than electric guitars.

It’s probably not since Newport circa 1964 that rock music hasn’t had such a strong affair with popular roots, acoustic sounds and bucolic feelings. The latest battle of this peaceful war has been the conquest of the London Coliseum. The English National Opera’s sumptuous theatre, opened for a night of psych-folk in order to let the hippies experience their favourite music in an exceptional setting. Continue Reading

The summer is finally here. What better way to spend your holidays, wherever you may be going, than downloading our latest mixtape to soundtrack that trip. And, as a special offer to you, we’ve offered up some of the freshest and best new music we could get our grubby little mitts on. So there’s the latest tracks from established bands like Calexico and Mercury Rev intermingled with the best new acts around, including Gregory and the Hawk, Air France and Abe Vigoda - all superb new bands who you’ll be hearing a lot about on TLOBF in the coming months.

So download, enjoy and don’t forget to wear sunscreen.

FRESH MEAT (AUGUST 2008 PLAYLIST)

1. Gregory and The Hawk - Grey Weather [download mp3]
2. Calexico - Two Silver Trees [download mp3]
3. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson - Buriedfed [download mp3]
4. Mercury Rev - Senses On Fire [download mp3]
5. Land Of Talk - Magnetic Hill (acoustic) [download mp3]
6. The Donkeys - Walk Through A Cloud [download mp3]
7. Conor Oberst - Danny Callahan [download mp3]
8. Parts & Labor - Now Heres Nigh [download mp3]
9. Air France - Collapsing At Your Door [download mp3]
10. Abe Vigoda - Dead City / Waste Wilderness [download mp3]

[DOWNLOAD ALL TRACKS] - right-click and choose save-as to download complete .zip file

Hungry for more? Delve into the mixtape archive HERE.

Damien Jurado

Jagjaguwar and Dead Oceans, the consistently fine spin off labels from Secretly Canadian have oodles of interested signings and new releases coming up - so, in a condensed form, heres everything in one bite sized-ish post. Here goes…

Bon Iver

Signed in the US to Jagjaguwar (4AD in the UK) Bon Iver appeared on New York radio station WMYC this week. You can stream the appearence below, which features mega performances of ‘Creature Fear’ and spine tingle inducing rendiditon of ‘Flume’. Plus a chat about the album, which to be fair doesn’t really reveal too much. Just the same old “so I hear you recorded this in your fathers log cabin” etc etc.. Still worth it for the songs though - listen below:

If mp3’s are more your bag, then you can still grab the A-M-A-Z-I-N-G live session from Daytrotter.

mp3:> Bon Iver: ‘Flume’ [Daytrotter Session]
mp3:> Bon Iver: ‘Lump Sum’ [Daytrotter Session]
mp3:> Bon Iver: ‘Re Stacks’ [Daytrotter Session]
mp3:> Bon Iver: ‘Creature Fear’ [Daytrotter Session]

Also, watch this recent footage of Bon Iver and labelmates Bowerbirds perform Sarah Siskind’s ‘Lovin’s For Fools’ shot at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC. Hopefully they’ll perform it together at Shepherds Bush Empire next month - Bowerbirds are supporting Bon Iver at the sold out show on 11th September. Speaking of Bowerbirds, Brooklyn Vegan has some real nice shots of a recent show of theirs, here.

Women

Jagjaguwar will release Women’s self-titled debut full length on October 7th, 2008 throughout the world (January, 2009 release in the UK, and Canadian label Flemish Eye is releasing the record in Canada.) The band will tour the U.S., Canada and Europe in support of the album throughout 2008, and tour dates will be announced soon.

The band’s debut was recorded by Sub Pop and Flemish Eye artist Chad VanGaalen over 4 months on ghettoblasters and old tape machines in his basement, an outdoor culvert and a crawlspace. Sometimes light and spacious, at other times eerie and dense with an ominous weight, Women hint at the Velvet Underground, Swell Maps or This Heat; a lo-fi masterpiece cloaked in layers of vibrato and guitar wash.

mp3:> Women: ‘Black Rice‘
mp3:> Women: ‘Group Transport Hall‘

These Are Powers

After witnessing the chaos and energy of a These Are Powers live set, Dead Oceans were immediately enthralled with this band, and after a long courtship and some hot and heavy dating, they have finally announced the start of a long and fruitful union. First, Dead Oceans will re-release Taro Tarot and Terrific Seasons in October 2008, followed by an LP of new material in the first part of 2009. The band will support the re-releases with tours of both North America and Europe this autumn.

mp3:> These Are Powers: ‘Cockles’

Secretly Canadian have a couple of decent releases coming up too.. David Vandervelde’s sophomore album Waiting For The Sunrise is released next week in the States (22nd Sept in the UK) - fairly decent easy listening fare. Look out for a review soon. Also, Damien Jurado is set to release his new LP Caught In The Trees on 9th September in the States (27th Oct in the UK) - judging by the lead track ‘Gillian Was A Horse’ we’re in for some what of a treat. I can never understand though why we have to wait so long for UK release dates..

Oh - and one last thing, Dead Oceans new signings The Donkeys will release their staggering self-titled debut on September 8th. It really is quite fantastic - download an mp3 below and see for yourselves. Country-rock at its very finest. Look out for a review nearer the time of release.

mp3:> David Vandervelde: ‘I Will Be Fine’
mp3:> Damien Jurado: ‘Gillian Was A Horse’
mp3:> The Donkeys: ‘Walk Through A Cloud’

Sigur Ros

Words: Alex Harvey and Charley Caines
Photographs: Danny North, Baptiste Pons, Rayos Centusoidos and Davide Ravani

After the trials and tribulations of Glastonbury 2007, I and seemingly half of blighty thought enough was enough of the shit English weather and decided to head for the sunnier climes of Spain and Benicassim for our annual festival experience.

Any thoughts surrounding a particularly bad hangover after a heavy night in Barcelona are put aside, as once at the campsite the serene beauty of the mountains bearing down on you and the relatively small town of Benicassim become apparent and just a hint of smugness washed over me. You can keep your rain, your mud and your Jay-Z nonsense, I’ve got a beach, 30+ degree heat, a water park, the picturesque mountains and ok…maybe the small matter of ants nest by my tent but you can’t have it all can you? Continue Reading

Momento is starting to build up nicely for The Voluntary Butler Scheme, or Rob Jones as he’s known to his mum. Gaining positive support from 6Music and Radio 2 from the likes of Marc Riley, John Kennedy, Rob Da Bank, Jon Hillcock, Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens. No suprise either. This guy is real good, if pigeonholing is your thing you can stick him amongst the likes of Noah & The Whale, Laura Marling, Emmy The Great and Johnny Flynn. Quirky sun-kissed folk. We likey. Quite a lot in fact.

Currently promoting the new and really rather good EP Trading Things In, we caught up with Rob to pitch our ever popular quick fire conundrums… Continue Reading