Having already garnered quite a following in his native Sweden, Johan Reinhold is introducing himself to our ears with his indie-electro-pop sensibilities in the form of a remix EP. Music after the jump…
The more sanitised, synthetic and computerised mainstream music becomes the more the discerning music lover yearns for something a little more authentic, a little more organic. In 2012 too much music sounds like it’s been factory produced and packed full of more additivies than a family sized pack of Monster Munch. Thank god for labels like Art Is Hard Records who have an enviable record of unearthing genuine little hand made organic gems like the prolific lo-fi maverik Thomas Crang aka Gorgeous Bully.
Woe betide any unfortunate soul who suddenly has a flash of inspiration and records one of the most brilliant songs of the year in mid-December: it simply won’t even get heard amongst all the end-of-year lists, and the inevitable accompanying chatter about Lana del bloody Rey‘s inclusion/exclusion.
Corpse Lights, by the way, might just be one of those bands, splattered with the results of the increasingly insane blog-list arms-race.
Secret Diaries have one of those supremely satisfying band names that make you wonder why no-one has thought of it before. I love it when that happens.
And speaking of ‘supremely satisfying’, Secret Diaries’ undulating, stacatto songs are, naturellement, just that.
King Khan recently retired The Shrines and The BBQ Show and started a new project – The King Khan Experience. He’s been getting compared to Jimi Hendrix his whole musical career and this new project finally takes up the challenge. In 9 new tracks released free by Scion Audio Visual Khan aggressively rips through a set of psychedelic garage-rock, forcing all sorts of weird sounds out of his electric guitar. Somewhere between Hendrix and Santana, The Datsuns and The Hives – The King Khan Experience is a fusion of all the best elements of past and present rock ‘n’ roll, but is perhaps not the most experimental work he’s ever done.
Blipping and tripping like a rave version of the Knife, Hugo Manuel of Oxford’s Chad Valley peaks early in his washed out rave-inspired chillwave pop. His gauzy vocals, glossy percussion and eerie-woodland-creature character wouldn’t be out of place in a Glass Vaults song. Manuel made his mark early on in his game touring Europe and went on to impress the folks on Pitchfork and many blogs, as well as earning a spot at UK festival T in the Park. ‘I Want Your Love’ is one of his most memorable songs, with its epically catchy chorus melody playing out in a seemingly endless cycle.
The most double-edged of all the things that the internet-led re-arrangement of pop music’s atomic structure has presented to us is this: predictability.
Now that we’ve all spotted which way pop music is headed, we can relax.
When I saw Washed Out a couple years ago, it was just Ernest Greene and a laptop on stage and I left unimpressed. His opening set on Day 3 of Pygmalion Festival though, was a massive improvement and turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. What helped the most was the addition of a full band, including multiple synths, samplers, bass, trumpet, and live drums which created an extraordinarily more dense and full sound. The song themselves were another improvement, his newer stuff is far more upbeat and dynamic, while still incorporating the lush, swirling soundscapes that made Washed Out one of the pioneers of the chillwave movement. Sublime tracks like “Eyes Be Closed”, “Soft” and “Far Away” sounded huge and spacious and got the crowd swaying and dancing along, which more then prepared us for the absolute dance-fest that was Cut Copy’s headlining set.
Volume 4 is the latest release from one of the most interesting bands around - Shield Your Eyes.
Due out on the 17th of October, this has got to be one of their finest albums to date.
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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