Part five of my alphabetical retrospective of interview features I wrote for Playmusic last year continues with the return - in a collective sense - of Field Music. The brothers Brewis are essentially Field Music. Andrew Moore may play drums, but it seems the trio format was always dispensable. The second self-titled album was entirely written and recorded by the Sunderland pair after they separated their efforts into two projects: namely School of Language and The Week That Was, though they both played on each other’s ‘solo’ records.
If there’s one thing that English folks are suckers for is indie anthems made for the festival stages and this is what Wildlife shells out – effectively song after song filled with soaring stadium-ready tracks to wave your skinny arms in the air to. This band is Wildlife from Toronto, not the other band with a similar name and the album I’m talking about here is Strike Hard, Young Diamond.
Before this album, I had only heard the heavenly song “Norway”. I was unaware they released anything before this, so to me, this is their debut – which I found almost hard to believe as you’ll find out why throughout this review. And my my, what an album it is.
The Farrs - Band Of The Year
As ever it has been a busy year. Many gigs attended, many strange sights seen. Most of it has been documented on this site, but incredibly, some of it hasn’t, such as a breathtaking show by The Decemberists at the Forum.
The band played their ‘Hazards of Love’ album in full, with guest vocalists, a version of ‘The Rakes’ Song battered out on five drumkits, and even the door men guarding the entrance turning round and clapping. The band also managed a trick often employed by Nathaniel Fregoso of The Blood Arm, where they get the whole audience to sit down – some mean feat in a venue this size and with pools of Christ Knows What on the floor.
Following up recent single ‘Propeller’, Kingstonians Tubelord dropped their debut album ‘Our First American Friends’ this week. And taking a leaf out of Roald Dahl’s book, they’re running a "golden ticket" comp.
If you’re one of ten lucky people to find a "golden ticket" in your CD, then you can go to five Tubelord headline gigs of your own choosing. And they’re pretty ace live too, if their recent Offset Festival performance was anything to go by. The album is similarly ace, a math-pop-post-hardcore-screamy-dreamy odyssey.
Oh Johnny Foreigner, the only band to put out a record last year that I enjoyed more than either of the Los Campesinos! records. Quite an impressive feat given there is only three of them when the other lot have seven. Even more impressive given their album, Waited Up Til It Was Late was largely made up of older, re-recorded songs. Nearly two and a half years down the line though, they still sound as fresh as they ever did.
Of course, it’s still lovely to hear some new material, so it was a nice surprise last week when the band threw up a zip file on their Myspace page containing two new songs: Ghost the Festivals and Ohai, Sentinels. The first has been around for a while now, both in live sets and a couple of videos out there in Youtubeland, but it’s nice to have proper recordings. The production may be a little rough around the edges, but I’d expect nothing less.
Crystal Castles sit in a dimly lit apartment in Stoke Newington. Vocalist Alice Glass, with brutal bob and kick-ass army boots, grins and swigs lager. Ethan Fawn gazes out impassively from a hoodie and talks with careful neutrality that suggests weariness, or wariness. “By the way, I haven’t slept for two days,” he begins. The first thing I learn is that the album I’ve been listening to – their debut, Crystal Castles – apparently sounds nothing like the finished version, which was mixed by the band’s friend Lexx before Christmas. “We wanted some mixed versions for the promos but I don’t know what the fuck happened,” Ethan explains. “We just wanted it so if you play it loud it sounds as good on the speakers as it does in your headphones.”
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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