Liam Mclean is no joke. Not musically, nor when discussing his slick RnB.
READ MOREThere’s almost no doubt that the quintet of roused Australian youngsters that make up Boy & Bear are comprehensively nice.
It’s hard to fathom that British Sea Power now have five albums under their belts.
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Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Hawk
[V2]7/10
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Where the previous two albums from this collaborative project were about revenge and forbidden love, ‘Hawk’ takes on a note of regret. ‘We Die and See Beauty Reign’ is the slow, difficult opener that’ll have you reaching for the razor blades if you don’t hold out for the hootenanny of the title track, which livens things up with a cacophony of blaring saxophones and a guitar solo winding enough to rival the roads that snake along Arizona mountains. ‘Come Undone’ is the one to floor you, as the beautiful strings paired with the abrupt guitar mirror Lanegan’s gruff voice grating evocatively against Campbell’s soothing whisper. There’s also a hint of the Sixties with a riff on on ‘Get Behind Me’ that screams The Animals, especially placed with the organ, but the closer ‘Lately’ echoes Lou Reed, which the gospel harmonies and Lanegan’s gravely vocals mimic. It’s a record that sells itself as a blues-heavy, country folk number, but is rich in retro pop tidings.
By D. K. Goldstein
Your worst fears about ‘Nothing’ are probably right. The late-year, post-album extended-play sounds like the runoff of a few constructions that didn’t make the cut for ‘Dedication’.
Milagres are a Brooklyn-based quintet fronted by a certain Kyle Wilson, whose soaring vocal style sits somewhere between Thom Yorke and Chris Keating of Yeasayer.
On first encounter, ‘Bad Dream Hotline’ is your standard emo-goth release – black on black cover art, tracks called things like ‘A Handsome Stranger Called Death’ and ‘Dance & Weep’.
‘Out of Sight, Out of Town’ is an album that concerns itself, in the main, with casual sex.
When LA Vampires first released ‘So Unreal’ on a limited vinyl run in 2010 it sold out in a flash, perhaps because of its superbly kitsch artwork by Spencer Longo.
Dan Mangan is a husky-voiced, melancholic Canadian singer-songwriter who does all the things you expect husky-voiced, melancholic Canadian singer-songwriters to do.
Favourite Sons is the most recent project of Ken Griffin, formerly of nineties outfits Rollerskate Skinny and Kid Silver.
Synth enthusiasts must have been veritably jumping with joy of late (would a synth enthusiast do that sort of thing?).
A long lasting member of the American garage rock scene since the late Eighties, Mark Sultan has cooked up a hotpot of a new album.
Some very big noises are being made in the mainstream press over this Swedish duo, and their calculated pop sensibilities go a long way to explaining that.
This week we’ve been listening to new music from The Proper Ornaments, The Weeknd, Electricity In Our Homes, Sunless ’97 and Ceremony [pictured].
LISTEN HEREDropping his iPhone was the best thing that ever happened to Reef Younis.
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