Sad Day For Puppets are Swedish indie-popsters known for delighting us with melodic, shoe-gazing inspired melodies. Their debut record was released on Sonic Cathedral, which has also released tracks by Maps, M83 and the School of Seven Bells. We Say:…
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Album Review: The Wave Pictures – If You Leave It Alone
The quality of offerings hinted at in each of The Wave Pictures’ previous albums was finally attained in their last album Instant Coffee Baby. It was well-rounded and ram-packed full of handclaps, catchy guitar riffs and the distinctive vocals of lead singer David Tattersall. If You Leave It Alone once again exemplifies all the skill and wit of a band that are surely on the verge of a breakthrough.
Single Review: Soy Un Caballo/Tunng – Robin
Soy Un Caballo’s Robin gets the experimental folk treatment by Tunng on this split single release featuring both the cover and original version.
Single Review: Arthur Delaney – Darling/Dance of Fools
The fact that Delaney is only 19 years old hasn’t stopped him creating a fantastic debut single in the shape of double A-side “Darling”/”Dance of Fools”. Overall the single is upbeat and both tracks find a cohesion in their trundling rhythm and pastoral atmosphere that take the listener down memory lane.
Single Review: Planet Earth – Bergman Movies
Planet Earth – the musical equivalent of cider, wooly jumpers and sheep farming – are twee beyond belief and I love it.
‘Bergman Movies’ is a typical Planet Earth song: devastatingly simple, using a very basic chord sequence with a gentle layering of instruments. The lyrics are neither tired and hackneyed, nor pretentious and aloof, but comfortingly delightful and homely.
Album Review: Immaculate Machine – High on Jackson Hill
“Mystic Rainbow, he’s a biter/Red Volcano, he’s a biter” – I couldn’t tell you what that means, but I’ve had those lines from ‘He’s A Biter’, the fifth track on Immaculate Machine’s new album High on Jackson Hill stuck in my head for the last few days.
That’s not a bad thing.
Single Review: Au Revoir Simone – Shadows
Au Revoir Simone’s new single is many things; a massive change of direction it is not.
Nevertheless, this product of their precise, understated disco pop machine proves more than impressive. The sinister, hypnotic background bass and darting keyboards which urgently drive Shadows notably set the scene, while effortless vocals drift eerily over the top.
Single Review: Duke Special – Sweet Sweet Kisses
Duke Special is Peter Wilson. So what’s so special about him, aside from his dreadlocks and bus-stop “hobo-chic”?
Well, Sweet Sweet Kisses is brimming with numerous orchestral instruments which wouldn’t go amiss in a musical. Add to this a powerful voice, sincerely charismatic, but slightly overwhelming in the company of the understated harps, flutes and piano.
Single Review: Poppy and the Jezebels – Rhubarb and Custard
They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and that’s certainly the case with this song. The seven second introduction doesn’t do it much justice but once you’ve got stuck in it’s a different story.
Album Review: St Vincent – Actor
When Annie Clark dons the moniker of St. Vincent, extraordinary things happen. In her 2007 debut, Marry Me, Clark exhibited a witty verve for lyric-writing and an adventurous spirit in her musical arrangements which has come to spectacular fruition in her new release.