Album Reviews
Album Reviews
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“When things aren’t going quite as planned / You often hear the truth from your family and friends...” Artist:
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Almost exactly two years ago, in reviewing Florence and the Machine’s debut LP, this writer surmised... Artist:
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In case you've been in a coma for the past few years, the eighties have come back into fashion in music in a big way - or, to put it another way, they have put the ‘fashion’ back into... Artist:
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Listening to Belfast's Cashier No.9, it’s hard to believe that frontman Danny Todd once plied his trade as one-third of mid-noughties electro rockers... Artist:
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After the hit-and-miss mishmash of an album that was 2008's Evil Urges, it seemed almost impossible to guess which direction... Artist: My Morning Jacket
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It’s been more than three years since Glaswegian quartet Sons & Daughters released their third album, the Bernard Butler-produced ... Artist:
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Let's face it, there's just something about good instrumental soundscape records that has the ability to send your mind off tangentially, transforming the mundane into something a bit more magical... Artist:
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Arctic Monkeys’ third LP, 2009's Josh Homme-aided Humbug, wasn’t to everyone’s liking. Its move away from bouncy pop and into lumbering stoner-rock territory lost the band a sizeable chunk of... Artist: Arctic Monkeys
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Justin Vernon’s debut LP as Bon Iver, 2008's For Emma,... Artist: Bon Iver
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The latest instalment in Neil Young's thus-far-excellent Archives Performance Series is a ... Artist:
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You couldn’t accuse Erika M Anderson of not being committed to her art. Past Life Martyred Saints, her full length solo debut (she has... Artist:
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With a plethora of guest vocalists ranging from Baths to... Artist:
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Irish playwright Samuel Beckett once remarked: "James Joyce tries to put everything in; I try to take everything out." On their debut, 2008's... Artist: Wild Beasts
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Despite the fact that its earnestly-stylised title is about as subtle as a nosebleed, EUPHORIC /// HEARTBREAK \\\ does actually get off to quite a promising start: 'Pain Pain Never Again... Artist:
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Just how far can instrumental post-rock be pushed before it begins to lose its appeal? And So I Watch You From Afar’s self-... Artist: And So I Watch You From Afar
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Do we really need to go over this again? Each time a thrilling new electronic talent emerges from the UK, we feel obliged to reiterate what’s steadily become something of a mantra 'round... Artist:
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Since the demise of... Artist: Aidan Moffat
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While they may have dished out gongs to the likes of Paolo Nutini and The Feeling in recent years, the songwriting and composing figureheads... Artist: The Leisure Society
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From the moment you set eyes on Time Travel, the latest offering from grandly-named 20 year-old Alessi Laurent-Marke, you can't... Artist: Alessi's Ark
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Justin Vallesteros, the Californian behind the nostalgic bedroom pop of... Artist:
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Wit’s End is the fifth full-length offering from Californian Cass McCombs, comprised of eight hushed compositions sewn... Artist: Cass McCombs
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If, for some odd reason, you were to skip the first eight tracks on Belong and only listen to the last two songs on... Artist: The Pains At Being Pure At Heart
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An NME journalist once wrote that if he ever heard another band that sounded like The Beach Boys he would scream. Melodramatic shrieks aside, his point was... Artist:
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The headline name in About Group may be Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor but don’t... Artist:
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It's no exaggeration to say there's been something of a love affair growing over the past few years with a throwback surf-meets-garage punk sound, a movement that's seen Brooklyn all-girl trio... Artist: Vivian Girls
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The self-titled debut LP from NYC production duo Holy Ghost! has been a long time coming. Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel released their first single,... Artist:
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Whichever way you look at it, the lo-fi scene has been exploding of late. Acts like Woods,... Artist:
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Four years on from the relative breakthrough of All of A Sudden I Miss Everyone – an album that broke the top one hundred in charts on both sides of The Atlantic – Texan four... Artist:
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After a long hiatus to pursue many and varied interests that haveincluded Plug and Amen Andrews, Toomorrow sees South Coast electronic stalwart ... Artist:
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For anyone with fond memories of Lift to Experience and their unhinged quasi-religious concept album The Texas Jeruasalem Crossroads from way back in 2001, this comeback should come as good, if... Artist:
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A collaboration several years in the making, Diamond Mine sees Kenny Anderson, AKA King Creosote, let Domino Records'... Artist: King Creosote
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With the rich heritage of ex-Murder City Devil and Pretty Girls Make Graves man Derek Fudesco as a vital compnent and with two acclaimed full-lengths already in their back pockets (including 2009... Artist: The Cave Singers
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In a world where Pitchfork affords Lil Wayne as many column inches as Thom Yorke, it really is an oddity that R&B has rarely, if ever, been packaged with the indie crowd in mind. Sure... Artist:
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In 2007 Panda Bear’s Person Pitch - an album that channelled the cathedral sound of early music’s visceral, choral vibe - broke new bread. What Noah Lennox did was to tap the hopeful... Artist:
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When the Beta Band deemed their self-titled debut album proper “fucking awful” upon its release 12 years ago, most fans knew such defeatist talk should be taken with a very large grain... Artist: The Strokes
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When Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize for 2008’s wonderful The Seldom Seen Kid, the entire room leapt to its feet and threw their arms in the air – it was the sort of scene you’... Artist: Elbow
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Jason Quever’s fourth record under the Papercuts name is his first on the legendary Sub Pop label (he’s still on Memphis Industries in the UK) and that step up to the ‘big-indies... Artist: Papercuts
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Yuck may come from North London, and this debut may be being released in 2011, but in their heads it’s 1994 and they come from somewhere on the... Artist:
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Oasis were amazing: era-defining, culture-altering (for better or for worse, depending on your views on Stella and gobbing), arms-aloft-spine-tingling crowd pleasers. The record will show that... Artist:
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After the xx’s sparse debut record was remixed by everyone from... Artist:
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For more than a decade Ben Chasny has been enchanting a devoted cult audience with various projects that have included psychedelia heroes Comets On Fire... Artist: Six Organs Of Admittance
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The cheeky scamps. Surprise release dates, replete with... Artist:
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Cut Copy's sophomore album, In Ghost Colours,... Artist: Cut Copy
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There has been much in the way of sweeping generalisations and blatant untruths about James Blake and his creative development flying around lately, which... Artist:
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Gruff Rhys is back with his third 'proper' solo album - although you'd probably be forgiven for wondering whether the... Artist:
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Is shoegaze a genre that still possibly has some caves left to explore, seams to mine, shores to discover? Or did The Horrors place a... Artist: Asobi Seksu
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Alright, alright. We're not trying to suggest they actually invented the whole damn thing. It’s probably best to give the nod there to the mighty, frightening breakers of ground,... Artist:
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There's no denying that Matador took a bit of a punt when they signed Esben and The Witch last year... Artist:
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One of the most notorious live acts on the circuit, Tel Aviv psych(o)-garage three-piece Monotonix have wrought admirable destruction and mayhem at clubs... Artist:
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This is Deerhoof’s tenth studio album, and the good news for fans of the Californian trio's more... Artist:
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The debut LP from Montreal four-piece Suuns (the similarly-titled Zeroes EP preceded it last year) announces itself with a distinctive, deep, creaking... Artist:
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So irresistible a prospect back in 2008 that The BRIT Awards committee simply made up a category in order to include her in their annual shindig, ... Artist:
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Considering the weight of expectation that naturally comes with pairing up two such immensely melodic songwriters as Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake and... Artist:
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Moving further and further away from his home-recorded, lo-fi beginnings with each release, Samuel Beam continues to refine his sound on Kiss Each Other Clean. As a result, Beam's fourth... Artist:
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While Nocturne Of Exploded Crystal Chandelier is the first full-length offering from Philadelphia bliss pop duo Sun Airway, the pair of Jon Barthmus and Patrick... Artist:
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You don’t have to delve too far into MINKS’ debut album to recognise that New Yorker Sean Kilfoyle fits right in on his local label... Artist:
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In this age of firework careers, where media and blog-hype can see bands’ fortunes fluctuate before any product even hits the shelves, The National’s slow and steady rise to fame has... Artist: The National
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The rough-edged greatness of 2007's Weirdo Rippers announced the arrival of a new name on the L.A. noise rock scene, following the demise of hardcore trio... Artist: No Age
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Conventional wisdom dictates that releasing an album during the final month of the year is a bad idea: the music press are usually in full-on retrospective mode before November's out, with all... Artist:
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C86 revivalism may have been done to death at this stage, but I Will Be is undeniably at the top end of the scale in the ongoing wave of copyism. Much like Vivian Girls’ debut, it... Artist:
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Since coming together only last year, Vermont trio Mountain Man have forged a reputation for delivering live... Artist:
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Since forming in 2008 with the express intention (as their name suggests) of remedying the lack of ‘party bands’ within their local scene, Belfast three-piece... Artist:
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Like a lot of great follow-up records, Napoleon IIIrd’s Christiania makes you question just how good its predecessor... Artist: Napoleon IIIrd
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Glo-fi, chillwave, call it whatever you want – there can be no denying it’s been one of the dominant sounds of 2010; and the good news for those who’ve so far resisted climbing... Artist:
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There are many different strands or musical styles being toyed with on the Irish music scene at the moment, but R & B and funk wouldn’t be two that spring to mind. Enter... Artist:
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The legend of Michael Gira’s SWANS is one of deafening underground heroism. In the New Yorkers' earliest incarnation, their soul-shakingly loud live... Artist:
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…Write About Love is Belle and Sebastian's eighth studio album. I mention this because, in spite of owning all eight of them, and having had... Artist:
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Remember the great folk-rock era of the late-1960s – that time when whimsical storytelling found an unlikely partner in the electric guitar? Well,... Artist:
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When Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago was released a couple of years back, pretty much every review or article on the album was... Artist:
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Stephen Shannon has been a busy man in recent years. When not touring and releasing records as part of the... Artist:
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One of these days, the ongoing shoegaze revival is going to throw up its very own ready-made answer to Spinal Tap: a band, in other words, so deeply indebted to the whole My-Bloody-Mary-Chain-... Artist:
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For better or (usually) worse, modern instrumental music tends to be lazily lumped into one of two categories: either you swell some of your instruments like Mogwai, or you use none at all, and... Artist:
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A trio of EPs in 2009 (You, Miyamae and the excellent Before) - not to mention the remarkable ‘Quitter’s... Artist: Gold Panda
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The first time Michigan act SALEM came to this writer’s attention was with their ghostly cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘... Artist:
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Another year, another Neil Young album; although the sixty-four year-old’s productivity rate remains quite startling (this is his eighth studio album since the turn of the century),... Artist:
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It’s a curious truth that the majority of The Walkmen’s five studio albums to date have tended to be overshadowed by one... Artist: The Walkmen
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If Antony and the Johnsons’ third album, 2009’s The Crying Light, didn’t have quite the seismic impact... Artist: Antony and the Johnsons
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Twenty-one years on from the release of their debut album, Dum-Dum, comes the long-awaited second LP from Glasgow indie luminaries The Vaselines. Despite splitting just one week after the release... Artist:
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My first exposure to Superchunk came many, many moons ago via the grainy lo-fi glory of the video for the band’s 1991 ‘Fishing... Artist:
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Good Lord, Nick Cave is a horny man. Not the clean, wholesome sort of horny that you might associate with a “Whoops, Vicar! Somebody should really clean that Church organ”-style romp.... Artist:
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This debut LP, Love Remains, follows hot on the heels of a series of well-received EPs from How To Dress Well that have all been released in the last year. The recording project of Brooklyn’... Artist:
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The back-story first of all: Wisconsin-raised Nika Roza Danilova spent most of her formative years training as an opera singer, before severe bouts of anxiety and self-criticism led to her... Artist:
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Back in 2008, Abe Vigoda released Skeleton, a spiky, frenetic collection of songs that won plenty of acclaim. Partly because... Artist: Abe Vigoda
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The ‘curse’ of the fully-formed instant classic debut album is a tough one to overcome. Like fellow New Yorkers The Strokes, Interpol emerged with a debut, 2002’s Turn On The... Artist: Interpol
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Whether performing naked, adopting an array of bizarre alter-egos or stuffing his songs with every idea imaginable, Kevin Barnes has cut an undeniably maverick figure in recent years, and one for... Artist: Of Montreal
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Maybe it’s the name (‘Freelance Whales’ puts you in mind of some bizarre prog-psych project). Maybe it’s the fact that the lyrics on their debut album are inspired by dream... Artist: Freelance Whales
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Late to the party, yes. But really, it’s never too late to heap praise on an amazing piece of work, and three weeks on from the internet shitstorm that greeted its arrival, This... Artist: Adebisi Shank
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Following the strange diversion of his BQE project that evidently left many fans scratching their concerned heads, Sufjan Stevens makes something of a further left turn with this ‘EP... Artist: Sufjan Stevens
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A solo album by ‘the drummer’ is something of an industry in-joke. One that quickly conjures images of endless time changes, vast, rolling percussion solos and, above all, musical and... Artist:
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Wild Beasts recently described their Two Dancers album as ‘downbeat erotic music’. It’s a description which would also apply to Matthew Dear’s latest record, Black... Artist:
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What’s that they say about the quiet ones....? When everyone from The BBC to... Artist:
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Let’s get this out of the way, shall we? Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have perhaps the worst name in music. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, they briefly became blog darlings... |
Here at Ragged Words, we were rather smitten with Fight Like Apes’ quirky, witty and nearly... Artist: Fight Like Apes
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Women’s self-titled debut, released in North America in 2008 and our side of the pond early last year, was an... Artist: Women
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“In many ways this is a record of what could have been, a snapshot of an artist mid-evolution.” (El-P) Camu Tao’s first and sadly last solo record, King Of Hearts,... Artist:
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Now essentially a byword for forward-thinking leftfield music, the Bay Area anticon. collective has been striving since before the turn of the... Artist:
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The latest offering from the noise-rock scene based around LA’s Smell club (the venue that has spawned No Age, Abe Vigoda and Wavves) is, surprisingly, a sprightly breezy affair. The product... Artist:
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In many ways, it’s a surprise that the collaboration between former Belle & Sebastian singer Isobel Campbell and grizzled grunge survivor Mark Lanegan has made it to album number three.... Artist:
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Nathan Williams’ infamous meltdown at last year’s Primavera Festival - infamous, that is, if you follow the inner workings of the... Artist: Wavves
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Tennessean Caitlin Rose first started making waves with her debut EP Dead Flowers, recorded in 2008 but only seeing release earlier this year. It saw her bring a distinctive, brash voice to the... Artist:
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Sky Larkin’s first album is perhaps best summed up by the opening line of its follow-up: “I know there’s potential”. Said first album – last year’s... Artist:
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Australian trio PVT (formerly known as Pivot) occupy a strange position in these days of internet hype and push: quietly doing their post-... Artist: Pivot
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Ah, the ‘difficult’ third album. Welcome to Make Or Break Time, and tonight your contestants will be Arcade Fire, fresh from clearing a field at this summer’s Oxegen festival,... Artist: Arcade Fire
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Contrast is surely the most overrated and overused concept in pop music. All too often we are being told that the latest hype-benefactors betray a thrilling contrast between, say, their scabby lo... Artist: Sleigh Bells
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As opening salvos go, Tokyo Police Club’s A Lesson In Crime EP was as twitchy and raw as they come when it arrived back in 2006. It was that year’s Modern Age, and arriving... Artist:
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Hailed for the past six years as one of the saviours of British indie, Twickenham boys-done-good The Mystery Jets have returned with an album that not only lives up to the gentle expectation... Artist:
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For a subgenre that has so drastically altered the landscape of UK electronic music over the past few years, dubstep has been slow to begin building up a legacy of quality full-length releases.... Artist:
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Seeking a brief escape from Snow Patrol and time to record his "long desired country album", Gary Lightbody has done what all the superstars do these days - form a supergroup. It’s... Artist:
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Maya Arulpragasam is undoubtedly a great style icon, and indeed a fascinating pop star: bursting at the seams with charisma, drop-dead gorgeous, heroically cool, and no little bit controversial.... Artist:
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Every once in a while an album seems to come out of nowhere and knock you clean off your feet, dazzle your senses and remind you how great music can make you feel so goddamn happy to be alive.... Artist:
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Following six years of churning out album after album of ultra-lo-fi pop, delinquent California native Ariel Pink has landed himself a deal with 4AD. If you wanted to be very smart about this, you... Artist: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
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The Strokes, Interpol, Arcade Fire… the list of bands doomed to spending their remaining days searching for the elusive magic which fired them to greatness on a classic debut is a long one... Artist:
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The Choice Music Prize bestowed upon The Divine Comedy's Victory For The Comic Muse felt more like a career valediction than simply a nod for best Irish album of 2006. Neil Hannon's ninth album... Artist:
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Even before the inevitable leak surfaced online, the release of This Is Happening, the third long-player from James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem, was being overshadowed by rumours of... Artist: LCD Soundsystem
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There really is just something about the way Beach Fossils main/only man Dustin Payseur plays his guitar... I mean, his woozy lines aren't, on the face of it, vastly different to those label mate... Artist:
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How much you enjoy this, the fifth effort by charmingly off-kilter Canadian Power-Pop supremos, the New Pornographers, will depend greatly on how much you enjoyed their previous record.... Artist:
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As Abe Simpson memorably lamented, "I used to be with it, but then they changed what 'it' was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's 'it' seems weird and scary." These days you don't... Artist:
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Johnny Flynn burst onto the new folk scene a couple of years ago joined by a ramshackle band of cohorts - 'The Sussex Wit' - to release a debut album that, while enjoyable on its own merits,... Artist:
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Blitzen Trapper garnered widespread acclaim for their last two releases, the DIY Wild Mountain Nation and 2008’s more considered Furr, but their breakthrough with the... Artist:
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Up until last year’s Willie Nelson covers record, To Willie, Phosphorescent – essentially the recording... Artist: Phosphorescent
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From the very start, you know you're in serious company. Whether you've been sitting patiently in Ireland waiting for this album since the very first Villagers gig some 18 months ago, were... Artist: Villagers
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Having been voted Worst Band of The Year in the NME’s 1998 readers poll, Embrace’s Danny MacNamara welcomed the award: "The more people that don’t like us hate us, the more... Artist: The Hold Steady
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Paul Marshall's debut album Vultures was one of 2007's better sleeping successes. It caught a nascent Ragged Words napping for one. Bit by bit, it pushed the Leedsman towards the top of the queue... Artist:
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If you're planning on not being moved by Ólafur Arnalds second album of orchestral compositions, well then you'd better go find yourself a thick skin. ...and they have escaped the weight... Artist:
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Male Bonding's frenetic debut album may not finish the year as the best released by a UK act - ... Artist:
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In the two years since Crystal Castles’ impressive-but-flawed self-titled debut, things haven’t exactly gone swimmingly for the Toronto duo. Between criticism of their live shows, a... Artist:
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Having racked up comparisons to just about every flighty-voiced female singer, from Joni Mitchell to Bjork, not to mention a Choice Music Prize nomination and Meteor Music Award for her roundly-... Artist:
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This is the gentler side of the currently unstoppable shoegaze revival. If The Big Pink are its Oasis, The Horrors its Blur and Dum Dum Girls its Elastica then these guys are probably its... Artist:
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It may have been a long time coming, but Broken Social Scene’s fourth official studio album has, predictably enough, been worth the wait. Despite welcoming John McEntire (Tortoise, The... Artist: Broken Social Scene
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It's unlikely too many albums released this year will prove half as much fun as Javelin's full debut No Más. In fact, unless Goldie Lookin Chain return - and are actually funny this time... Artist:
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There really is something special happening right now among Irish bands trading in rousing, urgent guitar music. From And So I Watch You From Afar's ear-shattering full debut to Not Squares... Artist: Jogging
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The second long-player from the newly slimmed-down Baltimore three-piece is a quietly self-assured piece of work. J. Gerrit Welmers, William Cashion and Samuel T. Herring have been steadily... Artist:
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As the title implies, this is the second batch of good old-fashioned balladry from indie film star Zooey Deschanel and her musical accomplice, singer-songwriter and all-round über-talent Matthew... Artist:
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As lead singer with The Czars, John Grant’s talents went largely unnoticed by the record-buying public, and a handful a good reviews couldn’t prevent that group from eventually... Artist:
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The revolving-door policy at Dr. Dog has seen many band members come and go since it was founded by school friends Scott McMicken and Toby Leaman over a decade ago, but what hasn't left the band... Artist:
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News that Josh Ritter is to have his first novel (entitled Bright’s Passage) published next summer won't come as any great surprise to those familiar with the Idaho native’s musical... Artist: Josh Ritter
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The campsite sits quietly as the small fire crackles and pops under the darkest of night skies. “Gather round, young children, for I have a tale to tell," an old man says, beckoning... Artist: Sparrow & The Workshop
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We all know the drill by now: a singer-songwriter still in his teens, backed by his high school buddies, sticks one of his first songs up on MySpace; enter Sub Pop Records stage left, and before... Artist: Avi Buffalo
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Oh, to be a fly on the wall ‘round Kieran Hebden or Dan Snaith's house over the past year. It’s usually inevitable that old friends begin to drift apart during their thirties; sure,... Artist: Caribou
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Think you’ve had enough of the eighties electropop revival? Well think again, because Goldfrapp are back with a sound that’s firmly rooted in uplifting, synth-driven eighties pop on... Artist:
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The Besnard Lakes don’t do lo-fi – a glance at some of their song and album titles hints at a vast, bombastic approach, something that’s immediately apparent in the Montrealers... Artist:
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The Wild Hunt is the second helping from the honey tongued troubadour with the most charminging of voices, Kristian Matsson aka The Tallest Man on Earth, Sweden's most eloquent reply to... Artist: The Tallest Man On Earth
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Will Oldham leaves a long line of collaborators in his wake. Matt Sweeney, David Pajo, Tortoise, Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables, his brother, Marquis de Tren. He picks them well and then casts them... Artist: Bonnie Prince Billy
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Laura Marling’s debut, Alas I Cannot Swim, was a strong opening gambit, especially impressive in that it was apparently written when she was just 16. Afforded a sympathetic down-... Artist:
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Ah, summertime. The clocks go forward and all of a sudden people tend to be a little chirpier, you notice a slight spring in your step, and then an album like Big Echo appears seemingly out of... Artist:
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Icelandic septet Seabear have been compared to Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, and there’s certainly much in the sprawling, instrumental spree and catchy, sweeping choruses on their second... Artist:
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Some people will do anything for fame it seems. Within the music business, rumours of pacts with the devil have been rife down through the years, from Robert Johnson to Led Zeppelin. Elsewhere,... Artist: MGMT
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On paper, this really does seem like the dream collaboration: James Mercer, the singer-songwriter from The Shins teaming up with still-in-vogue producer Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, aka that... Artist:
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Never an artist afraid to polarise opinions - with that squawky voice and those wordy lines of poetry - the news that Joanna’s third record was to be a triple album made even this card... Artist: Joanna Newsom
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Two Door Cinema Club are three young men from Bangor and Donaghadee in Northern Ireland. With a neat line in twitchy indie-pop, and at least one eye on the dancefloor, they share common ground... Artist:
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At last year’s Electric Picnic this listener went to check out Marina And The Diamonds, following a tip-off from a fellow Ragged Words contributor (who shall remain nameless). So irritating... Artist: Marina and the Diamonds
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Hype can be a terrible thing. Personally, the stir whipped up around Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest made them partially unlistenable in... Artist: Beach House
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Despite their band-like moniker, Broadcast 2000 is largely one-man show. Rising from the ashes of the rather excellent Artisan, North London resident Joe Steer built-up Broadcast 2000 with his... Artist:
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These New Puritans are not your average folk band. In fact despite the numerous bassoons, horn arrangements and melodious vocals they aren’t a folk band at all. Far from it. But listening to... Artist:
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Imagine if the only films you ever saw consisted of romantic slush. Sure, it’s pleasant enough to watch the odd feel-good rom-com, and the latest slew of indie flicks that employ some... Artist:
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Tony Simon is best known, at least in Hip Hop aficionado circles, as the producer of much of Aesop Rock’s revered back catalogue. To some, he is the East Coasts answer to DJ Shadow. However... Artist:
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Like Roy Orbison, one can imagine Mark E Everett standing or sitting motionless, hardly moving his mouth whilst singing. It just spills great waves of emotion and love and death, spinning tales of... Artist: Eels
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Ever since the charming audacity of The Magnetic Fields’ 2000 release, 69 Love Songs, frontman Stephin Merritt has struggled to recapture his muse to quite the same effect. Live, they still... Artist: The Magnetic Fields
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What's most refreshing about Dublin's Sounds Of System Breakdown is that they're not out to impress anyone in particular. Their makeup - three lads whose guitars, percussion and electronic bleeps... Artist: Sounds Of System Breakdown
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First Aid Kit are two Swedish teenage sisters, Klara and Johanna Söderberg, who got their break on the strength of a YouTube video of them singing a breathy version of Fleet Foxes’ ‘... Artist: First Aid Kit
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There Is love In You has all of the essential ingredients of a Four Tet album - it whispers and screams in equal measure, builds and collapses, hesitates and struts. The ever-changing... Artist: Four Tet
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Those who fell jarringly in love with The Guillemots beguiling debut record will know that Fyfe Dangerfield can be a frustrating soul. His tendency to swing between two poles, one manic, one... Artist:
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When the online review collator, Metacritic, published its list of the previous decade’s most critically-lauded acts at the tail end of last year, it was to the astonishment of many that... Artist: Spoon
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“We don’t want to be some sort of hype band. We kind of want to break the trend that’s been going on. After people stop blogging about them, it’s all over.” ... Artist: Surfer Blood
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It was always bound to happen that the two best Welsh bands to emerge from the 90's - Super Furry Animals and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - would be followed by similar singularity from fellow... Artist:
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Previously known as Final Fantasy, but now trading under his own name, Owen Pallet has until now been best known for his work on other people’s records: he’s lent string arrangements... Artist:
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British bands are forever clawing back the years to the 60’s, a time when they ruled the world, looking for inspiration to create something new that we all missed first time round but would... Artist: Erland And The Carnival
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Historically speaking, an acolyte is defined as a devoted follower or attendant, the term often carrying religious connotations. An apt title then for the debut album from Kitsuné-endorsed quartet... Artist: Delphic
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And so Laura Veirs continues to teeter on the edge of becoming something special. She scored high points for the chilly space folk of 2004’s Carbon Glacier, but suffered a little... Artist: Laura Veirs
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Listening back to Good Shoes’ 2007 debut Think Before You Speak, it really is striking how much the pop landscape has changed in three short years. Back then, Good Shoes’ perky,... Artist: Good Shoes
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For a band that faced a backlash even before their debut record had seen the light of day, Vampire Weekend haven’t done too badly. Having recently featured prominently in many albums of the... Artist: Vampire Weekend
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The Strokes’ 'Is This It' came in at No.2 in the Ragged Words Albums of the Decade poll and, whatever avant-garde purists will tell you, its position was entirely deserved. No other record... Artist: The Strokes
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The story goes something like this. The Very Best are Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit, the French/Swedish "ghetto-pop" producers. They met in Clapton, East London when... Artist: The Very Best
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For a genre that only really produced one cast-iron classic album first time around, shoegaze isn’t half everywhere these days. Deerhunter, The Big Pink, The Horrors, even the classic-... Artist:
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Dean Fertita is a very busy and productive man. Not only is he a touring member of both Queens Of The Stone Age and The Raconteurs, but he’s also a full-time member of indie super-collective... Artist:
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The Swell Season will forever be the duo that started life on the cinema screens in charming independent Irish film ’Once’, and they have that films subsequent audience adoration and... Artist:
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Just like LCD Soundsystem’s totemic self-titled album, YACHT’s See Mystery Lights packs deft philosophical ponderings with bass-driven dance music. There are hints of... Artist:
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Why There Are Mountains from New York’s Cymbals Eats Guitars is one of the best albums to be released this year. Yes, I know it’s bad review etiquette to give much away... Artist:
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This is unexpected: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti has, it would seem, become an influential artist. His sadsack DIY soft-rock – always a little too glib for my tastes –appears to... Artist:
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Sometimes to fully enjoy certain genres of music, you need to experience them in the surroundings that best suit. This is probably why this writer has never been a big fan of hardcore techno... Artist:
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When growing up, I never heard a complaint from my parents about the “noise” emanating from my room. Although such an objection would’ve simply led to the response that my Dad... Artist:
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As statements of intent go, ‘Velvet’, The Big Pink’s first release for the hallowed 4AD imprint, was spill-your-tea impressive when it landed some six months ago. Boasting the... Artist:
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Welcome to Richard Hawley’s world, where all songs must be gently crooned ballads, guitars go twang, and Scott Walker is the only post-1950s artist of any interest. Truelove’s Gutter... Artist:
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Experience is on Yo La Tengo’s side, with this New Jersey trio of Ira Kaplin, Georgia Hubley and James McNew having ploughed through the 1990s and now seeing out the 2000s with another very... Artist:
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Super groups are a rarity. A good one is even rarer. There's the question of whether the album is just bits and pieces of the individuals or a cohesive and genuine combination. It's inevitable... Artist: M. Ward
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It’s been a long wait. Seven years exactly since Anti-pop Consortium released Arrhythmia in all its improvised glory before quickly disappearing on solo-perusing hiatus. And while Arrhythmia... Artist: Anti-pop Consortium
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If Grizzly Bear’s career to date has taught us anything, it’s that even the most worn-out influences (in this case Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper’s) can still be re-tooled into... Artist: Girls
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This time last year Vivian Girls released their self-titled debut to general surprise and applause on these shores. The so-called ‘Noise revival’ in North America lent few ripples to... Artist: Vivian Girls
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Two years ago amidst the usual deluge of dire dance music that perforates the airwaves, we were saved. This reviewer, like many, had found a new God. One that combined typical house, acid house... Artist: Simian Mobile Disco
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After achieving success with a solid debut album (Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down) and providing a soundtrack to the summer of 2008 in ‘Five Years Time’, Noah and The Whale... Artist: Noah and the Whale
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Three albums into their career, and Arctic Monkeys are going along nicely, thank you. The frenzy that met their instant-classic debut would have been enough to derail most bands, but these... Artist: Arctic Monkeys
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The Great British Summer. In many peoples eyes it’s a total myth, nothing more than a reason to repeatedly complain between the months of June and September as everyone’s parade is... Artist: The Dodos
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One must always approach the quiet-then-loud market cautiously. It is not only a difficult market to survive in, let alone make money in, but it is an easy market to get lumped into as second rate... Artist: Thought Forms
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When Pretty Girls Make Graves broke up, founding member and bass player Derek Fudesco formed The Cave Singers joined by vocalist Peter Quirk formly of Hint Hint and drummer Marty... Artist: The Cave Singers
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The indie- or modern-classical genre is flourishing. It’s been led in recent years by the prolific 12-string guitarist James Blackshaw, classical-drone connoisseurs Stars of the Lid, and the... Artist: Six Organs Of Admittance
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The voice is familiar, the layered guitars are familiar and the languid drum beat is familiar – separating Julian Plenti from Interpol may be more difficult than first suspected. The debut... Artist: Julian Plenti
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The Antlers’ heralded second album arrives with quite a bit of baggage: it’s a concept album charting a relationship with a woman who’s dying from cancer. It’s heady stuff... Artist: The Antlers
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This is the sort of music that depresses a certain percentage of people living in this writer’s home of Dublin, namely; those looking for Ireland to conjure up something both original and... Artist: The xx
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James Yorkston used to be in a punk band. Although if he has carried over any influences from his days as Huckleberry’s bassist he hides it well. Apparently harbouring no desire to return to... Artist: James Yorkston
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No one makes popular electronic music like they do in Sweden. It began with the Knife’s Deep Cuts back in 2004 (‘Heartbeats’ was song of the year for many, thanks in... Artist: The Tough Alliance
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Amid the dross of UK indie-rock in 2008, Wild Beasts stood apart on their thrilling, if flawed debut, Limbo, Panto. Striking a remarkable dash, with Hayden Thorpe’s... Artist: Wild Beasts
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Like a coin, most situations in life have two sides to them. Take roller coasters. We all love the thrill but half of that thrill is born from sheer terror. There is the pro and the con. Usually,... Artist: Jónsi & Alex
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''What's the use you learning to do right, when it's troublesome to do right and ain't no trouble to do wrong and the wages is just the same.'' Artist: The Duke & The King
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Let’s face it, the world's been waiting for the next wave of the Girl Power movement since the Spice Girls demise. We need pop branded sweets and stickers, a Girl Power plane, the outfits,... Artist: Finally Punk
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If media hype is designed to generate excitement and buzz around a new artist, then it appears to me that we are now living in the age of 'anti-hype'. Far from generating excitement, The Critics... Artist: Florence & The Machine
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The Dead Weather’s debut album, Horehound, comes across like a lonely soul wandering aimlessly through a nameless city’s bars and dark spots, looking for answers at the bottom of every... Artist: The Dead Weather
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In the past year, Dirty Projectors’ leader Dave Longstreth has collaborated with Bjork and... Artist: Dirty Projectors
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Sunset Rubdown frontman Spencer Krug’s demeanour is at once stoic and downtrodden, and with Dragonslayer, the band’s third album, Krug is processing an all-consuming... Artist: Sunset Rubdown
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White Denim’s ramshackle debut Workout Holiday showcased a band with a penchant for songs that start in one place, end... Artist: White Denim
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In general, music has motion, a wide girth so to say. It pushes itself in many ways, some progressions understandable, like Kraftwerk influencing hip hop, some strange, like how Lily Allen got... Artist: Tortoise
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As the old saying goes… if it aint broke, don’t fix it. So it comes as no surprise then that Farm, Dinosaur Jr’s ninth studio album and fifth recorded by the original line up of... Artist: Dinosaur Jr.
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Au Revoir Simone are three beautiful girls who make gorgeous, dreamy electro-pop: what could possibly go wrong? Indeed, this year more than ever, when girls playing electro-pop are the new rock 'n... Artist: Au Revoir Simone
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As the latest in a long line of have-a-go noise poppers to jump on the 90s resurgence bandwagon, Sad Day for Puppets fall into an abyss somewhere between toothless indie-rock and style-conscious... Artist: Sad Day For Puppets
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The title of Cass McCombs’ new album sounds so much like his name that you can’t help but wonder if he’s hinting at the labyrinthine depths of his inner self. Maybe I’m... Artist: Cass McCombs
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We’re all supposed to heart the 1980’s these days, but this writer finds he is still thoroughly allergic. Wasn’t this the decade that brought unspeakable fashion crimes, terrible... Artist: Passion Pit
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Between King Creosote, Glasvegas and the Twilight Sad, there has been a resurgence in Scottish power-pop of late. While this might not be the ‘correct genre’, it roughly demonstrates... Artist: Malcolm Middleton
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The critical consensus surrounding Sonic Youth's output this decade, various minor degrees of disagreement notwithstanding, places the band in the midst of a... Artist: Sonic Youth
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In their short career, Super Extra Bonus Party have come to represent everything that is good, bad and just plain bitchy about the Irish music scene. With 2007’s self-titled debut, the... Artist: Super Extra Bonus Party
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What a mess indeed. Imagine Carl Cox and Paul Weller made an album together. It’d either be the greatest collaboration ever or simply, surely, the worst. Patrick Wolf’s fourth album... Artist: Patrick Wolf
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This time last year British-based label Bella Union were celebrating the release of Fleet Foxes self-titled debut, a record which is generally considered 2008’s best. This in itself couldn... Artist: Wavves
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There’s that thing with modern art. People always say A SIX YEAR OLD COULD DO THAT! Modern art eh! Oh the times have advanced so far; now one can toss a shark in formaldehyde, give it a... Artist: Our Brother The Native
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While Yellow House began with a low-key folky shuffle, Veckatimest’s opener 'Southern Point' signals straight away that Grizzly Bear mean... Artist: Grizzly Bear
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After first listening to My Latest Novel's second album, I had to ask myself 'Why does every Scottish band insist on sounding so windswept and overwrought?'. Is it those cold winds... Artist: My Latest Novel
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For a band with a serious phobia of the hype machine, guitarless London hopefuls Golden Silvers certainly score very highly in indie top trumps. In fact, a... Artist: Golden Silvers
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Set your eyes upon any British mid-to-high-brow music publication nowadays and you’ll find a record reviewed under the branding of ‘Freak-Folk’. This term haunts British music... Artist: Akron/Family
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Pink Mountaintops has lazily been dismissed by many as a ‘side-project’ of Black Mountain frontman, Stephen McBean. True, the almighty impact of... Artist: Pink Mountaintops
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The sound of Camera Obscura on this their fourth album is of freewheeling fun. It reminds the listener immediately of the summer and throwing water bombs, of... Artist: Camera Obscura
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If anyone hasn’t been paying close enough attention, ‘landfill indie’ is the phrase being used to describe the current parlous state of boys-... Artist: The Horrors
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Long Distance Swimmer, Adrian Crowley last and best album, seemed to come out of nowhere. Always one, very individual step removed from most of his solo contemporaries, the Dublin-based... Artist: Adrian Crowley
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So hands up all those who thought that Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were as cool as it got? They try hard at it anyway. There are not many who can pull off leather, shades and casual cool in the... Artist: Wooden Shjips
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The kooky female singer-songwriter is a difficult proposition at best, but former Polyphonic Spree guitarist Annie Clark, who performs under the moniker St Vincent, goes beyond mere kookiness into... Artist: St Vincent
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A year or two ago, Laura Marling popped out of the wood work. She released a lovely little album. She spoke gently and carefully on TV, looked like a skinny little boy and when she performed she... Artist: Alessi's Ark
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Micachu’s first album, recorded with her band The Shapes, proves not only that the 21-year-old East Londoner, Guildhall School graduate... Artist: Micachu and The Shapes
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Scottish ‘fight-pop’ inventors Dananananaykroyd are a bit like that kid from school who was really weird but inexplicably intriguing at the... Artist: Dananananaykroyd
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The debut from Belfast’s And So I Watch From Afar arrives like a crashing, smashing juggernaut, replete with no vocals and long and loud numbers. The otherworldly, almost Nordic feeling (... Artist: And So I Watch You From Afar
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Notoriously cliquey and bitchy, the Irish music scene has long been dismissed as over-run with grey, identikit singer-songwriters fighting over who can best fawn over scene-leader Glen Hansard,... Artist: Dark Room Notes
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Journeys can often end up in rather unexpected ways; the wrong place with the wrong people, no luggage, where’s my passport? I need a drink and then I’ll figure it all out etc etc.... Artist: King Creosote
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Let’s get this out in the open right from the start – this writer has never been too worked up either way about Doves. Although more commercially successful, they always seemed to come... Artist: Doves
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Five years ago, Malajube would probably not have been given the time of day by even the underground media outside their hometown of Quebec. Who knows, they might even have succumbed to pressure to... Artist: Malajube
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Sometimes music just fits a very particular mood and can be the overall appeal for that music. Sometimes it’s drugs. If you’re on drugs, you tend to like very particular music. Say,... Artist: It Hugs Back
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It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book: put joy and pain in the ring and let them fight it out. Anyone who’s ever heard Burt Bacharach or The Smiths will know the power of combining... Artist: Papercuts
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The cinematic debut from the oft crowned-in-feathers Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes, encapsulated fantasy, mysticism and otherworldliness. From the electro-effusive ‘Horse and I’ to... Artist: Bat For Lashes
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It’s no coincidence that Karin Dreijer Andersson is wearing sunglasses (at night) on the cover of this, her début album under the Fever Ray moniker. As one half of sinister brother-sister... Artist: Fever Ray
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Three albums into their career and Yeah Yeah Yeahs are sounding like one of the best, most enduring bands of the decade. At a rate of one album every three years, they could hardly be described as... Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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Burton upon Trent is not merely a market town somewhere off the A38. It’s where Branston Pickle was invented. It’s also home to Nick Hemming, one half of The Leisure Society - and (I... Artist: The Leisure Society
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Up until this point in The Decemberists’ career, Colin Meloy has contained his storytelling into sole songs that are tied together by themes of self-deprecation and melancholia. The results... Artist: The Decemberists
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Beware is, by my count, Will Oldham’s 6th solo album as Bonnie Prince Billy – after recording under the names Palace Music, Palace Brothers and his own, he seems to have long since... Artist: Bonnie Prince Billy
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Saltwater, the debut offering from Absentee front man Dan Michaelson, showcases his distinctive voice in a different, somewhat stripped-down setting and the results are highly encouraging. This... |
At the end of Annie Hall, when Woody Allen’s character is breaking up with Annie he remarks that, ‘A relationship, is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies. I... Artist: Vetiver
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The first line of Loney, Dear’s homepage reads: “Every night before I go to bed I try to find a not so good review of the new album, and I get what I ask for.” These are the... Artist: Loney Dear
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There is a moment about one minute into 'Kalaja Mari', the fifth track on this, the debut LP from School of Seven Bells (a trio of refugees from Secret Machines and On!Air!Library!), where... Artist: School Of Seven Bells
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Willie Nelson is no stranger to others covering his songs. In fact that was his career back when the singer and the songwriter were two separate cogs in the entertainment machine. In 1956 Willie... Artist: Phosphorescent
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Glasgow's acclaimed indie scene has thrown up no shortage of great bands, from the Jesus and Mary Chain and Teenage Fanclub to Belle and Sebastian and, latterly, Frightened Rabbit, but all too... Artist: Aidan Moffat
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It’s tough to decipher the conflict at the heart of Hush, Asobi Seksu’s third studio album. The song titles ‘Layers’, ‘Transparence’ and ‘I Can’t... Artist: Asobi Seksu
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“I will be honest, sending Sky Larkin to Seattle to work with John Goodmanson on an album was a bit of a shot in the dark,” Wichita co-owner Mark Bowen recently said of the Leeds... Artist: Sky Larkin
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Upon first listen Silence Is Wild, the second full-length record by Swedish singer Frida Hyvönen, is a difficult album to either categorise or indeed enjoy. The songs are purposefully jilted... Artist: Frida Hyvonen
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Kevin Drew need not lose any sleep over the pop-rock overtures of fellow Canadian collective Wintersleep. In fact, Drew, the Broken Social Scene co-founder, should be seen as the retort to this... Artist: Wintersleep
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Straight outta London!! could be the chorus to Join The Q, a debut that, although difficult to categorise, is in a way quite unique with its drum and bass beats and rock tendencies. It’s... Artist: The Qemists
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It starts with the lush, orchestral sounds of violins. Within seconds, the irresistibly catchy whistling begins, and before long there's a reference to "calcified arithmetists":... Artist: Andrew Bird
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There's a good reason for service tunnels at Disneyland. These underground motorways keep the real-world sights of maintenance and refuse collection out of sight. Theme parks, much like some music... Artist: Diplo
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If, as pointed out in a recent Shaky Hands record review, Pavement continue to be a key touchstone for almost every indie band coming out of... Artist: Wet Paint
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In a recent interview with Ragged Words, Busy Gangnes told us that she thought it fine for Telepathe’s music to be considered peculiar. She said that Telepathe were attempting to instil a... Artist: Telepathe
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Here’s something you don’t get very often: a follow-up to a word-of-mouth hit that doesn’t go for the commercial jugular. After the gushing praise, awards and half-a-million... Artist: Antony and the Johnsons
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Where are the tunes?? Five years ago Franz Ferdinand’s like-it-or-not landmark debut had them by the post-punk reviving truckload. Eighteen months later its patchy-ish successor, the fait-... Artist: Franz Ferdinand
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In The Onion’s hilarious satire on internet music journalism, in which a prominent website reviews the entire history of music, the “reviewer” concludes that "the whole... Artist: The Shaky Hands
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There’s a moment roughly halfway through ‘My Girls’, the second track on Merriweather Post Pavilion, that encapsulates everything brave and wonderful and essential about Animal... Artist: Animal Collective
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It’s a good time to be Josh Tillman, he said it himself in a recent interview: “This is what I’ve wanted for fifteen years and now it’s here!” Tillman was talking... Artist: J. Tillman
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Just as it’s impossible not to be saddened by the terminal loss of hip-hop as a one of the most culturally important musical forces of all time, it’s become equally galling to watch... Artist: K-The-I???
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Featuring in an Apple iPod commercial is a sure fire way to get catapulted into the mainstream, and it would seem that, as a fleet of fourth generation iPod Nanos in every colour of the rainbow... Artist: Chairlift
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“Attention… ahem… Give me your attention,” appeals Messiah J on ‘Megaphone Man’ and with he and the Expert’s third album From The Word Go, it’s... Artist: Messiah J & The Expert
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Until now, New York folk outfit Gregory and the Hawk had no label and no manager, with the only constant since 2003 being the stunningly sweet voice of Meredith Godreau, so syrupy and textured... Artist: Gregory and the Hawk
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Is it good to label yourself into a musical genre or do you let the overpaid journo come up with the goods and brand you something you are clearly not? Or worse still let them come up with... Artist: Abe Vigoda
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As backyards go, Fight Like Apes’ is strewn with expectation. Their country’s greatest and whitest hopes since Whipping Boy, the Dublin-based four-piece’s mouthful of a debut -... Artist: Fight Like Apes
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Even considering High Places’ intricate, inventive and intriguing electronic make up, were the Brooklyn boy/girl duo any more understated to the initial ear, they’d almost certainly... Artist: High Places
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O Soundtrack My Heart is the first international release from Australian electro noise mongers Pivot since being snapped up by Warp earlier this year (apparently after a very enthusiastic offer of... Artist: Pivot
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A lot can happen in a couple of years, you can be lying flat on your back, you can fall in and out of love, and you can propose live on stage. Oh and you can record an album. Micah P Hinson... Artist: Micah P Hinson
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One of the summers most talked about bands fresh from whipping up a storm on the festival circuit, Texan trio White Denim release their debut LP Workout Holiday which has received almost unanimous... Artist: White Denim
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The title in some ways says it all. This is a positive record about getting off your arse and making something of yourself. After scoring a crossover hit with their fourth album Boys and Girls in... Artist: The Hold Steady
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Like most mere mortals, this writer was first alerted to the nascent talent of Lykke Li (pronounced “luke-a-lee”) after seeing the 22 year-old Swede performing ‘Little Bit... Artist:
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There's an immediate comparison to be drawn between Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket, to be sure. You can't help but notice the similar tones of voice of singer Robin Pecknold and MMJ's Jim James... Artist: Fleet Foxes
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Emotion is easy. Understanding it, that’s the hard part. In taking two contemplative steps back from the end of a relationship – that of frontman Scott Hutchison – Frightened... Artist: Frightened Rabbit
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Vetiver mainman Andy Cabic’s long standing association with Devendra Banhart has seen his band lumped into the ‘freak-folk’ movement, but it’s not a tag that really fits.... Artist: Vetiver
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The debut album from Bristol duo Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power has taken...
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If all ten tracks of MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular were laid out on canvas and exhibited in a gallery, I imagine the scene would be akin to something from Andy Warhol’s factory, minus... Artist: MGMT
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The front cover of Devotion shows Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, the two members of Beach House, facing each other over a candlelit table. Their heads are bowed in private contemplation, and... Artist: Beach House
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Throw me the Statue’s multi-instrumentalist Scott Reitherman has written an album of songs for the summer. His melodic indie synth-pop references girlfriend’s cars, sunglasses, kissing... Artist: Throw Me the Statue
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Before a word is uttred on The Evening Descends, we’re...
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After the release of the quite extraordinary Tones of Town, Field Music felt like anything but a band inhibited by inherent restrictions. Yet last June, the Brewis brothers and Andy Moore put into... Artist: School Of Language
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Dropping the Writ’ is an informal term meaning "the procedure in some government systems where the head of government goes to the head of state and formally advise them to dissolve... Artist: Cass McCombs
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The plan all along was for 2003’s What’s Confusing You to set Messiah J & The Expert’s blueprint allowing what was to follow to provide the rubber stamp. And while their... Artist: Messiah J & The Expert
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“It’s pretty amazing how fragile the dynamic is between the three of us.” Karen O told Spin recently. She is speaking of the fragility that led to the one third LA, two third New... Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
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They probably enjoyed all the hype in the beginning you know. Now, though, with Domino being forced into rush-releasing their debut album due to rampant internet leakage, the weight of expectation... Artist: Arctic Monkeys
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Necessity is the mother of invention, or so they say. It's certainly true that some of the best albums are born out of necessity - or, more specifically, out of a need to react to some particular... Artist: Arcade Fire
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I still remember the first time I heard the sound of Antony Hegarty’s voice. “You have to hear this”, a friend had said, and he was right. Much like departed greats Nina Simone... Artist: Antony and the Johnsons
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A few years back, Detroit-born folkie Sufjan Stevens declared his intention to write and record an album for each American state. Illinoise (subtitled Come On Feel The Illinoise) is the second... Artist: Sufjan Stevens
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_album_cover.jpg "Review of Wavves - King Of The Beach by Wavves")
