Sep 29, 2015

Sexwitch – Sexwitch (2015)

As Bat for Lashes, Natasha Khan creates in a form of herself that’s at home in dreams. Sometimes those dreams are nightmares, but they’re always surreal visions that manifest in the mind. With her new, mysterious band, Sexwitch, she takes two steps closer to the other side of the aisle and into the body. On the project’s self-titled debut, Khan immerses herself in a worldly, history-enamored idea of body music, one specifically meant to come out at night, the time when the supposed nefarious things come alive – both sex and witches.
Sexwitch is a passionately curious study of the relationship between rhythm and human physiology.

Sep 26, 2015

RA – Scandinavia (2015)

The past few years, 2014 especially, saw the renewal and reinvention of the post punk genre.
The reunions of bands like the Pop Group and the creativity of newcomers like Psychic Teens have paved the way for plenty of new blood. One might expect a genre facing such a renaissance to quickly become over-saturated, and while the jury is still out on whether that will happen, it doesn’t seem to have happened yet. Swedish punk group RA, who describe their sound as “nordic-noir,” may be one of many bands taking on the style, but their debut full length Scandinavia still manages to make a splash.
RA’s brand of punk is dark, it’s weird, and disjointed, which is exactly what post punk bands should be aiming for if they want to stand out. 

Sep 18, 2015

Stellan Wahlström Drift Band – Hotel Continental (2015)

The new album Hotel Continental was recorded the analogue way on to 2″-tape by Christian Gabel (who’d just worked with Hello Saferide) at Cobra Studio in Stockholm, and mixed by Patrick Derivaz (who came from work with Television) at PAD Productions in Brooklyn, NY.
On Hotel Continental the band has speeded up the tempo and cranked up the electric guitars. The sound of the new album can be described as urban folk-rock and there’s a definite flavour of international metropolis all through, not least in the title track which was written at the classic old Hotel Continental Saigon. The album cover painting by Angeles Santos was found in a museum in Madrid, a city where the lush album closer “The embrace of night” is also set.

Sep 15, 2015

U.S. Girls – Half Free (2015)

U.S. Girls is Illinois-born, Toronto-based artist Meghan Remy. A captivating musical force, Meg has evolved from the raw, corrosive 4-track fidelity found on her early records to the more unabashed art-pop of recent works U.S. Girls on KRAAK (2011) and Gem (2012); the latter managing to “widen and universalise her music without losing a drop of what previously made it so special and personal”.
Producer and frequent Remy collaborator Onakabazien’s work is featured throughout the Half Free, though she also roped in guests like Slim Twig, Ben Cook, Amanda Crist and Tony Price.

Gold Class – It’s You (2015)

On their debut album It’s You, Australia’s Gold Class plays like a brilliant post-punk compendium — the jagged yet chiming guitars of Jawbox and Fugazi, the lockstep rhythm section and dreary climes of Gang Of Four and Joy Division, a quavering bellow that bridges the gap between Morrissey and Glenn Danzig. You could throw dozens more references out and most of them would fit; these guys seem to have swallowed up an entire genre’s worth of history and ended up titans of the form.

Sep 11, 2015

Something Anorak – Ageist (2015)

When we featured Something Anorak as a Band To Watch back in December, one half of the British duo, Chris Barrett, told us that some of his favorite albums tend to ebb and flow, a style he consciously incorporates into his own songwriting. Following the release of their debut album Tiny Island, Something Anorak are putting out the Ageist EP very soon. The first single is “I Don’t Want To Work It Out,” which touts laziness via lyrics like “I don’t wanna cut my hair for no one” and “I don’t wanna work no more.” As promised, the track ebbs and flows between lo-fi verses and beachy choruses, ending on an instrumental freakout that gives into a verse without words

Grimm Grimm – Hazy Eyes Maybe (2015)

Innocence feels like a rare quality in music these days. Guitar music, can often feel far too susceptible to well-worn cliches and a sort of absurdly backward looking nostalgia. Perhaps his aversion to this is why Koichi Yamanoha’s debut LP as Grimm Grimm, Hazy Eyes Maybe, feels so refreshing. Take the endearing pots and pans percussion of ‘Kazega Fuitara Sayonara’ or the battered space echoes and sleepwalk lyrics of the title track – Yamanoha tailors the boundaries of genre according his own vision.
Originally hailing from Japan and formerly performing as frontman of cult psychedelic-punk group Screaming Tea Party, Grimm Grimm is Yamanoha’s outlet to explore an abstracted, reverb drenched approach 

to the singer-songwriter format.

Sep 5, 2015

Public Image Ltd. – What the World Needs Now… (2015)

John Lydon is angry. Really angry. But what’s stoked the ire of the punk perennial this time? The fascist regime, perhaps? Or is it that we never listened to a word that he said? No, it’s worse than that. The toilet’s broken. “I repaired that, I told ya, get the plumber in again! (and again, and again, and again!!!)” This is Double Trouble, the frantic, enjoyably daft lead-off single from What the World Needs Now…, an argument with his wife used to illustrate Lydon’s continued commitment to chaos amid “domestic bliss”.

Sep 3, 2015

The Arcs - Yours, Dreamily (Nonesuch,2015)


















The Arcs, the new band led by The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, are set to drop their debut album, Yours, Dreamily, on September 4th through Nonesuch Records