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Young Guns - Young Guns - All Our Kings Are... Since exploding on to the UK rock scene back in 2009, Buckinghamshire quintet Young Guns appear to be growing and developing a sound that suits them perfectly. This was first heard through their Ep "Mirrors" and later their debut album "All Our Kings Are Dead", which was released just over a year ago through their own Live Forever label. After releasing such a tremendous batch of tracks, music admirers were wondering what was next in store for these young musicians. After spending the better part of last year touring and preparing to record their second album, the lads have decided... Cant - CANT "Answer"from the album Dreams Come True2011On September 13, Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor goes solo when he releases Dreams Come True, his debut album as CANT. But you don't have to wait till then to hear the warped, bendy "Answer." The album was recorded with help from Twin Shadow's George Lewis Jr., and you can hear that in the decadent emptiness and synths here. But there's no trace of either dude's pop sensibilities here: This is pretty soundscape heavy and about as far away from Grizzly Bear as you can get.~ Andrew... The Chemical Brothers - The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole If their debut, 1995’s Exit Planet Dust, set the Chemical Brothers stall out as purveyors of large beats and chunkin’ funk, then Dig Your Own Hole shot them right into the stratosphere. With its number one singles, Grammy award and multi-platinum status, Dig Your Own Hole took Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons from the backrooms to the stadiums. In a year that saw some incredible albums such as OK Computer, Ladies & Gentleman..., and Homework, Dig Your Own Hole sits easily in such company, a joyous melange of psychedelia, acid house, hip hop, funk and colossal beats... Jeff Buckley - Jeff Buckley - Grace While Jeff Buckley’s sole complete studio document has achieved two million sales worldwide since its mid-90s release, its impact at the time was far from impressive. And that’s from both critical and commercial perspectives, as although today it’s regularly held in high regard come top-albums lists, a mixed reception greeted it on its initial emergence. Listening today, almost 17 years to the day after that first release, it’s easy to hear why reviewers weren’t universally moved by Grace. Its best-known track isn’t even one penned by Buckley, Hallelujah being a cover of Leonard Cohen’s haunting masterpiece. Nor is Corpus... M83 - M83 "Midnight City"from the album Hurry Up, We're Dreaming2011iTunesIt's been a long and fruitful journey for M83's Anthony Gonzalez. Started in the early '00s, the once-duo-but-now-solo project has been pumping out albums of top-tier electronic shoegaze for the better part of a decade. That said, M83's been kind of quiet since the release of 2008's excellent Saturdays=Youth, but it seems that the time off was a necessary evil: Gonzalez recently announced the imminent arrival of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, an epic double LP due out October 18. With that release date slowly approaching,... Title Fight - Title Fight - Shed Pennsylvanian melodic hardcore troupe Title Fight are still frightfully young but with their Walter Schreifels produced debut album "Shed" they're proving themselves as one of the most exciting new bands around. Playing with the raw intensity of early emo bands such as Lifetime and Jawbreaker, the quartet have nailed the balance between being heartbreakingly emotional and completely live sounding that the former bands helped create. Opener 'Coxton Yard' hits the ground running at a hundred miles per hour and lasts for just ninety seconds but has hooks to boot, the full-throated chorus of the following title-track carries this quality and doesn't... Sigh - Album Review: Sigh - Scorn Defeat Sigh's history is odd, and for a group of musicians from Tokyo, their larger story begins in Norway. In the early '90s, Øystein Aarseth (also known as Euronymous) created Deathlike Silence Productions, which focused primarily on Norwegian black metal, including Burzum's _Burzum_, Mayhem's,_ De Mystereiis Dom Sathanas_ and Enslaved's _Vikinglir Veldi_. Shortly before Aarseth's murder, Deathlike Silence Productions was expanding its scope to countries and continents outside the Scandanavian borders. Japanese act Sigh was the first and only non-Scandinavian act signed to Deathlike Silence Productions and would not see their debut released until after the death of Aarseth. When it... Edwyn Collins - Edwyn Collins (Latitude 2011) Edwyn Collins was an act that saved Latitude's soul and kept it true to its roots. His announcement was one that made sense on a Latitude bill, which cannot be said for many of the other acts on this year's puzzling line up. It was hard not to feel sorry for Collins, once the sexy rocker front man of Glasweigan post-punk band Orange Juice now reduced to walking with a cane and slurred speech as a result of suffering multiple strokes in his lifetime. But this fact has not affected Collin's confidence, nor his performance. Despite his speech problems, the distinctive... Caribou - Caribou (Latitude 2011) Electronica music is always bound to go down well at a festival; it's danceable, atmospheric and energetic; the perfect way to keep spirits high and leave the crowds buzzing. Few are better in this field than Canadian Daniel Victor Snaith, with many musical monikers and projects under his belt, but none more popular and with a larger discography than Caribou. Snaith's set exuded professionalism; entertaining the packed Word Arena with synthesised tracks and complicated time-signatures causing awkward middle-class Latitude-goers (who were already cautiously coming out of their shells) to bop their heads all the more awkwardly, which only added to the... Tricky - Tricky - Maxinquaye Bristol rapper Adrian Thaws, aka Tricky (once he’d dropped the cumbersome "Kid" from his moniker), was hardly an unknown force when he released this debut album in early 1995. His whispered, husky vocals had appeared on Massive Attack’s 1991 disc Blue Lines, and he featured again on the trio’s next LP, 94’s Protection. Maxinquaye, though, was something else. It’s hard to imagine how he could have stepped out of Massive Attack’s shadow in a more dramatic fashion. Named after the artist’s late mother, Maxinquaye is a (quite deliberately) suffocating delight of oily beats and murky atmospherics, bruised lyricism... |