Incubate 2012: the DiS review
Incubate in a nutshell: with so much to discover, spending time watching bands you've seen several times before or know what to expect from seems at best lazy and at worst gross negligence.»
Mogwai
In Depth
Green Man 2012: The DiS Review
“[Festivals are] snapshots of an imagined ghost of festivals past, with added corporate sponsorship. And oddly, while the corporate stages and tents get imaginative with their neediness, the thing that's really left wanting is the sense of communit»
Green Man Festival Preview – Part Two: What To See
It would appear that this coming weekend in the UK is a bit of a Mad One for festivals. Whilst most of the good ship DiS are drinking to their survival of the great Gateway wars of last week across at Leicester’s Summer Sundae – with yet more up north at Beacons Festival in Skipton – I’m taking another trip down to the Welsh hills to indulge in the delights of Green Man Festival.»
ATP I'll Be Your Mirror 2012: the DiS review
With ATP's London based-festival back for a second year and a much earlier slot in the calendar, the British festival season is GO, sort of. Adam Anonymous and Russell Warfield went to bear witness to the 2012 edition of I'll Be Your Mirror, held once more at sunny Alexandra Palace in London, England.»
No Surprises? 15 Classic Albums of 15 Years Ago
15 classic albums from the year of our Lord, 1997 - yeah, it was a good one. Included: Missy Elliott, Elliott Smith, Spiritualized, Wu-Tang Clan, Mansun, The Chemical Brothers, Portishead, Company Flow and some band called Radiohead.»
DiS' Favourite Albums of 2011: 49-21
Drowned in Sound's albums of 2011 countdown continues, as does the ponderneering on the year that was from our editor...»
End of the Road 2011: the DiS review
Kate Hutchinson gets folked up and out at End of the Road this year… »
DiS in Australia: Splendour In The Grass 2011
Festival season is generally fraught with tales of calamity or serious incidents (these usually include Field Day and on rare occasion, an actual Zoo Thousand) and sad postponements or cancellations – as in Offset, Beacons and Truck this year. Festivals»
La Route Du Rock 2011, Saint-Malo - The DiS Review
DiS’s journey to La Route Du Rock 2011 begins aboard a ferry out of Portsmouth, where it’s roughly 2am, and I’m trying my absolute best to grab a precious ounce of sleep. Unfortunately, what with the fellow sat opposite me working overtime to see if he can successfully self-inflict a brain hemorrhage by way of snoring alone, and my own brain working overtime to try and discover what sort of karmic retribution had been dealt unto me in my having to witness an hour of seizure inducing ferry cabaret, I’m dragging my feet across St. Malo port the following morning having had next to no shut-eye.»
"I'd much rather listen to good music than complain about bad music": DiS Meets Mogwai (again)
To discuss these recent developments, DiS caught up with guitarist Stewart Braithwaite at his hotel room in Italy (at this contributor’s expense, I might add), following the band’s performance at Sicily’s Ypsigrock festival. Although his answers may be brief, they are always well-considered and may even offer a few pearls of wisdom along the way.»
Spotifriday #101 featuring DOOM, Vivian Girls, Mogwai + more
This week's Spotifriday playlist featuring tracks from Vivian Girls, DOOM, Ringo Deathstarr, Mogwai, Ane Brun and then some. Click here to listen to it. 1. Vivian Girls - 'Take It As It Comes' Now, let it be said that this obviously isn't one of Vivia»
Slottsfjell 2011, Norway - The DiS review
Slottsfjell is situated in Tønsberg, a medium-sized town on the Oslofjord. As a festival it is partly comparable and partly incomparable to anything in the UK, but on the whole more leaning towards incomparable. A festival is about music, but what makes a festival is often not the greatness of the line-up or performances alone. People and atmosphere are a huge part and you'll be hard-pushed to find a better bunch of people to party with than the Norwegians. »
DiSsers recommend... Quiet/LOUD songs
A new community-powered feature on DiS kicks off with the best quiet-loud songs, as selected by the Drowned in Sound music board...»
Spotifriday #82: Raekwon, Bjork, Bieber, FlyLo, The Smiths
Aaah, the morning after the Guinness the night before. Don't know about you but I'm in the mood for some nice ambient 'jams'. It's the end of the week, it's the playlist (here) of what we've covered on DiS over the past seven days and yeah, it's rather 'chill'... »
Mogwai's Barry Burns on being a bar-owner in Berlin
Apropos of nothing Mogwai at all, watch this nice and xenophobic video and don't think for a minute that even though the tone is comical that the intent is not nasty. »
Mogwai week: Five Myths About Being In a Band by Barry Burns
Barry Burns from Mogwai shares his 5 myths about being in a band. »
"You don't know Jesus, son!" - A Day in the Life of Martin from Mogwai
The day started well enough. I arrived at the show in the town hall in Paisley to help with the set up of the stage. I was amazed at the room, it's a lovely big hall with great ceilings, very grand and ornate. It's great to know that places with a bad reputation like Paisley have these brilliant venues and public buildings. Anyway, after line-checking all the instruments, we waited on the rest of the boys so we could sound check...»
Mixtape Monday: 10 Songs That influenced Mogwai by Stuart Braithwaite
Kicking off our takeover week from the gentleman from Mogwai is this 10 songs that influenced Mogwai mixtape by Stuart Braithwaite...»
Spotifriday #74 - This Week on DiS as a playlist
After a break of about a month we are back with the first Spotifriday of the year. It has a distinctly British vs. American flavour, rather arbitrarily including Darren Hayman, White Lies, Pearl Jam, Warpaint, Mogwai and some more bands you should really dig.»
A Decade of Glasgow bands
To reflect on the last 10 years of music in Glasgow, we thought we’d put together a round-up of the best bands to come out of the city during those 120 months. So, as a fool proof way of sorting out the cream from the crap, we asked the people who’ve »
Glasgow Day: Chemikal Underground
Ask anyone involved in the Scottish music scene what the foremost label in the country has been over the last decade and they’ll all give you the same answer: Chemikal Underground. Spawned by members of seminal Glasgow outfit The Delgados, Chemikal wa»
Spotifriday #57 & #58 - This week (and last!) on DiS as a playlist
This week's content mashed into the form of a Spotify playlist, featuring the likes of Orange Juice, Ghostface Killah, Mogwai, El Guincho, Arab Strap, Flying Lotus and Klaxons.»
Spotifriday #55 This Week on DiS as a playlist
Another edition in our weekly round-up of things what appeared on the website in the form of a Spotify playlist»
Spotifriday #35 - This Week on DiS as a Playlist
This pretty much is what it says up ^there^ in the headline: every week we take the week's content on DiS and compile some of the best bits as a Spotify playlist. Listen and read, it's THAT SIMPLEZ.»
Invada Invasion: the DiS review
It’s a measure of quite how central to the Bristol scene Geoff Barrow is that wherever he wanders into the shiny new halls and walkways of Colston Hall, he’s greeted with waves, smiles and courteous nods (all returned of course) like an old friend. Ma»
Invada Invasion of DiS: Geoff Barrow talks Bristol and BEAK>
All this week Invada invades DiS, for a week of content from its artists and acts playing at the concert. Why? Because we love Invada, because the Invada Invasion of Bristol looks amazing, and because for today’s first feature we get to talk to the delightful Mr Barrow himself, who discusses the gig, the label and his new band, BEAK>.»
Field Day 2009: the DiS review
Spurred on by the repeat mantra ‘there’s no way things can go wrong a THIRD year in a row', DiS’s Charles Ubaghs and Andrzej Lukowski headed down Victoria Park way last Saturday to sample the delights of this year’s capital-based Field Day festival. And barring some rain, things didn’t go wrong: bar queues? Nuh-uh. Lines for the toilet? Seemed pretty non-existent (or at least from a gruff, manly perspective). There were a few other issues, mentioned below, but here be our highlights.»
"It wasn’t meant to end up like this" by Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite
To get a musicians point of view of things, we asked Stuart Braithwaite from Mogwai, what he thinks to the current state of music journalism.»
Snowed in? DiS presents its playlist for a day of the white stuff
FROM THE ARCHIVE: Originally posted Feb 9th 2007... So there’s me, in bed, still in that delightful state of being neither fully awake nor out cold, and the girlfriend’s leaping about and the curtains are open and it’s all “snow snow snow” and the radio newsreader’s telling me not to travel unless I really have to and I’m desperate to drift off again but before I know it the duvet’s off and I’m marched to the kitchen window to gaze at a garden smothered with six inches of the stuff...»
A Month in Records: September 2008
In many respects, September is a manic time of year - students and all that - but not, it seems, in terms of records. The standout release this month was by far and away TV On The Radio's Dear Science - the only album to score above 8, in fact»
Belsonic 2008: the DiS verdict
With a few tweaks and some more daring choice of acts, Belsonic should become an Irish festival to cherish but 2008's event is certainly a promising start»
The Weekly DiScussion: the best festivals EVER
2008 might not have produced too many truly classic festival moments but there's lots to come. Excited, DiS here looks over seven of the best festivals ever»
Young Team remembered: Stuart Braithwaite on Mogwai's debut
On the eve of playing Young Team live for the first time, DiS speaks to Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite about the record that started a Glaswegian legacy»
The Weekly DiScussion: the best of 2008's forthcoming albums
We've presented our faves to date, now we're getting you excited about what 2008 is yet to reveal in full: our pick of albums coming your way»
Label Profile #16: Chemikal Underground
Established in 1995, Chemikal Underground has been a home to some of DiS’s favourite bands: Mogwai, Arab Strap, The Delgados and many more. We catch up with co-founder Alun Woodward»
The Weekly DiScussion: when did post-rock jump the shark?
Post-rock's prefixing with 'much maligned' doesn't necessarily seem unfair in a climate of so many Mogwai rippers, but who is pushing the genre in new directions? And just when did post-rock 'jump the shark'? DiS has answers, and more questions»
The Two Weeks That Was: a fortnight with the new DiS
Two weeks of the new, improved DiS done and dusted. We'd like to thank you for your patience, and invite you to reacquaint yourselves with the staggering diversity of content that we've run this past fortnight»
Mogwai on Radiohead: Robin Hoods or Robbing Gits?
Best known for their critiques of popular rock bands, either via their own website or in interviews with other magazines, Mogwai have something of a reputation. DiS turns the tables, asking Stuart Braithwaite to write about something he thinks is positive, namely Radiohead's In Rainbows»
The Weekly DiScussion: the movie soundtracks that matter
Ever since 'Love Is All Around' by Wet Wet Wet topped the charts on the back of its appearance in top British rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral, DiS has always had a special relationship with films and their incumbent soundtracks. Here, resident hack Gareth Dobson drew the short straw and was charged with musing on those special moments where celluloid and acetate can create something wonderful...»
Connect Festival 2007: the DiS review
Send one DiS writer to the first-ever Connect festival? We think not. Here, three intrepid festival-goers – Jordan Dowling, Dom Gourlay and Dave Kerr – bring us their experiences of three days that can only be summarised as: a muddy festival in Inveraray, Scotland. With some ace bands, as it happened…»
Mogwai on their new album, festivals and the sending of sh*tty e-mails
We think it’s safe to say that every DiS reader has an awareness of Scottish five-piece Mogwai. The primarily instrumental outfit have been in business for over ten years, and have released six albums including the soundtrack to 2006 motion picture Zidane (yes, they like football). DiS caught up with the band's Stuart Braithwaite to talk this year's festivals, the band's new album and some guy called Calvin Harris...»
Supersonic 2007: the DiS review
Birmingham is wet. Really wet. I was splashed by a bus an hour or two ago and my jeans are still soaked; my girlfriend’s umbrella is offering no shelter whatsoever. And, to add insult to injury (for ‘injury’ read ‘dampness’), I’ve been stood in the wrong queue for something like 20 minutes. Welcome to Supersonic 2007...»
Supersonic 2007: the DiS preview
This weekend is a busy one on the festival calendar: in addition to the DiS-sponsored Dour (Belgium) and Summercase (Spain), there’s also Latitude in Suffolk. Expect to see plenty of DiS writers there if you’re scuttling along. This writer, though, will be in Birmingham for the always-excellent Supersonic Festival, now in its fifth year and this summer supported by DiS...»
ATP Versus The Fans: DiS Versus The Fans!
In keeping with the spirit of the ATP Versus The Fans festival, here we present the experiences of three DiS writers as well as three fans. Here’s hoping they don’t put the ‘professionals’ out of a job...»
Versus The Fans, the preview: The Fan's Perspective
There’s a clue in the festival’s name, you know; just the slightest suggestion that this ATP, more so than ever before, is about the fans, the men and women that make the festival ‘happen’, three times a year. Here, DiS gets the opinions of one fan on the upcoming weekend...»
DiS podcast: ATP Versus The Fans special
This special, one-of-a-kind, ATP Versus The Fans preview podcast comes at you with presenter Mike Diver trying his best not to swear and failing. Perhaps you'd like to listen to it on the way to Minehead...»
Our 66: 20 that missed the cut
As we so rightly stated here, selecting the albums that make up DrownedinSound.com’s Our 66 was no easy task. A great many long-players were considered for many a day and week, only to be cut from the team at the very final moment. Here, we present to you a selection (in no specific order) of some of the albums that only just fell short of a starting place, that were tripped but a few yards from the finishing line...»
Venturing Out: Latitude Festival in review
2006 has given rise to a brand new event: Latitude Festival. An idyllic setting, a variety of arts, weird and wonderful scenery and a laid-back atmosphere are the framework for the gathering in a park in the heart of Suffolk, or as some ignorantly call it – the middle of nowhere...»
DiS preview: Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival makes its debut this year, boasting a fantastic line-up of music, film, poetry, and other arts. DiS will be there to watch it all, so here are the top seven acts to watch out for during the weekend.»
GLASTO FRIDAY REVIEW
We got wasted, we saw REM, we came... to GLASTO! Even the best dreams have to end sometime and Glastonbury is no exception. Five days in a field with fine weather, finer music and copious amounts of liberating side-tracks. From the two Canadian guys balancing on each other’s necks, through the secre»
7 Questions
Some of you have realised the brillance of 7 Questions. Some of you haven’t. If you look at it as a stupid, wacky, fanziney thing to do, you might like it or not depending on how puerile you wish to be on a Thursday. If you look at it as an interesting insight into the mindset of a musician,»
The Soundtracks of our Lives (pt.1)
Here at Drowned In Sound we're not just into the next big thing, blindly following trends as though we didn't have minds of our own. Music is about passion, not fashion, and that's why we all have very personal memories relating to the soundtracks of our past. Here are just some of them - make of them what »
Spotifriday #24 - This Week on DiS as a playlist
1. The Magnetic Fields - 'The Luckiest Guy On The Lower East Side' It seems almost that it rains almost every time I sit down to write the short, often nonsensical notes on each of the playlist tracks. Then I say, "listen to this little gem to cheer you »
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