"All songs are about The Sex" - DiS waves farewell to Singles columnist Wendy Roby
Wendy Roby is departing from the Drowned in Sound singles column. We asked her to answer a few questions after four years in charge.»
In Depth
The Shins, Calexico & Eleanor Friedberger on their favourite Christmas songs
With Christmas just around the corner, some of DiS' favourite artists - including The Shins, Andrew Bird, Calexico, Rufus Wainwright, and Sharon Van Etten - have got involved in a brand spanking new compilation of seasonal songs called 'Christmas Rules'.»
Drowned in Sound's Favourite Albums of 2012: 100-51
DiS' albums of the year countdown begins...»
This Week's Singles! 30.07.12: Dead Fader, The Antlers, The Shins, The Orb
Single of the Week! Dead Fader feat. Sensational - ‘Fishsh’ from ‘work it, no’ EP (Robot Elephant Records) When press releases promise the sound of ‘unapologetic dread’ it is impossible not to have your interest piqued. Which is why D»
Half-Year: DiS' Most Read Articles, Reviews and Threads of 2012 (so far!)
DiS' most read features, reviews and messageboard threads of the first half of 2012... »
This Week's Singles 28/05/12: Luke Abbott, Jherek Bischoff, The Shins, Euros Childs, Poppy & The Jezebels
Single of the Week! Luke Abbott - ‘Modern Driveway’ (NoTown) Luke Abbott’s bleary-eyed efforts are that special thing; slow-builders that earn the right to their ambling pace. It seems to me his work is an exercise in patience rather than s»
Moving Pictures: Videos of the Year - 1st Quarter 2012
Sam Hill, curator of the BBC's Music Video Festival, returns with his video picks of the finest music vids of the first quarter of the year featuring the likes of David Lynch, Grimes, Chairlift, Spiritualized, Factory Floor and many more...»
Life, Death and Broken Bells - DiS meets James Mercer (The Shins)
"It’s funny because ‘Simple Song’ is a very almost jubilant song, it’s very happy and I’m being very positive about some things in my life. And then there’s some real dark songs, like ‘Port of Morrow’, that song is just dark, it’s about how strange it is to be a human being and see human beings dying and human beings killing – that’s heavy dark stuff. There’s songs about love, there’s songs about death, there’s songs about…" - James Mercer»
The Shins: Introducing the Band
When James Mercer wrote and recorded the new Shins record Port of Morrow (which is streaming in full, here), he put together a new band to head out on the road with him but who are these strangers lurking in the stage lights? We sent them each a questionnaire to find out a little more about them... »
The DiS Digest: January 2012's Must Hears
DiS' editor reflects on the month that was and introduces a new monthly feature which includes our album of the month, streams of the month and a Spotify playlist....»
Spotifriday #121: The Antlers, PJ Harvey, The Shins + more
This week's Spotify playlist, formed from the week's content on the website. Warning: it leans heavily towards the end of year content. Still, we're trying to drum some of the bands and songs into you, so here's another attempt.»
A Record Store'll Change Your Life, I Swear By Sean Adams
Tomorrow, as I’m sure you’re aware, is record store day. All week ‘journalists’ and comment box fillers, have been trying to neatly file themselves into two piles. Either you buy everything on 180gram vinyl and have never even dreamed of torrenting an inferior quality MP3 file or you sincerely believe Spotify should be free and sometimes think to yourself they should paying you a wage for the amount of free music you consume. However, things, as always, are not quite as black and white as that, at least not for me. »
Spotifriday #25: This Week on DiS as a Playlist
Welcome to the weekend, it has landed or somesuch e-talking nonsense. This playlist was made with a hangover and it probably shows.»
Spotifriday #18 - This Week on DiS as a playlist
More content-themed music from the week on DiS featuring Paramore, The Shins, Throbbing Gristle, Stricken City, Will Oldham + more.»
Drowned in Sunday: Papers? Pianos? Lover's Spit?
Sunday has various songs written about it and dedicated to it but almost all of them are downbeat dreamy affairs. Strangely Sunday has nowhere near as many songs written about it as Saturday but maybe that's because those who've already written songs about Sunday have pretty much nailed it? Most of this playlist touches on things you might do on a Sunday but it's mostly songs that give me the Sunday feeling. »
Ninety songs of The Noughties - DiS Editor's Picks (P2K Alternative)
DiS is still mulling over the decade that was and pondering who the most important acts were, what the best gig was and which labels/events/moments really truly mattered. To soundtrack my thought process, I've compiled this playlist of my favourite songs of the decade and thought I'd join the opensource revolution and share this playlist with you all.»
DiS is 8! A stumble down memory lane...
It's October first... Happy Birthday to us! And now for an indulgent dose of nostalgia as DiS' founder looks back at previous incarnations of the site»
Label Profile #20: Sub Pop
Our twentieth profile in this series fittingly finds DiS speaking to a label that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. A record company which has firmly established itself as (debatably) the most esteemed and influential independent label of modern times»
The votes are in: DiS readers' top 25 of 2007
Cast your minds back, readership: at the start of November we invited you to vote for your favourite albums of 2007 from a shortlist of 50, selected by the DiS editorial team. Now we’re pleased to present the result of the thousands of votes received: the DiS readers’ top 25 albums of 2007»
DiS's features of 2007
We’ve had our albums of the year and our tracks of the year, and here DiS bids you adieu for 2007 with our favourite features of the past twelve months, for your instant-click consumption and eye-aching reading pleasure. Starring Animal Collective (pictured), LCD Soundsystem, Battles, Panda Bear, M.I.A., Gallows, Beirut, Björk and more»
DiS's albums of 2007: 20-16
Will the year's Mercury winners rank higher than the year's best album by The Shins? Will people continue to bemoan the lack of Biffy in the list? Will anyone buy the Mathew Sawyer album? Time, it'll tell»
DiS's albums of 2007: reader voting is now open!
With Christmas now peeking over the horizon, DiS invites its readers to vote for your top ten of 2007, from our editorially selected shortlist of 50. Choose five of your favourites here. Voting, it will close this Friday, December 7, with the results running December 14»
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...»
Tennents Vital 2007: the DiS review
Having relocated to the sprawling expanses of Ormeau Park from the old Botanic Gardens site, this year’s Tennents Vital (held August 21-22) is quite clearly grasping at grandness. Unfortunately the choice of today’s headliner, Razorlight, singularly fails to excite. There are, by way of consolation, all manner of interesting bands further down the main stage bill, or playing in the Radio1 tent...»
Reading & Leeds '07: DiS down the front
It's been pretty miserable at times - heavy, pluvial skies pathetic fallacy for debut all-dayers and long weekenders that have sometimes spluttered rather than flown out of the traps. The weather and the times - to an extent at least - brightened last weekend, with the traditional sign off from music in the sun that is Reading and Leeds. And that, I suppose, is reason enough to break from cynicism just this once. It was a bind, but there were finer times. Time to gather thoughts and lighten brows...»
The Weekly DiScussion: What's pop got to do with it?
A celebration of pop in all its vague and polymorphous glory.»
A Month In Records: January 2007
January was cold. But for a few days it wasn’t, and we all feared London would flood when the rising sea level overpowered the wonder of modern technology that is the Thames Barrier. Then it got colder, still, and we remembered that The Netherlands will drown way before us. But all this talk of evolving into a race of webbed-limbed freaks is totally off the subject at hand, which is January’s finest long-play releases...»
Drinking the Knights Away: DiS meets James Mercer from The Shins
You may have read part one already, but if not here's the skinny. Last year DiS went to a pub. We do that quite a lot, and probably talk about it even more than we do it. This time though we were answering the call of duty, to meet James Mercer from The Shins. DiS founder Sean Adams sat in a pub, in Shepherd’s Bush, with beer circles on some scribbled notes and a shaky Dictaphone in a sweaty palm to meet one of his heroes...»
Release Lightning! DiS's guide to 2007's early releases...
It does precisely what it says in the title: this is the DiS guide to some of the finest records coming your way in the first quarter of 2007. January, February and March: each will bear witness to some ace-o-rama releases, and here are just some of them...»
DiS's interviews of 2006: DiScoveries, heavy-hitters and silly Some Questions
2006: twelve whole months of DiS running about the country, up stairs and down basements, into hotel rooms and outside into pub gardens, chasing bands. It's what we do, so that you don't have to.»
Drinking the Knights Away: DiS meets The Shins' James Mercer (part one)
Poet, saint and genius, The Shins' James Mercer reveals all about the new band's forthcoming album, Wincing The Night Away... »
DiS is 6! Our 66, part 3
My, you’re patient sorts, dearest DiS faithful. We ran part two of our run down of DiS’s favourite/most inspirational/bestesteva albums almost two weeks ago, and yet you’re still champing at the bit to find out who has, and more importantly who hasn’t, made it into the top twenty of Our 66. Well, the time has come to quit your champing: we’re here, this is the penultimate countdown...»
The Weekly DiScussion: How do you DiScover new music?
Once upon a time, in the not so distant past, people used to find new soundtracks for their lives from weekly newspapers - the type that got your hands all inky - and from the radio. Nowadays, the goalposts have moved: how do you, now, find out about new music?»
Our ATP: DiS does Weekend Two, finds that not all men with a cape can fly...
While at ATP this May, something struck us: we’re all off having totally different festival experiences, so why try to amalgamate when we can serve a selection of dishes? Which is what we’ve done...»
Sean's Top Records of The First 5 Years of DiS
DiS celebrated 5 years in October 2005. Here's DiS founder Sean's list of favourite records.»
Iceland: Adventures in Lagoons, Booze & Anti-Globalization
Days 3 and 4...
Blue Lagoons on the set of Star Wars. Globalization. Perving. Drinking. And the best night of the year with The Shins and The Stills.
Sean Adams' diary continues...»
DiS meets The Shins
Touring, fast food adverts and sweets. This is part II of DiS's Shins interview.»
Barking Sparrows
"I'm just biding my time 'till I get my death-metal band started!"
On the eve of their first ever UK show, DiS caught a glimpse of the mad brilliance behind The Shins. In the first of a two-part interview, we discover their decade-long history, their musical influences, and how they're coping with the tear-away success of 'Chutes Too Narrow'.»
DiS Guide to March '04
Here’s a brief overview of the best bits coming out and coming your way this March... including the brilliant new record from The Shins (pictured), our second Brave New Ideas night and lots of great tours. Feel free to post what you're looking forward to as a comment on this article.»
DiS Staff Top 75 Albums of 2003
Who won? Who lost? What were the best records of the year? Our staff votes have been counted and the top 75 albums of 2003 are...»
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