A DiS party line?! These are the voices of two fervently passive-aggresive fanatics, shouting into the abyss to their hearts’ content, examining Sub Pop’s 10th anniversary reissue of The Postal Service’s landmark debut, Give Up.»
It wasn’t always like this. Over the past fifteen years I’ve watched Aeroplane grow from obscure gem to cult favourite to whatever the hell it is now, mostly organically, mostly via ‘word of mouth’ (albeit considerably enabled by occasional rereleases, the UK iteration of which was at least necessary seeing as their UK label Blue Rose went out of business not too long after putting Aeroplane out). While the album enjoyed some recognition in the US upon release, the UK press – save for Phil McMullen at stalwart ‘zine Ptolemaic Terrascope – mostly slept on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. I know I tried to get the group attention in the Melody Maker, who I wrote for at the time, but was told that after some office wag had described the album as sounding like the work of "that panpipe band off The Fast Show" nobody could take it seriously anymore. »
We popped along to watch Primal Scream and AlunaGeorge play a intimate gig at The Hospital Club in Covent Garden, London»
Hello. Welcome to Drowned In Sound's weekly digest of the best tracks to be released over the past seven days. On Friday, I was feeling a bit sorry for all the bands who weren't Daft Punk and had recently shoved out a song for you to listen to. Then I realised that Savages, Snakehips, Big Deal and several others had also unveiled some sublime offerings. Obviously, Daft Punk got Single of the Week but it was a close-run thing.»
DiS' Krystina Nellis got 20 minutes to chat with half of Phoenix, right at the start of the whirlwind of mayhem that is their campaign for Bankrupt!, aka. The Follow-Up To DiS' Album of 2009 Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Except it's probably not going to feel anything like that when you hear it - at least, not if the band themselves have anything to do with it. »
Whisper it quietly but Nottingham five-piece Dog Is Dead might just be the hardest working band in the music industry right now.»
Summer may be over, but there's still a vibrant buzz in the air as far as Drowned In Sound's man in Nottingham is concerned. Here's the latest on what's happening in and around the East Midlands at the minute, starting with a celebratory toast to the city's first ever number one solo artist... »
Having survived day one of this year's Leeds Festival, Drowned In Sound's men on the frontline Daniel O'Dell and Dom Gourlay are back with a round-up of the good and not so good happenings from the second day. »
It's August Bank Holiday weekend and it's raining, which can only mean one thing: Leeds Festival. While this year's line-up can best be described as a mixed bag, it hasn't deterred DiS from turning out in force. Here, Daniel O'Dell and Dom Gourlay describe some of the highs and lows from the first day's festivities. »
Ever wondered what music the people who post on the DiS boards are into? Us too. We've always thought about doing some sort of poll-of-polls, and then - as is often the way with DiS - a member of the community took it upon themselves to start one. The results of which were revealed on the boards too but right here, right now, we can reveal far more than the top 20.»
Shut Up and Play The Hits is Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern's attempt to chronicle the melange of mayhem that was the last 48 hours of LCD Soundsystem. Maybe not that big a band, maybe not that big a gig, just another night in New York. And yet, somehow, Madison Square Garden on April 2nd 2011, dominated by our generation's answer to David Byrne, became a strange musical Mecca for the web 2.0 generation.»
A sort of greatest hits selection of DiS' Spotify playlists. We've compiled these to show off their new play button feature, but mainly to give you one page to bookmark (and share) for hours upon hours of listening..»
This is My Jam feeds neatly into all of your social media holes and has taken a certain corner of the music sphere by storm since its launch back in December 2011. The initial reaction from the DiS community was mixed but it seems quite a lot of you have come to love it as much as I have, and from what TIMJ co-founder Matthew Ogle (formerly of Last.fm) reveals below, it seems Hollywood A-listers and high-profile British Politicians are fans of it too.»
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.»
"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»
Last time Dutch Uncles played in Sheffield, at this year’s Tramlines festival, the venue was well and truly rammed. People were queuing round the block to try and catch sight of the five math-pop mavericks from Marple.»
... a decade on it is more vital and relevant than ever, not only in the murky undertow of “credible” music circles but in the cold harsh light of mainstream pop culture too: mined for samples by Kanye West, used on the much cherished American institution that is Saturday Night Live, the album’s twitchy mechanical clutter audible in blockbuster films and BBC2 primetime TV programming.»
It's not every day that DiS gets invited to a birthday party halfway across the world in honour of someone we've never met. That's what happened last week though when those nice people at Jack Daniel's offered us the chance to fly out to Nashville, Tennessee for a weekend of eating, drinking, sight-seeing and generally surreal activities we'd never experience in a lifetime of evenings in the city of Nottingham (or anywhere else in the UK you'd care to mention). Oh, and of course, music. Lots of it.»
Here, you will find all five-parts of Kevin Perry's fascinating feature with Björk, in which they talk about education, about feminism and Lady Gaga’s outfits, about why she’s like 'carrot soup and tequila' and Coldplay are like 'chips and sausages', about political activism and aluminum mining and even about the lack of punk spirit in proprietary software, a topic she acknowledges she probably shouldn’t talk about. We've compiled all the parts here so that you can read it all in one go or save it to your Kindle/phone using a text-only tool like Instapaper or Readability»
Björk discusses Lady Gaga, feminism, collaborations and her future plans in the concluding part of her interview with DiS' Kevin Perry. She also reveals her tour plans and her incredible roster of instruments including the vast barrel harp known as the Sharpsichord and then there are a further four 10-foot pendulum-harps whose strings are plucked by gravity’s pull. There is a pipe organ controlled by midi files and a celeste which has been re-fitted with bronze gamelan bars to create a hybrid called a Gamaleste. In order to play the bassline on ‘Thunderbolt’ she will have a twin Tesla coil system suspended over the stage. You know, because a single Tesla coil is just never enough, is it? »
Björk tells DiS' Kevin Perry about her involvement in environmental protests, her petition that 25% of Iceland signed, how she wrote her political manifesto and how the whole experience informed her work on Biophilia. She also discusses her own financial situation and how she managed to fund the unique and innovative instruments used in the Biophilia live show.»
Björk talks to DiS' Kevin Perry about piracy after he challenges her over whether working closely with Apple creates a discord with her 'punk ethos'.»
In the second part of Kevin Perry's interview, Björk describes in her own words her wildly ambitious Biophilia 'app album' for iPad and iPhone. Zeroing in on a star within the Biophilia galaxy enables you to hear the song as Björk recorded it, or to play a game which will involve you manipulating the music in some thematically-appropriate way. For example, on ‘Virus’ you play the part of a cell defending itself from viral attack, while on ‘Thunderbolt’ you draw Tesla coil charges which alter the bass lines you hear. »
Over the last two decades Björk’s vibrations have established her as pop music’s preeminent innovator, a fearless and restless proponent of the avant-garde whose discography defies the staid categorisation of genre. When DiS' Kevin Perry meets her on a summer afternoon in West London her enthusiasm for her work is infectious and the ebullient conversation as eclectic as you’d expect. We talk about education, about feminism and Lady Gaga’s outfits, about why she’s like 'carrot soup and tequila' and Coldplay are like 'chips and sausages', about political activism and aluminium mining and even about the lack of punk spirit in proprietary software, a topic she acknowledges she probably shouldn’t talk about. »
So, with a ‘kick me’ sign firmly attached to their backs and the release of their debut album Famous First Words just around the corner, it was time to blow off the dust of DiSband: a feature that in the past has given bands more or less universally hated on the site a chance to answer back. Hadouken, The Hives and most notably The Horrors all had their say, so why not let Brother (now Viva Brother) give us their side of the story? »
Our series of Tom Waits pieces continues with one of DiS' favourite songwriters on his favourite songwriter, Mr. Tom Waits...»
To celebrate the album's release today in the UK, DiS fired some questions at Peter Silberman, the band's singer and chief songsmith. Here are the thoughtful responses, confirming a few of my fanboy theories, which were digitally transmitted back... »
This is an ‘urban’ ‘pop’ record made to fade in the background in lobbies and cafes, and, yeah, mandem-mandem, squawk, squawk. Whateverz.»
Past the pop songs, past the soaring (and let’s not make any bones about it, this album soars in places) this is a supremely clever album. »
Grandeur suits Biffy Clyro, and their overblown songs manage to tug effectively on heartstrings despite their foibles. »
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DiS joins the Music Alliance Pact + May 2013's global MAP compilation
Drowned in Bristol #12
DiS Does Singles 13.05.13: Swim Deep, These New Puritans, The National
Darkstar, Ed Harcourt, Halls, Wall +more for 3 DiS-curated nights at Great Escape 2013
Interview: Frank Turner on The Olympics, The Backlash, Thatcher and Black Flag
Drowned in Nottingham #14