Okay, you’ve heard Yeasayer’s second set, Odd Blood, but are you entirely sure what the band are harping on about? The band’s Anand Wilder provides some clues to their future-pop odyssey with this here track by track guide.»
It is difficult to write music that addresses either the delicate balance or the ever-more-rapid destruction of the planet without over-egging it – without the finished piece coming off as trite and/or the writer coming off as a wannabe eco-champion who’s just in it for their own ego. But The Golden Archipelago is a record that explores this turbulent and terrible time in the life-cycle of our earth without preaching, without getting pious. It makes its statement simply by describing the things we stand to lose, their power and yet their precariousness.»
This week's selection leaves me feeling utterly spoilt, such is the munificence of the delights therein. It is all a bit PRAISE BE - but not in a God way, because that would be dread.»
Salut! It is Monday once more, which literally only means one thing – the time has finally come when you can listen to DiS’s albums of the week via the magic of some small electronic boxes, mostly designed by the guys’n’dolls at We7. »
Yo. This week's 'content in the form of a playlist' Spotify playlist is here, so I'm gonna cut the crap and just get to it. Go here to get this week's Spotifriday playlist.»
If you let it Black Noise might just change the way you listen to the world.»
Having given us time to prepare for the fact they’re quite the different band from All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer Mk II have also given us time to realise that Odd Blood probably isn’t likely to go down as their defining statement, at least, not if they’re now scrapping at the genius table with the similarly influenced of Montreal and Dirty Projectors. »
I will hadmit that this week there is quite a lot of nearly-but-not-quite singling going on - and that is Indie's fault, not mine. It is also absolutely nothing to do with how bad mooded I am today, having been LOCKED OUT OF MY OWN HOUSE. Luckily The Strange Boys manage to rise above the dirge with their messy old thing of a seven and make it alright again. Thank heavens for boys. »
So after last week’s album releases list turned into a somewhat unwieldy 30+ records monster, we’re refining this feature to focus on our albums of the week. Sorry those who liked the old format, but it was getting A Bit Out Of Hand.»
Our content from the past week in musical form.»
Tom Los Campesinos! meets James Richardson from The Guardian’s Football Weekly podcast.»
I've seen bands I love play awful shows. I've bought records that have disappointed me beyond end. If I go to a gig and I'm not enjoying it, I won't force myself to stay; but when I go to watch Welton Rovers every Saturday (as I've done the past 15 years), I could be watching the most diabolical game I've ever seen (I often am), and you couldn't drag me away. Bands, they come and go, but when you choose a football team, that's a life sentence. I asked some friends to share their misery with me. »
Overall Animal is a dumb album. Where it tries to be empowering and fun it comes off sounding like a spoilt brat singing the American Pie script through auto-tune. Not even the good American Pie either, the newest straight to DVD one’s. We’ll have to wait a bit longer for 2010’s pop voice because it sure as hell isn’t this.»
That Midlake seem poised to break out with a record as dark, strange and bewilderingly out of step as The Courage of Others is a real victory.»
"Cardiff is a city that is rapidly changing. When I first visited it when my sister was studying at the University, the Bay redevelopment hadn’t even happened. Now with a major redevelopment in the centre the city is becoming the Capitol city that Wales deserves. In this guide I’ll show where to eat, drink, shop and enjoy what the city has to offer."»
Heart/sleeve interface may be at record highs on this album, but only a cast-iron cynic would turn their noses up when the treats on offer are so lovingly prepared.»
Even though there is nothing worse than those who indulge in stress-based or who-is-the-most-busy competitiveness, I still intend to make a vulgar bid for the throbbing-veined, red-eyed rosette today. You see, not only did I move house (and not one of those 3 taxi-loads, from one end of the borough to another affairs - I mean a Proper Move, cross-country, involving the help of VANS and BURLY MEN who seemed to think it appropriate to CAST ASPERSIONS on my sexyal REPUTATION). I also went to Paris and back, did a tax return, DJed at a five year old’s birthday party and bore the weight of the BIGGEST, most CRASHINGIEST writing deadline you ever did hear about. Oh, I has it so very very hard. And there is you, swanning about there in actual jobland in actual offices. AY ME.»
Romance is Boring marks the tipping point when self-absorbent adolescent relationships and emotions become the things used to cower behind as escape from the harsh realities of life’s ticking clock.»
In what was a very rare opportunity to get an audience with the man himself, DiS spent a cold January evening chatting to the quite amiable Stephin Merritt - a man dubbed "the most miserable man in rock" on more than one occasion - and found ourselves discussing the sincerity of folk music, the influence of alcohol on creativity and future ventures into writing stage and film musical scores. »
Watch Fyfe talk about his new album, Fly Yellow Moon.»
Breezy strings, doom-drenched death-metal, synth-pop, submerged harmonies, summery ukeleles and icy xylophones are - as this playlist attests - just some of the sounds of the Nordic region, compiled as part of Nordic Day to celebrate DiS curating a Nordic night tonight in London info.»
It's been a long while since Shearwater transcended their low-key, nocturnal, alt-folk beginnings, and who remembers there was ever another songwriter onboard? With their chamber-orchestration, and Jonathan Meiburg's astonishing vocal range, Shearwater's best songs are in a league with Low and Antony & the Johnsons. With Shearwater's most exciting and fully realized album due in a few weeks, DiS met Jonathan on promotional duties... »
Good news, list fans; when the age-old 'Best album opening trio' debate rears its inevitable head once more, we now have a new contender to add to its hallowed ranks: There is Love in You begins with an absolute stormer of a triple whammy. »
Wondering what the hell all this business about 'Lewis' and 'Spectrum' is on Owen Pallett's new opus Heartland is? Yeah, well this track by track guide won't exactly tell you, but fascinating stuff nonetheless, plus you're likely to learn at least one new word.»
No other band manages to inject so much positive energy into their audience through as spectacular shows as The Flaming Lips. Whether it takes oceans of balloons, rivers of confetti, creative costumes and overwhelming lighting, the musical ambassadors of Oklahoma insist on creating a captivating and unforgettable experience for everyone who shows up to see the band in concert. Drowned In Sound met up and sat down with the band’s visionary frontman, Wayne Coyne, who enthusiastically opened up the gates to his brightly lit mind.»
End Times is a break-up album that lashes relationship breakdown onto societal collapse, and rarely has Everett sounded so plaintive, so utterly broken down. Even Electro-Shock Blues, which dealt with the deaths of his mother and sister, had musically upbeat moments like ‘Cancer for the Cure’ and ‘Last Stop: This Town’. Blinking Lights and Other Revelations was full of them. On End Times they are fewer and farther between and even when Everett does harness that life-affirming energy, as on ‘Gone Man’, he can’t help but flip the classic Rolling Stones refrain “I used to love her, but it’s all over now” to the rather more lugubrious “She used to love me, but it’s over now”. »
Memphis rocker dies aged 29.»
Melbourne has it all: four seasons in a day (including “laser sun” that’ll fry you to a crisp in 30 minutes, cloud or no cloud), the incredible Scienceworks museum (interactivity taken to a whole new plateau), a live scene wherein Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear, Micachu and the stripped-back, Dick Dale-esque Super Wild Horses play on concurrent nights… and, a couple of hours drive away, the jaw-dropping scenery of the Great Ocean Road (where the Falls Festival takes place annually). »
Whatever you care to call him, the man’s come up with the goods.»
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Spotifriday #32 - This Week on DiS as a playlist
Spotifriday #31 - This Week on DiS as a playlist
In Photos: Is Tropical @ Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds
In Photos: Johnny Foreigner @ The Harley, Sheffield
