spawk has written the following articles:
All in all, a fine introduction to the compelling Will Johnson, but a peculiar idea, to make a painfully intimate album with two songwriters rather than just one. »
The writing in The Wire Primers is generally excellent, and never less than crystalline, lucid, to-the-point. »
On his new record for Jagjaguwar, it’s a surprise to see how minimal Richard Youngs has become. Over the six tracks, mostly running to six minutes apiece, Youngs accompanies his simple chants with sparse piano lines, and what sound like singing bowls, bells, and bowed cymbals, to mesmeric effect. »
DoseOne reunites Anticon's finest for the first Themselves record in seven years. Rivalling Why? (his old partner in cLOUDDEAD) for work ethic and all round genius, this is another essential Anticon release. »
Even if you had no information about the concept behind the record, you’d guess there’s some personal backstory lending weight»
As an author, Joe Pernice (of The Pernice Brothers) cut his teeth with a critically acclaimed response to Meat Is Murder for the 33 1/3 series. It Feels So Good When I Stop is his first novel-proper, paired with a “soundtrack” of covers. »
Net impression: it sounds like TNV are trying to recreate the charm of listening to a chewed-to-death dub-of-a-dub-of-a-dub of some teenagers in a basement, yelling slogans about what they want, and when they want it, in their little world of wherever. »
For the uninitiated, Harmonia were one of those legendary collaborations from the fertile period of Krautrock without which no Electro, Techno, or Post-Rock, as we know them. Comprised of Michael Rother (from Neu!), and Moebius & Roedelius (better known as Cluster), the trio were re-united by Eno on a break between two of his best records, Another Green World (1975) and Before and After Science (1977).»
With the UK leg of Sunset Rubdown’s tour beginning this week, DiS caught up with the band to talk about the new record… NB Some of Spencer's answers (on the phone from Sweden) have been run together with the band's, by e-mail. »
With the UK leg of Sunset Rubdown’s tour beginning next week, DiS caught up with the band to talk about the new record.»
Peasant is Damien DeRose, a close sonic cousin of Elliott Smith, with a similar style of snatching at his guitar-strings, two-chor»
With Daniel Johnston's first album in six years coming soon, his own label have put out a fine selection of re-issues: his first album-proper (from 1983), his first with a band (from 1985), and the definitive compilation. Finally, DiS is converted... »
DiS delves into the Radiohead re-issues for a re-appraisal of three of the bands finest albums. »
Does the grey area between (guitar-led, crescendo-prone) post-rock and instrumental electronica actually have a name we can agree »
Plenty of things have been aggravating about the praise heaped on this year’s New Young Industry Puppets – too many to get into, here – but one thing that’s been bemusing, rather than aggravating, is the way Kate Bush has been everywhere in the comparisons elephant-gunned at pop performers»
Even if the voice of Interpol’s Paul Banks weren’t the most easily recognisable in indiedom, not much effort has gone into disguising the identity of Julian Plenti. After the disappointment of Our Love to Admire, the best tracks here let you hope for a return-to-form…or even a cure for the frustration of music by committee...»
Quick plug for one of the great lost albums of the decade: I first heard Amber Webber singing on Early Day Miners’ Offshore (200»
Last year, Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill only made it into the DiS Lost of ’08 round-up, at the very end of the yea»
Solo, or as Songs:Ohia, Jason Molina has put out stunning records every years since 1996. The death of a Magnolia Electric Co. member threw Molina and his band, though, but after a respectful year of silence, they've carried on, with Josephine as the first result. »
You gotta love the fact that the new TRIPLE album from long-serving rhythm-centric psychonauts Oneida is merely the second part of»
Following on from the profiles of Silver Jews, Palace Brothers, and Magnolia Electric Co., DiS picks four more of the best Alt Country artists, not yet discussed. »
Thanks for reading! A DrownedInSound Alt Country Playlist is available on Spotify, and right here we've compiled some readers' and writers' choices, for your visual pleasure.»
A Drowned-Up of the old, the new, and the upcoming in Alt Country & Alt Folk, featuring a re-release from Red Red Meat, a rarities collection from Royal City, the latest Cass McCombs, and new artists from the US & Canada. »
Why does Alt Country have to be country mixed with rock or punk? Even before No Depression magazine came along, and well before Sparklehorse, The Magnetic Fields already seemed to have made an Alt.Country classic, in the form of The Charm of the Highway Strip (1994). »
Reluctant though he may be, Jason Molina has been hailed as one of the pivotal figures in Alt. Country, since the term was cut free from its associations with the No Depression scene»
Celebrating their new album, Honeymoon, Bret and Rennie Sparks (The Handsome Family) offer a selection of their favourite love-songs, for your delectation. »
Ahead of her performance as Fever Ray at the Loop festival in a few weeks time, DiS' Alexander Tudor got on the phone with Karin Dreijer Anderssen about various things including the commercialization of music, identity and an upcoming Opera about Darwin?!»
Sorry to disappoint you: this is not a collection of slash fiction starring The Prince of Alt Country, but it is a tour through his more erotic moments that reveals them inseparable from his soul-searching, even soul-lifting moments.»
Foreign Born make jingling-jangling, African-tinged, and lightly-orchestrated indie that sounds more crafted, more fully realized, than many bands on their debut.»
It's been a dramatic year for the Artists Problematically Known as Alt Country - Bonnie Billy's self-proclaimed "big" record, new albums from Wilco, Bill (Smog) Callahan, Magnolia Electric Co, Handsome Family, and even a follow-up to Nick Cave's classic novel "And the Ass Saw the Angel". Following on from our reappraisals of Shoegaze and Slowcore, DiS takes a look at Alt Country. »
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In Photos: Arctic Monkeys @ Wembley Arena, London
In Photos: The Flaming Lips @ The Academy, Manchester
In Photos: Moby @ The Palace Theatre, London
In Photos: Tegan & Sara @ Shepherds Bush Empire, London
