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by Wendy Roby
This year, DiS was an official media partner at Latitude Festival. What this meant, is that we got a portakabin in back of the Lake Stage, and spent all weekend luring bands to it with the promise of a bacon and cheese toasties, a game of RISK, or an opportunity to learn How To Speak Suffolk Proper. Fun was had. Inappropriate jokes were told by Josh T Pearson. Haribo marriages were proposed to Sharon Van Etten. Here's Part One of our highlights.»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
What has happened this week is that I have been in a very good, excitable and giggly mood, so unless a single has been gurning at me with a face full of powdery wrongness at the same time as raising my arms aloft, I haven’t been interested: it could jog o»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Dirty Projectors - ‘Gun Has No Trigger’ (Domino)
The handsomest band in Christendom have written a song which sounds like a warning, and it is the kind of song men ruined by witchy women sing to other chaps, to put them on th»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Lorn - ‘Ghosst(s)’ (Ninja Tune)
When my nephew is frightened of something he will often say it is funny, because saying something is funny is easier than saying ‘Fuck this, take me HOME, WENDY’. It happened once when there was»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Yeti Lane - ‘Warning Sensations’ (Sonic Cathedral)
Dependable, cherishable Yeti Lane have made yet another song that makes you feel sad for it. This one is a doom synth pulser with no small amount of widescreen momentum - and »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Dutch Uncles feat. Jonathan & Jeremy from Everything Everything - ‘Road To Roy’ (Memphis Industries, free here)
Only Dutch Uncles and my beloved Everything Everything could fashion a song in which the phrase ‘group stage’ »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Hot Chip - ‘Night & Day’ (Domino)
If Hot Chip are at a stage where they can command Terence Stamp to mouth the words ‘I don't play no gabba' in their video, I am definitely happy; nothing makes me gladder than their contin»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
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 self-de»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Here We Go Magic - ‘How Do I Know’ (Secretly Canadian)
‘How Do I Know’ is infectiously plotted, it has the sort of urgent tempo, quietly chugging bassline and itchy keyboard lines that put you in mind of blinking strobes. And »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
The Magnetic Fields - ‘Quick’ (Domino)
No one captures the ecstasy of romantic torment quite like The Magnetic Fields. And though there is no better song to sing after a right royal dumping than ‘I Don’t Want To Get Over You,’»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Patrick Watson - ‘Into Giants’ (Domino)
On ‘Into Giants’ Patrick Watson is not messing about, not one toy is getting left in the cupboard. And it is all quite overwhelming, there being so many things here worthy of note and ce»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
North Atlantic Oscillation - ‘Soft Coda’ (Kscope)
Some bands can get away with lyrics as vague as fog. North Atlantic Oscillation are one of those bands, which is why it is alright that their amiable, button-pushing, bombastic»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Tashaki Miyaki - ‘Tashaki Miyaki Sings The Everly Brothers’ (For Us)
You could argue that a deathly pale, k-hole-occupying, curtains-drawn approach to a cover version is no different or less calculated than wanging your latest»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Trembling Bells & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy - ‘I’ll Be Looking Out For Me’ from ‘Duchess’ EP (Honest Jons, snippet at around 1:03 below)
‘I’ll Be Looking Out For Me’ is a he-said, she-said. And like the best of its kind, each »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - ‘Tapes & Money’ (Polydor Records)
Orlando Higginbottom continues to make droopy disco that reminds me I should not be reviewing music sitting down. And though I am told ‘Tapes & Mone»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Veronica Falls - ‘Come On Over’ (Bella Union)
For the first 45 seconds ‘Come On Over’ is ‘Everybody Hurts’. After that it has some coffee, but at all times I love it, Veronica Falls just seem more accomplished at jangly heartb»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
This week: Kindness, T, Williams, Summer Camp, Breton, Montage Populaire and some people who call themselves I.R.O.K. »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Sharon Van Etten - ‘Leonard’ (JagJagJaguwar)
Presented with a lyrics sheet for Sharon Van Etten’s ‘Leonard’, the words look prosaic. Shaker-simple, their plainness nearly verges on boring – especially when you consume them on »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Hooded Fang & Pinkunoizu - ‘Clap’ / ‘Parabolic Delusions’ (Split 7’ on Full Time Hobby)
As we live in greedy times, I am not ashamed to tell you that split sevens, done well, are fast becoming my favourite format. Because»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
The Magnetic Fields - ‘Andrew In Drag’ (Domino)
When there are bands in existence who can write lines like ‘I’d sign away my trust fund, I would even sell the jag / If I could spend my misspent youth, with Andrew in drag’ you r»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
It seems to me that late February is when singles start to get really interesting. And all those smart (or fortunate) enough to have avoided the inanity of new year tip lists pop up their heads, sleepy eyes washed of their clag. Hooray for nearly-Spring, if it results in a week as choice as this one.»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Fucked Up featuring Jim Jarmusch, Annie-Claude Deschênes & Austra - ‘Year Of The Tiger’ (Matador)
Fucked Up are going on an adventure. And as adventures require a great deal of planning and preparation we shall forgive -»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Deerhoof feat. David Bazan - ‘No One Asked Bazan To Dance’ from ‘DeerBazan’ 7” (Polyvinyl)
Mr. David Bazan is a new one on me but it is definitely love, he has so much heartbreak in his gob it is like so many marbles splashing»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Charlotte Gainsbourg - ‘Anna’ (Because Music)
This week is a compound week in which at least three of my musical prejudices have been tickled out of their hidey-hole. Charlotte is the one with the longest arms, however, her spi»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Pushy Parents - ‘Secret Secret’ (Elefant)
Pushy Parents are dirty cheats and magpies - in actual life they are a) dead old and b) Swedish musicians Amanda Aldervall, Roger Gunnarson, Daniel Jansson and Johann Emmoth. But for th»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Darkside - ‘A1’ from ‘Darkside’ EP (Clown & Sunset)
The strange thing about music criticism is its insistence on keeping guitar clichés well out of any discourse that concerns originality. So stand back, because here we»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Singles for wallowing, singles for solace, divvy singles - just for larks - and singles that have the frisk quite bad. It's Drowned in Sound's Top Singles of 2011! »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
In the last column of 2011, we take in some seasonal songs and the last dregs of indie at the bottom of the bottle. Stick some vodka in, Granny won't notice. »
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the Week!
Roots Manuva feat. Spikey Tee - ‘Here We Go Again’ (Big Dada)
Though Rodney’s voice has the confidence of someone who has been around the block enough times to wear grooves in the stones, he never sounds laden. Less weary»
In Depth by Wendy Roby
Single of the week!
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - ‘Senator’ (Domino)
Only someone with a voice as neatly pressed as Stephen Malkmus could get away with a refrain of ‘What the senator wants is a blowjob’, and not have it feel like a child trying»