Review
by Sam Lewis
There is an odd aura to this record. In parts it feels like a Smog album, even sounds like one at times.»
Review
by Sam Lewis
In a time when many bands revel in complicating matters, Markland 'Sleeping States' Starkie seems to understand that real profundity can be found in the everyday, in admitting that you’re a part of the world, not beyond it.»
In Depth by Sam Lewis
Some records slip below nearly every radar. DiS even missed some of our writers' favourites from our end of year list (either because they hadn't been reviewed or mentioned by their peers). So, these were the eight that you and we should have been celebrating, had they not been lost...»
In Depth by Sam Lewis
Some records slip beneath nearly every radar. DiS even missed some of our writers' favourites from our end of year list (either because they hadn't been reviewed or mentioned by their peers). So, these were the eight that you and we should have been celebrating...»
Review
by Sam Lewis
On the surface Dark End Of The Street is nicely put together but almost all these covers lack the passion of 2000’s Covers Album.»
Review
by Sam Lewis
Hope in modern music isn’t a particularly easy thing to come by. Yet, there’s a select band of American musicians who specialise in it, and tonight three of them gather in Kilburn’s Luminaire.»
Review
by Sam Lewis
Go into the final echelons of the free National Gallery’s free exhibits and you notice a startling transformation. After rooms of»
Review
by Sam Lewis
YACHT, a.k.a. Jona Bechtolt, is a one man ball of creative energy. Hailing from the apparent modern mecca of alternative music - »
News
by Sam Lewis
Texas’s resident proprietor of general folk wonderment Redding Hunter, a.k.a. Peter and the Wolf (not to be confused with the Liverpudlians of the same name), returns to these shores for the second time this year. Hunter will play a series of dates this »
Review
by Sam Lewis
There are good moments here – notably the confident swagger of opener ‘Automatic’ – yet listening to Gramercy Arms is a strangely unsettling experience»
Review
by Sam Lewis
As impressive a debut record as this is, one suspects that the best way The Owl Service could pay homage to their heroes would be to better marry the present with the past»
Review
by Sam Lewis
For all the grandeur and eloquence of Joanna Newsom’s songs, it’s striking how often they return to personal themes – family and friends, homesteads, individual interaction with nature»
In Depth by Sam Lewis
In a revealing interview, Noah And The Whale's Charlie Fink says how the band's sound was shaped, and the confusion commercial success brings»
Review
by Sam Lewis
A strange self-awareness makes Soulfood vol.3 fascinating – it is so tragically frank about the life of an MC who might never truly ‘make it’»
In Depth by Sam Lewis
Day four of Hove Festival in Norway sees DiS munching pizza ahead of sets from St Vincent (excellent), Duffy (less so) and Neon Neon, among others»
In Depth by Sam Lewis
DiS is in Norway for the second Hove Festival - on day one we catch Les Savy Fav at their breathless best, and headliner Jay-Z»
Review
by Sam Lewis
At times, Thee oh Sees sound like Ariel Pink’s radio tuned back another thirty years to an age of protogen pop - shame they can't keep it up»
Review
by Sam Lewis
Hefner's Darren Hayman’s memory of his muse is less a personal portrait and more a diagram, the female body a sort of unknowable map»
Review
by Sam Lewis
It’s a strange crowd in Club Academy tonight: a mixture of Moldy Peaches fans from way back when, and lads; one that reflects Adam Green’s own transition from lovable, lo-fi Peach to apparent boozy Bavarian lothario»
Review
by Sam Lewis
The Wave Pictures are a deeply personal band – their lyrics full of intimate detail. You feel like they are singing with you, rather than at you, the songs full of secrets and stories they're bursting to tell»
Review
by Sam Lewis
The album is far, far too long, the songs often drawn out to a length that confound your interest, or the track's own capacity to engage. Simplicity is always the key to successful atmospheric music»
Review
by Sam Lewis
This album is like a coma, except without all the exciting fantasy world dreams. Just the complete, brain-dead inertia»
Review
by Sam Lewis
As charming as some of Thieving's early tracks are, Akira the Don's rhymes just aren't inventive enough to carry an album that drags on, and problems arise when the move is made into genuine hip-hop territory»
Review
by Sam Lewis
I feel like giving Keith Gladysz, a.k.a. Diet Kong, extra marks out of ten for each bizarre quality of the design for his eponymous debut record. But the rhetoric and swagger comes across as smug and strangely self-deluded»
Review
by Sam Lewis
The skill and the craftsmanship on Human Bell's debut is evident throughout, but often the songs themselves just don’t have enough flesh on them (dare I say it, enough ideas) to make this album really recommendable»
Review
by Sam Lewis
There’s something beautiful about listening to a group so aware of what they’re doing, of their place in the indie-rock pantheon, of what came before and what needs to come now. Because lo-fi is, above all, a testament to the moment. And Times New Viking recognise this perfectly»
Review
by Sam Lewis
Being studious and middle class doesn’t have to be all insulation and alienation – even if you’re from the Ivy League, you can still have fun. That may be an obvious statement, but it’s one that Brooklyn's buzz-happy quartet Vampire Weekend sense is worth repeating»
Review
by Sam Lewis
No. 4 of 2007... If sometimes Kala's vocal pieces don’t quite fit together (why is that Pixies chorus there exactly?), the music throughout is more or less flawless, more varied and adventurous than Arular, yet still ridiculously danceable»
Review
by Sam Lewis
Cover The Windows... is an immensely hopeful record; simultaneously profound and strangely simple»
Review
by Sam Lewis
For all former Fugazi bassist Joe Lally's good intentions, there just isn’t enough going on in Nothing Is Underrated to make it worthy of recommendation. Sadly, it seems, worthiness and good intentions don’t always equal good records»