Articles
teyers has written the following articles:
Lost In Translation
Lost In Translation is a film that recognises the importance of the pregnant pause, the half-formed gesture. Spun from a swirling palette of glistening city lights, hollow hotel corridors and sterile formica bars, Sofia Coppola's sophomore work is a dazzling tour de force, a gentle love story and a serious study of cultural dislocation wrapped around two perfectly pitched performances from Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson that dazzle in their understatement.»
Fennesz - Live In Japan
Christian Fennesz has been ploughing a lonely furrow for quite some time now. I say lonely only because of the stunning uniqueness of his work; while laptop musicians are now a dime a dozen, Fennesz' music transcends the usual pitfalls of such a genre, eschewing technical gimmickry in favour of a distinctly human appro»
Secretary
In David Lynch's Blue Velvet, a woman, traumatised by the kidnap of her husband and son, is raped and beaten in her apartment and, occasionally, seems to be enjoying it. Feminist critics were outraged; how could Lynch possibly suggest that such a degrading, debilitating act could be enjoyable for a wom»
Dirty Three - She Has No Strings Apollo
The Dirty Three, a violin, drums and guitar trio from Australia, create brooding, tear stained, textured aural paintings from the barest of sources. Mick Turner barely hits any notes, let alone the right ones, and yet his deeply impressionistic guitar playing acts as the perfect foil to Warren Ellis' diving, rustic vio»
The Polyphonic Spree - The Beginning Stages Of...
There's something grating and incongruous about a clan of berobed Texan Christians singing endorphin soaked odes to the Sun, Love, Holidays as the world descends slowly but surely into yet another blood soaked, spirit crushing war. Is it acceptable - natural even - to seek the reassuringly fluffy, the banally jubilant,»
Low - Trust
"Sometimes, I could just choke myself with laughter." Something about that line perfectly epitomises Trust, Low's emotionally exhausting new album on Rough Trade, encapsulating it's knife edge juggle of the harrowing and the exuberant. It's an album at once alien and familiar, balancing the trio's previous brand »
Econoline - Full Tar
Once upon a time, hardcore rock emerged like a particularly earnest sore on America’s conscience. Bored of the anodyne plasticity of 80’s consumerism, some of the nations youth (mostly male, mostly middle class) formed self-serving rockist cliques, preaching to the converted and ratcheting up the Luddite guitar squall »
Electrelane, Sarah Dougher, Tender Trap, Rachel Jury at Highbury Garage, Islington, Sat 03 Aug
Passionate and inclusive like a bigots worst nightmare, London's version of the Ladyfest festival, an event borne out of a commitment to celebrating the work of female musicians, artists and activists, was a triumph of bloody minded will over ham fisted, defeatist cynicism. The politics of the event, essentially a reco»
Programme - Une Vie
Pulsing like an adrenal-high elegy for hard times, this 7" release on Brighton's FatCat, the second in a matter of weeks, is perhaps the most grimly compelling musical dressing down I've experienced all year. A duo hailing from the south of France, Programme harness a caustic, punch-drunk power largely unheard of in»
Giddy Motors - Whirled By Curses
The politics of hardcore punk (and its multifarious prefix-ed offshoots) have always, to this writer, seemed alternately laudable and regrettable, balancing some genuinely inspired shiftings of the rock paradigm with an irritating closed mindedness, an attitude that mistakes parochial, "scene"-orientated elitism as for»
Cat Power, James Yorkston, Montana Hi-Rise at London Bush Hall, Sun 05 May
The rise of Chan Marshall, aka Cat Power, to the position of cult figure on the alterna-circuit has been made in moderate, incremental shifts, her raw early material, often produced in collaboration with members of Sonic Youth, gradually replaced in favour of one of the most minimal folk aesthetics in circulation today»
Stars of the Lid - The Tired Sounds Of...
Put simply, 'Tired Sounds Of...' is one of the most unremittingly beautiful albums I've ever heard. Sure, it's fairly recent for Classic status, but no matter, it deserves to be recognised as one. If you have even a passing interest in Ambient/Post-Rock/Neo-Classical music, it fairly screams to be given pride of place »
So Solid Crew - Ride Wid Us
After the emaciated, sterile garage-lite of '21 Seconds', I'd just about given up on So Solid Crew, despite the hail of critical acclaim that met their debut album. More recently, though, a slew of records with 2-step beats, most notably those of Four Tet, Manitoba and Squarepusher, have writhed into my consciousness a»
Papa M - Whatever, Mortal
Trying to keep a tab on Dave Pajo's labyrinthine career is akin to tracing the interconnected strands of a particularly large spider web. Ever since his tenor in the seminal post-hardcore/post-rock band Slint, he has pursued an increasingly diverse musical path, collaborating with Will Oldham on his Palace Brothers pro»
Various - Yonder Come The Blues
Document Records, an archival label based in Scotland and championed by John Peel, finds itself in a grand tradition of musical preservation, collecting and reissuing underheard nuggets of Blues, Jazz, Country and Gospel with an ear for the authenticity and academic dilligence of renowned musical preservationist Harry »
Fridge - Happiness
It would be very easy to dismiss Fridge, a London 3 piece steeped in the analogue/digital experiments of the American post-rock underground, as tail chasers, imitators in awe of their heroes. On close inspection, however, their output over the last few years has been consistently inspiring and increasingly original, ak»
A Silver Mount Zion - Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward
If you are in any doubt that Montreal is the musical centre of the world right now then look no further for proof. The second album by Silver Mt Zion, following on from the disturbed, spectral grace of their debut, is a multi-layered, extended hymn to troubled times, a life affirming orchestral wash of beauty that has »
Stereolab - Sound Dust
Stereolab simply cannot win. From being lauded in the early 1990's for their timely resurrection of the Krautrock pulse and their intuitive melodic sense, they have since been condemned by some elements for being both too cold and calculating and, incredibly, just too consistent to be taken seriously. Many have claimed»
Cat Power, Lift To Experience at London Highbury Garage, Mon 27 Aug
Chan Marshall, AKA Cat Power, is one of the most talented songwriters of her, or any, generation. Blessed with a voice capable of the most earthy blues growls through to the most exquisite, whisky tinged heights, Marshall's take on the sparse folk melancholia also pioneered by Will Oldham, Howe Gelb and others is all h»
Stereolab - Captain Easychord
A better summer single you'd be hard pressed to find. Instead of travelling further down the increasingly sterile jazz/lounge route occupied by Stereolab on their last couple of albums, the band opt instead to release their best song in years, an irrepressibly jaunty pop song replete with gently plucked slide guitar, o»
Gorodisch - Thurn & Taxis
The Leaf Label is fast becoming the primary outlet for eclectic, adventurous and yet consummately accessible electronica in Britain. Hot on the heels of the Leaf-released 'Grinning Cat' by Susumu Yokota, one of the only true artisans of electronic music, comes this, an album of effortless, organic instrumentals resting»
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - More Revery
Hiding behind yet another moniker, Will Oldham's latest release is essentially a repackaging of his contribution to Temporary Residence's Travels In Constants series, a collection of obscure cover versions all indelibly imprinted with Oldham's singular creative vision. The success of 'More Revery' is both surpris»
Unwed Sailor - The Faithful Anchor
There was a time when 'Post-Rock' meant something. Back in 1994, when the term was coined by Simon Reynolds in an article in the The Wire, a new wave of bands were emerging, Tortoise among them, who exploded rock's familiar structures and built something shiny and new from the ruins. Looking back on Tortoise's self-tit»
Susumu Yokota - Grinning Cat
The world of Ambient electronica can be a dark, inpenetrable one, full of limited editions, white labels and imposing shops that more closely resemble the stark white confines of an art gallery than mere record emporiums. Every so often, however, an artist comes along who throws uncompromising light on the form, highli»
The Strokes - Hard To Explain
If you're inclined to believe what you read in the music press, The Strokes are here to cure world famine, deal with natural disasters and make life changing music while they're at it. The hype surrounding the band, a motley crew of skinny-tie wearing, New Wave obsessed miscreants based in New York, has been both rapid»
Low, Dirty Three - In The Fishtank
Konkurrent's In The Fishtank series, whereby the label's favourite bands are invited to record a mini-album in 2 days at a studio in Amsterdam, continues apace with yet another inspired collaboration. It is hard to think of two bands more suited to pooling their resources. Both Low and Dirty Three have sp»
King Of Woolworths - Stalker Song
Those of you interested in the avant-electronica scene may well have heard vague murmurings about the King Of Woolworth's last release, a 10" on his own label called 'Kentish Town'. That particular track was a blissed out ambient wash, somewhere between the understated beauty of prime Boards Of Canada<»
Aereogramme, Fly Pan Am at London Camden Underworld, Fri 04 May
The instrumental collective Fly Pan Am have, thus far, lived under the weighty shadow of fellow Montrealites Godspeed You Black Emperor!. They share both a label, the wonderful Constellation, and a band member, the equally wonderful guitarist Roger, but their music shares only an instrumental aesthetic. W»
Electrelane - Rock It To The Moon
The cover of Electrelane's debut album release on their own Let's Rock! label features a merry-go-round of faded gold, framed by an ominously overcast sky. The picture succeeds in perfectly capturing one of the many strengths of this superb record; a kind of resigned, faded, downcast elegance that permeates much of the»
Electrelane - Blue Straggler
Electrelane, a 4 piece from Brighton, have been quietly winning over music fans over the last few months with a string of superb singles and captivating live performances. Taking as their base the motorik propulsion of Krautrockers like Can or Neu!, along with a darker post-rock twist, their singles veer between melodi»