Music for tortured lovers today. I’m obsessing over Daughter’s track ‘Landfill’, and its desperately conflicted lyrics – ‘I want you so much, but I hate your guts…this is torture’, all sung in Elena Tonra’s sweetly despairing, bruised voice. I’m in no such situation at the moment, but I’ve been there (haven’t we all) – even … Continue reading »
New York quartet The Pains of Being Pure at Heart won hearts with their self-titled 2009 debut album of sweet and jangly, shoegazey guitar pop. Two years later, the band released their second album Belong in early 2011. Guided by 90s producer-powerhouses Flood (Smashing Pumpkins, NIN, U2) and Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Placebo, Interpol, The Jesus & … Continue reading »
Glam London indie electro-pop quintet Citizens! burst onto the scene in late 2011, creating a seismic wave of buzz before the release of their debut album, Here We Are, in early 2012. Produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand fame (who heard an early demo and immediately wanted to produce them), Here We Are won them … Continue reading »
I’ve just spent the past few minutes browsing the Neon Indian website, and my eyes are literally bleeding from the visual assault of SO MANY FLASHING FLUORESCENT LIGHTS. Ow. Luckily, Neon Indian’s chillwave-y art pop is a good deal more fun than the the headache-inducing website visuals. Neon Indian (Texan Alan Polomo) released 2009′s Psychic … Continue reading »
Essex indie rock five-piece Morning Parade are off to an auspicious start – their first single back in 2010 ‘Under The Stars’ was played on Zane Lowe‘s Radio One show, and featured on blood-sucking teen drama The Vampire Diaries. Since then, they’ve supported The Kooks, The Wombats, Glasvegas, Feeder, and 30 Seconds To Mars. After … Continue reading »
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you…the much-loved Zurich club Mascotte is turning 8 years old on 12.02.12! That’s eight years of amazing music (just look at the Mascotte concert archive to see all the awesomeness that has passed through the Mascotte’s doors), good times and fun. I’ve spent many a happy night ensconced … Continue reading »
I’ve been waiting for Southampton trio Band of Skulls to get back into the studio to record the follow-up to their rocking 2009 debut Baby Darling Doll Face Honey for a while now. Finally they’ve done just that, with second album Sweet Sour to be released in February this year. Having survived their brush with … Continue reading »
Oh, this modern world of confusion and paradox, where nothing is what it seems. In this case, French Films – which aren’t, contrary to first impressions, French. Nor do they have anything to do with films. In fact, they are a Finnish indie band who released their first album, Imaginary Future last September, after generating … Continue reading »
Hi, my name is High Rotation and I’m a gig junkie…It’s been 36 whole days, THIRTY SIX DAYS! since my last gig. I confess that I’m starting to get a little jumpy – I’ve got my earplugs at the ready, and elbows sharpened in preparation for defending my carefully-chosen position at that long-awaited first gig … Continue reading »
With names like Faris Rotter (Faris Badwan), Coffin Joe (Joe Spurgeon), Spider Webb (Rhys Webb) and Joshua Von Grimm (Joshua Hayward), spindly-legged, black-clad band The Horrors seemed to want to draw attention to their goth garage punk roots. Their 2007 debut album Strange House was a camp, goth-punk rock explosion, while 2009′s Mercury Prize-nominated Primary … Continue reading »
