As of today, Hardly Art now has seven records under their belt thanks to the release of Lessons In The Woods Or A City by Talbot Tagora. These seven hold some pretty blatant differences. Each release drastically contrasts from the last, the last two, and so on back to HAR-001 (In Camera by Arthur & Yu). Despite variations across the board, one thing remains consistent: greatness. Read More »Talbot Tagora [Feature]
Cover art is often a good descriptor of what may reside within an album, but it is not always the case. A prime example is Fire And Gold by Brian Bond. The cover can truly be labeled as art and gives the appearance that the original piece is mixed media. To me, this type of cover gives the vision of something bordering on the avant garde. Read More »Brian Bond [Feature]
After two stellar fuzz-pop releases by two amazing artists — The Pains of Being Pure At Heart and Liechtenstien — I was expecting more of the same from the self-titled LP by Bricolage. However, expectations were fallacious; Bricolage has more in common with label mates The Lodger than the aforementioned duo. “Bayonets” is the opening track off Bricolage and while it lacks the fuzz, it more than makes up in highly upbeat Euro-sounding pop.
Read More »Bricolage [Feature] 
Death Valley Sleepers, despite a plural name, is one man — Tobias Winberg. Winberg, who hails from Denmark, writes songs that find themselves in the realm of highly infectious indie pop. The vocals are soothing and relaxed while the guitar, with an added power, delves into the psychedelic. Read More »Death Valley Sleepers: Small Town Bells [Track Review]
After last years wonderful EP release, I Love Leonard Cohen, the time has come for London’s Robin Grey to go all out and show why he is truly one of the greatest hidden treasures in the European underground. Hard at work on his sophomore full length release due this fall (follow up to 2007’s Rocket), this man seems to be at his best. The transformation of his character is more than impressive. It would certainly not be premature to say that he is at the top of his game. Read More »Robin Grey [Feature Artist]
Back in 2007, I caught Bad Veins play a live broadcast for WOXY in New York during CMJ. My recollection is deceiving me — I was under the impression that their music was a bit louder and crazier. Their self-titled LP opens with “Found”, a song that champions melody and clever instrumentation. It contrasts sharply with the following track, “Gold And Warm”, which sounds ripe for popular radio. Still, I can see a lot of people going crazy over both tracks. Read More »Bad Veins: Found [Track Review]
OK, so a quick one here, especially since there aren’t any tracks cleared for posting. Kranky is set to release the new LP by Greg Davis, and while this is my introduction to the artist and the man, I can easily say I am intrigued. Davis’ tunes are of a highly minimalist nature; on Mutually Arising, Davis channels early minimalist German electronica a la Klaus Schulze. Read More »Greg Davis [Feature]
“Expatriate” is a melodically dreamy pop song hushed by what sounds like percussion played with padded mallets and simple keyboard notes backed by a clean and subtle plucked guitar riff. This is my introduction to Shayna & The Bulldog, so it was initially surprising to hear the song break into a full-fledged romp half-way through the song. Dream-pop melodies becomes bouncy, powerful indie-pop. It’s this power pop sound that is the norm for this band, but the dreamy elements are what make “Expatriate” the perfect summer song, although on the hotter days of summer, some might find solace in the lyrics I wish it would rain in “Strawberry Highway”. Read More »Shayna And The Bulldog: Expatriate
The Phenomenal Handclap Band mixes synth-heavy dance vibes with traces of experimentation. The combination is somewhat psychedelic, partially disco, and… Read More »The Phenomenal Handclap Band: You’ll Disappear
The Nightgowns are a Tacoma, WA band that creates synth heavy pop music. “Cosmic Clancy” off their LP Sing Something masterfully conveys the buoyancy of synth pop and combines it with mopey-yet-upbeat vocals. Contrasting nicely with “Cosmic Clancy” is “Pppps”. While maintaining the core elements known to the band, it is more a ballad than an upbeat pop tune. Read More »The Nightgowns: Cosmic Clancy
