Written by Fense
Take note: if you write one thing about a band in New Zealand, you’ll suddenly have to write several things. I was contacted by someone at eep! productions, who if you recall, produced the videos for both The Little Pictures and The Enright House, both of which I covered, here and here respectively. Read More »The L.E.D.s [Feature Band]
Written by bob_vinyl
Formerly in the sadly underknown Desert City Soundtrack, Cory Gray’s current endeavor is Carcrashlander. This is a band so good that even I can forgive their love of Randy Newman. Their self-titled debut came out earlier this year on Parks and Records. I got the chance to talk with Cory about the past, present and future (and the piano versus the guitar). Read More »Carcrashlander [Interview]
Written by Fense
Chairlift is an 80s-influenced synth-pop trio from Brooklyn and their eerily dark pop will surely take the states by storm when they release Does You Inspire You, their debut LP, on Kanine Records this fall.
Read More »Chairlift [Feature Band] 
Written by bob_vinyl
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so the physicists say. You cannot effectively defend your position without understanding the opposition, so the orators say. You cannot know up without down, dark without light, good without evil, so the philosophers say. Ours is in many ways a world defined and understood in terms of opposing forces. Read More »Sharks And Sailors: Build Brand New [Album Review]
These Flowers Of Ours channels an array of 60s subgenres, from folk and psych to jangle-pop and British Invasion. Layered under these vintage sounds, The Asteroid No. 4 (MySpace) combines elements of each sub-genre in a modern blender, portioning all the right amounts to create a concoction they can easily call their own. The result is a cohesive album, both fun and dreamy. Read More »The Asteroid No. 4: These Flowers Of Ours [Album Review]
Written by Fense
As I write this, I am not listening to the recent Sub Pop release of Antidotes by Foals (MySpace), which is a great album by the way. No, I am listening to their Daytrotter Session, available for download here. I am also reading a nice little notice by Sub Pop updating their beloved press contacts with the latest Foals news. Read More »Foals: Olympic Airways [Video]
Written by Fense
So, Id Engager by Of Montreal (MySpace) isn’t necessarily an album, though it will be categorized as such. It’s a single. And boy was I excited to see it in a small pile of singles when I was at Everyday Music in Bellingham last week. There it was, sitting precautiously on the counter top as I picked up $50 for selling them a bunch of old crap. I turned right back around and dished out four bucks for the orange-ish wax. Read More »Of Montreal: Id Engager [Single Review]
Written by bob_vinyl
In the early 80s, Wall of Voodoo made some dark, moody and strangely captivating music out of a peculiar meeting of post-punk, synth pop and the roots of rock n roll. On Heartbreaker, The Dark Romantics (MySpace) find themselves at the same point where these influences flow together and they make music that is deliberately at odds with itself; nervous with pleading vocals and treble-y guitar or stark piano poking through smooth synth textures. Read More »The Dark Romantics: Heartbreaker [Album Review]
Do you want to know something I completely object to? Of course you do—if you’re a regular reader you probably long for me to go off on a rant about something negative. So… listen up: I strongly believe that those who say Oh, nothing good has been released this year have a vastly distorted vision of reality. Their folly is that they don’t expose themselves to that which is new. Take, for example, A Certain Feeling by Bodies Of Water (MySpace)—this album is absolutely brilliant!!! Read More »Bodies Of Water: A Certain Feeling [Album Review]
Written by Fense
I recently joined Jon Rooney on a trip to a record convention in which we perused piles and piles of albums in various collections. On this journey I snagged two 7†singles, one by The Wedding Present and one by The Smiths. As we hit Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood where Rooney resides, he mentioned he had a few albums for me, two of which were Morning Spy (MySpace) releases. Read More »Morning Spy [Feature Band]
