Well, what a treat! Two albums from R.E.M this year! The King Is Dead harks back to the Reckoning-era sound of the band, taking us back to Rockville on a country-rockin' whale of a ride.......what? [consults someone off air, finger to ear mic in the style of Australia's Next Top Model] It's The Decemberists? Not R.E.M? But Peter Buck is on it.......
Only joking folks, that was just a hilarious skit. The King Is Dead certainly does hark back to classic 80s Stipe 'n' Co, and it's an awesome album as a result. Come on, it's got Gillian Welch on it as well, what more do you want? It's not even a concept album, just for a change!
Here's a small taster, lead single 'Down By The Water':
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Album Review: Daniel Martin Moore - In The Cool Of The Day
Aha! But you can't read it here!
Head over to The Line Of Best Fit to find out all about it: jump!
Please also ignore my screamingly obvious typo in the first paragraph (note to self: Sub Pop). Oh, it could have been a brilliant career.....
Head over to The Line Of Best Fit to find out all about it: jump!
Please also ignore my screamingly obvious typo in the first paragraph (note to self: Sub Pop). Oh, it could have been a brilliant career.....
Monday, 17 January 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....at 78s Don't Wobble
Greetings dear reader! The times they are a-changing, as some overrated old grizzler said once.
This post calls an end to 78sDW (as the cool kids call it) as we currently know it....but fear not bloganauts, this thing ain't over! Those great, great people over at The Line of Best Fit, a fine old music blog, have taken me on as a staff writer which means that things have to change here to, ahem, best fit my new role.
The folks at TLOBF are kindred spirits in as much as it's all about the love of music for them, and that's pretty much the reason I started this blog. As much as I love to snark, and boy do I ever, I wanted 78sDW to be all about letting people know about new music, and to give me a chance to write a bit more about the things I love than I had bothered to do over the past few years.
So, from this weekend you can pop over to TLOBF for album reviews from yours truly, starting with In the Cool of the Day, the latest release from Kentuckian singer Daniel Martin Moore. As such, I'm still in the process of reassessing how this blog will look. In theory, you can still get reviews of the latest releases here but please do pop over to my new employees for a handful of posts each month.
Don't worry folks, this blog will still continue as regularly as it has been doing - just bear with me in the early days of the changes. Trust me, it's all good.
Pop back at some point over the next few days where I'll provide a handy link to the relevant content. Until then, stay free.
This post calls an end to 78sDW (as the cool kids call it) as we currently know it....but fear not bloganauts, this thing ain't over! Those great, great people over at The Line of Best Fit, a fine old music blog, have taken me on as a staff writer which means that things have to change here to, ahem, best fit my new role.
The folks at TLOBF are kindred spirits in as much as it's all about the love of music for them, and that's pretty much the reason I started this blog. As much as I love to snark, and boy do I ever, I wanted 78sDW to be all about letting people know about new music, and to give me a chance to write a bit more about the things I love than I had bothered to do over the past few years.
So, from this weekend you can pop over to TLOBF for album reviews from yours truly, starting with In the Cool of the Day, the latest release from Kentuckian singer Daniel Martin Moore. As such, I'm still in the process of reassessing how this blog will look. In theory, you can still get reviews of the latest releases here but please do pop over to my new employees for a handful of posts each month.
Don't worry folks, this blog will still continue as regularly as it has been doing - just bear with me in the early days of the changes. Trust me, it's all good.
Pop back at some point over the next few days where I'll provide a handy link to the relevant content. Until then, stay free.
Sunday, 9 January 2011
New Sounds for 2011: Cults
Impossibly hard to Google, unless you want to know about actual cults (fact: members of cults wear strange clothes), San Diego's Cults are a boy/girl duo specialising in sunny lo-fi pop.
It's a mixture of soulful pop from across the last 50 years, that Swedish pop sound that makes you want to move to Europe to rehabilitate your tired constitution, and some of those bedroom-kids who have been making music over the last few years (Beach House, Summer Camp et al).
Utterly charming, full of innocence (and reverb and glock) and completely the opposite of the image the name Cults conjures up, this is the sort of music that puts a great big smile on your face. Check out three tracks via the duo's bandcamp site below:
http://cults.bandcamp.com/
It's a mixture of soulful pop from across the last 50 years, that Swedish pop sound that makes you want to move to Europe to rehabilitate your tired constitution, and some of those bedroom-kids who have been making music over the last few years (Beach House, Summer Camp et al).
Utterly charming, full of innocence (and reverb and glock) and completely the opposite of the image the name Cults conjures up, this is the sort of music that puts a great big smile on your face. Check out three tracks via the duo's bandcamp site below:
http://cults.bandcamp.com/
Thursday, 6 January 2011
New sounds for 2011: Suuns
Time for some spooky, dark electronica courtesy of Montreal's Suuns.
Calling to mind Oneida, Clinic, Suicide, This Heat, and LCD Soundsystem's slower moments, this bunch of Canadians are mining a different musical seam to many of their more well-known countrymen and women. Amid the minimal beats and threatening vocals, there's also a bit of Animal Collective/Tussle style psychedelia to be enjoyed - probably at some end-of-the-world death disco.
Debut LP Zeroes QC was released by Secretly Canadian towards the end of last year, and hopefully their momentum should carry over to make 2011 an interesting year for Suuns.
You can hear some tracks and watch videos over at the Secretly Canadian site.
Calling to mind Oneida, Clinic, Suicide, This Heat, and LCD Soundsystem's slower moments, this bunch of Canadians are mining a different musical seam to many of their more well-known countrymen and women. Amid the minimal beats and threatening vocals, there's also a bit of Animal Collective/Tussle style psychedelia to be enjoyed - probably at some end-of-the-world death disco.Debut LP Zeroes QC was released by Secretly Canadian towards the end of last year, and hopefully their momentum should carry over to make 2011 an interesting year for Suuns.
You can hear some tracks and watch videos over at the Secretly Canadian site.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
New! Akron/Family return and share new song
If you like your psych with a touch of lovely harmony, then Pan-American outrockers Akron/Family will be right up your street.
Returning after 2009's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, the band will release the catchily-titled S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT sometime in March via Dead Oceans. How about this for cosmically awesome cover art:
Should that not be enough to convince you of Akron/Family's credentials, then check out new song 'So It Goes' via Pitchfork.
Returning after 2009's Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free, the band will release the catchily-titled S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT sometime in March via Dead Oceans. How about this for cosmically awesome cover art:
Should that not be enough to convince you of Akron/Family's credentials, then check out new song 'So It Goes' via Pitchfork.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
New sounds for 2011: Lia Ices
Sometimes all you need are ace pop songs sung by someone with a cracking voice.
Although she had a record out in 2008, this year sees the release of Brooklyn-based singer Lia Ices' second album, Grown Unknown, and it promises to be a very good album indeed. Blessed with an aching, emotional voice that goes from a caress to a shout, and lyrics that read wonderfully well as poetry (and not sixth form doodlings at that), this is the perfect release for the cold month of January: an album that's icily (sorry) cool, but has a warm heart.
Grown Unknown will be released on the always-reliable Jagjaguwar label, and you can hear two songs, 'Grown Unknown' and 'Daphne', by clicking on this here link.
Although she had a record out in 2008, this year sees the release of Brooklyn-based singer Lia Ices' second album, Grown Unknown, and it promises to be a very good album indeed. Blessed with an aching, emotional voice that goes from a caress to a shout, and lyrics that read wonderfully well as poetry (and not sixth form doodlings at that), this is the perfect release for the cold month of January: an album that's icily (sorry) cool, but has a warm heart.Grown Unknown will be released on the always-reliable Jagjaguwar label, and you can hear two songs, 'Grown Unknown' and 'Daphne', by clicking on this here link.
Monday, 3 January 2011
New sounds for 2011: No Joy
Welcome along to 2011, readers old and new!
After a month of lazily recapping the past year in music, it's time to look ahead to what aural treats lie in store in the International Year of Forests.......
First up, we have US/Canadian duo No Joy:
After a month of lazily recapping the past year in music, it's time to look ahead to what aural treats lie in store in the International Year of Forests.......
First up, we have US/Canadian duo No Joy:
Short on vocal clarity, long on sultry, sleazy riffing and psych rock vibes, the rather cool female duo of Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White-Gluz have already knocked out one long-player back in November, Ghost Blonde, but hopefully the coming year will have their stoner sound reaching a wider audience.
They've already got a self-titled song, always a statement of intent or the ultimate distillation of a band's sound in one handy 4-minute package so, really, what's not to like? Check out a couple of tracks after taking the jumps below:
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