Interview : Sweet Lights

Sometimes, it's just a real pleasure to do this sort of thing. The amount of great music I get to listen to, and the great people I get to speak to is really fantastic. To that list I can now add Philadelphia's Sweet Lights.


Formed by Shai Halperin, formerly of The Capitol Years who was also a band member with Kurt Vile in an early lineup of Adam Granduciel's The War On Drugs, this band trade in sweet and melodic soft pop, influenced by The Beatles and Daniel Johnston, and their self-titled new record is a thing of quiet beauty.

I interviewed Shai recently for The Line of Best Fit, and you can read the fruits of that by following this link.

EP Review : Paul Thomas Saunders

Here, this new Blogger's a bit pish isn't it?

Anyway, here we are again. How've you been? I'm returning with a review for The Line of Best Fit of the new EP by young Leeds native Paul Thomas Saunders. Descartes Highlands is the latest EP from him, and it's four lovely tracks of expansive yet brooding music that showcases not only Saunders' great voice but also his band's knack for a thrilling and tear-jerking outtro.

As usual, you can read more by making the jump here!

EP Review : CYMBALS

Hmmm, how unfortunate.

Listen to this:

http://soundcloud.com/cymbals/jane

then listen to this:

http://soundcloud.com/tough-love/cymbals-no-bad-decisions-1

CYMBALS decided to make an album, then an EP, mostly in the style of the second track, and I think that was the wrong decision. Just my opinion, which I express in a bit more detail for The Line of Best Fit.

It's all just a bit....disappointing. I don't think they're a bad band at all, I guess I wanted a bunch of tracks that sounded a bit like 'Jane'. At least it's not Metronomy, eh? Anyway, read on after the jump!

Interview : Thieves Like Us

Surly sods.

That's how, if I was being vindictive, I'd describe Thieves Like Us following my interview with the band for The Line of Best Fit. But I won't do that, simply because the multi-national glam-pop collective make shiny, danceable music with excellent visuals, and I'm easily swayed by such things.

I caught up with them to chat about their new album Bleed Bleed Bleed, their new and glamorous band members, and Fassbinder. To read more, just follow the link.....

Album Review : Bear In Heaven

Bear In Heaven's 2009 album Beast Rest Forth Mouth was so good that I ended up including it in my albums of the year for 2010; a record that melded pop, electro, prog and art-rock together so brilliantly and seamlessly it seemed like a defining statement never to be topped. But the band has persevered, and this time I'm keeping up with what's going down by reviewing new album I Love You, It's Cool for The Line of Best Fit.

Not quite scaling the heights of the last record, it's still a great listen; a layered and textured piece that bears repeated listens and a little bit of patience. You can read a bit more, plus watch a mockumentary put together by the band, at this link right here.

Interview : Remember Remember

Despite living in Glasgow, I don't often write about music from the city so when the opportunity comes around I'd prefer it to be from the Mogwai end of the scale rather than plumbing the depths of Kassidy territory. So, it was a great pleasure recently to catch up with Graeme Ronald of Remember Remember in a local hostelry (I had a tea) to talk about his new remix record, The Mixening for, The Line of Best Fit.

As a fan of the band it was interesting to talk about the remixes, some of which have been done by Scotland's brightest names: The Twilight Sad, Errors and The Phantom Band to name but three. We also chatted about the Glasgow music scene, touring and minimalism, and you can read all about it by clicking this here link.