Fuzz You!
One and a half years ago I labeled the self-titled debut of the London based band Veronica Falls as one of the best debuts of 2011. ‘The best of the best from Lush, Belle & Sebastian, The Pixies, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Ride, The Velvet Underground, The Xx, The Dum Dum Girls, [...]
Last year the husband & wife duo Peaking Lights surprised us with their extraordinary sophomore album 936. The Bay Area based band had produced a gem full of languid and intoxicating tunes that were echoing an array of contemporary influences, ranging from synthpop, lo-fi and psychedelia to dub, reggae and Krautrock. After initially having you [...]
Lucky Fonz III Roosbeef, Marine Dorleijn (Moss), Marike Jager, Charlie Dee, Eefje de Visser, Leine. All these fine Dutch artist have in the last ten years competed in the singer-songwriter category of de Grote Prijs van Nederland. It’s an impressive list, but unfortunately not every category of the competition is this successful in bringing forth [...]
Ekstasis is by far the most fascinating album I’ve heard in recent months. It’s the second album by L.A. artist Julia Holter. Ekstasis has been labeled as anything from freak folk to ambient, minimal music, psych, drone, experimental, avant garde and so on. The sheer number of different labels rightly suggests that not one of [...]
Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff formed the basis of both Okkervil River and Shearwater and used to reserve the livelier material for the first band and the more quiet work for the second. Nowadays Will Sheff focuses entirely on Okkervil River, while Jonathan Meiburg is pulling all the strings at Shearwater. Last year Okkervil River [...]
In 2009 it took me several months to value the Maccabees’ second album. Ultemately, I found Wall of Arms’ catchy mix of Talking Heads, Gang Of Four, The Futureheads, Arcade Fire and The Fall quite irresistible. Sadly, I have to start over all over again, because the band’s third album, Given To The Wild, sounds [...]
December is a slow month for interesting releases, but with El Camino by The Black Keys, we still have one in hand. The American duo debuted in 2002 with the impressive The Big Come Up and have six great albums to their name. El Camino is the successor to last year’s highly successful Brothers, an [...]
Few will dispute that the performance of New Jersey’s Caged Animals on Saturday was the low point of this weekend’s edition of London Calling and there was some stiff competition. Because of front man Vincent Cacchione’s friendly disposition, his gaily jacket and most of all because they are one of only few London Calling band’s [...]