A broken heart - Hear
HEAR is the enema your iTunes needs. Bringing you the most thought-provoking and up-to-date music reviews this side of Lester Bangs, HEAR sifts through the ever growing mountain of press releases and promos to only feature albums, EPs, LPs and mixes that we want to, not that we have to. Also, we try and make things make sense in 200 words or less so that you can just listen to the music.
She & Him, Volume Two
Everyone agrees that She & Him, the unexpected project of Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, is pretty great. It probably has something to do with the fact that Zooey has successfully charmed every single person in the world, but beyond her acting and dancing skills, this girl can totally sing.
She truly is the whole quirky indie dream girl package, minus that being married to Ben Gibbard thing.
Joanna Newsom, Have One On Me
Everybody has their One. Mine used to be Zooey Deschanel, before the malicious bitch decided that her One was Ben Gibbard. A single listening of Have One on Me was all it took to put thoughts of Zooey well and truly to bed (unfortunately not mine).
The album, Joanna Newsom's third, sprawls across three CDs and showcases her constantly developing range as a songstress.
Houlette, Bless Bless
Houlette is the sugar cube in your Stockholm Blend tea. Their French-pop, country-esque folk minimalism reminds you of bettertimes, of simpler times when salt came iodised and men rode horses.
Bless Bless (which translates to ‘farewell' in Icelandic) is the band's debut album, following the successes of their precursor releases.
Stroke: Stongs for Chris Knox
The history of punk and DIY music is super inspiring, and songwriting is fu*king tough.
These are just two reasons why Chris Knox is revered not only in his native New Zealand, but worldwide. In 1979 he formed Tall Dwarfs with Alec Bathgate, helping to pioneer a lo-fi, DIY aesthetic that combined punk's simplicity and disdain for musical virtuosity with home-recording experiments, cryptic lyrics, introspection, and the ultimate rebellion in counter-culture circles - admitting to love pop songs and hooks.
Grizzly Bear interview
Here's a band! Ethereal, psychedelic pop infused with a tidbit of Gregorian chant, texturally rich, dense, colourful, not too gay, a little bit gay. These dudes don't fuck around at band practice, so to speak... Chris Taylor (bass/clarinet/flute/vocalist/producer) imparts upon me a couple of ‘fun facts' from the Seattle Airport.
Songs album launch
Where their EP showcased an off-the-cuff looseness and a near-enough-is-good-enough attitude, Songs' self-titled debut album is a study in (relative) discipline, with thoroughly explored song structures and deftly crafted soundscapes.
These are songs that have been broken down and rebuilt numerous times.
The Twerps EP
Imagine the sound of a pocket full o' loose change amplified by a contact mic, duplicated 577 times and broadcast with the volume cranked at 11. This ain't no John Cage composition I'm describing but the wild jangle that is contained within the lilting, delicate pop of The Twerps.
Recorded by Mikey ‘Eddie Current' Young, their self-titled debut exudes a refreshing candour.
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