Here is the just released new video from Hurts for their next single Stay. Their recently released anthem packed debut album Happiness has brought me much joy, I never thought so many ballads would make me smile so much.
To us naive Brits (well me at least) Austin Texas is a magical land of tumbleweed, cowboy boots, and of course the not so magical country music. My rodeo view of Austin is gradually being skewered though, especially knowing one of my favourite bands, the folksters Shearwater, come from there. Along the same folky vain...
Came across this Red Headz mash up of Wolfgang Gartner’s mash up of Beethoven’s 5th symphony and 3OH!3‘s First Kiss featuring Ke$ha. If you understood all that I’ll give you a medal. You all know I hate classical crossover – so fear not, I’m not going to submit you to such aural torture with this...
Karin Dreijer Andersson‘s music has already propelled the likes of Jose Gonzales to stardom with his cover of one of my favourite songs, The Knife‘s Heartbeats - and now it seems to be the turn of First Aid Kit. The Swedish folk duo have just released a cover of Fever Ray’s When I Grow Up...
The creative juices can flow at the worst times – I’ve irked many a neighbour at 3 in the morning perfecting a few bars of music. Maybe it’s the rush of adrenaline from the fear that an irate pyjama clad person may knock on my door and shoot my face off that can make late...
We all need a track for the weekend – especially an uplifting one with the weather looking so gloomy over London. So lets pray thanks to Cassius‘ amazing track from their new The Rawkers EP which I came across on Tilt. Although Cassius have mainly been lending a hand to the likes of Cut Copy...
Choirs conjure up a tirade of stereotypes, usually involving grey hair and cups of 50p tea served in polystyrene. As a member of London Philharmonic Choir my liver can certainly prove we drink more Stella than PG Tips. Gaggle, the female alternative choir from London, are legions apart from crusty old veneer of group singing. They’ve...
With a third album on the way, Spektrum are back. The 4 piece electro-punk Londoners from indie label StopStart are recording a third album to follow up to their last release Death At The Gymkhana Club Spektrum are fronted by the prodigal Lola Olafisoye, armed with the wit of Peaches and the vocals of Macy Gray. I’ve...
Australia is one of the most American countries I’ve ever been to. Ozzies don’t seem shy to admit it though unlike their fellow commonwealth partners in crime Canada. Maybe distance can make the heart grow fonder. So with it’s big gridded cities and vast open spaces comes big gritty rock and vast vicious voices like...
I still get goosebumps every time I listen to anything Hurts make. Right now I love this cover of Kylie Minogue‘s Confide in Me – she appears on their debut album Happiness too which is out on 6 September. You can pre-order Happiness from Amazon. In the meantime check out the Cajón on this:
Sound men at music venues have to listen to so much shit that alongside my sympathy for them I always wonder how aural torture affects their tastes. I’d say they either: Detune their standards until Jedward sound like Marvin Gaye reincarnate. Can pick a cherry from a turdy fog but are so useless at admin...
Portland experimental rockers Menomena have released their new album Mines. It’s absolutely spell-binding. I don’t have much to add over the excellent MusicOMH review of Mines other than this is one of my albums of the year so far. I’m a big fan of experimentalism within pop aesthetics, rather like Yeasayer’s great album Odd Blood. What Menomena...
