October 2011
13 posts
5 tags
Givers - In Light →
In Light, the inaugural album by Louisiana’s young Givers, is not a new release but it has recently hit Spotify. Fusing the indie-pop-afro-beat of Vampire Weekend with a more exuberant undertone and some lush, tropicalia-inspired rhythms, In Light is an infectiously-melodious record. This is no more evident than on Up Up Up, their rabble-rousing album opener and set closer but also...
5 tags
Jeffrey Lewis - A Turn In The Dream-Songs →
Jeffrey Lewis is more like licorice than he is like Marmite - I don’t think you can be brought up to like him… you either do or don’t. And if you’re already a fan, then this will be like Marmite to your ears. Gritty, witty and pithy, A Turn In The Dream-Songs is at its best on tracks like Cult Boyfriend or When You’re By Yourself which tells the unwinding tale of...
5 tags
Big Deal - Lights Out →
Mixed gender duets (especially over limited instrumentation) can generally go one of two ways: either charming (Slow Club) or trying (Ting Tings). Luckily, London-based Big Deal fall into the earlier category. Led by 18-year old Alice Costelloe and assisted by Kacey Underwood, the pair play opposing guitars while their singing complements each other as they yearn for something fulfilling out...
6 tags
Ryan Adams - Ashes & Fire →
Why, why do they leave? On the day that you needed them the most.
… you may ask. On Ryan Adams’s first album for 3 years (last year’s III/IV was recorded in 2008 and the metal record he released last year, under the nom de plume Orion, doesn’t really count) he has parted ways with the Cardinals - the backing group he had so effectively recorded with on some of his most...
5 tags
Radiohead - TKOL RMX 1234567 →
After Radiohead dropped The King Of Limbs into the world at such short notice, there followed a slow trickle of remixes. Released a couple at a time as singles, these 19 tracks make up a diverse take on that intense beast. However, depending on your predilection for spaced out electronica, these remixes are a mixed bag. There are some superb reinterpretations (Jacques Greene’s take on...
5 tags
WILD FLAG - Wild Flag →
On the Merge website for the long awaited debut album from WILD FLAG (which finally hits the virtual, floating shelves today) you’ll find the following description of the band:
What is the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin? What do you get when you cross a hamburger with a hot dog? The answer is: WILD FLAG.
Now I’m no expert on any of those things but this sounds more...
5 tags
Jens Lekman - An Argument With Myself →
It may only be a 5-track EP but it’s been 4 years coming so we’ll take anything we can get from Mr Lekman, the mercurial and elusive Swede that he is. Musically this sounds pretty similar to his last record, Night Falls Over Kortedala: a wide-ranging set of instrumentation garnishing simple and charming pop songs. There are some iffy moments, New Directions so very nearly manages...
2 tags
Indie Animals Collection: Bears
Stay very, very still. If you don’t move, he can’t see us. The only real question is whether he can hear us.
Of course he can hear us, he’s an Indie Bear! This furry beast has one of the finest tastes in music history, be it a grizzly, a panda or a teddy. Here’s a playlist featuring all of the best Ursidae there is.
If you can bear it: Indie Animals: The Bear
1 tag
September Playlist
HotSpotMusic went on holiday in September so updates were few and far between. But that doesn’t mean that there was nothing to listen to. Indeed, if you can’t focus on quantity, hit the quality marker - that’s what September managed to do.
Two of the year’s best albums came in the guise of Girls’ Father, Son, Holy Ghost and Strange Mercy, the beguiling...
5 tags
Wilco - The Whole Love →
The Whole Love opens with Art of Almost - a ripping, epic, 7-minute long experimental rock track that breaks you in to the latest Wilco album like Jack Nicholson enters a room, axe-first. And it’s a shining example of the direction Jeff Tweedy & co have taken here - exhilaratingly mixing their experimental tendencies whilst managing to maintain a sense of craft and songwriting....
4 tags
Steven Malkmus & The Jicks - Minor Traffic →
Steven Malkmus and his assorted Jicks returned recently for album number five, Minor Traffic. Written as he was reuniting Pavement and exciting indie rock nerds the world over last year, they then hit the studio with none other than Mr Beck Hansen whose producer credits are beginning to appear rather distinguished. Beck’s touches make Minor Traffic a more accessible affair as...
5 tags
The Zombies - Odessey And Oracle →
Welcome to psychedelia everyone. But the most beautiful, serene psychedelia you can imagine. The Zombies, originally famous for their 1964 hit She’s Not There, were perhaps behind only The Beach Boys when it came to mellifluousness in this era of pop music. But on Odessey And Oracle, one of the best albums of the 60s, the harmonies were bittersweet and the songs the same. Care of Cell...