June 2011
16 posts
6 tags
Smith Westerns - Dye It Blonde →
Avid readers will remember PS I Love You - the sound of today’s disenchanted youth as I called it. Well the Smith Westerns have a completely different take on that - one that’s nihilistic, carefree and instantaneously enjoyable. There’s not much to compute here - when lead singer Cullen Omori sings “All Die Young…” in a joyous tone he’s celebrating the...
5 tags
Austra - Feel It Break →
It’s exciting to be reporting on this, Austra’s debut album, which is sure to make some waves. Lead singer Katie Stelmanis’ strong, sweet voice floats over synth-ified dance beats with bits and pieces of classical and operatic influences woven in between. At times graphic-novel-epic, at times, melancholy pop, it’s addictive.
5 tags
Of Montreal - Controller Sphere →
Controller Sphere, the latest 5-track EP from Kevin Barnes’ crazy crew, goes from ridiculous to sublime and back again. An oscillation that maps Of Montreal’s own trajectory in fact. Between the black noise that opens with Black Lion Massacre and ultimately closes out the EP on Slave Translator too, there’s some sparkles of their genius. On the second track, Flunkt Sass vs...
6 tags
Gomez - Whatever's On Your Mind →
Not only did they launch this album with a fancy SoundCloud-powered stream premiere and a great Spotify playlist of their influences, this entire album was developed by the band working collaboratively online. It’s fair to say Gomez have gone digital. And with most of the band also acting as songwriters, it makes sense that they can create ideas in isolation with the polishing touches...
6 tags
Kitty, Daisy & Lewis - Smoking In Heaven →
While the first few bars of Smoking In Heaven may sound a little like the theme tune for Flight Of The Conchords, the ska beats that swiftly kick in without a hint of irony show a band with the ethos of New Zealand’s fourth most popular parody folk band but a heck of a lot more talent. It sounds like it was made in the 50s because essentially it was - the production techniques, the...
6 tags
Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic! →
Brilliant! Tragic! Art! Brut! Say that as Eddie Argos would sing it and you’ll begin to believe it. Moving to Berlin has clearly done nothing to inhibit Eddie’s sharp tongue as the band continue to riff on English pop culture and general neuroses. But it has, at Black Francis’ request, encouraged him to try actually singing on a couple of tracks (which invariably works less...
7 tags
Tom Vek - Leisure Seizure →
Tom Vek disappeared for a long time. Maybe there’s something symbolic about the solitary glasses behind the simple artwork on his return, Leisure Seizure. While the intervening period between We Have Sound and this has seen his peers move on and move away, Vek’s second album is remarkably similar to his first and still as relevant. Off kilter beats and powerful bass lines thunder...
5 tags
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters →
Sunday Sermons
Last night I happened to find myself in familiar company at a Foo Fighters show in the middle of a forest in Berlin. Not having heard any of the last few albums I was curious how it would be. Turns out Dave and the boys can still rock. But it’s the earlier songs, those off this album and The Color And The Shape, that resonated most - hitting all the right buttons on my...
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Admiral Fallow - Boots Met My Face →
Boots Met My Face is nothing but an honest album. Endearingly earnest, it can go from singalong choruses that are bold and exuberant to moments that are mellow and downtrodden within the course of a single song. And the pattern continues throughout the album. It’s that ebb and flow that drives Admiral Fallow who, with multiple vocalists and more instruments than you’ll hear on...
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Oryx & Crake - Oryx & Crake →
Boldly named after Margaret Atwood’s post-apocalyptic romance, the nine-member band plays a memorable folk/acoustic/experimental/indie rock/pop, as it were. The songs are superbly surprising combinations; soft tension, halting, pivoting music released in spurts of movement. The cello and violin play unique characters rather than push themselves into too traditional of roles, completing...
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The Black Lips - Arabia Mountain →
To some, the choice of chart-philandering, mega producer Mark Ronson to take control of the Black Lips’ new record may sound like an odd mix (the raucousness of the boys from Atlanta were never that likely to play nice with Ronson’s puritanical approach) but it works well. The tunes on Arabia Mountain are some of the Lips’ strongest yet as the two parties find common ground...
5 tags
Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts →
Perhaps this is something I shouldn’t admit on the Internet, especially to someone as discerning as you dear HotSpotMusic reader, but I’ve never listened to Sonic Youth that much. A bit of EVOL & Daydream Nation at college but that’s it. So that’s why, even though I wasn’t particularly looking out for it, I was pleasantly surprised by Thurston Moore’s...
5 tags
TV On The Radio - Nine Types Of Light →
It’s taken me a while longer than usual to post this one but that’s purely because I was coming to terms with it’s grandness. It’s an odd thing to suggest that this album marks a new level of maturity, after three solid records of jittering, glittering, soulful art-rock but it certainly sounds their most comfortable. Under the masterful hands of Dave Sitek’s...
4 tags
Cults - Cults →
Almost dangerously jangly, when you listen to Cults keep on the lookout for flailing arms and thrashing hair. Despite the heavy metal look of most of the band, Cults are set to become this summer’s indie pop darlings after releasing some of the most joyous singles the blogosphere have seen in the last 6 months. Whilst reviving 60s pop music isn’t a new thing (people have been doing...
4 tags
The Elected - Bury Me In Rings →
After a long hiatus, spurred by a disintegration of Rilo Kiley and a disgust with the music industry in general, The Elected return. Essentially a solo album for former-Rilo Kiley co-lead Blake Sennett (although Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis’ sticky fingers are clearly all over the arrangement and production) it finds him in a lighter place. His voice and lyrics have always tended to...
1 tag
May Playlist
No sooner has April ‘finished’ than May is also out the door. Phew. This is getting hectic. But at least it’s getting more prompt.
Less to show this month but plenty of goodness on the horizon. We started with the stellar-ly consistent return from those folkmeisters Fleet Foxes and their English competitors The Leisure Society and ended with a serious rock effort from...