Break a leg: the inaugural ATP Iceland gets off to a flier
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds christen the inaugural ATP Iceland with a performance that will talked about for years to come.»
Articles
John_Brainlove has written the following articles:
Cutting Through the Noise: What it's really like representing new artists at events like The Great Escape
It's a somewhat different experience being at a festival representing a new band or running a showcase, rather than watching shows, drinking, and hanging out. John Brainlove explains... »
BRNLV Column #4 Is 2012 over already? The battle for relevance in 2013
As the UK music industry does it's annual shuddering gear change from "best of 20--!" to "hot new acts for 20--!", it would be easy to forget there ever had been a previous year...»
Friday Fun: LCMDF Solve Your Problems
LCMDF, aka Finland-born Berlin-based sisters Emma (23) and Mia (21), have recently been through life coaching, and agreed to answer the questions of the DiS readership on the subject of Mental Health, the title of their forthcoming EP. Paranoia, taken from said EP, premieres below, and the band are currently beginning a string of five London dates - see the poster at the base of the piece for info.»
Planningtorock, Light Asylum at Queen Elizabeth Hall, Lambeth, Wed 01 Aug
Planningtorock is a fully realised project from a powerful personality, and it seems like there are no limits to where Janine Rostron could pilot it from here.»
Live Review: Lambchop @ The Barbican, London - 02/03/12
These songs are concerned with the other moments that make up a life: observing and expressing the mundanity of everyday experience. Wagner knows it: "I just realised something," he drawls, between two ten minute songs, "this song sounds... just like all the other songs." »
Dad Rocks! - Mount Modern
Snævar Njáll Albertsson's is a unique, gentle and much-needed authorial voice that humanises our often trend-fixated indie turf, and Dad Rocks! is a new band that feels like it should have always been here.»
Dad Rocks! embarking on UK tour, now!
Denmark-based, Iceland-born singer and multi-instrumentalist Dad Rocks! (aka Snævar Njáll Albertsson, a 26-year-old father of two) kicked off a UK tour last night at London's Tamesis Dock, in support of his fabulous debut album Mount Modern.»
Reykjavík 101 + Five hot bands from the land of ice
With the 2011 edition of Iceland Airwaves fast approaching (it kicks off next Wednesday, October 12 in the country's capital!) we thought "what better time to have a look at what is being produced and made over there than now?". So John Rogers takes a look at what's going down in the local environs and picks a few bands he reckons you should hear, 'cos, well, they're worth it. Read on...»
when saints go machine - Konkylie
Konkylie is an impressive, accomplished collection of songs from a band coming into their own.»
French festival La Route Du Rock announces lineup for 20th anniversary: win tickets & travel
France's premiere music festival La Route Du Rock is back for 2010 with a stellar twentieth-anniversary lineup. The Flaming Lips, Massive Attack, Foals, Liars, Caribou, Dum Dum Girls, Owen Pallett and many more play three idyllic stages in French coastal town St Malo.»
Oui Love: four French upstarts initiate UK invasion
The Oui Love project brings four much-touted Gallic bands to our shores for a whistle-stop tour of the UK. The Shoes, Curry & Coco, Revolver and The Bewitched Hands On The Tops Of Our Heads will trawl university towns and Academy venues, bookended by appearances at The Great Escape and Liverpool Sound City.»
Oslo and E8: The Brainlove Column #3
Jamie Stewart's bottomless intensity becomes more thorny and difficult to understand with every addition to the Xiu Xiu oeuvre, but his work is always compelling, often to the point of being hypnotic. Squalls of terrifying noise mingle with near-silences in which the only audible sounds are Stewart's distinctive voice and the snap of camera shutters from the front row.»
More Nordic goodness from Ja Ja Ja, win tickets!
Scandinavia seems to be having a bit of a musical renaissance of late. There's a steady stream of amazing bands appearing on the radar, from the tinkling Icelandic electronica of Kira Kira to the doomy drone-metal of Altaar, to the face-searing, arch rock 'n' roll of Norwegian indie-rock upstarts Ungdomskulen. »
Guest Column: Brainlove's Holiday Reading
John Brainlove selects a few albums new & old to help usher in the Autumn.»
Audio Borealis: Win a trip to Iceland for 'You Are In Control' event
The IMX organisation, dedicated to helping the development of Icelandic music worldwide, are giving away a trip to their annual creative industries conference 'You Are In Control'.»
Win: trip to La Route Du Rock to see MBV, Horrors, Deerhunter, Grizzly Bear & more
One of the festival lineups of the summer has to be that of leading French festival La Route Du Rock, who this week announced a UK festival party at London's Luminaire... plus, win tickets to the festival.»
Wicked Wisdom: Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes talks festivals + Win Tickets!
Ahead of next week's Shepherd's Bush Empire show and performances at Latitude and Oxygen, of Montreal linchpin Kevin Barnes talks about the festival experience, and why you should always take, along with your handwash and sunscreen, a mask. Plus, win tickets to the gig.»
Deerhunter, Extra Life at King's Cross Scala, Islington, Mon 18 May
Reverb piles up, forming loops that skate over the swathes of guitar. Deerhunter's self-styled "ambient punk" sound has never made more sense.»
BRNLV Column #2: Adventures on Music Island
Here on the island, there's not much to do between shows. We sit by the glittering sea, kick through the singing surf and stare at the horizon. We gather ephemera from the high tide line and save the best things we find. At night, we light a crackling fire, sing harmonies and look at the stars. And in the stars, there is music.»
DiS meets Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife to discuss Fever Ray
Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife discusses her new solo project Fever Ray.»
DiS meets Of Montreal - part #2
In the second part of our in depth interview with Kevin Barnes, Brainlove & Alcxxk talk Barack Obama, lampshade vs CD vs vinyl, 70s funk, dancing buddhas, and what comes next for Of Montreal.»
Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes turns agony uncle - plus exclusive live video
John Brainlove and Chris Alcock caught up with Kevin Barnes on the eve of Of Montreal's sold-out Heaven gig with Franz Ferdinand. In part one of the interview they seek some advice from the hyper-sexual, cross-dressing indie-glam icon on the problems being DiScussed recently on the boards...»
Napoleon IIIrd tames Wild Beasts for February tour
Napoleon IIIrd is back with a much-anticipated new release and a February tour with Domino Records' Wild Beasts.»
Guest column: Brainlove
DiS has invited John Brainlove of Brainlove Records and many messageboard posts fame, to contribute an new irregular column about a certain strand of mathy, crowded, syncopated, hi-speed avalanche-of-notes cross-genre stuff that's going around at the moment... »
The Young Republic - The Girl From The Northern States
Located somewhere between the intelligent blissed-out US indie sound of Galaxie 500 and the scruffy, tuneful UK indie of Belle & Sebastian, Hefner or Bearsuit, ‘Girl From The Northern State’ is another deliciously melodic offering from End Of The Road Records’ first signings The Young Republic...»
Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy Of The Lost
‘Galaxy Of The Lost’ kicks off with a pastoral strings arrangement and a vocal melody with a warm, classic kind of feel to it, as if these sounds and words are being inked onto crisp brown antique paper for posterity...»
Eugene McGuinness - Monsters Under The Bed
This is a pleasantly odd one: underpinned by driving acoustic guitar, Eugene McGuinness’ debut single 'Monsters Under The Bed' skitters all over the place...»
Parenthetical Girls - Safe As Houses
Whether or not it officially qualifies as a 'concept album', Safe As Houses, by Washington State's Parenthetical Girls, has an unusually strong thread of subject matter running through it. From the twinkling-chime introduction of opener 'Love Connection II', the cryptic, conflicted lyrical content is overwhelmingly engaging; Safe As Houses is an album full of vivid, visceral, emotional tales about sex, labour, blood, death and (maybe) even some glimmering glimpses of love.»
DiScover: Team Brick
Team Brick is a powerful and unique musician from Bristol. His performances incorporate all kinds of instruments, equipment and techniques. Together, these sounds create an evocative, resonant and mysterious body of work that offers a half-glimpse into an intriguing world of its own... »