DiScover: Fuck Buttons
Sometimes, a band makes such a joyful noise – such a euphoric, huge, perfect sound – that they can not only change your mood, but inform your entire world view whilst doing so. Fuck Buttons are one such band...»
Articles
John_Brainlove has written the following articles:
CocoRosie - The Adventures Of Ghosthorse & Stillborn
CocoRosie have always been quite an ephemeral musical presence, pulling together evocative, minimal collections of found sounds with plucked strings, sampled toy noises and semi-abstract lyrics...»
The Ponys - Turn The Lights Out
Turn The Lights Out has a pervasive sense of boredom, which again reminds me of summer. Of long summer days when you're a kid and you've done everything you wanted to already, or the long hour you sit in the exam after it's finished, not allowed out even though you’re done...»
I love Aela - Icelandic puke punks invade England
ÆLA, Iceland's premier punk-rock-noir band, are touring the UK for a week at the end of March...»
!!!, Maximo Park, Blood Red Shoes at London Astoria, Wed 21 Feb
!!! draw together a mulchy feel-good tonic of musical enthusiasm - total commitment from all concerned mixed with their unstoppable, endlessly danceable, juddering bass-heavy dance-pop (punk-funk?) make them one of the best live bands I've seen in recent years...»
Trans Am - Sex Change
Sex Change, Trans Am's sixth studio album, is an album with momentum. From the off, it drives onward with Kowalskian forward motion. Dynamic changes emerge out of the smoky synth fug, and driving bass rumbles up out of distant treated cymbals...»
Kristin Hersh at London Arts Theatre, Thu 11 Jan
Kristin Hersh looks out intently into the middle distance, her attention seemingly somewhere far outside of the venue. Her head bobs and weaves like a cobra curiously eying potential prey as she sings softly in that unique husky drawl...»
Kristin Hersh announces free London instore
Ex-Throwing Muses frontwoman and 50 Foot Wave singer Kristin Hersh is to play a free gig at the Tottenham Court Road branch of the Fopp chain store this January 16th at 7pm...»
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Ys, the second full-length album by prodigious folk musician Joanna Newsom, sounds like it has come from some dimly remembered past - like old wives’ tales, these autobiographical myths are built from grains of truth and wisdom, a vivid, living, textured account of a memory glimpsed or forgotten, like a dream upon waking or a fable from a faraway place written a long time ago...»
Silent Shout, Holy Shout
Having gone from relative obscurity to universal acclaim with their recent 'Silent Shout' long player, The Knife have gone all festive (in a self-promotional kind of way) and decided to give away a free Christmas song...»
Izumi know it's Christmas
Izumi Records are releasing a charity Christmas album, to be made available through iTunes from December 6th...»
Oom, Duels and Napoleon IIIrd hit the road this winter
Brighton-based 'dead analogue' band Oom are to tour England at the beginning or December, with Napoleon IIIrd in tow. Napoleon will then go on to do a series of dates with Duels.»
Missy Elliott - We Run This
The press release gleefully screams out that this single is tied in with a Disney movie about female emancipation, starring Jeff Bridges. And I am led to wonder, is that what Missy is? A Disney-esque caricature of today's Strong Woman, some kind of ABC-simple symbol with a suitably sympathetic life story, full of hardship; the eternal underdog turned hip-hop queen, marketed just right so everyone feels like they are part of that success, willing her on...»
Fluorescent Grey - Lying on the floor mingling with God in a Tijuana motel room next door to a veterinary supply store
Rumble click RUMBLECLICK fizz fizz fuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (ramble) rumble mumble bzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzz FUZZBUZZ ommmmmmmRAAAAAAAAA ommmmmRAAAAAAAA rumble BANGBANG raaaaaaaaaaaaaamble bipbip BIP bipbip baaaaaaaaa...»
Crystal Castles - Alice Practice EP
Crystal Castles create a pulsating, violent racket, structured enough to be a malevolent kind of pop, but fucked up enough to sound densely punky and sandpaper rough.»
Les Georges Leningrad at London Nog Gallery, Wed 12 Jul
Les Georges Leningrad roll onto the stage in a collection of masks, facepaint and trashy metallic clothing, wigs and facial hair, scrawled logos and marker pen designs on naked flesh, and launch directly into their bizarre brand of completely fucked mutant avant-garde punk 'n' roll.»
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
This album has a pervasive nervousness and tension throughout, a taut mass of tick-tock waiting-room-clock beats, scratchy guitar parts and uptight synth...»
Delivery from The Postal Service...
Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service has released a new album under the name James Figurine. It is called Mistake, Mistake, Mistake, Mistake, and is now on general release...»
Patrick Wolf finds the Magic Position...
Cult singer/songwriter Patrick Wolf has released a statement to mark the completion of his much-anticipated third album, entitled The Magic Position, to be released later this year on Loog...»
Jarvis Cocker returns... and this time he's angry
Former indie-king Jarvis Cocker has ended a long silence by posting new solo material on MySpace.»
The Long Listen: The Knife - Silent Shout
John Brainlove spends a good few months with The Knife's third effort, Silent Shout, and reports back, somewhat moved by the whole experience...»
Tate Modern is Planningtorock
Berlin-based electro/cabaret performer Planningtorock (aka Janine Rostron) is playing a one-off free show at Tate Modern this Saturday evening...»
Thomas Truax, The Dresden Dolls, DeVotchKa at London Astoria, Fri 12 May
The Astoria is buzzing with a very unusual atmosphere tonight. The venue is overrun with clown-faced people laughing wildly over blood red drinks, faux-Victorian ladies gliding around under lacey parasols with their hair curled tight and piled high, low-rent Camden goths mingling with chunky Cyberdog people, or spiky-haired metal kids running around with those ubiquitous greasepaint-loving Brandon Lee fans. »
586 - We Got Bored
This is the very best kind of hit and run pop song, concise but kind of spazzed out too, full of fluorescent edges and tinfoil gilded charm, reflected ninth-hand grrrrrr attitude punchlining you round the face with glitterpink boxing gloves... and afterwards you're left breathless and bruised, but wanting to go again. This is the kind of song the repeat button was invented for.»
Napoleon IIIrd invades
"One-man pop wunderkind" Napoleon IIIrd is hitting the road this summer with a series of gigs in advance of his single release this June. He'll be joining up with several DiS favourites along the way including Hot Chip, Howling Bells, Pagan Wanderer Lu and iLiKETRAiNS...»
One Week On The Road with The National
Everyone's favourite gothic countrica band The National have hopped neatly onto the multimedia bandwagon by offering a glimpse into their lives on tour through Apple's iTunes store.»
Final Fantasy - Young Canadian Mothers EP
By no means a stop-gap release, this EP features possibly the best reading yet of his much-loved song This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine, retitled This Is The Dream of Emma & Cam for the 7", and three other songs»
The Fiery Furnaces - Bitter Tea
There's something impenetrable about it, an obtuse level of abstraction and a joyless delivery that really leaves this listener with no point of entry at times. Where a truly brilliant record can take you to a completely different place, after listening to Bitter Tea I'm left feeling more like I'm squinting into a snow globe. »
The Knife at London King's Cross Scala, Mon 10 Apr
Light plays across the balaclava masked faces of The Knife - a green glow from their keyboards illuminates their moving mouths as they start to sing, and a pink aura hangs from above, casting deep pits of shadow into their eye sockets, accentuated by skull-like overlays that extend the cheekbones and brow. The bass is heavy and slow, and the vocal sounds at once distant and like it is being whispered into my ear, layered but live, treated with effects, but real and immediate. »
Franz Ferdinand - The Fallen
I remember when Franz Ferdinand's second album dropped through the mailbox - I put it straight on and was happily run through by the dashing, rapier sharp opener 'The Fallen'. The opening gambit is a rakish lead section that charges into a duelling twin guitar line, the two melodies jousting and intertwining insouciantly.»