Low: rhythmic and militant in 2007
Low announce release details for their eighth long-player and a one-off London show... »
Articles
carrotrope has written the following articles:
Bowerbirds - Danger At Sea
Is this EP one of the most understated and wonderful independent releases I've heard this year? It is. Does it matter that this belated review comes to you a little red-faced and out of breath? It does not...»
Dosh - The Lost Take
Martin Dosh crafts a third richly idiosyncratic and charming blend of instrumental pop filtered through jazz, hip-hop and electronica, with help from Andrew Bird and members of Tapes 'n Tapes...»
+/- - Let's Build A Fire
Brooklyn-based trio crafts a dynamic collection of stuttering, electronica-tinged indie rock, dream pop and college rock. Like The Postal Service, if they discovered testicles... »
Andrew Bird - Fingerlings 3
The third in the series of Bird's official bootlegs for the first time contains some non-live tracks, including tasters of the upcoming 2007 album Armchair Apocrypha...»
Ray LaMontagne - How Come
The second single to be taken from Trouble is a markedly upbeat affair, setting the world to rights in under three minutes... »
Vincent Vincent & The Villains - Johnny Two Bands
The band's first single for EMI, 'Johnny Two Bands', is a simple pop-by-numbers affair that capitalises on good, honest showmanship and handclap-laden fun... »
Devastations - Coal
Devastations offer a rich and brooding suite of barstool roosting gothic-tinged rock with elements of Nick Cave, Black Heart Procession and Tindersticks... »
Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames - Drop The Decade
Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames disappoint by not changing their name and clinging a little too much to their heroes, but release a serviceable piece of melodic post-punk...»
Loney Dear - Sologne
Sweden dispatches another earnest bedroom pop merchant across choppy seas for the Sufjan crowd with marginal success...»
The Broken Family Band - You're Like A Woman
Despite the cod-American affectations and the Muppet Show melodrama, The Broken Family Band's latest is a three-minute punk tantrum that capitalises on honest fun... »
M. Craft - Sweets
The second single lifted from his debut album Silver & Fire finds M. Craft creating a street at 3am - wilful sleaze in brooding, late night lounge pop... »
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
How would you like some delicious chocolate cake? It's rich and sugary and filled with joy! There you go. Why not have another piece? And some more? A few more pieces couldn't hurt - go on, just six more...»
Various - Sweet Fifteen: Rough Trade Publishing 1991-2006
Charting fifteen years of Rough Trade Publishing, Sweet Fifteen is a frustratingly disparate compilation that can't be saved by the sum of its parts...»
Tap Tap - Lanzafame
The first solo release by Pete & The Pirates' Thomas Sanders sounds like Kelley Stoltz, Tapes'n Tapes and The Magnetic Fields rebounding off the walls of the world's most spacious drainpipe... »
M. Ward - Post-War
Hearing Matt Ward's utterly spellbinding voice on his fourth album (and first for 4AD) is like welcoming a wayward lover back under your sheets and exploring those curves and fleshy nooks you once knew by heart...»
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
John Darnielle shifts from vivid, visceral catharsis to loss and post-relationship malaise, on this brooding, introspective record... »
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
One man becomes one hundred men, each with hand-me-down wardrobes and instruments dug out of the ground...»
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds
Owen Pallett ditches the looping pedal, befriends a string quartet and effortlessly dodges the difficult second album bullet. »
Crystal Skulls - Outgoing Behaviour
One of new crop of Suicide Squeeze artists, Crystal Skulls follow up their understated debut with a frustrating sideways step. »
An Emergency Cancel London Show
Exeter punks An Emergency have cancelled tonight's London show at the Buffalo Bar with The Victorian English Gentleman's Club and MIT.»
Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
Fifth album from sometime New Pornographer Dan Bejar is a typically idiosyncratic sprawl of drunken mystery-pop. »
Mystery Jets - Alas Agnes
A frenetic, joyous explosion of drumrolls, discordant guitar and bracing harmonies. Shame about the b-sides.»
Nada Surf, John Vanderslice at London King's Cross Scala, Mon 14 Nov
Much loved indie three piece Nada Surf play to a sold out Scala, bringing label-mate songwriter John Vanderslice along for the ride. »
Wilco - Kicking Television: Live In Chicago
Harvested from four shows in their home town, Wilco offer a double live album collecting together the best of their most recent full lengths with grace and a lightness of touch. »
Dr Dog - Easy Beat
Forgive the name - Philadelphia 5 piece Dr. Dog invite us to a dusty back room for dancing, hollering and after hours drinking.»
Architecture In Helsinki - In Case We Die
In in the indie-pop playground, Architecture In Helsinki are the kids sitting expectantly by the window, waiting for a breaktime they'll spend spinning around pretending to be aeroplanes.»
Guillemots - I Saw Such Things In My Sleep EP
It all begins with a party. The kids' keyboards that will soon make several more appearances over the duration of these four songs take their first tentative baby steps over the chatter of a crowd, joined by a buzzing bass and distant sampled strings before the party finds its feet. These songs are what you might expect of a debut EP - mildly flawed, yet holding great promise.»
Alfie - Crying At Teatime
Alfie lose the ramshackle junk-shop quality and - almost reluctantly - inhabit mature, summery indie pop.»
The Long Winters present an 'Ultimatum'
The Long Winters announce a new EP featuring their new line-up...»