chimpychompy has written the following articles:
The message may not be as loud or as majestic as before but Sleight of Heart's essence remains true: Malcolm Middleton is only truly happy when he’s got something to moan about»
Much like the inaugural offering of a certain Glaswegian ensemble, Antarctica Takes It!'s The Penguin Line may be a record to cherish in years to come – it just depends on which side of the divide you choose to stand»
Before the ageing process kicks in and chirpy scouse upstarts Elle S'appelle succumb to the perils of beer-bellies, mortgages and bairns, DiS caught up with bassist Andy to find it what it’s like to be in one of Britain’s cheeriest new bands»
Rather than titillating the masses with disposable silence-filling tripe, this Pete & the Pirates have created a virulent slab of progressive sonic intelligence that pays its dues to the pantheon of great British tunesmiths without over-tipping»
With Heretic Pride, The Mountain Goats' John Darnielle extends the myopic throes of his last full-length in the hope of enticing a few more victims into his webbed musical lair. It leaves him perched atop the pile of today’s try-hardy songwriters, and it’ll be quite some time before he’s toppled»
All band’s have off nights, moments of adversary where lingering doubts repress cloud-bursting aspirations, yet the manner in which such frailties are confronted is what truly determines the chiefs from the charlatans. Thus, there’s little debating Broken Records are the real deal»
Before the release of Simon Breed's new long-player The Smitten King Laments, DiS meets up with the articulate tunesmith to pontificate over the album, Italian adulation and whether us music hacks have any place in the modern world. "You won’t die out, but you will find yourself on smaller web pages," he says. Oh dear, thinks DiS»
In just over twelve months, Broken Records have won the hearts of Scottish punters and, following the release of an EP, 2008 is shaping up to be the year the septet kicks up a storm all over the UK. With substantial hype rising behind their epic "Russian Danger-Folk", DiS checks their pulses in a Baltic Edinburgh»
Few punters have ventured out to watch Johnny Foreigner tonight, but theirs is a performance oozing with starry-eyed aspirations and furious, gilt-edge riffs, providing affirmation of potential super-stardom»
There’s no doubting There Will Be Blood continues to prove Jonny Greenwood as one of the most spellbinding and innovative musicians of our time, it’s just without a little visual stimulation it’s not quite as apparent as usual»
The Ragged Garden is an exquisitely crafted example of Scotland today and in the lachrymose wordsmithery of Gerry Mitchell us Scots may have found ourselves a voice to believe in for 2008»
The brainchild of Saskatchewan-born graphic artist Caleb Mueller, Decomposure's Vertical Lines A isn’t your conventionally composed long-player, conceived as it originally was as twelve hour-long arrangements»
As the office party season gets into vomit-inducing full swing it’s reassuring to know that amidst an ever-present soirée of Wham and Slade records big Malcolm Middleton is lurking, waiting for the best moment to dim the fairy lights and pull out the knives»
They don't hail from ‘The Capital Of The North’ (Atlanta, actually) but on the basis of I Am Like A Virgin Losing A Child it seems Manchester Orchestra have the city’s gloomy skyline down to a tee»
Where lesser-abled vagabonds would baulk at the prospect of injecting messy acoustic arrangements with a soiree of swivelling keys and butterscotch harmonies, Portland's The Shaky Hands simply thrive»
The eight tracks here convey the pent-up emotions of a soul on the brink of despair; a man so ill at ease with the world it’s as if he’s wallowed in a mire of misery all his life»
LCD Soundsystem's ‘Someone Great’ is four minutes of such resplendent aural mastery it persuades the doubters to dust down Sound Of Silver and give James Murphy one final fling at redemption»
Now a decorated Grammy award winner, it’s unsurprising to find Jacknife Lee’s fifth long-playing excursion littered with self-aggrandising references and bolshy gold-plated bravado»
Underworld's fifth LP Oblivion With Bells is a comedown record crafted by pioneers of cranium-scrambling comedowns past. Those thunderous anthems are gone»
If you’re one of the electro-shock-mop adorning, Standard Grade-sitting teens tonight I don’t suppose you give a f*ck if us grimacing old bastards are left to sweat it out at the side bar guzzling pints while you and your mates are eagerly anticipating Los Campesinos!...»
With ’ Ex Voto EP’, it seems the The Duke Spirit has finally found the right ingredients – it’s just a pity it’s come almost two years too late...»
With the release of Lightspeed Champion's new single 'Midnight Surprise', Dev Hynes further extends this rapid reinvention as love-struck troubadour...»
Despite being the unmistakable sound of Beirut, The Flying Club Cup is not the Orkestar extension so widely expected. Rather than congesting the listener with frantic Eastern European folk shanties, a poignant nobility and romantic notion of contemporary France permeates its way into your conscience with unbridled zeal...»
With the release of The Regional Variations Edinburgh/Glasgow-based electro smugglers Swimmer One perfectly encapsulate Autumn’s bittersweet disposition...»
Plain White T’s' stateside tripe at a time when our own generic batch of jingle-merchants are hovering smugly around the chart’s upper echelons...»
Paramore's Hallelujah is chug-along Blink-182 by numbers - but rather than adding up, the figures perpetually divide every time vocalist Hayley Williams let’s out a Lil’ Chris-aping yelp...»
Arks’ debut LP The International arrives with pledges of Wire-esque guitar angles played in tune to the blood-curdling discord of Sonic Youth...»
When Albuquerque jingle-merchants The Shins bring their West-coast infused brand of melodic indie-pop to Edinburgh’s surprisingly sweaty Eastern climes the results are far from catalytic...»
Will The Magnificents' sensor-bending second LP Year Of Explorers have the tartan-clad avant-gardes forever dwelling within the slime-ridden, sweat-seeping confines of Scotland’s urban underbelly...»
