gdobson has written the following articles:
You have to hand it to Stephen Malkmus, he's never had any truck with popular opinion or indeed, any form of suggested 'direction'. …Which can sometimes lead to faintly unsettling results, and perhaps none so often as on this, his second solo album. Teaming up with his new 3-piece band, Th»
This is how we like it. A nice brick of misanthropy wrapped up in the sheen of a giant, stadium-rocking pop song. Listen intently beyond OK GO's buzzsaw guitars and squealing organs and you'll find a singer - Semiotics major Damian Kulash - spitting out lines of wonderfully vitriolic abuse: »
Close your eyes, and you could almost be there… the West Coast melodies, lush
harmonies, beautiful sounds… Santa Cruz it seems, really isn't that far.
That however, was the last single from The Thrills. You get the feeling
from 'One Horse Town' that at one point, life seemed very far away.
Art or artifice? It's a particularly choice chunk of mud slung the way of East London shab-rockers The Libertines, but strangely no-one's even seeing if the same stuff will stick to Sunderland hopefuls The Futureheads. Somewhat of a misleading moniker that, as the band are buried knee-deep in »
(Midday, somewhere in Islington) Roddy Woomble sits up in bed, dazed and disorientated. The mental fog from the all-night peppermint tea bender he was on last night has yet to lift. Stumbling across the flat to make a rejuvenating cuppa, Woomble treads on a copy of REM's Green album, »
Simple, rustic and bewitching; The Be Good Tanyas weave earthy acoustic charm into a song which is so featherlite, you fear it might be blown away with the tumbleweed in the breeze. Guitars and banjos gently rattle away accompanied by the sweetest of voices in what amounts to a fine example of porch proppi»
If the music world, and indeed the world, is doomed to repeat itself, then it appears that we have returned to the hard-rocking stage in the evolution of music where the 'supergroup' has taken eminence. I mean, Zwan, Audioslave and now, Loose Fur. Well maybe the last one is pushing it a»
Possibly, this is a work of genius. Initially, it appears that every element of every single great windswept, towering guitar band of the eighties has been masterfully condensed into an hour of New York-made musical cool. But that’s not good enough is it? No. It most certainly is not. You see, there is absolutely»
Having spent the last 5 years in hardcore dues-ville, Pilot To Gunner find themselves in the enviable position of being in the right time (2003; where the shadow of Fugazi looms large) at the right place (NYC; where a musician takes a dump and someone is willing to promote the turd). The only problem is, »
What came first; the live date or the single? Coinciding with their appearance at the King's Cross Scala, Radio 4 have re-sent previously-released-as-a-7" single 'Eyes Wide Open' back into battle wielding a spiky DFA production. And, its well; punky and funky. And it has a »
Despite their leapfrogging to a new label and a roping in of their more messy elements - a fine tuning if you will - The Delgados have essentially remained the same over the last decade. The key notions of the band are still there; hate, heart and the human condition. This single, perhaps one of the»
Six of Britain's most fearsome young sonic sorcerers have come together to create the noisenik trashfest that is the Fierce Panda Squirrel EP. And, in a demonstration of true squirrellove, they are all jumping in a van to tour the width and breadth of country in order to share their rage. Sort »
Whilst the cool hatted tripes of NYC are currently moving from New Wave to Duran Duran synth slop in the list of cool retro scenes to focus their Greenwich Village fanzines on, some residents of Manhattan are a bit more firmly stationed. Grand Mal, for example, appear to have found their niche; their gro»
What on earth has happened here? I mean musically, there are probably a few more surprising things in this world, but not many. Nada Surf, the grumpy old geek-angst rockers have returned to the fray with an absolute pop gem of a single. 'Hi-Speed Soul' (not to be confused with Superg»
There can be few better people to spend a night alone with than Richard Hawley. Not in a night-of-hot-passion sense (although I have no reason to think that he would not be a generous and tender lover), but in the sense of beautiful nocturnal solitude. With a voice evocative of Roy Orbison and Ia»
"Look around/do you need a friend?/they're getting hard to find these days": Pretty much the first decipherable words to leave singer Robin Bennett's mouth. And you begin to worry. Is this it? A final, bitter repost to the music industry, an ashen faced "thanks very much" »
The Tenderfoot are a band which have that most appealing of qualities; elusiveness. Not literally; if you looked, you'd probably find them crouching quietly in a Brighton pub, mulling over who borrowed their Arab Strap live album. No, I'm talking musically. I mean, are they a post-roc»
Many a soul could be seen skulking around London in the latter half of this week. Invariably it was because they didn't have a ticket to see the Flaming Lips' psychedelic extravaganza on their two-night sojourn to Kentish Town. But for others it was no matter, because for them, there was only one place whe»
The first solo offering from Erlend Oye, one half of Norwegian folksters Kings Of Convenience throws up many troubling questions. Namely, is this not actually a KoC track in all but name? And more pertinently, what quite is the purpose of this exercise? Its certainly not to bring new, »
Rarely can an American figurehead be so untouchable or the offer of intimacy be so cold and un-inclusive. Will Oldham, AKA Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (among other names) has long been established as an icon of modern rural American music - alt country to tar a man with a brush - but it's never be»
Coming to prominence of late thanks to a high-profile working relationship with Ryan Adams, Jesse Malin has actually had a chequered ten-year history in NY hardcore bands DGeneration and Heart Attack. This however is about as far away as you can get whilst still thumping a g»
This is the eighth studio album by Pram, the long serving, multi-disciplined electronicists from Brum. Eight albums? it's enough to send you spiralling into a cold, feverish sweat. I mean, what after eight albums could they possibly offer that was not revealed in the previous seven? Surprisingly, i»
Musically speaking, this band suffers from a severe case of Elephantiasis; everything that hangs off them appears to be these huge, grossly deformed monstrosities that bear little resemblance to their intended form. The single appears to be a reflection on the passing their erstwhile drummer, Jon Lee, and »
Forty-something SoCal rock legends, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are to release a new single, ‘Can’t Stop’ next month. The track, the third to be taken from their ‘By The Way’ album, will be released on February 3rd, a month before the band hit the UK for a short tour. The activity caps a four-y»
More solipsistic musings from the bestraggled one in which Damon Gough expounds the theory that you should “judge the miracle by feel, not size”. And, despite not being quite as good a tune as previous single ‘You Were Right’, it is a small wonder in its own right. Built around riffs r»
Rereleased in 2003, but first seen halfway through 1995, ’Wowee Zowee’ is still one of the most confounding pieces of artillery in Pavement’s canon. Having said that, ‘confounding’ is a by-word for Pavement’s career. Or perhaps career isn’t the word. The band’s ascension through the musical ranks a»
It must be hard being Dave Grohl, you have to wrestle with the tag of being the 'nicest guy in rock' (tm) whilst still producing songs that will sate your ravenous rock fanbase. Sometimes, it just doesn't quite work out. 'Times Like These' is probably the safest song on the far-better-than-the-la»
If I were to be caustic and crude, I would tell Richard Ashcroft to take his big strings and go hang himself with them. Not for our good you see, but for his. The man's still got a reputation to uphold y'know, and it doesn't matter how many mid-paced cautious ballads he churns out from now until inf»
Can you imagine what its like inside the world of Mr Scruff? Multicoloured bongs, wacky headgear and a giant, and hugely impressive record collection. Because you see, if you look past the 'amusing' presentation of both the man and his records, you will find a damn fine musician making simila»
He may not be making the same Daily Mail headline splashes as two years ago, but Slim Shady is still so far ahead of the competition, its almost laughable. Coming on like a 21st Century Rocky theme, 'Lose Yourself' sees Marshall Mathers in typically dextrous lyrical flow. Theoretically t»
