Catherine A.D.

Waking the dead

“Kooky and spooky”, said one reviewer of this singer – and the Addams Family similarities don’t stop there. Catherine A.D. sings like a gothic mermaid version of the grim reaper, luring those who hear into her warm blanket of decay and beauty – before smashing them against the rocks Read more

Le Corps Mince de Francoise

They’re cool and bored

Imagine, if you can, a remote island, devoid of all human contact, except for the musical offerings of CSS, Yelle, Robots In Disguise, Chicks On Speed, Le Tigre, and… er, Daphne & Celeste. Now imagine it has a population of three and you’ll be somewhere in the sonic region of Le Corps Mince de Francoise’s The Thin Body Of Francoise. Read more

Lenka

Caught in the middle

“The sun is hot in the sky / Just like a giant spotlight,” sings Lenka as she takes her turn in the literal spotlight as a solo artist. Straddling a fine line between Fiest and Edie Brickell – and to a lesser, but comparable, extent, Katy Perry – Lenka is no stranger to music. Read more

CSS

Donkey

They might have lost their bassist, but the Brazilian band haven’t lost their mojo on their second album. Consistently one of the best live bands around, their electro party music is still intact (think of it as a polish to the first album rather than a sideways step). While nothing has quite the bounce of ‘Alala’, ‘Off The Hook’, or ‘Let’s Make Love And Listen To Death From Above’, there’s still more than enough vim here to see them bring their catsuited joy to festivals for years to come.

We Were Promised Jetpacks

Fly you to the moon

Back in the 1960s, the world was treated to a vision of the future, a helmeted man whizzing round the skies of Disneyland with a tinfoil flying device strapped to his back – which was supposed to be a jetpack. Read more

Foxboro Hot Tubs

Stop Drop & Roll!!!

Yes, it’s those pesky Green Day ’scamps’ operating under yet another pseudonym. In the wake of the massive global success of American Idiot, they’ve chosen to write a love letter to Sixties beat-pop rather than taking their cue from the post-Dickies US punk scene that has defined their day job. Read more

The Zutons

You Can Do Anything

Third album from the Liverpudlians and their first since Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse made ‘Valerie’ a radio playlist standard. Producer George Drakoulias adds extra ‘beef’ to their sound while the arrival of new guitarist Paul Molloy gives their sound more bite and the band a renewed purpose. Read more

The Dodos

Finger-pickin’ drumsticks

Somewhere back in the 17th Century, a squat, stocky, relatively useless (even for eating, by some accounts) lump of a bird popped its webbed clogs forever. Dead as. Here’s hoping the lifespan of San Francisco band The Dodos has Read more

SSLYBY

From Russia with love

Fill up your Lada with cheap vodka, it’s time to come out of your makeshift nuclear bunker and meet the real Cold War Kids.

Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin are Philip Dickey (singer/drums/guitar), Will Knauer (guitar), John Robert Cardwell (vocals/bass), and Jonathan James (drums/bass). Just where the band’s affection for the 75-year-old Read more

Scarlet Johansen

Wherever I Lay My Head

The signs were not good - ‘actress makes a record’ - but this album beautifully wrongfoots all expectations by being almost entirely made up of Tom Waits covers, which is not exactly going for the easy win. In tone and texture it sits somewhere between Mazzy Star and Cocteau Twins and, while not a ‘belter’ of a singer, Johansen’s vocals are breathy enough to carry it all off. Read more

Next Page »