Chew Lips
November 17, 2009
Attack of the drones
The London electro-pop trio have moved on massively from their first kitchen sink gig at a friend’s house in the spring of 2008, to being among the first slew of bands announced for next year’s SXSW festival. The band have been among the ‘ones to watch’ lists for some time. However, the limelight that shone on the majority of solo female electro acts (La Roux, Little Boots) in 2009 is set to radiate their way in 2010. Read more
Nate Campany
March 21, 2009
Scratch and Riff
“My name is Nate, and you can consider me your neon green plastic hand-shaped backscratcher”.
Nate Campany will scratch your back if you scratch his. He may even scratch it with a used CD of the Backstreet Boys song he once penned.
Nate refers to himself as having a “normal life”. He “has a beard, credit cards, and a job”. That job is creating pop records, for the likes of The Backstreet Boys as previously mentioned, and others such as The Click Five and platinum selling Dutch artist Ilse Delange. However, he also manages to carefully intertwine his pop sensibilities with deeper roots in the homespun, heartfelt emotive values of Americana. Read more
Catherine A.D.
October 16, 2008
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
September 30, 2008
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
September 30, 2008
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
We Were Promised Jetpacks
June 6, 2008
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
The Dodos
June 4, 2008
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
June 2, 2008
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
Yelle
February 26, 2008
France’s latest upstart upsets the pomme-cart
Yelle, aka Julie Budet, hails from the French Techtonik scene (or brand, depending on how you view it – the term Techtonik has been trademarked). Techtonik, a meld of Belgium and Dutch cultures, started in 2000 Read more
Soko
February 22, 2008
She’s a killer queen
Soko – as well as being a helicopter factory in Bosnia (apparently, thanks to Wikipedia) – is also the shortened name of singer/songwriter Stéphanie Sokolinski. Imagine if Kate Nash had been born in Bordeux, hadn’t had the backing of the Brit School, and owned a ukulele Read more
