All posts tagged 'indie'
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When You See Yourself // Kings of Leon
An album caught in no-man’s land, its dozy stadium rock tunes neither advancing Kings of Leon’s sound nor recapturing the glory of their past.
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Little Oblivions // Julien Baker
The shift away from skeletal guitars is welcome, but Baker’s strength does not lie in expansive arrangements. The songs sound like they’ve been developed for arenas, which is a strange paradox.
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Arlo Parks debuts with moreish confidence
Drawing from a melting pot of influences, Parks delivers ice cool nonchalance and honest intimacy in a debut record as exciting as it is impressive.
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Painting the Roses // Midnight Sister
Part dramatic dream, part sun-soaked soliloquy, part love letter to mid-century pop rock, Midnight Sister have sewn together a wistful, woozy record.
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The Moon & Antarctica // Modest Mouse
Provided you're in the right mood, The Moon & Antarctica is one of the standout indie rock releases of the 2000s.
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The Sophtware Slump // Grandaddy
Despite extended musical passages and eccentric lyrics, The Sophtware Slump is remarkably accessible. It's pop music for art students.
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Saint Cloud // Waxahatchee
Country music with a modern edge. To witness these songs being played live in a chapel would be quite the experience. Someone should work on that.
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Father of the Bride // Vampire Weekend
Catchy and sterile. The majority of these songs wouldn't feel out of place in an advert for Google, such is the clinical nature of their formation.
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Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1 // Foals
Foals’ experimentation with synths and funky instrumentals is bold, often promising, but the pieces never quite fall together.
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Colourful Sevens: ‘I love making music by myself – I can treat my songs as diary entries.’
The Manchester musician talks about his most recent project (Moon), the merits of working alone, and the wisdom of Roger Ebert.
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Crushing // Julia Jacklin
In a time where singer-songwriters are ten a penny, Julia Jacklin has created an album that stands out from the crowd. She's one to watch.
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Bottle It In // Kurt Vile
The whole record has an easiness of manner, content to be the sonic backdrop for a wanderer with no particular destination in mind.
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Antidotes // Foals
Foals leaned into their restless, agitated, math-rock roots and carved out a niche in the mainstream indie rock of the time.
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Tell Me How You Really Feel // Courtney Barnett
There's nothing mind-blowing here and no pretence that there should be. A solid, albeit unassuming, indie rock record that makes for an enjoyable listen.
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The Deconstruction // Eels
Mr. E’s found fresh form. Only he could write something like “Sweet Scorched Earth”, which is the closest we’ve come to an Eels ‘classic’ in quite some time.
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There's a Riot Going On // Yo La Tengo
Neither immersive nor memorable. Any time the group stumbles onto a passable bass line or melody they run it into the ground in a slow-motion indie panic.
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Dylan Seeger: ‘Albums take you on journeys that 4-minute singles will never replicate.’
Dylan Seeger is a musician and designer living in New York, as is tradition. We talk Claye, the pressures of recording solo, and (sound) circumcision.
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Mountain Moves // Deerhoof
Deerhoof cram dozens of ideas into a 40-minute album, which is not only technically impressive, but thoroughly amusing. This is a defiant and joyous listen.
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Elliott Smith: behind the lyrics
Channeling the sounds of Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, and more, Elliott Smith's words still cut deep, as darkly precious now as they've ever been.
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Belong // San Fermin
Music written by a composer of Ellis Ludwig-Leone's class should never feel formulaic, but it does. It makes for a mildly enjoyable, yet rather hollow experience.
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Last Place // Grandaddy
Some artists have a hard time returning after a lengthy hiatus, but Grandaddy has done it with aplomb. Last Place is all you could want from a comeback.
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Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? // of Montreal
There are a handful of stellar pop tracks, and a mammoth mid-album climax that will go down as one of the group's finest moments. A lovely indie-pop record.
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A late love-in for ‘How To Be A Human Being’
How To Be A Human Being is a great indie pop album in a year that hasn’t had many. So far, the band hasn’t made a misstep
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Daisies of the Galaxy // Eels
Daisies of the Galaxy comes to terms with the torment that constructed the deeply bleak and reflective Electro-Shock Blues, and injects a taste of happiness.
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The Strokes continue their search for a sound
Though there remains a sizeable fanbase, The Strokes don’t have many chances left to convince the rest of us they actually know what they’re doing.
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First Impressions of Earth // The Strokes
A model misunderstood album; flawed, overdrawn, deserving of a good deal of its harsh reviews, and yet still host to a unique and worthwhile character.