From the first gentle strains of The Earth, the Sea, the Moon and the Sky, the elegant Catherine Traicos casts a spell over listeners. Opening track, ‘One by One’ showcases her interesting, layered voice, subtle and full. The quiet track gives way to ‘All the Angels’, which uses guitar to weave a trail for listeners…
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Be Kind, Unwind is everything happy in the world. It is Sunday mornings, pancakes, walking out of a final exam, singing in the shower, decorating your house, breakfast in bed. It is all the pleasant things crushed together and welded into a catchy, upbeat album, brought to you by a trio of familiar rockers from…
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With Each is a Dream, Alice Rose is given a vehicle with which to showcase her gentle, distinctive vocals. The Danish singer has a playful quirkiness that sets her apart from other singers of the indie-folk ilk and this album reveals layer after layer of her personality, with soft ballads and sunny pop numbers…
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I’ve been waiting a lifetime for Mazzy Star’s latest album, Seasons Of Your Day. I mean this literally, as their last release, Among My Swan came out in the year of my birth, seventeen years ago. Since then, I’ve gone through many changes, puberty being one of them. Mazzy Star’s sound has not been subject…
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Two years after their phenomenally successful debut, Moonfire, Boy and Bear return with Harlequin Dreams. Anyone who wondered whether the Sydney indie-folk outfit would succumb to the dreaded second album syndrome will be satisfied within the opening bars, announcing that the lads’ entrance to the scene was no fluke. The catchy opening track and first…
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In case we weren’t convinced yet that she’s the queen of controversy, a recently leaked song from Lady Gaga’s forthcoming album, ARTPOP, has the pop singer regaling us with half-formed, ignorant lyrics about the burqa. The song, either entitled ‘Aura’, or ‘Burqa’, includes the lyrics ‘I’m not a wandering slave I am a woman of…
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I used to work in a fast food sushi chain in an airport. I wasn’t good at it, and I resented having to wear a flame retardant uniform despite not working with fire. Apart from stuffing myself with illicit handfuls of sushi rice, the best part about that job was the puzzling company radio station…
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It feels like AlunaGeorge’s Your Drums, Your Love has been out forever. It’s been out 10 months specifically, which is basically forever in the ever-changing, internet-driven world of popular music. But it’s only now that the track has found a home, on the English duo’s long awaited album, Body Music. The electronic pair, a little…
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Melbourne’s dreamy psych-jam specialists, Beaches, have finally released their second full-length album, She Beats, and it’s a sneaky little gem. If you’re not familiar with them, Beaches is a band of five women who have a penchant for making swirling, droney music with overdriven guitars and insistent bass lines. On She Beats, the band refines…
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The mixture of catchy synth and Charli XCX’S distinctive voice is a match made in pop heaven. With the sweet sounds of 80s and 90s pop, her debut record True Romance puts a modern spin on a classic, almost timeless style. Charlotte Aitchison’s voice is something else. She is able to reach massive high and…
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The conceit of Rumer’s (née Sarah Joyce) album Boys Don’t Cry, is simple—it’s a cover album of lesser-known songs from the seventies by male artists. Rumer’s deep vocals inhabit each track fully, imbuing every song with a bittersweet strength. The selection of tracks is such that each complements another and is done with care, to…
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You would have difficulty reading anything about Laura Marling that doesn’t mention her age (you can add this review to that list too). At 21, she’s just released her third album A Creature I Don’t Know, after the huge success of her debut album Alas I Cannot Swim, and its follow up I Speak Because…
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