Few artists who compose synth-pop can make it as relevant today as it was in the 80s, but Purity Ring caught that wave at the right time. They have managed to gain fans who will come to their shows in droves despite having only one album available prior to the release of ‘Another Eternity’. They…
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First things first Ella Hooper, how dare you have all of these brilliant songs up your sleeve and make us wait so long to hear them? Secondly, thank you for delivering the goods. Most of us were probably introduced to Hooper when she was a teenager leading Killing Heidi to the top of the charts….
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Hailing from Melbourne, Big Fella and Paso Bionic are promising in their own right, as a mesmerising vocalist and deft producer respectively. It follows naturally that their collaboration, Audego, should be a dazzling symbiosis of eerie and captivating beats. Within the first year of their alliance, the duo had already received acclaim as finalists of…
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I saw Cutting Room Floor for the first time in a co-op basement in rural Ohio. That night I held hands with three different people, sat in the dark in a dried food cellar thinking sad thoughts, gave a gift, and had a giggly walk into the humid night. I arrived home with three new…
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Kurt Vile’s Wakin on a Pretty Daze would be the soundtrack to a movie about someone’s languid, lonely life. It feels like an ode to the spacious corner of our minds, the one that contains mumbled fantasies and quiet dreams. This album encompasses a sprawling, unhurried sound that draws you into Kurt’s mind. The album is bookended…
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You never quite know what to expect from Regina Spektor, whether it be her crazy theatrics or her extraordinary unique voice. This time, the Moscow-born, American singer has delivered a nostalgic and slightly melancholic collection of songs with her latest album What We Saw From The Cheap Seats. But the album is not without her…
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Make the effort to scratch beneath the surface and sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised. And so it is with Electra Heart, the second album from Marina and the Diamonds, the solo musical project of Marina Diamandis. It’s a concept album of sorts, in which Diamandis assumes the titular character in a U.S.A. rife with…
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Long drives along beach-side roads, a car filled with your closest friends, windows rolled down, the hot wind cools the sweat that pours from every inch of your body. If there ever was a perfect soundtrack for summer, Radlands by the Mystery Jets would be it. The four indie rockers from Eel Pie Island in…
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For me, Beach House is one of the most important acts of my lifetime, right up there with Bon Iver and Fiona Apple. Their sound is original but so, so easy to listen to and just something about watching them as a band that makes it feel easy to connected to the present, to the…
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Most of you know Lee Ranaldo as a guitarist and vocalist for Sonic Youth. But what you may not know is that Lee Ranaldo is also a published poet and a visual artist. Between The Times And The Tides is his eighth solo album. I’ll be thefirst to admit that I have never heard a…
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Just after popping my copy of Birdy’s self-titled album into my MacBook’s mouth (I could almost hear it begging me to hurry up and feed it), it occurred to me that I had heard this angelic voice before and I couldn’t have been more right. Perhaps it is because this bright, young talent is something…
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Virginia “Gin” Wigmore, Queen of the Wild Frontier. Record number two from this New Zealand native, Gravel & Wine, has already topped the album charts in her homeland. It’s an album full of unique energy; distinctive in the sense that it’s rare for an album to exude such excitable danger alongside its pop friendliness. Should…
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Bass player with The Milkman’s Union by day, solo artist by night – Jeff Beam of Portland, Maine, is a busy man. Having released a plethora of solo material over the past few years (check out his Bandcamp page for evidence of just how prolific he is), 2012 brings another new album. Be Your Own…
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Facts closes with the lyrics “This is what I call fun”; it’s a perfect way to describe the experience of listening to these 10 songs. The third album from Melbourne five-piece, Aleks and the Ramps, was recorded over a period of roughly 18 months. It’s plain to hear the time and effort put into its…
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