November 17, 2007 | New Music | by Dan Morgan |
I caught Iron & Wine play live last year and it was a typically soothing and mesmerizing set, until I was introduced to a different side of Sam Beam towards the end when he was joined on stage by co-headliners Calexico and struggled to contain his excitement as Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus worked with him to re-create songs featured on the In the Reins album. Beam has since taken his newfound passion for layered rhythm into the studio. His latest release, The Shepherd’s Dog, is denser, more textured and diverse, and as a result, more listenable than much of his earlier material. He has surrounded himself with a vast array of musicians and instruments that add new textures to his sound without distorting its fundamentals. It really is a classic album, well worth hocking the house for.
Listen to Iron & Wine’s Boy with a Coin.
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September 12, 2007 | New Music | by Dan Morgan |
I’ve never heard anything like them — so accessible yet not quite pop, devilishly dark yet not quite math rock, and precisely rhythmic yet not quite electro. Seattle band Minus The Bear’s latest release — Planet of Ice — isn’t a massive deviation from their 2005 release, Menos El Oso, though it does have a more confident urgency to it, with tracks like Knights and When We Escape in particular.
Listen to Minus The Bear’s Knights and watch the clip to their song, Pachuca Sunrise.
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August 15, 2007 | New Music | by Dan Morgan |
Bad Religion released their debut LP way back in 1982. Twenty five years on sees the release of New Maps of Hell, their 14th studio album. I think it’s fair to say that after a quarter of a century most bands tend to sound a little tired. But Bad Religion are definitely not showing any signs of fatigue, sustaining their intense energy levels and continuing to evolve their sound whilst maintaining credibility within the scene. Their sound has helped to define a genre and has been a major influence on many Southern Californian punk bands (no names necessary). So if you want a lesson in hardcore heritage and a taste of punk future at the same time, New Maps of Hell is certainly worth checking out.
July 18, 2007 | New Music | by Dan Morgan |
James Lavelle and Richard File have collaborated once again for the third full length UNKLE release, War Stories. Unsurprisingly, they have recruited an eclectic array of musicians to work with including Ian Astbury (The Cult), 3D (Massive Attack), Josh Homme (Queens of the Stoneage), Autolux, and the Duke Spirit. Fans that have hung onto Lavelle since the days of MoWax and Shadow’s cut and paste revolution are going to like this. It’s an evolution, more hardware and less software, and though it’s not exactly unchartered territory for Lavelle and File, it’s more refined and brave.
Listen to Uncle’s Burn My Shadow.
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July 4, 2007 | New Music | by Dan Morgan |
For those who are familiar with Mike Patton from his incredible genre crossing adventures with Faith No More, Mr. Bungle and Peeping Tom it will come as no surprise that he, and his band mates, continue to experiment on Tomahawk’s third release, Anonymous. Picture, if you can, a very unique blend of dark metal with the chants of Native Americans. It’s hard to imagine this endeavour working, but it does, superbly.
Listen to the Tomahawk song, Antelope Ceremony.
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June 10, 2007 | New Music | by Dan Morgan |
‘I love that track. His voice is as smooth as melted chocolate’. So said a female friend in reference to the dulcet tones of Candidate vocalist Alex Donohoe. English rock bible, Q Magazine declare them to be the ‘bridge between lo-fi Americana and the woody thrum of archaic Britfolk’, and the band themselves liken their sound to ‘Lying drunk on your back in a field’. Hmmm. Something we can all perhaps identify with. Their album – Under The Skylon – was one of my favourite releases of 2004, a near impossible improvement on 2002′s Tiger Flies. And the good news is that in July Candidate release Oxengate, which should be something beyond spectacular if the progression persists. Stayed tuned.
Listen to a sample of the Candidate track, Sowing Song.
Banksy has struck again, this time offending the Catholic Church with a bold artwork that critiques their stance on ongoing child abuse scandals. Banksy has taken a replica of a bust of an eighteenth century member of the Catholic hierarchy and added multi-coloured tiles to the face — pixelating it — as a comment on what he considers to be the Church’s cover-up. ‘I’m never sure who deserves to be put on a pedestal or crushed under one’, Banksy noted. And who are we to disagree? Read more
Simone Lourenco makes mind-blowingly intricate and abstract paper sculptures that are inspired by plants. Read more
You heard it here first. Singer-songwriter Julian Perretta might just become the most exciting new artist of 2008. Read more
Street art and photography duo Jana and JS spray the walls of some of Europe’s best cities with their boundary-blurring work. They’ve got the art of a photo in a photo in a picture down. Read more
Michael Wolf, a German born American photographer, has lived in Hong Kong since 1995. His work explores the ways city-dwellers in China and Hong Kong shape their surroundings in an ‘organic metropolis’. His series — Architecture of Density — has some breathtaking images of Hong Kong’s apartment buildings.
The highly polished electronic sound of Minneapolis band UltraChorus falls somewhere between Hot Chip and Phoenix, bringing a cut and paste indie rock aesthetic to late nineties Hip-Hop and R&B. We have their debut single, Words Kept Talking [listen below], available for free download in our Music Download section.
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Perhaps the reason men are not known for their shoe fetishes is because when it comes to mens shoes in general, there are really only two must have varieties: vintage street wear and sartorialist leather. Read more
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Pencils made from recycled newspaper
The problem with awesome things like these pencils made out of recycled newspaper is that you almost don’t want to use them.
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
It’s refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns. Read more
Benjamin Edminston’s psychedelic heads seem to have some fearful wisdom behind their blissed-out eyes. Read more
Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
Junior Massive is a newly launched Australian boutique t shirt label making limited edition tees using only Australia cotton. It’s street meets indie; design meets durability; edgy fashion meets edgy fashion. We have them for sale in the Lost At E Minor online store. Read more
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