The In Sound From Way Out
Alt-J’s debut album An Awesome Wave is hands down one of our favourites this year. If you’re still yet to hear it, head straight for our review here, after reading this. It’s not just us who like it; they’ve been getting some serious love all over the interweb. So it’s not surprising the first official remix from the album is courtesy of some very credible players.
A few months ago we brought you the first demo from The xx after their Mercury winning debut album. Since then, they’ve been touring and a number of videos have emerged of new songs from the shows. Just moments ago however, the first official release has surfaced.
We’ve been waiting for some time to find a reason to write about Alt-J and the recent streaming of their quite brilliant debut album has provided such an opportunity. We’d even go so far as to say it’s one of our favourite guitar albums of the year so far.
One Little Plane combines the singer-songwriting talent of Kathryn Brint with the production of Keiran Hebden (a.k.a Four Tet) to form a quite charming slice of Acoustic-Pop. It’s a far cry from Hebden’s solo material and surprising release for his Text label But if there’s one thing we’ve learnt about Hebden, it’s his eclectic taste
While he may be making waves in his native Australia, Oliver Tank remains a fairly unknown entity in these parts. Probably the best way to describe his music is using his own words: accessible tracks disguised in a more interesting instrumentation. Accessible because they definitely have some pop sensibilities, but are given a twist by his own electronic production, like other newcomers Polica.
Here’s a nice one to sit back to on a Sunday evening. Dan Croll came to our attention thanks to his activity with one our favourite labels, Communion. Whether he’s signed to them or not is not entirely clear, but he’s appeared at a few of their nights and also features on their recent compilation New Faces, showcasing a host of their own artists and some talented friends.
XL’s Enigmatic Singer/Songwriter Jai Paul has kept fans waiting since 2010’s BTSTU for some new material and at last he delivers. It’s a bit of a slow-burner compared to his last effort…
‘Evening Chorus offer no pomp nor ceremony but simply pleasant music for those who care to listen’. So says the bio on their website and with that in mind, we won’t beat around the bush and say straight away that if you like folk, then take time to listen to this Cardiff three-piece.
We first heard Rhye on an excellent mix Robbin Hannibal put together for Gilles Peterson in October last year. Back then they were called Rye and there was no information available on them, except that they were signed to Innovative Leisure. This month they finally released Open, the track that had first caught our eye.
Touring their new album, ‘Rooms Filled With Light’, Fanfarlo have taken a real musical step up after their Indie-Folk 2009 debut ‘Reservoir’. Adam Sheridan explains why in his review of their Thekla gig last night.