UK post-punk outfit Savages follow up their 2013 debut Silence Yourself with the optimistically-titled Adore Life. Clearly not an exercise in saccharine ... More
Album “Adore Life”
UK post-punk outfit Savages follow up their 2013 debut Silence Yourself with the optimistically-titled Adore Life. Clearly not an exercise in saccharine self-affirmation, Adore Life’s lyrics advise pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. Even the album cover is a hard, triumphant fist in the air. According to Savages, “It’s about sticking to your guns and toughing it out. It’s about now, not tomorrow. It’s about recognizing your potential.”
Frontwoman Jehnny Beth’s partner and frequent collaborator Johnny Hostile produced the album, which was mixed by Danish dance producer Trentemøller. Renaissance man Henry Rollins narrated their LP trailer, and the video for the album’s first single, “The Answer,” was directed by Savages’ frequent collaborator Giorgio Testi. Adore Life surpasses the musical and thematic intensity of the band’s debut, and its special brand of hard-nosed optimism is a welcome dose.
via Matador Records
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Eliot Sumner follows up 2014’s celebrated Information EP with an LP of the same name, featuring her stunning alto over minimal, brooding ... More
Album “Information”
Eliot Sumner follows up 2014’s celebrated Information EP with an LP of the same name, featuring her stunning alto over minimal, brooding electronic landscapes. The daughter of actress Trudie Styler and musician Sting, London-based Sumner signed to Island Records at age 17 and released one 2010 album, The Constant, under her previous project I Love Coco. Using her given name, Sumner supported Lykke Li on a 2014 tour, making an impression with her androgynous aesthetic and deep, haunting voice. Ostensibly an homage to ’80s new wave, a genre pioneered by her father as frontman of The Police, Information attests to Sumner’s intelligence and authenticity as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist in her own right.
via Island Records
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Ty Segall’s prolific musical output most recently took form in II, the sophomore album from his band Fuzz. Emotional Mugger is the ... More
Album “Emotional Mugger”
Ty Segall’s prolific musical output most recently took form in II, the sophomore album from his band Fuzz. Emotional Mugger is the follow-up to 2014’s Manipulator and Segall’s tenth solo album, which he formally announced by sending a VHS to media outlets and releasing a cryptic short video explaining ‘emotional mugging.’ Accompanying Emotional Mugger, his new backing band The Muggers includes frequent collaborators Mikal Cronin, Kyle Thomas, Emmett Kelly, and Cory Hanson and Evan Burrows of the band Wand, which Segall signed to his Drag City imprint GOD? Records.
via Drag City
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British indie rockers Tindersticks, who made a name for themselves as one of the most distinctive bands of the 1990s, return with ... More
Album “The Waiting Room”
British indie rockers Tindersticks, who made a name for themselves as one of the most distinctive bands of the 1990s, return with The Waiting Room. Trailing behind 2012’s The Something Rain, this marks the tenth release by Tindersticks, which currently consists of Stuart Staples, David Bolter, Neil Fraser, Dan McKinna and Earl Harvin. The Waiting Room showcases their particular brand of poetic, restrained rock with brass arrangements by Julian Siegel. Guest appearances include Jehnny Beth of Savages and the late Lhasa de Sela, who sang a poignant duet with Stuart Staples on “Hey Lucinda” before her passing. The album doubles as a collaborative film project, with each track accompanied by a short and vivid “visual interpretation” directed by renowned filmmakers including Christoph Girardet, Pierre Vinour, Claire Denis, Gregorio Graziosi, Gabriel Sanna, Rosie Pedlow and Joe King.
via City Slang
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Wry, irreverent and rife with slapstick goofiness, Moonwalkers is a British riff on the “fake lunar landing” conspiracy theory. The film is ... More
Film by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet
Wry, irreverent and rife with slapstick goofiness, Moonwalkers is a British riff on the “fake lunar landing” conspiracy theory. The film is written by Dean Craig (Death at a Funeral) and helmed by first-time director Antoine Bardou-Jacquet. Ron Perlman (Hellboy) plays Agent Kidman, a PTSD-stricken CIA operative recently home from Vietnam and tasked with hiring director Stanley Kubrick to film a staged moon landing in case the Americans don’t quite make it. It all cascades into a drug-fueled rollercoaster when hapless rock manager Jonny (Rupert Grint) pretends to represent Kubrick, pocketing Kidman’s cash offering. Set to a groovy soundtrack, Moonwalkers pairs absurdity with quick-witted action, delivering a kitsch version of 1969 laced with plenty of campy gore.
Three years after their debut with If You Leave, Daughter release the brooding Not To Disappear. The London-based trio recorded the album ... More
Album “Not To Disappear”
Three years after their debut with If You Leave, Daughter release the brooding Not To Disappear. The London-based trio recorded the album with producer Nicolas Vernhes (Deerhunter, War On Drugs, Animal Collective) at his Rare Book Room studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
via Glassnote Records/4AD
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Following a prodigious first few years, Madrid’s charming Hinds release their debut album Leave Me Alone. The band, founded by singer-guitarists Carlotta ... More
Album “Leave Me Alone”
Following a prodigious first few years, Madrid’s charming Hinds release their debut album Leave Me Alone. The band, founded by singer-guitarists Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote under the name Deers, is known for its sunny, DIY garage sound and origin story. Three years ago, Cosials and Perrote taught each other guitar on the beach before dropping out of school to pursue music. Joined by bassist Ade Martin and drummer Amber Grimbergen in 2014, the band has released three EPs, Demo, Barn and The Very Best of Hinds So Far, and toured worldwide. As pioneers of the often-isolated Spanish music scene, Hinds channel their deliberate all-girl dynamic into infectiously energetic videos and live shows.
Leave Me Alone is produced by fellow Madrid rocker Diego Garcia of The Parrots, who has worked with Hinds on previous releases. The LP will include old favorites “Castigadas En El Granero” and “Bamboo” alongside new, moodier tracks.
›› ISSUE Feature: Live performance and interview with Hinds
via Lucky Number
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Actor Ross Partridge (Baghead) adapts, directs and stars in his second feature filmmaking project, the psychologically uneasy and potent Lamb. As middle-aged ... More
Film by Ross Partridge
Actor Ross Partridge (Baghead) adapts, directs and stars in his second feature filmmaking project, the psychologically uneasy and potent Lamb. As middle-aged narcissist David Lamb, whose wife left him and father recently died, Partridge meets and bonds with a lonely 11-year-old girl in a parking lot. This is Tommie, played by Oona Laurence (Southpaw) with the sadness and fiery uncertainty of a young girl becoming something more. Lamb is determined to save Tommie from her bleak future in their Chicago suburb by showing her the beauty and freedom of the American wilderness. Their decidedly platonic-yet-intimate relationship is steeped in rogue complicity, bending moral boundaries as they travel farther and farther from home. Based on the novel by Bonnie Nadzam, Lamb is shot against the American sky, golden plains and Rocky Mountains, an expansive context for its more claustrophobic axis of love, manipulation and dependency.
David Bowie is back with Blackstar (stylized as ★), recorded at NYC’s Magic Shop studio with local jazz musicians. The title track ... More
Album “Blackstar”
David Bowie is back with Blackstar (stylized as ★), recorded at NYC’s Magic Shop studio with local jazz musicians. The title track has already been excerpted as the theme of Sky Atlantic heist series The Last Panthers. The rest features Bowie’s famous vocals amidst consistently enigmatic tracks, another twist in his chameleon-like career.
(Ed Note: Published on January 8, 2016, David Bowie’s 69th birthday. We are grateful he could successfully release his 25th studio LP. A true pioneer, Bowie’s fiery originality will be greatly missed.)
via ISO/Columbia
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