As a fan of Shearwater, I was understandably full of anticipation when I heard that they were to release a new album. But how would they follow up their masterpiece triptych of Palo Santo, Rook, and The Golden Archipelago (collectively known as The Island Arc Trilogy)? Would the new album have the same magnetism and power; would the band maintain their ineffable musical presence? Thankfully, Animal Joy did not disappoint. This album embarks down a new path for Shearwater, leaving me not just impressed, but actually excited by what I was listening to. Animal Joy is Shearwater’s eighth studio album…
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Fusion music is a style that’s often fraught with risk. The blending of two or more musical styles can either produce something quite extraordinary or crash and burn spectacularly. When one of the base genres is itself a fusion derivative of other genres, then it is clear that a masterful hand is required to make the resulting music a success. One band who has managed to achieve this and carve out for themselves a somewhat unique sound are the instrumental project, Collapse Under The Empire. Their folding of electronica into post-rock is subtle and delicate, intelligent and skilful, and this…
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I had a driveway moment in my car the other night. One of those strange happenings that only seem to occur when you listen to public radio or really good music. The sticky Ohio heat wrapped around me as I just sat in my driveway with the windows down, the music up, and the lights off. The train-like drum work of “Red Lake Shore” overtook me as I helplessly swayed back and forth in my seat. Canary from Southeast Engine is an album filled with these potential driveway moment songs. Southeast Engine’s music is a strange reflection of the juxtaposition that takes place in…
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The Phoenix Foundation are something of an institution in their hometown of Wellington, New Zealand. Regulars of the local music scene since the early ’00s, they’ve gone from strength to strength with each release – Buffalo being their fourth and, in many ways, most accomplished album. Where previous albums covered a range of musical styles from Americana to alternative rock, Buffalo makes an intentional effort to stick to one style and do it well. The mode they’ve opted for is a sunny, keyboard-heavy indie rock sound, perhaps as a deliberate contrast to the notoriously cold and dreary weather of the band’s…
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In September 1997, The Verve released what would become their biggest album ever. Urban Hymns became one of the best-selling albums of the year, earning nearly-unanimous critical praise, and has since regularly gained respectable placements on British “greatest albums of all time” media lists. Normally, I can simply shake my head at the vagaries that lead to such an album gaining a legacy like this, but in the case of Urban Hymns, I’m left with one nagging fact that prevents me from moving on: the album is a bad album. Now, I don’t mean a bad album in a Steps-this-music-is-so-tacky-it’s-almost-acceptable…
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Difficult follow-up syndrome is common in the music industry. The pressure of following up a hugely influential album often results in a confused, underwhelming effort that tries to succeed on all fronts, while somehow failing to satisfy on any of them. Some bands try to counteract this by opting for an intentionally “arty” or difficult follow-up. Unfortunately, trying to be artistic is like trying to be cool — if you’re trying, then you’re doing it wrong. MGMT’s Congratulations album from last year is a good example of this. The other, more common, method is to simply try and recreate the…
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Those who know me know that I’m not a great fan of the majority of music produced by my fellow Kiwis — call it my guilty displeasure. So it was with some reservations that I started to listen to a debut album by Birds of Passage, whom I’d not heard of before, but had come personally recommended to me by Sophie from the UK’s Her Name Is Calla. To my surprise, Without The World was a New Zealand album that provided a chillingly beautiful listening experience, and broke the mould of beige local music for me. Birds of Passage is…
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Buffalo is the latest album from kaleidoscopic pop group The Phoenix Foundation, whose last album, Happy Ending — originally released on the legendary Flying Nun label — had critics hailing them as New Zealand’s best kept secret. Buffalo is being released in the US in June, distributed by Revolver. Now signed to Memphis Industries in the UK, home to friends and fellow countrymen The Ruby Suns, The Phoenix Foundation are set to remain a secret no longer. From intelligent and infectiously catchy pop/rock gems, to epic, psychedelic prog rock, The Phoenix Foundation’s music is a glorious pop polyglot, combining sunbleached…
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Who is Grizzly Rose? Miwa Gemini met Grizzly Rose while traveling alone in the desert among the Joshua Trees. Grizzly Rose is intimidating, she is a mystery, some even suspect she’s a murderer; but to Miwa Gemini, it’s her combination of fearlessness, flourish, and breezy glamour that make Grizzly Rose a worthy focus for her latest album, Fantastic Lies of Grizzly Rose (Rock Park Records). Of course it isn’t all Grizzly Rose’s doing. Miwa Gemini embodies all of Grizzly Rose’s qualities, combining a classical music education as a child in Japan to a creative aesthetic she developed studying art in New…
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In the words of Jack Black in the movie High Fidelity: “is it unfair to criticise a formerly great artist for their latter day sins?” More importantly, should an entire album be considered poor when it contains three amazing tracks, plus a truckload of filler? These are two important questions that get raised in relation to every new album The Strokes have released since their hugely influential debut Is This It — arguably one of the most important albums of the last decade. Angles is the first album of new material since First Impressions of Earth in 2006. That album,…
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