Reviews: indie x

The Vanity Set is the band led by Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds). Little Stabs of Happiness is the second album by this band. The sound of the band and this album is very much like that of Nick Cave. It is dark, emotional and a bit cabaresque. This music speaks to heart and mind…

“Antics” is a steady and confident album, from which you can hear that Interpol has matured. Since “Turn on the bright lights” they gradually crystallized a style of their own, leaving a great deal of the often mentioned comparisons like Joy Division, The Chameleons and The Smiths behind. Through “Antics” it becomes more clear what Interpol itself stands for…

David Bowie, Current 93, Tindersticks, Björk, Fauré and Verdi. Just a few of the names that are dropped in relation to this peculair musical collective, based in France, set up by Romanian artist Nick Grey…

Another new artist from the Omega Point stable, who has a double career as club DJ and rock musician. The album starts surprisingly with a nostalgic string sound, but it does not long before some gritty synths join the music in the second track…

Blood Sugar comes from California. Frontman Xavier descrives their sound as ‘Afro-punk’. Blood Sugar fuses ‘punk, funk, ska and melodic wizardry’.

By now Animal collective has established a reputation for making strange pop like songs. This 7″ on fat cat is ofcourse no exception. Starting out with a track taken from the ‘Sung tongs’ album, Who could win a rabbit is a fast happy twisted pop song. The energy contained in this song is amazing. When hearing the track my first thought was this is simply crap. Everyone can do this…

Already the third album of Michael Gira’s post-Swans project The Angels of Light. Whatever he does, his creations are never boring. The title of the album, ‘Everything is good here’, should be taken a little ironically, because Gira’s universum isn’t usually so sheerful. There are quite a few twisted dark rocksongs on this album…

Words on Music from Minneapolis has quickly become one of my favourite indie labels, with nice artists as Fiel Garvie, The Meeting Places and Coastal. I did not know For Against, so I was really surprised when I read about their background. ‘Echelons’ was actually recorded way back in 1987, when it was the debut of this group from Nebraska, who never reached a big audience…

To review a soundtrack is quite difficult, especially when you have not seen the movie, as a soundtrack should add something to the images on the screen. This soundtrack consists of ‘real’ film music (and not of a compilation of songs by different bands like is often the case). Which makes it even a harder job to do a review…

Release The Bats is a Swedish label that is specialized in contemporary / retro post-punk. Ohm is a band that stands out on the label because their music differs a lot from other bands on the label. The band plays psychedelic rock with hints of stonerrock. On this 7” EP are 3 tracks with clear references to 60’s (blues) rock…

Once Michael Gira stormed the world with his apocalyptic-industrial music group Swans. Nowadays his musical idiom is a little lighter, both in his new group The Angels of Light as in his solo work. But Michael Gira still manages to convey a lot of intensity. Gira likes to be in control. Productions are released on his own label Young God Records…

The Finnish band Kiila plays folk with a free-jazz attitude. On this new record this results into atmospheric, soothing and ethereal but above all just beautiful progressive folk. Silmät Sulkaset is not a record that sounds traditional Finnish. Many songs have an Eastern feeling. The music sounds meditative like Gjallarhorn does at times. But Kiila is more open to experiments than this group…

The debut album of female vocalist Jen Gloeckner from Iowa. Though the album is self-released, it makes a highly professional impression, both in sound and design. The music of Jen is not very fashionable or trendy. You could call her a singer-songwriter with traditional roots, especially on an acoustic guitar song like the title track “Miles Away”…

Do you think that humour belongs in music? Do you have an eclectic taste and are you no stranger to classic blues? Then you could try the compilation ‘Delta Masters’, issued by the Texan Dogfingers label…

Boxcar Satan from Texas likes to put a dozen styles in the mixer. They have firm blues and rock roots, but they also don’t shy away from post-punk, cajun, gospel and avantgarde-jazz. At times I have to think of the structured chaos of The Birthday Party. Other parts remind me more of the freejazz punk of Victim’s Family or the filthy bluespunk of Jon Spencer…

The Einstürzende Neubauten don’t need much introduction, I assume. This German collective with Blixa Bargeld as one of its founding members played an important role in the avantgarde/industrial scene in the 80’s. But they never ceased to make relevant music…

The second album of artrock group Liars from Brooklyn, after the acclaimed “They threw us all in a trench and stuck a monument on top”. This new album is a conceptual album, dealing with themes of witchcraft, folklore, mayhem and paranoia. The music of Liars is quite hard to describe. Their music is slightly chaotic and not too melodic, but also monotonous and hypnotic at times…

Xavier Black can perhaps be described as lo-fi singer-songwriter music. Frontman of the band is Justin LeFurjah, wo is assisted by soem friends from the same area (Northampton, USA). This cd contains 12 tracks with titles like ‘jealous cat’ and ‘fall down drunk wake up preacher’. Acoustic songs, over which LeFurjah sings his often bitter, ironic or absurd lyrics…

The Silent League may not be a familiar name, but it is a project lead by Justin Russo, who was involved with Mercury Rev (he played the piano on “All is Dream”) and participated in many other acts. This month their debut album “The Orchestra, Sadly, has refused” will be released…

A few years ago the lp Breaking The Silence by the French 80’s postpunk band The Opposition was re-issued. The Dutch Red Sun Records label worked together on this release with the French Mrs. Jones label. This last label has now released a new record by the band. There is not much left of the raw and doomy music the group played in the 80’s. Blinder sounds modern and hip…