Music - Album of the week
30th Aug 10
Super Melody - Destination Unknown
Love+Mercy/Shock
The creation of Melbourne's James Cecil, Super Melody is a well named experimental pop ensemble whose bold songs traverse boogie, yacht rock, r'n'b, disco and 60s Chanson. Included in the project are superlative musicians and producers Cornel Wilczek (Qua), Sashi Dharann and Tom Gould, Kaman Tsoi and World End's Press.
Past Albums of the Week
23rd Aug 10
Best Coast - Crazy For You
Mexican Summer/Popfrenzy
The debut full length for Los Angeles based trio Best Coast, led by the vocals of Bethany Cosentino, is an energetic, uplifting and seemingly effortless collection of lo-fi, surf-pop and garage rock. Taking evident inspiration from the past, with a clear predilection for reverb effects and slightly degraded sound quality recordings, Best Coast manage to create classically structured melodic songs that sound timeless.
16th Aug 10
No Album of the Week - Due to Radiothon
August 13 - 22
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9th Aug 10
Various Artists - Long Gone Whistle: Songs Of Maurice Frawley
Liberation/Mushroom Group
Maurice Frawley wrote for and performed in numerous bands during his extensive career, creating an extremely impressive legacy in song. From being a guitarist in Paul Kelly's backing band The Dots, through to his contributions to the Olympic Sideburns, The Working Class Ringos, Maurice Frawley won praise and great admiration for his unique lyrical and musical vision. The 'Long Gone Whistle - The Songs of Maurice Frawley' 3CD compilation collects some of Maurice's most loved original material, as well as an astonishing array of covers, performed in tribute by artists such as Paul Kelly, Adalita, Clare Bowditch & Henry Wagons, The Drones, The Panic, Megan Washington, Sarah Blasko, Charlie Owen & Chrissy Amphlett amongst many others.
2nd Aug 10
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Spunk/EMI
Following from their ambitious Funeral and Neon Bible albums, Montreal septet Arcade Fire offer their third and most focused record to date, this time thematically concerned with the modern malaise of decentralised, and decaying North Amercian urban environments. Lyrically and musically the album finds the band in top form, elegantly and memorably capturing this sense of nostalgic despair and the doomed hope of recapturing what has been lost.
26th Jul 10
Graveyard Train - The Drink, The Devil, And The Dance
Spooky
Pioneers of the Horror Country genre, Melbourne's Graveyard Train have frightened, inspired and generally caused musical mayhem during the three years of their eventful existence. The Drink, The Devil, And The Dance is their third LP, released appropriately enough on Loki's Spooky Records. Be prepared for a thrilling experience as you ride with the Graveyard Train, beginning with a Southern Gothic meets haunted bluegrass barndance, taking in a folk-punk seance, and finishing with a Murder Ballad after(life) party.
19th Jul 10
Seagull - Council Tree
Two Bright Lakes/Remote Control
The second album from Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Chris Bolton (writing as Seagull) is a beautiful collection of meditations on modern life and the possibilities of modern pop music. Recorded with long-time collaborator Nick Huggins, and featuring the talents of percussionist Kishore Ryan, bass player Edward Bolton and multi-instrumentalist Michael Zullicki, Council Tree is album filled with subtle, sparse, and sophisticated arrangements.
12th Jul 10
The Roots - How I Got Over
Def Jam/Universal
The nineth studio album for Philadelphia hip hop veterans The Roots is an extremely soulful affair, exhibiting the band's traditional interest in funk and jazz modes, as well as taking inspiration from the music of contemporaries such as Joanna Newsom, My Morning Jacket and Monsters Of Folk. Lyrically the album is also expansive, and characteristically contemplative, offering meditations on politics, and discussions of perserverence through difficult times. Long time followers of the group will find much to appreciate here, and new listeners will doubtless be drawn to the unique, cohesive musical vision on display.
5th Jul 10
Super Wild Horses - Fifteen
Aarght!/Shock
Comprising multi-instrumentalists Amy Franz and Hayley McKee, Super Wild Horses specialise in crafting lo-fi garage rock and post punk songs of maximum efficiency and impact. Following from their acclaimed self-titled 7" EP, debut full-length 'Fifteen' effectively captures the energy, skill and sponteneity of the band's live shows. Super Wild Horses are the latest signing to Melbourne's Aarght! Records, joining Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Dead Farmers, and Ooga Boogas on this influencial, world-beating label.
28th Jun 10
PVT - Church With No Magic
Warp/Inertia
Australian three-piece Pivot have undergone a number of interesting developments during their career. Their debut LP 'Make Me Love You' offered a peaceful ambient introduction, whereas their electro-acoustic opus ‘O Soundtrack My Heart’ released in 2008 on the Warp Record label had a considerably more dissonant and dangerous musical edge. Following a band name change (unkindly forced upon them through threat of legal action by a lesser band also called Pivot), PVT now provide their long anticipated follow-up album entitled Church With No Magic. Incorporating more vocal elements, as well as continuing the band's pursuit of textured, abstract, melodic and structurally sophisticated arrangements, PVT's new album displays the unrelenting experimental impulse of this essential force in modern music.
21st Jun 10
Here We Go Magic - Pigeons
Secretly Canadian/Inertia
Beginning as a solo bedroom production project for Luke Temple, Here We Go Magic are now a fully formed five-piece band, with a distinctly expanded sound. Where the debut was a compellingly hazy trip through looped lo-fi psychedelic folk, Pigeons arrives as a more structured pop record; the familiar ethereal aesthetic remains, however the arrangements are arguably clearer and more focused. Lead single Collector explores more Krautrock inspired propulsive rhythms, while Casual recalls the New Zealand post-punk scene, compounded with an electronic haze.
15th Jun 10
The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
Third Man/Warner
The second album from Tennesee band The Dead Weather consolidates their position as premier purveyors of dark blues and gritty rock noir. With the combined talents of The Kills’ Alison Mosshart and Jack White, of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather again deliver a compelling selection of original, inimitable material.
7th Jun 10
Mountain Man - Made The Harbor
Spunk/EMI
Filled with mesmerizing harmonies and sublime melodies, the debut album from Vermont group Mountain Man is a striking and startlingly sparse record of folk and Americana music. The project of Amelia Meath, Molly Sarle and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, the trio craft evocative, antique acapella arrangements, accompanied occasionally by an acoustic guitar.
31st May 10
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
4AD/Remote Control
Initially the bedroom studio project of LA producer/musician artist Ariel Marcus Rosenberg, Ariel Pink has an extensive back-catalogue of hazy lo-fi/psych-pop songs, blending 60s harmonies, 70s soft rock influences and 80s punk trash culture. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is the expanded musical ensemble of Ariel Pink and new collaborators, and the new record Before Today contains some of the band's cleanest and most focused tracks to date, albeit with strong elements of the degraded recording qualities characteristic of the band's former output.
24th May 10
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma
Warp/Inertia
The latest full-length offering from Steven Ellison (aka Flying Lotus) is a genre-transcending astral excursion into the outer reaches of the known beat universe. Incorporating elements of hip hop, boogie, electro, orchestral, and soulful music styles, Cosmogramma is a digital jazz masterpiece that consolidates Flying Lotus' position as one of the leaders of the new guard of producers.
17th May 10
Cloud Contol - Bliss Release
Ivy League/Mushroom
Bliss Release is the highly anticipated debut album from the Blue Mountains quartet, following an EP release in 2007. Utilising the dual harmonies of Alastair Wright and Heidi Lenffer, creative bass lines and sharply crafted songs, Cloud Control deliver an album that successfully explores the broad horizons of pop.
10th May 10
The National - High Violet
(4AD/Remote Control)
The fifth album from Brooklyn's The National delivers subtle, layered, rock laments and the nuanced lyrical intensity familiar to fans of the band's previous work. A broader sonic palette, and the addition of sweeping horn and string arrangements throughout much of the record, heightens the impact of these new songs, and offers new details to admire from these skilled song writers.
3rd May 10
Faux Pas - Noiseworks
Sensory Projects/Inertia
The second album from Melbourne producer Tim Shiel, aka Faux Pas, is a fascintating exploration of the possibilities of electronic music. With a playfully experimental approach to sound design and manipulation, Noiseworks transcends genre on its space flight through arpeggiated synth-pop, anthemic crunk orchestrations, future funk and radiophonic workshop house.
27th Apr 10
Sally Seltmann - Heart That's Pounding
Shock/Remote Control
Acclaimed singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann has elected to drop her previous New Buffalo moniker, and here releases a collection of intricately arranged and masterfully constructed pop songs under her own name. Lyrically, the album reveals Sally's skill in balancing apprehensive introspection with tremulous optimism.
19th Apr 10
Caribou - Swim
Co-op/Shock
The latest album release from Caribou's Dan Snaith (formerly Manitoba) extends his electronic music explorations into sub-aqueous territory. The results of a self-described attempt to make ' dance music that's liquid in the way it flows back and forth', Swim reveals shades of Scandanavian disco, post-rave sonics, and ambient techno, in a cohensive yet dynamic pop recording.
12th Apr 10
Bonobo - Black Sands
Ninja Tune/Inertia
A stalwart of the modern downbeat scene, Simon Green aka Bonobo has been crafting intricate, jazz-inflected beatscapes for many years, releasing records on influential labels such as Tru Thoughts and Ninja Tune. Black Sands represents the latest stage in Bonobo's evolution as an artist, expanding his dense instrumental palette into textured electro-acoustic hip hop and post-garage rhythms, and showcases some outstanding vocal tracks with collaborator Andreya Triana.
5th Apr 10
Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part II: Return Of The Ankh
Universal
Erykah Badu's fifth studio album is a seductive, soulful affair, filled with hip hop grooves and Rnb funk beats alongside Erykah's own lyrical poetry. The companion album to the more politicised 'New Amerykah Part I: 4th World Order', 'Part II:Return of the Ankh' is a decidedly more emotive, and organic sounding record, though no less inventive or dynamic. Like the earlier instalment, Part II also features masterful contributions from Madlib, James Poyser, 9th Wonder, Georgia Anne Muldrow and the late J Dilla.
29th Mar 10
Otouto - Pip
Two Bright Lakes/Remote Control
Formed by Hazel Brown, Martha Brown, and Kishore Ryan, Otouto is a Melbourne band specialising in artful pop music. Their songs blend vocal harmonies with layered melodies and fractured percussive elements in beautiful and occasionally dissonant arrangements. Produced by Nick Huggins and released on the Two Bright Lakes label, Otouto's 'Pip' LP is an incredible and exciting debut record.
22nd Mar 10
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way
Daptone/Shock
The Brooklyn nine-piece ensemble Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings return with another brilliant excursion into soul, funk, and jazz on their latest full-length album. Brilliantly arranged, expertly performed and skilfully produced in the signature analogue style of the Daptone Records' House of Soul studios, 'I Learned The Hard Way' echos the golden eras of Motown and Stax records, but reveals also the great originality and subtlety of the band's song-writing abilities, and Sharon Jones' unparalleled singing prowess.
15th Mar 10
Gonjasufi - A Sufi And A Killer
Warp/Inertia
A masterwork of psychedelic soul and acid rock esoterica, A Sufi And A Killer merges Sumach Ecks distinctive haunted blues vocal style with the grimiest and obscurest of breaks and samples to create a transcendent musical odyssey. Production duties are shared by some of Los Angeles's premier beat creators, with contributions from Flying Lotus, The Gaslamp Killer and Mainframe.
8th Mar 10
Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me
Drag City/Spunk
The latest record from Joanna Newsom is a beautiful, ambitious triple album, with 18 new songs over about two hours of compelling music.
Joanna's distinctive vocal style and harp are still the focus of many recordings, although other arrangements feature restrained horn sections, piano and percussion. The traditional folk mode of many compositions is also tempered by some strong blues influences.
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