Top Stories: February 4, 2010
• News Ticker: Weezer, The Strokes
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DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?
Dan from Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Bonus Eventus and Let’s Wrestle give us their picks of 2009 as we near completion of our Guest top 10s.
Fever Ray
Our top records of 2009 countdown continues, with our favourite singles, albums and downloads of the year. We’re now at numbers 60-41.
In the Red’s profile may have risen in recent years through releases by King Khan & BBQ, Vivian Girls and Jay Reatard, but for years the L.A. label’s been buttering your croissant with permanently cool, stylishly unfashionable garage-rawk like what this here Reigning Sound band makes.
Jay Reatard might have an eery resemblance to Meatloaf on the Watch Me Fall album cover, but you won’t find him making 12 minute rock operas with ambiguous meanings any time soon.
Finally recovering from a great Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona and we have some pictures to share. We’ve eschewed the big names like Jarvis Cocker, Bloc Party, Neil Young, My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth as you’ll see that stuff elsewhere and instead concentrated on a select few for a more personal look - Aphex Twin, Fucked Up, The Horrors, Wavves, Jay Reatard and Dead Meadow (who were particularly excellent).
Despite news to the contrary, there are still record stores in America. Chains, less and less but, at least in New York, the good ones are still going. April 18 was the third annual
Record Store Day, a "celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally." Or, an excuse to get people to go out and remember just how cool and fun it is to browse and buy physical records and CDs in an actual record store. To entice people to do so, labels and bands pressed up exclusive vinyl releases that were only available that day.
The War On Drugs - Wagonwheel Blues
7/10
Philadelphia prog rockers The War On Drugs originally bonded over a shared love of Bob Dylan and it shows on this, their debut record. Perhaps not directly, but the bands channelling of 70s inspired classic rock sets them on a steady path of success.
The War On Drugs- Wagonwheel Blues
7/10
Micachu and The Shapes @ The Bodega Social, Nottingham 30/3/2009
The recently released debut album, “Jewellery”, by Micachu is a tumbling, busy piece of work bursting with great ideas and creativity and, tonight, it’s put to the test whether this gem will stand up in a live setting.
Striding nonchalantly, but not arrogantly, onstage, Micachu is the definition of a tomboy blended with a true street urchin. And not the Peter Doherty smokes some crack>buys an old hat> becomes a “street urchin” kind of way. More the Kate Blanchett plays Bob Dylan>only Bob Dylan is a carnie with a heart of gold and a fist of Mike Tyson kind of way.
iLiKETRAiNS DEMO OF THE WEEK:
ISTVAN & THE KOSMAS / DISCO CLUB IMPERIAL
DAVE: The song started out pretty promisingly, but it didn’t really develop. It could be just me! Having said...
Legendary rock photographer Steve Gullick has a retrospective at Manchester’s KRAAK Gallery running from March 12th til March 27th, featuring shots taken for NME and Melody Maker as well as his...
To accompany the review of tUnE-yArDs’ Monday gig at Cargo, a few tasty shots of Think about Life, Trash Kit and New England native Merrill Garbus aka tUnE-yArDs.
Read the review of the night...
We have collected some truly heinous examples of recent album covers, from Empire of the Sun’s Star Wars travesty to the banal evil that is Razorlight’s Slipway Fire. Discretionary...
Album art in this gallery was selected based on several simple traits: strong concept, fine graphics including creative typography and general lushness. The first three of ‘The Best Record...
Placebo pictures: just in - some photos of Placebo and Brian Molko from last week’s gig at the Glasgow SECC.
Also check out the review here
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