Kevin Barnes becomes a glam-rock icon named Georgie Fruit on this record, or so he claims. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? has been described by Barnes as a conceptual project for just this reason, but no matter how many cultural references he might make in his lyrics I don't keep coming back for them, nor do I find them particularly appealing. Of Montreal's latest record is enjoyable because it's catchy, not because there's anything special about Barnes' brand of peculiarity.
Two new shows just for you. We have squeezed out two extended release episodes for this weekend to get you through this week. They contain mostly new songs but there's also new issues from the vaults. The first show features music from Rider/Horse, Mint Field, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Anastasia Coope, ISAN, Stone Music, La Securite, Bark Psychosis, Jon Rose, Master Wilburn Burchette, Umberto, Wand, Tim Koh, Sun An, and Memory Drawings. The second episode has music by Laibach, Melt-Banana, Chuck Johnson, X, K. Yoshimatsu, Dorothy Carter, Pavel Milyakov, Violence Gratuite, Mark Templeton, Dummy, Endon, body / negative, Midwife, Alberto Boccardi, Divine. Cow in Maui from Veronika in Vienna. Get involved: subscribe, review, rate, share with your friends, send images!
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This compilation of Harvey's various works for film mostly covers his work for obscure German and Australian indie films (most of which I have never heard of let alone seen). Harvey has an exceptional amount of skill that is hidden much of the time, even on his own solo albums. Here he explores palettes and tones of a much more subtle manner compared to his day jobs. The emphasis is, of course, on mood and tension. Not all of the compositions are brilliant but most of them are prime examples of Harvey firing on all cylinders.
This 2CD and 2DVD box set is much better than expected. Not being a fan of the last Bad Seeds album made me think twice about buying this but despite focusing heavily on songs from The Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus double album, this is a nice addition to the Bad Seeds back catalog. It is by no means the best of Cave's live albums or DVDs but it is still well worth investigating.
With their fourth full length, Dälek leaves the noise and skree of Absence behind them and offer up instead a more contemplative effort. This album demonstrates that you don't need to clobber people over the head with sonic violence to get the point across.
Nathan Michaels' music could be nothing short of massive. Aphotic Leech is no happy experience, but it is a commanding piece of music with no shortage of powerful moments.
We all know Kieran Hebden is a big jazz fan, nearly all of the samples used in Four Tet recordings originate from jazz records, but it's undeniable that he has continuously made his mark in the pop framework. This third collaborative release with drummer Steve Reid explores the more pop side of things with ten tunes that average between the three and six mintue mark, ripe with riffs, and just about ready to be turned into hit singles.
When I saw Yellow Swans back in August of 2004, at the late, great Schoolhouse in Hadley, Mass, I liked their performance well enough to pick up a couple of their records. Unfortunately, those records, and the wave of hype that soon followed, left me feeling pretty lukewarm towards the band. They have grown a lot in the past two and a half years, however, and this particular trilogy of recordings shows that off. 
This is a case where the cover definitely matches the book. Upon seeing Seldon Hunt's artwork for this release my first thought was "it looks like prog rock meets black metal." And while it doesn't quite sound like the paring of Rick Wakeman and Malefic, it does have that mix of lush symphonic electronics combined with metal riffing. The duo of Aidan Baker and Leah Buckareff have created another successful release on the always excellent Archive label.
