Porcelain Raft perfects craft, releases Half Awake on new boutique label Joanna Jiang June 6, 2015 Album Review 1 Comment Matching the juxtaposition framed by his moniker, Italian shoegazer Mauro Remiddi writes music that is comfortably bleary-eyed and lyrics that are bluntly precise. “I wonder if you’ll ever know / How it...
In Colour: Jamie xx brings “Good Times” and vibes, vibrant on solo debut Joanna Jiang June 1, 2015 Album Review 3 Comments In more ways than one, In Colour doesn’t feel like a debut. Besides the fact that “Girl” and “Sleep Sound” were released last year, producer Jamie Smith’s tendencies are often described as nost...
Unknown Mortal Orchestra return radiantly, glowing with Multi-Love Joanna Jiang May 26, 2015 Album Review 2 Comments With Multi-Love, Unknown Mortal Orchestra mastermind Ruban Nielson is at the top of his game. As usual, Nielson’s not making a fuss about it. Love does wonders in songwriting, and better times are audible...
DOOMSQUAD enable Christmas in July with a two-part dance suite Joanna Jiang May 20, 2015 Album Review With a moniker like DOOMSQUAD, one can be certain the Blumas aren't the type who take themselves too seriously – their backstory is exactly that. “We’re superserious and at the same time we’re not s...
Shlohmo floods The Fillmore with light and sound Arnav Chaturvedi May 6, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHMcrfXxlDM Los Angeles-native Henry Laufer, better known as Shlohmo, performed at The Fillmore last Thursday, returning to the West Coast in the final leg of his tour for rec...
Gacha explores melody, paints a comfortable haze with debut LP Joanna Jiang May 3, 2015 Album Review Georgia-born Gacha Bakradze spent three years collecting his upcoming debut full-length, but Send Two Sunsets sounds stunningly effortless. Central to its nine tracks is instrumental melody. Distinct lines ...
Other Lives’ Jonathon Mooney shares his stance on touring, doughnuts, and new LP Rituals Joanna Jiang May 3, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews Portland-by-way-of-Oklahoma trio Other Lives are due to commence a month-long North American tour next week after releasing third full-length album Rituals, due May 4 via TBD Records. This third record, c...
Martin Gore takes mechanic route with new instrumental record Joanna Jiang April 28, 2015 Album Review I haven’t yet seen that film Ex Machina, but I imagine it could be quite compatible with Martin Gore’s latest endeavour. In March, the English musician, globally renowned for writing much of New Wav...
Ambassadeurs releases Can’t You See EP, to play LIB and Mezzanine Joanna Jiang April 28, 2015 Album Review, Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews We’ve been anticipating Mark Dobson’s forthcoming and ever-elusive debut record… for years. By way of Brighton under the deceivingly-French moniker Ambassadeurs, Dobson’s been producing a distinct, ...
Daktyl spins a worldly whirlwind with debut, Cyclical Joanna Jiang April 21, 2015 Album Review Not an unusual congruity for two fresh, young producers who recently played a 32-stop tour together, the mutual learning between last year's dark horse Slow Magic and UK beat spinner Daktyl is evident w...
Stromae steals Fox audience Friday evening, lives up to name Angelica Zocchi April 20, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Reviews Friday April 10 at the Fox Theater in Oakland, Stromae poured out his raw, gutsy artistic soul in a performance which did not simply delight the audience like one of those cozy, subtly-drunken summer days. N...
Lulacruza prove themselves architects of cultural dreamscapes on Orcas Conner Smith April 14, 2015 Album Review 1 Comment Fusing the vibrations of South American spiritualism with sounds of contemporary folk and electronic music in a magnanimous tribute to Mother Earth, Lulacruza leaves us spellbound with their latest Orcas (2...
Clean Bandit’s Jack Patterson on songs, styles, strings, and singers Maddy Smith April 10, 2015 Concerts, Festivals, and Live Previews, Interview 1 Comment Clean Bandit are just blowing up internationally. With their recently won Grammy and success of New Eyes (2014), they are getting more and more renowned throughout the world. The album’s fourth single ...
Macajey’s sophomore album Let’s Go gets confused in the rrrumpus John Luan March 27, 2015 Album Review San Francisco native Jeremy Macachor, better known as Macajey, released his latest work Let’s Go this week. Its story takes place within a sound that features the organic foreground of a live band and th...
Etiquette are courteous, but keep listeners on toes with debut record Joanna Jiang March 24, 2015 Album Review Merging hard electronic with soft acoustic, Graham Walsh imposes a fuzzy electro-rock haze over Julie Fader’s floaty vocals on their debut record, Reminisce (out March 24 via Hand Drawn Dracula). Separate...