Cymbals Eat Guitars. Now, this Brooklyn quartet may have a bizarre name, but on much of their LP, the cymbals (and percussion) do eat the guitars! At the very least they match up to them, filling their songs with incredible energy, integral to the many tempo changes which jaggedly divide the tracks. Speaking of energy, Joseph D’Agostino’s vocals burst onto Why There Are Mountains with raw fieriness, but later on in the album we are witness to a more relaxed and honest twang, on ‘Cold Spring’, ‘Share’ and ‘What Dogs See’.
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Live: The Young Republic @ Cargo, 2nd November
On the last night of their tour The Young Republic came to London with Coventry-based support band Don’t Move! The two bands hit Cargo on a Monday night, but the atmosphere positively reeked of Friday and the audience was treated to an energetic extravaganza of an evening.
EP: Alela Diane and Alina Hardin — Alela & Alina
When this collaboration between Alela Diane and her touring companion Alina Hardin opens with ‘Amidst the Movement’, one of Diane’s trademark gutsy folk songs that defies you not to join in with its sing-along chorus, it’s easy to think this EP is merely a supplement to her well-received album To Be Still. It soon becomes clear, however, that this offering is much more than that – it is a master-class in the sublimely simple beauty of classic folk music, delivered by two equally impressive songbirds.
Album: The Mountain Goats – The Life of the World to Come
There will be some who will balk at an album where each and every song is named after a different bible verse. Then there will be others who will fervently use this to find some higher meaning in John Darnielle’s customarily intriguing lyrics, listening with a bible in their hand to reveal religious insights that frankly may or may not be there.
Album: The Young Republic – Balletesque
End Of The Road Records’ flagship band, The Young Republic, have returned with their second album. Stuffed full with virtuoso performances and the kind of epic orchestral arrangements not seen since The Arcade Fire’s debut. Balletesque has all of the hard-hitting edge of their debut 12 Tales From Winter City but is even more glorious for its complexity and softness.
Album: Boo Hewerdine – God Bless the Pretty Things
Firmly grounded in folk and country, with harmonies that would be perfectly at home on a porch swing in the deep south, Boo Hewerdine’s latest album is a sweet stroll through life, love and the like. That said, this dude doesn’t sit comfortably in a musical box. He’s a wanderer when it comes to musical styles, and that makes for an album of kaleidoscopic shade and tone.
Album: A.A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Loose
Ten years since Scott Bondy and his band Verbena caught the eye of grunge legend Dave Grohl, who then produced their second album (the averagely received Into the Pink), an older and (perhaps) more mature Bondy has released his second album under the name A.A. Bondy, When the Devil’s Loose.
Album: Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
She may have lost the Mercury Prize to a Sarf Landener who don’t get emotional but perhaps quite ironically Lisa Hannigan has created a debut solo album that is ethereally soft and floaty and packed to the rafters with the stuff.
Single: Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man
Fans of Mumford and Sons have waited a painfully long time for their debut album, Sigh No More, which is finally due for release on 5th October. One week before, the waistcoat-sporting gents will release the single “Little Lion Man”. We can all breathe a collective sigh of musical relief.
Single: Fanfarlo – The Walls are Coming Down
Fanfarlo’s newest single, from the magnificent album Reservoir, might have something rather pertinent to say to our suited and booted friends in the city:
“They swallowed it whole, they went for the gold, for the gold / We fall for the same lies we all have the same shoes to fit / The preachers and books of your empire will fight here alone / Some day the will be forgotten and die one by one”