London Grammar
If You Wait
Columbia (2013)
Heartbreak in its truest form is one of life's most sobering and unyielding experiences. As the tedious old adage goes: there's a thin line between love and hate. The strength of these emotions can feel like a bizarre tug-of-war. They're not lacklustre, they're arresting, enthralling and all-consuming. If You Wait siphons some of the rawest feelings, left over after picking apart the carcass of a doomed relationship, into song and sets it to a soundtrack of morose electronic melodies and spine-tingling vocals. The British three-piece's long-awaited début has already been certified platinum, and has seen the band receive the prestigious Ivor Norvello award. Sounding like a collection of conversations, reflections, internal monologues, and things to miss and things to escape from, mixed with the unshakeable feeling of being lost at sea, If You Wait is a sweet, delicate and memorable affair."Wasting My Young Years" calls out but still dismisses, as vocalist Hannah Reid implores "I'm wasting my young years/It doesn't matter if/I'm chasing old ideas". Reid's haunting contralto voice embodies both vulnerability and strength, and gives the impression of trying to chase but also run away from demons. The trip-hop stomp of Dot Major's electric beats create an expansive sound … Read more
Electric Funeral
Total Funeral
Southern Lord (2014)
Total Funeral is the entire anthology-to-date of Electric Funeral, the one-man Swedish raw punk hobbyhorse manned by Jocke D-Takt. And … Read more
Van Dammes
The VD EP
Keep Fishin Music (2014)
Though the band is not doing anything that the typical punk rock fan wouldn’t have heard dozens of times before, … Read more
