Francis International Airport

In The Woods

 01. All Your Lines End In Me
02. Monsters
03. Celluloid
04. Feet Of Clay
05. Bug
06. Pipeland
07. Solaris
08. Amnesiacs
09. City Of Fog
10. Ether
11. The Art Of Unlearning 

In May Francis International Airport released the 7inch-forerunner for their upcoming album featuring the songs MONSTERS and the honestlytoogoodtobeBside Feet Of Clay. Both are striking indie-pop tunes that sweetened up our summer and were well received by critics and audiences. Now the guys finished the album "In The Woods" and it is full of catchy tunes with melancholic ambiences. "In The Woods" is definitely going to be the one of the most amazing album of the year!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Engineers

In Praise of More

1. What it’s Worth
2. Subtober
3. Las Vega
4. Press Rewind
5. There Will be Time
6. To An Evergreen
7. Twenty Paces
8. In Praise Of More
9. Nach Hause

Three Fact Fader, Engineers’ second album was released last year on Kscope to widespread critical acclaim. The band now return with "In Praise of More", their new album and their first with their new line-up.

Mark Peters has moved to guitar and has been replaced by Daniel Land on bass alongside new drummer Matthew Linley. In addition to this, respected solo artist Ulrich Schnauss, who had previously played keyboards live with the band, has joined as full time member.

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Belle and Sebastian

Write About Love

1. I Didn't See It Coming
2. Come On Sister
3. Calculating Bimbo
4. I Want The World To Stop
5. Little Lou Ugly Jack Prophet John
6. Write About Love
7. I'm Not Living In The Real World
8. Ghost Of Rockschool
9. Read The Blessed Pages
10. I Can See Your Future
11. Sunday's Pretty Icons

 'Write About Love' is the eighth studio album from Scottishoutfit Belle & Sebastian and their third for Rough Trade Records. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck, Air, Idlewild), the album sees the band deliver another collection of classic indie-pop songs whilst also being joined on two tracks by Norah Jones and actress Carey Mulligan.

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Seabellies

By Limbo Lake

 1. Ices (death and love)
2. Orange X
3. Paper Flames
4. Young cubs
5. Board the Apartment Up
6. Sparks
7. 2571
8. Armour
9. Trans Ending
10. Sleepwell
11. Feeal It Leave
12. Smokestar 

 

 

 

From the majestic orchestration of opening track Ices (Death & Love) to the melodic balladry of stirring closer Smokestar, Seabellies' debut album - By Limbo Lake - asserts itself as a memorable record abounding in beautifully explorative, textural pop.

The gloriously atmospheric Ices (Death & Love) soars, emotes and flourishes as vivid images of icy oceans and snow's numbing sensation infiltrate frontman Trent Grenell's cry of "The world is coming / Time won't pick you up / Death and love are stunning." With swooning strings, surging guitars, militaristic drums and glistening electronic embellishments, it's an elevating introduction to the Seabellies' layered pop aesthetic, one that they're evidently skilled proponents of. Even with the insanely infectious Orange X, there's no sign of a contrived effort to gain high radio airplay, only sublime pop hooks and hypnotic grooves, and in Young Cubs' case - the sprightly encapsulation of the Newcastle-bred sextet's euphoric youthfulness and spirited ambition.

Produced by legendary Australian producer Wayne Connolly, By Limbo Lake heralds the exciting development and impressive progression of one of the country's finest young bands. Armour is another testament to the band's ambitious trajectory as hip-hop influenced verses, dreamy pop harmonies and psychedelic electro textures coalesce harmoniously.

Grenell's lyrics do, at times, appear random and nondescript as they're primarily melody-driven rather than idea-laden, but it's the dreamy landscapes traversed that are most appealing, as is the case with excellent single Trans Ending, and Sleepwell in which Grenell mourns "The ones who sleep amongst the aisles / On beds of shattered dreamless tiles will / Sleep forever / But sometimes we will miss the signs / That bend with roads in endless lines / But know how far we'll go / To put to bed the endless doubts / The money men they algebrize".

Intricately crafted pop gems such as Sleepwell reassert the band's predilection for clever melodies. Although inspired by Canadian bands such as Broken Social Scene and Wolf Parade, Seabellies' ability to fuse free-form experimentalism with idyllic hooks renders them a poignant force. With their diverse instrumentation (the band comprises two trumpeters and a saxophonist) and inspired vision, Seabellies have conveyed their broad influences and abundance of ideas in an emotionally stirring and elevating light on their superb debut album.

By Christine Lan

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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Kordan

The Longing 

 1. Dawn
2. Shinjuku
3. Fantasy Nation
4. Tokyo Tears
5. Colours
6. Closer
7. Dream
8. Mirror
9. Hologram
10. Ghost
11. Dawn (Redux)

The Longing is essentially an elaboration of Fantasy Nation, Kordan’s first EP released July of last year.  Same bag of tricks, that is.  Dizzy, spacious sound layers over a steady beat—at the core, dance grooves with an experimentalist complex.  Where Fantasy Nation tapped the club vein, Longing searches for the abstract quality of pop music.  Listening to the album is like listening as a musician attempts to define city or love or life simply in audio.  Of course, this reads pretentious, as does any creative adventure that involves conceptual thought.  The reason I’m not harder on Kordan is simple:  despite the possible pretense, I can’t imagine the band playing any other style of music than this ultra stylized pretty.  There’s truth in purposeful cool, even if it’s easy to spot the GWBs (Girls With Bangs) and BWGs (Boys With Glasses) somewhere in the crowd.

Thanks to production magic or magic hands, “Fantasy Nation” and “Tokyo Tears” softened a bit from their EP debut:  flavors steeped, mechanics fine tuned, less thrust more lust.  Actually, compared to Longing, Fantasy Nation sounds decidedly reduced, as though Eisele and co. were practicing for grander occasions.  Such is the occasion.  Besides “Fantasy” and “Tokyo,” tracks like “Mirror” and the haunting “Shinjuku” stand out while in sum, the album remains fairly amorphous.  Eisele’s distant vocals amidst the instrumental mixed bag keep Longing interesting, but I wonder what’s next for Kordan.  Logically, the progression favors total ethereal bliss (as it is, the lyrics seem secondary), but I accept all bets.  

MySpace ~ Official

Blonde Redhead

Penny Sparkle

Release date: September 13(UK) 14 (USA) 2010

01. Here Sometimes
02. Not Getting There
03. Will There Be Stars
04. My Plants Are Dead
05. Love or Poison
06. Oslo
07. Penny Sparkle
08. Everything Is Wrong
09. Black Guitar
10. Spain

MySpace ~ Official

Land Of Talk

Cloak and Cipher

01. Cloak And Cipher
02. Goaltime Exposure
03. Quarry Hymns
04. Swift Coin
05. Color Me Badd
06. The Hate I Won't Commit
07. Hamburg, Noon
08. Blangee Blee
09. Playita
10. Better And Closer

In the DiS review of Land of Talk’s 2007 UK debut, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, the enigmatic critic who will go down in posterity only as Rupert the Bare Nang rambles that while the record 'seems entirely one-dimensional... there’s something subliminal buried under these heard-it-all-before songs, a tiny voice nagging away'. His point was a perceptive one: The appeal of the Canadian three piece’s first release was subtler than its guitar-vocals-bass-drums configuration suggests. Everywhere you were surprised by the unusual patterns twisting around in the music, and by the length of time that they spent spiralling in your head after you finally managed to stop listening and do something else. Elizabeth Powell and her rotating cast of band members seemed gifted with a secret magic, delicate and understated, but powerful nonetheless.

Three years on, and Land of Talk’s third UK release, Cloak and Cipher, seems permeated with the same mysterious alloy. The band’s comforting familiarity is further strengthened now they have established themselves somewhat: three albums in could almost count them as old hands by now, and the warmth of Powell’s voice and guitar on the titular opener ‘Cloak and Cipher’ brings every passed listen of Applause Cheer Boo Hiss and Some Are Lakes rushing back. Even their lexicon of bizarre song titles is becoming distinctive; some prime examples this time around being ‘Color Me Badd’(sic), ‘Blangee Blee’ and ‘Playita’.

Almost predictably for a Canadian artist and sometime Broken Social Scene collaborator, Powell has crammed the record with guest stars, from Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara giving ‘Quarry Hymns’ the frantic, insistent urgency that his day job are famed for, to Patrick Watson briefly adds strobing, crunchy keys to the epic thrashing of the second half of ‘The Hate I Won’t Commit’ although, sadly, his trademark croon is absent. Overall though, these guest appearances are so densely woven into the music as to barely noticeable, reminding us that Powell is the star here, making her identity on the record even more arresting.

Throughout, though especially in glistening closer ‘Better and Closer’ (or perhaps ‘Better’ and ‘Closer’, the latter being the fuzzy acoustic howl four and half minutes in), the album is an emotional listen, intimate and bitter-sweet, drenched in a sadness that emerges from your embrace with big, tear-filled eyes and a smile on its face.

Although largely interchangeable with its predecessors, Cloak and Cipher still sounds fresh enough to please Land of Talk loyalists, and engaging enough to showcase their appeal to new listeners as well. Plus, we’ve seen plenty bands making careers out of releasing the same great album over and again, and I for one, certainly hope that Land of Talk will be one of them. 

by Paul Stephen Gettings

 MySpace ~ Official