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3/3/2010 Rogue Wave Quick Time   Windows ROGUE WAVE Permalight “Now we’re born again,” sings Zach Rogue on the closing track of Rogue Wave’s fourth studio album, Permalight. The dreamy acoustic lament lasts just over a minute but in sound and spirit it neatly sums up everything that comes before it. A punchy, deceptively effervescent set of multi-instrumental pop tunes, the Northern California band’s latest set represents a giant breakthrough for Rogue and his longtime musical partner, drummer-keyboardist-vocalist Pat Spurgeon. “The record sounds, for lack of a better word, fun,” the frontman says. It’s an astonishing change of direction, to say the least. Formed by Rogue in 2002 after he lost his tech job and parted ways with the Oakland rock group Desoto Reds, Rogue Wave has a reputation for crafting classic, inward-looking pop songs highlighted with psychedelic guitars, pastoral sound effects and intricate rhythms. On tunes from the new album like the title track “Permalight” and “Good Morning,” however, Rogue Wave steps away from expectations. Rogue says the former was written as a left-field sequel to Kool and the Gang's “Celebration,” with synthesizers that simultaneously sound brittle and blissful. “Stars and Stripes” builds on a deep groove before spilling over in a ... Read Full Story
3/1/2010 Dan Black   Seldom has an album twisted so thrillingly through so many styles, nor over-flowed with so much melody and feeling. Little wonder that Black is being tipped by the world’s critics and bloggers as one of 2010’s most promising break through artists “The best music makes the stuff start firing in your brain,” says Dan Black. “That’s what I always aimed for when I was writing these songs.” As the kaleidoscopic future-pop of ((un)) proves, he repeatedly hit his target. ((un)) is a pop record inspired as much by Black’s love for the “transcendent, emotional wonder” of acts like Nick Drake and Sigur Ros as it is fuelled by his passion for the hip hop production of J Dilla, Flying Lotus and Timbaland. Its songs flit seamlessly from throbbing electro to heart-tearing strings, and from plaintive acoustic guitar strums to shuddering hip hop beats. Black is the man whose yearning voice you’ll hear singing ((un))’s literate tales of “intense states of being, be they extraordinarily happy or extraordinarily hard”. But he’s also the abundantly talented chap who wrote, played, programmed and produced every last note of this album. He even handles all of his own artwork and videos (they’re very ... Read Full Story
12/9/2009 THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS This Is War Thirty Seconds to Mars' newest album title – This Is War – is more than a just a reference to the band’s personal battles, a commentary on global crises and economic turmoil and homage to their now infamous $30,000,000 lawsuit with Virgin Records. This Is War also represents the result of an 18-month creative battle, fought ferociously, but privately, inside a studio built into the side of a house tucked away in the Hollywood Hills. The result: a triumphant, sonically epic game-changer that builds on the vision laid out in their 2002 self-titled debut and 2005’s multi-platinum A Beautiful Lie. This Is War is a major leap forward for Thirty Seconds to Mars, one that cements the trio (lead singer and guitarist Jared Leto, drummer Shannon Leto and guitarist Tomo Milicevic) as a world-class arena-crushing rock band. The L.A. Times calls This Is War “combative…sinister…the most confident-sounding thing the band has done.” Alternative Press echoes the sentiment, giving it four stars and hailing the album as “an artistic triumph for Thirty Seconds To Mars” and Kerrang! Magazine agrees, calling it the band’s “strongest and most accomplished work to date.” Jared Leto comments: “It took two years, we went to hell ... Read Full Story
11/9/2009 Company of Thieves Click here to download - Pressure Company of Thieves are rooted in Chicago, IL, where vocalist Genevieve Schatz and guitarist Marc Walloch launched the co-ed indie rock group after striking up a friendship at Union Station. Mike Ortiz climbed aboard to handle drum duties, and the trio formed a unique sound that embraced both Fiona Apple's articulate songwriting and Denali's altera-rock muscle. Released independently in May 2007, the debut album Ordinary Riches helped the band boost its following in the Windy City, and Company of Thieves soon graduated from coffeehouse gigs to more traditional venues. National press outlets took notice, as did Wind Up Records, which signed the trio in 2008 and reissued Ordinary Riches in early 2009. Read Full Story
11/9/2009 David Gray David Gray is not one to rest on his laurels; 12 million album sales, the best selling album in Ireland ever with 'White Ladder', a BAFTA nomination for his soundtrack work on Amma Assante's 2004 film 'A Way Of Life'. Two Ivor Novellos, a Q award, two Brit nominations, and a Grammy nomination. Those laurels, in fact, might not be an actual pain in the arse, but they certainly make him fidget. "I didn't have a masterplan but I knew that I was gonna make some wholesale changes at the end of making 'Life In Slow Motion'," the singer-songwriter says of his 2005, No.1 (seventh) studio album. "I'd had a really good run, I'd built a band with some great people. But the creative spark that had been there, that [1998's] 'White Ladder' was born out of, was sort of gone. I just felt there was a need for some new energy and a new impetus to the whole thing. I was hungry." "I wrote 'Draw The Line' in June 2007," he recalls of the song that gives his new album its title and the song, which lit the touch paper for the rest of the album. Over the next ... Read Full Story

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