The Music Radar

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sorryboutthebrains:

Radio Waves - O. Children

(via radio-clash)

this-is-indie-rock:

Trophy Wife - Microlite (Acoustic)

The dreaming spires of Oxford have produced a few great bands over the years.

Radiohead spring to mind, while the shoegaze influence of the Thames Valley cannot be under-estimated. Yet the city’s music scene has been largely moribund for a long time now, lacking a sense of cohesion.

However recently Oxford has begun pouring out new talent. The Blessing Force collective have been fusing new ideas together, while groups such as Trophy Wife mix the city’s math rock heritage with pop melodies.

A stripped down three piece, Trophy Wife has made an enormous impression with just two singles. Signed to Moshi Moshi, the group have the same math rock edge which fuelled Foals but with a far greater sense of melancholy.

Sighing, down beat vocals drip with a sense of intertia, as the jagged riffs threaten to fall apart at the seams. Live, the band are adding to their concert muscle with a series of summer shows planned.

Debut single ‘Microlite’ was a stunning introduction. Released at the tail end of last year, Trophy Wife seemed to arrive fully formed with the song’s downbeat glow matched by a rare inventiveness. Casting new light on the track, Trophy Wife add a subtle violin part which seems to emphasise their songcraft.

(Source: indie-rock-jukebox)

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Puzzle Muteson - En Garde

Puzzle Muteson is the alter ego of an enigmatic songwriter from the Isle of Wight, rendering his music in a tremulous tenor over a finely spun web of fingerpicked guitar. Born in London, Isle of Dogs, the southern English island provided unexpected shelter for the shuddering transformation into one-man band Puzzle Muteson. His grade-school music teacher was first to recognise his unrivalled vibrato, and a little while later a parade of chance and coincidence led him to inhabit Puzzle Muteson, and start shaping a body of songs. Puzzle has since toured Ireland and the U.K., opening up for the likes of The Fruit Bats, Death Vessel and Sub Pop darling Daniel Martin Moore.

After obsessively listening to Puzzle Muteson’s own raw tapes, producer- arranger duo Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nico Muhly nurtured the songs that now inhabit his debut recording En Garde, released via Valgeir’s Bedroom Community label. The record shimmers with the signature value of Puzzle’s collaborators who have previously worked with the likes of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Antony (& the Johnsons), Sam Amidon and many others.

Puzzle Muteson’s debut album, En Garde, is out via Bedroom Community on June 6th 2011 and is now available for download here: www.puzzlemuteson.bandcamp.com -

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David Thomas Broughton - Onwards We Trudge

David Thomas Broughton’s off-kilter folk is all about the slow-burn; coaxing melodies and oddly gorgeous vocals from a shuffling music box of acoustic guitars, looping pedals and bargain-bin drum machines. The result is tooth-achingly gorgeous. He has been lumped into the ‘freak-folk’ enclosure and in doing so shines amid the offerings of those traditionally proffered under this soft-centered appellation. Taking handsome dollops of Nick Drake, John Fahey and Antony and the Johnsons, Broughton’s quixotic touch is writ large above all his compositions. Broughton leads us in through some tip-toeing guitar loops that gradually unfurl into a pink-hued vocal that recalls Antony and the Johnson’s in its stark, alien delivery, whilst coming across as appealingly naïve, representing that fabled song-writing territory where the innovative does not overshadow the enjoyable - but instead coexists. Or something.

this-is-indie-rock:

Eddie Vedder - Longing To Belong

(Source: indie-rock-jukebox)

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Fools Gold - Street Clothes

For their self titled debut album LA collective Fools Gold were inspired everything from Eritrean pop, Ethiopean Soul and Tropicalia to the Smiths and Adam Ant. The live shows were incredibly energetic (how many bands have you seen that make the audience leap up from the floor?) and their videos were consistently hilarious. Remember ‘Surprise Hotel’?

And it sounds like they’re not changing tact on this new track. While ‘Street Clothes’ displays a little more of their love for out-and-out rocking, there’s still a lot of WOAHHHing and plenty of intriguing squelches and thumps. As frontman Luke Top sings “there’s no holding back”.

this-is-indie-rock:

Benjamin Francis Leftwich - Rebellion (Lies) (Arcade Fire Cover)

Acoustic troubadours are ten a-penny.

Sometimes it can seem like a surefire formula: buy acoustic guitar, borrow capo, grow beard, sing mournful songs. However few people focus as much on their songcraft as Benjamin Francis Leftwich.

Emerging last year, the young English talent released his debut EP ‘A Million Miles Out’. Charming one Jo Whiley, the BBC broadcaster pushed his music hard even making ‘Atlas Hands’ one of her top tracks for the year.

Since then, Benjamin Francis Leftwich has enjoyed a huge boost to his profile. Touring across the country, the singer has been able to explore his songcraft in front of a different audience each night.

Heading back into the studio, the songwriter began work on his debut album last year. Lead single ‘Box Of Stones’ is great first taste, all deftly picked acoustics, hushed tones and profoundly honest lyrics.

Debut album ‘Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm’ is a deeply impressive collective. Simple, stark and full of personality Benjamin Francis Leftwich has crafted something which appears to be deeply personal.

Caught in action on radio last year, Benjamin Francis Leftwich recorded a version of Arcade Fire’s ‘Rebellion (Lies)’. Stripping the song down to its essential core, the singer has managed to add his personality to such an iconic song.

(Source: indie-rock-jukebox)

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Echo Lake - Buried At Sea

this-is-indie-rock:

Phosphorescent - Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye (Leonard Cohen Cover)

Phosphorescent are streaming a special Leonard Cohen cover ahead of a new UK tour.

Led by Matthew Houck, Phosphorescent have lain in cult obscurity for too long. However last year’s ‘Here’s To Taking It Easy’ album has done much to bring the group kicking and screaming into the public gaze.

A wonderful example of Houck’s songwriting, the LP seemed to distil Phosphorescent’ appeal onto one disc. Since then, the group have been able to tour across North America and Europe before being invited to appear on Late Night with David Letterman.

Recently performing at Coachella, Phosphorescent are now focussing their attention on the UK. Arranging a number of British dates, the band have decided to give fans a taster of what to expect.

Recently releasing the ‘Ghost Lights’ live EP, the band recorded a cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’.

(via indie-rock-jukebox)

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Echo Lake - Sunday Evening

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Jessie J – Nobody’s Perfect

this-is-indie-rock:

Guards - Resolution Of One

(via indie-rock-jukebox)