Since 2009 and with a sound that spans influences as diverse as country, rock and Americana, The Mallett Brothers Band have cemented a reputation both within their native Maine and across the United States as a critically acclaimed band with a reputation for great live shows.
Rock trio DMA’s have garnered considerable attention over the past year, both in their native Australia and, increasingly, abroad.
DMA’s Johnny Took recently took time out to talk with GasCan’s Evan Kanarakis about the band’s origins, their music and where exactly the road ahead may lead…
Portland, Maine's An Overnight Low has a new record coming out in November. Chad Walls, the band's songwriter, envisioned a three album set bound by the topic of travel during a nine hour wait at Heathrow. This one, Piccadilly, is the penultimate release. This disc features the same producer, Jonathan Wyman, as well as a long guest list of Maine musicians. The single, Magellan with a Timetable, bursts in at a healthy clip before it washes into a Byrds-like chorus. It's one of those tracks that feels familiar before you know the words. It reminds me of those old Cracker CDs: you're inspired to mime the words before you…
Scotland is a hell of place if you love music (and whiskey) without pretense. So many artists, so many radically different sounding artists: Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Arab Strap and Belle & Sebastien. Hell, even the Bay City Rollers. They might share a homeland but that's about it. We Were Promised Jetpacks--like The Twilight Sad and Frightened Rabbit--are the inheritors of this iconoclastic tradition. Their 2009 release "These Four Walls" was a remarkable freshman record that evoked the arty roughness of their post-punk forebears Josef K, The Prats and The Fire Engines. I still listen to that album. Strand me on an…
Being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship - only you're
dealing with multiple people, not just two.
Euston is the first in a three-part series of albums from Maine’s An Overnight Low, each release to be named after U.K train stations (Piccadilly and Waverley are forthcoming), and inspired by main songwriter Chad Walls’ experiences living and traveling throughout the United Kingdom while completing his Doctorate at the University of Manchester. You can hear a mélange of rich influences here (perhaps most notably R.E.M in the opener, ‘The Artist in the Wrong World’), but the skillful folk-pop sensibilities of Walls and his talented group of fellow musicians (including Jonathan Wyman, Mac Coldwell, Chris White and Holly Nunan) are…
By the own artist’s admission, Morning Phase is very much a ‘companion piece’ to Beck’s stirring 2002 LP Sea Change. True enough, much of the same band returned for this recording, his first in six years- notably Beck’s own father David Campbell, whose string arrangements feature prominently. The album will please fans of Sea Change. This is mellow, slow tempo music tinged with sadness (as on ‘Blue Moon’, where Beck asks, ‘cut me down to size so I can fit inside’). Yet this is more melodic and not nearly as mournful as Sea Change, and Beck’s return to his singer-songwriter…
Adam Granduciel and his bandmates haven’t just hit a home run with Lost In The Dream, they’ve undoubtedly released one of the best albums of the year. Produced over a two-year period and inspired by Granduciel’s own battles with depression, there is undoubtedly a slight sense of uneasiness that lingers here, but the refashioning of classic and, in particular, 80’s rock, is inspired. No doubt some of the album owes a debt to a certain gent by the name of Bruce Springsteen (‘Burning’ would slot into the track listing of Born in the U.S.A with ease), but you can also…
Vancouver’s White Lung are back with their third release, Deep Fantasy, a ferocious and frenetic punk rock race that effectively captures the energy of the band’s live work. There’s zero let-up from start to finish as the album sprints in with ten tracks in less than twenty-five minutes, but this is more than frontwoman Mish Way screaming her head off to three cord compositions. White Lung know a catchy hook when they find one (consider the addictive grunt of ‘Just For You’), and aren’t afraid of playing with melody (‘Down It Goes’). The closer, ‘In Your Home’, perhaps hints at…
On a roll from two previous albums that already garnered rave reviews (2011’s Strange Mercy and her 2012 collaboration with David Byrne, Love This Giant) Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, now returns with what is undoubtedly her best effort yet. This is confident, ambitious work, drawing the listener in with a distinct blend of what one could almost describe as ‘prog pop.' Clark’s considerable guitar skills play a prominent role throughout, but she has brought together a broad variety of instruments with a dash of electronica to craft her at times quite complex arrangements. But despite her experimental nature, from…
