Formed in 2009, Popstrangers started off as a low-profile local Auckland band fueled by a dislike for their day jobs and a passion for playing music. Very quickly, however, the noisy psych-pop trio found its footing: A nationwide band competition landed them a coveted slot at Auckland's 2010 Big Day Out fest, and they released two EPs by the end of 2010.
Still, this forward momentum wasn't without its setbacks. A record deal with legendary… more »
[Although he had already released two full-lengths as Cloud Nothings, neither of them offered even the slightest hint of the full-bore raging-guitar panic attack that Dylan Baldi would unleash on Attack on Memory. Recorded with Steve Albini in Chicago, the record was a '90s-emo fever dream, howling guitars stumbling over toppling percussion and a freaked-out Baldi shredding his vocal chords at the top of the pile. eMusic's Brian Raftery talked with Baldi in January about… more »
D.I.Y. and hi-fi have rarely gone hand in hand. From the muscular crackle of Black Flag to the basement anthems of Guided by Voices, the sound of indie rock has long been the proudly noisy product of four walls and a four-track recorder. As laptops have replaced boomboxes, the aesthetic has endured, with bands embracing digital fuzz as a signal of both outsider cool and a thin wallet.
But with the late-2000s lo-fi boom that launched… more »
The first HUGE new release day of 2012, so strap in and get ready for a pretty comprehensive rundown! Dave Sumner's got your jazz picks, and I've got the rest. Here we go!
Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory: ALBUM OF THE DAY. Dylan Baldi grows up in a nanosecond, making a snarling rock record that hurtles forward with the speed and fury of a meteor. The sonic touchstones here are '90s emo greats like Jawbreaker, the… more »
One of both the strange upsides and unfortunate downsides of South by Southwest is that it seems to take place in a vacuum - for a week straight, the world is reduced to the intersection of 6th Street and Red River in Austin, and it's easy to pretend there is little happening outside it. Occasionally, though, reality intervenes: This year's festival happened in the shadow of global catastrophe - the tsunami and subsequent nuclear instability… more »