Search dance music

Review: Legendary emo indie outfit The Cure have played all over the world in their decorated careers but back in 1996 when they headed to Brazil, it was the first time they had been to the country since 1988. They were there for the 1996 edition of the Hollywood Rock Festival which they headlined in superb fashion and wowed their Latin American fans. Live Lullabies & Other Bedtime Stories is a special recording of that night that comes on nice yellow vinyl and features the likes of signature anthems like 'Boys Don't Cry,' 'Friday I'm In Love,' 'Just Like Heaven' and many more.

Review: Lo Moon's I Wish You Way More Than Luck presents a landscape of lush melodies and atmospheric layers. While the album showcases the band's penchant for slow-building intros and dreamy soundscapes, that rewards patience listeners. 'Water' stands out as a refreshing departure, with its immediate presence and energetic vibe, encapsulating the album's titular message with conviction. Despite the album's tendency towards extended intros and gradual crescendos, tracks like 'Evidence' resonate deeply with their melancholic undertones. Ultimately, while Lo Moon's sophomore release offers moments of brilliance, it may shine most with people who like their music with a lot of depth. A pop album with depth that may surprise most.

Review: Molchat Doma are one of the global music phenomenons of our time. The Belarusian trio first started causing a small stir among the kind of circles that actively hunt out Belarusian synth bands. That grew into widespread rumblings throughout the underground, driven by online shares as much as play on independent radio stations. Skip forward again, and the outfit can claim true viral sensation status, having conquered tastemakers and social networks across the world. Monument is their third album, and was largely written during Covid-19 quarantine in their hometown, Minsk. Again, it's an evolutionary thing. Post-punk vies for your attention next to synth pop, cold wave, New Wave and romantic electronica. Calling to mind, at various points, The Cure, Depeche Mode and Joy Division, among others, nevertheless those comparisons don't feel fair - the work here is fresher feeling and, ultimately, removed from the North Atlantic hegemony, so it should be analysed in that context.

Review: The Cure are one of those bands everyone should know, and do their best to try and see. With their roots in what was a nascent post punk sound, they quickly - like album two, quickly - turned to a darker, altogether weirder and artsier hybrid New Romantic sound before introducing clear pop sensibilities a little later. You can't help but feel they've carved out a completely unique place for themselves in the pantheons as a result. Of course, that's in retrospect and13 studio albums, 30 singles, and 30million unit sales later. But, as this collection of live recordings for broadcasting icon John Peel's BBC radio shows proves, even in their earliest incarnation there was something very different about Robert Smith and comrades. There's not a lot more that needs to be said, really. Perhaps aside from 'buy it'.

Review: While Morrissey's outlandish opinions these days might have done plenty to denigrate his own personal legend status amongst fans, what he did with The Smiths will live in musical history forever. A Charming Man In Amsterdam is a concert that was arranged in order to mark the 50th anniversary of a Dutch magazine, Vinyl (imagine that happening today!). It was the iconinc Manchester band's first ever show in the Netherlands and they serve up a set revolving around their eponymous debut album and early singles, with 'Miserable Lie', 'I Don't Owe You Anything' and 'These Things Take Time' sounding particularly grand.

Review: "No-one knew the songs or what the plan was. We kept it loose and fun. This was the spirit of the sessions. No headphones, no playback, minimal overdubs, or bleed. Fast and loose," says Sam Evian of his latest record, the first to grace his new imprint, Thirty Tigers. If that's not enough to make you balk with jealously at not being invited, then the idea of Big Thief's Adrian Lenker and Sufjan Stevens, among others, debasing to Evian's house in the Catskills to examine a revamped studio, complete with vintage tape deck and console, then going wild swimming at midnight, just as snow fell, might seal the deal. The following day, work began on Plunge, a record with no real fixed direction or plan. In the end, it will - or, at least, it should - be remembered among Evian's finest offerings. A stunning collection of folk-leaning rock 'n' roll, Americana and jangly indie, you can almost smell upstate New York.

Review: Something in the Eastern European house and dance music proclivity has always struck us as enduringly authentic, perhaps due to its interest in folk music fusions; the label Sad Fun have surely played a key part in doling out this impression. Now they offer their latest addition to the fantasy with a label-described "true Estonian lowkey gem" in the form of duo Ajukaja & Edith Karlson, aka. Vana, whose combined efforts frankly, dustily and ironically toy with the pop music cliches native to their homeland. A-and-B-siders 'Vimme Ratsu' and 'Kuu Maa' are said to rework an '80s Estonian coastal folk-pop favourite and perform a "pseudo-reggae" pastiche respectively. Both have that effortless murmured charm on the vocals, recalling a nostalgic time of European make-do, A10-mic-from-the-junk-store, bottle episodic, rickety recorded goodness.

Review: Almost two full decades into their curious career, slacker-psych experimentalists The Pheromoans have never been ones to shy away from the esoteric or mundane. Led by the droll, deadpan delivery and unique world view of primary songwriter Russell Walker, LP number 13 sees the collective lean ever further into topical malaise whilst honing their fuzzed out, post-college-rock jangles into their most digestible and direct form yet. With the title Wyrd Psearch, Walker takes direct aim "at the ubiquity of people claiming things are eerie or weird/wyrd in the present cultural milieu", while the word-search artwork is intended to highlight our cultures' obsessive search for meaning in an increasingly illogical world. Twinkling no wave riffs, glistening synth lines and muted requests to loved ones requesting their presence on a trip to town to reup on prescription meds.

Review: A third album of wonderfully intimate, idiosyncratic songwriting from multi-instrumentalist Stephen Gilchrist - formerly the Stuffy in the much loved Stuffy & The Fuses - in his Stephen EvEns guise. The name may be singular, but from the choir of voices singing the opening tune 'A Song For Europe' to the child's voice at the end of seafaring epic 'Hello Salty Salty', this is very much a community effort and feels like it, with Stephen's core collaborators Jimi Scandal (guitar) and Crompton Whesp (drums) joined by guests like former Curve/Echobelly bassist Debbie Smith, longtime Cardiacs keyboard player William D Drake and Hurtling/My Bloody Valentine guitarist and keyboard player Jen Macro. The mood palate is on just as grand a scale as the personnel list, from the Nick Drake-style acoustic guitar/strings interplay of 'Firefly' to the beefy hip-hop backbeat of 'BBQ Head & 7 Bells', a two part track, the first half dedicated to the joys of cooking in the garden, the second about paranoia and the threat of violence. Elements of psychedelia, some gorgeous analogue synth tones, a penchant for a quirky time signature and/or arrangement all add to what's already a very tasty concoction that anyone with an ear for a tenacious earworm or two will love.

Review: Although it didn't make huge waves commercially on its initial release in the early 90s, East Village's sole album, Drop Out, has long been considered a cult classic by observers of British indie music in the pre-Britpop era. Listening back three decades on, it's easy to see why. The band's sound was simultaneously nostalgic and contemporary, combining wide-eyed late 60s psychedelic pop flavours, minor chord-heavy 80s alternative jangliness and nods to soul-inspired Mod stompers with the distinctively loose, funky and loved-up MDMA-pop so beloved of indie bands at the turn of the 90s. This anniversary reissue does a great job in celebrating both band and album, with the original ten-track set coming with a bonus disc of singles and alternative versions. Throw in on-point sleeve notes by Jon Savage and you have an irresistible package.

Review: Georgian pioneer George Dzodzuashvili has been away for eight years but now makes a triumphant if not overdue return as Post Industrial Boys. The record on Casa Voyager finds him tapping into his most personal work yet as he opens up a whole new musical universe that is packed with memories of yesteryear. Even though you didn't experience them, they feel so real here as they are bought to life by Dzodzuashvili with his slow motion dub grooves and wispy melodies. The spoken word snippets and whispered poems all conjure up rich feelings that warm you to your core and help you forget the grown up world around you.

Review: Medway's garage rock king Allan Crockford has credits flittering all the way back to the 80's including the likes of The Prisoners, Billy Childish's Thee Headcoats, The Solarflares, and even the OG line-up of the James Taylor Quartet, to name but a handful. Keeping sharp and busy, however, The Galileo 7 serves as his own passion project; melding 60s mod-beat garage rock with jangling psychedelic pop, leading to a sonic bickering between anthemic hooks and fuzzed out, twinkling guitar lines. Following two exceptional full-lengths released through Damaged Goods; 2017's Tear Your Minds Wide Open! and 2019's There Is Only Now, the collective return after a half-decade of respite to deliver another batch of lysergic, hazy power pop goodness, intended for the wannabe mod/hippie in all of us.

Review: Following on from their widely acclaimed album Afraid To Leave, Berlin's beautiful maudlin post-punk outfit Bleib Modern presents a compilation of remixes and reworks by esteemed artists from across darkwave, post-punk, and EBM. From IV Horsemen's club-worthy rendition of 'Bitter Smile' to M!R!M's dreamy synthpop take on 'Into The Night' via Dune Messiah's crooning 'Loony Voices, 2 Afraid 2 Leave: Remixed Reimaged Reloaded Part 2 offers truly diverse interpretations. With contributions from luminaries like The KVB and Blind Delon, it provides a fresh perspective on Bleib Modern's sound and serves as an exciting interlude that showcases the band's versatility and paves the way for future creations