48 INDIE / ROCK www.guestlist.net
ALBUM OF THE MONTH BEACH HOUSE - BLOOM
INDIE ARTIST OF THE MONTH FANG ISLAND
Issue 41 / 2012
Bloom maintains many of the hallmarks of the Beach House sound; lush soundscapes, elegant melodies, drum machine percussion, and androgynous vocals (it's a woman). However, Bloom features a more marked cohesion than their prior works, with much of the album being backed by the same dreamy reverb drone, glueing the album together as a project greater than the sum of its parts. The parts are, however, fantastic. The beautiful New Year could quite possibly be a contender for song of the year, while tracks like Lazuli experiment with dance music in a manner reminiscent of some of My Bloody Valentine's classic Loveless, which is clearly a huge influence on Beach House's sound. The album features neither any weak tracks nor any obvious singles, and thus
The Baltimore dream- pop duo are back with their fourth record after 2010's wonderful Teen Dream.
Brooklyn-based guitar rockers who are tons of fun!
Sometimes you just need some straight-up fun. Fang Island describe their sound as "everyone high-fiving each other", and their music is definitely some- thing to get you feeling good for a night out, rather than something to mope to. They have little in the way of lyrics or indeed much singing at all, preferring to communicate through manic instrument interplay. Often a fresh guitar lick will come in at the time 99% of bands would have had their singer take the
JULY RELEASES
INFAMOUS Abandon All Ships
(UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA)
SUMMER CAMP Always
(MOSHI MOSHI)
SERJ TANKIAN Harakiri
(WARNER BROS. RECORDS)
I CALL FIVES I Call Fives
(PURE NOISE RECORDS)
BURY TOMORROW The Union Of Crowns
(NUCLEAR BLAST)
SOUL ASYLUM Delayed Reaction
(429 RECORDS)
forefront, making their first album "Fang Island" rely on constant rhythm and texture changes, as well as making vocal lines a nice change when they do choose to implement them. Following the critical acclaim of their eponymous debut release, Fang Island are releasing their second album, entitled "Major" on July 24th, with a few great sounding tracks already out, Fang Island will be a welcome addition to any iTunes library.
PASSION PIT Gossamer
(FRENCHKISS RECORDS / COLUMBIA UK)
THE ANTLERS Undersea
(FRENCHKISS)
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM Handwritten
(MERCURY)
BLUR Blur 21 (box set)
(EMI)
THE TOADIES Play.Rock.Music
(KIRTLAND RECORDS)
FLOBOTS The Circle In The Square
(UNIVERSAL MUSIC AUSTRALIA PTY. LTD.)
