Sunday, April 17, 2016

Live: Ought @ An Club (Athens, April 12, 2016)


Yes! It is the simple yet powerful word that Tim Darcy repeats over and over again during the exquisite "Beautiful Blue Sky". This was also my immediate reaction when I heard the news that Ought were coming to play for the first time in Athens, just a few months after releasing the wonderful "Sun Coming Down", one of our Top 10 records of 2015.


The Montreal art-punk quartet completely justified our expectations by delivering a no-nonsense, powerful 60-minute set filled with great songs from both of their albums, the aforementioned "Sun Coming Down" and their 2014 debut "More Than Any Other Day".


"Pleasant Heart", "The Weather Song", "Men For Miles", "Sun's Coming Down", "Celebration", "(Are You) Gemini" were just a few of the highlights of Ought's performance that may bring to mind elements from various great bands of post-punk's glorious yesteryear (The Fall, Talking Heads, Modern Lovers, Pavement and so on), but it certainly has plenty of wit and personality to create an exciting sound they can call their own.


In a short period of time Ought have built a formidable body of songs, but I think there is no doubt as to what is their best moment so far and, of course, the absolute highlight of their live set: check out below "Beautiful Blue Sky" from their performance at An Club:

Ought - Beautiful Blue Sky, live @ An Club (Athens, April 12, 2016)

The Cave Children from Athens, who made their debut last year with the album "Quasiland", opened the night with a brief set that comprised psychedelic, progressive and indie pop elements.

The Cave Children, live @ An Club (Athens, April 12, 2016)
Although small in scale, this was certainly the first great gig in Athens for 2016, a year which, to put it mildly, did not have the best of starts, but promises to pick up the pace in late May - early June  when we are expecting festival appearances by some great names including PJ Harvey, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Slowdive, Black Angels, Diiv, Daughter, The Last Shadow Puppets and more. Summer's almost here kids...


Ought, live @ An Club

Sunday, April 03, 2016

New Releases: March 2016

Round-up of the most interesting releases of March 2016:

Albums

POLIÇA - United Crushers
THAO AND THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN - A Man Alive
HERON OBLIVION - Heron Oblivion
BOB MOULD - Patch the Sky
PRIMAL SCREAM - Chaosmosis
THE CORAL - Distance Inbetween
LA SERA - Music For Listening to Music to
WHITE DENIM - Stiff
ROBERT POLLARD - Of Course You Are 
IGGY POP - Post Pop Depression 
GLITTERBUST - Glitterbust
THE THERMALS - We Disappear
BIG UPS - Before A Million Universes
WUSSY - Forever Sounds 
FUTURE OF THE LEFT - The Peace and Truce of Future Of The Left
UNDERWORLD - Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future
KENDRICK LAMAR - Untitled Unmastered
FATIMA AL QADIRI - Brute 
THE KVB - Of Desire
THE JOY FORMIDABLE - Hitch
ERIC BACHMANN - Eric Bachmann
DAMIEN JURADO - Visions of Us on the Land
MARGO PRICE - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
PRINCE RAMA - Xtreme Now
CULLEN OMORI - New Misery
NADA SURF - You Know Who You Are
JENNIFER O'CONNOR - Surface Noise
NIGHT MOVES - Pennied Days
METHYL ETHEL - Oh Inhuman Spectacle
THE GOON SAX - Up to Anything
ROLLING BLACKOUTS COASTAL FEVER - Talk Tight
BITCHIN' BAJAS AND BONNIE PRINCE BILLY - Epic Jammers and Fortunate Little Ditties
M WARD - More Rain
MARK WYNN - The Singles
LUH - Spiritual Songs for Lovers to Sing
HAELOS - Full Circle
EMMY THE GREAT - Second Love
YUCK - Stranger Things
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY - The Wilderness
RJD2 - Dame Fortune
MODERAT - III (Moderat)
BIBIO - A Mineral Love
YETI LANE - L'Aurore
FLATBUSH ZOMBIES - 3001: A Laced Odyssey
DOMO GENESIS - Genesis

Singles & EPs 

PRIMAL SCREAM - Where the Lights Gets In
THE BIG PINK - Empire Underground EP
AUTOLUX - SoftScene
GUN OUTFIT - TwoWay Player EP
SPRING KING - Rectifier
OSCAR - Sometimes
THE LUCID DREAM - Bad Texan EP
SHEER MAG - III
FAKE BOYFRIEND - Mercy EP
THEE JEZEBELS - Mover and a Groover EP
COWTOWN - Castleman
PHONOPHOBES - No Flavour
CATHOLIC ACTION - L.U.V
SHARK TOYS / UV TV - Split
THOMAS COHEN - Bloom Forever
RAT BOY - Move
AMNESIA SCANNER - AS EP
LUH - I and I
BABEHEAVEN - Heaven / Friday Sky
XYLAROO - Sunshine
EASY KILL - Sermons EP
DREAM WIFE - EP1
DAY WAVE - Headcase / Hard To Read
SUNSTACK JONES - Lighthouse / Cold Heart

Thao And The Get Down Stay Down - Astonished Man