Words – Jordan Shertock read more »

Anand Chalmers plays guitar for The Sparkling Arrest. This is the story of being in that band. Behind the mystery and granduer of rock’n'roll, there is an untold reality: one that involves the expiration date on a bottle of milk; excercise; talking to the neighbours. This is that story.

When we first got together and formed a band, we all mysteriously assumed, without really thinking about it, that our number one priority as a group was to make music. Of course, this state of delusion didn’t last long. I’ll admit we took longer than some, but eventually we saw the light. There were countless tasks that required our focus ahead of making music – The King himself, Elvis, went as far as to say: “I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.”

read more »

Words: Anand Chalmers

Image: Stereogum

Three albums into her career, and Joanna Newsom is more of a puzzle than ever. A classically trained harpist, her first album was filled almost exclusively with the instrument, backing her strange child-like voice. She referenced Narnia, and wrote some of the most imaginative and intricate lyrics ever put to song. Her vocals grew markedly better on her second album, Ys, and dense tapestries of string arrangements were threaded through her still ever-present harp. The album was a step in a more challenging direction, with songs of up to 16 minutes that wound intricately, without anything vaguely resembling traditional verse/chorus structures. read more »

Words: Ella Cole

Another group to add to the recent indie label fixation with beach bands, Beach House released their latest album “Teen Dream” last month. Beach House aren’t new to the genre though, Teen Dream is the third full-length recording from the Baltimore Duo. Since their self-titled debut album in 2006, the band have stayed true to their influences and instead of turning to electronic music like many indie bands before them, they have simply allowed for a crisper recording, consequently lending Teen Dream a more marketable sound than its predecessors.

Singer Victoria Legrand’s reverberated vocals echo along with Alex Scally’s typical surf rock sounding guitar, read more »

Words: Ella Cole
Photo: Brad Elterman

I was born into a musical family. I was raised on rock ‘n’ roll and punk music from a young age. In fact, I’m quite certain my mother took me along to gigs when I was still in her womb. I knew the words to Metallica’s Enter Sandman by age three, and took a liking to my father’s musician acquaintances in the nineties. I became accustomed to sleeping through loud music, whether it was at house parties or the local pub, and, by the age of six, I had consumed more raspberry lemonades, beer nuts and second hand smoke than most of my peers.

During school I remained resolute to my rock and roll read more »