One of the many privileges and occasional disorientations of working for a monthly music mag is that we hear some music so far ahead of release that it can be easy to forget when the albums actually come out. So while the world of Ty Segall-related projects might have moved on here to the monstrous Wand album (out on Segall's God imprint in late August), it's instructive to remember that Segall's own "Manipulator", which we've had for a while, isn't out 'til then, either.
Singing sisters' major-label debut is a glittering folk-pop tapestry of Scandi-angst...
When they first started releasing music six years ago, teenage Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg named their band in acknowledgement of the healing power of song. On their third album the pair sound in need of a dose of their own medicine. The emotions driving these ten tracks are as troubled and uncertain as the music is gloriously resolved.
One of the highlights of Dave Alvin’s last solo album, 2011’s Eleven Eleven, was a track called “What’s Up With Your Brother?”, a droll blues about Dave’s famously fractious relationship with his brother, Phil, that ended hilariously with them having the kind of argument that put paid to The Blasters, the band they were in together before fraternal tensions drove them into a ditch. They split in 1985, after just five albums. While Dave became dedicated to life as a hard travelling road dog, Phil completed a master’s degree in mathematics and artificial intelligence.
