Liars
After eight years of making music all over the world, Liars are now five albums in, with the recent release of Sisterworld (Mute, 2010). Angus Andrew (vocals/guitar), Aaron Hemphill (guitar, synth) and Julian Gross (drums) have finally settled as a crew in Los Angeles, where they continue to inspire, persevere and surprise the listener with musical sounds always ahead of their time. A ‘SUP favorite, and one of the only bands we’ve interviewed more than once (in fact, three times now), we thought it was time to show Liars even more love. (More …)
Nicolas Jaar
Even though I lived in New York from 2000 to 2005 right down the street from Wolf + Lamb HQ, I never actually made it to one of their parties. I always meant to, but usually by the time I was rolling home at 7 a.m., the last thing on my mind was more partying. Those infamous nights are still going, and in the last year, Wolf + Lamb are proving to be one of the most interesting new dance music labels around. (More …)
These New Puritans
These New Puritans make music that is breathtaking, challenging, brutal and precise. Music that is at once somber and uplifting, new and old and with the power to perplex and enlighten in harmony. Not a bad combo, really. There aren’t too many bands around these days citing both Steve Reich and Britney Spears as influences, but These New Puritans’ sophomore album, Hidden (Angular/Domino, 2010), does just that. Erudite and eager, these four young musicians are sonic hijackers for a permissive generation. (More …)
Saint Vitus
“Every time I’m on the street
People laugh and point at me
They talk about my length of hair
And the out of date clothes I wear
(More …)
Light Asylum
It would be unfair to place Light Asylum, the duo of Shannon Funchess and Bruno Coviello, within the current darkwave revivial Brooklyn has been enjoying for the last year or so. There are shared affinities to be sure; Depeche Mode, the Psychedelic Furs, the forever ubiquitous Joy Division. But while many of their contemporaries make do aping the sounds and gestures of past luminaries, Light Asylum create new visions from reference. Their sound, and their songs, are entirely their own. (More …)
Liturgy
On Halloween 2009, Liturgy played Bushwick, Brooklyn’s Market Hotel to a packed house of costumed revelers, including one perfect Lil’ Kim pastie outfit replica. A few days later, ’SUP spoke to frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, drummer Greg Fox, bassist Tyler Dusenbury and guitarist Bernard Gann in Hunt-Hendrix’s home, just a few blocks away. The house is a rambling Victorian, one of the few houses left standing from when Bushwick was a place for the mansions of rich beer brewers around the turn of last century. (More …)
Gold Panda
Musicians on tour in Japan don’t get any more ambassadorial than Gold Panda. A Londoner who learned Japanese at the prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies, ’SUP caught up with the golden one – Derwin to his pals – during a brace of shows in the country that’s fascinated him since childhood. The British Council even organized an event out there in his honor, while another grand British institution, the BBC, named him in their influential Sounds of 2010 list. (More …)
Comanechi
Growing up on separate sides of the world didn’t stop Japanese-born drummer/vocalist Akiko Matsuura and Serbian-bred guitarist Simon Petrovitch from having the same record collections. Comanechi formed in 2005 in East London’s Dalston neighborhood. They’ve been on the scene for all of five years (having played in 2006 at ’SUP’s old monthly party at the Old Blue Last) but just recently experienced a burst of media attention. (More …)
Slow Club
I first came across Sheffield’s Slow Club, a.k.a. Becky Taylor and Charles Watson, nearly three years ago. It was a fateful day, as I was dragged across Bestival wearing a white shell suit and in a “festival-day-three” haze by a friend to the Radio 1 New Music tent to check out this ‘Tilly And The Wall-like duo, who play chairs, bottles of water and extremely good, folky music.’ Unfortunately, I spoiled the atmosphere when Becky asked the crowd to say something nice to the person standing next to them, by shouting out a particularly disgusting statement that my friend and I had seen emblazoned across a girl’s T-shirt earlier that day. (More …)
Matias Aguayo
While Matias Aguayo has a relatively slim solo discography (he’s put out two albums and a handful of 12-inches over the past five years), you’ll find that within mere minutes of meeting the man or just listening to any of his output, every ounce of essence is music. He walks with a nonchalant rhythm you can almost hear: He gesticulates with the experienced energy of a conductor; he strings words and sentences together with the improvisational fluidity of a weathered jazz musician and he dynamically converses with an enchanting bounce as though he’s playing a game of verbal volleyball. (More …)
