Tag: communion

Slow Fiction Share Apollo

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Brooklyn based outfit Slow Fiction made a strong impression on me right around this time last year with the release of their debut EP paired with some stellar SXSW performances last March. While band activity and news was limited since the spring, you had to think it meant they were hard at work on new material during the quiet period. Sure enough, news just came through that Slow Fiction have signed to the London based label So Young Records and will be releasing a follow up EP sometime this year. As we wait for a release date on the EP, the band has dropped this new single called “Apollo,” which is sure to wet your appetite for new material. It has a Strokes style NYC inspiration and can groove with the best of them while still having that haunting Slow Fiction sound.

Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming EP as it comes in.

Lewsberg Announce Out and About

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If you have not purchased your tickets for the Lewsberg train, might we invite you to grab one now, as they’re sure to be one of your favorite bands…plus it’ll make you feel cool for telling your friends you were into it first. Anyways, the Dutch band announce their new LP Out and About today, dropping mixes of two of the tracks that will appear on the record. “Without a Doubt” has this spritely nature to it, just shuffling in the mix as the vocals keep things joyously grounded; it’s the precise brand of no-rock pop that the group excels at crafting. Meanwhile “Communion” feels like a pastor’s sermon delivered by someone who grew up listening to all those early Flying Nun records. Can’t say enough wonderful words about this group; Out and About is out in September; self-released, but US folks can order through 12XU.

Soundtrack Of Our Lives – Communion

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tsool2009Rating: ★★★☆☆

The 24 songs that make up Communion, the sixth LP (a double album) by stalwart Swedish throwback rockers The Soundtrack Of Our Lives (TSOOL), clock in at more than an hour-and-a-half. In theory, (and given the immediacy of modern acquiring and listening habits), the very notion of the double album is not only outdated, but a pompous statement of intent.

While there seems no discernible concept running through Communion that facilitates its length, it’s no small feat that the album coalesces as a whole. More than that, its songs offer enough surprises – and subtlety – to not just invite the listener, but warrant repeated exploration.

Splitting the difference between raucous Who-style garage jams (“Universal Stalker,” “Distorted Child”), and melodic Kinks and Sgt. Peppers-influenced songs (“Thrill Me,” “Pictures of Youth,” “Flipside”), Communion manages to maintain an identity of its own without too egregiously displaying its influences. At times TSOOL can sound a little too close to current bands mining the same rock history territory, (“Babel On” and “RA 88” are dead ringers for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) and the nod to their friends in Oasis – or The Bees (adept in their own right at delving fully into the past – is evident on “Flipside.”

But despite its pomp, and the debts it owes, the distortion-soaked “Saturation,” and the delicate “Pineal Gland Hotel” and “Without Warning,” among others, show moments of clear, singular beauty. With an album this long there are bound to be throwaways, but rather than focusing on the occasional missteps, Communion is a rare treat: an album that warrants a start-to-finish listen, no matter how long the trip.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/the-soundtrack-of-our-lives-flipside.mp3]

Download: The Soundtrack of Our Lives – Flipside [MP3]

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