Devin Therriault is hung up on love, apparently. There are so many albums written about relationships and heartbreak, and all that other stuff, that to stand out, an artist really must have something unique to say. Therriault may not be the most origin …

It’s tempting, when on the first listen of an eagerly-awaited album, to say that it’s the best thing a band have done. This sort of knee-jerk reaction works both ways: it can either hold up upon further listens; or it can prove to be misguided. I’ve ha …

The last time I was in Whelans, it was to see We Were Promised Jetpacks; I remark, once I get settled in for the Simone Felice Group’s show, that the atmosphere couldn’t be any more different now. For one thing, it is an all-seated gig; and for another …

  ‘Big Music’ is often used as a derogatory term, used to describe bands who write the sort of songs destined for stadia that have all been done before and mostly done better. In the case of Irish act The Plea, however, it describes their music pe …

We all have bands we loved who split. This Et Al were one of mine, and the unexpected nature of the announcement of their break-up was made all the more shocking by the fact that they had released their best material to date – the masterful Figure Eigh …

I find it slightly amusing that, to some, Anathema are still considered a metal band. They can’t seem to shake off their past, even though they haven’t produced music that could be described as metal of any sort in about fifteen years. The Liverpool-ba …

Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown are dead; long live Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug’s boundless creativity. The former’s shifted his focus towards Handsome Furs, who released the predictably excellent Sound Kapital last year; the latter, meanwhile, quietl …

To borrow from the band themselves, the a capella section on ‘Jupiter’, the closing track from the Futureheads’s last album, ‘The Chaos’, really was ‘the beginning of the twist’. In hindsight, people should have foreseen them doing an album like ‘Rant’ …

Here at Echoes and Dust, we’re big fans of inventiveness in music. We also like Maps and Atlases quite a bit. So, when we were offered the chance to interview them ahead of the release of their rather special second album (or ‘sophomore album’ as they …

I have one major issue with this album. It has nothing to do with it not being good; it is very good, and in fact, it is flat-out sublime. The major issue I have with this album is that its creators have made my ‘job’ difficult. As a reviewer, I’m obli …

Sometimes, it matters not whether it’s been done before, just that it can be done again and done better. Indie-rock bands are ten-a-penny these days: some an unfortunate by-product of the ‘landfill indie’ movement that heralded the supposed ‘death of g …

Andrew Bird’s latest album ‘Break It Yourself’ sees the Chicago multi-instrumentalist return after his soundtrack for the film ‘Norman’. As usual, the Suzuki-trained Bird performs his usual array of sounds from afropop to indie; and blues to folk by wa …

Ross Breen Little xs for Eyes Gabriel & the Hounds David C. Clements Rae Morris Leaders of Men — No disrespect to the other artists who were on the bill for this show, but I had not originally come to this showcase to review them. Last Sunday’s sh …

Maps and Atlases are, from the first, one of those bands who defy description of any sort. Their mix of folk and polyrhythmic beats coupled with anything else they feel like throwing in makes any review of their music a challenge in itself. Having been …

Writing music as catharsis isn’t a new thing by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes its creators are left with little choice. Kurt Wagner was left completely devastated by the suicide of his fellow musician and close friend, Vic Chesnutt, on …

There are a lot of things I’ve done at gigs. For instance, due to me having a naturally nervous disposition, there have been a few times when I’ve almost gotten sick from nerves before going on stage. I’ve only played a handful (less than 30 or so over …

Last Saturday night in Melbourne you could see four bands playing some of the best progressive experimental, instrumental rock that’s being played anywhere right now; all for the price of a couple of beers (or a ticket from a Melbourne parking meter). …

‘… We sequenced the entire album before I tackled the lyrics, which was a new process for us.’ This is what Cursive’s frontman, Tim Kasher, told me in my interview with him a few weeks back. ‘New processes’ are all over the band’s forthcoming seventh …

I have to confess that I am a bit of a fanboy when it comes to Scottish musicians and bands. My fascination with all things Scottish began with Fish and Marillion (and Fish solo) in my teens, then bands like Teenage Fanclub in my early adult years, and …

Four years. That’s how long we’ve waited for a proper new album from Nada Surf. Since then, the band have released one covers album, the palindromically-titled (and rather marvellous) ‘If I Had A Hi-Fi’, but the one thing everyone’s wanted the most is …