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Julian Plenti

Julian Plenti Is Skyscraper

    Interpol's lead singer, lyricist and guitarist Paul Banks releases his debut solo album under the name Julian Plenti. Julian Plenti began composing music in 1996 in New York City. He first played solo acoustic shows in and around Manhattan, at venues like Tobacco Road, Pete's Candy Store, The Knitting Factory, The Living Room, and the Sidewalk Cafe's Wednesday Night Anti-hoot with Latch. In 2001, he stopped performing, though he continued writing and doing occasional engineering work, he essentially went on sabbatical until 2006 when he acquired Logic Pro, which allowed him to compose for multiple instruments and to create beats. The first step was to resurrect early acoustic work such as "Girl On The Sporting News", "On The Esplanade", "Fly As You Might" and "Fun That We Have" and to refurbish them with beats and string arrangements. The resulting recordings bred newer enthusiasms and were the catalyst for this record. "Skyscraper" was born. In the fall of 2008, Plenti went to the Seaside Lounge Studio in Brooklyn to work with studio co-owner and engineer - and college classmate - Charles Burst (former drummer of The Occasion and now a solo artist). Burst engineered much of the record and plays drums on a number of tracks. Session musicians were hired to perform the arrangements for strings and horns, and Plenti called on friends like Mike Stroud of Ratatat, Sam Fogarino of Interpol and Striker Manley of Stiff Jesus to contribute to tracks on the album.

    The New Pornographers

    Challengers

      "Challengers" continues The New Pornographer's signature multi-layered sound with greater epic sweep and wider sonic diversity. Less frenetically jaunty than its predecessors but still encapsulating pure summer joy, this album will impress the existing fans and convert the uninitiated. Recorded for the first time largely outside bassist John Collins' Vancouver JC/DC Studio, "Challengers" is their most organic-sounding record, reflecting a conscious decision to use less 'beepy synth' and almost entirely 'real' instruments (in addition to those listed above, they recruited an entire string section – who have played with Sufjan Stevens - plus harp, flute, and more).

      Yo La Tengo

      I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass

        Once again moving the bar for 'what can be done in just one record', no two songs sound the same. There's everything from epic soundscapes to jaunty popsongs, to gorgeous love songs with a few rock'n'roll numbers thrown in. All delivered with humour, a smattering of falsetto and a huge dose of that unique Yo La Tengo charm.

        Matmos

        The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast

          The new record by San Francisco duo Matmos. It is a series of 'sound portraits' of a pantheon of people that they admire; a musical attempt at biography. "The Rose Has Teeth In The Mouth Of A Beast" is loose in some places and very literal in others; taken as a suite of stylistically disparate songs, you get a kind of fractured family album, a historical pageant. It is at once Matmos' most melodic and most conceptual record. Matmos read the biographies and re-enacted events from their subjects' lives, making songs out of the sounds of the re-enactments. They gathered objects that were important to these people, made noises with them, and built melodies out of the noises, sometimes with just a tight focus on one detail and sometimes they revisit one event from their life. Sometimes they depict their subject abstractly. French horns, tuba, strings, harp, darbuka, voice, guitar, drums and synths are chopped into tricky rhythmic patterns and melodic motifs. It's a funkier, funnier affair than their last album, "The Civil War", but also a darker one.

          Interpol

          Antics

            Recorded with longtime associate Peter Katis, "Antics" is an optimistic exploration of the dark landscapes visited on Interpol's hugely successful debut "Turn On The Bright Lights". Some of Interpol's greatest songs are here: "Evil", "Take You On A Cruise", "Slow Hands" and "Not Even Jail" among them.

            Guided By Voices

            Human Amusements At Hourly Rates

              Specially priced thirty-two track "Best Of…" compiled by Guided By Voices mainman Bob Pollard. Pollard has recorded fourteen GBV albums, along with an idiosyncratic collection of solo records and side projects, to incredible critical acclaim. To help out the casual Guided By Voices fan, newbie, or even die-hard collector, GBV mainman Bob Pollard has lovingly compiled and sequenced the best songs from 1987 to 2003. Available at a price you can't refuse!

              Interpol

              Turn On The Bright Lights

                ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ is the seminal debut studio album by American post punk revival band Interpol.

                The album was originally released in August 2002 and was co-produced, mixed and engineered by Peter Katis and Gareth Jones.


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