Dead Oceans US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Phoebe Bridgers' critically acclaimed and fan approved alternative indie long player Punisher has four tunes from it reversioned on this great new 12". Arranger Rob Moose is the man doing it having worked with Sufjan Stevens, The National, Bon Iver and may others. What he brings is a luscious new sound with majestic, sweeping new orchestral arrangements that bring new perspective to one of last year's best records. This one is sure to win as many new fans as it will please the old ones.

Review: If you weren't already in love with Conor Oberst (with or without Bright Eyes) then this special outing on Dead Oceans is sure to change that tune, perhaps almost as much as the band changed theirs for a good proportion of the tracks on here. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning was the outfit's landmark sixth studio album, unveiled in 2005 on the same day as their seventh LP, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn (how's that for confidence?) and is also available in a new issue today.
Sticking with what is essentially a side note on the era that birthed those records-proper, here Bright Eyes go all out on reworking Digital Ash tracks, retaining the sweetness of the first incarnations, but adding a sense of mayhem, chaos, and outright deviance to the score. The result is folk, boozy, woozy, and heady stuff. A little like walking into a bar on a cold winter's night to find familiar friends in full song.

Review: Through his work with revivalist soul band the Indications, Durand Jones has already proved that he's a serious talent - a vocalist and lyricist whose impressive range and impassioned, emotive delivery mark him out as a genuine star in the making. Wait Till I Get Over, his debut solo album, will only enhance his reputation. Framed as a love letter to his hometown of Hillaryville, with thoughtful lyrics that reflect not only on his own intriguing life story but also the history of the town's black community, the collected songs veer from string-laden, socially conscious ballads and fuzzy rhythm & blues workouts, smoky slow jams, nods to Sly Stone and righteous, reverb-laden gospel winners.

Review: Durand Jones and drummer Aaron Frazer front The Indications. The band aren't looking backwards when making music, but they do channel the likes of Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, and the Impressions. Their sound is steeped in golden strings and dreamy early 70s soul. Their second album furthers that with a very present lyrical mindset and slew of influences from years spent crate-digging. As likely to pull their influences from '70s folk-rock or some classic R&B as they are Nas' most iconic album, Illmatic, The Indications has nailed it with this one.

Review: RECOMMENDED
The remix album is probably pretty hard to crack in terms of putting it together. On the one hand, you want a broad selection of producers to take the work and make it new again. But there's also a very real risk of winding up with a bunch of random tracks with no real coherent thread to ensure the LP is actually going to get enough people buying to warrant engineering, mastering, and pressing costs.

Khruangbin have certainly cracked it with these takes on tracks from their most recent and perhaps most lush long form outing to date. We have sophisticated micro house, percussive slo-mo disco, slick-to-the-touch downbeat grooves and surrealist pop, all of which work both individually and together, the result being a record that not only knows its own mind, it can easily convince others, too.

Review: Sometimes it's just too difficult to contain our excitement; we're quaking in our boots at news of Khruangbin's next release, with the Texan three-piece this time lending their alt-indie-funk mastery to vocal frontage by Leon Bridges. The humorously titled lead single 'B-side' is emblematic of their stated aim here - to redefine "how people perceive Texas music i that beautiful marriage of country and r'n'b i and really paying homage to that." The sonic result? Bubbling bass and wahhy riffs, over a ghostly and misty relaxers' beat. Its hook digs into our thighs deeper than a Sheriff's steel spurs, and fittingly, it's music video is themed after a 19th Century western town.

Review: Considering the most she's ever been guilty of is writing soft but super emotional folk-leaning indie rock, Fenne Lily has proven remarkably divisive over the past half decade or so. 2018's debut, On Hold, seemed to split critics down the middle, some lauding praise on the release while others wrote it off as sad girl songs lacking the ingredients to truly stand out.
In reality, all negative thoughts were really the result of one thing - the incredible hype that was surrounding the Bristol songwriter ahead of that first LP. Five years on, and with more records behind her, it's safe to say the haters lost and she definitely won: Big Picture is a confident and committed testament to the fact that she is incredibly talented, packing real impact behind those whispered words and, for the most part, gently plucked six strings.

Review: Laurel Hell is a superb statement of intent from Mitski which confirms the artist is in a place of real power. Her talents work alchemic charms on listeners from the off despite being couched, ostensibly, in pop music. It features her channelling plenty of personal life experiences into cathartic music with which we can all connect. I wrote what I needed to hear," Mitski has explained o the album which follows up her availed last LP, Be The Cowboy, itself building on her breakout debut Puberty 2 in 2006. This one proves she remains a vital talent.

Review: Five years after their debut album made big moves back in 2018, and two after its successor Drunk Tank Pink re-invented them as proper highbrow new wavers, Shame are back with their third Food For Worms. It's tinged with a certain sense of morbidity but also looks outwards and tries to celebrate life. "I don't think you can be in your own head forever," said frontman Charlie Sheen of the writing process. He also declares this to be "the Lamborghini of Shame records" and we are inclined to agree. Fuelled by a love of playing live, this record is one of the fast the band has ever written and so brims with vitality and energy as they cast out their post-punk roots in favour of a more eclectic sound. And what a great result.

Review: The Wednesday band is forted by vocalists Karly Hartzman and they have a bunch of reissues dropping this April. Back in 2021 is when the Asheville five-piece dropped Twin Plagues and it's a record that found them going more big and bad than before with plenty of low level anxieties bubbling under throughout the record - given that we were still in the middle of the pandemic, that's a feeling we can all relate to and remember all too well. Musically there are plenty of fuzzy and distorted riffs with rare moments of emotional calm in between and plenty of complex song writing that fills the mind with vivid imagery.