song review

Three years after issuing their breakthrough, double-platinum certified and award-winning debut album, ‘Sigh No More,’ Mumford and Sons are gearing up for the release of their follow-up, ‘Babel.’ Ahead of that disc’s Sept. 24 release date comes its first single, ‘I Will Wait.’

To say that Natasha Khan is haunting — or haunted — is as obvious as it is understatement. The woman that is Bat for Lashes made a breakthrough in 2009 with the stomping and luxurious ‘Two Suns’ and distills her poetics in ‘Laura,’ a knee-quaking and minimalist ballad. Listen below.

While ‘Sleep Alone,’ the newest from Two Door Cinema Club, is soaring, searching and sweet, it leaves something to be desired.

There are some songs and some bands that you listen to and think, “Man, this would be a lot more fun to play than it is to listen to.” It’s not a bad thing. A lot of great music, from Ornette Coleman to Merzbow to the occasional Animal Collective track, strikes us this way.

As we reported earlier yesterday (July 16), we’re going to have to wait until Sept. 25 for the release of the new Mumford and Sons album ‘Babel.’ However, they’ve been roped in by their friend King Charles, who has opened for them, to put their signature harmonies on his song ‘The Brightest Lights.’

It was worth the wait. With breath bated, palpated hearts and pimples goosed, we have yearned for the xx to give us new music. They have. And ‘Angels’ is everything that we hoped for.

With a bassline made with a gigantic musical fence (only in Australia!), Gotye‘s ‘Eyes Wide Open’ is arguably more tense than ‘Somebody That I Used To Know,’ though it lacks quite the same charge as the song that (has almost) made he and Kimbra stars. Nonetheless, ‘Eyes Wide Open’ is a sincere, exciting cut, not destined to conquer charts, but sure to make its home in more than a few hearts. Read