Bombay Bicycle Club go back to their roots
Following a historic performance at this year’s Reading festival, British indie-rockers Bombay Bicycle Club released their new album last week to glowing reviews.
The U.K. four-piece gained popularity in early 2006 by winning an opening slot at London’s Virgin Festival through a competition in part with Channel 4. After releasing their debut album, I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose in 2009, the band made a brief foray into acoustic guitar-rock with their sophomore effort before releasing their new album, A Different Kind of Fix on August 30.
Speaking with BBC 6 last Wednesday, bassist Ed Nash pointed toward an interest in dance music from front-man Jack Steadman as the reason behind the band’s new electronic-based sound.
With influences ranging from recent indie-rock hit makers Deerhunter and Panda Bear, A Different Kind of Fix offers fans a more in-depth record in comparison to the bare bones guitar rock of their previous releases.
Stephen Malkmus returns
Last week also saw the release of the new solo album by ex-Pavement frontman, Stephen Malkmus and his backing band, the Jicks. Mirror Traffic is the fifth album by the 1990s guitar god in the past decade and has him continuing his delivery of wry prose and sunny guitar-pop.
Coming off 2008’s mostly forgettable Real Emotional Trash and the subsequent Pavement reunion world tour in 2010, Mirror Traffic has Malkmus delving into less abstract songwriting and more concise wordplay.
Jack White’s new posse
In stranger music news, Pitchfork.com reports that White Stripes guitarist Jack White has teamed up with the Insane Clown Posse and garage rockers Jeff the Brotherhood to produce a new single.
The unusual team-up came about after ICP member Violent J ran into the fellow Detroit-native in an airport a few months ago. After discussing their careers, the two decided to join together to record, with one of the motivating factors being the unexpected nature of the collaboration.
GLAAD responds to Tyler, the Creator’s VMA win
Speaking of unexpected, at the recent MTV Video Music Awards, Odd Future rapper/producer Tyler, the Creator surprised viewers by winning the best new artist award.
But not everyone was pleased with the 20-year-old artist’s growing acclaim. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) spoke out about the win, citing his rampant use of anti-gay and misogynistic lyrics and Twitter posts. Although he has spoken out about his shock-based rap as being nothing more than experimental narratives, GLAAD felt his win at the VMA’s could push a broader acceptance of his hate-speech among fans of his music.
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