That’s it. I’ve had it with this pretentious magazine, picking up a band in their conception and then dumping them when they don’t produce the album of the decade.
Everyone needs to know about the harsh game that this magazine has been playing for many years now. Considering NME has one of the best up and [...]

MGMT- Time To PretendMGMT- Electric Feel
It kills me that I think of this blog as a small taste of what’s great about music ‘now’, yet I still miss out some truly brilliant bands, doing some groundbreaking stuff. The time constraints of being at a busy boarding school are the cause of this, but my circumstances [...]

Mystery Jets- Young Love
After ‘Making Dens’ thoroughly impressed me and I basked in the cool-down, Mystery Jets appeared to drop out of the music world, completely disappearing from magazines, websites and blogs alike.
The band have returned, with a noticeable spring in their step after their self-financed debut sold well. I saw them last year at [...]

It appears I really missed a trick. The video for CRS’ ‘Us Placers’ has been out since late December, but I only stumbled upon it today, out of the blue. The video itself is further proof that CRS aren’t going to be ‘just another rap group’. The use of a Thom Yorke sample cemented that [...]

Rating: The first truly great indie release of 2008
My post today will take a cue from the album it’s focussed on. ‘Little Death’, Pete & The Pirates debut album, is solid proof that simple music can still work. This is a big deal considering the majority of popular music is now designed around the idea [...]

Estelle ft. Kanye West- American Boy
Finally. Estelle is about to blow up, big time. I’ve been sitting patiently, twiddling my thumbs, for years, waiting for her talent to become appreciated. And now the time has come.
‘American Boy’, the second single from new album ‘Shine’, is the song which lays it out. Estelle is essentially one [...]

Chances are, you will have inadvertently heard Yael Naim by now. Its been nigh on impossible to escape the Macbook Air advert for weeks now, seeing it removed from that manilla envelope. Thinnovation! And the song in the background? ‘New Soul’ by Yael Naim… and that simply, a star was born, just as Feist crossed [...]

I’m ill at the moment, so the posts today might not be up to standard. Inbox Round Up is an enjoyable, easy post, and if you would like to be featured here drop me a line at william_hines@hotmail.co.uk
Round of applause- the first band featured today is Ionia, a four piece hailing from New York, who [...]

Another day in London, another dirt cheap gig to go to. Two days ago, for an unbelievably cheap £5, I went to Club NME at the KOKO, a great night. The format is as follows: some great indie bands (ie New Cassettes and Glasvegas) interspersed between some DJ sets. It starts at 10, and will [...]

Wow. 50000 visitors. Its hard to believe The Cold Cut has only been going for 10 months, but I feel as if this blog is at least beginning to make an impact. I had a few issues at first- I didn’t focus enough, but music is quickly becoming an even more important part of my [...]

On Sunday, my friend Mike (of Albion To Arcadia) will be celebrating his 18th birthday. A couple of days ago, to celebrate this event, we went to see Babyshambles, The Courteeners & Beggars at the Carling Brixton Academy in an NME Awards show. These were three completely different, varying acts, and for the purpose of [...]

Rainydayz Remixes is a short album, at 8 tracks long, so I’m not going to run a full review, rather a short look at what it has to offer. First off, what is this album, and who is it by? A while back AmpLive (an Oakland DJ-Producer) began re-tooling ‘In Rainbows’, starting off with ‘Nude’ [...]

Update- Unfortunately, many people are beginning to doubt that it was actually Daft Punk at the Grammys, and also that they were playing live. I stand by the fact that it was them (why wouldn’t it be?)- see here for ‘proof’- and that they were playing live. Their Alive tour set-up was leaked a long [...]

Rating: A rare collage of musical styles… that really works
“The LK is the collaboration between Lindefelt, abstract sound artist, and Fredrik, pop visionary and songwriter par excellence. Fusing musique concrète-style collages of sound with iconic pop arrangements, the typical LK song is both gradually mind-invading and comfortingly direct. Recorded with a minimum of equipment, VS. [...]

I would just like to direct your attention to this brilliant article by Ars Technica, concerning the impact of user generated content- and blog posts- in particular, on the performance and volume of sales on an album.
“Blog, Social Network buzz correlates to better album sales”- Ars Technica
The idea isn’t really new, but I have to [...]

Frenchkiss Records debutants The Dodos have done it again with their second single ‘Jody’. Whilst not quite as infectious as ‘Fools’, this has done more than enough to convince me that ‘Visiter’ is going to be a worthy purchase. The drums, as usual, never do what you expect, running slightly off the beat, and the [...]

Michael Jackson is a living legend. Okay, so recently he’s been busy turning into a weird looking, purportedly kiddy fiddling legend, but that doesn’t change the past. A child star like none-other, he pulled off the difficult trick of cashing in on his young talent, and transforming it into a proper career. The rest is [...]

The Guillemots are a consistent band, as their debut ‘Through The Window Pane’ illustrated. ‘Trains To Brazil’, ‘Annie’ and ‘We’re Here’ were wonderful pop songs, with a little something sophisticated, but the album let me down a little with abysmal tracks such as ‘Blue Would Still Be Blue’ and the overly progressive ‘A Samba In [...]

The Cold Cut was initially started as a cultural experiment, but the general focus was slowly dwindled down until music was crowned king. However, films still hold a place in my heart, and yesterday I saw a film that has provoked such a huge reaction in me that I am considering starting a new section [...]

The early bird tickets for Lowlands 2008 have officially gone on sale today. From two years experience at this awesome festival, I will be buying my ticket over the next few days, and I recommend you do too.
Lowlands is a really special festival- with a line-up that could equal Reading or Leeds, great facilities, tasty [...]