Sentimentalist Magazine: Music, Culture and Art.

Christine Owman: Now Hear This

The term “multi-instrumentalist” doesn’t really begin to describe the unconventional, über-talented Swedish singer/songwriter Christine Owman accurately. Owman is a one-woman show-stopper who takes on not merely a few, but almost twelve, instruments on her most recent album, Throwing Knives.

Sentimentalist Magazine Calls Out Top Twelve Releases of 2011

Why do the year-end lists always seem to come in tidy sums of ten, twenty-five, fifty, or a hundred? I would have gone and given you a baker’s dozen but I stopped myself at twelve, for fear of being overbearing. You know how overarching these lists can be.

Battle to the Top 5 Albums of 2011, Sentimentalist Mag Style

2010 was so much better,” I said throughout 2011, despite posting Salem’s “King Night” on New Years Eve to slam the door on that horrible chapter. I started dead-set on only doing a top five for a year where I barely spun anything released more than twice, but then I looked through my downloads and saw a lot of heavy-hitters…

Monogold: Now Hear This

Brooklyn’s Monogold brought their lush, ambient sound onto the scene in 2008 with their debut EP, We Animals, followed by a CMJ showcase, heralded as “one to see” by many. This led to immediate attention from the likes of Spin, who included their song “Feel Animal” among their year’s top ten. Not too shabby for a band just starting out.

What Would WIM Do? Aussie Rockers Dare to Dream

WIM took New York City by storm at CMJ 2011, tearing into local venues like a blizzard of glam-folk glitter and virtuoso pop force and defying any notion of simple genre categorization. The Sydney-based band, whose debut release is out on esteemed Aussie label Modular Recordings just this week…

Mandy Coon, Billy Reid, Antonio Azzuolo, Daryl K and Preen at NY Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012

James Murphy was one of the first working Mandy Coon’s crowd as they were seated, appearing as a proud, nervous dad-to-be while the rest of us were zenning out to his intro music, which sounded like an undulating, futuristic heartbeat, building to its apex just as the show started.

The Kooks: The Future Sounds Like Sunshine

It’s been a few years since Luke Pritchard had taken up temporary residence in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for a break after the Kooks’ heavy touring in support of their debut album Inside In/Inside Out and I’d bump into him at local spots like Trash Bar. He’s now settled back in the UK, but earlier this summer, the Kooks returned to the States to play a few club venue shows and to shoot a new video in Los Angeles. I meet up with Luke in a penthouse at NYC’s Chelsea Hotel…

The Kills, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, A Place to Bury Strangers, Terminal 5, NYC. 8.9.11

A Place to Bury Strangers and The Kills were the integral raw bookends of tonight’s show, bringing rock back to its primal essence, each band in their singular, stripped bare way.

Death Grips in New York: the Secret Market Hotel Show. 7.22.11

As the guillotine slams down in three successions, Death Grips starts off ‘Guillotine’ (Yeah) and it feels like the M train had derailed and landed right into our bodies at Market Hotel, the first movie theater in Brooklyn. After that it goes, it goes, it goes; it’s unstoppable. The three men on stage are as driven as if performing is their only chance of survival, with no safety net underneath… Read More

Austra’s Euphoric Precision: A Chat with Katie Stelmanis

Toronto-based Katie Stelmanis of Austra was one of those precocious kids whose obsession with perfecting any musical instrument she picked up and whose love of singing led to her performing with the children’s choir on vast stages with the Canadian Opera Company.

Feature Articles
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Howler Blasts Death By Audio to Smithereens, They Wish: 1.19.12

America Give Up, indeed. Since the Strokes and the long-lost Libertines have lost their relevancy, perhaps we do need a new bunch of 19-year-olds to shake up the basics of rock and roll for the younger set, proving that there’s still plenty to be said for rollicking choruses, simple guitar chords and comedic banter. Howler is clearly cocky frontman Jordan Gatesmith’s project, though his band mates Ian Nygaard (guitar), France Camp (bass), Max Petrek (keyboards) and Brent Mayes (drums) are the perfect backdrop, filling out Howler’s sound and making the set come alive like a boys’ bratty party on stage.

21 Jan 2012 | More

Talking With RINSED: One Year of Raining Blood, Debauchery

Tomorrow night sometime between 9-11PM the darkness will truly settle, the kids will scream out something blood curdling and the open bar vodka will be chugged. It will be time to get rinsed, nay, RINSED in the back room of Public Assembly with Blacky II and Dan Wender delivering all that moves you, A.Pop with the aesthetics and Professor Mims at the door and on the floor.

This is also a special occasion, it’s the one year anniversary, one year ago Blacky and Dan got together and threw their chips into the rotating roulette of nightlife building something abashedly fun, illicit, open and dangerous like Odysseus partying with the Sirens instead of keeping himself all tied up. As had happened in the past (one wonderful memory is Beacon performing an amazing live set at the party) there will be special guests, this night it will be Braille (Hotflush label), who already sound like a wonderful fit in my headphones.

We’ve had a chat with Blacky II, Dan Wender aka Carly and A.Pop about the past year, all that blood, all who bleed, 2012 and the future.

16 Dec 2011 | More

Anna Calvi, Eleanor Friedberger, New Moods at BV Holiday Party 12.13.11

Needless to say, the blinding sea of frail Brooklyn whiteness—on and off stage—could not make proper kinesthetic sense of Friedberger’s off-tempo art-rock. On stage, she seamlessly coupled the warmth of Patti Smith with the outlandish glamour of Kate Bush, while playing songs that she must have discovered somewhere in Bowie’s k-hole

14 Dec 2011 | 1 comment | More

The Weakerthans at Bowery Ballroom, NYC, 12.07.11

On the first night of the three Weakerthans’ shows in NYC, the standout song “Confessions of a Futon Revolutionist”, from …Read the Rest

14 Dec 2011 | More

Anomie Belle – ‘Machine’

Though the romanticized torch singer is a heavily-sought title for many contemporary female vocalists, few approach it through such an experimental lens. Anomie Belle’s collaborative failures (see: Mr Lif’s verse on the title track) and weakness of production all seem to fall short of, or even complement, the strength of her uniquely apposed voice.

7 Dec 2011 | More

Zomby – ‘Dedication’

A masked man’s efforts should be shifty, menacing and comforting at once. Zomby’s latest, the exquisite producer’s first release for fab label 4AD, is like sitting at home and hearing the dark, interactive play Sleep No More come to life in your headphones…

2 Dec 2011 | More

Why Don’t We Watch Some NSFW Music Videos?

The inspiration for this list comes from the latest video from Beacon for the “See Through You” track, it’s the latest master stroke from the No Body album. It’s a great starter video for the NSFW genre (Not Safe For Work for those who just plugged in their internet) but no one has a job anymore, so this is list is for the congress men and women while they decide on which freedoms should be cut first.

30 Nov 2011 | 2 comments | More

A Place to Bury Strangers “So Far Away”

This video by Secretly Jag for “So Far Away”, the single from A Place to Bury Strangers is a blooming hipstamatic flower. The washed out stop motion action follows the band on tour in a far away land (Europe) with beautiful faeries and mead, and strange architecture (one thing was leaning as if it’s about to fall over!). Oliver (Ackermann), the front man in a Romanian Taxi driver outfit (the moustache) made me confuse him for Eugene Hütz, which is exactly the kind of insight you came here to get from me.

27 Jan 2012 | More

Oz’s Bleeding Knees Club is Back with Album, SXSW and U.S. Tour Dates

They’re young, wild and full of sass. Australia’s sneering punk duo, Bleeding Knees Club, is back, with a vengeance. Well, actually, it’s a debut album, Nothing to Do, coming out April 17th on IAMSOUND.

26 Jan 2012 | 2 comments | More

XIU XIU to Release ‘Always’ on Polyvinyl, March 6; New Video Out Now

The incomparable Xiu Xiu will release Always on March 6th via Polyvinyl, on digital, CD and vinyl formats. The 12-track album will be released on white vinyl, and 500 limited edition copies of translucent pink vinyl will available through Polyvinyl mail order. To get fans geared up for the release, Xiu Xiu’s newest video, a dark and carnivalesque road trip-themed work for beat-heavy opening track “Hi”, was just premiered on Pitchfork.

24 Jan 2012 | More

Pulp to Return to the US for April Coachella, California and NYC Dates

I’m not a fan of reunion tours, but since Jarvis Cocker has done quite well on his own and has not lost an ounce of his ascerbic wit and rock charisma, and this reunion will involve all original band members, the return of Pulp will not disappoint.

23 Jan 2012 | More

Girls Add U.S. Tour Dates This March with Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Girls, the San Francisco-based duo of Christopher Owens and Chet “JR” White, have just announced their latest string of US tour dates this March with Unknown Mortal Orchestra. From the looks of the gap in the mid-March dates, they just may be making an appearance at SXSW as well.

17 Jan 2012 | More

CREEP ‘Animals’ (Remixed and Anticipating Full-Length)

A few weeks back we dropped CREEP’s Solaris-esque video for their latest track “Animal” (feat. Holly Miranda). We just got word …Read the Rest

13 Jan 2012 | More

Tanlines’ Debut, Mixed Emotions, out March 20, 2012

Brooklyn, NY’s Tanlines, Eric Emm (vocals, guitar, keyboards) and Jesse Cohen (drums, keyboards, bass), first released their music into the wilds in 2008, and have since built up a striking bunch of synth-based dance singles on hip labels from Kituné to Young Turks. Their debut album, Mixed Emotions, coming out on True Panther Sounds on March 20th, 2012, is well worth the four-year weight.

12 Jan 2012 | 1 comment | More

A Place to Bury Stranger Announces Tour Dates with The Joy Formidable

A Place To Bury Strangers have announced their upcoming US tour with The Joy Formidable, kicking off on the West Coast in March. The tour will follow the Dead Oceans label release of APTBS’s Onwards To The Wall 5-song EP, out February 7th.

10 Jan 2012 | More

White Rabbits Announce ‘Milk Famous,’ Confirm Tour

Borne of that state without region, Missouri, White Rabbits moved to Brooklyn to find some footing. Following up on their 2009 (“sophomore”) release It’s Frightening, they dropped “Heavy Metal” to announce a third album, Milk Famous (out March 6)…

9 Jan 2012 | More

Elizaveta Moves East to Tour Upcoming ‘Beatrix Runs’

The upcoming album is more in line with my fantasy of what tween girls see as beauty, anyway. Not only is she re-inventing tween girl standards, she’s also re-inventing Burt Bacharach with her cover of “What The World Needs Now Is Love.” In her heart-melting vocal purity, she makes me wonder if she actually believes these words…

9 Jan 2012 | More