Guardian Music — The 'new, improved' Simon Cowell is still light years away from understanding great musicIt's funny and awful watching how the sneaky Simon Cowell has tweaked himself this year, physically and conceptually. He's sliding through certain changes that a... more info

Guardian Music — (Chemikal Underground)For this follow-up to the Glasgow sextet's debut album, Checkmate Savage, the band have decided not to tame their propensity to cherrypick from practically every genre available to them. Instead, they've celebrated it by juxtapo... more info

Allmusic Blog — Leave it to a member of Animal Collective (Avey Tare) to release an album (Down There) with a cover so hideous that you’ll want to run full speed to the nearest emergency eyewash station after even a brief glance. From what I heard this morning, th... more info

Stereogum — Portner talks about how Down There’s like a ride down the River Styx, talks about the differences between recording with Animal Collective and going it alone, then opens up about his separation from Kría Brekkan, the death of his grandmother, his ... more info

Guardian Music — Forget the 'chilling vastness' of their homeland ... this Icelandic septet make art-rock with added, er, slapsAs mission statements go, this one from Icelandic septet Who Knew is pretty clear: "Who Knew aren't trying to encapsulate the chilling vastn... more info

Stereogum — If you’re interested in Animal Collective, you know Down There is the first solo album by David Portner, aka Avey Tare. You’re also more used to Panda Bear’s solo collections, but don’t expect Person Pitch (or what you expect to get from Tom ... more info

We All Want Someone To Shout For — Avey Tare is one of the members of our much beloved Animal Collective. He finally joins the club with his first official solo release with Down There. The album doesn’t officially drop until October 26th (via Paw Tracks), but it leaked this weekend... more info

Song, by Toad — When I played Lord Huron to a friend of mine he said that it was so close to early Panda Bear or Animal Collective as to be a little uncomfortable.  I never really listened to that stuff, so I really have no idea, but I thought I’d mention it just... more info

Guardian Music — Could these four boys from Slough, who revisit the rougher, rawer end of Britpop, signal the revival of the lad band?Hometown: Slough.The lineup: Leonard Newell, Josh Ward, Samuel Jackson, Frank Colucci.The background: Rock'n'roll doesn't have to be ... more info

We All Want Someone To Shout For — We finally have our first taste of Avery Tare’s debut solo album Down There. The Animal Collective member has made his first single “Lucky 1″, available for free download. “Lucky 1″ is a murky vision of Avery Tare’s underwater imagination... more info