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SoundsXP Presents
Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)
On Our iPod
Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)
Antony Harding - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)
Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)
Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)
Still Corners - Strange Pleasures (album)
Savages - Silence Yourself (album)
Mikal Cronin - MC II (album)
Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)
Victoria and Jacob - Festival 7"
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City (album)
Sauna Youth - False Jesii Part II 7”
Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter
Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")
Latest Forum Posts
Album Review

Collapse under the Empire
Fragments of a Prayer Finaltune Records

Article written by Michael H - Oct 5, 2012

Collapse under the empire
‘Fragments of a Prayer’ by Collapse under the Empire arrives from the moss and peat school of big hearted cinematic instrumental rock, its weight lightened by subtle electronics and glitches. If you’re a fan of Múm, Sigur Ros and especially Explosions in the Sky, you’ll be on reassuringly familiar ground here. Not that ‘Fragments of a Prayer’ is overly derivative; questions of artistic origin are irrelevant when the music is delivered with this level of passion and emotion. Occasionally, the band lose their way in the claustrophobic turbulence of songs like ‘180 Seconds’ and ‘Closer,’ but elsewhere show a masterful conquering of the form, a real tempering of the dynamics and pacing required to pull this kind of music together. It’s no mean feat to musically transcribe strong emotions into eye-squeezed-shut storm-gathering thunder rock. On the opening trio of songs, Collapse under the Empire achieve a wonderfully affecting tension between the peaks and troughs, the build and release; delayed gratification repaid in rolling slabs of drums and thrashed guitars, they find the intimate in the epic.

‘Fragments of a Prayer,’ at times, comes close to being crushed under the weight of its own earnestness but, for the majority of the album, a shaky structure of genuine emotion is built, it’s gently entwining guitar lines and patiently built crescendos become almost visually evocative.

Links:
http://www.collapseundertheempire.com/
http://www.myspace.com/collapseempire

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