Nina
EMMA
Filed under: New Music, Nina | Tags: computer magic, cults, dom, esben and the witch, South by Southwest
Delicious food trucks at the East Side Drive-In. SXSW Day 1. Photo by Nina Mashurova
Nearly a week after flying back from sunny Austin to snowy Allston, sorting through the SXSW sensory overload finally feels manageable. Although the majority of the internet is probably good and sick of SXSW talk by now, the fest still lingers like a well-deserved hangover. We got away not only with residual blisters and perhaps permanent tinnitus, but with enormous lists of bands to look into, whether we had seen them play, heard of them in crowds or tweets, or met them in taco lines.
Some nights it's entertainment, then some other nights it's work
One of the most impressive things about SXSW for me was the variety – not only of performers and genres represented, but even of ways to experience the festival. Music lovers loaded down with 70s nostalgia still lament the loss of monoculture, but the fragmentations and nerdy specializations of all the different niches make a festival like SXSW rather like Choose Your Own Adventure – there might not be a shared narrative but that only makes each individual one more valuable. You could shell out the money for a badge and rub your chin thoughtfully while listening for the Next Big Thing, or drink as much free booze as possible and collapse from dehydration somewhere on the 6th street bacchanale, or do it up DIY style and catch the formidable amount of talented bands playing under bridges or in front of Pita Pit or in people’s houses. You could have devoted your entire festival to the onslaught of talented hip hop, the UK invasion of post-dubstep/glitch/electronica led by Gold Panda, Starslinger, Jamie Woon, and Mount Kimbie, or even Chinese rock stars channeling Sonic Youth. Possibilities and permutations run free!
So we didn’t see Deer Tick covering Nirvana, or Death From Above 1979 fans rioting outside of Beauty Bar, or Odd Future blowing off the Billboard party, or Kanye West airlifted over a power plant in a hot air balloon dropping power bars and auto-tuned rhymes into a crowd of adoring fans. While official attendees were nursing their hangovers, we joined the ranks of the young and the badgeless to run the day shift, shuttling between the slew of unofficial showcases taking place from noon to six. The lines were short, the beers were free, and because most of the bands were just below the radar, they put a lot of themselves into their shows. Some appealed to me more than others based on taste alone, but I caught close to 40 bands in 4 days and barely any could be accused of half-heartedness. Here are some further standouts:
Computer Magic plays at Cheer Up Charlie's. SXSW 2011 Day 1. Photo by Nina Mashurova.
Computer Magic – Running
Danz, the 21-year old pixie behind Computer Magic, has finally put a girl’s spin on the independent bedroom pop popularized by Memory Tapes and Neon Indian. Although the project is only a few months old, Danz has created a charming space oddity, influenced by 80s synth-pop, spaceship sounds, bizarre safety videos, VHS and casette tapes, and small robots with big hearts. The synths can feel silly on occasion but they make sense when paired with Danz’s voice, which is layered in a way that sounds both intimate and distant enough to avoid being twee. All of Computer Magic’s music is available for free on their website, so get at it while the getting’s good.
Esben and the Witch play at BAMM.tv and Pop Montreal Presents: Hollerado's Nacho House at the Beauty Bar in Austin on Day 2 of SXSW 2011. Photo by Nina Mashurova
Esben and the Witch – Warpath (from Violet Cries on Amazon)
Perhaps if I had seen the darkly unsettling video for “Marching Song,” I would have known what to expect, but when Esben and the Witch took the outdoor stage at Beauty Bar, I was completely unprepared. Rachel Davies was a woman possessed – hair flying, eyes demonic, drums attacked with a rhythmic ferocity usually devoted to sacrificial rituals for unmerciful deities. The trio from Brighton, England released their debut full-length Violet Cries on Matador about a month ago and though I haven’t listened to goth rock for quite a while now (rest in peace oversize black hoodies and Scarling albums), I can vouch that experiencing Esben and the Witch live is nothing short of hypnotizing.
Cults perform at Stereogum's Last Night party at the Pure Volume House in Austin. SXSW 2011 Day 4. Photo by Nina Mashurova
Cults – Go Outside
Cults generated serious buzz with “Go Outside” – an infectiously carefree tune whose xylophone twinkles, Jim Jones samples, and repeated urging “Do you really want to hole up? You really want to stay inside and sleep the light away?” drove me up the wall during finals week. Buzz comes and goes but their late night set at Stereogum’s party proved that Cults were capable of a lot more than “cute.” According to Pitchfork, 21-year olds Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, both San Diego natives, started the band as a couple while studying film in New York. With her tossable long hair, punk rock background, and a voice that channels soulful Motown sounds, Follin really dominates a stage. The new single is great and I’m looking forward to their upcoming full-length and their stop at Brighton Music Hall on April 1.
Dom at the Paradise in Boston. Photo by Nina Mashurova
Dom just doesn’t give a fuck, and it is awesome. I was trying to get my bacon on from a grease-bucket truck called Pig Vicious that promised to put fat in everything and ran into a shirtless dude rocking a handlebar moustache and kingly garb. This was Austin so it could have been anyone, but it turned out to be Dom. Dom turned out to be from right around here in Worcester, kindof a hot mess in a really great way, and responsible for one of the most addictive albums I’ve heard lately. Full disclosure: Never actually saw them play because scheduling gets really hard sometimes, but the album has been on constant rotation and when they open for the Go Team at the Paradise in April, I am so there.
Filed under: Emma, New Music, Uncategorized | Tags: Jessica Lea Mayfield, La Big Vic, Reading Rainbow, South by Southwest, tUnE-yArDs
Crowd on East 7th has their game faces on. SXSW 2011 Day 1
Huzzah! We returned from SxSW, weary, run down, lugging cameras and (in my case) tons of snot and tissues, back to this rainy and cold city (seriously, where did those three nice days of spring go?) But all the exhaustion, blisters and general loss of sanity aside, it was an incredible experience.
Before leaving, I read an article (which for the life of me I can’t find right now) which wondered if the music portion of SxSW was already “irrelevant,” in that it was no longer exclusively attracting industry people and unknown bands seeking promotion, as it once did… that one time in 1987 (jussplayin’). These days, SxSW draws an enormous crowd (this year was the biggest ever, according to the concierge at the Courtyard by Marriott, who told us that we’d never get a cab home before 4 a.m.). In some ways, the article predicted the debauchery of SxSW 2011: Some venues seemed to choose crowd control over technical issues, resulting in tensions between the artists and showcase sponsors when the sound wasn’t quite right; many music journalists resorted to reviewing the festival in poorly done Gonzo prose, retelling drunken exploits instead of focusing on the music. And the flood of #SxSW hashtags tweeted by the 50,000+ smart phones bustling around 6th Street in Austin succeeded in pissing off anyone who was paying attention to the unfolding horror in Japan, the UN strike on Libya, and basically anything more pivotal than indie music.
Despite all these truths, SxSW 2011 was also a spectacular place to be, a well oiled machine of non-stop action which brought out passionate music geeks from all over the world. Almost everyone I spoke to was there to learn about new bands, not just figure out where Kanye West would show up on the last night. The claim that SxSW is now irrelevant because the attendees have changed doesn’t take in to account that the way the world consumes music has changed with it. The internet feeds an enormous audience every new morsel of music minutes after it is released, or sometimes, recorded. As long as people who really care about music find their way to SxSW, it is far from irrelevant. In fact, its overloaded-ness makes it arguably the most relevant festival around, hurdling the largest mix of music consumers I’ve ever seen to one confined place and leaving them to their own devices.
Sitting on a sub-woofer at Gold Panda, still can't totally hear out of my left ear 5 days later.
And from all this, I learned a few things: One, feet are overrated. Next festival, I’m getting a motorized wheelchair. Two, if you’re getting over a cold and going to SxSW, the cold will come back with a vengeance, so bring some green tea, cayenne pepper and lemons with you for the morning afters (IT WORKS, TRY IT). Three, despite the spiraling awfulness of the world at large right now, there has perhaps never been a more exciting time for music. The amount of incredibly talented, creative and just plain nuts bands out there is far too high to count, and if I’m lucky, I’ll never be able to know them all. But I will keep trying, because the satisfaction of seeing a band just absolutely slay a new audience is one of the best highs around.
And on that note, some favorites:
Jessica Lea Mayfield performs at the Billy Reid and K-Swiss SXSW Shindig at the Swan Dive in Austin on Day 1 of SXSW 2011.
“Our Hearts Are Wrong” – from Tell Me on Amazon.
Mayfield released only 100 copies of her first disc at age 15 and it fell into the hands of fellow Ohio-an Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Auerbach helped Mayfield with her first full length album, 2008′s With Blasphemy So Helpless, and earned her some wider audiences (she also recorded some of the back ups on The Black Keys’ “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” on 2008′s Attack and Release). While With Blasphemy showcases Mayfield’s slow, silhouette-y vocals and disconcertingly heartbroken lyrics, Tell Me has her breaking out of semi-monotonous and sad tones to do some more upbeat, catchy numbers. She’s added in the drum kit, some back up vocals and more electric guitar, but she’s kept the dark and mature lyrics from her first releases. By the way, this chick is still only 21 years old. Listen to what she’s singing and then, can I get a resounding… dammmn? (She’s playing at Brighton Music Hall in about a week)
tUnEyArDs at Terrorbird Media / Forcefield PR Party at Red 7 Patio, Day 1
“Fiya” – from Bird-Brains on Amazon
Merrill Garbus started recording solo as tUnE-yArDs in 2006 with a voice recorder, music sharing software, a ukulele and what sounds like off-beat drumming on anything that would keep a rhythm – a true testament to the way music gets around today. She’s moved up since then (though surprisingly slowly, I can’t quite believe tUnE-yArDs isn’t huge yet) and has gained a larger audience opening for the likes of St. Vincent and Thao. Now signed to 4AD, she performed at SxSW with two trombone players and a bassist, but her tremendously soulful voice and often hysterical, strange lyrics (See: “News,” in which she proclaims, “I can get pregnant with birds who sing prettier than you,” among other things) are what truly make tUnE-yArDs so great. I can’t stop listening to this album, and although her numerous performances were often plagued by faulty mechanics at the festival, I’ll blame it on SxSW and go see her again at Brighton Music Hall in May.
Reading Rainbow performs at the 21st St. Co-op at the Sexbeat Party on Day 4 of SxSW 2011
“Wasting Time” – from Prism Eyes on Amazon
We happened upon the fuzzy joy of Reading Rainbow at the 21st St. Co-Op up by UT-Austin on the last night of SxSW. The married couple of Reading Rainbow, who hail from Philadelphia, look like they’re about 19. But Sarah Everton and Robbie Garcia play the kind of stripped down post-punk that makes me love Wavves 2010 album, King of the Beach, despite my hatred for the man himself. Everton bangs restlessly on a floor tom and snare drum while Garcia wails on the guitar, and the two top it off with some gritty-but-pretty harmonies. They’ve mastered a minimalist sound but left room to roam to somewhere a bit more hardcore with rampant reverb. Still, in their comfort zone (and on their first album) Reading Rainbow feels like a nice big noisy hug after a long day, and makes me want to drive home from work, bang on my steering wheel and scream lyrics incorrectly.
La Big Vic at wnyu 89.1 fm/pellytwins/tigerkitten family/pixelhorse showcase on SxSW Day 3
“Musica” – single from Weathervane Music Organization compilation (found on their Bandcamp)
One of my favorite parts of the festival was escaping the chaos of downtown Austin. We got bussed away by van to a little house south of the city, where the wnyu 89.1 fm/pellytwins/tigerkitten family/pixelhorse present showcase lit up a backyard filled with Christmas lights, twisting trees, kegs and worn down couches. It felt a bit like magic to sink back and space out to La Big Vic, who played hypnotizing and entrancing songs. Lead singer and violinist Emilie Friedlander sounds like a tribal Nico while synth player Peter Pearson, and synth/guitar player, Toshio Masuda, fill out their euphoric sound. As far as I can tell, they don’t have a full album out yet, but the above track and this one featured on Pitchfork’s Forkcast back in May make for some seriously unwinding noise.
Here’s a video from that sweet show by Liz Pelly of the Boston Phoenix:
End of side one, side two coming at ya soon…
Filed under: Emma, New Music, Uncategorized | Tags: Chappo, Mixtape, Screaming Females, Slang Chickens, Spring, SxSW, The Boom Bang, Wye Oak, You Can Be A Wesley, Young Adults
So far this month: We’ve had the continuing attack on Planned Parenthood complete with an attempt to create an institutionalized difference between “rape” and “forcible rape”; a meltdown of democratic rational in Wisconsin; Libya and the Qaddafi family situation (and I’ll just group Charlie Sheen in there because I actually don’t care about Two and Half Men at all, but all the “Who said it?” games were pretty funny for at least a minute); the attack of NPR by irresponsible right wingers seemingly learning about the powers of the internet from Anonymous and 4Chan; and, most tragically, 9,700+ missing in Northern Japan after the record breaking earthquake and tsunami with a lingering potential for nuclear disaster… and the list goes on and on.
While enjoying arguably the first truly nice Boston day this year, I couldn’t get the never-ending newsreel out of my head. And I shouldn’t be able to, because whitegirlproblems (like trying to figure out which South by Southwest showcases to go to) are pretty pathetic in contrast to the global disasters abound. Actually, they are incredibly pathetic. Even completely irrelevant.
Of course, this narrative probably goes through the mind of every remotely informed college kid, sitting in their favorite dive bar, complaining about how their landlord painted the interior of their house a nice poop brown color. We’re learning to carefully contain our inescapable, egotistical bullshit as we wade into the world like babies in diapers, while remembering the importance of perspective. Essentially, none of us are alone in this. We’re all just parts of this entire culture-specific generational clusterfuck, experiencing the same things on both a large scale and a small scale, even if the casts of characters and circumstance are tweaked.
…
Whoa, apologies for the intensity there. Anyway, back to that whole “enjoying the spring day” thing. This SxSW planning situation has caused me to enter into some serious internet loop-age, as I find myself trying to listen to as many bands playing around Austin next week as possible, focusing on those who aren’t already well-represented across the music industry. Kudos to Bandcamp (which I really hope replaces Myspace soon) for streaming all the bands registered with their site who will be at SxSW. I’ve been listening to that off and on all week, and in the process, found some pretty cool music.
Plus, a plethora of bands, both well known and becoming more well known, have released stellar new albums in this shit storm of a month (apologies again for using the word “shit” so often in this post, it just feels appropriate these days). So, without further ado, LET’S SHARE, shall we? No mind-fi required.
Let Us Out – Young Adults / buy full album on Bandcamp
Gotta start by representing Allston here, though (and this is the honest truth) I first heard this track by chance while doing SxSW research and THEN realized they hail from only a few blocks away. These guys are kicking off The Phoenix/Great Scott/Private Promotion! First Contact party on March 16th in Austin, and they sound like they were formed in a basement somewhere (because they were). They’ve opened for Wavves and Best Coast, and they do their best to yell above the noisy, noisy punk emanating from their guitars and amps. All in all, sounds like a good Allston time. Here’s an article from the Phoenix about ‘em.
Come Home – Chappo / buy full album on Bandcamp
Can’t find too much information on this band, but this single from their EP Plastique Universe, released last April, is some pretty catchy stuff. It’s got a bit of a Flaming Lips sound, and lead singer Alex (sweet last name) Chappo’s semi-falsetto vocals keep the back and forth tempo from losing it’s psychedelic poppy-ness in the repetition. They’ll also be playing at SxSW at about five different times and venues, according to their MySpace.
Civilian – Wye Oak
Wye Oak’s new album Civilian is getting much press coverage from NPR’s All Songs Considered (you can stream their live show from them here), so I don’t think I need to rave about it too much. Every “I want to go to there” showcase in Austin features this Baltimore based duo of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack at some point, from Brooklyn Vegan to the A.V. Club. They’ll also be at The Middle East in April. This title track is excellent, reminds me of some ’90s Aimee Mann style folk with a funky 21st century twist, fuzzy guitar solo and all.
Tropics – Slang Chickens / buy full album on Bandcamp
Sidenote: Covering “Age of Consent” ever is cool, but covering it with a BANJO!? Be still my heart.
Another Bandcamp find: Though I’m not quite sure how I feel about their name, this L.A. band proves once again that if you sound anything like the Kinks, I’ll probably like you. From what I’ve read, no one seems to see this connection, so maybe it’s just this single. Or maybe I’m crazy. Regardless, they’ve got a nice blend going on, sometimes harmonizing, sometimes breaking into a punk rock frenzy, sometimes playing horns, sometimes sounding like surfer rock. Color me intrigued.
Tokyo Roll – The Boom Bang / buy the full album on Bandcamp
Speaking of surf rock… This is another band I can’t find much info on, but they sound like they’d be a damn good sweaty mosh pit of a time live. There’s quickened heartbeats all over this song, and their whole EP, for that matter. Plus, their 7″ is called Bummer Camp. That’s pretty great. Also, their from Oklahoma City, which is in OKLAHOMA. DIVERSITY? Sure.
Daisy – Fang Island
Just threw this in as a cushion from the last song to the next, but only because Fang Island’s self-titled album isn’t quite timely news anymore. But, if you didn’t give them much of a listen last year for some reason you can’t remember now (like me), now’s a good time for revisiting. Right. Now.
Old in Florida – You Can Be a Wesley You Can Be a Wesley – Old in Florida / this is a single, buy (a different) full album on iTunes
Another Allston/Boston/BU band. Genuinely don’t think there’s a song of theirs I don’t like, and this new one doesn’t disappoint. At least, I think it’s new. There’s even this swell house party-esque music video to go with it.
I Don’t Mind It – Screaming Females / buy full album on Amazon
There are few things I like more than a punk band with a female lead singer, and Screaming Females, another band featured in almost every SxSW showcase I’ve written in bold letters on my face somewhere, hail from New Brunswick, N.J.! Jersey! Woo! Double time. They’ve got a DIY punk sound that wavers from Sleater-Kinney yelling to more controlled, rhythmic tracks reminiscent of The Pixies.
Filed under: Albums, Emma, New Music, Uncategorized | Tags: iron & wine, kiss each other clean, sam beam
Photo by Piper Ferguson
When Iron & Wine’s first album, The Creek Drank the Cradle, came out in 2002, it was Sam Beam’s rich lyrical imagery, bare bones guitar and wistful, whispery vocals which set him apart from the throngs of Super bearded folk-roots singers out there. (The S is capitalized on purpose, that should probably become a genre within itself by now)
Then, the practically flawless Garden State soundtrack was released just a few months after Iron & Wine’s second album, Our Endless Numbered Days, and proved itself more popular than the actual movie it scored. Among the many notable tracks on Garden State was Iron & Wine’s haunting, stripped down version of The Postal Service’s “Such Great Heights,” which solidified my impression of the band as beautifully moving, but frankly, depressing.
Such Great Heights (cover)
In a recent interview with the AVClub, Beam claimed he does not write sad songs. “I want to describe a feeling, and write something that’s true. I do touch on stuff that people don’t want to deal with because they think it’s too heavy or sad, but I don’t try to make people upset,” he said. “A good song should be a poem and have some kind of element that you recognize is true, but couldn’t be expressed in a conversation.”
Well, that’s all well and good, but after about a thousand listens, “Naked As We Came” still never fails to make me feel languid and on the verge of tears… beautiful, beautiful, redemptive tears. I understand that for the many fortunate souls who do not occasionally enjoy writstcuttingly depressing music as much as I do, Beam’s first three releases (including 2005′s In the Reins) might have fallen flat. Even so, Beam could have continued down the same path, maintaining the same kind of Nick Drake yearning he was known for.
But then, with The Shepherd’s Dog, Beam displayed an unexpected side of Iron & Wine. The album features diverse sounds and is decidedly more upbeat. From the first track “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car,” with a larger instrumental range in the first minute than Beam brought in any of his first three albums, all the way through to “Flightless Bird, American Mouth,” it is an exceptional record. Beam exhibited not only his signature breathy singing talents but his ability to really bend and mesh folk music themes and styles while keeping the album’s coherence and flow in tact. See: “Boy With a Coin,” “Peace Beneath the City,” and “Resurrection Fern.”
Resurrection Fern:
Beam’s Iron & Wine transformation could have ended with The Shepherd’s Dog and it would have been a pretty intriguing and impressive trip. But with Kiss Each Other Clean, just released in late January, he’s taken it a step further away from the days when it was just a man, a guitar and his beard. The album is ambitious, to say the least. Beam utilizes a full band – so full, in fact, that the opening song “Big Burned Hand” sounds almost unrecognizable from any song he’s put out in the past, complete with jazz-y sax and backup vocal echos.
To begin at the end, the album’s last song, “Your Fake Name is Good Enough For Me,” is possibly its most important, and it is nothing short of epic. It starts out bluesy and full with twangy, back and forth rhythms. But somewhere around three minutes in, the horns grow deeper and hushed, and Beam relies primarily on his voice, supported by complimentary-yet-unobtrusive electric guitar and some vocal layering. By minute five the song evolves into a prayer-like chant, with Beam singing in contrasting couplets and repeating “We will become, become” in a trance. This could be creepy, but he pulls it off, swelling the backing instruments as he sings through a list of cliché (“So cruel and kind”), inventive (“Caress and the claw”) and then, by the end, somewhat silly (“Ice cream cone, a disco ball) pairs.
The rest of the album has its ebbs and flows. In experimenting with new sounds, instruments and textures, Beam occasionally loses his knack for intoxicating imagery, á la Our Endless Numbered Days. And, though the great ambition and range of Kiss Each Other Clean is impressive, the final product is not quite as sharp and exceptional as The Shepherd’s Dog. Still, Sam Beam and his new full-band deserve many props, and this album begs the question: Where will the evolution of Iron & Wine go next? It certainly seems like Beam is working towards something compelling, and there are only a handful of bands who have evolved as successfully as Iron & Wine without losing what made them so great in the first place. Give Kiss Each Other Clean at least three listens before you make up your mind. It’s all in the details, and there are a lot of details to explore.
Filed under: Emma, New Music, Uncategorized | Tags: csc funk band, drug rug, homegrown II, jeff the brotherhood, nashville, the temple, truman peyote
Homegrown II was a well oiled machine: There was genre variety, there were rapid fire sets, there were even really cool hand stamps. We did not end up at the Temple all day, everyday, all weekend like some troopers out there surely did, but our Saturday night experience started out funky with Brooklyn’s CSC Funk Band. We washed down all those horns with Drug Rug‘s tranquilizing grungy yet spaced out tunes and then got a nice dose of psychedelia courtesy of Truman Peyote.
The Temple was set up with two stages, and while the “stage stage” was being tripped out with lights and wayward sounds, little did we know JEFF the Brotherhood was getting ready to amp our brains out from the “floor stage.” Just as we sat down on the nice leather couch at the back of the room, the brothers of the Brotherhood started making the wood floor shake… and that wood floor, for future reference, has just the right amount of slip to it for badass guitarists to knee-slide. The Nashville-raised Orrall brothers were billed as futuristic classic rock which I admittedly scowled out until they melted my face off 20 minutes later. The Temple gets hot when people actually dance, and dance we fucking did. (For me, that meant kicking like Molly Ringwald in the part of The Breakfast Club where they all break it down in the library, boots and all).
Point is, listen to JEFF the Brotherhood (blog link) if you like that old school riff rock sound with new school flare. They’ve got some punk to them, with a garage rock backdrop and a little blues thrown in. Plus, the dudes dress like its 1975, and Jake, the guitarist, even has the haircut to match. They’ve been around since 2002 but are starting to grab a larger audience with their sixth album Heavy Days, as they should.
Oh, and their drumset says JEFFRO TULL. Awesome.
Enjoy.
Filed under: Albums, Emma, New Music | Tags: broken social scene, canadian indie pop, cloak and cipher, land of talk, montreal, pitchfork, tt the bear's, upcoming concerts in boston
out on Saddle Creek Records
Montreal trio Land of Talk‘s new album, Cloak and Cipher, will be released on the 24th. I’ve been waiting all summer to write about this, having only learned of the band back in June. As a friend slowly fed me their inventory through Skype messages, beginning with their ridiculously addicting EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, I quickly fell in love singer Elizabeth Powell’s husky vocals and the band’s riff heavy style. I was sad to find out they had JUST been in Boston a week before my ears started an intense summer love affair with them, thanks in large part to the track “Summer Special.” Alas, they will be back on November 3, and at TT the Bear’s no less: I now suspect the summer lovin’ will last way past fall.
I had the pleasure of hearing Cloak and Cipher at my internship back in July and felt it was a pretty big step forward for the band, whose first full length album Some Are Lakes lost a little steam after their EP (though there are a few excellent tracks on that release as well). Anyway, today Pitchfork published their review of Cloak and Cipher and gave it a 6.9 rating on their despised decimal system… which isn’t particularly bad, considering how harsh they can be. The review was also pretty positive, but call me crazy, I was expecting a higher grade especially as Some Are Lakes also received a 6.9. God, I hate decimals.
Land of Talk toured North America with Montreal’s super group to end all super groups, Broken Social Scene, a few years back. Their new release picks up a bit of that good ol’ Canadian indie pop sound, often reminiscent of BSS’s older stuff, but I really can’t say that’s a bad thing. In the Pitchfork review, writer Zach Kelly mentions a particular similarity between LoT’s “Swift Coin” and the epic “7/4 (Shoreline),” which I suppose I can hear now that it’s been pointed out, but in the guitars alone. Otherwise, Land of Talk have their own unique sound.
Cloak and Cipher opens with the title track, a thumping ballad that starts out with Powell’s singing sounding far away until the first chorus comes around and everything kicks in at once. The “distanced” singing comes in and out throughout the song creating a push and pull feel, which allows the percussion to really stand out. “Quarry Hymns” is beautiful and haunting, even though I can’t get the image of the song being played on what looks like a Casio keyboard under a highway overpass, thanks to the video of LaBlogoteque’s take-away performance (which you can find right here).
Other stand out tracks include “Color Me Badd,” in which Powell’s vocal range and talent are really showcased, “Playita,” and “Blangee Blee.” “The Hate I Won’t Commit” is interesting, to say the least, as it interrupts the rest of Cloak and Cipher‘s pretty consistently poppy, controlled and accessible sound with a noisy interlude that almost reminds me of Sleater-Kinney or something equally hardcore. It takes a little time to like, but eventually I decided it was pretty awesome too.
LoT got by with a little help from their Montreal friends, Stars and (all together now), Arcade Fire, and a cast list of many others, although these cameos are not really pronounced on any of the tracks. One thing that could be worked on? These songs have great lyrics, but you’d never know it without looking them up. While Powell’s voice is strong, you can really only hear her words when she is belting out choruses. Some more audible wording throughout the songs would be nice.
Huzzah! Finally raving about that album feels like the sweet relief of fall’s coming at the end of a hot summer. Check out the album, come see them live when they return to TT’s on a chilly November evening or wherever they’re playing near you… it’ll be a good time, I’m sure.
* As the album isn’t quite out yet, it’s a bit difficult to find streaming links. Will put them in once they’re up and out there on the big bad interwebs.
Filed under: New Music, Nina | Tags: beck, broken social scene, james murphy, michael cera, scott pilgrim, soundtracks, summer of the midlife crisis, the national, the suburbs, video games, win butler, youth
At times, this feels like the summer of the midlife crisis. LCD Soundsystem, The National, and The Arcade Fire have put out excellent albums that I’ve been listening and relistening to, and like all good albums they’ve made their way under my skin. This means several times a day I find myself pining for suburbs I didn’t grow up in, wondering if I can raise a family that I don’t have, or deal with the fame I haven’t yet achieved…something is clearly wrong with this picture. Sometime after Union Pool reminded me that I’m still somewhat shy of the American drinking age, I realized that despite my fondness for melancholy white guys in their 40s, I’m still one of those “kids” Win Butler keeps singing about on The Suburbs…so what are these “kids” up to these days (besides getting off James Murphy’s lawn)?
The answer, with a resounding BOOM BANG POW, comes in the gloriously carefree Scott Pilgrim franchise – Bruce Lee O’Malley’s giddy graphic novel series about twentysomethings in Toronto. Besides being a really fun read, the series puts a brilliant spin on the usual tales of navel-gazing postgrads (working menial coffeeshop jobs, having relationships, playing in mediocre bands) by throwing in a barrage of video game tropes that haunt our ADHD-addled, raised-by-SNES minds. The result is something like Slackers set in a world where you can see your cash bar depleting above your head, find a save point before a perilous situation, and get experience points for getting hired. Awesome.
Of course this is being turned into a movie, starring the omnipresent and probably miscast Michael Cera, featuring the underrated Kieran Culkin and Mark Webber (anyone remember Designated Dave?) and being accompanied by a sweet soundtrack.
Standouts include the restless need-a-change-of-scenery song “It’s Getting Boring by the Sea” by Blood Red Shoes, the deliciously un-PC jump-around jam “O Katrina!” by the Black Lips, and the sleeper “Sleazy Bed Track” by the Bluetones. Metric adds a solid youth-in-revolt type track that wins points with lyrics like “our common goal was waiting for the world to end,” and the soundtrack curators win major points by adding Broken Social Scene’s hauntingly beautiful “Anthem for a 17-Year Old Girl,” which more than lives up to its title. Not stopping there, Broken Social Scene adds their two cents (or two loonies, in Canadian) by writing the film’s score and the music for fictional band Crash and the Boys (though you’d be hard-pressed to recognize them since Crash songs rarely make it to the one-minute mark). Scott Pilgrim’s own band, Sex Bob-omb, is done by Beck, who sounds like he’s having a great time garage-rocking out as a fictional twentysomething, and also adds two songs under his own name. The video game theme makes it to the soundtrack in the form of a chiptunes song. But even though this soundtrack is fittingly young and alive, no one can accuse it of ignoring its elders. Tracks by the Rolling Stones, T Rex, and Frank Black all make well-placed appearances.
The full album is available for streaming courtesy of the good folks at Spinner.
Pay close attention! If you listen carefully and press Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A at the right moment, you just might unlock a bonus level where you get to fight Michael Cera for a chance to win the key to unlimited nachos anywhere in Toronto! (No promises.)
Everyone’s favorite off-kilter Swede has recently dropped a new song! Jens Lekman has returned with promise of a new album and a track called “The End of the World is Bigger Than Love.” Now if there’s anything us folks over at Restless Leg Syndrome follow closer than music, it’s the end of the world. (Not in a grab-your-homeboys-and-hot-pockets-and-head-to-the-bomb-shelter kind of way but purely sociologically, I’d like to believe.) But really, we are so down with the rapture. And so is Jens.
The familiar bouncy melody and half-past-deadpan layered singing reminds us that the end of the world is really big. Bigger than your broken heart, bigger than your problems, bigger than spiders and the stock market and the Flatbush Avenue Target and all sorts of other things previously thought to be of consequential size.
Lekman says, “It’s a song of hope. When love turns it’s back on you it’s nice to know there’s a world out there that doesn’t give a shit about your problems. That forces you to keep your head held high and move on. A world that is fragile and beautiful. Maybe it can sound cold to some of you, but let me make it clear that I believe in love, I just get so wrapped up in it sometimes that I need to put it into proportion. It’s something you have to do a lot when you’re Jens Lekman.”
True story! Highly anticipating the new album. We’ll be sure to keep it on high rotation…down in the bomb shelter.
Jens Lekman – The End of the World is Bigger Than Love
From his last album:
Jens Lekman – The Opposite of Hallelujah
Jens Lekman – Postcard to Nina (Jens wrote a song about me and by me I mean a German lesbian who shares my name, but still!)
Filed under: New Music, Nina | Tags: alt-country, folk, Futurebirds, Honeycutters, summer
photo by Ryan McGinley
So it’s almost August again and there’s twangin’ in the air. The beloved New York City concrete jungle (with its skyscraper landscapes, dirty rivers, boiling hellhole subway platforms, and up-all-night rooftop shenanigans) where I spend my summers is worlds away from the sun-soaked, porch-sittin, beer-sippin, slow day south of the folk idyll.
Still, there’s something about summer that makes me gravitate to folk songs and simply strummed alt-country sounds. Maybe it’s an old affinity for Wilco and whiskey. Maybe isolated weeks in Tennessee and North Carolina have lodged themselves permanently under my skin like a deer tick (or like Deer Tick, for that matter). Maybe it’s the heat bleaching my brain to dissociate from city hustle and crave simpler things – a patch of grass, an old guitar, fireflies and lazy nights.
Whatever the cause, these days there are often relaxed Americana tunes keeping me sane throughout frantic urban adventures. Two new bands have stood out in particular.
Futurebirds are a great new band that hail from Athens, GA. They raised stray dogs, raised some hell, graduated college, cruised down to SXSW2010 in a ’98 suburban war wagon where they generated a good amount of positive attention, and put out a debut LP this July that sounds like a soundtrack to a Flannery O’Connor story. Their singalong harmonies and slide guitars are infectious and their twangy lyrics are genuine. Diverse moments on their debut LP Hampton’s Lullaby draw from a wide net of influences (for example, waves of reverb and the melancholy refrain of “the sun ain’t gonna save my life” on “Battle for Rome” recalls the best of My Morning Jacket) but it’s an honest album well worth checking out, full of wide roads, warm moments, and wondrous summer.
The other notable mention is a track by a band called the Honeycutters. From their name to their all-analog approach and near-total lack of self-consciousness, they run the risk of being too sweet. But “Irene,” the title song off their debut album, is completely charming. Lyrics about smoking Marlboros by the railroad tracks, sipping dandelion soup, and being a kid in North Carolina are wrapped in thick nostalgia and vivid imagery. The “Goodnight Irene” refrain references an oft-covered country ballad by the same name – a whiskey-soaked wistful ode to lost love. Lead singer Amanda Anne Platt’s beautiful voice is tinged with a similar longing (in her case, for simpler childhood times), but the Honeycutters’ lullaby leaves you not with a hangover but with a sense that everything just might be okay.
Street cred it ain’t, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for Southern hospitality.
Tom Waits – Goodnight Irene (for comparison and because Tom Waits is a G)
gimme some salt, gimme some salt, gimme, gimme, gimme...
While my legs remain and will continue to be restless forever, this summer I’ve been keeping them busy, or at the very least, busier than last summer. I’m dividing my time between making sandwiches on a delicious vegetarian food truck permanently parked right outside of Kendall Square, writing for the Boston blog Ryan’s Smashing Life and interning at Performer Magazine in Somerville. So, though I can’t say I’m absorbing any new music at my only paid job (no, sandwiches do not play me back sweet jams… yet), my other two worthwhile time-occupiers are essentially flooding my brain with new things to listen to.
This is good. Though I haven’t felt at a loss for great music in a while, I do tend to get stuck on a band and hone in. For example, once upon a time, it was joked that I could not make a playlist that did not contain a Hold Steady song… and, by “once upon a time,” I mean earlier this summer. And by “joked,” I mean it was absolutely true.
Digesting new music is hard and I am not prone to appreciating a song on the first listen. I am often frustrated and quickly find myself settling back into the wonderful familiarity of knowing all the words to older favorites when something new can’t be swallowed whole.
So this summer, I’m learning to chew.
Performer Magazine really focuses on trying to get talented DIY and unsigned bands heard and recognized, so the office is constantly buzzing with new albums. They listen to EVERYTHING that gets sent in… EVERYTHING. Thus, I’m being forced to chew through some things I admit I would probably write off right away if I were listening alone.
Sometime last week, we received the July 13 release “All These Slippery Things” by Il Gato, a San Francisco band whose orchestra style string solos are paired with screeching vocals, and somehow it works. I’m not the biggest fan of “genre” labels but they describe themselves on their MySpace as “indie-baroque-folk,” and it sounds about right to me. Think Modest Mouse, with more violins and horns.
The first listen didn’t grab me, but over the course of the week I found each time I heard something I liked and asked who we were listening to, the answer was Il Gato. Here is my current favorite track from the record, On Feathers & Arrows (on Burnt Pine) but as I continue to listen I keep finding different parts of the album to latch onto. There are four tracks with “waltz” in the title, and each one is dark and beautiful. I recommend listening to the whole thing, all the way through, and then doing it again and again.
So in conclusion, my music digestion system is becoming more efficient, as are my vegetarian sandwich making skills. A constructive summer, indeed.
