In a way, I kind of miss the days when Of Montreal gave us songs like “Disconnect the Dots” and “The Party’s Crashing Us” and even “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”. Paralytic Stalks seems a different beast entirely, filled with further psychedelic pop experimentation than we’re used to from Kevin Barnes and company. The more I listen to it, the more I get it. This album is not supposed to be an easy listen. Read More »Of Montreal: Dour Percentage MP3
In the layers between folk music and pop music lays a fantastical world where I often enjoy spending time. It is here I discover some of my favorite songs, bands and albums. Today’s band is a new find, and it comes from this mystical land of upbeat storytelling, catchy riffs and subtle hints of a country sound. Whistle Peak joins together experimental folk with electronic pop. Read More »Whistle Peak [Feature]
Something dark and immense haunts the pop that Ben Heywood (Summer Darling) masters on his new release Skills for the Long Emergency under the name Heywood. From the depths of a post rock, shoegaze haze, Heywood will just as readily produce mind-melting noise as it will dive into an obscure, dream-like melody. Read More »Heywood: Spectacular Violence MP3
Brooklyn based Lightouts are Greg Nelson and Gavin Rhodes. The duo creates thick and fully developed rock music pulsing with electric guitar solos and clean, rolling harmonies. Progressive and balanced, the band’s sound is reminiscent of 90’s alt rock and 70’s glam rock dance halls; their music just makes you feel good. These guys have a true gift for musicianship, structure, and layering; they know what they’re doing and they do it well. Frivolous, motivated, tightly focused and refreshingly energetic, Lightouts are a welcomed cure for winter blues. Read More »Lightouts [Feature]
Ulrich Schnauss and Mark Peters have joined forces outside of their project Engineers for something a bit different. Their album, “Underrated Silence” is expected to drop February 2012. “Underrated Silence” is ambient, dreamy, mostly instrumental electronic shoegaze with spacey synths, soft guitars, and hints of piano. Read More »Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters (Feature)
Stuarto Glasser, host of the All Around the World Music Show, called me up a little after 5pm Friday and asked if I could fill in for him. Thinking it would be a great way to attract a few more listeners I agreed. I headed home and put together a playlist of some of my favorite indie artists from around the world.
Read More »Fense’s Radio Show: December 9, 2011 
To me, being an indie music fan is all about being an explorer, discovering new and untapped realms of audio heaven. One of my favorite things to experience is to stumble upon something astonishing in all its brilliance. An artist I didn’t know. An album that blows my mind. Or a single song that simply appears out of nowhere. I have no clue how Siskiyou‘s “Always Awake” found its way onto my laptop, but boy am I glad it did. Read More »Siskiyou: Always Awake MP3
As the days and nights get colder, and we enter full-fledged winter, it becomes more and more difficult to justify taking the BMW out. In the cold, it’s almost better to just walk. But I braved the chill and barely-working defrost on December 2, taking the car out for one last night show before the new year. It would be a good one, filled with dreamy music pretty much throughout. Read More »Fense’s Radio Show: December 2, 2011
Ganglians will be in Seattle next week. The famed Crocodile will play host to the Lefse Records band on December 6 with Young Prisms. The band gave us Still Living, their first release since a dual album in 2009, back in August. Those were released via Woodsist, and that beach-y psychedelic sound continues here along with one that hints of Lefse artists like The Fair Ohs and Dominant Legs.
Read More »Ganglians (Feature) Take a step back a dozen years. The year was 2000 and Giant Sand was releasing their LP for Chore… Read More »Giant Sand reissues “Chore of Enchantment”
