Pallers: The Kiss [mp3]
Sweden’s Pallers gave us the critically acclaimed “Humdrum” a year or two ago, and backed the single with a few… Read More »Pallers: The Kiss [mp3]
10 (ish) Reasons Why Sub Pop May Dominate 2010 [Label Spotlight In A List]
Earlier this week I noted in my review of Avi Buffalo that Sub Pop may very well dominate my end of year list, and that being notable as we near the 1/3 mark of 2010. After thinking about it, I figured it was time for another list in Label Spotlight form. Now, the typical Label Spotlight covers the unknown record collectives throughout the world, but as some of my favorite releases so far this year have come from Sub Pop, I figured What the hell… Let’s go for it!
Read More »10 (ish) Reasons Why Sub Pop May Dominate 2010 [Label Spotlight In A List]Simon Bish: Butterfly Girl [Track Review]
The butterfly is always the easiest and most admired insect to ingest the world of indie rock/pop/whatever with great reason. A butterfly begins its stages as just another creepy, crawly tree dweller before it bursts into the world as a multi-colored miracle floating amidst the very trees it once depended upon to slowly push its existence around. Cue the beautiful girl that strikes her heart and makes an obvious comparison, and you have British songwriter Simon Bish and his wonderfully derived song “Butterfly Girlâ€. Bish’s tremendously soft and sweet pop melody is at its most tender moments when the violins join the chorus from the fires of simplistic hell and whirl the Brit pop goodness faster than the wings of a, well….butterfly! Read More »Simon Bish: Butterfly Girl [Track Review]
Harlem [Feature]
Meet Harlem, your new favorite garage/thrash band. Based in Austin, by way of Nashville, they recently released their sophomore album,… Read More »Harlem [Feature]
Beach Fossils [Feature]
I recently posted a list of ten bands that I should have checked out last year and there was an overall theme to the ten: several were from the Woodsist label. Beach Fossils has the sound of that label, and it’s no surprise; the band released a 7″ via Woodsist late last year. Their sound is packed with the fuzzy folk-pop jangle of bands like Woods and Real Estate and Fresh & Onlys. “Youth” is the band’s next single and it’s off their forthcoming self-titled release on Captured Tracks, out any day now. It’s a laid-back summer indie-pop jam, filled with jangly guitars and chilled-out percussion. Read More »Beach Fossils [Feature]
Seaspin: Reverser [mp3]
Seaspin is an L.A. based shoe gaze group with a very impressive style that invokes the spirit of both The Stone Roses and The Cranberries in a single 4 minutes. Frontwoman Jennifer Goodridge has a set of pipes that can make your ears bleed with delight. The title track from their latest release, Reverser EP, is as dreamy as it is passionate about something obviously very personal to Goodridge and her crew. This is a tale of love and loss set over dark and heavy barbiturate guitar licks and extremely haunting lyrical mass murder. This is the sort of group you may find yourself using to drain away the misery, while just as easily using them to garner inspiration and high hopes of a better tomorrow. Read More »Seaspin: Reverser [mp3]
The Mary Onettes: The Night Before The Funeral [mp3]
Listening to much of The Mary Onettes growing breadth of work, one gets the impression they are surrounded 80s LPs, and that this is where they draw influence. From Echo to The Church, Go Betweens to The Smiths, this band pulls all the right elements to create one of the freshest sounds around today. The latest tune from these Swedes is “The Night Before The Funeral” and it’s right up there with past hits like “Dare” and “Puzzles”. Opening with a heavy guitar strum which soon gives way to chamber-hall stringed instruments, “The Night Before The Funeral” isn’t so much a progression for the band than a tune complementary to their library. With The Mary Onettes’ blend of influences, it’s precisely what you’d want. Read More »The Mary Onettes: The Night Before The Funeral [mp3]
Guest Column: In Praise of 1973
Words and music by Jon Rooney, who records as Virgin Of The Birds.
To begin with a broad shot of dubious hyperbole, I declare that things have never been better than they were 1973. By things I mean popular art: art that was neither conventionally entertaining by modern tastes nor particularly coherent yet existed in some sort of hazy, avocado mainstream rather than the academy or the crevices of marginelia (sorry, Jazz). The early 1970’s, thanks to the persistent adolescent myopia of Baby Boomers and their now five decades of self-lionization, are often derided as being a hazy bummer – a depressing, cruel comedown from the halcyon days of Wavy Gravy and the war against the squares. In idealized retrospect, it doesn’t seem like there were any squares left by 1973. 1972 saw both Deep Throat and “Walk on the Wildside” become huge hits, signaling either a total collapse of traditional mores in the popular conscience or just a fashionable interest in lasciviousness. Either year, all bets were off by the following year.
Read More »Guest Column: In Praise of 1973Campfires [Feature]
Campfires creates what I would dub as melodic noise pop. Harmony is created through peaceful chords and the chaotic, fuzzy percussion is organized nicely with synchronous guitar strums. Campfires will warm your soul on a mildly chilly evening. The woody smell of smoke permeates these songs, wafting circular with the wind and occasionally burning the eyes. The instrumental “Pancake City” blends almost too perfectly into “Burning Rivers, TV Flickers, Drifting Off to Bed”, the title track from the band’s cassette on Leftist Nautical Antiques. It’s not what you’d expect from a so-called jam session, but the seemingly erratic nature of Campfires’ music fits the description. And their moniker fits their music; a controlled mayhem, an audible version of the dancing flames that are so hypnotic and mesmerizing. Read More »Campfires [Feature]
The Morning Benders [Feature]
It seems like everyone’s raving about The Morning Benders this year, and after picking up a few copies of their single Promises, I’m joining the crowd. While “Promises” isn’t my favorite, it does warrant a hefty portion of merit thanks to unbearably catchy guitar riffs and vocal hooks. It’s an easy track to love, packed with plenty of pop and a fair share of originality to boot. My true favorite, though, is “Excuses”. Read More »The Morning Benders [Feature]
