HEALTH: DISCO 2 [Album Review]
Remix albums are something I don’t often look forward to. They typically are not as innovative or unique as the… Read More »HEALTH: DISCO 2 [Album Review]
Remix albums are something I don’t often look forward to. They typically are not as innovative or unique as the… Read More »HEALTH: DISCO 2 [Album Review]
Sweater Girls are a new Los Angeles-based group and, according to Mike over at Happy Happy Birthday To Me, their debut 7″ single sold out solely based on word-of-mouth. Listening to the three songs tucked within, it’s easy to hear why — Sweater Girls produce outstanding indie pop music perfect for the HHBTM label, and perfect for everyone’s favorite musical consumption format… vinyl. Read More »Sweater Girls: EP [7″ Review]
Over the last decade, there has been a strange emergence in the indie rock world that has made people feel downright silly for only tuning in now. It has also built an even stranger devotion that can only be described as fanatical and a bit obsessive. Oh Ye, Blitzen Trapper, you are back! When Sub Pop picked these guys up to release their, what is now an indie classic, fourth album Furr, something magical happened for fans of true American folk and experimental rock. And it has happened again. BT’s fifth release, Destroyer Of The Void, brings us back onto the padded wagon traveling westward bound at a slow trot through the heart, body, and soul. Read More »Blitzen Trapper: Destroyer Of The Void [Album Review]
The Blank Tapes‘ Matt Adams wrote his new album Home Away From Home, as he puts it, in a van in probably half of the states in America. For that, it is named appropriately. It, too, is packed with garage-worthy tinkering that extends from folk to pop to experimental psychedelic. It’s an array that bodes well for the San Francisco native, and it’s one that’s definitely worth a pair of ears. Namely — yours. Read More »The Blank Tapes: Home Away From Home [Album Review]
What do you get when you have a female vocalist with the voice of a much hipper Norah Jones, and a soft-core indie rock sound that that hits you harder than the Challenger did Florida? Well, you might have the almighty Wild Moccasins. Along with the illustrious Zahira Guiterrez spreading her classically-oriented vocals, we have her mate, Cody Swann, creating a beautiful trade-off of words on their debut album Skin Collision Past. Everything just seems to fall into place in this wonderful portrayal of Houston’s finest indie rock outfit. Read More »Wild Moccasins: Skin Collision Past [Album Review]
Family Trees is a Brooklyn-based trio made up of Ryan Trott (guitar and vocals), Amanda Finn (drums), and Joe Pruitt (bass) and they create Woodsist-like light, beachy acoustic pop music with barely discernible hints of garage and lo-fi electronics. Catchy and hypnotic, “Dream Talkin'” is the perfect summer tune, fit to stretch out on the porch on a hot, clear, starry night. Those nights when the nightlife croaks softly in the background, or laps gently on the coast in the distance. It’s a song you listen to with your best friend, look them in the eye, and nod, knowing there’s little else that would make that moment any better. Read More »Family Trees: Dream Talkin’ [7″ Review]
Gritty garage-inspired rock is nothing new to the FensePost crowd, so pretty much everything off Young Rival’s self-titled LP, out this week on Sonic Unyon, should sound like an old friend. Recorded by Jon Drew (Tokyo Police Club, Fucked Up, Arkells), the band infuses a sound that’s completely raw without being overly lo-fi and under-produced. They hit a nice chord somewhere between rock and pop, with heavier leanings toward the former. Read More »Young Rival: Young Rival [Album Review]
Oh, to be young again. Better yet, to be young, talented and full of promise. No, we’re not talking about a NCAA basketball prodigy. We are talking about Grace Bellury, a.k.a. Lille (like the French city, pronounced “Leel”). This Atlanta native, in your short existence, has a voice that sends chills down the back of your neck with a pleasurable burn more powerful than a vampire in sunlight (one that burns, not sparkles). At 18 years old, this songstress has debuted herself perfectly with her first EP, Tall Shoulders. Read More »Lille: Tall Shoulders EP [Album Review]
Jack James, one of 2009’s finest debut artists, has jumped around back onto the proverbial wagon with his sophomore release, Quarter Life Crisis. This talented Scottish wordsmith brings back the signature “one man, one guitar, a thousand words” take on folk music and the ever-present sense of spirituality that comes with the genre. Though James hasn’t changed much since his debut album Lights Off, Headphones On (granted, it’s only been a year), it certainly does seem as though the spirit of his words are a bit more gloomy and a bit more personable than ever before. Read More »Jack James: Quarter Life Crisis [Album Review]
Every few years it seems as though an indie folk singer comes out that creates something beyond strange lamentations and disturbing psychosis through acoustic guitars and eerie piano solos. Yes, every few years there is an artist that distributes the idea to our heads that it is okay to keep it simple, with only minor complexities to cloud our minds, and still be able to make sweet and beautiful pop oriented folk music. Similar to Norah Jones stealing the show almost 10 years ago, Kacey Johansing has arrived with her debut solo album Many Seasons to be the heiress of said crown with her own special portrayal of the Bay Area’s everlasting love for the slow paced society San Francisco had once tried to create. Read More »Kacey Johansing: Many Seasons [Album Review]