Pierced Arrows – Descending Shadows
Pierced Arrows are old people. Well, relatively anyway. They’re an Oregon based husband and wife duo, and they’re well in to their fifties, playing music longer than most of us have been alive. Fred and Toody Cole, joined in this state by Kelly Halliburton on drums, are a garage rock staple. In a previous incarnation, the Coles were Dead Moon. Dead Moon released a massive 16 alums before disbanding, and now with Halliburton, they released their sophomore effort for their new group, Pierced Arrows, on Vice records. (more…)
This entry was written by , posted on March 8, 2010 at 12:34 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Descending Shadows, Pierced Arrows, Vice Records. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Everybody Was In the French Resistance…Now! – Fixing the Charts
Fixing the Charts by Everybody Was In The French Resistance…Now! is an Eddie Argos Art Brut concept band. Helping Eddie is Dyan Valdes of the Blood Arm, who does her part in both playing the synthesizer and softly rounding out the pliant vocal soundscape. Together, their creation is a tootling rush of trumpets and hand claps backed up by lambent guitar lines that fizz through historical and witty lyrics. (more…)
This entry was written by , posted on March 2, 2010 at 12:11 am, filed under New Music and tagged Art Brut, Dyan Valdes, Eddie Argos, Everybody Was In the French Resistance...Now, Fixing the Charts. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
B. Dolan – “Leaving New York”
Gritty doesn’t begin to describe B. Dolan’s to-the-point narrative about post-9/11 desperation in the Big Apple. Back that up with a rapid fire, low-end beat, and you’ve got a solid response to Jay-Z’s glitzy panorama of New York. B. Dolan’s LP Fallen House, Sunken City drops early next week – be sure to give it a listen!
B. Dolan – “Leaving New York”
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This entry was written by , posted on February 26, 2010 at 4:05 pm, filed under New Music and tagged B. Dolan, Fallen House, Leaving New York, Sunken City. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Childish Gambino — I AM JUST A RAPPER
Ever the wise-ass, Donald Glover, rap alias Childish Gambino, is much more than a rapper. Having started his career as a start-up comedian, and now accelerating it on the cast of NBC’s Community, Gambino exhibits a bit of his comical, theatrical, and musical talent on the mixtape. His work as a writer (30 Rock, Comedy Central Presents) has rendered him a clever lyricist, capable of producing such Wayne-esque rhymes as “I f**k a girl named Kira, nightly.” While the production quality and over-the-top delivery will prevent the listener from taking the tracks too seriously, Gambino’s rap ambition is admirable. He is above all an actor/comedian who has finally made enough money to pursue rap as a hobby, but not an additional source of income. The resulting work is eclectic (sampling Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear), lyrically satisfying, and at times reminiscent of FOTC’s Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenocerous.
Childish Gambino–My Girls (My Girls)
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This entry was written by , posted on February 22, 2010 at 11:02 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Animal Collective, Childish Gambino, I am just a rapper, My Girls. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Broken Social Scene – World Sick
All hail and rejoice! Everybody’s favorite canadian posé, Broken Social Scene, has arrived in a golden chariot of a free mp3, to pass judgement on the waiting masses. “World Sick,” the latest rustling from the BSS moniker, is a good study of the band’s varied aural history. Pulling atmospheric sounds from Feel Good Lost, warm production from You Forgot it in People, and wide-open spaces from their self-titled album, “World Sick” promises a familiar but exciting future for their upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record.
Go here to download it. You’ll have to enter your email address, but in my case, Leslie Feist already emails me every other day*, so it wasn’t a big deal.
*Sorry Ms. Feist. I hope you don’t mind me appropriating my monster crush on you for a bit of good humor.
This entry was written by , posted on February 19, 2010 at 5:08 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Rockie Fresh – Rockie’s Modern Life
Artists like Rockie have a soft spot in our hearts. They are the rappers with small, but dedicated, fan-bases of young hipsters who would like nothing better than to burn you a copy to bump in your mom’s Camry. In addition, Rockie is a bit of a hometown hero–if your hometown happens to be somewhere in the predominantly-black south suburbs of Chicago. In his premier CD, the rapper is true to himself and his surroundings; he appeals to the lower middle class kid who doesn’t own a gun or sell drugs, but knows someone that does. Lyrically sound and well-swaggered, Rockie is the type of artist that is probably well-founded in his belief that he could get signed if only his CD landed in the lap of the proper executive.
Rockie Fresh – I’m Fly
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This entry was written by , posted on February 15, 2010 at 11:54 am, filed under New Music and tagged Rockie, Rockie Fresh, Rockie's Modern Life. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Caribou – “Odessa”
Daniel Victor Snaith, known to us as Caribou, has a new album arriving April 20th via Merge. It’s called Swim. Our first sip of the album, its opener, “Odessa,” is a rubbery electronic track, anchored by a deep, coolly familiar vocal sample that bubbles up as both spokesperson and hook. A more minimalistic composition, the malleable “Odessa” is a directly danceable stroke away from Snaith’s whirring, drum-lined 2008 spin, Andorra.
Caribou – Odessa
This entry was written by , posted on February 12, 2010 at 5:12 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Caribou, Odessa, Swim. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
The Helium Tapes – Ghost Wave
The Helium Tapes, a powerful rock and roll trio with extensive gigging experience in the St. Louis area, go tight-rope walking with safety net and corded harness on their second and latest release, Ghost Wave, which features heavy, multifaceted rock music coloring in and out of dirgy lines. The group, who recently downsized to a trio after the recording of the album, buzz and churn out pop-rock spins with a dare-devil vocal mistress cooing woebegones over canyons of her personal history. (more…)
This entry was written by , posted on February 8, 2010 at 6:51 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Ghost Wave, The Helium Tapes. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Joanna Newsom – “Good Intentions Paving Company”
If I had to pick a mascot for indie in the oughties (note to self: pitch Indie in the Oughties to PBS as a new Ken Burns documentary), Joanna Newsom would be in the final 4. With a voice that can quickly separate the hip wheat from the lame chaff, a quirky instrument—which also happens to be the logo for a hip foreign beer—and name-dropping opportunities like Steve Albini (10 points!) and Jim O’Rourke (10 points!), the psych-folk (high score!) songstress has one hell of a stacked deck.
But forget all that. Listen to Joanna’s newest song, and make a note in your planner ten years from now (because I know you have a decade-at-a-glance). I’ll probably be saying the exact same thing about indie in the ’10s.
Listen to it at Drag City (the stream is in the top-right corner of the page).
This entry was written by , posted on February 5, 2010 at 12:33 pm, filed under New Music. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Surfer Blood – Astro Coast
Absorbing all ocean metaphors between the 60s and the late 90s, surf rock has long been the medium of summer fun. But in the last decade of DIY spectacles splashing up an ocean-like internet arena, listeners fervently watched innumerable bands take the plunge into a larger online medium that mostly sounds like disorder. Of late it’s been either wipe-out, wash up deserted, get caught in riptides of messiah-like hype or judgmental dissent, or ride the wave long enough to finally earn high marks on their out-of-ten-scorecards and still see modest digital sustenance, see for example Animal Collective/Grizzly Bear/Vampire Weekend. Watching these bands be tested against mega waves of reception is like wondering which kid is going to go first in Lord of the Flies. But here’s Surfer Blood, a lightning rod through the cutthroat internet canonization of 00s indie. Astro Coast is a skillful and patient balancing act calmly recalling an anthology of pop, new-wave, and underground influences and then deftly rerouting it to listeners lost between Pandora and Pitchfork.
Surfer Blood – “Floating Vibes”
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This entry was written by , posted on February 1, 2010 at 5:05 pm, filed under New Music and tagged Astro Coast, Canine Records, Surfer Blood. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.