Listen/Download: Antony And The Johnsons - Rise
At the start of the week we got a comment on our Facebook page from a project called Coral Rekindling Venus, as they say:
“Coral Rekindling Venus is major work for fulldome digital planetariums by acclaimed artist Lynette Wallworth.
It is an extraordinary journey into a mysterious realm of fluorescent coral reefs, bioluminescent sea creatures and rare marine life, revealing a complex community living in the oceans most threatened by climate change.”
Still not entirely sure what that it is (sounds cool though), but they did mention they’d be giving away a brand new track by Antony And The Johnsons called “Rise” that presumably features in their film somehow. Now you can download that track for yourself below, and if you know what Antony Hegarty is capable of, it’s nothing short of the grandiose majesty that abounds almost everything he creates.
Check it out in the video below, or head over to their site and donate to download the MP3.
Connect with Antony And The Johnsons: Facebook | Last.fm | Website
Review/Listen: - Nick Waterhouse - Time’s All Gone
In an era of mass-produced, Garageband manufactured music, authenticity can be a hard to find. The title of this album, “Time’s All Gone”, hints at a throwback to simpler times, and so it is: at the height of “Time’s All Gone”, you can almost imagine being in the room with Nick Waterhouse as his band play small snippets from another time, his regal backup vocals, his own unsettling voice, and the noisy band that are too riled to play better. It’s reminiscent of a past three decades before his time while still seeming new and fresh, as if it happened only a moment ago. There’s humbleness about this album that doesn’t seem contrived. It’s fast, noisy, rowdy, and gritty, but it feels natural, without coming off as a duplicate.
On the opener, “Say I Wanna Know”, you can almost hear the hiss of the needle touching the vinyl as the drums kick in, the harsh brass overwhelming the song before Waterhouse sings. What follows is what feels like a party in a narrow club on a street that’s always wet, with the band almost invisible from all the smoke floating overhead. On track, “Don’t You Forget It”, you can nearly hear the horn almost seems to give a smoky rasp.
“Raina” earns the title of my favorite track, mostly due to the fact that Waterhouse doesn’t quite have the strength vocally to carry the song. The backup vocals bare most of the weight, but it’s his sincerity that gets the last word. While every track seems perfectly arranged, every detail scrutinized, it’s the roughness of the sound that makes it seem just as slapped together as it is supremely constructed. “(If) You Want Trouble” might be the best result of this formula. The rapid fire call-and-response between the band and vocals makes everything feel of the moment. Even on “Indian Love Call” Waterhouse nails the stereotypes of the era he so successfully apes, complete with faux-Indian percussion sounding more like a rain stick, delivered with a wink. The most primal moments are when the band are left to their own devices, specifically in the closer “Time’s All Gone Pt.2”. It’s the organic movements of each instrument that create a tension that is both poignant and fierce.
On summer nights as a child, I would often listen to old records, 45s mostly, with my grandfather, as the adults would play cards or watch sports in the other room. It was those moments I was taken back to constantly throughout this release. Deriving from the late 1950/early 1960s doo-wop, the mono-production is as flawed as the wobbly vinyl I use to spin. You can hear the earnestness in the SoCal singer/songwriter’s shouts, grunts, or snickers. It’s the album’s lightness that makes it so approachable. The central theme of love in all its forms make it indeed a labor of one, a love letter to a time and sound that clearly speaks to Waterhouse as much as it does to others like me. Stream “Time’s All Gone” below.
Connect with Nick Waterhouse - Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud | Website
Listen: Summer Camp - “Always”
Listen to the title track off Summer Camp’s upcoming EP, “Always”, out July 10 via Apricot Recording Company/Moshi Moshi.
Last week we posted “Life”, our first listen at UK indie pop duo Summer Camp’s latest EP, “Always”. And now, to send us off into the weekend nicely, they’ve sharing the title track.
“Life” was definitely more electronic-oriented than their past stuff, and “Always” continues that trend, though this one is far more upbeat, in a disco-in-the-eighties kind of way. These guys really have a really great thing going on right now. Listen to “Always” below.
Connect with Summer Camp: Facebook | Twitter | Website | Soundcloud | Last.fm
Listen/Download: Phédre - Aphrodite (Beta Frontiers Remix)
I’ve been talking lately about how much I enjoy the videos Phédre release, hoping one day to see them direct some El Guincho videos.
So far that hasn’t happened, but they have been dropping song-of-the-year contenders for the last couple of months, namely “Aphrodite” and “In Decay”, for the former of which has now been giving the remix treatment by label-mates Beta Frontiers, all 80’s-tinged and electro-sounding, just as you’d expect it to be.
Connect with Beta Frontiers – Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm | Bandcamp
Connect with Phèdre: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Website
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Listen/Download: Till Death - “Forever”
Till Death is the new project from Owl Vision and Frank Major, two guys whose previous work Iâm only vaguely aware of, âForeverâ is a testament that such moderate recognition and their presence within the social psyche of our scene is about to drastically change.
This is baby making music for bangers and the recreational bath salt swimmers. âForeverâ is complete grime swallowed by one of the sexiest tones of sin Iâve heard. The breakdowns nudged by the constant adrenaline fueled high-hat and bass-line driven by some dangerous spirit of ill-intent lead me to believe Till Death are either possessed or have cut a bargain with Satan himself.
These Swedes have combined the montage level infection of Health with the dripping suave coolness of Digits all of which hides in the same industrial darkness as V A L I S, this is the sickest Electro can get.
Connect with Till Death - Facebook | Soundcloud
Video: Sea Of Bees - “Broke” (Mahogany Session)
Julie Baenziger is my favorite female artist of recent years. Something about her transcendentally skilled lyric writing and the transformation which takes place when watching her live just owns my heart.
This performance of “Broke” is a testament of both aspects, stealing my attention as I follow along in complete wonder at what Sea Of Bees and her progression from the timidly shy artist she began as just a few short years ago into this complete presence of art and passion existing before us today.
Connect with Sea Of Bees - Facebook | Tumblr | Website
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Listen: Liars - Octagon
In just over a week Liars will release their sixth studio album “WIXIW” (pronounced “wish you”) via Mute, though a few days ago the band/label dropped a new track that passed by without much fanfare.
On Tuesday they’ll release the first single from the album, “No.1 Against The Rush”, with “Octagon” just appearing on the album itself and not on a single. It’s got a huge Radiohead vibe to it, like something that would’ve come out of an “Amnesiac” and “In Rainbows” hybrid.
Listen: CocoRosie + Antony Hegarty - Tearz For Animals
At the start of the month we treated you to the exquisite new track by CocoRosie, “We Are On Fire”, their new 7” single that was produced by TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek and featuring Antony Hegarty from Antony And The Johnsons on the flipside.
If you’re still spinning “We Are On Fire” then give it a rest and listen to the b-side “Tearz For Animals”. Antony Hegarty’s always had that ability to make everything his vocals flow onto turn to gold and this is no exception, all glistening and resonating and wistful.
The single was released at the start of the week and you can still grab your copy if you didn’t already.
Ones To Watch: Tiny Victories
I’ve been sitting on this post about Brooklyn’s Tiny Victories for months. I absorbed the band and mulled over what to say, I kept trying to see them live and decided that my writing would wait until then. Not that recordings and performance should be viewed as inclusive, but they coexist. Both inform what you know as “the band”.
Tiny Victories is, surprisingly, just two people: Greg Walters and Cason Kelly. While both are multi-instrumentalists, during their live setup you will see Kelly mostly behind drums, while Walters is on vocals and keys - sampling live sounds and audience members throughout and incorporating them into the tracks that you can hear on their first release “Those Of Us Still Alive” EP.
The first time I heard “Mr. Bones” I felt that rare but familiar feeling of that fantasy scene in that coming-of-age movie where someone is running and everything culminates in this epic romanticism. It had this John Hughes emotional tug and reminded me strongly of General Public’s “Tenderness”. That is to say, what a single! It’s that song that makes you believe in anything. Two decades ago, I would spend an entire sunny afternoon with my finger tensely levitating above the “Play/Record” buttons on my stereo waiting to hear this song on the radio.
“Gravitron” is another unmistakeable gem, with Walters’ low octave vocals set against a bright synth-laden backdrop, it’s almost like a perfect amalgamation of Passion Pit and Future Islands. Do you remember The Russian Futurists? One of my favorite tracks was the opener to their eponymous 2003 album “Let’s Get Ready To Crumble”, which starts by saying ”I make pop ‘cause that’s where my heart goes, I don’t call it art, no sir.” Tiny Victories is bubbling over with such sentiment; its songs’ hazy, magnetic layers contoured by sweetly tense pulses. The arrangements would put a twinkle in Paul Simon’s eye.
Their debut “Those Of Us Still Alive” EP is a really impeccable sampling of what I hope is the best is still to come. It may have come out early in the year, but these are the songs that will make your summer.
Dig in: watch the video for “Mr. Bones” and listen to the whole EP below.
Connect with Tiny Victories: Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm | Bandcamp
Video: Ski Lodge - A Game
After releasing “A Game” back in 2011, Ski Lodge are now back with a video for it, one that’s violent and sexy at the same time. I’m not sure if this chick is sexy because she’s sexy, or because she’s dangerous. You decide, let me know.
Connect with Ski Lodge: Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp | Last.fm
Video: A Place To Bury Strangers - You Are The One
Watch the new video for A Place To Bury Strangers song “You Are The One” below, taken from the album “Worship”. Like your music video Grindhouse-y? You’ll love this.
Connect with A Place To Bury Strangers: Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm | Website
Listen: The National - The Rains Of Castamere
As you wait for The National to finish up a new album you don’t have to wait to hear new music by the band.
This time, though, it’s not really their own track but instead them performing the song written by George R. R. Martin, the creator of Game Of Thrones on the soundtrack to which this song appears.
Yes, you read that right. Everyone’s favourite sourpuss band The National will appear on the Game Of Thrones soundtrack, performing this song penned just for the show, “The Rains Of Castamere”. Last year they released “Exile Vilify” for the Portals 2 video game, so they’re no strangers to stepping outside of their normal realm of music distribution.
Connect with The National: Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm | Website
Review/Listen: Grass Widow - “Internal Logic”
San Francisco-based trio Grass Widow, made up of Hannah Lew (bass), Raven Mahon (guitar), and Lillian Maring (drums), collectively share duties on vocals, weaving together melodies steeped in metaphor as gleamed from each of the members’ personal narratives. Always shying away from directly referential, confessional song structure, this lo-fi post punk band steadfastly refuses to get behind one specific front person.
Since 2010’s “Past Time”, the band has toured extensively throughout the US, the UK, continental Europe, and China. In the meantime, they founded their own label, HLR, and wrote several of their own music videos under the direction of Lew, who has also directed videos for other Bay Area artists such as Hunx And His Punx and Shannon And The Clams . They’ve opened for the likes of Sonic Youth, The Raincoats, and Wild Flag, had a cameo appearance on Portlandia, and will soon be hitting the road in June to headline their own tour in support of their latest endeavor, “Internal Logic”, out May 29th.
From the first track, “Goldilocks Zone”, through a hazy, electronic build-up, the vocals are gradually introduced, instantly starting off with a more sophisticated and compelling lead-in. It is obvious that Grass Widow have gained both confidence and musical proficiency since “Past Time”. There is a more adaptable and spatial quality to their current offering: though they sound more tight, this tightness affords them the confidence to reach a little further afield and explore more complex musical territory.
Grass Widow’s vocals, which on previous efforts tended to roll over one another so rapidly that they were just as often dizzying as they were sublime, have been amped up to their full potential on “Internal Logic”. Extra clutter is cleared away, leaving behind what ought to have been there all along: uncompromisingly unique vocal contributions from all three, all of which come together to form a greater whole. This added sense of structure and wholeness was exactly what was lacking on their previous endeavors, in which songs sounded potentially gorgeous but seemed more like brief two second sketches, wisps of several good ideas, rather than a fully formed final product.
“A Light In The Static” is a great step up into a paired-down, spooky instrumental, done on a simple acoustic guitar that manages to evoke wonder and confusion succintly and delicately. The vocals on “Spock On Muni” are tight and together, the instrumentation also more vibrant. Also, it never hurts to make allusions to the best of all the Star Trek films (Geek Cred!).
Still, this album has its limits. The midsections is problematic, as Grass Widow seem to struggle with merging their garage band sensibilities with a more psychedelic, expiramental direction. Emerging from a standard flow of basic guitar noodling, they start to gain momentum and deviate in promising directions. Unfortunately, just when a song begins to show that it has found an interesting segway to another level of complexity, it will fizzle out or change direction again just a little too soon. Some of these gons could, and perhaps should, have been split in two.
I am nonetheless grateful to hear Grass Widow playing with more instrumental complexities, as there’s definitely a sense of greater things to come from this band. Certainly the hugely evocative album-closer “Responses To Photographers” suggests as much: played on what sounds like an aging, slightly out of tune upright piano, it evokes fragility and the idea of confronting invasiveness by weaving a layer of protection in the face of over-exposure.
This is comfortably Grass Widow’s most succinct and well-crafted album to date. While their music is at its most promising when it finds its way down interesting and surprising paths, their musical style still remains a little wobbly. Nevertheless, they are heading in the right direction, there are just a few kinks that need to be ironed out in order for Grass Widow’s sound to catch up with their abundant vision and artistic integrity. Judging from the leaps and bounds evident between their last album and “Internal Logic”, the best is yet to come.
Connect with Grass Widow - Facebook | Twitter | Website | Soundcloud
Listen: Marissa Nadler - The Sister (Full Album Stream)
Chalk up Marissa Nadler’s new album “The Sister” as another of this year’s stunningly sparse and haunting releases, alongside Daughn Gibson, Perfume Genius, Sigur Ros, and John Talabot.
Stripping away the instrumentation and production you hear on so many albums these days, she’s left bare the fragile emotion in her voice and acoustics of her guitar and piano, occasionally slipping in the perfectly-timed thud of a kick drum.
“The Sister” will be released on May 29th via her own Box Of Cedar label, and below you can listen to the entire beautiful thing, though calling it a “thing” is doing it a disservice.
Connect with Marissa Nadler: Facebook | Twitter | Last.fm | Website
Live Review: Jack White + Alabama Shakes @ Roseland Ballroom, NYC - 5/22/12
Jack White and The Peacocks - Roseland Ballroom - May 22nd, 2012
I’ve always been a casual Jack White fan: I admired him from afar, appreciated his musical brilliance, and was casually into his bands, but I never really delved into his catalogue; with six full-length White Stripes albums, two fronting The Raconteurs, two in The Dead Weather, and his debut solo album “Blunderbuss”, the man’s discography is vast, and I just never knew where to begin. Even so, when his solo shows at Roseland Ballroom were announced, I knew I had to go: his showmanship as a mere drummer was incredible when I saw him in The Dead Weather, and the few minutes he had on guitar were mind blowing. I obviously wasn’t going to be able to see The White Stripes anytime soon, so a Jack White solo “greatest hits” show would have to do. And thus began my few-month Jack White binge, when I finally had the stamina to dive into his music.
By the time openers, The Alabama Shakes, came on, Roseland Ballroom was already beyond crowded, with even those in the back packed liked sardines. The Alabama Shakes are a new favorite of mine, as I’ve been listening to their debut, “Boys & Girls”, on repeat ever since it came out and was pleasantly surprised when I heard they would be opening. Lead singer/guitarist Brittany Howard, comparable to a female Otis Redding, really commandeers the band and is quite the powerhouse. The band is a hybrid like no other and is unique in its fusion of neo-soul vocals paired with rock instrumentation. Howard was so exciting to watch: she had so much soul and expression and was so invested in what she was singing, making the set refreshingly genuine. Highlights of the set were when she just exploded singing “BE MY BABY” during “Be Mine”, and as a female guitarist myself, I also particularly enjoyed when she showed off her incredible guitar skills while soloing on “Hold On” and “I Found You”, proving that female guitarists can do more than just play rhythm. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these guys headline the venue in a few years, as they managed to captivate all 3500 people in the sold out crowd.
The Alabama Shakes
After a brief set change, it was finally time for Jack White. The curtains opened, showcasing an elaborate setup of White’s all-female backing band, The Peacocks, opening with “Sixteen Saltines”, a “Blunderbuss” rock & roll number, which had White already showing off his genius guitar chops. He and the band played a lot from the new album, my favorite of which was the lead single, “Love Interruption”, which had White and one of The Peacocks harmonizing in a seductive duet, in a style reminiscent what he and fellow bandleader Allison Mosshart did as The Dead Weather. “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” was another crowd-favorite, to which White prefaced “Here’s a new one, we haven’t played it twenty-four hours”, before diving into the bluesy number. The set was very “Blunderbuss”-heavy, but it was really the older tracks that were the most memorable.
Jack White’s catalogue is genre defying in that it covers different aspects from rock & roll, blues, indie rock, soul, and folk – the latter of which was illustrated during The White Stripes’ folk number, “Hotel Yorba”, which elicited one of the most raucous crowd responses of the night, as the sold out crowd chanted the chorus and shuffled along to the music. Another White Stripes classic, “We’re Gonna Be Friends” had White playing more stripped down, with little instrumentation besides for his acoustic guitar, showing that the legend has a softer side. “Two Against One”—a track prepared originally by Daniele Luppi and Danger Mouse as a part of their “Rome” collaboration, featuring Jack White was another slow number that further showcased how versatility. “The Hardest Button To Button” and “Ball and Biscuit”, both White Stripes originals, had the crowd moving, especially as The Raconteurs hit “Carolina Drama” followed, definitely a crowd favorite, as everyone was singing along.
Jack White and The Peacocks doing “Love Interruption”
What really made the show so incredible was the way that White and his band managed to rearrange every song with such precision and brilliance. His all-woman backing band included a phenomenal drummer and keyboard player, along with a steel guitarist, a super pregnant upright bassist, and a fiddle player. What seems like an odd setup resulted in such a brilliant reworking that really fleshed out his songs and gave it a fresh revamping, the most exceptional of which was the newly fiddle-prominent “Hotel Yorba”. White, mostly known for being the guitar god that he is, managed to play a few songs by the piano, proving that along with his drum work in The Dead Weather, Jack White is an unstoppable musician who has mastered almost everything.
Right before the encore, we were given the ultimate surprise: what was set up as a VIP area, filled with chairs and a lucky bunch with a great view of the stage, turned into a stage, as two men in top hats pulled back a curtain to reveal Jack White and his all-male backing band, Los Buzzards, who played with him the duration of the show the night before (we were lucky – the night before had no surprise ending, and had no Peacocks – meaning no “Love Interruption”). They dove right into a heavier White Stripes number, “Black Math”, which had Jack White really rocking out and showcasing his guitar mastery. “Cut Like A Buffalo”, arguably The Dead Weather’s most popular track, had White and Los Buzzards playing some blues-infused rock & roll. After the blues-heavy number, White got out his guitar slide, and played some incredible slide guitar improvisation before starting the White Stripes’ “Catch Hell Blues”, which in my opinion was the song that most showcased his talent, making him somewhat of a modern Jimi Hendrix for his skills and innovations. The show was capped off with the only predictable thing of the night – a heavy rendition of the White Stripes’ most popular tune, “Seven Nation Army”, which had the crowd go bonkers, while everyone chanted along to rock’s most recognizable bass line.
Jack White is already partially through his summer tour, which will include many festival appearances and European shows, with a few more North American dates sprinkled in, which I’d recommend to anyone who loves a good concert.
Jack White and Los Buzzards on a different stage
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