The Sandwitches play the kind of haunting-yet-oddly captivating music that leaves writers grasping for the correct words to describe what they hear. Even the band's own bio sounds confused; likening the Bay Area band to the end result of "..if the Shangri-las got together with Loretta Lynn...to sing on lost PJ Harvey songs performed by the Monks." Fortunately The Sandwitches prove much more than a Franken-band of obvious influences. Although the term Franken-band might still be appropriate. Even more light-hearted tracks like "Lightfoot"-from their forthcoming record Mrs. Jones' Cookies -play like the soundtrack to a Halloween [...]
The first track on Philly-based Arches ' full length debut Wide Awake may be titled, "This is Not a Good Night for Walking", but the spinning psych-rock soundscapes that drape like a blanket over the album's nine songs certainly make me feel like strolling a leisurely paced marathon. This comes as no surprise considering the album supposedly tells a story of a character that flees the "mundane routines" of city life to become a drifter. As someone who frequently flees the city he lives in a car full of gas and a head filled with images [...]
Soft Encounters "Professional Seamen" from Scott Gelber on Vimeo . Soft Encounters is a band whose members include Luke Fasano ( Yeasayer , Ex Models ) and Zach Lerhoff ( The Seconds , Ex Models). Their rhythmic, distortion heavy brand of guitar driven noise has a supernatural air to it, but does not belong in the House of Witch. The vocal, which is in an indeterminable language, comes off like an eerie chant, straight out of Rosemary's Baby. The "Professional Seamen" video, which was directed by Scott Geiber , adds to this [...]
Among other exciting label news , we just caught wind that Gary War and Taylor Richardson ( Infinity Window , Human Teenager, Purple Haze) have lauched their own Brooklyn-based imprint, Fixed Indentity - a "labor of love" dedicated to "next-level psychedelic achievements of the present, past, and future." Kicking off this initiative, a remastering of British guitarist/songwriter/poet/auth or Martin Newell 's 1985 limited-run cassette, Songs For A Fallow Land . Newell - known alternately as the "Wild Man of Wivenhoe " and "Britain's busiest wordsmith, tunesmith, and horitcultural assasin"- is a cult legend of sorts. He began his career in the glam-rock band [...]
My highest hope for music in 2011 is for the blogosphere to be infused with more fun. So much of what is getting passed around these days - while compelling and fun to listen to and write about - sounds bleak or invokes a strange monotone melancholy. Considering that ours is a community based on earnestness and a hearty DIY attitude this always seemed strange to me. New artists - like Atlanta outfit New Animal - make me optimistic for my hopeful 2011 resolution. While not every song on their self-titled and self-released debut may necessarily be a [...]
Ssaliva is the newest artist on the increasingly eclectic Leaving Records roster. The man behind the magic is a young man from Belgium named Francois Boulanger who knows how to make the Internet work for him; apparently he passed his album Thought Has Wings to Leaving Records' matthewdavid through direct Twitter message. Although this approach was certainly unconventional, I'd imagine the quality of the record made this a crowning achievement of Web 2.0. The music is distorted lo-fi, in the vain of Matrix Metals , with some Oldies Station accents incorporated at crucial [...]
Invisible Days present themselves as a "psych/shoegazeish trio from Brooklyn, NY." Now think about those labels for a second. Already those loaded words have given you a preconceived notion of what this new track will sound like. However, be prepared to be a bit surprised when you go to listen to "Solitary Time". The song certainly shows the typical psych/shoegaze sounds we're accustomed to: reverb, slow and steady bursts of guitar and noise, apathetically half-mumbled lyrics about isolation, you name it. But it's the absolutely infectious bass line that pumps blood through this track and sets it apart. Invisible [...]
Under new solo alias Hubble , Ben Greenberg of Zs and Pygmy Shrews has been channeling his formidable guitar chops into distortion-drenched, loop-based compositions that lovers of distressed ambience will be more than happy to zone out to. He just released his first cycle of material on Burlington's VT's NNA Tapes- also home to Driphouse, Julia Holter , Oneohtrix Point Never , and Caboladies , among other AZ faves - and we're having a hard time believing that there is not a single synthesizer on Hubble Linger - or strings, or [...]
DOWNLOAD : The Sights - "How Do You Sleep? " DOWNLOAD : The Sights - "Guilty" ( photo: Doug Coombe ) Now that the White Stripes have called it a day, The Sights are now the uncontested champions of Detroit blues-rock. The band is touring behind their fourth LP, Most of What Follows Is True (Alive Records), which was recorded at Jim Diamond’s (White Stripes, Electric Six, Dirtbombs) Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and released late last year. “ Most of [...]
Don't get me wrong people. I love making a musical discovery all on my own and plopping it here with some words. However, plucking gems from other blogs and writing about them here is just as rewarding. Grrrizz'ly recently became one of my favorites. I came home through a blizzard tonight from a double shift at work-something that's becoming an unfortunate theme in my life-and found this unflinchingly groovy song by "three teenagers from San Francisco" on the new tumblr home of the former Delicious Scopitone curator. "There's Nothing For Me Here" seamlessly ebbs and flows [...]
Toronto rapper and producer Emay taps into something undoubtedly cool on new mini-LP Mind Altering Dynamics . If this catches on we may all be talking about "chill-hop" or "hypnagonic hip-hop" a lot in coming months. Dude combines a buttery smooth flow with samples and beats that sound like they're lifted right off of an album called Duckface VII: Arcade Dynamite . This combination of sound rings most obviously in Emay's other project- Seeing Suge with Blackbird, Blackbird and Star Slinger -but it permeates the songs of Mind Altering Dynamics [...]
The blogosphere would probably hailing Ghostwriters' Objects In The Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear LP as one of the best pieces of music to come out of the contemporary synth revival is it didn't date back to 1981. I was informed by an expert source last week that Philly's Charles Cohen - formerly one-half of Ghostwriters, and now one-half of the band Planet Y (with Stinking Lizaveta 's Yanni Papadopoulos)- composed this tittering fairy wallop in front of a 200 series Buchla Music Easel, an intrepid, candy-colored modular dashboard by synth pioneer [...]
Nature tends to flex its control over us during the winter. No doubt the weather is rough down in New York City, but here in the upper hemisphere of the Empire State appreciating the delicate beauty of a northeastern winter can prove difficult. Luckily songs like "Sun Room" exist to keep spirits up. Here J. Irvin Dally -who I have written of before-displays a talent for conjuring up the prettiest images of the bleakest weather. The bright textures on "Sun Room" combined with Dally's soothing croon turn large crystalline ice spikes from something that [...]
I got my monthly dose of noise last tuesday at Brooklyn's Death by Audio, when I caught Sightings and Decibus play to a small group of people. Having only been living in New York City for three months now, I had yet to experience an evening in one of Brooklyn's classic 'hipsta' hangouts. All of [...]
40. Pigeons - Si Faustine 39. Ou Où - Baron Von Baron 38. Kemialliset Ystävät - Ullakkopalo 37. Forest Swords - Dagger Paths 36. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Love is a Stream 35. Avey Tare - Down There 34. Chris Schlarb - Psychic Temple 33. The Last Dog to Visit the Center of the Earth - Colossus Archosaur 32. Caballos y Entusiasmo - Hidropony 31. Sufjan Stevens - All Delighted People [...]
MP3: The Sights - "Guilty" We missed Most of What Follows Is True , the new record from The Sights , in our list of new releases this week (hey, it's a work in progress), but that doesn't mean we can't make up for it by mentioning it now. In addition, the band will be on the road with a bunch of dates over the next few months. Check them out below. The Sights tour dates: 11.20 - Loving Touch - [...]
DOWNLOAD : The Sights - "How Do You Sleep? " Today marks the release date for Detroit garage rockers The Sights' fourth LP, Most of What Follows Is True (Alive Records). The band has been together since the late 90's and the group's rotating lineup centers around guitarist/vocalist Eddie Baranek. This new disc, which is the follow-up to the band's 2005 self-titled release, was recorded at Jim Diamond’s (White Stripes, Electric Six, Dirtbombs) Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and it is a raw slice of Detroit-style blue [...]
Not as big and exciting a week for Best New Releases as other weeks over the past month or so, but still some great tracks you can listen to from fresh album drops. Listen to, or download, new music from Dark Dark Dark, British Sea Power, Marnie Stern, Mutual Benefit, Pancake Breakfast, Apache Beat, Fran [...] Read more, get songs or stream the entire mix on Indie Rock Cafe
I am not a bible person, but today I went from cursing to fearful to begging and all points in between Since I discovered I had diabetes, I have been taking my meds and eating right. Sure, slip in three lbs of delicious crab, but otherwise, I have been pretty good. But all weekend long, my eyes were troubling me. Menus, iPhone screens; if I looked at text, it blurred. If I looked at backlit text, my eyes actually wiggled in their sockets, aching and generally feeling uncomfortable. I ended up going to the park and [...]
Hailed by critics and fans alike, The Sights continue to build on an incredible legacy of uncanny blues-rock-power pop. Famed typhoon of rock and roll energy Eddie Baranek (guitar/vocals) is joined by Dave Lawson (bass/vocals), Gordon Smith (guitar, keyboards and vocals) and Skip Denomme (drums) to deliver incredible songwriting and electrifying live performances. The band will release "Most of What Follows Is True" via Alive Records on November 16th.
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Video: “Man I Need” by Jagwar Ma
