From top, left to right: Edward Sharpe, HolidayHoliday, The Sun, Moses Campbell, Voice On Tape, Katie The Pest, Robot Koch, BOAT, Mr. Dream What defines this edition of "Hear, Here" is a vaguely roadtrippy California aura. Perhaps each song marks a particular leg on a trip [that I'll never go on because I live in New York]. Many of these bands hail from California, and if not California, the West Coast, and if not the West Coast, fine, Germany. The sounds range from lounge-y tech house [...]
Photo: Ben Rowland Lights is a Brooklyn duo who make sashaying psychedelic rock and porn-soundtrack-worthy pop (I mean that as a compliment). Not to be confused with Toronto's LIGHTS, this pair came out with their debut, Rites , in July on Drag City. The girls love them some electric guitars, but this King Crimson-tinged track is as soft and pretty as it is rocking, reminding me a little of Bettie Serveert's quietest numbers. Lights - "Heavy Drops" [...]
The 2009 Mercury Prize winner performed an intimate show in Paris, recorded by Grandcrew , last month. (Click through to Grandcrew to watch all nine performances.) This is a nice consolation prize for New Yorkers, as Speech had to cancel her appearance at CMJ 2009, not to mention her entire U.S. tour, due to visa issues. What I like about these performances is how sort of raw and impromptu and clubby it is, despite being a high-quality recording. Speech's music is not exactly slick or built up, but here tracks like "Spinnin'" are high-energy and whimsically inflected, [...]
Today Solange Knowles, future indie songstress––she's just severed ties with her major label, Interscope, has said she aspires to have a career like Bjork's, and allegedly turned her sis and Jay-Z on to Grizzly Bear––sent her cover of the Dirty Projectors ' "Stillness Is The Move" to Pitchfork , and from there it spread like wildlife. For me, and likely countless others, it generated more RTs than I've seen in weeks. Why? Because the cover is a perfect balance of the original song and Solange. She has as powerful and as inventive a voice [...]
This really bends the definition of "video," because it's a 24-minute, five-song set by the talented multi-instrumentalist and singer Merrill Garbus, with all the onstage fireworks of Imogen Heap but a far funkier and often darker sound. This is the second installment of 4AD's new online video series . The first stars Deerhunter. NB: You can only watch one song hosted here; watch the rest on the 4AD site.
RA reviewed this British "step" duo's official first single, "Maybes," back in January, and this is one of the other tracks put out on their four-song EP, Sketch On Glass , which came out in July. One-word review: sick. Four-word review: This is one song? Mount Kimbie - "Fifty Mile View" Mount Kimbie on MySpace
This girl is going to go so, so far in that bowtie. [Video via Couch Sessions via Soul Culture U.K. ]
Kings of Leon, adored in the U.K. as much as they are adored by me, who grew up there (that's my excuse), have won a love song competition sponsored by eHarmony U.K., beating out all kinds of worthy love balladeers, including Clapton. † Blur's Dave Rowntree is running for a Labour seat in the Cities of London and Westminster constituency in the next U.K. election. The seat is typically awarded to the Conservatives, but while Rowntree sounded cynical about his chances last week, he's now confidently outlining his policies [...]
Lissie Maurus, who got kicked out of high school. "She lives by herself, with her dog, in a farmhouse in Ojai, Calif., where she tends to drink wine and will, on a whim, go to the store to buy paint for her rocks so she can construct a medicine wheel in her big backyard." [ Daytrotter ] Um, yes please. Lissie Maurus came from Rock Island, Ill., then lived in L.A. for awhile, which may have helped get the ball rolling on her career. There she met Lenny Kravitz, was the vocalist [...]
Thanks to Edward Droste for the twipoff . The Grizzly Bear lead singer eloquently described this video, a Tuesday acoustic session of "No Intention": "Radio sessions have no "vibe" - yet, Dirty Projectors make me feel like I'm watching them by a campfire. Amazing."
Montreal's Land Of Talk , on Saddle Creek, is helmed by Broken Social Scene member Elizabeth Powell. The band has a new EP out, Fun and Laughter , which follows last year's Some Are Lakes and 2006's Applause Cheer Boo Hiss EP. The pretty, Beth Orton-meets-Pedron the Lion-meets-Counting Crows (can I say that?) sounds on "It's Okay," which comes from last year's album, are rendered into a spooky expedition of thoughts with this video, directed by WeWereMonkeys , who have also done videos for Malajube and Emma Lee. The video takes on the [...]
Jim O'Rourke In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Owl City has to talk about the Postal Service for at least three questions. Cue joke about Harry Potter 's Owl Post. † Rihanna, in a sobering and impressive interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer, steps up to the plate as a spokesperson against relationship violence. "Don't react off of love––eff love." † U2 builds a new Berlin Wall so cheapskates can't watch their concert commemorating the fall of [...]
Let this be the last time you have to look at this image . In a klonopin- or––let's be nice––jet-lag-induced haze, Lady Gaga insists that the only music she listens to is not actually music at all, but the sound of her fans throwing praise in her direction during her––what appears to be daily––concerts. Host/sounding board to chaos Alexa Chung stoically endures. † In this week's Village Voice (the paper!) Reyhan Harmanci ponders whether Christopher Owens, star of that long-sold-out Bowery Ballroom concert on Friday, actually has as [...]
Read the inaugural edition of this series here . Due to an intern error, the entire text of "Recap of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary Concerts, Night Two" (November 2, 2009) was replaced with an IM conversation between a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame executive and Bono. We regret the error and the intern has since been fired, while the executive has been given a raise and has been instructed to give half of it to Bono, tax-free. UToo63 : Just know [...]
Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, lead singers of The xx. "Someone, somewhere, was so moved by this band that they couldn't stop talking about it," Mike Conklin wrote of The xx in last week's L Magazine. "It's neither that person's fault, nor the fault of the band, that other people have knee-jerk reactions, positive or negative, to the excitement of others. The onus is on us, now more than ever, to be diligent about making sure our opinions are fully formed before we share them." In other words, The xx -- [...]
Florence Welch's voice is an uncut diamond. It can be pitchy, as Randy Jackson likes to say, but its boldness makes up for those rough-hewn moments. Some people are not fond of the 23-year-old's maximalist style. She lies on the exact opposite end of the spectrum as her peers The xx, whom some people also find annoying (for the opposite reason). Their music is very different, of course, but the two acts are rising at the same time, across summer festivals in the U.K. and U.S. and headlining fall appearances in the U.S. Welch is herself on stage: [...]
In "Inside The Monster Ball: Lady Gaga Reveals Plans for Ambitious New Tour" (Rolling Stone, Oct. 26, 2009), the singer was incorrectly quoted as saying, "The design of the [tour] is very, very forward, very, very innovative." The correct quote is: "The design of the [tour] is very, very, very forward, very, very, very innovative." We regret the error. Due to space constraints, in the article "Ex-Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher to start a new band" (NME, October 26, 2009), the singer was cut off by the interviewer. The singer has requested that the entire interview be printed on [...]
See more of my CMJ photos on Flickr. Glasser Matador Records/True Panther Sounds Showcase The Suffolk Despite a minimal little stage setup that fused with the trickling-in audience, Glasser aka Cameron Mesirow, lately an LA-NY dual citizen, put on a wonderful, engaged and engaging show of songs from her EP Apply and what I assume to be a forthcoming full-length release on True Panther Sounds (please!!!) Glasser may love effects, but her voice is powerful and original and those little yelps on "Apply" sounded [...]
Lizzyville
Monday Music – 28 May 2012
Bison - Quill
