The past few weeks, I've been listening to a band called Fan Modine. A friend introduced me to their 2004 LP Homeland , and I could tell 30 seconds in that this was an album that I was going to like. Give them a listen if you enjoy the Magnetic Fields, Belle & Sebastian, Arcade Fire, or Stars. The band has an upbeat indie-pop sound that features some really solid instrumentals. After lead singer Gordon Zacharias helped the orchestral pop duo Hercules with vocals, they returned the favor by producing string arrangements on four songs (including two [...]
On Tuesday, I saw Swedish band Loney Dear open for Andrew Bird, and must say, I almost enjoyed their set more than Mr. Bird's. . . which is saying a lot, given Bird is one of my very favorite musicians. I've been listening to their music for a few years now, but Tuesday night's live performance gave me a whole new appreciation. The best part of the set was when lead singer Emil Svanängen asked the crowd to sing along on "I Am John." It was really beautiful. You can listen to the set on NPR [...]
Photo courtesy of dcmandrill We can officially score one for the females, as The National Zoo announced today that the zoo's 3 week old baby gorilla is a girl! Apparently, it can take a while for humans to know the sex of a gorilla , which is why we are only finding out today. In terms of family lineage, the zoo was hoping it would be a girl, so it's a good day for gorillas and zookeepers everywhere. It's also good to see that the zoo [...]
Hey, hope everyone is doing well! We have more music features on the way soon, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share this New York Times article that shows how a Martin guitar is made. The C.F. Martin Company has been producing guitars since 1833 and is considered one of the best guitar manufacturers in the world. It's a pretty cool process that I think you would appreciate, especially if you play the guitar. I'm a Breedlove man myself-and am still saving up for that $6,000 Jeff Tweedy Breedlove Guitar. Song played [...]
Click here to view the embedded video. Another cool music video featuring some awesome animation. You get to watch the band age backwards (though not like Benjamin Button). The director of this video, Sean Pecknold has done some other cool videos, also involving the music of Fleet Foxes. Check out the rest of the director's work here . Fleet Foxes (2008) (mp3) Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
I've been listening extensively to Beirut's two upcoming EPs, March of the Zapotec and Realpeople Holland (2/17). Zach Condon, Beirut's frontman, has shifted his sound once again from previous albums- Zapotec features a new Mexican folk music style, while Realpeople Holland is Condon's electronica side-project. In fact, it's such an odd mix, that originally the electronic EP was just called Holland , and Condon was going to release it under the name Realpeople. He decided to release both under the Beirut name after a friend advised him, "You should trust your music [...]
Looks like a pretty good lineup with big acts like Paul McCartney, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Leonard Cohen, Amy Winehouse, and the Killers and some up and coming indies like Fleet Foxes, Vivian Girls, Peter Bjorn and John, Band of Horses, Blitzen Trapper and No Age. Anybody planning on going after seeing the list? (mp3) Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains (mp3) No Age - Eraser (mp3) My Bloody Valentine - Only Shallow (mp3) Band of Horses - Ode to Irc
Check out the new video for Animal Collective's "My Girls". This band always seems to be on the cutting edge of awesome sounds and images. The video just consists of the band performing their song, but with crazy effects going on throughout the entire video. I'd say it accurately portrays how the music makes me feel sometimes. Click here to view the embedded video. Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009): (mp3) Animal Collective - My Girls
Six years after the Beatles broke up, at the apex of Neil Young's influence stateside, New Zealand's Split Enz released an album encompassing Young's folk ideals tinged with the Beatles charming quirks. At times, Beginning of the Enz sounds like B-sides – or simply an alternate version – of Magical Mystery Tour, at others like a sequel to Harvest . It's freak-folk, it's art-rock inflected bluegrass, it's something entirely different, a mélange of influences spanning the world, and a reflection of New Zealand's isolation from the rest of the world. Their harmonies are guttural and [...]
As of recent, I've been listening a lot to David Karsten Daniels' album Fear of Flying . If you are a fan of Devendra Banhart, The Bowerbirds, or Wilco, I think you'll dig his folk sound-It's unfortunate that such a talented musician hasn't gotten more exposure. Daniels incorporates a variety of beautiful instrumentals into his songs to make for a lush listening experience. Fear of Flying released in 2008, and is Daniels' sophomore album (there have been five albums in all, but this is his second widely available one). My favorite tracks on [...]
In 2007, Animal Collective released what I consider to be one of the best albums of the decade, Strawberry Jam . Met with opposition from some fans, Strawberry Jam saw the band bidding farewell to the tribal shouts and bursts of noise that had made some tracks on early albums Sung Tongs and Here Comes The Indian sound like they were dancing on the line between insanity and genius. Yet at the same time, the album reaffirmed the strange flirtations with pop music that the band had begun integrating into their sonic weirdness [...]
As much as I support the hype around Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion , I'm a bit surprised that more people haven't been talking about Andrew Bird's superb new album, Noble Beast . It releases today, and is likely going to be my favorite of this year- Noble Beast displays Bird's progression as a musician, both instrumentally and lyrically. It's hard to pick only a few favorites off the album, but some tracks that I do find myself seeking out are "Oh No" "Masterswarm," "Effigy," "Not A Robot," But A Ghost,""Anonanimal," and "Natural Disaster." Although [...]
Recently, I wrote about the Dark Was The Night charity compilation on my Examiner column . Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National produced the compilation that includes 32 exclusive tracks from an impressive list of musicians. By impressive, I'm talking Andrew Bird, Sufjan Stevens, Beirut, Feist, The National, Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine... the list goes on. Even better, all the proceeds are going towards the fight against HIV/AIDS. The compilation releases February 17th worldwide by 4AD as a double CD or triple vinyl. If you are like me and can't wait to hear [...]
As you may know, the second season of Flight of the Conchords begins tomorrow (1/18 @ 10p/9c) on HBO. We thought we would celebrate the return of the funniest show currently on television by giving away a Flight of the Conchords prize pack. So here is how the contest is going to work: Below are 3 general topics for what we would like to see happen in Season 2. You need to take one of the topics and have up to 100 words to expand on it. For example, if the topic [...]
If you are a fan of Feist, Rilo Kiley, or Camera Obscura you should check out The Concretes. In an industry that is more or less dominated by males, it's nice to come across good female led bands. Victoria Bergsman vocals bring to mind Jenny Lewis with maybe a hint of Nico. She left The Concretes in 2006 to pursue a solo career, but the band is still together and released Hey Trouble in 2007. Although In Colour , which was a follow-up to the band's 2004 self-titled debut, has received mixed reviews, I personally [...]
Hey all, Apologies for the lack of posts this past week. We have been restructuring things on our end a bit, so we can make Indie Muse better than ever (you can decide if that's saying much). Now that we have things mostly figured out, we'll finally start our New Years resolutions, and start featuring more bands we hope you like. Thanks again for all your support. We love you. David p.s. to make it up to you, we'll giving away one Flight of the Conchords prize pack. A post with more [...]
photo credit: radio exile Whenever I talk about M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel's project, She and Him, I joke that Ward's main interest in the band is his gorgeous bandmate. Of course, I don't actually believe that, and Zooey has proved herself to be quite a talented musician on top of successful actress -Paste Magazine even rated their debut the best album of the year . I know very little about their relationship or personal lives, but thought maybe I'd see a headline one day that they got engaged. With that said, imagine [...]
Click here to view the embedded video.
I had trouble keeping up with the music scene this year so many of my favorite albums of 2008 didn't become my favorite albums until very last minute. I went around to different blogs and looked up all their top albums and listened to a whole bunch of music from this year. I plan on being more on top of things in 2009, but here is my top ten albums of 2008 in alphabetical order: Beach House - Devotion Beach House - Gila [...]
10. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive The Hold Steady create albums. They write stories and develop characters. And that's mostly why I like them; I can return to a Hold Steady album like a familiar friend. Stay Positive is different though, it's more a collection of songs then an album. They still self-reference, and Charlemagne makes his requisite appearance, but Stay Positive is judged more on the quality of the songs then the weight of the message. And for that reason, it's not their best [...]
Indie Muse
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
Mr Fogg - Eleven
