Recalling the pop-sensibilities and vocal chops of the Beatles and Beach Boys while lyrically carving out their own unique niche, Eric Johnson and his Fruits Bats released two of the most complete and approachable records of the early 00's with Mouthfuls and Spelled In Bones . Johnson—now also a member of the wildly successful Shins—writes and records harmony-laced folk-pop, ranging from intimate narratives ("The Earthquake of '76") to lyrically esoteric metaphors and images ("Lives of Crime") and moments of anthemic hand-clapping clarity ("When You Love Somebody"). It's a sound that's easy to revisit. [...]
Back in 2004, indie folk/rock troubadours M. Ward, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket caught lightning in a bottle when they shared a stage for the aptly-dubbed "Monsters of Folk" tour. The tour led to a series of collaborations. James, with his unworldly falsetto, provided backup vocals for Ward on Transistor Radio 's "Fuel For Fire" and Post-War 's "Magic Trick" and on Oberst's "At The Bottom of Everything"—the pinnacle of the Bright Eyes masterpiece I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning . Ward and Oberst then sung together on the Traveling Wilbury's cover "Handle With Care" orchestrated [...]
In 1975 at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band unfolded the up-beat Dylan ditty "I Want You" into a slow and sweeping ballad. The performance—broadcast by WMMR FM-radio in Philadelphia—featured Israe li violinist Suki Lahav playing the famous melody alongside piano, bass, drums, accordion and a few muted puffs from Clarence Clemons's sax. The Boss had a slight lyrical misstep after the song's bridge, but he quickly saved himself with a well-timed mumble and pause. The 18-song set—one of the longest and most well-regarded shows of Springsteen's career—al so features a cover of Chuck Berry's "Back In The USA" and the premiere of [...]
Over recent weeks, I've been playing David Bowie's "I Have Not Been To Oxford Town" repeatedly. The song, from his 1995 album Outside, is on a burned disc in my car (yes I still make mixes) and it's one of the few songs that doesn't grow stale after a few listens. Bowie is narrating as much as he is singing the lyrics over heavy set of drums and a guitar riff (which starts to shin at the 1:10 mark) that is brilliant. It reminds a bit of the riff on the Brian Eno and John Cale collaboration "Spinning [...]
Two songs into Monday night's show at the 930 Club, TV On The Radio had heads bopping, feet twisting and jumping, and jaws perked into contented smiling positions with a deadly fast version of "The Wrong Way." For the notoriously led-footed DC audience, it wasn't half bad. Through to the encore-closing "A Method"—performed as an ensemble percussion piece with members of the Dirty Projectors and Baltimore's Celebration—the band had the full-capacity crowd hooked onto its waves of distorted guitars, effected drums, and seemingly possessed vocals, often delivered in beautiful harmony. [...]
Vandaveer is an old family name of singer/songwriter Mark Charles Heidinger. It belonged to his great-grandfather, father, and in 2006 when Heidinger moved to Washington, DC, it became the name for his solo work outside of his two bands—These United States and The Apparitions. "Instead of giving it to a child, I decided to give it to a musical project," Heidinger told me a few months back. "Songs are kind of like children. You don't have to change diapers, but you do have to nurture them." Now, Heidinger is allowing his finely [...]
Watching California's Local Natives perform Sunday night at DC's Black Cat was like standing on the outskirts of a drum circle. Out of the band's six musicians, five contributed to the heavy tribal-influenced pounding and clacking of drum sticks. The only instrument used more often was the voice—something every band member contributed at one point, whether it was singing or shouting during the climactic breakdown of the energetic "Sun Hands." I've written before that the Local Natives are a mellifluous harmony-driven group. After seeing them perform live, that almost seems like an [...]
Here's what you'll read when you see the name Justin Townes Earle: his father is rebel folk legend and icon Steve Earle, a recovering drug addict (who played the role of Waylon in HBO's the Wire ); he's named after Townes Van Zandt, considered one of the all-time great songwriters; he himself is a recovering drug addict and at one point was kicked out of his own father's touring band. What you'll also read is that his second album, Midnight At The Movies , is damn good. His best yet. [...]
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people dress up in monster costumes. In MGMT's new video for "Kids" off last year's breakout debut Oracular Spectacular , the band unleashes plenty. Unfortunately for the four-year-old child in the video, the monsters predominantly appear at his expense. At least he gets to wear an MGMT headband. It's also worth mentioning that the quote from the opening sequence is not Mark Twain. It's Friedrich Nietzsche from his Beyond Good and Evil , which either makes it a mistake or some sort of far out [...]
Driving with open windows and cranked sing-along music is a summer pastime. A tradition kept alive and revisited by movies like Easy Rider , American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused and annually brought out by the warm sunshine. However, you can't blast any song out on the highway or into your neighborhood streets. Animal Collective? Passion Pit? No. Popular culture's acceptance of creative and difficult music may be growing, but a car window will always more suited to the anthemic "Born To Be Wild" or rollicking funk of [...]
"They'll try to keep us apart / You'll try to keep us apart," sang Daniel Rossen in his quivering timbre as the grimy tone of a guitar and crashing cymbals built into a near-violent fury. From the evening-opening "Southern Point" to the encore-closing "He Hit Me," Grizzly Bear blew open eardrums with an awe-inspiring mixture of choral music, baroque pop, and crescendos and decrescendos tinged with sadness and a politely delivered ferocity. The full-capacity crowd bobbed along with Chris Taylor's booming bass and Chris Bear's manic drumming—and delivered applause with a lights-out enthusiasm—but during songs the [...]
Songwriter Mickey Newbury wrote the song "I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In" as a warning against the use of LSD. However, its groovy and psychedelic textures served more as a complement than a hinderance to drug use. Jerry Lee Lewis took the first stab at recording the song in 1967, but he rejected that version and it was instead popularized by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition a year later. The song, which at one point was a favorite of Jimi Hendrix's, was revived in 1998 by the Cohen brothers when [...]
I've written about the Antlers before . The band, the creation of singer/songwriter Peter Silbermann, has released one of this year's best and most complete albums in Hospice . In the midst of preparing for his summer tour, Silbermann found the time to speak with Everybody Taste about finding success in music, transferring Hospice to the stage, and my favorite, if his band were an animal, what kind it would be. ET : What was the first song that made you want to play music? [...]
Been super busy as I prepare to enter unemployment. Here's a happy sing-along from Catfish Haven's 1970s-inspired catalogue. The painting is by Kristina Collantes . It sort of looks like Catfish Haven's lead singer George Hunter. Catfish Haven - "Tell Me" (from Tell Me )
On the Chunk of Change EP, Michael Angelakos mastered lo-fi recordings in his bedroom with an amalgamation of singer/songwriter appeal, synth-pop tones and beats, and a cute back story. On Manners , Passion Pit is now a five-person band and everything is bigger. From the dark, bright and massive synthesizers to the children's chorus, the scale is larger and so are the stakes. After a earning a massive following and subsequent hype via the blogosphere, it's amazing Angelakos delivered an album so fully realized and well-crafted. This is clearly the record the songwriter hinted at in the EP. As [...]
I first heard Faith No More's "We Care A Lot" on the well-crafted and underrated Grosse Pointe Blank soundtrack put together by none other than the Clash's Joe Strummer. Say what you want about John Cusack's films, but he knows how to deliver good music ( High Fidelity : Beta Band, 13th Floor Elevators). Billboard reports that Faith No More's Mike Patton is now working on a soundtrack and audio book with Alan Moore, the comic book author behind The Watchmen and V For Vendetta . What a trip.
Conor Oberst, the Dylanesque poetry-spewing mind behind Bright Eyes, has gotten some flack for loosening his belt and handing over some vocal and writing duties on his recent Mystic Valley Band collection, Outer South . That talk is bollocks. The band is a rollicking mess of youth, charm, and frustration unleashed by a swell of riffing guitars and flourishes of organ. It's the same recipe paved by the Band when they backed Dylan. Oberst and his merry band of pranksters certainly have not peaked anywhere close to those near-untouchable legends, but their growing catalogue of songs and comfort with [...]
After the release of 2006's Bitter Tea from Brooklyn brother-sister duo The Fiery Furnaces, Eleanor Friedberger stated the album was "definitely the poppiest thing we've done." But it's not until the album's last track, "Benton Harbor Blues (Again)," that the statement comes to fruition. From a band that prizes itself on esoteric rambling and dissonant charm, the song's syncopated bass line and clean upstroke of the guitar form an uncharacteristically clear vision of soulful pop. Friedberg's lyrics may tell the story of a convict pondering past regrets on the streets of Benton Harbor, Michigan, but the lightly picked [...]
After the release of 2006's Bitter Tea from Brooklyn brother-sister duo The Fiery Furnaces, Eleanor Friedberger stated the album was "definitely the poppiest thing we've done." But it's not until the album's last track, "Benton Harbor Blues (Again)," that the statement comes to fruition. From a band that prizes itself on esoteric rambling and dissonant charm, the song's syncopated bass line and clean upstroke of the guitar form an uncharacteristically clear vision of soulful pop. Friedberg's lyrics may tell the story of a convict pondering past regrets on the streets of Benton Harbor, Michigan, but the lightly picked acoustic guitar and gigantic and [...]
Chicago designer J Tyler Helms edited footage from French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse's classic short La Ballon Rouge ( The Red Balloon ) for an unofficial but delightful companion video for Grizzly Bear's "Two Weeks." Lamorisse's use of special effects are pretty amazing for 1956. Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" (Fred Falke remix)
Everybody Taste
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Check Out: Los Campesinos! – “Tiptoe Through the True Bits”
