Nick Rallo's slang is editorial at Whale Fight. What is this? It's a hand sewn burlap sack jacket, with a maddeningly bright blue record inside. On the record is the blues punk of Slang Chickens , featuring the members of Wires on Fire . If the recent Avett Brothers I And Love And You record left you a little too soft and cuddly inside, than this Slang Chickens debut album will right you. "Tropics" opens like something from Grizzly Bear's Yellow House , but [...]
"Lifted" is the first single from Lemonade's excellent new EP Pure Moods . Along with Wild Nothing and Beach House, it's dominating my playcounts this year. This track pits dubby bass to a riff of trickiing xylophones punctuated with sampled laughs and liquid squishes, the hum of rolled steel drums, a phased synth and vocalist Callan Clendenin's slow-jam come ons. There's a lot going on, but it's seamless, true to the EP's title. While the video sees a bunch of kids dressed for the tropics visiting water and rock formations to match, an establishing shot makes clear this is [...]
Envy www.myspace.com/envy06 www.envyonline.blogspot.com www.iluvenvy.com [...]
don't wanna hear 'bout any other one, like how they knew ya, what they did to ya ♫ Slang Chickens - Tropics It was about a month ago that Buddyhead turned me onto Slang Chickens and "Tropics" began slowly weaving it's way into my brain. When I finally got ahold of the full album I was pleasantly surprised to find that these guys mean business. Their self-titled debut is not only filled with fantastically dirty, blues-tinged, doo-woppy, guitar rock but it is pressed on blue vinyl, encased in a [...]
Listen | Purchase These two brothers from Nashville , Jake and Jamin Orrall, received plenty of buzz during this year's CMJ , but if you have not had the chance to listen to JEFF the Brotherhood yet, this is where I tell you to do so. They just upped this video for "The Tropics" alongside the announcement that their third full-length, Heavy Days , is now available for purchase in CD form. The vinyl is in its second pressing now and was originally released in October. Heavy [...]
1. First thing is first. What do Dragging an Ox through Water godhead Brian Mumford's windblown hair, creepy smiles, drawing boards, concrete structures and humping (fighting?) salamanders have in common? They all show up in this Dragging an Ox through Water video, directed by M Blash. The scenery might creep you out a bit, but the song...well, it could creep you out a little, too, but it'll also get stuck in your head. The tune, along with a handful of other great ones, appears on 2008 effort The Tropics of Phenomenon . It sounds like we'll [...]
You ever watch football games on TV with the sound off? I've done that for decades, a habit picked up when I was a sportswriter long ago - the announcers really add very little to the game. And this is a great opportunity for multi-tasking: instead of listening to Al Michaels drone on, I listen to new albums. So here you go, some new ones for 2010 and a handful left over from late last year. And they're all pretty good: Vampire Weekend is just about the whitest band around, but [...]
Enjoy 'Tropics' below. Read my review of Apache Beat @ NYC's T5 here. MP3: Apache Beat - Your Powers Are Magic (Demo)
Tropics and Sun Ra Ra can eat up your sanity and replace it with the desire to dance. Last night at the Silver Dollar was like a lunatic asylum talent show. That's not a bad thing, though. Who doesn't like a good old freak-out now and then? Also playing the show was the ever lovely introspective Gates Gates Gates (with ex- Cuff the Duke and ex- Postage Stamps members), Tonka & Puma (who were awesome!), and Racoon Wedding (Brampton natives and loud rock enthusiasts).
Warning: You will not find Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, or Grizzly Bear on this list. (Loses 99/100 of potential audience...) Now then. Here are 25 songs that I adored in 2009, in no particular order. Mexican Chili Taco Fiesta - Tamales Oaxaquenos (via KEXP). If you had told me that I would include a mostly instrumental song about Oaxacan tamales, where the only lyrics I can understand are the title words of the song, on my year-end mix, well, I might not have laughed at you, but I [...]
Southern California is already a dream (to some). People flock there regularly to go on epic quests of self-discovery, enjoy the perfect weather, and see the unique scenery. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that such a beautiful venue like the Empire Polo Field could ever exist. Anybody who knows what a music festival is has most likely heard of Coachella , the alternative music festival held annually for the past 10 years on these grounds, which attracts a whopping 60,000 people every year. There is also the Stagecoach Music Festival , catering to the masses of country [...]
Streamable: Elephants (youtube) by Warpaint Downloadable: Elephants (mp3) props to the FADER Streamable: The Tropics (youtube) by JEFF the brotherhood Streamable: King Beef (vimeo) by Torche props to decibel magazine Streamable: the leaves (mp3) by cars & trains [...]
Welcome to my weekly roundup of inexpensive indie(ish) musical happenings in downtown Toronto, all for $10 or less. If I'm missing something you think I should list, or you have any comments, let me know. I star (*) shows that most interest me. Like this list? Join my Facebook group or subscribe to this blog. Subscribe to my podcast (or download the episodes) here , or through iTunes . The latest ones are here . Make sure to [...]
I suppose I should probably conclude all this desert talk by mentioning the supreme being in Organ Pipe National Monument , the park's namesake, the organ pipe cactus ( Stenocereus thurberi ). The organ pipe is a species of cactus native to Mexico and the southwestern United States and is much rarer in the U.S., with the exception being, of course, Organ Pipes National Monument, where a major bulk of the American organ pipes live. The organ pipe has several narrow stems that grow up to the sky from a short trunk that peaks above [...]
You know what we're talking about. All those "party" videos where everyone looks like they could actually be Gap models and there are no stains on the couches and every attendee happens to have also had formal dance training... we've never been invited to those parties. But we've totally been at the party featured in this video for "The Tropics" off JEFF The Brotherhood's Heavy Days . If you couldn't tell, we like these dudes. A lot. We like them so much that we would totally join their brotherhood if they asked. We're not really [...]
Dragging An Ox Through Water Tropics of Phenomenon (Awesome Vistas/Freedom To Spend, 2008/ 2009) The sound of Dragging An Ox Through Water sounds more like the sound of dragging a folk song through a junk yard. On Tropics of Phenomenon, Brian Mumford (the man behind the ox dragging) has created one of the most incredible debut albums of the decade by combining acoustic guitar based songwriting (albeit somewhat unconventional songwriting) with wire board fritzing noise. It's quite a beautiful marriage and one that is much too sweet to be [...]
SO MUCH good music today. I woke up and basically set about harvesting it, and now I'm gonna point you towards it too. Firstly, the big news of the day is that South Rakkas Crew have just dropped a full album over at the Mad Decent site. I'm genuinely surprised - it's probably the best free album I've heard so far, and I don't see why they didn't fancy trying a proper release. 16 full vocal [...]
SO MUCH good music today. I woke up and basically set about harvesting it, and now I'm gonna point you towards it too. Firstly, the big news of the day is that South Rakkas Crew have just dropped a full album over at the Mad Decent site. I'm genuinely surprised - it's probably the best free album I've heard so far, and I don't see why they didn't fancy trying a proper release. 16 full vocal [...]
by Andrew Frisicano JEFF the Brotherhood has quite a few tour dates lineup up already for 2010. The band is touring with Psychedelic Horseshit in January, Screaming Females in February, and Ty Segall after SXSW (which they'll be playing) in March. In between, they have some shorter trips that include shows Upstate and around the North East. As previously mentioned, JEFF comes to NYC with Screaming Females for the first date of their tour [...]
by Andrew Frisicano JEFF the Brotherhood @ Above the Auto Parts Store ( more by Leia Jospe ) JEFF the Brotherhood has quite a few tour dates lineup up already for 2010. The band is touring with Psychedelic Horseshit in January, Screaming Females in February, and Ty Segall after SXSW (which they'll be playing) in March. In between, they have some shorter trips that include shows Upstate and around the [...]
Yeasayer – Odd Blood (Review)
TOUR: The Tallest Man On Earth Announces U.S. Dates
New Releases V2.9
[mp3] Joanna Newsom - "Kingfisher"
Hot Chip: One Life Stand
