With Hanoi Janes’sAcross the Sea release, the third of fiverecentCaptured Tracks 7” purchases, I think I’ve found the perfect counter to the depression-filled dreary days that is the Portland winter. With the name taken from the much publicized Vietnam War incident, this group of Germans from the Sachsen region have pieced together some of the best lightheartedly fun music I’ve heard in a while. I mean, look at that picture above, doesn’t it make you want to be the fourth in whatever board game they’re playing?
Similar in both name and overall playfulness as The Sandwitches’s “Back to Sea”, the A-side “Across the Sea” is a gem of a track. With a collage of sound coming from tripleting guitar line, the communal “OOooOOoos” of the chorus, and the mallet chimes, the song is ripe for a Go Team! comparison — even exhibiting the lo-fi recording hiss that their British counterparts prefer to use. The real treat is at the 100 second mark where a small improv section of raucous guitar is inserted which blazes a trail up until the abrupt ending.
The B-side “Skeleton Girl” (not to be confused with The Evangelicals “Skeleton Man”, however they would make for a nice pair) maintains the momentum of the reverse-side. No doubt the chants of “ooOOoos” are a bit repetitive, but the track is mostly a new, cleaner beast, featuring more intricate drumming and less muddy guitars. Calling to mind a less-poppy version of Happy Birthday’s “Girls FM”, “Skeleton Girl” is certainly more indie rock than it’s A-side predecessor, making for a well-rounded 7”.
Saw on their rarely used twitter account that experimental folk band Coquelicot unveiled two new teaser tracks on their myspace page simply titled “1″ and “2″. The “songs” themselves sound more like a wire framework composed of musical bits and pieces stitched together, something akin to jj’s “5 minuter med jj”, but regardless they make me excited to think of what might come with their new stuff.
It’s amazing to think how much this band has accomplished at such a young age. Just starting out college with already two amazing EPs to their credit and new material looming on the horizon, these guys seem to be following the Smith Western’s rulebook on how to get popular before turning 21. Check out the track “I Was Not Hurt” off of their Tree Friend EP, and if you like it you can download the rest of the album for free from their last.fm page:
Thanks to a quick response to a Jackpot Record’s tweet calling for people’s favorite Swedish group (me: El Perro del Mar), I was able to score two free tickets to the sold-out night show at Doug Fir Lounge featuring one of Brooklyn’s best multi-instrumentalist, St. Vincent.
Way before Ms. Annie Clark hit the stage, Sweden’s popular percussion duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums set the night off right with their crazy performance. Much like those who try to classify Animal Collective or Deerhoof, it’s easy to fall into the trap of using exotic adjectives and erudite music terms in order to whip up the best description (apparently Sweden didn’t want any part of this, preferring instead to award them Jazz Act of the Year in 2007 — something they DEFINITELY aren’t — and be done with it). I mean, how are you suppose to lump a band whose instrumentation consists of a nine-piece drum set, mallet instruments, steel drum, and oddball percussion into a category? You just can’t — and their unique sound is what draws most to their music.
Anchored by the raw talent of drummer extraordinaire Andreas Werliin, you can’t help but be hypnotized watching his arms chaotically flinging around as he reproduces some of the fat beats W&P is known for. In fact, I was almost positive both of his limbs were going to snap in two banging out “There Is No Light” — a fast pace no holds barred track with A LOT of tom-tom drums. Not to be outdone, singer (and Werliin’s wife) Mariam Wallentin goes all sort of Liz Bougatsos crazy on stage, erratically moving her body enough to make me coin the dance term Scandinavian Shake. With Wallentin, however, it’s not all flash as she proved herself to be more than musically capable with this performance. Belting out soulful lyrics left-and-right while playing some calypso steel drums, she was able to draw my attention from Werliin on several occasions, which was no easy task!
It’s more than befuddling to me that there are no SXSW dates scheduled for W&P, as they are slated to wrap up their US tour opening for St. Vincent at the end of February and then head back home to Sweden. Unique enough to be set-apart from the thousands of bands that descend upon Austin annually as well as their ability to generate a lot of energy in short set times, to me, they are the perfect SXSW band. Who knows, they might get a change of heart in the near-future as they pick up hoards of fans with this tour.
Needless to say, the crowd swelled to capacity and the anticipation grew to feverish levels during the intermission between sets. Although performing an early matinee, apparently it wasn’t enough to satiate Portland’s St. Vincent appetite.
Taking the stage in a tight-fitting black dress with elaborate circular shoulder ruffles, the petite Annie Clark looks like the antithesis of a rock star, and with an album cover more Forty Year-Old Virgin than Andrew WK, I have to say I was more than eager to see how she would carry herself on-stage. Opening with “Stranger”, the beginning track to 2009’s Actor, all doubts were squashed about her rocking ability when she got to the noise-filled guitar line midway through.
Alternating effortlessly between Andrew Bird-like woodwind melodies and My Bloody Valentine shoegaze, it seems like Clark suffers from the musical equivalent of bipolar disorder. With the ability to change gears instantaneously (at one point, hammering the shit out her guitar with her hands before gently plucking away a measure later), the performance was definitely not lacking surprises. There were several times the music sounded like perfect bedtime songs for children and then *BAM* blood-red lights flooded the stage and Clark looked like she was getting an exorcism performed on her. I wouldn’t be the bit surprised if the little kids who accompanied their parents to the earlier all-ages day show had nightmares when they went to bed.
Championed by the Vivian Girls, Finally Punk, Pearl Harbor, Explode Into Colors, and Best Coast, all-girl low-fi garage bands seem to be making a resurgence. Females are slowly gaining market share in a male-dominated occupation, however they are still being treated as second-class acts by critics, relegated to an inferior, almost novelty, genre of “girl rock” (you know, all the “they’re a great band — for girls” high-school bullshit statements). With her music, St. Vincent seems to be taking these pervading sexist stereotypes and shattering them to pieces. To my dismay, one of my first comments after the show was how unexpected and kick-ass her performance was. Afterwards, it got me wondering why that was. After all, why can’t a small, skinny girl that isn’t tatted up produce mind-blowingly good rock music? I mean, plenty of guys do that, so why can’t a girl, right? Although women have done a lot to break through the musical glass ceiling the past thirty years, realizations like these tend to show how much more they have to go.
You can check out the setlist from the concert as well as some more photos below. If you want to see the full set of pictures, head on over to my flickr page. Also, I threw in one of my favorite mp3s of hers for good measure and a live recording of “Dig a Pony” someone else took at the show.
I’ll start off with my favorite video posted by, as usual, Chris from GvB. I can’t come up with a better description than what’s given by the the artist’s Belgium label Crammed Discs:
The world has ended. All that’s left is a jungle on a floating rock where a paradise nightclub band is playing at the last cabaret on earth: the Las Vênus Resort Palace Hotel. The singer’s name is Sonja Khalecallon, and her band are Los Stroboscopious Luminous. Sonja Khalecallon is in fact one of the alter egos of Cibelle, the London-based tropical punkster whose take on music is entirely her own and “Lightworks” is her cover of seminal exotica producer and 1950s electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott’s track.
Videographer Ray Concepcioñ never ceases to amaze me. Evidently, I’m not the only one who’s captured by his cinematic talent as The Great Pumpkin included this video on an awesome recent post about Vermont’s folksy female group Mountain Man:
I seriously can’t get enough of this stripped down version of a new track entitled “Little Bright Fires” by West Texans Daniel Fluitt and Colt Miller of Thrift Store Cowboys (who you may remember put out one of my favorite 7′’s of ‘09). Take a listen for yourself and see how wonderful this song is:
Got to love the genius that is Michel Gondry. Here’s his latest music video for LA’s singer/songwriter Mia Doi Todd track “Open Your Heart”:
Words can’t not describe how pumped I am to check out St. Vincent this weekend when she plays Doug Fir Lounge. She had two great videos crop up this past week (the more official being her video for “Laughing With a Mouth Full of Blood” with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s comic troupe Thunderant), however I prefer the cover of The National’s “Taken for Strangers”:
After hopping the pond for a handful of European dates, New Jersey native Dayve Hawk (aka Memory Tapes) finally got around to playing his first US show when he opened for Atlas Sound at Brooklyn’s Bell House this past week. Here’s a video of his rather nervous performance:
Finally, a video recap wouldn’t be complete with at least one Vincent Moon recording! This week’s pick is an early 2009 Montreal performance by recently deceased singer/songwriter Lhasa de Sela:
If these videos don’t take you through the weekend, head on over to my blog friend Adult Acid and check out what he has posted!
Another 7” from my Capture Tracks five-pack, Vancouver duo Cosmetics’s Soft Skin was the biggest surprise in the bunch. Going from not knowing anything about the band beforehand to instant fan after the needle raised on the A-side, the group’s seductive minimalist dance music is good enough to hook anyone after one listen.
With S&M tinged titles “Soft Skin” and “Black Leather Glove”, it’s no surprise that sex plays a role in the music. However, instead of using not-too-discreet Prince-like references to “the act”, the Cosmetics’s approach is more indirect and a lot more subtle — with the sensual feeling being mostly set by the tone of the music rather than sexually explicit lyrics. With a throbbing electro-bassline and bare-bones percussion reminiscent of The Raveonettes’s “Aly Walk With Me”, no doubt both tracks on the 7” could easily fit into a DJs rotation at one of those crazy underground dance parties where pretty much anything goes (in fact, it seems like some of their live shows are just that).
Not to say the lyrics aren’t sultry, because they are. Aja Emma’s whispered lines of “I get a feeling of pleasure / when I wear black leather” is enough to put anyone in the mood (don’t tell fellow bandmate Nic that, as the two are an item), however the soft drum-machine cymbal claps and sustained synth buzzs gives the song just as much appeal as the smoky vocals.
Thanks to Nic, you can check out the B-side track, and my personal favorite, “Black Leather Gloves” below. If you need more material, Emmanuel at the Delicious Scopitone posted two other songs that are definitely worth checking out.
It seems like mysterious musicians anonymously releasing stellar works are the norm these days: Burial (formerly), jj (somewhat), Sally Shapiro (half of the group), and iamamiwhoami all fall under this category. The new masked man/woman du jour is none other than RxRy who, with the scant info gleaned from his/her myspace page, I can probably safely say lives somewhere on planet Earth. However, after hearing some of tracks on their self-titled release, I’m unsure about even that.
I first heard about RxRy through the good gals down at BUTTERxFACE when they posted his (sorry for the gender bias, but that’s the pronoun I’m going with) album for free download on their site, prompting some to speculate that the musician is none other than Animal Collective member Noah Lennox and the released material are outtakes from a recent solo recording session. After a superficial listen, it’s easy to discredit this rumor, but even having the false notion that you’re Panda Bear is a testament on how strong your music is. RxRy also took the time to address the mistaken identity head-on by uploading the following picture to his myspace:
As for the album itself, it’s 37 minutes of ambient hypnotic sounds that are sure to leave you entranced with each listen. The majority of the opener “Baulkn Slihts” (I guess vowels are so 2009) left me imagining what it’s like to be trapped out on the open ocean, braving sea swells and relentless sun. Hell, if it had the word “wave” in the title, I know of a perfect compilation it would have fit right into!
Much how Mt. Eerie was able to harness the power of thunderstorms in his Wind’s Poem LP, RxRy seems to channel his inner Captain Planet and bust out his wind and water rings at a moment’s notice. The predominant sound of “Prestina Mewloh” are bird-like chirpings which gives the impression of wind rustles with shimmering synth lines floating in-and-out like clouds. On the other hand, “Prajhil Ryhtm”s prominently features a thumping bass line, albeit muted a bit, but wait, what’s that in the background? — none other than some sea-breeze fluctuations. And much of the album continues in the same atmospheric fashion.
Although keeping the head in the skies seems to be a reoccurring theme, that isn’t to say there aren’t any bumping tracks. Both “Eaurowi” and “Edvrd Rvrfy Guitr” make good use of fast tempo head-nodding beats that are sure to keep people dancing while “Convrtvbl Bvbes” (which is one of the few easily translatable tracks) is perfect for a more lo-key chillaxxxed party.
You can check out two of my favorite tracks below and if you like it, head on over to BUTTERxFACE for a link to a full download:
Whoa! I caught wind of a massive compilation benefiting Amnesty International through a blog posting by Massachusetts singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler (whose contributing an original song). Don’t know why I haven’t heard much about this project yet from other places as there is a HUGE line-up on this 150+ song compilation put on by the folks at Buffetlibre. Pulling in over fifty musicians and bands from pretty much all across the globe, this is certainly a worldwide effort — something only Amnesty Intl. could put together. Here’s the promo video:
The album is available for digital download March 1 at the ridiculous minimum price of 2 Euros, but you’re welcome to donate more as all proceeds from the sale of the compilation will go to Amnesty International’s humanitarian aid projects in areas of conflict. If you want a full list of all the contributors you can check it out here. These are some of my personal favorites:
Dan Deacon (US)
Marissa Nadler (US)
Voxtrot (US)
The Antlers (US)
Asobi Seksu (US)
Dent May (US)
Sic Alps (US)
Thao and The Get Down Stay Down (US)
Bonde do Role (Brazil)
Patrick Wolf (UK)
Malick Pathe Sow (Senegal)
Malajube (Canada)
The Hidden Cameras (Canada)
Fennesz (Austria)
Ane Brun (Norway)
Vieux Farka Toure (Mali)
Sally Shapiro (Sweden)
Air France (Sweden)
Mexican Institute of Sound (Mexico)
You can stream a handful of tracks and download Isreali Ivri Lider’s track “Mike” from the official site. I can’t wait for this!
I was elated when I heard the news that my favorite Bergen-born act Casiokids was slated to open for the popular electro-pop outfit Hot Chip on their UK dates. By Norwegian standards, I was probably a little late getting on the Casiokids bandwagon, but I think it’s safe to say that I was one of the first Americans to tout how great a band they are after having my mind blown catching their performance at Roskilde Festival ‘08.
So far, they’ve made a big splash in Europe after signing to famed label Moshi Moshi, but thusfar their exposure in the US has been kept to a minimal with only a handful of East Coast shows and a couple of SXSW gigs from last year. I really hope that these upcoming UK shows with Hot Chip will springboard them into the stratosphere of blogbuzz, making it easier for them to extensively tour the US. It would be nice to see their wildly creative art-filled show here in the comfort of my hometown rather than having to travel across the Atlantic to the fjords of Norway.
Although not a replacement for their live act, here is an mp3 of one of my favorites “Fot i Hose”:
It takes a good DJ to whip up a remix that catches your attention, but it takes a great one to do it consistently. Take Vancouver-based Babe Rainbows (aka “Cameron Reed and his laptop”) for example. I remember hearing his name a lot this past summer when his murky suboceanic “Surf-Step Edit” of Wavves’ “Weed Demon” hit the blogs. I liked the track so much I put it on about half my mixes I whipped up last year.
Well Reed just put out a Stereogum-approved revamp of DOOM’s “Gazzillon Ear” which just might be some of his best work to date. With the number of remixes approaching “A Milli” territory, Babe Rainbow is able to rise above all the rift-raft by stripping the track down to just DOOM’s bone-chilling vocals and only adding a minimal amount of creepy instrumentals that are sure to make even Fever Ray squirm.
A recent Warp Records signee, Reed has his debut EP release, entitled Shaved, in less than a weeks time. If you have to get your Babe Rainbow fix now, check out his blog for some free tracks as well as ordering the Midnight Juggernauts 7” off of Acephale Records which features a B-side mix by him. To whet your appetite, here are Wavves and DOOM tracks:
It’s a way of relegating this ‘thing’ into the realm of something exotic and therefore cute, weird but safe, because exotica is beautiful but irrelevant.”
-David Byrne on the term “World Music”
Although I wouldn’t go as far as 100% agreeing to what Byrne says, I do think that the lumping of music anywhere outside North America/Europe and branding it “world” neglects to acknowledge the diversity of sound from different regions as well as being pretty damn condescending. Putting South American rhythms, Asian pentatonic scale-based tunes, and Caspian region instrumentation all under the same moniker is like saying drone metal, indie-pop, and electronica can be classified in a sub-genre — which no matter how hard you try, Sunn O))))’s music is nowhere near comparable to that of of Montreal.
So after hearing respectable critics claim the latest album from Bassekou Kouyate and his ngoni group is “a contender for African album of the year” or “there’s unlikely to be a better African album this year”, it just makes my blood boil. I Speak Fula is one of the best albums anywhere, period. No qualifications necessary.
Now I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m an expert on the nuanced sound of the ngoni (for that, head on over to the good folks at NPR), but I know good music when I hear it. I Speak Fula is filled with so many intricate rhythms and delicate melodies produced by that tiny gourd string instrument that it’s tough to keep count. At times enlisting the help of famed musicians Toumani Diabaté and Vieux Farka Touré — both of which put on killer live shows that I can personally vouch for — the album features a who’s who of modern day musical Malians whose collaborations produce some of the best tracks on the record.
In an effort to not embarrass myself further due to my lack of West African music knowledge, I am just going to give you a listen to their track “Musow” to better show you how mind blowing Kouyate & Co. are:
