eashfa
Head is alive. Hence the sound of music.Archive for indie rock
She, Sir
A band that blew me away when I listened for the second time, only because the first time I was distraught. She, Sir’s music seems to rise from subterranean aquatic myths and turn into a heavy haven of smoke.
The music really seems to float above and around you while you lend your ears to it. It’s the kind of sound that simply clicks without delay, disheveled over-exposed guitars and droning drums with just the right amount of pastel-toned angst. My Bloody Valentine meets a less distorted version of The Jesus and Mary Chain, Darklands-era. And less dreary and suicidal. With one ear and chord twisted around a despondent tome (there’s an underlying layer of sad), and another few ears scratching at the gates of major keys and happiness. She, Sir are from Austin, Texas, but this reflects landscapes of black-sanded beaches of Iceland.
It makes me think of so many things, like all good music. It brings back memories I didn’t know I had, awkward feelings I didn’t know I was supposed to have. What they inspire to me is a state of a priori. As in preemptive. Music you knew should be, even though you hadn’t heard it before. Like Plato’s world of immuable ideas. Where what we associate with things are ideas in fact - the idea of a chair for instance, is eternal (ok, bad example). She, Sir engraved the idea of happy, sad, snow globes, rainy windows, children running on a deserted beach, smoke and tunnels, a collage of slow motion that comes to full effect when the songs are done and you want to hear them all over again. I’ve come to long for their music when it’s not there. But I hit play again when I’m sure I can take it all in. I am in awe.
she,sir - I Love You, Blowtorch Eyes mp3
she,sir - The Clandestine mp3
she,sir - Monarch mp3
Think of that state of elevated drowsiness right before you go to sleep, when music comes to you, but then you forget about it the next day. She, Sir nailed that. Instant classic that will drive me merrily insane.
As such, I strongly recommend a purchase (their self released LP)
a loose cannonball part 1 (mxtp)
A pletora of artists for you on this.. (I’m considering terminating eashfa or updating more rarely than I have because well, that’s the tragedy of my character and I can never really finish off what I start) one of the final posts.
I get urges to post like anyone else. But then I type and retype things and annoy myself and others, and read other audio blogs. Some of which actually say things. Lots better than I.
I might consider podcasting though, then I’d feel more useful! Anywho, here’s a fully-furnished indie-perspective playlist. If you’re not indie, you still need the indie perspective. Because indie sounds so .. backyard with disneyland potential.
The Catchy Ones
Matt and Kim - Yeh Yeah mp3
(props to Matt and Kim for posting the music on their site) - they were supposed to be touring with French Kicks. Alas, now they tour still but no French Kicks (dates on the site natch) , and you can hug them for me. An electro fuzzball of keys and drums, stomping hot, there’s a lot of nerve in the vocals and a lot of drums to set an otherwise setting-down summer on fire.
Ratatat you should’ve heard of until now. I have a propensity for music that goes all out on layers and melody instead of focusing on words.. Ratatat don’t need no words! the “band” name itself follows universality rather than contextual meaning. They are sort of a feast aren’t they.
This is the part where indie leaves conspicuously. The Futureheads are a great band, and they surpassed britpop 2005 tendencies with a gimmick you’d expect from 40’s TV commercials, but the syncopated vocal harmonies work like a charm forgotten. Skip To The End doesn’t have the polivalence of Decent Days and Nights, but I’m just nitpicking here, it’s worth listening to much more than say, most of Razorlight’s last LP.
The Futureheads - Skip To The End mp3
Golden Smog are left almost Jeff Tweedy-less as Gary Louris steps in with the vocals. Turns out, this is good:
Brightblack Morning Light (formerly BrightBlack) have a stunner of a record and a corker of a website. This is the type of music that’s so chilled I can see it coming straight out the freezer along with a fairy-like duo, their trees and rivers thrown in. The Brightblack bargain.
Brightblack Morning Light - Everybody Daylight mp3 (via Matador Records)
Switches have Graham Coxon as a fan (they’ll be touring with him in October) and while the backbone of their music might remind you of generic britpop, they’re rehashing it as orange-juiced breed of classic rock where you might even hear a couple of familiar new-wave style riffs and coordinated bellowing. Something very catchy about them - maybe it’s the clap-instigating drums. Their myspace has 4 downloads, so get ‘em while they’re still indie. Also, they have an EP out.
Switches - Message From Yuz mp3
End Of Part 1
The Diggs
The Diggs have been around since 2003 and don’t much appreciate the emo label that’s oft apllied to them, instead they focus on being melodic have a classic approach to classic rock instruments - they play them. So it’s not emo per se, just emotional.
It’s guitars all the way for the NYC guys and they describe their style quite accurately: Mid-nineties indie rock and ethereal English pop with a touch of shoegaze. The choruses are poppy indeed (though I wouldn’t call the overall sense I get from the songs as Britpop) and Everyone’s Starting Over will regail your 90s-rock nostalgic needs (think Sonic Youth’s Goo). Moreover, the remix updates it, giving it a more space-y, electronic blur, especially the bubbly keyboard that contrives a bit of “happy” over guitarist/vocalist Timothy Lannen’s melancholy tone.
Get it here:
The Diggs - Everyone’s Starting Over (Cassettes Won’t Listen remix) mp3
You can hear the original and read a review here.
And you can buy their LP, Commute, here.
Fields
I don’t know how I hadn’t heard of these guys until they sent me a random message on myspace. I’m glad they did, really, random for one person is great news for another. When location says ” Birmingham/Rekjavik/London” I can’t help but have high anticipations, and I proved to be substantially right when the music started.
Fields are electronic with a rock twist, or vice-versa. The vocals can seem subdued by the ceaseless guitars and keyboards mish-mash. Other than that, it’s pretty impressive. If the likes of The Radio Dept are up your alley, these guys will be too.
And if you liked that, you’ll want to see them in the flesh:
Wolfmother and ¡Forward, Russia! ,FIELDS and The Maccabees have been lined up for MTV’s Spanking New Music tour in November. Acts who have played on the tour in past have included Kasabian, The Kooks, Editors and Bloc Party.
And the dates:
Glasgow Carling Academy (November 5)
Dublin Olympia (6)
Leeds University ( 
Manchester Academy(9)
Birmingham Carling Academy(10)
Bristol Carling Academy(12)
Brixton Carling Academy(15)
Polytechnic
More Transgressive Records Goodness.
Polytechnic came together as The Conversation in March 2005, playing to a packed house at the Academy within 3 days of forming. Since then the band have gigged around Manchester, earning a rapidly growing fanbase and a name for high-energy shows. (source)
Polytechnic, as an indie band making their own no-budget videos, have a sparkly punk-pop sound to rival many a mainstream band. They’re like The Beach Boys for a new generation. So if you do enjoy a. indie rock without being a snob about it, b. actually understanding the lyrics and c. a tinge of melancholy added to an otherwise pop-ward epidermis. And they started playing only three days after they were formed.
Polytechnic - Won’t You Come Around mp3
Polytechnic MySpace (where one might want to listen to their latest single Pep)
pic courtesy of cocoen
Good Morning say the Lullaby Makers
Bel Auburn like music from Iceland. They also like to isolate themselves in Ohio, where the houses have porches.
Bel Auburn also have a beautiful second album. The production seems a bit loose for my taste a couple of cuts, or maybe I didn’t get the point, but generally this comes in great for autumn. I can almost see myself in cheesy slow motion throwing the leaves out of my tangled hair. Some record company honcho ain’t gonna be too happy when he hears what he’s been missing out on. Hurrah for melody.
I don’t care if they don’t want to sell their souls, I think they should. Just so they can get some better sound engineers to really get things going.
Here are the tracks with commercial value:
Roses, Good Night, Metropolitan (Oil) mp3s [right click and save to download]. The rest (nine in total) are downloadable via their site.
I told you it was special
The Young Knives have a cover version of Kids In America, a “better cover version than the original” as they put it. Minus the “keyboard fumbles” then. It’s only going to be available on the 12-inch of their LP (yes there’s finally an LP coming out - who knows when, but Tim and Toby of Transgressive actually pronounced the L word).
This is taken from the One World Special I mentioned in my last post.
Mumm-Ra - a roar and a hush
I rarely champion bands here more than once or twice, which just means there’s so much music - or only so much music you’ll listen to time and again; (sort of) fact: people only listen to around 23% of the songs on their iPods habitually.
Mumm-Ra, as of now, are among the 23% of my listening habits.
Sounds menacing doesn’t it.
things that go bang in the middle of the night
I haven’t done unsigned goodness in a while, heck, I ain’t done nothing much in a while. I’ve been planning my trip (mainly getting to Chopin’s house and what to drink in Poland) not that you care much, but I have to get my passport tomorrow after compromising with the lady at the desk (it was due the 10th of July I think) and leave on Tuesday bright and early, but shit I can’t be fully happy until I have that bloody piece of binded plastic and paper between my evil toes (natch!) or fingers.
MySpace has been leaving me terribly afflicted lately, no goodness in the indie rock department that I could find. I did a couple of poorly-planned searches and left empty-eared or angry at the staple mediocrity.
Gav however is way better at discovering very good under-10 000 views pages of the electronic variety.
Before you can say panties-in-a-twist, something of note showed up. CC & the Spades. With virtually under 10 results for the band name on Google, I’d say we’re safe if we were to bring up the topic of good lesser-known bands with hipster acquaintances.
Never you mind that, this is quality pop-punk with an ever-flowing instrumentation, and vocals tailored to fit the whole aural scene. The music doesn’t go upwards or down (based on the two songs I instantly fell in love with on their myspace) but carries itself lazily along, summer-turns-to-autumn-style with wind blowing through the cracks of the deserted chalet the band’s practicing in. That’s what the music inspired me to write, and lo and behold, the westerly winds were blowing in my direction giving me a hairstyle that made others cry with envy goes CC’s wonderlandish-bio entry. If you’re into PJ Harvey you’ll be all over CC’s smashing low-rider vocal qualities.
I don’t know why, I uploaded this song for you..
CC and The Spades - 8 Hours Of Little D mp3
It’s available for download on CC and the Spades’ myspace however along with another fine cut.
Go now, or bookmark for later
The Cuban Heels and Senses
I'm not sure whether I appreciate shoegaze properly but Senses are right up my alley somehow. Or maybe they're emo. And I know I like ratata from my guitars, songs that justify that anyone can learn how to play guitar, but divine sounds aren't music god's way of repaying just hard work. Bleeding fingers - maybe. On a purely technical note, Paco de Lucìa is the hardcore classical guitarist who doesn't let a bleeding bloody finger get in the way during live performances - he bites the hardened skin off them bastards into submission.
What is it about good music that goes beyond genre jargon? I need not my label stickerer for these two bands here, they're just plain ole good.
I like music I know nothing about, I take no precautions in discovery. I do want to kick myself for forgetting to post about The Cuban Heels, the ratata I was mentioning. Their name makes me smile, it has a tap dancing visual attached to it in my head, and maybe the Beach Boys here and again. The Kinks too, definitely. One thing I liked about their bio on myspace:
"Now they have decided to release a number of previously unreleased studio tracks, live recordings and demo's on Myspace for the fair people of Myspaceland to download and play during their leisure time, because after all… thats the point". My point exactly.
All their tracks are beautiful guitar pieces of unpolished diamonds, except Whatever Happened to Grace which got me from the first riff. There's a finesse about that one track that makes it stand out as British and ubiquitous at the same time. I get excited every time I listen to it, and feel like jumping on my bed in slow motion to accompany the feeling.
The Cuban Heels - Eleven Little Secrets mp3
Senses lured me into their cradle of charming harmonies. The vocals simmer like a little fire on a giant lake of melody on my favourite track, Truly Beautiful Disaster. Self explanatory. And their influences include Stone Roses, which means that I'm sold. Taking the best out of the Roses can prove disastruous if you haven't got an inherent understanding of the culture they stood for (no matter how dodgy the haircuts); Senses have a knack for making sound that breaks apart but doesn't wither - it's disphoric yet comforting, and so fragile every chord feels like it could break apart in depth - like fractals. As for the news about the band - Senses have been moving between a shed in the middle of nowhere and a war time shelter honing their sound and recording songs for their debut EP.
Senses - Truly Beautiful Disaster mp3
Be sure to check out these dudes' myspace pages, for the love of indie. I hate to see talent go to waste.
