eashfa
Head is alive. Hence the sound of music.Archive for rock
Women Signed
Having no clue what that meant, I checked the email boldly stating “Women Signed to Jagjaguwar” fully expecting women. Alas, Women are in fact men.
The music is lo-fi rock. Psyched out, interstellar and crepuscular, like you’re on a cardboard spaceship with weird acoustics, flying around a 60s black and white TV screen.
Self-titled album out the 7th of October in the US.
The Carps
You will have been warned not to stay too close to the speakers but you’ll already be deaf, and your hearing will lie on the altar of Carpedia.
Being from a pretend hood and all, The Carps are seriously difficult to come by if you google them; hooray then, that leaves us with the music, with the Gargantuan bass, rhythm and bong-a-bong feast that is Carpedia aka The Young and Passionate Days Of Carpedia.
So, is it soul, is it rock? By the why-aren’t-my neighbours calling the police-sound of this visceral, maniacal, theatrical and envioronment-altering plenitude of sound, it’s both - rock with pieces of soul chopped up and scattered around.
Neil White is a Brit, I can see how. You do get warned to get away from the speakers, which is gentlemanly (and also lawsuit-panic induced?). He is the garage punk vibe of the duo, while Jahmal Tonge is the Motown and Stax fiend who has some Caribbean gospel to thank for the sheer stream of godliness (the laic kind) pulsating through the music.
No cracks or splits, The Carps’ genius sprawls throughout the EP; its or its’ future brothers and sisters’ commercial success is only a matter of time.
As a sidenote, I think this is what Bloc Party could have been, somehow the fizz just fuzzed on their latest album.
I leave you with the music, the only reason why.
Let’s Fall In Love mp3 (alternate link)
All The Thugs I Know mp3 (alternate link)
(Note: Some Gracenote(TM!) issues with the file names, the whole streamable EP on The Carps’ myspace shows the right order)
Mason Proper
I have to have you check out Mason Proper, they remind me of what I used to listen to in the 90s; so 90s rock it goes and I love their artwork. This has a certain ching-a-ling that gets under my nostalgic skin.
click for the Flickr set
The other half of the post is in Romanian, because not only am I a patriot, I have missed Romanian indie rock gigs to prove it.
The Little Flames
Five little ones from Liverpool, The Little Flames by name, are interesting. Hear my undecidedness rumble - but I got sent this single and I thought it was.. interesting. Sounds a bit like Radiohead but sans depressing stylings and you know, it’s like, a girl doing the singing. And if you like British guitarisms then this works out nicely:
Lonnndohn, is the place for me
Or is it? The Good The Bad And The Queen have received quite a lot of press, especially since their Electric Proms performance. But heads will turn and ears will tune in when you’ve got Damon Albarn, Tony Allen, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong playing together.
They’re all temping in the band, apparently, so this is just an experiment gone public. In part, it does sound a bit too close to Gorillaz (probably because Dangermouse is producing the record). However, if you take your time, let the lyrics stir you instead of violently shufling through your iPod, you’ll find a bunch of subtle melodies that take urban landscapes, lost romance and- yeah, well- politics; they’ll settle under your skin before you know it. More than that, you’ll maybe work out the joy of listening to a whole album again.
These are guys who are already famous and who aren’t doing it for the money so they don’t need to be overzealous or fake. Their material is based on aesthetics and doesn’t seem to make compromises - against the tone set by most commercial prostitutes artists.
Here’s a track for you all:
You could pre-order the “Kingdom Of Doom” single (and listen to five more tracks if you do), but that’s against the point of the group and it’s reason for being, so I suggest you pre-order the album off amazon if you’re considering buying.
Here’s a clip featuring The Good The Bad And The Queen, taken from BBC’s The Culture Show:
More: listening practice: The Good The Bad And The Queen @ The Hype Machine
reading: an article from Time Out London
While the weekend aways
Regardless of the fact that you’ve either purchased or leached the album Tired Of Hanging Around up until now, here’s the Zutons. You can always check out their un-unnerving, eye-easy myspace for tour dates. Their latest single release is probably meant to re-unleash some sort of interest..? Valerie I remember as the soundtrack to getting my passport, so I’m inclined to give them space here with a very pop-a-Brit-rocker song that you can download off iTunes anyway but here it would be…
I think I mentioned something of a dance of tiny dimensions on eashfa, well here you have it - and no, no Elton John referencing here, just a bunch of funtime-peddlers with conspicuously stuffed animals during performances. Tiny Dancers are growing out their small-town, formerly-marooned roots into a musical role that might seem excessively zealous but isn’t that just the point. There’s a touch of post or prog that wraps like a ribbon around a box of catchy guitar gems. The teeny bunch sound stamina-ridden and sprinkle their multitude of influences (around and over the Pond- The Flaming Lips for instance) like soy sauce on Basmati rice. Mmm.
Their albums’ out, so raise thy warrior and go amazon.
I’ve been listening to Nellie McKay’s latest LP and have been mesmerized whilst ipodding, by her song There You Are In Me. It pianos and pleas in pure unsought-out Nellie style. Her sophomore recording has a playground of its own, and her grandfather did time in San Quentin.
O Rapture Unforeseen
I never review albums, at least not in an orderly fashion, because I can’t deconstruct that well. I tend to digress, I can’t stand being on point, and I’m highly melodramatic. But this is an audio blog, not Pitchfork, like Scott sort of said to me. 
Anticipation breeds one of two things. Either sheer joy or utter disappointment, quite simply. and I mean the kind of anticipation that makes you want to bite people or coffee tables cause you can’t stand the wait. But sometimes, and you know it’s rare, the planets align, you feel like you’re in an ad where the sun follows you around while you’re oblivious to other peoples’ mishaps etc. Today I finally found a book I know I’ll love, The Magus, I decided on a Japanese minor in college, and I got to hear the new Rapture.
Pieces Of The People We Love is a delicate affair. First of all you have to listen to it loud- it doesn’t do much otherwise, like most music. (People often make the mistake of playing classical music as background music - no, you must listen to it loud, going to the opera can be just as loud as The Ramones) if you’re inebriated enough to scatter yourself on your imaginary dancefloor and shuffle along to the disrupted beats, even better). The production seems to be a bit more sleek this time around, and there was subversive scheming and strategising :p in putting Get Myself Into It out there. However, you clever yet unrealistic marketing people, it only means that the bar might be raised a bit too high for your own good.
I like the album, I mean there are no apparent flaws but I feel a struggle for superglue here: it could have been a tad more interconnected and all songs have the potential of being gems, but with overpolishing comes the feeling of fake, and also the more direct feeling of the reverse- is there underpolishing? For all the pop clash catchiness of Get Myself Into It, there’s a sonic wave solemnly crashing in other parts of the LP.
I like the minimalism of Pieces Of The People We Love, which sounds like a future single, but what’s up with the over-robotization of First Gear? Afterwards, a totally different sound- a sort of new wave meets funk with a nice panting bit from Luke Jenner on The Devil. Callin Me sounds Wolfmother-ish but the heavy engaging drums make it The Rapture’s own and towards the end i did find myself noticing it (the first time I listen to any album I just let it play without interruptions and without checking out the logistics of it- like artwork, song names; it’s a good way to see what stands out).
Down For So Long sounds nice to walk along to (even though you might twitch once in a while) the kind of song that just pushes you forward mentally. The Sound goes into a bit of electronic overdrive which can be daunting, but it works out if you’re in the right mood. Live In Sunshine is a more mellow piece, with a glorious rainbow of drums and synth (and I hate synth so that says a lot). It’s a good way to end an album, albeit expected. I can’t be tough on these guys because you really can sense passion for what they do, and it’s no easy life being a punk-funker.
Here goes:
The Rapture - Callin Me mp3
The Rapture - The Devil mp3
The Rapture - Live In Sunshine mp3 (< if you only get one of these..)
Check the whole thing out for yourself- you could buy at insound.
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)
Ginger pieces for my Little Red Riding Hoods
I’m out until the 12th or the 13th, depending when or if I choose to come back from Open’er. But before I go, here’s some of my favourite music to smoke, eat, shower, walk, imagine driving, drink a nice bevvie to, this darkening side of 2006.
Love Is All - Make Out Fall Out Make Up mp3
Nouvelle Vague - Ever Fallen In Love mp3
Larrikin Love - Downing St. Kindling mp3 (6 Music - BBC Session)
The Kooks - She Moves In Her Own Way mp3
Conrad Newholmes - Noonday night mp3
Beirut - Rhineland (Heartland) mp3
The Radio Dept. - Why Won’t You Talk About It mp3 (via Labrador)
Sunset Rubdown - A Day In The Graveyard mp3
Herbert - Something Isn’t Right mp3
and a remix - Wolfmother - Woman (MSTRKRFT remix) m4a
Sigur Ros you’ll just have to buy. Or take a look here.
Right, now go and check out some of my fave blogs on the Further music page. Although some of them might be on hiatus too, they’re all worth a try, especially bigstereo. My main inspiration, although it might not look it.
Oh and wolf! Don’t let’s be snarky.
The Noisettes
I keep stumbling onto bands that are from the UK and that everyone says are the bees knees live. Well live is actually what sells them, so the more bootlegged or scratchy an mp3 the more I delude myself that those blips and blops are live particles. Moving on!
howling bells and synaesthesia
They smear their music gently using rectangular vocals (synaesthetically speaking) and the frilly distorted harmonies I'm so keen on. If I mention Coldplay, will you leave? Oh bother. Well don't because Setting Sun is the track that reminds me of Coldplay before they went all U2 on us. Beautifully eroded by country-inspired sounds, it's amplified by the guitar distort - rhythm section relationship that made Coldplay so mesmerizing at first. That being the musical backdrop, I couldn't picture the song without Juanita Stein's vocals. Think PJ Harvey on downers. I don't even have to hear the lyrics and her voice tells me a story. Howling Bells are an Australian band, I maybe should have started with that.
Recorded with renowned Coldplay (sic) producer Ken Nelson.
Musical influences include the likes of Johnny Cash, Tom Waits, Kate Bush, Loretta Lynn, Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine…
Films have also been a big influence on the sound and style of Howling
Bells and their music has a widescreen, cinematic quality. One writer
recently coined the term "indie noir" to describe their sound.
Alongside the work of David Lynch, films such as "Amelie", " Paris ,
Texas ", "Rumblefish"," and "Gadjo Dilo" have helped shape the bands
aesthetic.
I generally associate music with colours. For Amy Beach it was like a mnemotechnique for "complex harmonizations". Here's how she saw the notes, literally:
- Blue - Ab
- Green - A
- Pink - Eb
- Violet - Db
- White - C
- Red - G
- Yelllow - E
- Black - F# minor or G# minor
I see Guillemots as swirly and sandy white, for instance. Howling Bells are some kind of red, maybe crimson.
Howling Bells - This City's Burning mp3
Howling Bells - Low Happening mp3
Howling Bells - Setting Sun mp3 (*swoon)
Howling Bells - Velvet Girl mp3
For the guy who googled his way onto this blog, with the search string "what should i call my band" or something in the like, it depends what you're going for with your music but I personally like the sound of Phantom Limbs. I'd review a band named Phantom Limb, I would.
Further reading: synaesthesia
Howling Bells official site
MySpace
Buy Howling Bells Digipack (whatever that is)
devotchka
DeVotchKa are slowly curing my current beirut obsession. Last week, I went to their site to do some info-seeking - something I don't usually care for - found basically nothing, but still let it rest as a tab on my browser because of the two songs I found absolutely irresistible. Their music is the kind that doesn't get stale, that doesn't alienate people who aren't used to it, and most importantly it isn't tiring although it has an intellectual streak… Like I might have suggested, I go for music that haunts me and don't regularly wait for growers to grow their wings. It's like embezzling your own sense of style so why?! I act on instinct.
Devotchka means young girl in Russian, a reference which instantly gives you an idea of what the band might sound like, albeit incomplete. When there are so many instruments that come together, it might sound like a circus foyer act (I'm not sure a circus has a foyer by the way): violin, sousaphone, trumpet, banjo, bass mandolin (and it goes on); their live show actually features circus acts from time to time - acrobatics, girls hanging from ceilings etc. "Eastern bloc indie rock band" is what they call their style, and I can only dream of one day seeing them in the flesh and bouzouki.
Devotchka - El Zopilote Mojado (Curse Your Little Heart EP)
Devotchka - Curse Your Little Heart (Curse Your Little Heart EP)
Devotchka - How It Ends
I was thinking hip hop week
But for that you'll have to check back later because I am all about LP Funk right now… Yeah yeah! I'm listening to Aesop Rock but LP Funk was looping on my music player beforehand. Lucas Papaelias as his folks might call him, is a-thumpin his guitar with an instinct for unmanufactured pop most artists can only dream of. The pop-appeal that Brooklyn Girls effectuates might leave some other tracks blemished, but it's only a minor dent; and they grow on you like fungus in a poorly ventilated space. However you gotta love this guy. He puts out a record and trying to buy it is like chasing the white rabbit.
Catch him at his weekly showcase at Jack's Stir Brew Coffee > 138 W 10th St. (btw 6 & 7 Ave), NY and ask him how much do you have to harass a guy to let you pay for his music.
Note: This mp3 has been trimmed from a podcast, that may be so criminal of me. If you hear the 's' at the beginning congrats your hearing is just fine, but if you ignore it you'll then proceed to enjoying the song.
In other news stuff - is everybody going solo these days? Girls get pregnant, guys proclaim artistic independence. Thom Yorke, now James Dean
And you can pre-order Lily Allen. It's about the music, I still love her, and y'all are starting to act like hype is degrading. The bitchisms begin.
