Underwater Getdown
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Burritos on The Ocean Floor Anyone?
Underwater Getdown are one of the nicest bands I have come across recently. Their eagerness to share some songs with us was snapped up willingly and I'd now like to share them with you.
From Tempe, Arizonia, Underwater Getdown create soft shoe-gaze laced with psychedelic harmony. Originally formed by a few friends in high school, the band settled on it's current lineup after meeting several more musicians in architecture school. Bought together by their love of science, new animal species and architecture, Underwater Getdown was formed. The process was also helped by each member learning a different instrument during their teething years.
The bands debut record titled Super Symmetry is out now and can be picked up via itunes or the bands myspace page. There's an ambiance about Underwater Getdown that's both smooth and sorrowful. A concrete sound bridging the gap between silence and noise that can only be picked up under immense concentration.
Underwater Getdown- Slingshot: MP3
Underwater Getdown- Hey: MP3
Underwater Getdown- Myspace
Band of Horses
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Time Waits For Some! Stands Still For Others!
It certainly hasn't taken long for Mt. Pleasant's favourite three-piece indie band to return with another stunning album. Cease to Begin is the second offering in two years from Band of Horses, and like last year's Everything All The Time it is music of the easy listening tradition. Essentially a pop band, Band of Horses mix Americana still blues with whimsical orchestral medicine, resulting in a purely organic melodic sound.
Much like its predecessor, Cease to Begin relies on building tension, bursting into life around the minute mark of each song and taking the listener to a place far away from Earth. 'Is There A Ghost' is the perfect example of Band of Horses at their very peak. Much like the band's 2006 hit 'The Funeral', it builds from a simple string arrangement to become a fully blown orchestral rock symphony. Ben Bridwell's vocals again ride heavy, creating a sorrowful yet soft touch over the bending, gliding guitar.
If you enjoyed the band's last effort, you'll be happy to hear little tweaking took place between albums. But if you are a real aficionado looking for a progressive rock band growing into a fuller sounding dragon (much like the Shins' 2006 offering), you'll probably be disappointed. If you put half of Everything All The Time and half of Cease to Begin together you'd have a pretty flawless pop record. Take it with a grain of salt, buy it! Enjoy it! And in a few years' time you'll have yourself a box set.
Band of Horses- Is There A Ghost: MP3
Band of Horses- No One's Gonna Love You: MP3
Band of Horses- The Lamb In The City: Mp3
Band of Horses- Myspace
Nouvelle Vague
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sexy slumber party chanteuses make
a Bela Lugosi Lounge Act
Bossa nova new-wave soul-jazz goes to bed and gets all swoony and starry-eyed, crossing dreams and spanning continents. From France to Brazil to New York, the collective re-invents no-wave post-punk phenomenas, stalking the dreary world of rock and diving into the slums of pop to deliver breathy breath-taking covers of already dreamy originals.
Bedfellow du jours Marc Collins, Oliver Libaus, Mélanie Pain, Marina Celeste, Phoebe Killdeer and Camille and Gérald Toto are a multi-instrumentalist group of globally gathered individuals who give us sensuous, salty but impossibly sweet renditions of hearty classics, more than stamped with their luscious textures and sounds. Their music is magnetic. It's tasty. You'll want to bed it. Music this good turns well-meaning music journalists into PR pushers. But it's true, they're really really great.
Poingly
Thursday, September 20, 2007
"Prepare Your Genitalia"
Apparently all you electroclash Kat's are as horny as hell, so here's a post just for you. Have you heard of Poingly? Probably not! He's another artist from the Brooklyn, New York area who pushes the boundary of music and art deep between the sheets. A sex fiend who'll take you anytime anywhere, Poingly's music is an erotic lust filled scream-fest, a male Peaches perhaps?
After starting out in 1998, Poingly was originally a duo, however pressure bought on by both members living so far apart meant Jason Glastetter carried on alone. It's now just Jason, his computer and a large assortment of miscellaneous noise making objects. But if you want the real Poingly experience, it's live where it gets kinky. The stage act is supposedly wild, Jason in drag and his microphone shouting all sorts of sexual obscenities.
If you want to get closer and cop a feel, check out Poingly's myspace. He offers sexual advice to his adoring fans, and I'm sure he'll be more than happy to answer any questions that you may be sitting on. His official website is pretty savvy too, designed to look like the Department of Homeland Security. At first you'll think the fuckers are spying, but it's OK (I think, maybe the fuckers are spying), Poingly himself emailed me the link. From here you can download several tracks, including a cover of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs 'Pin'.
Poingly- Fuck You Too: MP3
Poingly- Shake Yr Booty: MP3
Poingly- Pretty Ugly: MP3
Poingly- Crazy (Gnarles Barkley Cover) : MP3
Poingly- Myspace
Poingly- Official Website
Poisson d'Avril
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Hypnotic No-Hop Suffocation
When you discover new music that completely blows your mind, it's normally for one or two reasons. Poisson d'Avril gives you endless reasons, but the most obvious is his genre redefining sound. In fact forget that, redefining is the wrong word; he creates his own genre, a genre we can call No-Hop. An experimental genre, mixing hip-hop style rap, screamo electronic sirens and the urban sophistication of the New York indie underground.
Sounding kind of dirty, but somehow very elegant, Poisson d'Avril has opened my eyes to an area of eclectic music I wouldn't normally explore. Mixed into the indie scene of Brooklyn, New York, he has emerged with an undeniably pulsating sound, very different to the cutesy pop of his fellow borough counterparts. At current day very few have picked up on the No-Hop movement, in fact I'm not sure it even exists. Perhaps it's in my imagination! But if you need pointing in the right direction look me up. I'm probably more reliable than Google.
Centred mainly around the urban hip-hop styling of the 1990's, Poisson d'Avril and similar artists do more than just imitate their heroes. They are more stylish, much more serious and make Public Enemy and My Bloody Valentine sound very tired and very very old. At this early stage it's hard to say who will be attracted to this music. One thing's certain, the modern music scene surely needs the eclectic styling of No-Hop to bring faith back to the children of ground zero.
Poisson d'Avril- I've Got a Placebo That'll Make You Shiver: MP3
Poisson d'Avril- Burn Your Lighthouse Down: MP3
Poisson d'Avril- Liar Fist Liar Tits: MP3
Poisson d'Avril- Myspace
Pash
Thursday, September 13, 2007
C'mere You!
If you haven't had a good pash in a while, come give Einstein a kiss. Here's one Pash you will never forget! The Virginia quartet are full of love and with a heart of gold they want to share it with you. They'll get your mouth grinning, your eyes steering and your ears listening with their Juggernaut of sound that's both smooth and tender.
For a sound that's been used and abused over the last fifteen years, Pash come across with a air of freshness. Where other bands have been rough around the edges and fallen victim to repetitiveness, Pash add something new, making noise that is uniquely their own. It helps considerably to have the luscious vocal melody of Merideth Munoz at the forefront but the work of Erik Bruner-Yang, Ryan McLaughlin and Jon Bibb can't be discredited. Munroz voice, about one note higher than Emily Haines, is contained and released with bounding radiance propelling the band on an upward spiral.
The Best Gun, the bands newly released second album sees Munroz song writing touch on new uncharted territory. Since forming the band with her liberal art college friends and then lover Bruner-Yang back in 2003, the band have matured and defined their sound. Pash have now reached a level where the press are interested and watching their every move. The Best Gun reveals a talented band that will one day spawn an even better solo career for Munroz.
Pash- The Best Gun: MP3
Pash- ABCD: MP3
Pash- Myspace
Manu Chao
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
"This is a social experiment."
Somewhat challenging the perception of 'Indie' and 'Dinner-Party World Music' in general, Manu Chao's French/Latin music may comfortably fit the latter environs, but he doesn't really fit into any category. That's why I decided to post about him here.
And so what! I think you'll find his intelligent genre-hopping and seamless drifting between tracks and riffs, uniting all songs and structured parts via loopy whistles and ambient guitar, is justifiably abstract and worthy of
Einstein... blogging. Even if he is a bonafide internationale superstar and his 'Indie' cred is contestable! His rrrrrrolling raps and childish rhymes provide more than enough variation from the norm to justify his music as somewhat 'Indie', I guess in the sense that it is experimental.
The Paris-born, Barcelona-dwelling former leader of
Mano Negra makes feel-good reggae/ska/rock/punk that feels right at home at a dinner party. Though this isn't intended to be a derogatory statement, merely that his comfortable blend of influences is put together in such a way as it compliments [and one could say even
inspires] lively chatter. And you always want
that at a dinner table.
Making this enlivening music for the past 27 years, the prolific multilingual musician's work was first introduced to me at a globetrotting cousin's house, and it was love at first listen. Re-using riffs from previous songs to make a very cohesive, story-like album, Chao's
Proxima Estacion: Esperanza [released in 2001] is a patchwork masterpiece. Faultlessly blending tracks and songs together via this riff-grabbing, grab-bag of South American folklore, Chao's work is effortlessly intoxicating.
Cursory listens to latest single Rainin' In Paradise [from Chao's fourth album,
La Radiolina, released a week ago], signal a rockier and more political direction. But I thought I'd backtrack a bit and draw attention to what has become a cult classic for my family,
Proxima Estacion: Esperanza. This is unlikely to go unnoticed if you put it on sneakily at a dinner party. But don't think of this setting as a resort to metropolitan blasé presumptions. Rather, it provides an ideal atmosphere for the music to be shared. Think of it as a cultural experiment, not unlike how his
website, helpfully translated from French to Spanish, is presented.
Little Pictures
Sunday, September 09, 2007
'Awfully catchy and very cute'
How could anyone disagree with Harry Ricketts? If he likes Little Pictures, who are we to argue. The Wellington trio of Mark, Johanna and James formed Little Pictures only four months ago. Initially a one man project, LP started like all good indie groups, in a bedroom in an unknown Wellington suburb. After a request from Grayson Gilmore (So So Modern) to play support for a couple of shows, the LP trio was born.
Keeping it simple, short and sweet provides the ideal philosophy for a good pop tune. Initially drawn to them upon hearing Marks first bedroom recordings, I was very quickly intrigued as to how such a basic concept could sound so amazingly rich. With simplified synthesiser loops providing a backdrop, each song has a unique minimilist texture. Overlay Mark's soft, whimsical vocals and sha-bang; I know several girls who find it very cute.
With most songs clocking in at just under two minutes, the band have adopted an interesting distribution method. Floppy disks, yep that's right, Floppy disks! You can send the band a song request and they will send you a floppy disk in the post. How cool is that? Last weekend the band put the finishing touches on their debut EP, titled You and Me and My Amplifier. The EP should be available from next week, you can already listen to a couple of the new songs on the bands myspace. With the inclusion of Johanna on vocals and glockenspiel and James on drums, the charm of this cute little band will fill us all.
Little Pictures- Thanksgiving For A Habitat: MP3
Little Pictures- Myspace
Bonde do Role
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Let's Make Love and Listen Alice In Chains?!
Super fun crazy mish mashes of baile beats and intoxicating exotic accents and rhythms and badly mixed antique funk samples, an interesting Thursday make. Marina, Pedro and Gorky of the Domino signed band, are arguably the most exciting South American band to have made it big outside of the typical SA confines since CSS went global.
Chunking Alice In Chains riffs with hip hop beats and cute childish cheers, Bonde do Role make you wanna sashay your hips and move yr feet. So
do it! Nobody's watching... maybe then the cute boy at the popsicle stand will take notice and ask you out, and you can shimmy up trees and collect berries and stuff, baile style... right?! Because although some of us cannot be certain exactly what Baile-funk or tropical-metal translates to, we can at least be sure that Bonde's whateveryoucallit-sound has garnered them much deserved recognition of late.
Their funky Dança Da Ventoinha has the best use of a Darkness riff I've heard anywhere, far surpassing the original in terms of the unique array of squawking vocals it boasts. And their interpretation of ACDC (whether it's them or a remix, this track is h.o.t!) on Melo Do Vitiligo is chaotic and enchanting. Venturing, as well, into cyber ecstacy,
apparently it's them on Máquina De Ricota? Though barely recognisable in parts, that is surely the signifying element of a truly unique, exciting, cutting-edge band. Surprising spontaneity, awe-inspiring originality. Roll out!
The Brunettes
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Don't Talk, Put Your Head On My Shoulder
Ask yourself, what's been the best pop album this year? No wait! I can answer that one for you. The best pop album of 2007 is Structure And Cosmetics; there you go I said it, it's the best, number one, first place.
If you haven't heard the timeless melody, endless bubblegum brilliance that is Structure And Cosmetics you better go straight to the music store tomorrow and buy it. You know, the one with Pet Sounds as their number one album of all time, yeah they have it! Comparing The Brunettes to the Beach Boys, uuu big call. Yes I agree it needs time before it gets put on that pedestal, but like Pet Sounds, it's undoubtedly the groups best work.
The opening word of 'Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth'... "B.A.B.Y" will have you blushing, even you boys. 'Obligatory Road Song' will stay in you dreams forever and 'If You Were Alien' provides the cutest text conversation starters. The only flaw is that it can be too cute, Structure And Cosmetics is an album for romantics and those in love. If you are lonely it'll probably just make you cry in the dark. Perhaps you should try the new Shout Out Louds.
The Brunettes- Obligatory Road Song: MP3
The Brunettes- If You Were Alien: MP3
The Brunettes- Myspace
Yip- Yip
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Reptiles In The Monkey House
Yip-Yip is a super hip mixture designed to blow the roof off the myspace generation. Crazy experimental electronica, progressive computer digitalism like a bag of coloured marbles; the fascination never gets old. If you thought technology was killed by Microsoft, think again!
Formed by Jason Temple and Brian Esser in 2001, Yip-Yip has been on the cutting edge of North American electronic fashion. They were recently chosen by the Orlando Weekly as "Best Electronic Act" for the fourth year in a row. They've played shows with such esteemed acts as Battles, The Locust and Animal Collective. From big to small clubs, Yip-Yip has danced the pants off so many, handing out thousands of dance floor orgasms to the digital generation.
So what's all the fuss about, surely computer music from the 80's can't still be cool? Yip, it sure can! It takes one to understand the molecular DNA of a circuit board to uncover the real potential of past technology. If you've read this far and still don't get it, words like digitalism are probably way out of your league. Fuck off and read your Cosmo and marvel over Lindsay Lohan's latest hairstyle. If your Casio watch from 1988 still runs on its original battery you better right click on the tracks below. This is one gang Bill Gates and Bono will never get their hands on.
Yip-Yip- Club Mummy: MP3
Yip-Yip- Myspace
Malajube
Saturday, September 01, 2007
"Warp zone for the brain."
Impossibly cute, danceable, catchy and intelligent French Canadians Malajube have it all - quirky song structures, time and key changes, animal costumes, ooooooh-sing-a-long breakdowns and the odd phone-impersonation [see Ton Plat Favori].
Who cares if many of us wont understand what they're saying, as keyboardist/vocalist Thomas explained in a
Brooklyn Vegan interview, "Even if it is in French and people don't get the lyrics, the music does the work. It talks to people." So just do the work already and check them out, cos they are amazing! For examples of this mega-awesomeness, see the MP3s below [of course], but you're advised to track down their album,
Trompe~L'Oeil, to get the full scope of their plush, too-cute-for-kicks sound. You can pick this up on the swoonworthy French goth-rap of eerie/awesome/catchy La Russe, which is so exciting to fresh ears that you may have a little heart attack of delight. [Be warned!] Elsewhere, Pâte Filo will charm yr socks off. That little French singing! The glorious, dramatic, Arcade Fire-esque faux-orchestral tension! The trilling organs! It's just... They're amazing.
