I don’t recall if I’ve ever broached this topic here before, but I have a strange aversion to solo artists. And not for any real logical reason — or at least none that turns out to be accurate.
Whenever I see that an act is just one person, I immediately picture some dude or dudette strumming an acoustic guitar and singing in a sparsely populated coffeehouse somewhere.
And when I see that someone is a singer/songwriter, I often lump them in with all the rest of the dime-a-dozen lot and move on to the next act. Part of that is that I assume a solo artist’s sound is very limited and not nearly as expansive as that of a band.
Now, obviously, I realize that perspective is very ignorant and more than a little naive. But I can’t help it. And because of it, I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of great artists.
But one that managed to make it through my “rigorous” filter is Sarah Jaffe. The 26-year-old songstress from Denton, Texas blends a mostly folk-pop sound with the occasional electro or rock influences — particularly as of late — into an enchanting mix of sounds that’s more powerful than anything at your local coffeehouse.
The above track is the standout from her debut full-length, 2010’s Suburban Nature. It displays how well Jaffe is able to add depth and complexity to all of her songs. Other solid tracks from the album are “Before You Go”, “Better Than Nothing”, “Summer Begs”, “Pretender” and “Watch Me Apart”.
An alternate version of “Clementine” — one that’s piano-based and much more soulful — can be found on the 2011 EP, The Way Sounds Leaves a Room. Also included among the eight tracks are a great cover of Cold War Kids’ “Louder Than Ever” and one of Drake’s “Shut It Down”.
Toward the end of that release, Jaffe starts to show signs of a transition to a more electro sound. And she brings that home on her sophomore full-length, The Body Wins, which came out this past April.
That’s the first single, and, in addition to a great video, it shows a much edgier side to the one-time folkster. Admittedly, I’m not as big a fan of this new sound. But it’s not necessarily bad. In addition to the above song, another solid track on here is “Talk”.
Jaffe played SXSW this year and has toured with some decent acts. With any luck, she’ll be able to cultivate a larger audience over time.
At some point a couple of years ago, I stumbled upon the website Noisetrade. It’s main purpose for existing is to help under-the-radar bands get their music out to the masses.
The site provides free downloads of albums or samplers. (Of course, it gives listeners the opportunity to donate a few bucks when they download the music — but how many people out there actually cave to the pressure?)
After my first download, I started getting several emails a week trumpeting various bands who had music available on the site. Generally, I’ll skim through the emails, see the descriptions of the bands and decide it’s not worth the time or effort to download the music.
But, on occasion, I’ll see a description that piques my interest. And that’s how I came to recently discover the band Rah Rah.
In this particular email, at the end of a brief, boastful band bio, there was this:
“For fans of: Wilco, Built To Spill, Best Coast, Arcade Fire, Neil Young and Crazy Horse”
While the comparisons were enticing, they were also false. There’s the occasional hint of Built To Spill and maybe some Arcade Fire and Wilco. But Rah Rah’s real contemporaries would be bands such as fellow Canadians Broken Social Scene and New Pornographers and British acts Los Campesinos! and Noah and the Whale.
The above link provides a download that includes a mix of songs from all three of Rah Rah’s three albums, including The Poet’s Dead, which officially hits record stores next week and is already out in digital form.
On the three albums, which include 2008’s Going Steady and 2010’s Breaking Hearts, listeners will discover a band full of solid musicianship, energetic male-female harmonies, enduring lyrics and catchy indie-pop/rock tunes.
The above song comes from the debut album and is a great example of everything Rah Rah bring to the table. The album is mostly upbeat and makes the band’s name seem very apt. There are some slower/darker points on the album, but even those moments are delivered in a way that still seems upbeat.
Other strong tracks include “Betrayal Pt. 1”, “Duet For Emmylou and the Grievous Angel”, “Our Hearts Don’t Match Up” and “Cuba/Peru”, which will likely be stuck in your head after the first listen.
Breaking Hearts is similarly upbeat, but the band displays a tighter sound throughout. It also takes things to a slightly heavier level. All of the songs are solid, but the only real standout is the opener, “Arrows”.
The Poet’s Dead is clearly Rah Rah‘s strongest effort to date. They’re still energetic, but gone are the constant six-piece harmonies. More often, the vocals are focused on one or two singers. But since everyone in the band can sing, it results in a more eclectic mix of songs.
The standout is “Prairie Girl”, which sounds like something that belongs on one of Feist’s albums.
Other songs of note include “Dead Men”, “Run” and the title track.
Rah Rah will be in New York this week for the CMJ Festival, then head west for a quick tour through the States before heading to the Great White North for several shows.
They’ll be an opening act when they stop in Chicago at the Double Door next week. Alas, I won’t be able to attend the show. My guess is, by the time they return to the Windy City, they’ll be the top band on the marquee.
“If ‘Jurassic Park’ had a house band, it would sound like Snowmine.”
That was the amusing — if rather misguided — description given by a blogger at Pop Wreckoning after seeing the band Snowmine in person early last year.
Admittedly, said show came a few months before the release of the Brooklyn five-piece’s debut album, Laminate Pet Animal, and its sound was still probably a little rough. But I can’t imagine hearing this band live and thinking it was best suited for some prehistoric jungle abomination. Sure, the first song they played, “Danger in the Snow!”, opens with some ground-rumbling effects and is filled with tribal beats, but other than that, the band is a pretty laid-back indie-pop outfit.
The above song is actually a non-album single — and possibly the best track the band has produced to date. It has a little bit of a Death Cab For Cutie feel to it.
On the actual album, the band bounces between catchy indie-pop and the occasional psych-pop ditty. The latter can be found on such tracks as “The Hill”, “Piece of Your Pie” and “This One”.
Led by new-classical composer and vocalist Grayson Sanders, Snowmine are really at their best when they’re exuding a more bubbly sound. In addition to Death Cab, there are hints of many other popular indie bands, such as Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket and The Walkmen, just to name a few.
The second track on Laminate Pet Animal, “Penny”, opens with a guitar riff that sounds like it came straight out of early ’80s Manchester, but then it quickly transitions into a more standard indie-pop song.
Other solid tracks on the album include “Beast in Air, Beast in Water”, “Let Me In” and “Hologram”.
Since playing at SXSW in March, the band has released a new single, “Saucer Eyes”. With any luck, it’ll continue to churn out an eclectic mix of sounds and maybe even release another album sometime next year.
In the meantime, here’s another video to tide you over.
Many well-known bands released highly anticipated albums in the past month or so, and the theme seemed to be about toning things down.
Now, depending upon the band, that could mean veering toward a calmer sound (Band of Horses, The Gaslight Anthem), softening an electro vibe (The Helio Sequence, Two Door Cinema Club), or nothing at all, since you can’t really get any more toned down than The XX already were.
Band of Horses
I might as well start with the album I had been anticipating the most. After a substantial ascension on their first two albums, Band of Horses took a bit of a dip on 2010’s Infinite Arms.
As it turns out, that was just a sign of things to come. Their latest, Mirage Rock, is aptly titled as it’s less an indie-rock album and something closer to alt-country.
That’s not entirely true, but on several tracks you can hear the band’s slow progression toward a more folk/country sound.
The Gaslight Anthem
Possibly the best album among the five here is the latest from The Gaslight Anthem. Maybe it’s just because I had seen them in person recently, but there’s really no filler on Handwritten.
Continuing the shift away from their punkier roots, these Jersey boys churn out more solid indie-rock, highlighted by such songs as “Keepsake” and “’45′”.
One noticeable difference here is that they throw in a few change-ups along the way with some slower, softer songs. So much so, that you almost think you’re listening to a different band.
The Helio Sequence
I wasn’t sure if I’d ever hear a new Helio Sequence album again. Not because I thought they were breaking up. It had been awhile since their last release and I’d mostly stopped caring about them. But when I saw that Negotiations was out, I figured I’d add it to the rotation.
The band, which is known for having an evolving sound, continued that trend since its last full-length album dropped in 2008.
The last time we saw The Helio Sequence, they were churning out indie electro-pop that was incredibly catchy. Now, they’ve slowed things down considerably and added some more complex layers.
They’re starting to sound like a retro version of Band of Horses. Actually, they’ve kinda leapfrogged peak-era BoH and are heading toward the contemporary version.
Two Door Cinema Club
I’ll always have an interesting story of how I first discovered Two Door Cinema Club. And their first album will always be a favorite. But I don’t know if they’ll ever be able to recapture that lightning in a bottle.
Their latest, Beacon, definitely has some good stuff on it — including “Sleep Alone”, “Next Year” and “Handshake” — but it’s not the same start-to-finish gem.
On this one, you won’t find the catchy electro beats on every track like the previous offering. But they’re there in spurts.
The XX
I was not an early adopter of The XX. I avoided them for the first several months of their highly buzzed infancy. But I eventually came around and fell in love with their debut album. So much so, that I was both eager and nervous about the eventual follow-up.
Thankfully, like all of the above albums, Coexist, is in no ways a bad recording. But it’s admittedly not as good as the original.
There aren’t any obvious hits, but there is still plenty of good music to relax to.
Anyone who pays attention to the indie music scene knows that Scandinavia is a hotbed for up-and-coming acts. It seems like every time you turn around, there’s a heavily hyped band whose members’ names are full of funny-looking letters.
But just to the west lies another incubator of indie talent — Norway. And the latest Norwegian export that is trying to gain a foothold in America is Team Me, a six-piece from the city of Elverum.
Falling somewhere on the indie spectrum between The Polyphonic Spree and New Pornographers, Team Me churn out electro-tinged pop anthems that beg to be sung along to.
In case you didn’t catch the title, that was “With My Hands Covering Both of My Eyes I Am Too Scared To Have a Look at You Now”, easily the most fun and catchy track on the band’s debut full-length, To the Treetops!, which was released in the United States in March.
The group was thrown together somewhat haphazardly in early January 2010 to perform at a Norwegian music competition. It didn’t win, but it did start receiving some critical praise. Eventually, as the buzz grew, Team Me toured, signed with a label and put out an EP.
By the time To the Treetops! came out in Norway last October, the native bloggers were racing to proclaim the band the best thing to ever come out of their country.
Besides a cameo appearance at SXSW in March, Team Me have pretty much sequestered themselves in Europe. But, as their popularity grows, it’ll be hard for them not to tour worldwide.
I’m not gonna lie. I was a little apprehensive prior to attending to Riot Fest last weekend. The punk/hard rock festival, which took place at Humboldt Park in Chicago’s West Side, had a lineup filled with familiar names but not necessarily acts that I was dying to see.
The predictable highlight for me would be Rise Against, who closed out Saturday night’s bill. But all of the other bands I expected to see didn’t exactly excite me.
As it turned out, I actually enjoyed myself for the most part and came away with a newfound respect for a couple of acts.
Here are highlights and lowlights from my weekend:
Biggest milestone
As a fan of the band for the past eight years, and after seeing them in person thrice already, I finally got to see Rise Against play in their hometown. The closest I had come before was seeing them in Detroit about four years ago, but I knew that seeing them just a few miles from where they got their start would be special.
Here’s the opener, “Help Is On the Way”:
It was clear from the onset, as the sides of the stage overflowed with friends and family, that this show would be special for the band members as well. Lead singer Tim McIlrath noted as much several times throughout the set. And the songs also reflected the setting.
In addition to dedicating the second song, “Re-Education Through Labor”, to all of Chicago’s striking teachers, the band played a number of songs from its earlier days. Bypassing their more recent hits that protested the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the setlist leaned more toward the members’ activist roots.
During the first song of the encore, McIlrath invoked his heritage again by paying tribute to a punk legend, Tony Sly. The former lead singer of No Use For a Name died on July 31, and McIlrath honored him by playing an acoustic version of the NUFAN song, “For Fiona”.
For the next song, they continued to pay homage to their heroes when they brought up a couple of dudes from The Descendents — Bill Stevenson and Milo Aukerman — to sing “Jealous Again”, a Black Flag cover.
On a sidenote, this was also the first show that I went all-out in the circle pits. Usually content to remain on the fringe, I decided to get in there with all of the young’ins and see how close I could get to the stage. By the end of the night, I’d managed to get a few feet away from reaching the security dudes. Pretty memorable accomplishment, if I do say so myself.
Best table-setter
Before Rise Against took to the Riot Stage, they were preceded by Dropkick Murphys, a great appetizer to the main course.
While I admittedly didn’t know any of their songs, they did a great job of pumping up the crowd with their patented brand of faux-Irish punk.
Of course, everyone went apeshit when they closed it out with “Shipping Up to Boston” and a cover of AC/DC’s “TNT”.
Best banter
The second time I saw Rise Against, it was in Detroit as the headliner of a four-act bill. The opener that night was The Gaslight Anthem. They were only on stage for about a half-hour, and I don’t really remember much about the set.
So I was excited to get to see them again at Riot Fest, with a longer set and a couple more albums under their belt.
They lived up to expectations, bouncing around among their three albums, including the biggest hits from their debut.
But the one thing that stood out the most to me was lead singer Brian Fallon’s humorous asides between songs. He mentioned how the previous weekend’s shows at Riot Fest Brooklyn were canceled due to inclement weather. Then he proceeded to describe how a tornado is formed: “When a high-pressure system and a low-pressure system …”
After playing another song, he briefly mentioned tornadoes again, and punctuated his explanation with, “It’s science!”
He almost mentioned how Frank Turner, another act on the bill, would’ve been doomed in a tornado, making fun of his small stature and talking about how the two of them were gonna get messed up on Advil later.
Biggest surprise
You know how bands, toward the end of their sets, will kick up the intensity a notch and the excitement in the crowd becomes palpable? Well, Gogol Bordello doesn’t differentiate between songs. They perform every one as if it was a closing number.
That opening song was actually one of the tamer performances. And don’t worry if you couldn’t understand any words there. The lead singer, Eugene Hutz, is Ukranian and sings in gibberish. I think I managed to decipher no more than 10 words during the entire set. A few of them were “purple”, “crime” and “alcohol”.
I should note that I will never voluntarily purchase or listen to this band’s music. It’s just not my cup of tea. But in that setting and on that night, it was just a great and incredibly entertaining show.
If they’re at a festival you’re attending, and you don’t have anything else to do at the time, go ahead and check them out.
Biggest disappointment
When I saw that Elvis Costello & The Imposters were in the lineup, I figured that could be a fun little distraction. It turned out to be more of an annoyance than anything.
I thought I knew several of their songs, but it only seemed that way. In actuality, I only know a handful. And, unfortunately for me, the other 45 minutes of his set were filled with music I neither knew nor cared for.
I know that seems harsh, but I just don’t dig their sound that much. Sue me!
Although, they did redeem themselves a bit at the end when they played “Pump It Up” and “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” Also, I noticed the guy in front of me tweeting that they were the best act of the festival, by far. So, what do I know?
An honorable mention goes to Iggy & The Stooges. They closed out the entire festival Sunday night, and I deemed this a positive as I could get a jump on everyone else by leaving early. My friends forced me to stay for a few songs, and that was more than enough. I’m sure Iggy Pop’s antics were groundbreaking and influential 40 years ago. But today, he just seems like a pathetic old man trying to hold on to something that has long since passed him by.
Most chill performances
At a festival full of circle pits and fake blood-covered Gwar fans, it was nice to have a few palate cleansers. The first act we saw upon arriving Sunday was Built To Spill. There was no need to get really close to the stage, so we just hung out on some bleachers, well away from the band, and just chilled out to the tunes.
A little while later, I ventured off by myself and ended up checking out The Jesus and Mary Chain, closer to the stage this time. They were a huge influence on a lot of contemporary bands I like, so I felt it my duty to check them out. I only recognized a few of their songs, but overall I dug their set and really need to give their catalog a proper listen one of these days.
Biggest regrets
One act that I was particularly looking forward to seeing was Frank Turner. Unfortunately, he went on in the middle of the afternoon Saturday. And during his set, my friends and I were attempting to navigate the Chicago public transit system.
We were delayed by some repairs on the L, then a bus took forever to show up, then it turned out that Humboldt Park was farther west than I realized. And, lastly, we showed up at the wrong end of the park. So, by the time we finally arrived, Turner’s set was long over.
I also wished I could’ve seen The Offspring perform. My first “favorite band” as a teenager, they played the opening night show at Congress Theater on Friday. Alas, my friends and I didn’t get into town until Saturday. I’ve seen them twice, but not in the last eight years or so. Perhaps I’ll get to see them once more before they inevitably dissolve.
Best food and drink
After showing up later than we would’ve preferred, we had some time to kill before any other interesting acts took the stage. So we headed to the food vendors to see what they were hocking. I settled on The Aberdeen Tap‘s Gator Sausage sandwich. It was out of this world. A gator-filled sausage, covered in a Cajun-smoked, bacon etouffee. I made sure to scrape out any of the sauce that had spilled into my container.
And to wash it down, I discovered Wishbone‘s Watermelon Lemonade. It’s a very simple premise — fill a cup full of watermelon slices, then pour in some lemonade. But it was so refreshing that I ended up having three cups during the weekend.
Final thoughts
While I was apprehensive going in, I’m glad it attended Riot Fest. Whether I would ever do it again depends solely on the lineup. I don’t know if there are any other bands out there in my wheelhouse — besides Rise Against — that would headline a festival like this.
(Hey, it’s a band with “Sea” in its name for the second week in a row. Too bad I already wrote about British Sea Power awhile ago.)
As it so happens, none of the Sea bands sound similar. BSP is all post-punk and shoegazey. Last week’s featured artist, Sea of Bees, was a haunting/indie-country songstress.
And then there’s Deep Sea Arcade. The five-piece from Sydney released its debut full-length, Outlands, in March and it instantly filled the catchy, indie-pop void that didn’t actually need to be filled.
The above song is the big single off that album and has been out for about a year now. It’s also the high point of the opening half of the disc. The first half-dozen tracks all sound like a homogenization of several good, solid indie bands.
But then the next six songs take on a totally different feel. I was racking my brain trying to figure out who I was hearing. I even replayed the first few seconds of “Lonely In Your Arms” (Track 7) several times before it finally hit me.
Peter Bjorn & John! Or, at least mid-catalog PB&J.
After that realization, it’s difficult not to hear PB&J, at least to some degree, in every track on the back half of the album — particularly No. 10, “The Devil Won’t Take You”.
Even on “Don’t Be Sorry”, which sounds like PB&J covering ’60s pop group.
While I’ve often found those lovable Swedes to be something of an acquired taste and generally can’t stand to listen to them for more than a few songs, it doesn’t bother me with Deep Sea Arcade.
After making this connection, I went back and listened to the first six songs again, but it’s really not noticeable there — unless you’re actively trying to detect it.
So, I don’t know why they chose to make such an abrupt change mid-album, but it’s all good. It certainly makes for a more eclectic listen.
It seems like forever ago when Sharon Van Etten released her album, Tramp, but when it came out in February, a lot of critics predicted that it would land on numerous best-of-the-year lists.
And rightfully so, as it’s a pretty great album.
Unfortunately, another very similar album, released about three months later to much less fanfare, will likely fly under the radar come honors time.
Orangefarben, the second full-length release from Sea of Bees that came out May 1, bears a noticeable resemblance to Tramp, right down to its vocals.
Actually, Sea of Bees’ debut disc, 2010’s Songs For the Ravens, sounds much more like Ms. Van Etten. On Orangefarben, singer Julie Baenziger drops the dial on the haunting quality and replaces it with more of a country twang. So much so that, on several songs, it sounds like one of the Soderberg sisters from First Aid Kit came into the studio to harmonize with Julie Ann Bee (that would be Baenziger’s stage name).
All of the album’s 11 tracks have one-word titles. Some of the other notable songs include “Teeth”, “Give”, “Alien” and “Leaving”, which is a worthy cover of John Denver’s “Leaving On a Jet Plane” with one added line.
As summer slowly creeps into autumn, it just feels right to turn your music from breezy, poppy tunes to something a little slower and darker.
And to fill that void is They Will Find You Here, the 2011 debut album from Tampa, Fla., sextet Sleepy Vikings.
At times jangly, at times somber and always shoegazey, the Sleepy V’s — as one of my friends took to calling them — create a perfect soundtrack to a warm September afternoon when you’ve got the fan at Medium and a glass of water creating a pool of condensation on your coffee table.
The band members jokingly made up a new genre for their sound — Southern shoegaze — and the label has stuck. They’ve also given themselves a broader, slash-filled descriptor of “we’re an indie/shoegaze/country band.”
With Julian Conner and Tessa McKenna melding their vocals beautifully, the group sounds like a cross between Yuck and Kopecky Family Band.
(That video doesn’t do the song justice. “These Days” is the band’s best track to date.)
There is no filler on the debut disc, as all nine songs are keepers. In addition to the two above standouts, other notable tracks include “White Wolves”, “Twin Peaks”, “Dear Long Distance” and “Flashlight Tag”.
Sleepy Vikings have played at SXSW the past few years and have toured some, but it looks like they’re just chillin’ in Tampa right now, gearing up for their sophomore release.
It’s interesting how much track sequencing can influence one’s appreciation of individual songs on an album.
Organizing tracks is a lot like setting a lineup in baseball. You really want a good song at the beginning to set the table and get a listener pumped up for what’s to come. Then you eventually move into the heart of the album where all the best songs are. And then, if there’s any filler, it’s thrown in toward the end.
And just like a baseball team, the strength of some songs can have a positive impact on the ones that follow.
Case in point, Mirrors, the 2011 debut from U.S. Royalty. While the D.C.-based quartet didn’t necessarily start its album off strong, tracks 3-6 sustain the disc and make the whole thing a worthwhile listen.
The opener, “The Mirror”, is just a short intro track that’s not bad but not anything special. It’s followed by possibly the worst track, “Hollywood Hollows”, a bluesy rock number that falls short of whatever pinnacle it’s trying to reach.
Then come the heavy hitters. “Monte Carlo” sounds like VHS or Beta or some other indie-electro band trying to cover Fleetwood Mac. It could be the standout track on a lot of albums, just not this one.
That honor belongs to track 4, the cleanup hitter, “Equestrian”. I can’t place who it sounds like, and maybe that’s because it’s similar to several bands, but this song is the big single on this album for good reason. It’s the type of song that should be getting loads of radio play, but sadly isn’t.
Next up is “Vacation Vacation”, which is definitely a solid song in its own right. But its value is bumped up a notch because the listener is already on a higher level after hearing the previous two songs.
Also riding the wave of momentum is “Old Flames”, another slower song that is pretty good, but sounds even better because, by this point, you’ve already been sold on the band.
The rest of the album is solid filler — not great, not horrible — with a slight uptick at the end in the form of “Voice Memo”.
But five noteworthy songs out of 10 isn’t too shabby for a band that few people have ever heard of.
And the boys are already working on a follow-up disc.
Infinite Shuffle 