Infinite Shuffle

June 20, 2012

Updates: Some good, some not so much

Filed under: B, G, L — assman41 @ 3:28 pm

One of the great things about maintaining this blog is that it forces me to listen to discover new bands. But, when my time is a premium and I’m only listening to new stuff, that means I have to delay listening to new releases from bands I already know and love.

Recently, I addressed that issue by downloading a slew of new releases from already-established artists.

Here are my thoughts on a handful of them.

Best Coast – The Only Place

Considering how lo-fi their debut album was, the craftsmanship on this sophomore release was totally unexpected. Easily one of the top five releases so far this year.

The band takes its surf-rock sound and adds more of a twang. Bethany Cosentino’s vocals are reminiscent to those of Neko Case — but obviously not as amazing, since that’d be impossible.

The standout songs here include the title track, “The Only Place” and “Up All Night”, respectively, and “Let’s Go Home”.

Beach House – Bloom

You’d think after four albums, this band’s sound would get old. On the contrary, these Baltimore-based shoegazers just keep bringin’ it. Not necessarily one of the year’s best, but still a great listen.

Some of the better tracks were “Other People” and “New Year”.

Great Lake Swimmers – New Wild Everywhere

It feels like it’s been forever since this Toronto group put out a new album. In actuality, it was only 2009 when they released Lost Channels. The new album picks up right where the last one left off. Lots of good, slow indie-folk.

There aren’t any major standouts such as “Pulling On a Line”, but “The Great Exhale” was pretty solid.

Ladyhawke – Anxiety

While I wasn’t a very big fan of Ladyhawke’s self-titled debut as a whole, it did at least have a few really great songs. The same cannot be said for their follow-up, which is pretty much unremarkable from start to finish. I gave 1 star to the track, “Cellophane”, but that might’ve been out of pity more than anything.

(Sorry about the sped-up video. It’s the best I could find.)

June 6, 2012

117 – The Vaccines

Filed under: England, V — assman41 @ 3:16 pm

I’d love to be one of the first people to suggest The Vaccines’ full-length debut is the perfect album for the summer. Alas, it actually came out in May 2011, so I’m a year late on that one.

But for anyone who hasn’t heard What Did You Expect From the Vaccines, then it’s the perfect album for Summer 2012.

Channeling contemporaries such as Surfer Blood and Interpol, this London four-piece churns out songs that are as poppy as they are droning.

Coming in just under 36 minutes, there isn’t any sort of slow build-up on any of these tracks. It’s just straight-ahead indie-pop/rock with a sometimes sunny hue. (Well, except for the closing track, which is 8:30.)

The above song, “If You Wanna”, is the second track on the album. And it establishes early on the band’s tendency to just repeat a word or phrase for much of a song. That’s another reason the short length of the songs is pretty key.

While the album has been out for more than a year, I’ve only heard about The Vaccines sporadically. And I didn’t decide to finally give their album a spin until I heard the opening track — “Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)” — played during the closing credits of the most recent episode of “Girls”.

Yeah, I watch “Girls.” What’s it to ya?

Did you notice the Ramones influence on that one?

Anyway, this album would be a great complement to any sunny day. And, hopefully, the band will continue to mature and put out some more complex tunes in the near future.

May 28, 2012

116 – Car On the Moon

Filed under: Brooklyn, C — assman41 @ 9:06 pm

About two weeks ago, I made my maiden voyage to New York City. I’ll admit that I was a touch intimidated leading up to the trip, but it ended up exceeding my expectations in terms of awesomeness.

In addition to all the great food and drink I consumed and the various interesting sites I checked out, the highlight of my trip was probably discovering a new, great band.

There weren’t too many scheduled events on my itinerary for the week, so my host and I often just came up with things to do on the fly. One night, we figured we’d try to find some live music, which, pleasantly, is not at all difficult to do in NYC.

We ended up finding a cheap show in Park Slope at a great little venue called Union Hall. The main floor is a quaint bar with great seating, nice ambience and a couple of bocce courts. Downstairs is where they put on shows.

Basically the size of someone’s basement, with a stage on end and a bar at the other, Union Hall is the perfect place to discover up-and-coming bands before they get their big break.

While all of the acts were solid in their own right, it was the first group we saw that turned out to be the best.

Car on the Moon is a four-piece band from Brooklyn that comfortably straddles the area between folk and indie-pop. Most of their songs are of the slow, quiet variety and are occasionally accented by louder, more raucous choruses.

At the core of the band is Elias Orling, the lead singer and lyricist, who seems ready-made to front an indie-folk band. Providing some female backing vocals is multi-instrumentalist Sylvia Chen. Along with bassist Steve Ferrara and drummer Danny Festa, the group put out its self-titled, full-length debut in September of last year.

Some of the standout tracks include “Sea of Indians”, “Doctor”, “Love You More”, “The Bridge” and “My Only Drum”.

(Unfortunately, there are no videos online to link to, and I can no longer upload songs.)

To check out all 11 songs from the album, head over to the band’s website.

I got a chance to chat with Orling for a few minutes after his band’s set. He said they’d just finished a stretch in the recording studio, which hopefully means there will be more to come soon. As for touring, he said they’ll try to canvass the greater New York area on weekends, but it’ll probably be a long time before they ever make it to the Midwest.

May 24, 2012

115 – Gashcat

Filed under: Austin, G — assman41 @ 1:05 pm

Jeff Mangum has slowly come out of seclusion during the past couple of years. There’s no telling what spurred his re-emergence. A sudden urge to share more of his music with the world? Maybe his finances took a nosedive. Or perhaps he’s noticed the recent wave of singers who share his unique vocal stylings and wanted to remind everyone who does it best.

Alas, his appearances are still relatively sporadic. So, if you’re interested in hearing that voice — and not lucky enough to see him — you could always turn to one of those aforementioned poseurs.

The latest one to show up on the indie scene is Gashcat, a crew of folk-rockers from Austin, Texas.

As you can tell by lead singer Kyle Craft’s vocals, it’d be hard to get away from the Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons. Some of the best representations of this are on such standout tracks as “The Morning Sun”, “Every Summer, Every Spring” and “Ghost of a Ghost”.

However, Gashcat do take their sound in a slightly different direction. As the album progresses, the band starts to move down a path toward pop. Craft’s voice occasionally attains a Lindsey Buckingham inflection.

For now, Gashcat are still very much under the radar. But a solid showing at SXSW this year should help it build some momentum. With any luck, they’ll continue carving out their own niche on their next release.

May 13, 2012

114 – Dry the River

Filed under: D, England — assman41 @ 12:01 am

I’ll just dispense with the flowery lede and get to the obvious comparison right off the bat: Dry the River is very reminiscent of Mumford & Sons.

As The Guardian noted in its review in 2010, the two bands both offer a glimpse of the pastoral with their infectious semi-acoustic ditties.

(Speaking of that review, I rather enjoyed the way the writer led off by noting that there is no other genre of music that a band named Dry the River could ever fall into besides indie-folk rock.)

But after listening to their debut full-length album, Shallow Bed, which came out in April, it’s clear that Dry the River is its own band.

Where the Mumfords’ songs often have a quick acceleration, Dry the River make a slower progression throughout their tracks. That’s not to say they don’t cut loose a little; they just do so at a more relaxed pace.

Dry the River began as a solo project started by Norwegian vocalist-guitarist Peter Liddle, who quickly joined forces in 2009 with Will Harvey (violin) and Jon Warren (drums). Later, Matt Taylor (guitar) and Scott Miller (bass) rounded out the group, which delivered a pair of EPs and hit a number of notable festivals in England.

The Londoners then headed to Connecticut to record their LP, which is loaded with solid tracks. Besides the above two songs, other standouts include “Animal Skins”, “History Book”, “Lion’s Den”, “No Rest”, “Weights & Measures”, “Shield Your Eyes” and “Family”.

The band will be coming to the States this summer, and I fully intend to see its performance at Lollapalooza.

May 6, 2012

113 – Now, Now

Filed under: Minneapolis, N — assman41 @ 12:01 am

With the March release of its second full-length album, Threads, the Minneapolis band Now, Now added a darker layer to its sound while continuing to distance itself from an earlier incarnation.

Formed in 2003 by high school classmates Cacie Dalager and Bradley Hale, the band originally went by the name Now, Now Every Children. Under that moniker, they released a couple of EPs and their debut full-length, Cars, in 2009.

With Dalager in charge of vocals, the group sounded like a harder version of Tegan & Sara. The songs on their first album were tight and catchy, but they didn’t necessarily stand out. The best song is probably the title track, which closes the album.

After changing labels, the band decided to shorten the name in order to disconnect itself from any childish image it had.

With a sleeker name and new label — not to mention a larger contingent after guitarist Jess Abbott joined the fray in 2009 — Now, Now released the Neighbors EP in 2010. While Now, Now’s sound hadn’t progressed much in the interim, the disc did have a couple of stronger songs, including “Giants” and the title track.

In late 2011, the band signed to Chris Walla’s label and put the finishing touches on Threads. With a heavier and darker feeling, the album starts to give off a bit of a Warpaint vibe.

This is the band’s most complete offering to date, with such standout songs as “Lucie, Too”, “Thread”, “Dead Oaks”, “Prehistoric” and “But I Do”.

As the band’s star continues to rise, it has lined up touring dates with The Naked and Famous and fun. It also recently received some praise on NPR’s All Songs Considered podcast.

For more on the band, visit its official website or MySpace page, and be sure to check out this great live video for “Thread”.

April 29, 2012

112 – Tired Pony

Filed under: Northern Ireland, Portland, T — assman41 @ 12:01 am

Have you ever wondered what Snow Patrol would sound like if they had more of a country tinge?

Of course you haven’t. But now you are. (Ha! I’m totally in your head.)

To extinguish that now-burning question, you need look no further than Tired Pony, the pseudo-supergroup formed in 2009 by Snow Patrol lead singer Gary Lightbody.

While touring with his main band, the native of Northern Ireland expressed his yearning to record a country album. Since it was not in step with Snow Patrol’s ethos, he enlisted the services of various collaborators — including R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Belle & Sebastian drummer Richard Colburn — and set up shop in Portland in January 2010.

Out of the weeklong recording session came 10 tracks that would comprise the album, The Place We Ran From, which was released in the United States in September of that year.

The album starts strong with such solid tracks as “Northwestern Skies”, “Point Me at Lost Islands” and “Dead American Writers”. The best song at the front end of the album is “Get On the Road”, which features backup vocals from Zooey Deschanel.

While Lightbody’s very distinct vocals are plastered throughout, the most notable songs at the end of the disc are those where he is absent. On the penultimate track, “The Good Book”, Editors lead singer Tom Smith lends his vocals. And the album’s best track, “I Am a Landslide”, was both written and sung by Iain Archer, a one-time member of Snow Patrol and a solo artist in his own right.

While a follow-up album would be highly anticipated, this is likely just a one-off project for Lightbody, who has said that he just needed to get this stuff out of his system.

If that’s the case, it’d be interesting to see what else he’s got building up inside of him.

April 22, 2012

111 – Warpaint

Filed under: Los Angeles, W — assman41 @ 12:01 am

Warpaint’s moniker seems mighty apt. Because no matter how many layers of pop sensibility these four women from Los Angeles put into their music, it’s all covered with an impermeable coat of darkness that fills every nook and cranny of their songs.

The above track is from the group’s debut EP, Exquisite Corpse, which came out in 2009. From the opening track, “Stars”, the band establishes a heavy, almost psychedelic, tone. Not ones to show haste, Warpaint’s slow-building style on every song adds to the spine-tingling feel on the album.

They even manage to take a well-known standard and turn it into something raw and primal. On the track, “Billie Holliday“, Warpaint sample and put their own unique spin on Mary Wells’ Motown classic “My Guy”.

They continued to pay homage to those that came before them when they released the song “Undertow”, the big single off their first full-length album, 2010’s The Fool. The song started out as a cover to Nirvana’s “Polly”, but eventually grew into something totally different. However, you can still hear the influence, including in the unmistakable line “hurt yourself.”

While the entire album is pretty solid throughout, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite track, “Baby”. It’s the one track on here that doesn’t quite sound like the rest. It’s almost like an acoustic ballad.

April 17, 2012

My favorite live shows

Filed under: Concert — assman41 @ 12:01 am

As I prepare to attend tonight’s Portugal. The Man/The Lonely Forest concert in Chicago, I realized that this will be my first show of 2012.

How can that be? Last year was by far the busiest of my concert-going life. I went to 10 shows in addition to attending three great festivals.

But now, as I ready myself for hopefully another solid year of concerts, I look back at my top 10 (actually 11) favorite shows from the past decade.

10. (tie) Northern State (Grog Shop, Cleveland, 2008)

10. (tie) Lovers (Beauty Bar, Las Vegas, Jan. 29, 2009)

It’s impossible for me to think of one of these shows and not suddenly recall the other. Both bands are all-girl trios, and I attended both shows with my pal, Sean. The first was during our first Great Lakes rendezvous after I moved to Indiana. It included an Indians game and a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But the highlight for me was still this show. Neither of us new anything about Northern State other than that they were supposedly a rap group and their name was a reference to a highway in Long Island. What we experienced was a really fun show, full of old-school rhyming from a bunch of white girls who went to liberal arts college. It was one of the first shows on a tour supporting their new album Can I Keep This Pen? and they put on a great show, highlighted by crowd-pleasers such as “Mother May I?”, “Sucka MoFo” and “Better Already”. We ended up buying their CD and talking to the band members for a bit.

The more recent show came during a vacation to Vegas. Again, we knew nothing about Lovers other than that they were playing a bar about a block from our hotel. We showed up early and didn’t have to pay a cover. We sat at the bar and played various games, including Break the Ice and Connect Four. (Turns out Sean had never played it and was quite horrible.) While at the bar, I’m pretty sure we actually were sitting next to a couple of the band members, but I can’t be positive. As it turned out, we had landed in an absolutely perfect spot. The venue was very small and quite narrow. After turning around in our barstools, we were only a few feet from the stage. And from our vantage point, we were able to soak up the amazing sounds coming from lead singer Carolyn Peck. Every song was amazing, but the highlights were “Igloos For Ojos”, “Tonight” and “Wrestling Horses”.

9. Those Darlins (Off Broadway, St. Louis, March 5, 2010)

This is one of two shows on the list that I attended solo. I was in town for the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament, and rather than go to some games one night, I chose to go to this concert. I had downloaded Those Darlins’ self-titled debut album before my trip and listened to it about four times on the way there. So, by the time I arrived at the venue, I knew every song rather well. Also, since I was by myself, I ended up sitting off to the side by the bar and getting rather loaded. Once the main act appeared on stage, I was in a very festive mood and ended up doing more dancing at show than I have at all my other concerts combined. The band, another all-girl trio, seemed to be having a great time, and it really came out in the music. I enjoyed every song, but the obvious highlight was “Red Light Love”.

8. The Rural Alberta Advantage (Radio Radio, Indianapolis, April 23, 2011)

This was a bonus concert for me. My friend, Drew, and I were already planning a trip to Indy to see the New Pornographers an The Walkmen, the I saw that this show was going on the next night. The venue is in an area of town called Fountain Square. It seems like a pretty cool neighborhood that is in that pre-gentrification stage. Anyway, I already wrote about the show here, but to condense the evening, it was just a lot of good music from a trio of Canadians and some fun discussions afterward. Lead singer Nils Edenloff has a great voice, and one that I could listen to for hours.

7. Pearl Jam (Verizon Amphitheatre, Noblesville, Ind., May 7, 2010)

During my first trip to Indianapolis, I managed to get stuck in a 2.5-hour traffic jam and missed the opening act, Band of Horses. I was rather bummed, but the main act managed to lift my spirits. As Drew noted at the time, it showed how much power Pearl Jam has that they were able to open the show with such a slow song as “Release”. The rest of the night is just a blur of awesome songs from an awesome band. It was the first time I’d ever been to a show with multiple encores, one of which included one of my favorite covers that they do, The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly”.

6. The National (Riviera Theatre, Chicago, Sept. 26, 2010)

This was the one and only time I’ve ever hung out with my good friend Mary Kate in a city other than South Bend. She took the train into town and I met her for some tasty Thai food before heading to the show. I don’t remember a great deal about other than that we were in the last row of the balcony, next to some decrepit seats. Oh, and the fact that we had a great time grooving out and singing along to one of our favorite bands.

5. The Decemberists (Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, July 25, 2011)

This was the second time seeing the Portland group. The first came a few years prior with my boy, Sean, in Norfolk, Va. Both shows were pretty similar in quality, but I picked this one only because the band had more songs to choose from and played several from my favorite album of 2011, The King Is Dead. I was familiar with enough of the songs that it was rather enjoyable. Adding to the fun of the evening was that my friend, Scott, and I had just taken in part of a show across town featuring Ted Leo + The Pharmacists. We ended up leaving early, hopping in a cab and showing up at the Aragon just in time for The Decemberists.

4. Arcade Fire (Bonnaroo, Manchester, Tenn., June 2012)

This is the lone festival show on the list. I feel confident including it since the band was one of the headlining acts and played a lengthy set. The whole thing was like one big greatest hits concert, which shows how many great songs have been on their three albums. I’d spent most of the day dealing with the aftermath of eating a “magical cookie” and by the time the show started, I had regained most of my faculties. Adding to the aesthetics was that right before the show, some dudes in hang gliders or something dropped thousands of blinking LED lights from the sky. By the end of their descent, it was if the stars were falling to the ground.

3. Neko Case (Starr Hill, Charlottesville, Va., 2006)

This was the other show I attended by myself. I was still rather new in town at the time, so I was often going to shows at what turned out to be a pretty great local venue. At the time, I didn’t know anything about Neko Case, other than that she came highly recommended by a friend of mine whose taste in music is usually rather divergent from my own. Despite this fact, I purchased a ticket anyway and hung out at the back of the medium-sized venue while sipping my beers. But that was perfectly fine, as Case’s amazing voice filled every corner of that room. I was immediately entranced by her and have been a fan ever since. That show was in support of Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, still my favorite album of hers.

2. Death Cab For Cutie (Fox Theater, Detroit, July 28, 2011)

This is the band I still proclaim as my favorite and the one I’ve seen the most times in person. Although, of the four shows, two of those were at the less-than-ideal setting of Lollapalooza. The first time, they were drowned out by another band, and the second, I think left early to go swimming in the lake. But the most recent time was last summer following a great day with my friend, Gabrielle. We attended a Tigers game, walked around downtown, went to a bar, then showed up at the venue during the first or second song of opening act Frightened Rabbit. I didn’t realize it beforehand, but this venue was much swankier than the other I’d been to in Detroit (see No. 1). We eventually moved from our filled section of the balcony to a nearly sparse section to the side. Then we proceeded to groove out to the sounds of Death Cab. Gab wasn’t very familiar with either band, but she definitely had a great time. I wasn’t especially fond of their latest album, Codes and Keys, but they thankfully played a lot of old stuff as well. There were at least two moments in the show that I wanted to hug my companion — including during the show closer “Transatlanticism” — but that would’ve been weird.

1. Rise Against (The Fillmore Detroit, 2008)

I’ve seen these Chicago boys thrice — all with Sean — and each show was memorable in its own right. The first was in Norfolk, but I spent most of that show hanging out at the back, while Sean battled it out in the pit. The most recent was in a less-than-desirable theater where we were stationed among many rows of seats and didn’t have a great deal of space to get rowdy. But the show was in Canada and afforded us the opportunity to take a road trip through Wisconsin and Minnesota.

But the middle show was by far my favorite. Rise Against was the last of four bands to take the stage. During another of our Great Lakes rendezvouses, Sean and I met up in Detroit and arrived at the show in time to see opener The Gaslight Anthem. They’d just released their debut album and put on a great show. We weren’t quite as interested in the next two acts — Thrice and Alkaline Trio — but we watched them a here and there. Then came the headliners, and once they started thrashing on their first song, Sean made a beeline for the mosh pit. This time I decided to join him, and it was great. I mostly remained on the edge of the fray, but I occasionally jumped in there a bit. But I definitely managed to let loose and get swept away by the energy of the show. As Sean has said, this band is carrying the torch for modern punk, and they’re doing it while holding true to their core beliefs, which just makes them that much more fun to watch.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someday this concert is transplanted from the top of the list, but it’ll take a pretty amazing show to do so.

HONORABLE MENTION

For the most part, I deemed performances at festivals ineligible for this list, since most aren’t full sets. But there were a few I saw during SXSW last year that I feel deserve a note.

This was the first show I saw during my first full day in town. From the time I walked into the air-conditioned barroom, I was immediately transfixed by the two performers on stage. While not romantically involved, they looked about as love with each other as two people possibly could. It was just a great set.

This was one of the bands I was really looking forward to seeing, and I was not disappointed. The group of about six or seven people piled on to the tiniest stage I’ve ever seen and just had a rollicking good time. It was such an intimate performance, and, at one point, they gave the tambourine to a dude in the front row who did a pretty great job with it.

  • Wye Oak (Swan Dive, March 18, 2011)

This was during our last day of actually going to shows. It was the first day when the weather actually became something of an issue. And I’ll never forget standing in a crowded little bar, with no fans or air conditioning and watching the two band members sweating their balls off right along with everyone in the audience. You could tell those two had been at this game for a long time and really knew what they were doing.

April 15, 2012

110 – French Films

Filed under: F, Finland — assman41 @ 12:01 am

The Finnish fivesome known as French Films falls somewhere between Surfer Blood and The Drums on the indie surf-rock spectrum.

At times they sound like an indie-rock band with surf-rock influences; and other times they sound like a surf-rock band with indie-rock influences.

The above song is from their debut EP, 2010’s Golden Sea, which consists of four tracks that lean more toward the beach than the garage. In addition to the title track, the disc includes “Lift Me Up” and the better-than-good “Dropout Jr.”.

All of those songs, as well as a few from their 2011 full-length debut, Imaginary Future, can be found at their MySpace page, which is actually how I first discovered the band.

With 10 songs, including the previously released “Golden Sea”, the full-length allows French Films to show off their depth as they bounce from The Drums to Jesus and the Mary Chain.

Some of the stronger tracks are “Living Fortress”, “Escape in the Afternoon” and “Up the Hill”.

Considering the band doesn’t have a Wikipedia page, nor can it easily be found on Amazon, it might be awhile before French Films make their way to the States for any kind of lengthy tour.

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