Infinite Shuffle

April 3, 2014

200 – Highasakite

Filed under: H, Norway — assman41 @ 2:07 pm

I am pleased that my 200th “official” band post is on a group that has the potential to be a favorite of mine for years to come.

I first heard about Highasakite during All Songs Considered‘s post-SXSW podcast. Of all the bands the music enthusiasts touted, this Norwegian quintet was the one that really stood out to me.

The group consists of Ingrid Helene Håvik (vocals), Trond Bersu (drums), Øystein Skar (synths), Marte Eberson (synths) and Kristoffer Lo (guitar, percussion and flugabone). Håvik, who writes most of the lyrics and music, has a voice and cadence that sounds like a mix of Lykke Li and the Söderberg sisters in First Aid Kit.

That’s the first single off the band’s sophomore album, Silent Treatment, which is set to be released April 8. While “Since Last Wednesday” is a great song, it’s not the best on the disc. That distinction belongs to “Leaving No Traces”, the track that was played on All Songs Considered.

Since I couldn’t find a good video of the song, you’ll just have to go here to check out the song on NPR.

Besides the above two tracks, the album is filled with solid tunes, including “Lover Where Do You Live?”, “I the Hand Grenade”, “Darth Vader” and “Hiroshima”.

The group began as a two-piece when Håvik met Bersu at Trondheim Jazz Conservatory and the pair started writing, recording and performing together. It doesn’t appear as though their jazz studies influenced their current sound too much.

Highasakite dropped its debut album, All That Floats Will Rain, in Norway in February 2012. Later, they took that disc’s best tracks and released them as a five-song EP, In and Out of Weeks, worldwide in March 2013. Everything on the EP is solid, but the standouts are the title track and “Winners Don’t Come Easy”.

You can check out several tracks from both albums on their SoundCloud page.

March 19, 2014

199 – Evening Hymns

Filed under: E, Toronto — assman41 @ 2:09 pm

Evening Hymns is the perfect band to help put this seemingly endless winter to rest once and for all. Singing dirges that are both mournful and hopeful at the same time, Jonas Bonnetta — the main driving force behind the Ontario collective — uses music to help cope with all that life has to offer.

That is the group’s 2012 album, Spectral Dusk. The songs were written by Bonnetta while he was dealing with the death of his father. His pain can be felt throughout, particularly on “Spirit in the Sky”, “Song To Sleep To” and the title track.

But, just like any baseball lineup worth its salt, the strongest songs here are tracks 3-5 — “Family Tree”, “You and Jake” and “Cabin in the Burn”.

It’s the third album Bonnetta has released, including 2007’s Farewell To Harmony under his own name and 2009’s Spirit Guides under the Evening Hymns moniker. The “band” consists of a rotating cast of characters, including members of such groups as Ohbijou, The Wooden Sky, The Burning Hell, The D’Urbervilles and Forest City Lovers.

Spirit Guides has a more uplifting tone, with a richer, more complex sound than the latest release. It includes the opening 1-2 punch of “Lanterns” and “Dead Deer” that should make any indie fan take notice.

March 17, 2014

198 – Wild Cub

Filed under: Nashville, W — assman41 @ 12:19 am

Since I couldn’t make it to Austin for SXSW, I figured I’d seek out some bands playing one of the more trustworthy showcases — the Paste magazine party. That’s how I happened upon Thumpers, and it’s also why I finally decided to give Wild Cub a try.

I’d heard of the band once or twice, but I hadn’t listened to it — or so I thought. While jamming out to the 2013 debut album, Youth, I was searching for something that sounded similar in my iTunes library and discovered that I had previously downloaded it several months ago for my brother. Then I recalled him suggesting the band and telling me it was right up my alley.

Turns out he was correct.

Hopefully, I’m not the only person who immediately hears TV on the Radio singer Tunde Adebimpe when listening to Wild Cub front man Keegan DeWitt do his thing. The music is obviously different, but the voices are strikingly similar.

So, with that in mind, the best description for Wild Cub would be a synth-heavy indie-pop band fronted by a toned-down version of Adebimpe.

Throughout Youth, the band oscillates between an homage to ’80s synth-pop and something with a funkier, island-tinged sound. Besides the standout tracks that open the disc — “Shapeless”, “Colour” and the above hit “Thunder Clatter” — the other most notable point on the album is the coupling of tracks 6 and 7.

It starts with “The Water”, which sounds like a mash-up of TVOTR and The Cure. And that vibe continues on “Drive”, which is like a cover of a song that The XX wishes it had recorded.

The band formed after DeWitt, tired of Brooklyn’s high cost of living, relocated to Nashville in 2008 to focus on his music. He met multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bulluck, and they, along with Dabney Morris, Harry West and Eric Wilson, founded Wild Cub.

They have already performed at several prominent festivals, including SXSW, Bonnaroo and CMJ, as well as Late Night with Jimmy Fallon earlier this year. So, with any luck, that is a sign of bigger things to come.

March 13, 2014

197 – Thumpers

Filed under: England, T — assman41 @ 1:09 pm

I’ve always considered myself a very apathetic person. I’m generally proud of the trait — one might even say I’ve often touted it — but I’ve occasionally been called out on it as well. Friends tell me that there’s got to be something I care about, otherwise, what’s the point of living?

It was during one such conversation several years ago that a friend asked me point-blank whether there was anything I was passionate about. I had to think about it, but after a while I landed on music as a real passion. Certainly not playing it, but listening to it, discovering it and sharing it.

Ever since then, I’ve said that my ideal job would involve sitting around all day, listening to music and writing about it — as well as attending countless concerts, of course.

But whenever I read a review on Pitchfork, I question whether I’d be happy doing that for a living, or if it’s better kept as a hobby.

While searching for information on the band Thumpers, I came across a Pitchfork review that made me think the writer must be so jaded and cynical. And it’s certainly not the first time I’ve had that impression while on the site.

My assumption is that, after listening to so much music by so many bands of varying degrees of quality, the novelty eventually wears off and it’s difficult to ever be truly impressed.

I’m not saying Thumpers are amazing by any means, but they’re far from bad. Their debut release, Galore, which came out last month, is filled with the kind of hopeful indie-pop you might expect on a Passion Pit or Friendly Fires album, but with a far less electro-heavy delivery.

The London-based duo of Marcus Pepperell and John Hamson Jr. layer their vocals over a slew of instruments that skirt the edge of being too overpowering. Lyrically, their songs’ winsome emanations belie a forlorn longing for the lost innocence of youth.

This is an album that definitely grows stronger with repeated listens. There are a number of solid tracks, including “Marvel”, “Sound of Screams” and “Unkinder (A Tougher Love)”. Even the filler stuff is relatively catchy — most notably “Come On Strong”, “Now We Are Sixteen” and “Tame”.

The group is currently in Austin for SXSW, then has a brief tour of the West Coast before heading back to Europe. Considering that the album won’t be dropping in their native England until mid-May, Thumpers is at the precipice of what could be a breakout year.

Do yourself a favor and hop on the bandwagon before all the hipsters claim the best seats.

March 7, 2014

196 – Fitz and The Tantrums

Filed under: F, Los Angeles — assman41 @ 2:45 pm

I love Shazam. When it was first introduced several years ago, I thought mankind had reached the zenith of innovation.

“You can just point your phone in the direction of a song playing on the radio and it’ll tell you the name and artist? What is this, Hill Valley, Calif., circa 2015?”

It was several years before I ever had a phone actually capable of downloading the app, but you can be assured that it was the first one I grabbed. Since then, I’ve used it in bars, restaurants, department stores, while driving in the car and even at a concert or two.

The best is when I discover a new band through it. But more often it’s a song I’ve heard before but can’t quite place. And sometimes, it turns out to be a band I do know but have deemed unworthy of my ears.

That was the case recently when, on two different occasions, I heard two catchy new songs on the radio and immediately headed to Shazam. Both times, it came back saying — much to my surprise — that the band was Fitz & The Tantrums.

That was one of the songs, “Out of My League”, which is the lead single off their sophomore album, More Than Just a Dream, that came out last spring. It’s a much more modern take on the neo-soul sound the group has been developing since bursting on the scene a few years ago.

If you listen to enough of the Los Angeles-based six-piece’s music, you may notice something missing — guitars. That is by design. Founder and lead singer, Michael Fitzpatrick, expressly set out to create music without the ubiquitous instrument.

In an interview with Waster.com, he said:

“I wanted to see if we could create something that felt like it was full and rich and felt like it could be heard on the radio, without those guitars. … All of a sudden, it becomes more about the rhythm section, the bass and the drums and what the organ’s doing. And it creates this really cool pocket for the vocals to sing in.”

Fitz & The Tantrums’ style has been described as “soul-influenced indie pop,” which would be accurate nowadays. But when they put out their debut, Picking Up the Pieces, in August 2010, it was strictly soul, straight out of Motown.

That song, along with the single “MoneyGrabber”, helped catapult the album out of obscurity and to the top of the Billboard Heatseekers chart in 2011.

The album isn’t bad, but it’s a bit of overkill, and the group starts to sound like a one-trick pony after a while.

The new stuff isn’t that much of a departure from the original sound, but there’s been enough of a makeover to make it much more palatable for a modern audience. So much so that Ellen DeGeneres was recently dancing to “The Walker” during a pre-Oscars commercial.

I suspect this group puts on a raucous live show. And it looks like they’re still out on tour, with several stops in college towns and various festivals planned for the spring and summer.

March 2, 2014

195 – KONGOS

Filed under: K, South Africa — assman41 @ 5:50 pm

Do you remember when Alt-J and Django Django hit the indie scene in the summer of 2012? They each had such a unique sound that it was difficult to describe them and even harder to find apt comparisons.

I’m having the same issue now as I try to write about KONGOS, the band of four brothers from South Africa that has put out a pair of albums filled with all sorts of influences — some foreign, some domestic.

As much as I hate referencing Rolling Stone, it’s where I was introduced to KONGOS. In a story about how Shazam has become a great predictor for hit songs, the brothers were mentioned as a band about to break in America.

And, since I can’t think of a better way to describe the group, here is how Rolling Stone characterized it online: “a Balkan accordionist, a Burundi drummer, an American slide guitarist and a British rock star walk into a bar; high-octane folk-pop ensues.”

The Brothers Kongos were born in South Africa and spent their childhood there and in London before eventually picking up sticks and heading to the States, settling in the Phoenix area.

Since 2003, the group has been playing live sets all over Arizona and California, with the occasional jaunt to South Africa. Despite releasing a self-titled debut album in 2007, the band didn’t set out on a proper nationwide tour until September 2012, following the release of their sophomore album, Lunatic.

It’s taken almost two years, but that album is finally starting to gain some traction. The above single is the second track on the disc. Seemingly three songs in one, it gives listeners a good idea of KONGOS’ array of influences.

The two things that stand out the most in KONGOS’ music are the accordion and the heavy, tribal drum beat. The latter is particularly prominent on “I’m Only Joking”, the opening track from Lunatic. (If you’re the impatient type, just skip to the 0:40 mark to hear the song start.)

If Shazam is correct, then KONGOS are primed to blow up this summer. They just passed through the Midwest last month, including a stop at The Cubby Bear in Chicago. They have a few dates booked around the country in the spring before hitting the festival scene this summer.

February 19, 2014

194 – The Strumbellas

Filed under: S, Toronto — assman41 @ 5:15 pm

The biggest wave to overtake the indie scene the past few years has been the folk-rock music perfected by such groups as Fleet Foxes, The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, Dawes, The Lumineers, The Head and The Heart, The Lone Bellow, Ivan & Alyosha and many others.

While these bands share a lot of qualities, they’re all unique enough that it’s hard to corral them into too specific of a genre. The first label was alt-country, but that one has been obsolete for at least a decade. The more common term lately is indie-folk, which is accurate but also very broad.

Another new portmanteau that has sprouted up is “folk popgrass,” which would certainly be an apt description for many of the aforementioned bands. The latest group to fall under that category is The Strumbellas, a critically praised six-piece outfit from Toronto.

It won’t take long listening to their 2012 debut full-length, My Father and the Hunter, to realize that The Strumbellas are every bit as talented as their more well-known folk brethren.

That’s the disc’s opener and lead single, “Sheriff”. Here is the full album:

The group didn’t wait long for a follow-up, releasing We Still Move on Dance Floors in October 2013. The first two tracks — “Sailing” and “Did I Die?” — have been receiving some radio airplay, particularly on WGCS, but the album as a whole is worth a spin.

This band seems like it would be great to see live. Alas, other than a few shows in Canada this spring, it does not have any upcoming tour plans on which to report.

February 14, 2014

193 – Bad Things

Filed under: B, Los Angeles — assman41 @ 3:31 pm

Before I sat down to write this post, I was really looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this great new band I’d discovered, Bad Things. They released their self-titled debut last month, and it’s filled with a lot of great, catchy indie rock songs.

Unfortunately, when I began to do some research on the group, I quickly discovered some unsettling news.

If you’ve watched even the slightest bit of Olympics coverage or any of the stuff leading up to the Games, you’ve likely been reminded of the existence of Shaun White. He’s been everywhere for the last few months. So much so that I’d begun to get burnt out on the Flying Tomato and definitely experienced some Schadenfreude when he failed to win a medal earlier this week.

Alas, even though his Games are officially over, I’m still being inundated by all things White. This time, with his music. One of the storylines leading up to the Olympics was the fact that he’d begun to branch out from sports and was in a new band, one that would be performing in Sochi.

I never paid attention to any of that. Whenever his music career was mentioned, I immediately tuned out. Perhaps I should have paid closer attention, since the name of his band is Bad Things.

Yep, the band that I’ve been listening to for the past few weeks and really getting into just happens to be Shaun White’s band.

I guess it’s a good thing I fell in love with the group before I knew anything about White’s involvement. As is the case with a lot of famous people who try their hand at another profession, it would have been hard for me to take the group seriously.

While trying to reconcile my feeling over the group, I read this article, and it helped ease the process.

And it doesn’t hurt that the music is really good. With Davis DeLuke on lead vocals and former Augustana member Jared Palomar on bass, Bad Things have some heavy hitters up front. Rounding out the Los Angeles-based band are some of White’s friends from childhood — guitarist Anthony Sanudo and drummer-vocalist Lena Zawaideh.

There’s no obvious band to compare Bad Things to, as they’re something of a conglomeration of a lot of solid indie bands.

And despite my bittersweet feelings on the band’s personnel, I can’t deny the fact that this is a great debut disc. With little to no filler on this album, it’s officially the first nominee for my Best of 2014 list.

February 4, 2014

192 – High Highs

Filed under: Australia, H — assman41 @ 3:04 pm

Combining two of your favorite things can often lead to unexpected results. For every Reese’s peanut butter cup or strawberry banana smoothie, there’s chili beer and strip club buffets.

The same can be said for musical influences. Nobody wants to hear a heavy metal Enya cover band. (Actually, that sounds awesome.) The point is, mixing things can be hit or miss.

Thankfully, the boys in High Highs hit pay dirt when they created a sound that is equal parts Beach House and Fleet Foxes, with a little dash of The XX for good measure.

That is the title track off the group’s debut full-length that came out in January 2013. You might recognize it from a Kindle commercial or possibly from the movie, “Pitch Perfect”.

On the album, Jack Milas and Oli Chang manage to combine the ethereal quality of Beach House with the soul-folk of Fleet Foxes, circa Helplessness Blues, into something that seems so obvious that it’s surprising no one had brought it to prominence before.

The duo, which is based in Sydney, Australia, and formed in 2010, released a self-titled EP in 2011. Since putting out the LP, High Highs have toured extensively, including a stretch in the United States opening for Vampire Weekend.

Besides popping up on the big and small screens already, their tune, “Flowers Bloom”, was sampled by will.i.am for his song, “Good Morning”.

The group is currently splitting its time between Sydney and New York while working on a follow-up album. You can follow the progress here via Tumblr.

January 29, 2014

191 – You Are Plural

Filed under: Olympia Wash., Y — assman41 @ 3:07 pm

Have I mentioned how much I love finding great radio stations? Oh, I guess I have.

Well, in my last post, I noted that I first heard Wampire on the radio. To be more precise, it was on the University of Illinois’ student-run WPGU (107.1 FM out of Urbana).

During that brief stint listening to the station last month, I came across several previously unknown bands. One was You Are Plural, a trio out of Olympia, Wash., that is bringing a fresh sound to the indie scene.

Just one look at the group’s main instruments gives you a glimpse into its vibe, with Jen Grady on cello and vocals, Ephriam Nagler on the Wurlitzer organ and vocals and Chad Austinson keeping time on drums.

A good starting point is the band’s sophomore full-length, Rabbit Rabbit, which came out last month.

The group started as a duo (sans Austinson) in San Francisco. Grady and Nagler had been touring as backing members on various acts, including Cursive, The Felice Brothers and Adam Haworth Stevens.

Eventually, the two moved north and focused on their own project, putting out an LP and EP in 2011.

And that’s really all there is to tell. At least for now.

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