Augie March - Just Passing Through - Australian Bands just haven’t had much luck stateside the past few years. Oh, sure there’s the occasional success story, but the fact is that acts like Augie March and the Grates just spend too much time in the import bin before a real release to become relevant at a time at which they’re still vibrant. Which is a fucking shame. Because Augie March make some of the wittiest, most affecting, and often downright catchiest music out their today. Their latest, Moo, You Bloody Choir, is available in Australia now, but there’s no word on a US Release as far as I know. (Their last, Strange Bird was put out 3 years late on SpinArt Records last year.) “Just Passing Through” Revisits territory trod by Strange Bird’s “This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers” as a driving, rhythm centric rocker, in an album full of lullabies and dreamy pop. Trading a typical croon for a more acerbic spit, Singer/Songwriter Glenn Richards weaves a tale of painful transience (”passing through … like a gall stone”), and disappointing revelation. It’s an absolute barnstormer of a track.

Augie March - One Crowded Hour - And, a more classically styled Richards tune, echoes of Dylan, in the cadence and lyrical style here, full of internal rhyme and conversation. (”If love is a bolt from the blue then what is a bolt but a glorified screw, and that doesn’t hold nothing together.”) Musically, it’s more late Elliott Smith or Jeff Buckley, starting with a simple guitar, but ending full of waltzing pianos and an absolutely devastating singalong.

[For now, us Americans will have to settle with an import copy of Moo, You Bloody Choir for which Amp Camp wants 33 bucks. I suspect it will be quite a while before we have anything better sadly.]

MP3, Pop, Rock, Folk | 18 Comments »

What’s that you say? It’s a blog? About music? And you mean to tell me that I used to maintain this thing? Really? because I haven’t the foggiest memory of doing so. But, judging by my inbox, I must’ve. So, I suppose, if I’ve got this big fancy blog thing, I shouldn’t neglect it, right? So what choice do I have but to serve up some choice tunes?

The Bird & The Bee - I’m a Broken Heart - EJ is going to kill me for posting this. Because he sent me the link earlier today and I’m beating him to the punch. But I’m sorry EJ, this is what’s getting me to come out of hiding. I think he’ll forgive me. The Bird And The Bee are a Los Angeles based duo that make absolutely beautiful music. I’m a Broken Heart is all Inara Georges absolutely breathtaking vocals, full of futility, and a jazzy, hook laden horn riff, dancing in and out. It feels like an old standard, familiar and comfortable, and it’s only after a few minutes of being submerged in it that you realize that you haven’t heard this song a thousand times before, that you have no idea who is singing this, that the song itself is something totally new, and totally overwhelmingly complete. And then, you just won’t stop listening.

The Bird & The Bee - Fucking Boyfriend - And here, a different track. Where I’m a Broken Heart is full of hope, plaintive and essentially, in the end, passive, a song of regret. Fucking Boyfriend on the other hand, substitutes “Broken Heart”’s horns for blips and synths, and it’s regret for assertiveness. The Bird & The Bee’s album isn’t due out on Blue Note until probably sometime next year, but until then, they have a myspace full of music that can be found here.

Again, no promises…

Electronic, Pop, Jazz | 7 Comments »

The Lovely Feathers - In The Valley - So, I stayed up far too late last night, and caught The Lovely Feathers playing a late encore show at NorthSix in Brooklyn, having missed their earlier, Pianos performance. They have a debut album coming out on April 18th. Buy it. They will probably start a tour soon after that. Go see one of those shows. Not convinced yet? Well, do you like the Unicorns? Do you like the Dismemberment Plan? Maybe Hot Hot Heat? Or those old Animaniacs songs where they named all the States or something? Because “In The Valley” is like all of those. The Feathers lyrics have a repetitive tone, similar to a sledgehammer being taken to a simple point, guitars buzz in and out, and halfway through, we get gorgeous, hip shaking, keyboards and synthesized strings , turning it into something almost epic.

The Lovely Feathers - Rod Stewart - There are those who argue that popular music, as in billboard charting popular, is a mirror of society. Moving from this premise, we can establish that perhaps the most interesting, most important artists, are the sorts that look in that mirror, and enraged, throw punches at it. The music of the Lovely Feathers is the bloodied shards of this shattered mirror. Take “Rod Stewart.” the dynamics of the song are a mess, with the speedpunk chorus, and handclaps, and the song just kind of peters out 2 or three times. But the song, and the album for that matter, is like a lawnmower - just pull the starter and that momentum is back in a heartbeat. And suddenly, you’re just smiling, and nodding, and dancing right along.

The Lovely Feathers - Ooh You Shocked Me! - This is kind of a slow jam. Almost. But there’s cowbell. And it absolutely slayed when it was played live.

Lovely Feathers Photos from last night are here.

[Pre-order Hind-Hind Legs, the debut from the Lovely Feathers on Amazon.com]

[Visit The Lovely Feathers Online!]

MP3, Pop, Rock | 10 Comments »

The Zutons - Secrets - After Who Killed the Zutons, I wrote off the Zutons as a band I’d never hear from again. Sure, “Zuton Fever” and “Pressure Point” were glorious, but they were also ephemeral, utterly forgettable, saccharine pop. Well, I was wrong. The bands learned the key to making their bluesy, sax-centric formula is to ratchet up the soul a few notches, and new album Tired of Hangin’ Around delivers it. “Secrets” is an absolute riot, with a diabolical singalong chorus. It may still be sweet, but this is the real stuff. Pure cane sugar baby.

The Zutons - You’ve Got A Friend In Me - Echoes of the Stones abound here, at least to me. The opening male/female conversation is interesting, but in the second half of this song, it just absolutely takes off, as the guitars crash in, and and the David McCabes vocals take on a whole new urgency as he goes from simply singing, to outright PROCLAIMING, in the way that Jagger in his finest moments does.

Also, be sure to check out the Zoot’s MySpace page. Mainly because you can listen to the absolutely phenomenal Oh Stacy over there. Which is just a delicious slice of Detroit by way of Mersey soul. Dig on the way that sax just PROPELS the song between verses.

[There are some links to buy the Zutons new single at their website. The new album will be out in the UK in two weeks.]

And yes, I’m alive. Spread the word.

Pop, Rock, Blues | 8 Comments »

Television Personalities - She Can Stop Traffic - It’s no use talking about Television Personalities really. They’re the ur-indie-pop band. Any permutation of the sound can in some way be traced back to Dan Treacy’s mad visions, in much the same way that any 80’s cockrock band can be traced to Zeppelin, or anyone on the warped tour can be traced back to The Ramones. Still, My Dark Places, the first record from TVP in 11 years is different. There’s a darkness, and a desperation here, that, while present here, seems sharper. “She Can Stop Traffic” plays like Rainman fronting Sonic Youth covering Journey. There’s really no other way for me to say that. Proclamatory, stuttering, simple vocals, those exuberant “woo-hoos,” it resonates with that madness, that single-mindedness possessed by both the autistic, and by those in love. It’s a funny symmetry really.

Television Personalities - Ex-Girlfriend Club - But I told you My Dark Places lives up to it’s name. I told you it was disturbing. “Ex-Girlfriend Club” is why. The drums of war build a landscape for Treacy to recount his past loves, to induct a new face into this dark, deserted corner of his world. Reasserting that HE is in control of this relationship, in it’s past, if it’s not in it’s future. But it’s not enough to cast the ex down. She must be humiliated. She must be renounced. The song starts off obsessive, but it ends absolutely unhinged, J-Lo references, strange obsessions with e-mail, and the drums pound on, never stopping. Never. Because obsession never just goes away.

[My Dark Places will be availiable in February on Domino Records. You can check out some past TVP albums over at Insound.com]

Every time I promise I’m back, something comes up.

No promises this time. But we’ll see what happens, won’t we?

MP3, Pop, Rock, Weird | 9 Comments »

The Marbles - Dracula - So. No day is sacred anymore, huh? The beast of commercialism stalks every celebrity. There is no one safe from the lure of money, eh? Even Dracula, it seems, has given of blood for dollars. At least, thats what Rob Schneider, also of the Apples in Stereo and Ulysses has to say. A recent recording by Schneider under his 80’s nod alias Marbles, “Dracula” is a bouyant, synth saturated, lament on the fall of yet another bright next big thing. Perfect sugary pop sweetness for a day of candy.

[Click Here to buy Marbles new album “Expo” from Insound.com!]

MP3 | 17 Comments »

Old Time Relijun - Chemical Factory - I’m told that Old Time Relijun have never heard of James Chance. Which comes as a shock to me, on listening to their new album, 2012. Especially on listening to a song like “Chemical Factory,” which opens with a sort of whisper and click vocal reminiscent of the sort of halfassed scat most often perpetrated of late by the likes of Nic Offer. But once the jam picks up speed, with that incredibly funky bassline, and lead singer Arrington DeDionyso lets loose with his sleazy lover persona, it’s arresting on a level with any Chance or Beefheart tune. Blasts of saxophone and out of tune accordion punctuate devolutionary howls and protestations of unending love. This is a song for every mixtape about gettin’ down in the impending nuclear winter. Lust, survival, it’s all the same.

Old Time Relijun - Your Momma Used To Dance - If primitivism is the primary key to the game here - as it seems to be on 2012, as DeDionyso lets loose with his explorations into tuvan throat singing, and lyrical ruminations on evolution, wolverines, mutants, and the apocalyptic predictions of the Mayan Long Calandar, than Your Mommma Used To Dance belongs. Though it sounds more fully formed than other songs on the album, the song lets loose with a hip shaking explosion of a raw blues groove, skronky sax lines, and a rythym section that refuses to sit in back on this ride. It’s back to basics in a startling, arresting way. This is black leather and motorcycles and noise and racket and scaring the shit out of the parent of any teenager who hears it. This is rock and motherfucking roll.

[Buy 2012 by Old Time Relijun from Insound.com]

MP3 | 5 Comments »

Doveman - Cities - I’ve had this Doveman album for a few months now, and to be honest, I had a great deal of trouble getting into it. But as summer fades to fall, and the air grows cooler, I’ve come to settle into it. This is a record for the fall, make no mistake. “Cities” is, like most of The Acrobat, built on Piano, Banjo, and above all, Thomas Bartletts whispering, worried tenor. There’s a sense of jazzy wandering here, no doubt, but this isn’t a jazz song - it’s too tight, too bound up in verse-chorus-verse structures of a rock song. The muted sound of a cornet dances in and out of the chorus, as Bartletts wordless hum punctuates every line, and it’s all done on a bed of violins and a subtle electronic crackle. When everything gets louder and noisier and Bartlett builds to his apocalyptic finish, it’s not overwrought or full of drama. If anything, there’s a calm here, a sense of acceptance that makes it hit even harder. The world is ending, and all we can do is watch.

Doveman - Honey - Ah, the old unrequited love song. Where would music be without it? Banjos, organ, strings, and Bartlett. Especially Bartlett. It’s not fair to listen to this song with anything but headphones. When I first heard this song, it was in a car stereo. In part, I blame that experience for my initial distaste for the album.To really get it, you need to hear him whispering directly into your ear. It’s that proximity, that nakedness, that makes “Honey” special. There are no histrionics here. No wails of anguish or desperate falsettos. Just a simple, hushed question. There is bitterness, but no anger. There is a coldness here, but also warmth, like a fire on a chilly night. It’s devestating in exactly the right way on a night like this.

[Buy The Acrobat from Insound.com!]

Also, New Yorkers can catch the band tonight (Friday), @ 10 PM at Mo Pitkins on Ave. A & 2nd. You should.

MP3, Pop, Jazz | 9 Comments »

The Japonize Elephants - Fuck the Farmacia - So, everyone loves Rogue Wave, right? Well, the Japonize Elephants are nothing like them. However, the current bassist of Rogue Wave (i.e., the most entertaining human being ever to play an instrument on a stage, anywhere) was in this fucking ridiculous band back in 1996 - 98. These guys fuse sounds from Asia, Kentucky, and OUTER SPACE (not really) into something even more preposterous than its constituent parts. As I described it to my good friend Keith: “it’s like, if Mel Brooks made a Peter Pan movie, this would be the soundtrack to the big dance number with Captain Hook and his Chinese comfort girl harem.” I talk like an idiot. The album that this track comes from is called Bob’s Bacon Barn, which, through the power of alliteration and pork products, communicates everything you need to know about The Japonize Elephants.

Fuck the Farmacia starts with a one-chord diminished drone, and around 1:00 turns into a full on Jewish / Pirate / bluegrass jamboree. Ten thousand different kinds of percussion gallop along behind an insistent guitar and banjo duel. When the vocalist (the self-described Emporrq of Zorlock) begins howling “FUCK THE FARMACIA HEY,” one can only agree. The music increases in intensity until dissolving into a pile of banjo strings.

The Japonize Elephants - 40 years of Our Family - That Mel Brooks / Captain Hook quote really sums this shit up. So I’ll pretend I’m on Scenestars and be like “BONUS TRACKZ!!1″

PS: You can buy Japonize Elephants stuff directly from their label (Secretly Canadian) here.

MP3, Funk, Jazz, Weird, Folk, Blues | 4 Comments »

I should, by now, know better than to promise an update on a given day or at a given time. It is a guarantee that I will not deliver said update. I’ve been sitting on this post for 2 days now too. I have no excuse, save my own self destructive promise-breaking. Still, this one is worth the wait. I caught this band twice during CMJ, and watched them bring people who had never even heard of them to tears. So they’re doing something VERY right. Though I’m passing on their more heartbreaking numbers.

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - A Good Kind of Crazy - The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir are from neither London nor Scotland, nor anywhere in the United Kingdom, which is part one of the deceptive name. Their music is also decidedly not gospel, though, as will be demonstrated momentarily, it occasionally shares that brand of musics righteous fire. Finally, they are decidedly not a choir. So, what is the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir then? Well, we could call them the Chicago Indie Pop Orchestra, but thats kind of lame, so lets stick with the name that works and focus on the music. “Good Kind of Crazy” comes from a 5 song Demo EP the band has been distributing lately as a teaser for an in-progress follow up to last years self released I Bet You Say That To All The Boys. The songs got sweeping strings and muted horns and all the twee overtones one would expect from a fantastic indie pop band, but it also has a rambling, twangy guitar thing that works perfectly with the vocals, which are just a dead on impression of that trademark Dylan mumble-sing thing that works so well here. It’s sloppy and drunken music, backed up by decidedly undrunken neat instrumentation and the contrast just makes it even more beautiful.

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - Horseracing - And this one is just huge. The string section is again featured prominently, as is a piano melody, and then the chorus comes in, and it’s all religious fervor and crashing waves of guitar, with backing vocals from Sally Timms (of the Mekons). The song is like a yo yo, crashing in and out of that finely controlled chaos, constantly going too far and pulling back, never sure about where it wants to be. There is a nervousness in the songs quiet moments, as if singer Matt Kerstein wants to go further, amp things up, but doesn’t know how, or how his listener will react, and then he just says “fuck it,” and lets go with that chorus, and all of a sudden everything goes dead quiet, and we’re left with a “oh… I shouldn’t have done that” moment before it pulls back in. Eventually, the dynamic breaks into noise and chaos, and the band just starts riffing out like a country-no-wave-chamber-ensemble only to go completely quiet again, just a sustained, quiet string note, a plink at the piano or tap of the cymbal, the band breaking down off stage, and then an encore. One final verse. “Tired of the roller coaster.” “Too big a sound.”

Exactly.

Scotland Yard Gospel Choir - I Know A Girl - And one older track, from an album that you can actually buy. “I Know A Girl” is full of Belle & Sebastian-isms at first, but this bouncy little tune about a “fat and ugly”, “brilliant” girl really starts to shine about a minute in a half in, when it stops being mopey, and starts sounding like the fucking Prozac Kickline Chorus, girl group backing vocals, an upbeat, handclappin’ rhythm, and flashes of trumpet and tambourine that it takes off. By the end, it’s a feel good anthem, the Antidote to Everything. Beautiful? Sure. Sad? Sure. But who cares? It’s time to dance. (I think it’s no mistake that the track on album that follows this is entitled “She Just Wants to Move.”)

[Buy and listen to a great deal of Scotland Yard Gospel Choir music at thier website. Be sure to listen to “Bet You Never Thought It Would Be LIke This”.]

MP3, Pop, Rock, Folk | 11 Comments »