Author: jeremyfingertips

This Week’s Finds: October 23-29

“Darkest Birds” – Nine Horses

David Sylvian is something of a self-contained and overlooked country in the geography of rock’n’roll history. From his teenaged beginnings in the band Japan—a Roxy Music-like art-glam-rock turned synth-pop band of the ’70s and early ’80s–Sylvian went on to pursue a left-of-center artistic path through the ’80s and ’90s. There were diffuse, ambiant-like solo recordings, featuring collaborations with like-minded experimental spirits such as Robert Fripp, Bill Nelson, and Ryuichi Sakamoto; there were forays into photography and avant-garde art installations; most recently came a solo CD of disconcertingly spare and challenging songs (2003’s Blemish). In other words, he has kept busy doing all sorts of interesting things while remaining entirely obscure to the mass of music listeners here in the fad-crazy U.S. (Sylvian’s is the sort of career, come to think of it, that seems possible only in Europe, unless you’re maybe Laurie Anderson.) In the wake of Blemish‘s creative break/breakthrough comes Nine Horses, which finds Sylvian working with his brother Steve Jansen and an electronic composer/remixer with the arresting name of Burnt Friedman. On “Darkest Birds,” Sylvian’s husky, Bowie-meets-Ferry vibrato mixes luxuriously and effectively with an intimate, floaty, jazz-trumpet-accented verse and a louder, percussive chorus, both grounded in an organic-sounding wash of blippy electronica. Expect it to grow on you with repeated listens. “Darkest Birds” is the second track on the new Nine Horses CD “Snow Borne Sorrow,” released last week on Sylvian’s Samadhisound label. The MP3 is available via the sleek, artsy Samadhisound site.

“Catch a Collapsing Star” – the Mendoza Line

With a melody and spirit harkening back to the Dylanized ’60s, “Catch a Collapsing Star” is as friendly as the corner pub, as crisp as an autumn afternoon, as happy-wistful as an old letter. I think I’ve become heedlessly, foolishly in love with Shannon McArdle’s voice (first discussed when her other band, Slow Dazzle, was a TWF pick in August); her open, yearning sweetness mixes innocence and wisdom with uncanny balance. I’ll try not to resent too much that she sings lead on only one verse here, as the lead vocals are otherwise handled by (I think!) band mate Timothy Bracy. Then again, his raspy Steve Earle-ishness is really rather engaging as well, as is the nuanced mix of looseness and tightness on display throughout this rollicking tune. “Catch a Collapsing Star” will be found on the band’s next CD, Full of Light and Fire, to be released next month on Misra Records. The MP3 is available via the Misra site.

“Words That I Employ” – Coach Said Not To

So this one starts like something unhinged and way-too-quirky-indie: a tick-tocky toy-like chiming noise and a woman’s voice speak-singing an incomprehensible torrent of words. Some may immediately like this; me, I was just about ready to send the file to the Recycle Bin, but…I’m not sure. Something in the tone of the voice, something in the knowing flow of instrumentation, and then–wow, listen to the centering, glorious note singer Eva Mohn hits at 40 seconds, singing the word “sweet” (the lyric is: “Well that’s so sweet/It makes me sick/It makes me sick and happy for you”). My goodness, she’s got a real voice, and by real I don’t mean necessarily beautiful (although it is, rather) or melodious but real as in full of depth and character. Likewise the band: they may herk and jerk with the best of them, but there is great strength of purpose and execution in their sound. I love the big, faux-classic-rock break in the middle section, around 1:30; and then best of all I love the subsequent return to the “that’s so sweet” phrase–the note she sings at 2:23 melts the heart and nails the song, which now seems a satisfying, complete whole rather than a quirky parade of parts. The band name, by the way, comes, apparently, from a pamphlet the band members once saw detailing 101 ways to turn down a sexual invitation; they are number 71. “Words That I Employ” is a song off the band’s debut, self-titled EP, which was released last year. A new three-song EP is due out shortly. The MP3 is available via band’s site.

This Week’s Finds: October 16-22 (The Happy Bullets, 31Knots, Bill Ricchini)

“The Vice and Virtue Ministry” – the Happy Bullets

Intertwining guitars, at once loopy and dainty, set the stage for this brisk, assured, and endlessly delightful tune. I am especially taken with lead singer Jason Roberts’ fetching falsetto leaps—I love how his voice just flies upward at the end of a few key phrases, most of all when it happens so much in the middle of a lyrical line that he has to drop again as quickly as he went up. A five-piece band from Dallas (which includes Angela Roberts, Jason’s wife, on bass), the Happy Bullets made the happy decision to work with producer Stuart Sikes (who has worked with Modest Mouse, the White Stripes, and the Walkmen, among others), whose sure touch enlivens this song in many different ways. I am unaccountably charmed, as an example, by the subtle acoustic strum that leads into the second verse (at 0:39), arising out of a maracas-like shaking sound just introduced out of the original loopy guitar line. And then of course there’s the brilliant infusion of Kinks-ish spirit on display throughout. Being influenced by the Kinks is (praise the lord) no longer a novelty on the rock’n’roll scene, but I don’t know that I’ve heard a 21st-century band take Ray Davies so delightfully into the here and now as these guys do. This isn’t an homage and it’s not nostalgia; Roberts doesn’t even sound like Davies in any particular way. And yet this song so thoroughly embodies some key Kinksian vibe that if Davies had come of age in the ’00s rather than the ’60s his band I think would sound something very much like this. “The Vice and Virtue Ministry” is the title track from the Happy Bullets’ second CD, released regionally in March on Undeniable Records; the album is set for a national release on November 1. The MP3 is available via the band’s site.

“Chain Reaction” – 31 Knots

And now for something completely different: dense, complex, guitar-heavy neo-progressive rock from the Portland, Ore.-based trio 31 Knots. And yet I would not be here to foist this upon you if it were all intricate stop-start-y math-rock bloviation. Guitarist Joe Haerge plays with distinction, variation, and purpose, maintaining a shifting, surging energy throughout this long but engaging song. I’m thinking that not enough bands that record songs over five minutes understand how rewarding a more complex approach to song can be. Go back to those old Genesis records and you’ll see that the songs were six, seven, eight minutes because they went places. The best part of “Chain Reaction” may well be the last two minutes, during which an intense instrumental break leads into a wholly new section of the song, including perhaps the most rewarding melodies of the whole piece. We’ve gotten a little too used to endless repetition padding out five-minute songs; here instead is a six-minute song that ends climactically, and leaves you wanting more. “Chain Reaction” comes from the band’s fourth CD, Talk Like Blood, released last week on Polyvinyl Records. The MP3 is available via the Polyvinyl site.

“I Just Can’t Fall In Love” – Bill Ricchini

And now consider this song, in yoga terms, to be the “counter-posture” to the previous song: open, flowing, melodic—an unabashedly “pop” song to re-wire the brain after all that intense intricacy. Here the hook is a simple-as-can-be five-note descent at the end of two of the four verse lines. Why does it slay me so? And yet it does, particularly when harmony vocals are added the second time around. The good-natured, ’70s-style vibe pumps the song along at a nice clip, but it’s that five-note descent that makes the song for me, and how well-suited it is to Ricchini’s yearning, bittersweet voice. On another day maybe it’s not enough to hang a song upon, but, hey, the sun is shining, the leaves are falling, and there’s only so much intensity I can take in one sitting. Born and raised in Philadelphia, where he recorded his first CD bedroom-style to much acclaim, Ricchini is now New York City-based and signed to a small label. “I Just Can’t Fall In Love” is from his second CD, Tonight I Burn Brightly, released in August on Transdreamer Records. The song is available through Music.download.com.

This Week’s Finds: October 9-15 (Flotation Toy Warning, Nicole Atkins, Le Reno Amps)

“Popstar Researching Oblivion” – Flotation Toy Warning

“Popstar Researching Oblivion” has the sort of fully-realized ecstatic sonic goofiness that MP3 collectors like to link to the Flaming Lips but harkens more firmly back to the likes of 10cc, Genesis (yes, they actually had a sense of humor), and Queen. One of the things this quintet from London does with much aplomb is present a straightforward melody via a crazy quilt of sounds–a neat effect not unlike the more widely acknowledged pop effect of singing sad lyrics to happy music. In this case, the end result is a satisfying confusion: the ear hears complexity and simplicity overlappingly, which somehow resolves the polarity. First, the song’s basic, recurring melody, a line of lullaby-like gentleness, is introduced via a searing guitar solo (itself an interesting juxtaposition). The same melody is then re-delivered via layers of soaring and diving sounds, some vocal and some electronic and some created by who-knows-what, weaving and interacting in ways that are specifically elusive and yet link in the ear as an organic whole. Singer Donald Drusky’s earnest British tenor, recalling a somewhat huskier version of Robert Wyatt, is the perfect vocal instrument for the dreamy loopiness of it all; the homely yet graceful horns arriving to mingle with the electronics during the second half of this strangely haunting number are yet more perfect. “Popstar Researching Oblivion” comes from the band’s debut CD, Bluffer’s Guide to the Flight Deck, released in the U.S. in August on Misra Records (the CD was originally released last year in the U.K. on Pointy Records). The MP3 is available on the Misra site.


“Skywriters” – Nicole Atkins

If Chrissie Hynde were Jeff Tweedy’s sister and Roy Orbison were their uncle…oh, never mind. I’m losing patience with my effort to create evocative analogies. But there’s no denying the Hynde-like timbre in this NYC-based singer/songwriter’s voice, nor the touching, earnest early ’60s vibe infusing this shimmering, knowingly produced song. As for the Wilco connection, well, listen to those chord changes (check out for example where she goes with the word “the” in the phrase “the people below” in the chorus). And that unexpectedly intense guitar work that kicks in around 1:48. And the fact that it’s really hard to follow what she’s singing about, even as it doesn’t sound all that complicated either. Let the song loop in your media player for a while and see how its various charms unfold. In the end I maybe like the ghostly, plucky, chiming synthesizer (?) line from the introduction most of all–at once weird and comforting, it brings me back a few generations musically for no reason I can particularly identify. “Skywriters” is one of nine songs on her first CD, Party’s Over, self-relesaed earlier this year. The MP3 is available via The Deli.


“Once You Know” – Le Reno Amps

Scotland’s answer to They Might Be Giants, Le Reno Amps are two guys (Scott and Al) from Aberdeen with an idiosyncratic sense of song, playful ideas about making lo-fi production come to life, and an enviable knack for melody. The modus operandi is stripped-down, always geared around their two voices and two guitars. But there’s goofiness in the air too, lending an ineffable magic to the aural landscape. “Once You Know” sounds like it was recorded in a gym, with bouncing balls and/or stamping feet ingeniously employed as the rhythm section for this sharp and sprightly down-home ditty. The song gets off to a great start based on melody alone; when the “percussion” kicks in with the second verse, ably accented by some hardy background “hey!”s, the song is unstoppable. The fully-whistled verse that starts at 1:14 appears at that point both a crazy surprise and utterly inevitable. “Once You Know” is from Le Reno Amps’ archly-titled debut CD LP, released under their own (ha-ha) Vanity Project imprint last year. The MP3 is up on the band’s site. A second CD is apparently in the works for these guys, due out some time in 2006.

This Week’s Finds: October 2-8 (Ezra Reich, Dirty Three, The Spectacular Fantastic)

“I Need A Moment Alone” – Ezra Reich

One part Bryan Ferry, one part B-52s, one part style-fixated NYC-based 21st-century rock’n’roller, Ezra Reich is, no doubt about it, just plain goofy. I can’t claim to be big into musicians who throw a lot of energy into their “look,” as such concern seems inevitably over-calculated. On the other hand, rock’n’roll history nevertheless indicates that one can never rule out a musician simply because he or she does cares about image/style, as there have been any number of worthy musicians (David Bowie, David Byrne, Prince, and the aforementioned Mr. Ferry come to mind) whose incisive sense of style was part of a rewarding musical package. One could also argue that a resolute lack of interest in so-called style can become its own sort of style (the entire grunge movement was more or less grounded in such an idea). In the end we listen with our ears, and in this case, my ears tell me this song is a fun, accomplished piece of pop, fusing elements of ’80s synth-pop with Prince-ian bits of campy funk and who knows what else. It works unaccountably well, probably because if you’re going to go over the top, you may as well go all the damned way. For me, when the female backup singer asks “You need a moment?” at 59 seconds, with all that deadpan come-hitherness, in the middle of an unexpected paean to self-reflection, well, I was pretty much hooked. “I Need A Moment Alone” is a song off Reich’s soon-to-be self-released CD, Milkshake Arcade, which will be his second album. The MP3 is available via his site. Thanks to the redoubtable Largehearted Boy for the head’s up.

“Doris” – the Dirty Three

I’m continually fascinated by rock’n’roll instrumentals, even as I remain skeptical of liking all that many. But every now and then one sneaks up and grabs me. “Doris,” from the veteran Australian trio Dirty Three, has a few great things going for it, from my perspective. Right away I love how the sharp, sliding rhythm is established by that great high-and-squonky guitar in the intro, and then how another guitar saws away with fuzzy fury at the bottom end of the sound. Aural landscape thus established, the middle part of the song is one grand, determined racket created by the unhinged interplay between an assortment of other, hitherto acoustic instruments (among which may be violin, mandolin, viola, and bagpipes), all underscored by the relentless beat, even as the drummer takes a backseat to the wild, vaguely Irish-sounding bray. It has the feel of a folk dance from the distant, re-forested future. About two and a half minutes in, the steady drummer re-emerges to drive this intense piece of music through its passionate conclusion. Dancers fall to the ground, exhausted and transcendent. “Doris” is a track from Dirty Three’s new CD, Cinder, slated for release next week on Touch and Go Records.

“Darkest Hour” – the Spectacular Fantastic

And leave it to the Big Star-ian Cincinnati combo known as the Spectacular Fantastic to bring us back to solid ground with this brisk, likable, power-poppy chestnut. There may be nothing here my head hasn’t sort of kind of heard before, but on the other hand, the sheer delight that courses through me as I listen tells my head that it is not my body’s only musical input device. Though my head sure does enjoy taking what delights my heart and figuring out solid “reasons” for that delight. So, here, in the chorus, an effect I always love: how the melody associated with the words (in this case, “In the darkest hour”) pulls up short of the harmonic resolution, which carries on afterwards, in the background, with that agreeably cheesy synthesizer line leading us into the resolving chord. The melody and chord pattern is pure basic traditional pop (straight out of “Heart and Soul”) but performed with, yes, heart and soul by Mike Detmer and crew, this is music that will always sound fresh and vibrant to me. “Darkest Hour” is a song off the Spectacular Fantastic’s new CD, The Spectacular Fantastic Goes Underground, released this week on Ionik Recordings. The MP3 resides on the band’s site.

This Week’s Finds: Sept. 25-Oct. 1 (Aberdeen City, The Bridge Gang, Delaney)

“God Is Going To Get Sick of Me” – Aberdeen City

Straddling the thin-wide line that forever separates Coldplay and Radiohead is the Boston quartet Aberdeen City, at least as they display their wares in this itchy, sharply-produced, knowingly melodic song. Lead singer Brad Parker, who also plays bass, sounds a lot like Thom Yorke and yet more solid and approachable, uninclined to take his powerful tenor towards the warbly stratosphere. As a matter of fact, the way Parker lays back in this song, allows himself to stay reined in by the hard-charging guitars that burst with creative authority in and out of the mix, sets up a transcendent moment three-quarters of the way through: the imperceptible, breath-taking glide he takes to move to the higher register between the phrases “support gets stronger” and “each time something”–well, that just nailed the whole thing down for me somehow. In addition to listening to the song, I suggest visiting the Aberdeen City web site, which features some truly arresting imagery related to the band’s new CD The Freezing Atlantic: the bleak panorama offered is nearly sublime in its evocation of the ocean’s terrifying day-to-day majesty, never mind the juxtaposition of the mysterious wrapped and upright bodies, some of which fade in and out of view. “God Is Going To Get Sick Of Me” is the third track on the new CD, the band’s first full-length effort, scheduled for release on Dovecote Records next month.


“Pangs of Guilt” – the Bridge Gang

With the harsh but beguiling charm of an early Clash single, “Pangs of Guilt” delivers two brisk minutes of that affecting sort of rock’n’roll that’s both very straightforward and oddly edgy. (Cross perhaps the Pixies and the Cars and maybe you’re part of the way there, if you keep Jonathan Richman in your head as well; hm, these guys are from London but maybe they should’ve been from Boston?) The guitars have that “we just plugged them in and turned the amp on too loud” sound, the lead singer José (no last name to be found) yowls the sparse but engaging melody with no concern for his vocal cords, and the one-line chorus has the gut-satisfying resolution of classic garage rock. The Bridge Gang is a relatively new three-piece band with just a few recorded songs to date. “Pangs of Guilt” is a downloadable single made available via London-based Dogbox Records in the spring of this year.


“A Quoi Bon” – Delaney

There’s something both fresh and comfortable-sounding in this homespun bit of trip-hoppy sing-songiness. Parisienne Christelle Delaney has a teetery pitch and a deadpan delivery that joins the beat-driven vibe with a what-the-heck sort of consonance. There’s not that much to it–she basically repeats the same simple melody over and over, but the interplay of her voice, the giddily percussive acoustic guitars, and the spiffy beat is a tasty aural treat to my disaster-soaked ears. Be sure not to miss the oddball instrumental coda that starts at 2:43: first we get deliberate, off-kilter keyboard chords, then we get an increasingly assertive sort of stretchy-crunchy sound rising to the forefront, along with some random tinkles, before everything draws demurely to a close. The 33-year-old Delaney was 25 when she recorded “A Quoi Bon” for her self-titled debut CD; released in France in 1998, the disc just saw the light of day in the U.S. earlier this month, courtesy of L.A.’s introspective Pehr Records. Thanks as always to the hard-working humans at 3hive for the lead.

This Week’s Finds: September 18-24 (Constantines, Carter Tanton, The Homesicks)

“Love in Fear” – Constantines

Stay with this one awhile. It starts with an uncomfortably jerky sense of time, as if the rhythm section is somehow trying to play two different songs simultaneously. For the entire first minute, the ear is given neither a firm beat nor a rooted melody to hold onto. Notice the keyboard relatively far down in the mix; its nuanced accents and jazz-inflected harmonics come to the fore a bit later. After a minute of this off-centered minimalism, the beat seems to coalesce—it remains syncopated and skeletal, but something’s gathering, you can feel it, and sure enough, at 1:30, the drummer finally joins force with the bass and the guitars, and the song blossoms in a depth-laced, truly satisfying way. (Check out the chord progression in the chorus linking the phrases “What hangs above” and “when we love,” it’s just about worth the price of admission right there.) Everything backs off again a half-minute later for a stripped-down bridge before returning with yet greater intensity and spirit for the home stretch. Now a Toronto-based quintet, Constantines was founded in Guelph in 1999. “Love in Fear” comes from the band’s forthcoming third CD, Tournament of Hearts, to be released next month on Sub Pop Records; the MP3 is via Better Propaganda.

“Eloquence” – Carter Tanton

Baltimore’s Carter Tanton has been recording his own music since he was 15, but that doesn’t come close to explaining how he projects such a strong and knowing musical presence at the still-precocious age of 23. “Eloquence” has a grand yet grounded urgency about it, which you can hear in both the assured, time-tested rhythm of the crisp acoustic guitar work and the keening timbre of Tanton’s voice, which strikes me as an unexpected cross between Matthew Sweet and Richard Thompson. With the timeless vibe of a full-throttled blues stomp, “Eloquence” manages at the same time to sound very of the moment, fresh, and relevant. The song can be found on Tanton’s Birds and Rain CD, released in July on Park the Van Records–which, I should note, is based in New Orleans, so let’s hope they’re all okay down there. The MP3 is hosted by Devil in the Woods, a small California-based label that apparently helps Park the Van sell some of their releases. Thanks to Largehearted Boy for the lead.

“Michelle” – the Homesicks

Fetchingly melodramatic (see below*), nicely-produced indie rock from Israel, the sort of song where the ’80s-style hooks pile up so flagrantly, one on top of the other, that my new wave-friendly heart ends up melted in a happy little puddle. Any number of the usual suspects are mushed together here–Joy Division to Bowie to Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to the Pixies and then some–with great good verve and awareness. At the same time, the sampled-sounding synth riff that emerges at around 2:50 sounds like something that might only emerge from a Middle Eastern band. Occasionally globalization has its charms. The Homesicks are an unsigned five-piece band based in Tel Aviv; the MP3 comes from an intriguing-looking but largely Hebrew Israeli web site called Blind Janitor that I unfortunately can’t make heads or tails of. Thanks very much to visitor Moran for the lead on this one. (*Shortly after posting this today, I noticed that last week I had described the Fleeing New York MP3 as “endearingly melodramatic.” Busted! I’ll admit I struggle as it is not to over-use certain favorite words when writing here week after week, but that’s a bit too much repetition too soon, don’t you think? Let’s call this one, perhaps, “almost but not quite over the top,” or something to that effect. And consider it another sign of life without a copy editor.)

This Week’s Finds: Sept. 11-17 (Orenda Fink, Fleeing New York, Tom Vek)

“Bloodline” – Orenda Fink

Orenda Fink means business. One-half of the the delicate Georgia duo Azure Ray, Fink, on a new solo CD, displays a striking new musical persona: tough, propulsive, and vibrant. This is indie rock at its most inclusive—revealing, in other words, a universal, accessible heart; and in so doing revealing that at the end of the day, the most salient labels are simply “good” or “not good.” “Bloodline” is very good indeed, a soaring, memorable shot of powerful pop, its chugging, fuzzy-bass-heavy verse and shimmering chorus together hinting at something both menacing and transcendent. Fink has a resilient, familiar voice, with none of the fragile breathiness of her Azure Ray partner Maria Taylor (not that there’s anything wrong with fragile breathiness, mind you!). When a song comes from seemingly nowhere and cuts to the quick like this, I am assured yet again of the universality of good music, despite the efforts of too many present-day indie rock zealots (be they fans, musicians, or critics) to protect their strange, isolated turf from perceived intrusions via over-thinking and under-listening. Someone like Ms. Fink can arrive and slap us to attention: when you have something to say, labels spontaneously combust. “Bloodline” can be found on her album Invisible Ones, released last month on Saddle Creek Records. MP3 via Better Propaganda.

“Hollywood Bowl” – Fleeing New York

Wacky, bashy, endearingly melodramatic Brit pop disguising itself as some sort of Motor City stompdown. This song has a bit of everything: smashingly crisp guitars, group chanting, rumbly pseudo-Western verses, boy-girl lead vocalists, and a truly loopy update on the old “wall of sound” idea, aided and abetted by some unhinged slide guitar work. For a trio, the Southampton-based Fleeing New York do create quite the sonic fuss. And then there’s the ’65 Beatles harmonics that kick in around 2:25, at once out of the blue and perfectly obvious. “Hollywood Bowl” is the latest single from the band, which has one mini-album to its name thus far. The MP3 is available via the groovy British site Drowned in Sound.

“I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes” – Tom Vek

Hey, kids—the robots are having a dance party in the anvil factory. Cool! Against a clanging beat, the London-based multi-instrumentalist Tom Vek has constructed a disarmingly catchy bit of post-post-punk pop, or some such thing. Adding delicious layers of texture to the Gang of Four-style metallic slashing that underscores the song, Vek wins me over most of all, rather unexpectedly, with his singing. He’s got a strong, dry voice, with a hint of a funky sort of roundedness to it; even as he takes us musically through some of the itchy anxiety-land settled in earlier days by David Byrne and Adrian Belew-era King Crimson, it sounds differently compelling with the 24-year-old Vek singing vague, husky lines such as “I know I’m wasting precious time” and “All these young men obssessed with death.” “I Ain’t Saying My Goodbyes” is a track off Vek’s debut full-length CD, We Have Sound, released in the U.K. this past spring and scheduled for a U.S. release on Startime International next month. Thanks once again to the fine fellows at 3hive for the lead. MP3 now via Better Propaganda.

This Week’s Finds: Sept. 4-10 (Barry Thomas Goldberg, Band of Horses, Annie Hayden)

“Remember New Orleans” – Barry Thomas Goldberg

Not even the world-weary Goldberg, who already sounded like he’d seen it all before, has seen anything like what happened here in the U.S. last week. To my ears, he hits an appropriate combination of sobriety and passion on this simple, ragged, emotional tribute to a devastated city. It’s mostly a subdued acoustic guitar and Goldberg’s effective Waits-via-Springsteen voice, but there are some subtle instrumental homages added along the way–a quietly menacing piano below (can’t have New Orleans music without piano), sad strings above (striking me as a conscious nod to Randy Newman), and even a slowed-down “City of New Orleans”-ish harmonica flourish. The song is available via Goldberg’s web site. The veteran singer/songwriter has furthermore decided to contribute the profits from his three CDs to the American Red Cross, to assist the massive relief effort. Thanks again to visitor Paul for the head’s up.



“Funeral” – Band of Horses

Geez maybe I’m working thematically this week. In any case, Band of Horses is a Seattle-based outfit with a firm grip on an emerging ’00s sound that I think of as Neil Young meets Radiohead (so, okay, we need a better name for this): a ghostly, left-of-mainstream blend of ache and atmosphere, part acoustic and part electric, featuring keen melodies and a slightly wobbly high-pitched tenor. Songs that start out too quietly usually make me antsy, but “Funeral” redeems itself the minute vocalist Ben Bridwell opens his mouth, less for the quality of his voice (which I do like) than for the arresting melody–a melancholy line that descends with one half-step ascent before the end, a line in fact so melancholy it needs only one, final minor chord to create a suffusing minor-key aura. When the fuller band kicks in, crisply, at 1:23, supporting the same ongoing melody, the piece acquires a history-laced depth, like something from the Band’s catalog (a feeling reinforced by the Rick Danko-like “oo-oos” falsetto-ing in the background). Signed to mighty Sub Pop Records, Band of Horses has yet to release a CD, but four demos (including “Funeral”) are available via the band’s site. Thanks to the good folks at 3hive for the lead.



“Weather” – Annie Hayden

At least a happier-sounding song, even as the theme remains. And the happier sound is largely due to the karmic lift afforded by Annie Hayden’s cheerfully crystal-clear voice (the lyrics, however, are not particularly upbeat, from what I can tell). “Weather” begins with a coy Hayden singing off the beat established by the piano, then moves briskly into a tune at once sweet and driving, steel guitar accents and sustained harmonies adding a rolling-field openness to the proceedings. Hayden’s background is as indie as it gets (she spent the mid-’90s in a New Jersey-based band called Spent), but I applaud the polish she brings to the song; to my ears there’s a lot to be said for musical prowess, at both the instrumental and production level. (Listen for instance to the masterful subtlety with which the plucked notes are articulated during the guitar break in the middle of the song.) Not that “Weather” doesn’t have a fetching quirk or two–such as the charming way the song hesitates just past the minute mark, how that short burst of drumbeat drops us briefly into near-nothingness before she catches us and brings us back to the steady, yearning groove. “Weather” is a song from Hayden’s long-awaited second solo CD, to be released next week on Merge Records. MP3 via BetterPropaganda.

This Week’s Finds: Aug. 28-Sept. 3 (Slow Dazzle, Engineers, Troubled Hubble)

“Fleur de Lis” – Slow Dazzle

Stylish, echoey guitar-laced synth pop with an interesting sort of urban-cowboy flair. Blessed by both atmosphere and motion, “Fleur de Lis” features a slinky melody and sneaky lyrics, delivered with weary-innocent panache by Shannon McArdle. I love how many distinct types of sounds this NYC trio blends into an organic whole: spacey synthesizers, lonesome-desert lead guitar lines, puffing keyboard accents, rattlesnake beats, and (best of all) a loopy sort of backwards-sounding guitar that steals the show at 1:37. Slow Dazzle features two-thirds of the songwriters in the neo-folk-rock-ish outfit the Mendoza Line (McArdle and Timothy Bracy); “Fleur de Lis” is the lead track from the CD The View From the Floor, released in June on Misra Records. The MP3 is available via the band’s site Misra.



“Come In Out of the Rain” – Engineers

Large and dreamy, “Come In Out of the Rain” is a shiny example of how much the so-called “shoegaze” sub-genre owes to a sub-genre that might otherwise seem at the opposite end of the sub-genre spectrum–namely, power pop. (Which only goes to show how insipid is the internet-propagated need to sub-genre-ize everything, but that’s another story.) But listen to the beautiful tangent the melody takes from 0:48 through 0:53, which I know in my gut is a power-pop sort of embellishment, even as I can’t possibly begin to explain why this is, and how it works within this spacious, grandly-textured sort of down-tempo anthem. I’m also hearing a good bit of early Tears For Fears here–partially because TFF doesn’t get enough credit for pioneering the accessible end of the shoegaze/dream-pop sound, and partially because Tears For Fears producer Dave Bascombe apparently had a hand in the mix on the Engineers self-titled debut CD, from which this comes. The CD was released in June on Echo Records; the MP3 is available through Insound.


“Ear Nose & Throat” – Troubled Hubble

A particularly crisp and tasty iteration of the time-honored tradition of rock songs with one-note verses, “Ear Nose & Throat” is, perhaps, the first of these to work the word “otolaryngology” into the torrent of words usually unleashed in such circumstances. I especially like the combination of snare-free drumming and metallic guitars, which creates a satisfyingly crunchy-rhythmic environment for the medically-oriented lyrical overflow. One of the cool things about this sort of song, when done well, is how the lyrics flow past impressionistically, telling not a linear story but still achieving a certain sort of wholeness. Troubled Hubble is a quartet from outside Chicago with six self-released CDs (three full-lengths, three EPs) to their name before Making Beds in a Burning House was released in May on Lookout Records (and apparently on Eenie Meenie Records too, somehow; sometimes–often–the indie-rock scene is too complicated for its own good). The MP3 is available via the band’s site. Thanks to BLCKYLLWBLCK for the lead.

This Week’s Finds: August 14-20 (British Sea Power, The Scribbled Out Man, New Buffalo)

“Please Stand Up” – British Sea Power

Immediately spacious, majestic, and heart-warming, “Please Stand Up” updates a late ’70s/early ’80s sound not often aimed at, even in today’s rock flea market, in which past styles are rummaged through with the speed and tenacity of the experienced bargain hunter. British Sea Power’s vocalist, a chap who goes by the name of Yan, sings with great, husky Bowie-ish bravura, but what really nails things down here is the clean, melodic guitar line (courtesy of a chap who goes by the name of Noble) at the center of the sound. Playing both carefully and fiercely, Noble offers sweeping, middle-register intervals that seem always to yearn upward; and he knows how to lay back, never unduly asserting his sound and in so doing anchoring everything around him. “Please Stand Up” is from the band’s second CD, Open Season (Rough Trade), which sort of blew by me when it was released back in April, but judging from this song I think I will find myself a copy post haste. The MP3 is available via Insound.

“Heroics” – The Scribbled Out Man

Some songs are inexplicably endearing and this is one of them. But let’s see, there must be a way to quantify the feeling, at least a bit. Certainly the stuttery guitar riff is fetching from the get-go; and the casual way electronics are used to create atmosphere without overwhelming the soundscape, very nice; and the way singer/songwriter/guitarist Paul Linklater flips into falsetto without warning, as the song builds, gotta love it; and then the way the whole song is just this accumulation of largely indecipherable lines, emerging relentlessly and with increasing (but controlled) frenzy. It’s all very cool. The Scribbled Out Man is a four-man Canadian band fronted by Linklater, and includes drummer/cellist (not to mention engineer/producer) Don Kerr, who has worked with the great Ron Sexsmith. The band formed in 2003; its first full-length CD, All Different, was released last year on the net label Zunior.com. “Heroics” comes from the CD; the MP3 is available via the band’s site.

“Recovery” – New Buffalo

Snappy, airy, off-kilter pop from Australian singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann, who for whatever reason records under the name New Buffalo. Underscored by pipey keyboards and electronic handclaps, “Recovery” features a subtly wondrous mix of unexpected sounds, from ’40s-style choral harmonies and sampled horn flourishes to a brilliantly textured wash of harp-like synthesizer. Seltmann’s voice on its own has a compelling fragility, as if any note she tries to hold might abruptly crack; and yet she also sings back-up harmonies with heavenly gusto. The overall effect is something at once strange and familiar, wispy and solid. “Recovery” is the lead track on the second New Buffalo CD, The Last Beautiful Day, released overseas last year and slated for a North American release next week on the Canadian label Arts & Crafts. Seltmann wrote, arranged, and produced the CD on her own, and performed it almost entirely by herself. The MP3 is available via Seltmann’s site.