Fade Away Never

If I had to pick a favorite album that nobody else in the world seemed to like, it would have been The Lovely Feathers' "Hind Hind Legs". Before the Rural Alberta Advantage got signed I might have picked them instead, but now that they are touring constantly in support of their now major-indie release, I'm going to fall back on The Lovely Feathers. This band is a giant indie-rock party with your most embarrassing friends. I think that if these guys ever sang about anything serious they would be compared to the upper echelon of indie-rock stardom. I say if you want lyrics, you should read a book.

And hey, they're on tour right now with the Rural Alberta Advantage. What are the odds? Talk about a ridiculously amazing and self-aggrandizing show that would be for me to go to. I would sit in the corner with my arms crossed and mock all the FOOLS that haven't heard of the two bands on the stage. Then I would eat my cookie, and it would taste like victory!

MP3: Lowiza.mp3

This is a great song from Hallelujah The Hills -- a fairly underrated little Boston band that I am interested to explore further. The pacing on this track is very unpredictable. They reminded me of Wolf Parade when they were still exciting to listen to and had fresh tricks up their sleeves. I question the need for the lo-fi production on the vocals. I think that lo-fi usually conveys earnestness, but here I think it just takes away from the song. Lead singer Ryan Walsh has a great sound, but its richness is wiped out, and I don't think the masking adds anything. It's like taking a great picture and then draining the color out of it.

Maybe I'm just over lo-fi in general. I can't think of any situation where I would choose to go lo-fi. And if I was the kind of art-for-arts-sake guy that would make that choice, I probably wouldn't also be putting out promotional MP3's as a loss-leader to generate tour revenue. Whatever, I guess whenever I take the time and effort to put out an album I can bitch all I want about production quality. Until then, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Despite all that quibble -- I love this song.

Land of Talk is putting out their latest full length, Fun And Laughter, on Saddle Creek in the US -- a label that seems to be coming up a lot lately for me. There is a very Broken Social Scene vibe to this track, which is a good thing (again, I think I mentioned them in the last post as well - weird). Land Of Talk recently toured with BSS, so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the engineering crew on the album were similar to the people who put out their albums -- Land of Talk is also from Montreal, after all.

Land of Talk will be in L.A. on October 29th, at Spaceland. No Austin dates yet, they're keeping to the west coast for this tour.

MP3: Land of Talk -- "May You Never"

I've been mentioning Saddle Creek a lot lately because they've recently signed two of my favorite bands of the past couple of years; Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson and The Rural Alberta Advantage. Well, Saddle Creek has nothing to do with Los Campensinos! except for the fact that this song makes me think of the first Saddle Creek releases from Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes. Otherwise this Welsh band has nothing to do with the Nebraska label -- they're on Arts and Crafts (home to Broken Social Scene).

MP3: Los Campensinos! -- "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think About The Future"

The video to HEALTH's "Die Slow" from their upcoming album Get Color was premiered on Friday. The video, directed by the band, captures the delicate balance that Los Angeles strikes between the bohemian and high fashion. Similarly, the song is structured as a balance between jarring guitar/synth drones and idyllic vocal harmonies with heavy reverb -- each resting on each other to make the other more palatable, and ultimately working together to create a lot of space. I'm not a video guy, but the use of color in this video is pretty amazing as well. Even the obligatory art-noise spastic color strobe in the beginning uses slightly muted colors instead of the now ubiquitous bright-neons. I think these guys are the best outfit operating in L.A. right now.

A message from Thom Yorke on Dead Air Space:

Dear Sir or Madam

This is to inform you of the release of two more bits of work shortly.  They are loosely under the Thom Yorke name this time, although these days its all getting kind of blurry.  FeelingPulledApartbyHorses is written & played by Jonny and I and is a radical rework of an old tune thats been kicking around without a home since 2001? i think.  The Hollow Earth is a bass menace that was born out of the Eraser period but needed a little more time.  Both were produced by Nigel Godrich as ever. And mastered by Bob Ludwig.  They are being put out on 12" with sliced sleeve by Stanley and Tchock.  My sources tell me this will be available from the 21st of September if you're interested.. On sale in the w.a.s.t.e part of our website (with a gratis download.)  Or you can go buy it in a good record shop if you are lucky enough to have one near you.  Then later on there will be like a normal download thing i think around the 6th of Oct through the usual channels.

And so it goes. all the best

Thom

Finally! I've been waiting for an album to hit me like this all year!

A friend of mine uploaded this album to a music listserv that I belong to while I was right in the middle of the bar exam. So, unfortunately, it passed by me without a listen. It wasn't until this past weekend after a long night at The Must ($3 Milwaukee's Best = new favorite downtown bar) that I actually got a chance to hear the album.

It's been a really long time since I've come across a song that I could not stop listening to. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a song on repeat like I currently have this track. Just stop what you're doing -- well, don't stop reading this -- and download this song and then go and find the album. One of my top 3 albums of the year so far. The only reason its not my #1 is because Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear have put out game-changing albums this year. And as amazing as those albums are, I have a feeling this one might get more spins on my iPhone over the next few months.

Sure, there's plenty of back story for this LA band. Lead singer of Ima Robot, Heath Ledger ties, huge LA following, big-ass "Broken Social Scene"-esque band. But whatever, just do yourself a favor and get on the bus.

MP3: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes -- "Home"


The band will be playing the El Rey on Sept 22, but as big as these guys are in LA I'm sure its sold out. Give 'er a try anyways, I hear their live show is epic (12 people, lotsa drums). No Austin dates yet. Surely they'll be at SXSW though.

**EDIT: I couldn't just leave it at one song, this is a very very solid album, so I want to give you a little more of a taste.


MP3: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes -- "Carries On"

Very powerful track from Kyp Malone's (TV On The Radio) new band, Rain Machine. The instrumentation reminded me Kyp's production on Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson's self titled debut. I'm not sure how much of Kyp's influence was on that album, but I feel similarities. Similar to the xx track I posted last week, the instruments are sparse -- but that allows the production to relish each individual sound.

There's a difference between isolating each instrument clearly and relishing the way each instrument sounds as it is played. This track definitely favors the latter philosophy. I guess you could call it a "live" sound, but I don't think that's entirely accurate -- I think its just capturing the soul of the instrument. Not how the instruments sound in perfect studio isolation, and not how they sound as if on stage, and not so much lo-fi either; but how the instruments would sound if it were just a couple kids banging away with all their hearts as you walked by on the street.

The real strength of the song though is in Kyp's vocals. He bring so much authenticity to the table. I asked a lot of girls why they were so into Kings of Leon, and they pretty much all say that its because of the emotion in the lead singers voice. I guess in relation to whatever else people are hearing, Kings of Leon is pretty much the most amount of emotion you're going to hear on radio. But one listen to Kyp in this track and you immediately know, this isn't a song about losing some model girlfriend.

By the way, I just read that Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson signed to Saddle Creek this month. This is the second time in the past couple months that Saddle Creek has signed one of my favorite artists. His new album comes out in Oct.

Rain Machine's self titled album comes out 9/22 on Anti-
 

Rain Machine - Smiling Black Faces.mp3

It's over, I can't do it anymore. I have given The Dirty Projectors every chance in the world to grow on me, but I just can't bring myself to like them. I can't get over the harsh reality that they sound eerily similar to PHISH! It hurts me to say it, but how can you not listen to this and have your thoughts invaded by Birkenstocks, hacky sacks, and white-boy dreadlocks? 

Evidence: