CUT COPY FREE YOUR MIND

CUT COPY
WHITE DENIM
FREE YOUR MIND
CORSICANA LEMONADE
LOMA VISTA / REPUBLIC
DOWNTOWN
Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. While the two
summers of love were birthed from burdening times, Vietnam and 10
years of Thatcher’s reign, they were one hell of a party: Unprecedented
explosions of youth culture which tore down the walls of perception
through communal elation and celebration. Cut Copy’s Free Your Mind
creates a fantasy of the next youth revolution, binding the two epochs
without the negative baggage. An event told in three dimensions. The
embryonic stage of Free Your Mind saw frontman Dan Whitford take a
new approach to songwriting, roughly sketching a song per day for a 4
month period before presenting the fruits to the band and realizing their
full potential together. While the album’s themes are at the foreground of
the completed work, it was never intended as a concept record; rather
ideas buried deep beneath the mind’s eye, unlocked by the collective consciousness of Whitford, Tim Hoey, Ben Browning and Mitchell Scott. Unity
in effect. When it came time to properly lay Free Your Mind down, the
band kept things in house, but utilized wizard Dave Fridmann for the mix
– a perfect choice given his long tenure with psychedelic masterminds The
Flaming Lips and, more recently, Tame Impala. It’s a trip worth taking.
Corsicana Lemonade puts White Denim’s freewheeling stage ethos
to wax and cements their position as a quintessential, unique
American rock band. Featuring production on two songs and a full
mix from iconic songwriter Jeff Tweedy, it’s a revelation — merging
White Denim’s manic live virtuosity into a rollicking ten-song mission
statement. The Austin, TX four-piece is no stranger to mixing crunchy
punk energy, scorched psychedelia, Southern rock and knotty funk,
but Corsicana Lemonade, the band’s fifth studio album, naturally
covers so many bases that it plays like the greatest lost mixtape you
could find on your dashboard during a hot summer afternoon.
Corsicana Lemonade’s songs feel at home with the skuzzy rawness
of contemporaries like The Black Keys or Jack White and the
Americana experimentalism of Wilco, while the band cites the classic rock shuffles of Thin Lizzy and The Allman Brothers instrumental
ecstasy as primary influences. Catch the band on tour with Tame
Impala this fall.
NOVEMBER
2013
LEAGUES
MASON JENNINGS
HAPPY JAWBONE FAMILY BAND
YOU BELONG HERE
ALWAYS BEEN
HAPPY JAWBONE FAMILY BAND
BUFALOTONE RECORDS
THIRTY TIGERS
MEXICAN SUMMER
Some things in life are built by coincidence, some by hard work,
others by a sheer set of circumstances – not exactly random, but
not contrived, either – that lead us to a place of pure synchronicity. To art, maybe. Nashville’s Leagues (comprising singer / songwriter Thad Cockrell, guitarist Tyler Burkum and drummer Jeremy
Lutito) might not credit one over the other in terms of which could
best explain how they, deep into their careers and different paths,
were able to drop it all at this very moment to make music they’d
never quite played before but never sounded so right. Leagues is
infectious. The ten tracks that make up their forthcoming January
debut, You Belong Here, encourage both dancing and introspection, and show a group of men leaving behind any preconceived
notions or expectations but never their innate musicianship or love
for the craft of songwriting.
Before setting to work on his latest album, Mason Jennings was looking for a new approach to writing. At the advice of a friend, the
Minnesota-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist holed up in
the back room of his wood-nestled cabin studio with just a guitar, electric piano, bookshelf, notebook, tape recorder, and one 90-minute cassette—then wrote all winter long. Emerging with the notebook and tape
full of about 30 new songs, Jennings decided to skip his standard
approach of self-recording and called on producer Bo Ramsey (Greg
Brown, The Pines, Iris DeMent), as well as a wish-list-plucked lineup of
guest musicians that includes DeMent and Neil Young drummer Chad
Cromwell. Although Jennings identifies “Wilderness” the centerpiece,
the album takes on a far brighter mood with tracks like the playfully flirty, classically folky “Rainboots,” the rollicking and jamboree-ready
“Witness,” and the album-closing, defiantly romantic “Just Try,” a
ukulele-centered track. “Patti and Robert” – inspired by Patti Smith’s
memoir, Just Kids – is also a stunner. But even in its darker moments—
such as “Number of the Sun,” a sorrowful serenade to a lost friend—
Always Been has a gently restorative power.
Happy Jawbone Family Band – Happy Jawbone Family Band
The Happy Jawbone Family Band recorded this new, self-titled
album with Jarvis Taverniere (Woods, Meneguar, producer of
many a great record over the last few years), and he’s shown how
to open up their sound without sacrificing the bouts of whimsy and
peculiar emotions that arose from previous efforts. The band’s new
material met the challenge as well, whether it be songs about finding your father in a dress, trying to resolve the differences between
two people, or boiling down children’s literature into the underlying parables, no matter how crass (their incredible ballad “Hans
Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid” sums up this experience:
“I really fucked up this time”). The immediate charms that “D-R-EA-M-I-N” will lay on you reverberate across the rest of the album,
on which we’re hearing the trippiest moments of the Beatles,
Lindsey Buckingham at the peaks he reached on Fleetwood Mac’s
Tusk, and both poles of American post-punk songwriting royalty,
Camper Van Beethoven at one end and Thinking Fellers Union
Local 282 at the other. Looking for a good time? Look no further.
POLIÇA
OF MONTREAL
SHULAMITH
LOUSY WITH SYLVIANBRIAR
MOM & POP
POLYVINYL
Minneapolis continues its golden run of producing quality talent with the
first project to arrive out the Gayngs collective, the super slick electronic
pop-soul outfit Poliça. Fronted by ice cool vocalist Channy Leanagh who
sang with Gayngs, produced by Ryan Olson and featuring guest vocals
from Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, it’s a who’s who of the current Twin Cities
scene. After collaborating in the studio and live with Gayngs in 2010, it
became apparent that Channy and Ryan should form a group of their
own. “As touring progressed and Channy got more comfortable with the
band and singing the songs, she would reinvent the parts she was doing
in brilliant ways. It made me want to see where else she could go”
explains Olson. Ryan’s pop sensibilities and electronic adventurism would
prove to be the perfect vehicle for Channy’s recent growth and evolution
as a vocalist and dynamic experimentalist. In 2011, they began writing
together what would become Poliça’s debut album, Give You The Ghost
– an album that quickly found fans across the globe. Shulamith, Poliça’s
new album, doesn’t go out of its way to fix things that weren’t broke.
“Chain My Name” is a banger and “Vegas” is seductive and violent – like
a synth pop Pixies. Shulamith is smarmy, sexy fun.
The latest album by freak pop maximalists, of montreal, Lousy with
Sylvianbriar was created with a new songwriting approach, a different
recording method, and a fresh group of musicians. Seeking creative inspiration, Kevin Barnes re-located to San Francisco where he spent days soaking
in the strange surroundings and channeling the city’s energy into his writing.
After a very prolific period there, he returned to Athens, GA, and assembled
the cast of musicians to begin the sessions. Barnes eschewed computer
recording — with its pitch correction, limitless effects plug-ins and editing possibilities — and instead, with the help of engineer Drew Vandenberg
(Deerhunter, Toro y Moi), he recorded Lousy with Sylvianbriar in his home
studio on a 24-track tape machine. With no computer tricks to fall back on,
the band could only get out of the recordings what they put into them. Given
the immaculate weirdness of past classics (and wild stage shows that came
with them) this is quite a feat. Like the classic albums that inspired it (Neil
Young, Dylan, The Stones), Lousy with Sylvianbriar is an album to be
explored, to be lived with, to be played very loudly at parties and with eyes
closed, in headphones, alone. A few drinks and mild psychedelics won’t hurt
either. To sum up: It rocks.
NOVEMBER
2013
VERTICAL HORIZON
LEE RANALDO AND THE DUST
TWELVE FOOT NINJA
ECHOES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
LAST NIGHT ON EARTH
SILENT MACHINE
OUTFALL RECORDS
MATADOR
VOLKANIK
Believe it or not Vertical Horizon were among a small group of bands that
were essentially the SST of 2nd wave college rock. Seriously: Back in the
day VH, The Dave Matthews Band, and Jackopeirce paved the way for
the success of Matchbox 20, John Mayer, and Hootie and the Blowfish.
You may snark but these bands did indeed do it the old fashioned way
by playing a ton of gigs, taking advantage of student union programming
budgets, keeping their overhead low, and releasing albums either themselves or through independent labels. They played a lot of record stores,
too. Though they had been at it for a good eight years or so, Vertical
Horizon’s star took off with they finally signed with a major and their
song “Everything You Want” became a radio hit. In the years since
they’ve still continued to play gigs the around the world, have gone back
indie, kept control of their affairs, and somehow convinced RUSH’S NEIL
PEART (A.K.A. “The Greatest Drummer in the World”) to get behind the
kit on a few songs on their most recent album, Echoes of the
Underground. As for the music: It’s rock for the whole family. Take note,
kids: Persistence pays off.
Inspired by time spent trapped in his apartment during Hurricane
Sandy last fall, Lee Ranaldo’s new album with his band The Dust
tackles themes of despair, rage and societal shift. The songs on the
new album, Last Night On Earth, are darker, longer and more
intense than those of its predecessor. In particular, the intertwining
guitar play between Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Alan Licht (Love
Child, Run On, acclaimed solo work) enlivens these beautiful, scary
songs – just check out the epic first single, “Lecce; Leaving.” The
Dust also features the incredible drumming of Steve Shelley (Sonic
Youth) and bass work of Tim Luntzel (who has worked with artists
from Van Dyke Parks to Norah Jones). The rock-solid rhythm section grounds the exploratory, inviting music. “Every time I wait for
the revolution to come,” Ranaldo sings on “Home Chds.” “Every
night I think it’s here and then it’s gone.” Says Ranaldo: “A solo
record works best when you feel like you’re opening a window into
somebody’s life, experiencing the things they’re going through or
thinking about, places they’re seeing, through their eyes. At its
best, you find a universality in it.” Indeed.
The music of Twelve Foot Ninja tells the story of a sole ninja’s mission
to restore balance in a world headed toward a self-inflicted apocalypse. Embodying originality in everything they do, the band describes
their music as a hybrid of genres - alternative rock, dub, metal, electronic, yacht rock, funk and latin among others. The band pushes hard
on the boundaries of musical styles. Twelve Foot Ninja embody originality in everything they do – and when they do something the go all
the way (and then some). Recently they’ve launched a series of comic
books to accompany their music. What’s more, a recent crowd-funding
campaign for a new video smashed previous records. As a result,
Twelve Foot Ninja have sold out shows across their home country
Australia, have over 1 million YouTube views and attracted public
praise from the likes of Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater / Avenged
Sevenfold) and Dino Cazares (Fear Factory) to name but a few… A
growing cult is growing here in the states, too, and new album, Silent
Machine aims to take things over the top. Are they the prog rock WuTang? Maybe… But I’d ask that you guy you know who plays a 5-string
bass. He definitely knows.
ANBERLIN
MARIA TAYLOR
SOMETHING ABOUT KNOWING
DEVOTION
SADDLE CREEK
BIG3 RECORDS
“This record has the spirit of ‘This is how I feel now, and these are all the
elements that brought me here,’” says Maria Taylor of her new album
Something About Knowing. “I listened to my previous records and went
in the studio wanting to take the best elements of each of them… I feel like
I really conquered something on this one.” Something About Knowing’s
spirit of “coming home with confidence” extends from Maria’s personal
and artistic peacefulness to the team she picked to create this album. She
enlisted producer Mike Mogis, an essential creative foil on her first two
records. Her brother Macey Taylor (also of the Mystic Valley Band) played
bass on every song as well as keyboards and piano. And her old high
school music pal Brad Armstrong (13ghosts / The Dexateens) co-wrote,
played on, and recorded two tracks in his garage. One of the most profound influences on Something About Knowing is the newfound joy and
responsibility of being a first-time parent. “I worked on the album in
bursts, when my son was napping,” Maria recalls. “Instead of taking a
shower during those times, I’d run downstairs with the baby monitor and
write and demo up songs.” Vinyl fans take note: The LP is pressed on
translucent teal vinyl and is limited to 500 copies.
Last year, Christian Post-Hardcore titans Anberlin released Vital –
an album that found the band adding new textures to their wellhoned sound. It was a success, too, revered by fans and critics alike.
Feeling that the 11 tracks that made up Vital didn’t quite capture
everything the band wanted to express, Anberlin have returned with
Devotion: Vital Special Edition. Not only has Devotion gained 7
tracks but it includes a live acoustic album from The Music Hall Of
Williamsburg. The Deluxe Edition includes a live DVD of that show
(and a download card for the audio tracks) as well as a 13-song
remix album (which is also available for separate purchase). A vital
purchase for the devoted Anberlin fan… It’s a lot, but no doubt you’ll
find it worth your while.
NOVEMBER
2013
BOARDWALK
GUNGOR
RED FANG
BOARDWALK
I AM MOUNTAIN
WHALES AND LEECHES
STONES THROW
HITHER & YON RECORDS
RELAPSE
Summer of 2012: Boardwalk duo Mike Edge and Amber Quintero
were introduced by mutual friends in Los Angeles. Although both were
involved in different musical projects (Mike as a producer and musician;
Amber an in-demand singer), an undeniable creative chemistry made
itself present between the two within a short time of introduction. This
chemistry sparked a curiosity that could only be satiated by a collaboration of minds. The creative compatibility test came one day on an
impromptu road trip. The elements involved were basic yet obligatory:
A guy, a girl, a car, the open road. The end result was “I’m Not Myself,”
their first song written together. The title itself is indicative of Mike and
Amber’s altered state of being after that ride. The road trip was over,
but the true journey was underway. Focused on creating a sound that
was their own, Mike sourced and built the gear that was requisite in
capturing the essence of their sound. Their exploration of tracking analog sounds and vocal melodies over dreamy instrumental layers continued until an album of songs was complete. Once the needle hits the
record, your journey with Boardwalk’s will have just begun.
Gungor uses his skills as an accomplished multi- instrumentalist, arranger
and producer on I Am Mountain to kick off a journey of stories told;
some personal, some allegorical, but all honest and forthright. “There’s
that sense of searching, wandering and loss within all these songs,”
Gungor says. “On the other side of that, there’s a rebirth of hope and life
within that.” Gungor’s path of creative rediscovery allows the tracks on I
Am Mountain to exist in their own needs, be it the dark east/west musical dichotomy of “The Beat of Her Heart” or the melodic hooks of “Long
Way Off,” from the galloping synths of “God And Country” to the
descent from beauty into deconstruction in “Upside Down.” Gungor
shares vocalizations with his wife Lisa and, together, they interact, counter-play and underscore each song’s arc with precision and versatility, be
it the plaintive whisper of “Yesternite,” the lost-then-found effect choices
made on “Wandering” and ‘70s-era evocation on the chorus of “Let It
Go”. In this age of musical homogeneity, such diversity might be a danger sign. But Gungor’s deft manipulation of such moments piques interest
not only in the immediacy of an individual song, but throughout the
album’s listening experience as a whole.
The Portland, Oregon’s Red Fang have always been masters of the
hard rock hook and with Whales And Leeches they deliver 11
killer, instantly classic anthems. For Whales And Leeches, the
band worked producer Chris Funk (Decemberists) and mixer Vance
Powell (White Stripes, Raconteurs, Kings of Leon). This same team
worked on Red Fang’s last album, Murder the Mountains, which
Alternative Press magazine hailed as “a near masterpiece of tangled tar pit riffs and whisky-and-bong-hit vocals”. Whales And
Leeches sees Red Fang further maturing into top-notch songwriters
and musicians. With the help of guests Mike Scheidt (Yob) and Pall
Jenkins (The Black Heart Procession), Whales And Leeches further
propels Red Fang into the upper stratosphere of hard rock and
metal elite. Beyond the standard CD, LP and digital formats,
Whales And Leeches will be available in Deluxe CD and Deluxe
Double Vinyl editions which will feature two bonus tracks, expanded packaging, and a 3-D lenticular moving cover of the stunning
artwork.
MATT PRYOR
BLACK HEARTED BROTHER
STARS ARE OUR HOME
WRIST SLITTER
SLUMBERLAND RECORDS
RORY RECORDS/EQUAL VISION RECORDS
Stars Are Our Home, the debut from Black Hearted Brother, boasts the
craftsmanship of some impressive resumes: Neil Halstead, previously an
influential member of Slowdive and Mojave 3; Mark Van Hoen, an original member of Seefeel; and Nick Holton, the main mover behind Holton’s
Opulent Oog and a member of Coley Park. Stars Are Our Home mirrors the similar experimental nature of Halstead’s previous work - he
describes the album as, ‘’a lot of very long and indulgent space rawk.’‘
But Halstead says there’s more to it: ‘’The idea was to just make a record
that was in some ways ‘unedited.’ To not worry about a particular sound
or style, but to just go with the flow. We all make quite focused records
individually so, as Mark says, it’s our ‘guilty pleasures’ album.’‘ Stars Are
Our Home is full of unexpected twists and turns that drench the listener
in noise and then flip back to acoustic melody, and offers surprises with
lyrics that sometimes reference romance and other times UFO abduction.
Although unexpected and surprising, the experimental nature of the
album never forgets the importance of pop with tracks like, ‘’Take Heart,’‘
‘’I’m Back,’‘ and the closing track, ‘’Look Back Here They Come.’‘ Excited?
You should be.
In March of 2012, Matt Pryor decided to give up music for good. After
seventeen years of writing, recording, and touring with a handful of
bands—including emo ambassadors the Get Up Kids and folk-tinged
indie troubadours the New Amsterdams—Pryor spent a few months
working on a friend’s organic farm, then serving sandwiches from a food
truck, but these he discovered, didn’t scratch any of his itches. Pryor’s “aha!” moment happened as he readied a resume. “I realized, on paper, it
looked like I hadn’t had a job since 1998 when, in fact, I had been running several successful companies for the last fifteen years.” It was this
sense of satisfaction that lead to Wrist Slitter, Pryor’s third solo record
and one that stands apart from his others. The title track speaks the
album’s driving theme specifically. It’s acknowledging the fact that I can
go to a dark place sometimes, but that it’s never as bad as it seems.” It
was this “dark place” that drove Pryor to turn his back on music for
good. Six months later, though, he’s ready to release two new records—
a turnaround he attributes to exploring a world apart from performing
music. At the end, though, he found that he was where he needed to be
all along.
NOVEMBER
2013
THE DISMEMBERMENT PLAN
LINDSEY STIRLING
UNCANNEY VALLEY
LINDSEY STIRLING
TIM KASHER
ADULT FILM
PARTISAN
ATOM FACTORY
SADDLE CREEK
In 2003, if you told the members of The Dismemberment Plan that ten
years later they would not only be releasing a new album, but their best
record to date, there’s no way they would have believed you. Since forming in Washington, D.C. in 1993, the band has released four highly
acclaimed full-lengths, toured the world many times over, and become
one of the most well respected—and indefinable—acts in indie rock. But
the past decade has seen their members exploring other areas both inside
and outside of music, and even embracing adulthood. However, along
the way something funny happened: They reunited three years ago to
play some shows to support the reissue of 1999’s Emergency & I, and
realized their most potent magic had yet to be bottled. Uncanney Valley
was recorded by longtime collaborator J. Robbins (Jawbreaker, The
Promise Ring) at his Baltimore Studio, Magpie Cage and the result is an
album that maintains The Dismemberment Plan’s unique sound while
simultaneously allowing them to open up and expand on the foundation
of their celebrated back catalog. Uncanney Valley does not sound like
it was made by a bunch of 40-year-olds (whatever that means). This is
the sound of a band whose vitality cannot be denied.
There is no-one else like Lindsey Stirling. We are talking about a classically-trained violinist, from Gilbert, Arizona, entering a futuristic world of
big beats and animation – imagine Vanessa Mae leaping through the
pages of a Manga comic with Skrillex in hot pursuit. Her song
‘Crystallize’ was the eighth most-viewed video on YouTube last year, racking up an incredible 63 million views and over 2.5 million subscribers.
She’s now selling out dates across Europe, America, Russia and Asia. Her
debut album has sold 150,000 copies in the US without the backing of a
major label. Stirling’s debut album features twelve original tracks including viral smashes ‘Crystallize’, ‘Shadows’ and ‘Electric Daisy Violin’. She
has created a new musical world where the romance of Celtic folk music
and modern classical meet the infectious energy of dance and electronica. In ‘Elements’ you’ll hear rhythm programming and “wub-wub” bass
recalling dubstep giants Skream or Benga, while ‘Zi-Zi’s Journey’ and
‘Spontaneous Me’ feature all the thrilling, arpeggio build-ups of trance.
On stage, Stirling moves with the grace of a ballerina but works the
crowd into a frenzy, “dropping the beat” like some strange, electro-pastoral rave fairy. No wonder Lady Gaga signed her…
Whereas Cursive frontman Tim Kasher’s The Game Of
Monogamy was an orchestral album filled with theatrical
arrangements, Adult Film favors less ornate, equally impactful
instrumentation across its 10 affecting tracks. The album is filled
with variations of Kasher’s signature blend of ruminative
rock/pop, ranging from raucous and barreling (“American Lit,”
“Truly Freaking Out”) to uneasy and undulating (“Where’s Your
Heart Lie,” the dreamy “Lay Down Your Weapons”), from deceptively bright and poppy (“The Willing Cuckold,” “A Raincloud is a
Raincloud”) to tempered and cascading (“You Scare Me To Death,”
“A Lullaby, sort of”). Lyrically, Kasher is at his incisive best, thematically elastic and touching on aging (self-reflection and taking
stock), mortality (one’s own and others’), and relationships of all
kinds.
JONATHAN WILSON
THE SOUNDS
WEEKEND
FANFARE
ARNIOKI RECORDS
DOWNTOWN RECORDS
Like its namesake, it’s easy to look forward to Weekend, the new
album by Swedish indie rockers The Sounds. Sporting an urgency
like that of a band fresh out of the womb, Weekend is the sound
of a band rejuvenated and reborn. For The Sounds, they have been
reborn in a sense… Back to when they first started. “Weekend is
more of a back to basics album,” says Jesper Anderberg (keyboards/guitar). “I was primarily looking for a groove when I started writing this album – a groove based on five members who have
been playing music together for a long time. We weren’t looking to
overthink the song writing, and especially wanted to make it sound
like we just hit the switch on the amps and just started playing the
songs.” From the punky dance rock signature sound of the opening
tracks “Shake Shake Shake” and “Take It The Wrong Way” that
recalls the shuffling exuberance of their groundbreaking debut to
the winsome and shimmery “Hurt the Ones I Love” to the 60s style
rock of “Emperor”, Weekend takes their trademark danceable
indie rock “sound” and expands in different and delectable directions.
With 2011 s critically-lauded Gentle Spirit, audiences worldwide were
introduced to the prodigious talents of singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and unrivaled guitar hero Jonathan Wilson.
Gentle Spirit‘s authentic exploration and modern updating of the “Laurel
Canyon sound” earned it high marks on many year-end lists, including
those of MOJO, Uncut, and The Guardian. The eagerly-awaited follow-up, Fanfare, is an ambitious, epically grandiose rock production
that instantly conjures thoughts of Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean Blue.
Fanfare‘s seven-minute-long opener begins with the sound of baby
chicks being fed through an Echoplex tape delay unit and builds into a
tubular bell-laden, multilayered cinematic poem from the artist meant to
channel the perfect love song through his piano. As a declaration of
intent, it’s a powerful statement. By the second number, “Dear Friend,”
Wilson displays his guitar-slinger side in a mind-crushing six-string duel
with band member Omar Velasco. It’s between these two contrasts – with
a Steinway piano at the center of it all – that Fanfare creates its
widescreen vistas and tremendous gravity. You’ll never want to leave its
orbit.
NOVEMBER
2013
BOY & BEAR
FLYING COLORS
JONWAYNE
HARLEQUIN DREAM
LIVE IN EUROPE
RAP ALBUM ONE
NETTWERK
MASCOT LABEL GROUP
STONES THROW
With their bold and brave new album Harlequin Dream, Boy &
Bear went straight to the number 1 spot in their native Australia.
Lead single, “Southern Sun,” has a powerful urgency, that’s not
unlike the best of Bruce Springsteen or Fleetwood Mac, with a
sprinkling of strings and brass that brings life and color to a track
that bridges the new with the familiar. Harlequin Dream follows
on from the bands debut LP, Moonfire, which sold platinum in
Australia and earned the Sydney five piece an astonishing five
awards in 2011’s ARIA awards, including the coveted group and
best album prizes. “With Moonfire” says singer/ songwriter Dave
Hoskings we were trying so hard to not sound like other bands; it
was such a driving force, trying to find our identity. This time
around we just followed what felt was musical and embraced more
pop structures” Guitarist Killian Gavin feels it’s an “older sounding
record” than their debut. “Sharing some music from the 70s was a
clear decision that we made. What we’ve made feels older and
more rounded than the first record. It’s more pop, less folk”
Flying Colors launched in 2012 following a formation that began
with a simple idea: Virtuoso musicians and a pop singer joining
together to make new-fashioned music the old fashioned way.
Refreshing, classic, old and new, the recordings are saturated with
the many styles, tones and hues of the players who in becoming a
band delivered a unique fusion of vintage craftsmanship and contemporary music. Flying Colors is Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater),
Dave LaRue (Joe Satriani) Neal Morse (Spock s Beard), Casey
McPherson (Alpha Rev), and Steve Morse (Deep Purple). For those
of you that are more visually inclined, the Blu-Ray and DVD release
Live In Europe captures the quintet in Tilberg, Holland performing
at 013 on September 20, 2012. Directed and Edited by Bernhard
Baran (Guns n’ Roses, The Cure, Porcupine Tree), the performance
was filmed with a large array of cameras including cranes, dollies
and GoPros bringing fans a larger-than-life concert experience.
The show presents the entire studio album along with popular
favorites by individual members. Obviously, the album does not
slouch.
Jonwayne came onto the Los Angeles music scene by way of the east
Los Angeles club Low End Theory circa 2008-09, then emerging as the
epicenter of a new generation of hip-hop beat makers: Flying Lotus,
Gaslamp Killer, Nosaj Thing, Kutmah, Daedelus. Fresh out of high
school, Jonwayne jumped in with homemade rap mixtapes and
immersed himself in the scene. “It felt like a golden age,” he says, “it
was very inspiring.”
He first became known as a producer, releasing the instrumental album Bowser (2011) – but it was his over-sized
skill on the mic that caught the attention of Stones Throw’s Peanut Butter
Wolf, who signed him to record an album as an MC. As Jon set to work
on his debut rap project, he let his presence be known with a series of
tapes: Cassette, Cassette 2 and Cassette 3. Each was unplanned, the
releases prompted by Jon’s prolific output. And by this time even
lawyers for the tobacco conglomerate Phillip Morris took notice of
Jonwayne, serving him with a cease & desist notice for a cassette that
looked like a pack of Marlboros.Another looked like a can of coke.
Another like an iPod. Rap Album One, Jonwayne’s debut as an MC,
looks like a Saltine. Deal with it.
PASSAFIRE
LILY & MADELEINE
VINES
LILY & MADELEINE
EASY STAR RECORDS
ASTHMATIC KITTY
Passafire was formed in 2003 by students attending Savannah
College of Art and Design. Throughout the years they have become
a perpetually touring band playing hundreds of shows a year with
bands like 311, Pepper, Rebelution, Matisyahu, Michael Franti, The
Wailers and many more. Lead singer Ted Bowne doesn’t mind the
grueling schedule and adds, “Touring is the best way to keep the
buzz about the band going. What keeps it fun and exciting is the
people we meet and places we get to see. We are in a new city
every day so there’s always something to go see or do. If we didn’t
tour constantly, we wouldn’t be doing as well as we are. That’s a
fact.” Passafire has built their reputation up through relentless touring and a series of studio albums that have upped the ante each
time out with its songwriting, musicianship and production. The
band’s fifth studio album, Vines, is the band’s strongest yet, featuring a super tight set of songs that draw on reggae and alternative
rock in equal measures. Produced by the band and mixed by Paul
Leary (Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Pepper, Meat Puppets).
Written over the course of their summer vacation and recorded in three
days, The Weight of the Globe is a musical snapshot by teenaged sisters Lily and Madeleine Jurkiewicz at a pivotal moment in their lives.
Madeleine’s off to college, Lily will soon follow, and both sisters find
themselves pulled in opposite directions—between a love for the hometown they’ll be leaving behind, and a burgeoning wanderlust. The openendedness of Lily & Madeleine’s songwriting is very much intentional.
They know they’re not the first young people to come of age in Middle
America, or anyplace, and songs like “In the Middle” strive to tell a universal story that could take place a hundred years in the past or a hundred years in the future, anywhere in the world. Each song on The
Weight of the Globe was written as a discrete, self-contained folk-pop
statement, but due to the real-time circumstances of recording it, the EP
holds together like a collection of interconnected short stories. Taken as a
whole, the songs chart a journey from love to disillusionment to heartbreak. The arrangements are no less timeless, with a hint of sweet, classic girl-group pop, but lyrics that cut into the sweetness to reach the
tough, melancholy core of lives in transition.
NOVEMBER
2013
OMAR SOULEYMAN
DEAD LETTER CIRCUS
POLVO
WENU WENU
THE CATALYST FIRE
SIBERIA
RIBBON/DOMINO
THE END RECORDS
MERGE
Omar Souleyman has been updating Syria’s traditional dabke
music since 1996. Souleyman, who grew up in Ra’s al’-Ayn (the
northeastern region of Jazeera) characterizes his dabke (a foot
stomping circle dance which men and women perform together)
style as particularly flexible–”it works with everything.” His sound
consists of phase-shifted keyboard solos with an intensely paired
vocal delivery. Together with keyboardist-composer Rizan Sa’id,
the pair has emerged as a staple of folk-pop, changing the vibe of
weddings throughout the Middle East. To date, the two have issued
more than 500 live-recorded cassette albums. Souleyman’s first
exposure outside the Middle East was on Sublime Frequencies’
2004 “I Remember Syria” and later in 2011 with a remix of Bjork’s
“Crystalline.” In addition, he has also joined up with Caribou and
Damon Albarn of the Gorillaz. After three compilations and a live
album, Wenu Wenu is Omar’s first to be recorded in a studio.
Produced by Kieran Hebden of Four Tet, Souleyman was pleased
with Hebden for capturing him and Sa’id at their purest with very
little overdubbing. Stunning.
Dead Letter Circus is unlike any rock band to emerge in years.
Watching someone on their first listen to alternative breakthroughs
Dead Letter Circus searching to come up with a neat description is
fascinating viewing… “It’s kind of like… no wait, it’s more of a…
Wow, I have no idea what it is, but it’s different…” Part of the
beauty of the soaring, sing-a-long choruses, chiming atmospherics
and delay soaked tones of Dead Letter Circus is their escape from
easy classification via labels or scenes. When Dead Letter Circus
blasted onto Australian airwaves in 2007, their bombastic yet
nuanced take on alternative rock left most observers struggling to
process what they were hearing. It was epic, it oozed confidence,
it was intense and open all at once. It was the debut of a sound so
fresh and unique that it was hard to classify. The Catalyst Fire is
the band’s long-awaited follow up. Comprising of 11 tracks, the
album marks a clear progression of the traditional DLC sound,
while retaining the energy and intensity they are known and loved
for.
During their initial run from 1990-1998, Polvo crafted a sound so fantastically obstinate and so perfectly cockeyed that its DNA is essentially
resistant to mediocrity or repetition. On Siberia, that sound feels more
limber and more aerodynamic than ever. Some of that is owed to a looser approach. “Preparing for In Prism, we labored over that material pretty intensively,” explains founding guitarist Ash Bowie. “A lot of the songs
on this album were not rehearsed much at all. I’d like to think this album
has a few more adventurous moments.” One of those is the spiraling
“Blues Is Loss,” which moves from a dense knot of sound-an impossible
tangle of Bowie’s and Dave Brylawski’s guitars, Steve Popson’s chugging
bass, and Brian Quast’s tumbling percussion to a conclusion that clangs
and peals like church bells. There are the classic-sounding moments, too,
like terrifically herky-jerk album opener “Total Immersion,” which is
grounded in surging bass and a pair of surgically focused guitar lines. An
obvious point of comparison would be to Today’s Active Lifestyles,
released-perhaps not coincidentally-exactly 20 years ago. Siberia is a
record that’s humming with confidence, the sound of a band with nothing
to prove, but proving it anyway.
TRISTEN
LUCIUS
CAVES
WILDERWOMAN
PUPSNAKE RECORDS
MOM&POP
A native of Chicago, Tristen left the confines of the windy city after
graduating from college. She set out for Nashville where she sought
out a more granular, organic music scene. There she grafted influences from music and people she found in the city’s grittier establishments. She soon began recording with the help of friends, and
based on the strength of a 5 song hand packaged EP sold at her
many self booked tour dates and home town gigs, Tristen began to
draw attention from local press and national tastemakers. Paste
named her a “Best of What’s Next” and American Songwriter
praised her music, noting that Tristen’s “strength seems to reside in
her ability to be musically versatile. Utilizing various orchestrations,
Tristen weaves a glistening web of thoughtful and extremely mature
melodies that tremble with undeniable power.” For its part, the
Nashville Scene has described Tristen’s sound as encompassing
“the sweepingly delicate Kate Bush to the 50s pop of Sylvia
Robinson of Mickey & Sylvia fame.” You’ll simply find it wonderful.
Lucius is a triple-threat of vocal harmonies, infectious hooks, and
dance-inducing percussion. Pair those traits with the band’s irresistible live show and it’s easy to see why NPR Music calls Lucius “a
fabulous band playing such infectious pop songs” and Paste hails
the group as “blissful.” Charismatic co-founders and lead vocalists
Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig sing in unison – two voices as one –
uniquely delivering songs with stories told from the same perspective. Multi-instrumentalists Andrew Burri, Peter Lalish, and Dan
Molad round out the stylish, Brooklyn-based quintet... And
Wildewoman is Lucius’ stunning debut, and it somehow mixes girl
group bombast with an impressive – almost camp – hi-fi production
that somehow recalls Jenny Lewis being produced by Esquivel.
Elsewhere, the production is either positively Spartan or revved up
with distorted whiplash. Throughout, though, Wildewoman, is
infectious, strange, and a lot of fun.
NOVEMBER
2013
HOWE GELB
LA LUZ
THE DEVIL MAKES THREE
THE COINCIDENTALIST
IT’S ALIVE
I’M A STRANGER HERE
NEW WEST
HARDLY ART
NEW WEST
The Arizona desert has been a predominant theme and source of inspiration for Howe Gelb, indie rock pioneer and founder of the band
Giant Sand. With The Coincidentalist, Gelb brings together a set of
songs that seem linked, like a novel but effortless stand on their own.
“The Coincidentalist,” says Gelb “is someone who can read the coincidences but who doesn’t try to figure out their meaning. For if one tries
to figure out the meaning it will be lost. The coincidences aren’t there to
figure out but to point the way.” Produced and recorded by Gelb largely in his home base of Tucson, The Coincidentalist is somewhere
between the musician’s 40th and 50th, but don’t ask him how many
records he’s made, because he’s not sure. His band on this record is
made up of guitarist M. Ward, Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and
Giant Sand bassist and all-around co-conspirator Thøger Tetens Lund.
Gelb’s friends, Scottish singer KT Tunstall (whose most recent album
Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon was co-produced by Gelb), Bonnie
Prince Billy (A.K.A. off-center Americana songsmith Will Oldham), violinist Andrew Bird, and pedal steel guitarist John Rauhouse all make
appearances on the album… And, as usual, it’s a revelation.
Seattle’s La Luz recorded their debut EP, Damp Face, in a small
trailer on a hot August day. But barring the inevitable “no-AC-inthe-van” summer tour calamity, La Luz runs cool. Their brand of
coolness isn’t about distance or affect; it’s a mood, and—sue me,
but I’m about to totally rip off Zelda Fitzgerald: Something about
this music vibrates to the dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and
shadows. So yeah, that kind of cool. Last spring, La Luz returned
to that steamy trailer park to record It’s Alive. From the first getpsyched drum roll and eerie chords of “Sure As Spring”, the
dinged-up pop gem that opens the album, the rest moves like a
slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and bending as the terrain shifts. On “What Good Am I?”, the lead vocals, and the swirl
of harmonies that surround it, recall the Spartan haze of Mazzy
Star’s misty-eyed super hit, “Fade Into You.” “It’s Alive” is a jangly
rocker with a spooky refrain, oodles of “ooohs,” and a marauding
narrative that nails down the misty logic of the rest of the album.
Two instrumentals, “Sunstroke” and “Phantom Feelings”, showcase
the band’s beach jam surf chops, and fall perfectly between the
chilled out heartache that surrounds them. Bliss.
Sourcing blues and throwing in fierce fingerpicking guitar, a little
slide, tenor banjo and rocking upright bass, The Devil Makes
Three create a multi-spanned bridge between musical styles. Their
vocal harmonies wind tightly around original songs and breathe
life into favorite covers. It all pours forth from a timeless pulse that
pulls you to the past, flies you to the future and lands you on the
dance floor. TDM3’s travels & travails serve as inspiration for
their 4th album, I’m a Stranger Here, produced by Buddy Miller
& recorded at Dan (Black Keys) Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio
in Nashville. With upright bassist Lucia Turino & guitarist Cooper
McBean, guitarist/singer Pete Bernhard crafted a dozen tunes, part
road songs, part heartbreak songs & part barnburners. While most
bands are propelled from behind by a drummer, TDM3 builds exuberant rhythms from the inside out, wrapping finger-picked strings
& upsurging harmonies around chugging acoustic guitar & bass.
SAINT RICH
CASS MCCOMBS
BEYOND THE DRONE
BIG WHEEL AND OTHER
MERGE
Saint Rich is the musical partnership of Delicate Steve bandmates
Christian Peslak and Steve Marion. Under the name Delicate Steve, Steve
Marion recorded Wondervisions, an instrumental record released by
David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label that entered the world via a glowing New
York Times review. He followed it up with a second, equally heralded
release, Positive Force. With vocal appreciation from many of the indierock world’s beloved bands and constant touring, the band began its own
ascent into the indie pantheon. One day last year, during a pause in near
constant touring for Delicate Steve, Marion began to work on some new
material with Christian Peslak, the group’s guitarist and a musical collaborator of Marion’s since high school. Marion put down his guitar and got
behind the drum kit. Peslak started strumming the opening chords to
“Dreams,” a new song they’d finish within the hour. By the end of the
weekend, neither had left the house. There were seven new songs. And a
new band. They named it Saint Rich. Peslak has provided the rhythmic
guitar bedrock to Marion’s wandering melody lines in Delicate Steve. On
Beyond the Drone, the debut album from Saint Rich, it’s fair to say that
Marion has created the bedrock for Peslak’s wandering. Check it out.
DOMINO
NOVEMBER
2013
Big Wheel and Others is Cass McCombs’ seventh-and-a-half
album and the follow-up to the 2011’s pair of releases Wit’s End
and Humor Risk. It comprises twenty-two songs, but “double album”
implies bloat, prog, and concept — so, let’s stick with “songs.” Big
Wheel and Others is a bundle, a bindle, a hay bale, and an oil
barrel of songs. Some of the genres that are to be found in varying
degrees in the songs on this album are: Road songs, rock songs, folk
songs, blues songs, country songs, rhythm and blues songs, skronk
non-songs, cinema songs, cult songs, poem songs, jams, and ballads
- to use however you wish. But, of course, what’s most important is
that you listen closely and carefully, as McCombs is quite simply one
of the most beguiling and lovely songwriters currently working. To
know his work is to love it. Perhaps you should use this bundle as an
opportunity to make a mixtape to yourself. You’ll thank you for it.