I just felt it in the air. It’s a warm fuzzy feeling in that glob of fat my skull houses, otherwise known as a brain. This warm fuzzy feeling reminds me to check in on the label that consistently provides me with warm fuzzy music: Labrador. They just signed a Stockholm duo, The Sound of Arrows, who dress as if they’re living on a polygamist ranch in Texas and sound like The Avalanches mixing Placebo. I look forward to hearing more from these pleasantly pastel pals when their 9-song EP is out in May.
Martina Topley Bird
I was surprised to find these tracks in my in-box. They’re quite the weekend treat. As you might imagine I spend a fair amount of time scouring the web for new music and I haven’t heard a peep from the Independiente label since DeeJay Punk-Roc’s ’98 release of Chicken Eye. Obviously I’m not listening closely enough. They’re Travis’ UK label. OK, so I’ve got some catching up to do. And besides the occasional David Holmes or Diplo track she sings on, I haven’t spent quality time with Ms. Topley-Bird. That’s gonna change too. Today. String theorists searching for other dimensions just may find what they’re looking for if they’d get strung out on some MTB. Topley-Bird’s voice carries me to other worlds, worlds I first discovered listening to Tricky’s Maxinquaye where she played the beautifully haunting foil to his gravelly trip-hop hero. Topley-Bird herself is off on her own inter-genre exploration with co-pilot/producer Dangermouse. Whether it’s the dusty after hours slow-mo of “Valentine,” the playfully seductive “Carnies,” or this bumpin’ club remix of “Poison” Martina Topley Bird’s buttery-rich voice easily lilts your soul enough to keep you just on this side of an out of body experience.
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Hey, I’m only a week late on the new Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Their last record was my favorite-album-that-took-me-a-year-to-listen-to. The CD kept getting shuffled to the bottom of my ‘listen to’ stack. Their name haunted me. I just couldn’t let go of a band called SSLYBY. To this day I still throw up a little in my mouth when I think of how much joy I missed by not having SSLYBY in my life sooner. From what I’ve heard, album number two from the Show Me State’s favorite indie sons, keeps the charming pop meter cranked up to eleven. Nothing groundbreaking except to say that their sophomore album is anything but sophomoric. New album and new tour NOW.
Think I Wanna Die [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]
Eerie
Eerie is one man, Eric Obo, who splits his time between Sweden and St. Helier, Jersey in England’s Channel Islands, who’s gathered his friends to create an intimate recording. His self-titled EP, offered here in its entirety courtesy of the generous Komakino label, is what I like to call whispercore at its finest. It opens with a straight forward acoustic track, a country-western Elliott Smith type thing, with just a hint of distortion swelling in late in the song. “In the Twinkle of an Eye” is about as upbeat as you can expect from Eerie, and equally as noisy. Which isn’t much. Obo’s languid vocals linger below sliding chords and gauzy guitars. Here his voice takes on a new wave air which adds an interesting dimension to the track. At the bridge he slows the pace and turns up the distortion. Coupled with this heat wave we’re experiencing out here in lower California Eerie has loosened my bones and I find myself melting into my chair…Ladies and gentlemen we’re slowly diving into space…
The Mary Onettes Head to USA + MP3
Rae Davis
I so need this right now. Lately my brain has been swelling at the seams as I work through my first year of teaching (in the face of pending budget cuts that may very well force me into retirement decades too soon), grading (English teachers do too much), and, the really hard part: snowboarding, skateboarding, biking, legoing, and birthday-partying with my kids. Just as I’m about to lie down to sleep (quick usage lesson) I came across this chilly gem. How chill is it you ask? As chill as a stay-cold pillow my friend Mitch talks about developing. I’m gonna cozy up to these beats and deep, bone-shaking bass plucks, and pass out. Like this photo of Mr. Davis himself. You’re about to be schooled in the ways of quality downtempo and quality down time courtesy of this up and coming Texan.
Matthew Dear
Even if you’ve only listened to my radio show a handful of times, chances are you’ve heard me play Matthew Dear. His more immediate songs (the ones offered here are such examples) have chameleon-like qualities. They fit so well next to other electronic songs, obviously, but they also segue well with pop songs, new wave tracks, especially the darker ones (like Joy Division), and well, just about any other track I throw them up against. Ironically, Dear’s lackadaisical vocal delivery lends a populist air to his minimalist-techno tracks (it’s a warmer version of Kraftwerk’s robotic vocals) and with every release he gets deliciously close to busting out a crossover hit. When it comes right down to it, I just dig this stuff. Plus, his albums are easily accessible in the KUCI music library, just over my left shoulder, which saves my show from ever embarrassing bouts of dead air.
The Black Hollies
Here’s a little something I’ve been playing on my radio show for the past few weeks. I really wish more bands did the neo-psychedelic sound. It’s a sound I’m quite fond of, a sound that I felt I found on my own when I was fourteen years old, old enough finally to ride my bike (uphill both ways!) to Camel Records or Music Market to dig through rows of records searching for The Three O’Clock albums that came out before Sixteen Tambourines, a record I heard in the back of a friend’s van heading south on Pacific Coast Highway on our way to a church dance in Newport Beach. And while The Black Hollies sound more like The Seeds than The Three O’Clock, I dig their way-back sound. As you can tell it takes me way back to when the Sixties were twenty years past, not forty.
Vanilla Swingers
It was my daughter’s birthday yesterday and the major festivities happen today, so the in-laws are in town (they just walked in the door) and my hosting and fathering skills are required, but I don’t want to short change the ‘hive or this band. Lucky for me, Anne and Miles of Vanilla Swingers just dropped these tracks of gold into our suggestion box yesterday, saving me the trouble of digging through piles of mail, electronic and snail. While their name rings oxymoronic (I imagine swingers to be more of a Rocky Road or Chocolate Fudge Ripple variety) there’s nothing contradictory about Vanilla Swingers’ music. Moody, electronic tracks are the backdrop for hushed boy/girl vocals telling the story of two lovers who run away to London then travel back in time. “I’ll Stay Next to You” epitomizes Vanilla Swingers’ cinematic themes and sound, while “Danger” sounds as if the Pet Shop Boys slowed things down to about 90 bpm and were fronted by a gorgeous, brunette chanteuse. Oh yes, despite their name Vanilla Swingers sound very brunette, the color of my desire.
Honey Claws
As most of the music world heads to Austin, Texas this week for the annual South By South West music festival I’m stuck here in my front bedroom doing the virtual bar crawl hunting for something new to listen to and re-living past SXSWs. Honey Claws is just the sort of thing I’d hope to run into at 1 A.M. my feet weary from the walking, my head hurting from all the rocking, but these grooves would buoy me up for another couple hours. These two tracks sound a bit like Nine Inch Nails tempered and mellowed through Beck’s beatbox and microphone. The rest of the album will take you on a wild bounce deep into the heart of Austin’s freak-hop-tronic scene. Sure, that may just be the Honey Claws’ garage but bigger things have blossomed from humbler origins.
SXSW showcase: Wednesday night @ 115 Club.