Can you really fall in love at first sight, or is it just infatuation? Romeo thought he was in love when he first saw Juliet: “Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” I’m feeling a little loopy myself after hearing “S.O.S.” from San Francisco’s LoveLikeFire. The song blows open like a track from Bossanova, or Trompe Le Monde, then settles into a nice Cure-esque riff (“A Forest?”) and finally into a breathtaking chorus where singer Ann Yu sounds like a more forceful Siouxsie. I love LoveLikeFire like I love all of the above. No, I know it’s just infatuation. I don’t have a long relationship with LoveLikeFire. I haven’t put in hours and hours of intense listening. I haven’t dreamt or loved along with their music. It sure feels like love though. Call it what you will; I’m going to let myself wallow in the butterflies I get from LoveLikeFire.
Licorice Roots
Let me preface Licorice Roots by saying they’re an acquired taste. I admit I almost didn’t last twenty seconds into their record. Their wobbly, off-kilter sound knocked me off balance at first. At first. But I held strong and as soon as I ventured four tracks deep, their song “Hey There Little Love” saved the CD from certain eject-death. I learned to appreciate Licorice Roots for their peculiar low-fi-ness. It’s as if The Seeds were playing underwater, with a sprinkle of attitude courtesy of Ween. My swimming trunks are on and I’m in mid-cannonball, ready to take the Licorice Roots plunge! P.S. If the vocals are a bit much for you, check out the title track “Caves of the Sun.” It’d make a great soundtrack to a SpongeBob SquarePants Spaghetti Western.
Artanker Convoy
The best way to describe Artanker Convoy is downtempo funk jams. Slowed-down grooves that go on and on as if the earth’s rpm’s have dropped down a notch and no one’s in a hurry to get anywhere or do anything but c.h.i.l.l. An air of improvisation takes center stage as each member of this Brooklyn sextet lays down their perspective track, often tinged with the music they’ve been listening to lately whether it’s east Asian dub, Nashville soul, jazz, Bowie or The James Gang. Their new album (pictured), out now, features a DVD with videos of live performances, animations, and abstract op-art by art collective MUX, who frequently perform live with the band. Most of the MP3s here are unreleased demos, but still offer a good idea of what Artanker Convoy is all about. As a point of band history, Arthur (aka Artanker), drums and percussion, used to rock out in the early ’90s with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, in the Jinx Clambake Explosion. Drop that bit of knowledge at your next soiree for major indie-cred points.
Ryan Ferguson
Alright, I’m super-geeked for this one. “Only Trying To Help,” Ryan Ferguson’s first solo album is out in just about a month, August 21st, on Better Looking Records. Ferguson continues to shape his songs around the acoustic guitar, but he fills in the surrounding space with plenty of electric guitars, piano and xylophone, fully fleshing out tracks. Compared to his more stripped down EP (which is still available in its entirety below), Ferguson had the time and the room to see his songs through and add the proverbial bells and whistles. The three tracks offered here are just the beginning of his spot-on songwriting. His attention to hooks paired with an intensity, just this side of his No Knife days, make for an entirely re-listenable record. “Only Trying To Help” is what “pop-punk” should be.
Remission [MP3, 4.5MB, 192kbps]
X’s and O’s [MP3, 3.9MB, 192kbps]
Kill My Confidence [MP3, 4.5MB, 192kbps]
A Summertime Playlist
Calvin Harris
Three song titles from I Created Disco, the debut long-player from Scotland’s Calvin Harris, succinctly sum up the sound of the album: Electro Man-Making Merry At My Place-Disco Heat. Drop this track during any ol’ get-together at your pad and you’ll have the place bumping, friends, enemies!, making merry to the thumpin’ bass-line. Don’t take the tongue-in-cheek title literally. What Calvin Harris has created is disco in his own image: bedroom producer of the YouTube generation, behind his Amiga computer, making beats & riffs like it was 1984, the year of his birth.
General Elektriks
This gem’s been on the back burner for two years! Ouch. I started a post on General Elektriks back in August of 2005, the year his debut album came out. I remember the label pulled the MP3s, and since we like to play nicely with others, I pulled the review (crying, all the while, on the inside, gettin’ all emo). Since then, Quannum has partnered with a solid digital distributor, ioda promonet, and the goods are back! This is such a great album. French-Brit, and current resident of Berkeley, CA, RV Salters, is General Elektriks, a man with an impressive quiver of vintage keyboards and the playing skills to go along with it. Smooth ‘n’ easy grooves made for lazy summer afternoons. Quantic said it best, “Like the Beatles in a pub brawl with the Neptunes.” And as a bonus, plenty of the Quannum crew make guest appearances on the album. Two-years-old, but packaged with stay-fresh beats. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Looks like General Elektriks will strike again early next year. He’s been busy with his other project Honeycut.
Via Audio
I so don’t want to repeat the stories of: “this-indie-rock-star-found-the-band” and “this-cool-producer-dude-recorded-their-album.” Sure, they helped Via Audio gain some traction and a bit of attention, but the story’s a year old and it’ll continue to be regurgitated in the future as the music media re-hash the band’s one sheet (not always a bad idea—sometimes it’s late and you just want to be in bed and you can’t think of anything to write about a really cool band and whew! the publicist wrote something decent you can borrow…). OK, here’s what you’re in for: sweet boy/girl vocals over a relentless tempo, some nice fuzzy guitar tones, sparkling tones for the chorus, then a big rockin’ bridge into chorus with echoing vocoder. Repeat chorus. Oh thank you Via Audio for repeating the chorus again and again. It drives me wild. RIYL: mature electro-gum pop by goofy/cute, thrift-shopping Brooklyn quartets.
George Sarah
It’s been almost four years since I had George Sarah and his string trio on my KUCI show. And just about as long since he’s released a proper album. He’s back again tonight on the program, this time as a guest DJ and I look forward to catching up with him. I do know he’s been hard at work scoring music for, and placing his music in, television and film. One listen and you’ll hear why his work is sought after. Sarah’s downtempo beats and synth work flow in and around gorgeous strings of all shapes and sizes. He calls it Electronic Chamber music. I call it a super-smooth-chill-explosion. Cool down your hot summer head with some George Sarah swimming between your ears.
The Budos Band
My 10-year-old son plays the clarinet in his school orchestra. His teacher offered a weekly jazz band class, in which my son, disappointing his old man, chose not to participate. This summer I plan on feeding him some heavy doses of The Budos Band, regaling him with stories of their after-school jazz ensemble, and how it lead the boys across the East River, via late night ferry rides, to sneak into Antibalas, Sugarman Three and Fela Kuti shows. Those illicit escapades helped form the Afro-Soul roots of The Budos Band. No son, it’s not exactly Harry Potter but, man, “Ride Or Die” would sure make a great soundtrack to those Lego James Bond videos you’re always watching on YouTube kid.