Right near the top of my list of “Reasons to Love Postal Service” is that they disposed of the pedantic audiophilia that torments many a knob-twister and opted for the red-blooded choice: to make songs. Climber have taken notice. The Portland, Oregon group holed themselves up for two years to refine a sound steeped in the boutique ambience of post-electronica pop and informed by the rainy-day-every-day melancholy of Radiohead (the similarities are almost too close…almost) and the aforementioned Seattle side project. Officially, these tracks are demos. Sonically, they’re a blissful walk down a bittersweet path.
Gotye
Gotye is Aussie one-man band Wally De Backer who, like his fellow countrymen The Avalanches, humanizes bedroom beats, quirky samples, and the odd live instrument and weaves them into epic pop structures. I guess it’s summer down under, which would explain the decidedly upbeat tone of these preview tracks from his forthcoming LP.
Numbers
NPR a few months back had a big piece on Mr. Moog, you know, the electronics wizard who a million bands owe a great deal of thanks to for his wonderous synthesizers, keyboards, and other musical instruments, if we can call them instruments. Turns out it’s pronounced Moog as in “toad”, not as in “moo.” Numbers, the band, are also indebted to Mr. Moog. This San Fran outfit churns out catchy tunes driven by pulsating keyboards, with a quirkiness that can be better understood by imagining Kraftwerk coming of age in the City by the Bay, where a bit of eccentricity is required by city ordinance.
Ladytron
If Ladytron had gone to my high school, they would have been those ultra-stylish new wavers who never went to class and never associated with the decidedly less-stylish new wavers like me. So, I should have written them off as some aloof, unironic Human League tribute band just to make myself feel better. But the fact is, they’re more than that and even if they weren’t, we’re talking Dare-era Human League and, frankly, you could do a lot worse… If you can’t tell, I’m fighting back a bit of a crush and not just on the ladies of Ladytron, Helen and Mira, but the whole lot of them. Their latest, Witching Hour, features a lot more guitar than ever before, which is a welcome expansion to their sound. That said, I will always be a sucker for their soaring synths as showcased on the monster single, “Destroy Everything You Touch.” The video is nice, too. See what I’m saying, though? They’re ice queens/kings, even they admit it.
Laika
I’m taking the lazy way out today. But it’s a damn fine band, so that shouldn’t really matter. I spent the weekend in Waveland, Mississippi, helping with the relief effort there after Hurricane Katrina. Having seen the devastation in person, it’s still unbelieveable to me. So today’s offering of Laika provides both comfort and ease, two attributes that actually apply to the music itself. Margaret Fiedler and Guy Fixsen have been creating quite complicated music that somehow sounds so purposeful and, well, comfortable with an almost arrogant air of ease. “Sugar Daddy” and “Uneasy” are two of my personal faves.
Clue to Kalo
You know that expression “the cobbler’s children have no shoes”? That’s kinda been the story of my household on the digital music front…until yesterday, when the Bose Sound Dock and my wife’s silver iPod Mini showed up on our doorstep. I don’t know who was more excited, her or me, but let’s just say I already had a 125-song playlist ready to for the occasion. The pulsing strains of Clue to Kalo’s “Empty Save the Oxygen” were the first to emerge from the Sound Dock. Velia’s jaw dropped as she turned to me and said, “This sounds amazing.” I’m sure she was talking about the speakers but she was right on both counts.
Brokeback
Brokeback — a.k.a. Douglas McCombs from Tortoise and Eleventh Day Dream, and a few friends — offers dreamy release in this lovely track. Let’s see, how many soft and cushy adjectives can be piled up on “Name’s Winston…”? Ethereal, soothing, idyllic, pensive. There’s four, at least.
Kingfisherg
Kingfisherg is from Liege, Belgium, and is on Carte Postal Records. Now you know as much as I do about Kingfisherg. But with electronic music this enchanting, that’s really all you need to know. You see, at my new job, I’m on the other side of a raspberry-colored cubicle wall from a woman who listens to easy listening that frankly BLASTS from the radio on her desk. No, it’s not actually that loud, but I cannot think while being forced to listen to this music. Fortunately for me, I can put on my headphones and listen to Kingfisherg’s brand of easy listening.
Build Buildings
Sometimes I can only explain my bias for a certain artist at a certain moment by blaming the weather. Build Buildings to me is autumnesque in its flickering warmth. Tape glitches and synth chirps swirl around you like cool fog on a country road, with moments of bright melody and humanity bursting through the periphery like orange, red, and yellow leaves. Whether or not you buy the meteorological analogy, you have to admit Ben Tweel’s open-structured compositions are mature beyond the age of his laptop.
My Enemy
The band claims to know all your secrets. Their label says My Enemy will kill you with poison. A wolf in sheep’s clothing? Harmless? Find out for yourself. Recommended if you’re a fan of imagining Múm up all night smoking crack…well, okay, maybe Múm after a couple Diet Cokes.