San Francisco experimental sound posse who create very brilliant haunted soundscapes, perfect for moody film scores and a certain sense of isolation. Owing a lot to Brian Eno, but still managing to claim their own sound. Favorite track: “Gomez Gomez.”
Tegan and Sara
So, like, Tegan and Sara are these mildly punky twin sisters from Vancouver (I even read somewhere that theyíre lesbians!) drinking, cursing, and bickering their way through their mid-20s, or something like that. Whatever. Like most Canadians, Tegan and Sara rock out when they need to, slow it down the same way, and have entire albums filled with songs reflecting the requisite angst and confusion brought on by being or doing some or all of those things listed in the first sentence.
Pixies
I have a lot to be thankful for, including two incredible live music experiences in one week: The wonderful Arcade Fire last Thursday at the Magic Stick, and a reunited, rejuvenated Pixies at the lovely State Theater in downtown Detroit. A bit of backstory, the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa/Come on Pilgrim is one of the first compact discs I bought in The Great Format Switch of 1988 and has had more front-to-back spins than any other CD I own. Yet, for a number of reasons, I never had the chance to see the Pixies play live until the other night. Let’s just say, they bought me a soda, they bought me a soda and tried to molest me in the parking lot…yep, yep yep! They were so tight (Dave Lovering was playing drums like it was his last chance on earth), no one was holding back, and they played for two solid hours and hit every single song on my wish list. Joe and I tried hard afterwards to think of anything else we would have had them play and all we could come up with were B-sides and agreed that was way too greedy of us. So that backstory now has a happy ending. Merry Thanksgiving everyone!
From Bubblegum to Sky
You’d think Memphis, with its extensive musical history, would get some decent bands coming through on tour. Nope. From Bubblegum to Sky, aka Mario Hernandez, is not coming anywhere near Memphis, as they’re playing Athens, GA tonight. They play a bouncing, harmonizing, and energizing pop, proof that good pop is not limited to the influences of the ’60s and ’80s — there’s a whole decade in between! Somebody in Athens, please go see From Bubblegum to Sky tonight. Let me know how it goes.
Love of Everything
Here’s some off-the-cuff, discordant pop, indebted to the likes of Daniel Johnston. Bobby Burg, recording as Love of Everything, writes and records music with the same healthy disrespect for the songwriting and recording process. Instead of striving for perfection, getting lost in the details, he seemingly gets his ideas and emotions out quick, without much thought. You may be tempted to write Burg off with just an obligatory listen, but with time you discover this boy’s got soul.
The Transmissionary Six
The Transmissionary Six’s arresting, gravel road narratives draw their power from Paul Austin’s measured licks and found-sound textures, and find life in Terri Moeller’s whispery twang of a voice. Each song packs such wonderful snapshot lyrics, it’s hard to pick favorites. But, given the season, you gotta like the opener to “Happy Landings”: “Put a wishbone in the window, dangle it on a string…”
Kelley Stoltz
I’m a sucker for bedroom recordings and Kelley Stoltz has certainly raised my lo-fi expectations. Unable to settle with any one sound, Stoltz wanders from spaced-out, folk songs, to downtempo Nick Drake moments, to Theremin-tinged psychedelia. Add to this his solo interpretations of classic Echo & The Bunnymen songs and it’s as plain as the nose on your face that you’ve been missing something. This may be your first taste of Kelley Stoltz, but I’d wager it ain’t your last.
Kawaii
So while I’m listening to Kawaii, my better half asked (or rather accused), “Are you listening to ’80s music?” I could only reply, “No, it’s Kawaii.” Sure Kawaii may take their name too seriously — “kawaii” is Japanese for “cute” — but don’t confuse them with the other ’80s electronic imitators (good and bad) out there. The keyboards, the boy/girl vocals…it’s all tinged with the influence of Esquivel, the master pop hipster, as heard in the fluttering electronic samba of “Friends Make You Lonely.”
Red Eyed Legends
Here’s a sure-fire invitation to hatemail: My world would be just fine without the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and other New York scenesters that would do your biology homework for you if you paid them enough but couldn’t share an unironic moment if the presidency of these United States depended on it. That’s why it’s entirely illogical for me to like this faux-Brit pinball dance of a song from Red Eyed Legends as much as I do. Maybe it’s their Midwestern roots that make their post-no wave head-jerking sound so free of pretense even though they’re trying so damned hard to be pretentious. If there’s any musical lesson to be learned from the recent election it’s that we New Yorkers are way out of touch — it’s the middle of America that shapes our collective conscious, so listen up.
Limbeck
I was one of those kids who got beat up during recess at elementary school because I knew all of the state capitals by heart and told everyone what they were, in order. Limbeck are like that, too. Their pop is jangly (there’s that word again) and fresh, their subject matter is late-teens and early-twenties heartbreak/confusion, and their knowledge of geography is absolutely impeccable.