Crazy Pills-Alright (Get The Hell Out Of Dodge)

I could not help myself the minute I got wind of this mp3s. Crazy Pills are a ungodly wonderful retro girl group that formed in Brooklyn not but a few months ago. Thinking the impossible and going for a clean sound for their group, Crazy Pills actually manage to pull it off thanks to, unbelievably, the quality of the sounds they are crafting. "Alright (Get The Hell Out of Dodge)", for instance can be perfectly imagined as something a bunch of kids at a '70s high school prom would be dancing too. The band has a few other retro rocks up on their myspace as well, and will be playing some shows as for all the nice Brooklyn folks, the lucky bastards.

(mp3) Crazy Pills-Alright (Get the Hell Out of Dodge) (via The Great Pumpkin)

Links:

Crazy Pills on Myspace

Video: School Knight-Prom Queen

(via Speaker Snacks)

What would happen if WAVVES decided to stop writing about only skating and getting high, and hadn't cleaned up his sound either? It probably wind up sounding close to what School Knight are doing. A duo from Denver, "Prom Queen" is that same wonderfully blown out lo-fi that has conquered the music scene for years now, a mix of Japandroids fronted by Dylan from Cloud Nothings, infused with a sense of nostagia for your don't-give-a-shit teen years. The simple video of one of the band members working as clerk manages to fit the vibe perfectly, and as some people can tell you, nostagia inducing videos of convience stores are always awesome. The track, along with the band's Rush SK EP will be released very soon on the constantly reliable Bridgetown Records.

(mp3) School Knight-Prom Queen

Links:

Schook Knights on Myspace
Bridgetown Records

Girls-Heartbreaker

One of the best and surprising sets I got from my excursion to Austin City Limits (which will NOT be covered) was catching Girls' set. After only one year they have improved by strides both as a band and live performers, and few things are more enjoyable then having your ears split in half when the distortion kicks in on "Hellhole Ratrace" after a set of quiet guitar songs. So news that they plan to drop a brand new EP was not at all that surprising. Broken Dreams Club will be out on November 22 and promises to expand on Girls' sound with a bunch of new sounds and styles. "Heartbreaker" does nothing to encourage that this might be even remotely true. Instead, another slice of pure early '60s California style pop, with the same wonderful guitar lines and melancholy vocals to boot. Broken Dreams Club may turn out to be another extension of ALBUM, but judging on how well constructed that record was, I think few people will mind.

Heartbreaker by The Creative Intersection

Denver Afterdark Compilation

The Denver Afterdark Compilation is a digital mixtape of, you guessed it, Denver based bands provided by the nice people over at Speaker Snacks and Tome to The Weather Machine. Besides bringing ten brand new songs from the likes of Gauntlet Hair and Woodsman, the ambient themed tunes also premier some rather interesting new bands like Modern Witch and FLASHLIGHTS. This whole thing has a wonderfully eclectic fell to it, jumping from earthy nighttime ambiance to punctual blasts of off-kilter echo induced advent-pop, along with some weird electronic music thrown in as well. The whole compilation is streamable below, and Speaker Snacks was kind to throw in a free download as well. The soundtrack for your next night time party has been sculpted for your pleasure.



Tracklist:
1.) Brittany Gould & Cory Brown: "Nite Chimes For Lucid Lovers"
2.) Modern Witch: "Running"
3.) Hideous Men: "Fantasy Cloak"
4.) Hollagramz: "Magnet Flow"
5.) c.db.sn: "Airport"
6.) FLASHLIGHTS: "Apple Trees"
7.) PeddahBlak: "Make It Funky"
8.) Woodsman: "Balance"
9.) Gauntlet Hair: "All Eyes"
10.) St. Elias: "Welcome To Your Doom"

Download the Denver Afterdark Compilation here

Tough Knuckles-Is It What I Said

Tough Knuckles, a band I had never have but got rave reviews just a few months ago when their Greek Jazz LP was dropped back then, has just released this incredible off-kilter indie rock guitar tune "Is It What I Said". Previously, after some back digging, Tough Knuckles comes off as a very one-man lo-fi project, some dude with a two track banging away the two guitar riffs he knows over and over again to form sweet Guided By Voices esque pieces. Not anymore. With some added production and maybe a band too boot, "Is It What I Said" comes off as a really nostalgic '90s indie rock tune with a very cool shoegaze layered on top. No idea how the style change happened, but I love it. The band apparently got signed to Captured Tracks, and there's a good chance this with be off that forthcoming LP.

UPDATE: Turns out Tough Knuckles didn't get signed to Captured Tracks after all. Still would be cool to see them on the rooster some day though.

(mp3) Tough Knuckles-Is It What I Said

For some persepctive about what I'm talking about with style shift, here was the video Tough Knuckles made last year for "Downtown Girl" off their Greek Jazz LP.




Links:

Tough Knuckles on Myspace

Single Review: Panda Bear-You Can Count on Me/Alsatian Darn

Going into a record shop's vinyl section is always tons of fun because you never know what weird, unknown, or hard to find piece of wax they might be stocking. So suffice to say, to stumble upon the brand new Panda Bear 7" was a nice shock. Truth be told, I am not the Panda Bear manic that everyone else seems to be. I'm still adjusting to m y Animal Collective albums, and diving into the band members' even more experimental side projects was something I probably couldn't handle. Not to mention the parts I have heard from Person Pitch (and God help me for saying this on the Internet), seemed like annoyingly repetitive tape loops piled on one another endlessly. Honestly, I couldn't say what compelled me to grab this single, but am I glad I did. Is there even a need to review it for when one looks how fast this sold out? Contained in these grooves are some of the convoluted and unexpectedly catchy pop songs that work perfectly in condensed 7" form. "You Can Count on Me" is a throw back to Panda Bear's Animal Collective work, an ambient influenced track sounding a lot like "Derek" or the slower tracks from Merriweather Post Pavilion, the same hazy vocals over swirling instrumentation to become sublime headphone music. Where Panda Bear really comes to life is with "Alsatian Darn" the loopy track that switches from African style drumming and clapping to one of the greatest piano lines ever and back again. It's almost like Girl Talk with som many idfferent parts coming in and out for seconds at times, but with Panda Bear's siren singing-style interweaving everything, it just falls into place. I never thought I would be asking this, but how long until Tomboy comes out now?



Links:

Panda Bear on Myspace
Download the 7" tracks here, from Amazon

Superman Revege Squad Sing The Dead Crow Blues

Nosferatu D2 is a band I really, really love after discovering them last year. And while I patiently wait and hope for them to get back together, Superman Revenge Squad is there in the mean time. After D2 stopped in 2007, front man Ben Parker picked up an acoustic guitar started playing with a celloist, and writing songs more bleak then his last band’s. He began to scribble lines about more than just girls and bands, but of death, love, pop music, and then more death. And he sings more in prose then ever, even breaking into spoken words midway through songs, and instead of it being pretentious, it just conveys the work even better. Now after a string of self-released albums, Superman will be releasing the Dead Crow Blues mini-album today on Records Records Records records. His most polished work to date, it’s still the has the same sense of pain and dark humor as ever. What other band could conceive the concept of what it might be like to have to talk to an ex-friend in heaven after you both die? Then write the song, have cello kick in just the right spots to rigger longing, title it “Fairweather Friend” and use it as the opener?

(mp3) Superman Revenge Squad-Fairweather Friends

The title track is even hollower, an instant poem sprung from the mind after seeing death literally and figuratively on your doorstep. The same feelings as Pavement’s “Here” are invoked, with every part of the song feeling so slightly out of step, with only that one beat to propel it.



Links:

Superman Revenge Squad’s Website
Get Dead Crow Blues here, from Records Records Records records

Video Premier: Dead Gaze-A Simple Man

Following my tread of posting videos, here is a very cool video of one of my personal favorites, Dead Gaze, performing a frantic and energy soaked "A Simple Man" as the set closer to a Brooklyn show this past July. The video was taken by and sent over the always cool Tom Pavlich of the Great Pumpkin, who also has various other videos (and standard incredible pictures) of the show over at The Great Pumpkin. Other videos of the show can also be seen at Get Off The Coast as as well as Microphone Memory Emotion. Don't forget about Cole's upcoming 7" on Firetalk as well as a 10" on Group Tightener.

Links:

Check out the Firetalk 7" here

Video: Warpaint-Undertow

For whatever reason, I was late to the whole "my god, Warpaint is incredible and creative" party. Thankfully the band released this video for "Undertow", giving me an excuse to talk about the beautifully psych tinged siren of a song that these four ladies have produced. I'm kicking myself for missing them both at SXSW and now Austin City Limits, but at least some good news has arose from their debut coming out in just a few short weeks on Rough Trade. Seriously, if for whatever reason you were not ungodly excited for their debut, start right now, and sample the video and mp3 as proof.

(mp3) Warpaint-Undertow

Links:

Warpaint's Website
Pre-order The Fool here, from Rough Trade Records

Pavement/Woven Bones Live @ Stubb's 9/28/10

Pavement played in Austin 9 days ago. The simple fact of those words still has mind reeling. Something you wait for years to happen in your life, seeing one of the greatest bands of all time (not to mention my favorite band of all time), in front of you, with all the 2000+ people around you singing along to the same potent indie rock songs, some unknown piece of your brain that process pure joy started working for the 1 and 45 minutes they were on stage.

Austin’s own Woven Bones that the strange honor of opening for Pavement. I for one was happy for the band, not only as a fan, but also in the sense that they got to play to a big crowd while supporting a band that more then likely had a huge influence on them. However, their was the factor that everyone, including the band, knew they were there to simply to chew up time between their set and Pavement’s. Not to mention the band seemed very out of place playing on the massive stage at Stubb’s, while they are much better suited for a small, poor light club instead. Still, Woven Bones knew all this anyway and blasted through their set of tart lo-fi pop tunes with style and grace.

Then, after the life time wait of 30 minutes between sets, Pavement finally took the stage. Now, for anyone who says that reunions are terrible, the bands just playing for the paycheck, Pavement's set proved just how wrong these people can be. The band was playing as great, and entertainingly sloppy as they were 15 years ago. What could possibly picked as a highlight? Was it hearing "Silence Kid" follow into the distortion chords of "Frontwards", then the jangle contained in "Box Elder"as the first three songs? Seeing the beauty of "Grounded" and stark sorrow of "Fin" captured spot on with lights and some of the best indie rock soloing ever? The way Bob Natastanovich could still be so exiting after all these years from jumping and chanting in the crowd, screaming the chorus of "Conduit for Sale", and playing the coolest slide whistle on the the most jam band induced take of "Fight This Generation"? It was all these things, and it's not even close to capturing the how monumental the show was. Yes, there were some sound problems, but the band just worked with them and brought nostalgic lo-fi to the show. It was captured on their faces, the same grin and look when they caught each other's eyes too. It was the "Holy fuck, I can't believe this is happening!" thought. And as Malkmus was yelling the giddy screams that end one of Pavement's greatest songs "AT&T", and that night's set, it was the thought that everyone else had too.



Woven Bones















Pavment

Bands to Care About: No Demons Here

Like every band that is ruling the indie scene these days, you can't love one band without getting into all of their members' various side projects or other musical projects with other members of other cool indie bands. That's the case for Big Troubles, the lo-fi troubadours who's LP is for some reason something I really like yet haven't gotten around to talking about for some very bizarre reason. No Demons here, the pseudonym for Big Troubles and Fluffy Lumbars bassist Luka Usmiani, is another in the list of these bands, like Alex Bleeker and Art Museums before him. And like those artists, No Demons here make lo-fi music in a whole different aspect of what the main band does. With No Demons Here, what comes out is this thick melodic music, triggering instant nostalgia to something in your past because it's the type of music that can do that. At least that's the feel that gets set with nighttime "Every Second Darker". That wonderful song will appear on the band's second cassette tape, In Aluminum Headaches, soon on the band's run Croatia Tapes.

(mp3) No Demons Here-Every Second Darker

The band also has their highly recommended debut cassette Boy Eaten By Things In Water streaming and dowloadable on their Bandcamp, along with a physical cassette form from Croatia Tapes as well. I can also not go without say that the band did an standout split cover of "Wondering Boy Pet/Game of Pricks" on the outstanding Guided By Guided By Voices comp. There is also this cool, also nostalgia inducing video for the track "TV" that could not go unposted.

(mp3) No Demons Here-Wondering Boy Pet/Game Of Pricks






Links:

No Demons Here on Myspace
Check out all No Demons Here releases here, at Croatia Tapes

Album Review: Andrew Cedermark-Moon Deluxe

Quite easily, I think, my most anticipated album of the year. Not only was it coming out on the always stellar Underwater Peoples, but when "Moon Deluxe" was released all those months ago, you just knew the album would be something special. "Moon Deluxe" just hits you in the chest like an emotional sack of bricks, with its mind blowing electric over acoustic guitar riff and removing your breath with just he beauty of it. The fact that he managed to construct a whole album of this, with each song as potent and poetic as the last, is what's so shattering.

The Microphones and Titus Andronicus are, of course unavoidable reference points. Not that it's a bad thing at all. The musical build ups and arrangements are Microphones worthy, especially using feedback as an emotional conveyer, as well as the lyrical openness and loss that comes from playing in Titus Andronicus. But the result of these influences, and everything Cedermark listens to, is something very different and original. It's winter captured in music form, cold and a bit bitter, but for those who love and appreciate that time of year, that's something wonderful about all the emotions that get stirred up around that time of year. Captured in "Gloria '85" and "Anchorite" is particular mange to capture that sound perfectly. "Hard Livin'" though is the clear centerpiece of it all. While an older track, it works perfectly here. The way the reverb and drum work match the confusion of the lyrics will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. "I wanted to go to a party with you/Not because I like parties/I hate them, but I like you", is everything Cedermark is trying to convey in one simple yet perfect verse. And ending the whole album with the jumpy "I Don't Know You" with its spazmatic horn pieces and Cedermark singing coming out like rapid fire, stumbling over another, like the Music Tapes on cocaine or another high octane drug, it strikes you with the disbelief of how unreal Moon Deluxe is. Get this album.

(mp3) Andrew Cedermark-Moon Deluxe

(mp3) Andrew Cedermark-Hard Livin'

Links:

Andrew Cedermark on Myspace

Buy Moon Deluxe here, at Underwater Peoples