From the monthly archives:
Austin-band La Snacks’ new recording, Newfangled, has been getting a lot of comparisons to Pavement, along with other memorable indie acts from the 90s.
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down / Beat (Health, Life and Fire)
I’ve been really into their record for over a year now. It’s what pop folk used to be: smart and fun. This song in particular makes me want to dance around the room.
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Goodnight, Bull Creek is the third album from Australian singer-songwriter, Bob Evans, and was recorded in Nashville with producer Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, Sheryl Crow) who also produced the last Bob Evans’ album, Suburban Songbook. While keeping you in the palm of his hand with his lyrics and melodies, the album does take a sidestep away from the previous albums to show a different side to Evans. ‘This is my rock album. I’m saying goodbye to the suburbs,’ he says.
Goldfrapp / Clowns
This whole album is just superb, but I have particular soft spot for this opening song. It’s so dramatic, with the sweeping strings that build and swell and all the plucked guitar. The melody is so weirdly ethereal but beautiful too. It really has the ability to take you away.
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Parisian, Jonathan Morali, aka Syd Matters, came from nowhere to make a big impression with his first two albums. Since the beginning, what has been so astonishing is the artistry of his songwriting, his airy, dream-like style, and his unique production touch, which is instantly recognizable.
Animal Collective / Banshee Beat
Animal Collective is a band that brings freshness to music. They explore and explode the traditional forms to propose a very singular music. My girlfriend told me that this track reminds her of the female orgasm. When I listen to this song, I think that it must be so cool being a girl.
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Formed in Toronto but, at various times, based in Montreal, London, New York and L.A, Metric boasts the sort of history that requires one of those connect-the-dots red-lined maps you see in an Indiana Jones movie. Their latest album, Fantasies, is no exception to this story: ‘The four us went out into the woods as a band with no expectations and did whatever we wanted’, frontwoman Emily Haines recalls. ‘We were coming from London so it was a serious contrast — it felt like we had left civilization and all that mattered was music again. When I listen to the finished record, I feel like all its warmth comes from that place in the woods’.
Rolling Stones / Exile on Main Street
I set up a turntable because my friend left all of his DJ records at my house for a year and a half. It’s the only non hip-hop record, which is funny because all they were doing was trying to sound black. Either way, the record is warped and sounds awesome.
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Brighton-based hard rock band Slaves To Gravity have just released their debut album, Scatter The Crow.
Stone Temple Pilots / Lounge Fly
There are so many great STP songs, but this is definitely one of my favorites. The snare and kick fill at the beginning is genius. And the chorus gets me every time. I always find myself singing along at the top of my voice. I like the acoustic guitar in the middle section, as well.
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The members of Australian band The Jezabels met up at Sydney University, subsequently crafting a sound that merges pop with lyrics that reveal a deep sense of social awareness.
Lou Reed / Perfect Day
A perfectly tragic day. It reminds you that all the mistakes you’ve made are essentially who you are. And the most beautiful epitome of this is that the singer can’t even reach the climax without his voice breaking. Listen to this track for the same reason you smoke cigarettes: for the love of pain.
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The dynamic duo behind Beast met in Montreal, but both are from France. Their sound inhabits a place where the cinematic grandeur of Portishead meets the immediacy of Rage Against the Machine. With help from lyricist Simon Wilcox, Betty strikes a balance between telling vividly detailed stories and still adhering to the concise songwriting structure of pop. Soul, rap, electro, rock and jazz (complete with a Charles Mingus bass sample on “Satan”) collide in Beast.
Amon Tobin / Verbal Feat. Mc Decimal R
Amon Tobin is a great electronic music producer, and this song is dark with a hint of humour. It’s smart and big.
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Stereo De Luxe are a twisted Berlin production duo featuring multi-instrumentalists Tom Krimi and Kassi Wolf, who collaborate with various guest singers. Their debut album was called Glam-o-Rama. Since then, the pair have had releases on Freddy Fresh’s Howlin’ Records, Plastic Raygun, Escalator, and Pussycat.
Eels / Novocaine for the Soul
I’m never sure how many favorite songs my Stereo de Luxe partner Tom and I have in common, but there’s one thing I’m sure of: The Eels are definitely among them. This is an excellent, smart, and catchy track.
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McKisko is Helen Franzmann, a Brisbane-based musician who began her musical career writing and performing in Redbreast, and has since collaborated with Tom Cooney, Jacob S. Harris and Jamie Trevaskis of Junkship Studios. After time abroad living in Dublin, London and Barcelona, McKisko returned to Australia and has since toured the country non-stop. Recently McKisko has played a string of shows across the east coast with her international contemporaries Bon Iver, Juana Molina and Jose Gonzales.
Karen Dalton / Katie Cruel
In My Own Time is an album I haven’t stopped listening to lately. I’d never heard of her until about six months ago when a friend said that Joanna Newsom was ripping off her sound. I think this is far from true. Karen Dalton’s voice is so broken. This is one of my favourite songs at the moment. Even though she didn’t write this song, I feel by the way she delivers it, that she’s held a similar sadness to Katie Cruel.
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Sky Larkin formed in Leeds, Yorkshire, and have a sound that echoes the likes of The Breeders, Violent Femmes, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Their debut album, The Golden Spike, was released in February 2009.
Aphex Twin / 4
This song sums up the year that I spent living with three really good friends and playing a lot of music, listening to a lot of music, arguing a lot, getting mugged, and having mini parties in the basement.
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