Acrylics was formed by Jason Klauber and Molly Shea in 2008 and evolved into a trio. Their debut album All of the Fire was produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear at his church-studio in Brooklyn, Terrible Studios.
Bobbie Gentry / Reunion Most famous for her hits, Ode to Billie Joe, and the unstoppable Mississippi Delta, Bobbie Gentry is a sultry-voiced country singer who wrote and produced her own music in a time when it was rare for both women and country singers. Gentry talk-sings the part of a young girl at a large family reunion in this track off her Delta Sweetie album. We first heard it the day after Halloween while driving back to New York from upstate and it made our ride. Starting off with a seductively sparse hand-clap rhythmic figure, Gentry’s Mississippian belle rap, ‘mama can I huh’ enters next. More and more voices and sounds enter the party until we reach a cacophonous fever-pitch. The result sounds like a Charles Mingus arrangement of I Want Candy in a southern baptist church. The song quickly fades back to a whisper before the three minute mark.
Casper Bangs is the recording project of DC based vocalist and guitarist Rob Pierangeli. Named after the ex-lover that inspired many of the songs, Casper Bangs is a trip through the joys and downers of loving and being loved. The Whitespace 7” and s/t EP are a preview of Casper Bangs’ full-length record, I Woke Up. It was written and performed by Pierangeli at his desktop computer in the midst of relational bliss – it’s a document of a good thing that ultimately goes bad. The songs contain strong unaffected vocals balanced with harmony, layers of noisy guitars, and reverb.
Kurt Vile / Freak Train I love the speed and repetition on this song, the beat, the arpeggiating guitar line, and pulsating bass. And when Vile starts shouting ‘freak train’, it’s somewhere in between Springsteen and Dylan. Make no mistake, these guys bring it live, too.
Before Yeti Lane, there was Cyann and Ben. The four-piece were signed to the legendary Gooom Disques label alongside M83 and between 2004 and 2006 released three albums of fantastic, folk-inflected space-rock that, despite the proselytising of Pitchfork, went woefully under appreciated. Then, just as they started work on album number four, Cyann quit the band, forcing Ben (vocals, guitar, synths), along with LoAc (vocals, guitar, synths) and Charlie (drums, percussion, synths), to make a fresh start as Yeti Lane. The unusual name was chosen to echo releases by both Amon Düül II and The Beatles, which also rather conveniently sums up their new sound.
Pavement / The Hexx A song on their final album, Terror Twilight. I really appreciate the guitar parts and how it repeats in the song. It’s so insistent, until it becomes a maelstrom that carries away the listener. Even the drums accentuate those parts. This is one of the best Pavement songs for me.
Boston band Laminated Cat started as a five piece outfit that played 30 minute versions of Spiders in their sweltering barn attic. With time, they morphed into the twee/post-punk/sadsack/rock’n'roll/avant garde powerhouse they are today.
Pavement / Transport is Arranged Like anyone that enjoys music, I adore Pavement. This song, off Brighten the Corners, is a neat synopsis of nearly every reason why. I love the bubblegum melody, the ambiguous keyboard-flute chords, and the wordplay. Stephen Malkmus’ lyrics always manage to somehow sound deep and clever, and like he’s making them up as he goes along. But most of all, I love the middle section, where the guitars weave in and out of each other weirdly for a while before ascending to the full cock-rockin’ climax.
After a three year hiatus from playing together in San Francisco’s Parchman Farm, bassist Carson Binks and guitarist Allyson Baker regrouped and formed Dirty Ghosts with the addition Aesop Rock on drum programming in 2009.
Gang Gang Dance / First Communion I heard this song playing in a store while I was on vacation and I went out and bought it the next day. I’ve probably listened to this song about 80,000 times since. The little guitar bit in the middle, that Afro beat style soloing, that’s what got me!
Formerly known as Opanoni and The Raindrops, Circle have been described as many things, including ‘Australia’s answer to the Flaming Lips’, as well as ‘Cat Stevens at 15 walking through a candy store’.
Bill Callahan / Eid Ma Clack Shaw What? What the fuck did he just say? Huh? Wah? Yeah, well only Billy boy could get away with a song like this and come out the other side even cooler. He’s a storyteller better than most, and his world view is drenched in empathy, love, hate, colour, dark and light. I didn’t stop laughing the first couple of times I heard this song, and although the subject matter is clearly a heavy one, it still makes me smile. Listen out for the horse connections.
A Time For Lions is the new album from the Portland based trio Stars of Track and Field. The album was produced by John King of the Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys, Beck, Linkin Park, Carlos Santana), along with Stars of Track and Field who co-produced 5 of the 11 tracks.
TV on the Radio / Family Tree Beautiful expansive music. The melody is engaging and the lyrics are visually compelling. Adebimpe’s got such a powerful voice, which this song features out front. Enjoy the falsetto doubles and the deep rhythmic building of the outro.
Yuuki Matthews is a Seattle-based freelance musician and owner of two cats. Originally from Hollywood (Burbank), California, Yuuki moved to the Northwest with his mother and brother in the mid-nineties. He recorded the songs that make up Music for Savage Tropical Imagery at home between tours, odd jobs, and major milestone events. With this record, Yuuki sought to expand upon the nostalgia of subtle sound degradation.
Xavier Cugat / Perfidia I first heard this song while watching Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. He has an incredible knack for pairing the right song with the right scene. Even without the scene, the song is pure romance.
Todd Goldstein spent the last few years playing guitar in the Brooklyn indie-pop band, Harlem Shakes. To those who were listening closely, though, Goldstein has always also been ARMS, a persona he’s been crafting since 2004. As ARMS, Todd takes up a decidedly slower, sweeter, sloppier endeavor, working alone and singing in a sad, idiosyncratic baritone. ARMS’ debut full-length, Kids Aflame is a labor of love by an artist with an ear for the beauty in noise, the primacy of melody, and the timelessness of melancholy pop music.
Thom Yorke / All For The Best The very early ’90s Nickelodeon live-action ‘kids’ show, Pete & Pete, more or less defined (and, to be honest, still defines) my early sense of the funny, beautiful, strange qualities of youth. The theme song still gets me a little misty — it’s called Hey Sandy, by a band called Polaris. That band’s lead songwriter, Mark Mulcahy, was recently the subject of a pretty star-studded tribute album (it’s got The National, Michael Stipe, Thom Yorke, and others) in the wake of his wife’s tragic death. Thom Yorke’s cover of Mulcahy’s song, All for the Best, sounds like the his own solo stuff — minimal electronic beats, scary-sounding samples, a buzzy electric guitar that plops in out of nowhere — but is a little sadder than anything he could have written on his own. It suits him.
Dubbed an Atlanta supergroup by locals, The Constellations officially formed when vocalist Elijah Jones teamed up with Grammy-winning producer Ben H. Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley) to create Southern Gothic. Jones and Allen tossed ideas around for two years before finally recording. Now the band and its ever-changing line-up of Atlanta musicians is playing sold out shows in Atlanta’s most popular venues, from the Earl, Star Bar, Lenny’s, the Drunken Unicorn, and even Athens’ the 40 Watt. Southern Gothic, The Constellations’ debut comes out in 2010 on Virgin Records.
The Black Lips / Starting Over When I first played with these guys a long time ago at the old cotton club in Atlanta, I thought they were a hot mess. I saw them a few months later and it was one of the best shows I had ever seen. This song makes me think of hard living, and the redemption you search for along the way. Something I am familiar with.
My Secret Playlist is a music discovery website and weekly email publication. We invite our favourite bands and musicians to give us the rundown on their eight favourite songs right now. These are their words on the music that inspires them.
