Category Archives: indie

Serious Indie Cred

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I tell you what, it’s hard to get back over here to write an album review. Lately I’ve been so addicted to turntable.fm that I don’t know what it’s like to listen to my own music! Are we all here now? Just hit mute on the speakers, and come listen to some Wye Oak with me. Buy an album or two so you will know which track is the best to share on your next venture into the virtual club.

Wye Oak is another he-she band (sorry! No, it’s not a tranny band. I mean, it’s a she and him he and she matt and kim except their names are Andy and Jenn band) and I’m sorry to lump them into that group but they don’t do a whole lot to differentiate themselves from the sounds I hear when I think of Pomplamoose or She & Him. I found an album review for Wye Oak’s 2008 album If Children wherein the author called this sound endangered. Yup. Endangered. Well, it isn’t. Folk music, indie music, earnest-sounding music, frontwomen who sing through clenched jaws: we still like it.

Click to Enjoy Wye Oak – Dog Eyes

On this and on each of their previous three albums, they alternate between reserved and noisy. And the noisy ones sound good, too. They like the noise, not for noise’s sake but because, well, sometimes shit gets… blustery. And you will find plenty of reviews describing their sound as “punch-in-the-gut”, “moody and powerful”, or “huge-sounding”… But as turntable is teaching me, there are a lot of opinions on music out there! Did you ever notice?

(tongue)
(cheek)

If I want moody but powerful, I reach back for Toni Childs I guess. So I have an asshole and I have an opinion. But I like Wye Oak fine. And you will too. You will be showing serious indie cred if you drop this in a turntable room full of music snobs.

Set My Soul At Ease

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It was during season 14 of Saturday Night Live that I first heard of Edie Brickell. I watched every episode religiously that year, so that I could return on Monday to the first of many Algebra classes I had failed and re-hash the entire episode with Mike Popowski. We would roll in the aisles laughing about Giant Business Man, Church Chat, Girl Watchers, Sweeney Sisters, The Anal Retentive Chef, Hans and Franz, Pat Stevens, eventually Wayne’s World, then to close out the season the sketch that would absolutely kill – Toonces! Then there were the “commercials.” The Change Bank. I have always loved this one. We can handle requests like that; usually the same day.

Back to Edie Brickell. I watched SNL in the TV in my teenage bedroom. I didn’t have a DVR. There was no such thing. I didn’t have a VCR. Never mind what that is. There was no pause, no rewind, no let’s go look that up online. I had one shot to remember these sketches and one shot to be introduced to some of these artists.

So when this mousy girl from Texas got up and started singing strung-together existential silliness in the song “What I Am”, I just wasn’t sure how to react at first! I joked about it at school. But I looked further and I kind of got into folk sensation Edie Brickell and New Bohemians.

SNL has played a major role in Brickell’s life, since it was during her performance on the show two years later that she met her future husband, Paul Simon. Literally, she was performing a song, he got in the way of the camera, she flubbed her lyric, and then the two were married two years later in 1992. Following this union, they had three children, Brickell released two solo albums, and then reunited with the New Bohemians to record another album. After that Edie and Paul’s son from his first marriage formed a band called The Heavy Circles with a few other famous children. She formed another band with yet more artists last year. The indie and folk flow and creativity that must be going through this woman’s life at all times… Speaking of Bohemian!

So here we are in 2011, and we have a new album not only from Edie Brickell but also from The Gaddabouts, her most recent formation.  Brickell writes a lot of songs on the fly – some get written and recorded the same day – and to keep the sound of her latest solo album pure and organic, she has included several live tracks.  It’s not that she tours, but she does perform live shows here and there.  She opened for one of our favorites, Iron and Wine.

Maybe one of the cleanest, sweetest songs on Brickell’s latest release (self titled) is Track 3, “Been So Good.”

Click to Enjoy Edie Brickell – Been So Good

Don’t forget you’re the best one that I’ve ever known.

Grab the album. Edie Brickell is a talented musician who isn’t always around when you expect her.

Watch for the Loose Rocks Under Your Feet

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This week’s album review is on a fully Canadian band. I mean, comes from Canada, sings about Canada, tours in Canada, no American media can be found for them in the least.

And in a reversal of trends, I am picking up on Said The Whale almost a year after second full-length album was released. (Get it, cuz Canada is always behind us? Ha ha. Yes I know, Canadian Hockey Team. Gold. 2010. Whatever. They invented the sport.)

I am an uncool Canadian kid
Awed and inspired by all the popular guys
Most of them are truly irresponsible
They do irresponsible things

But I’m just a heartbroken gentleman
And gentlemen never seem to get gentle women
I need a small town girl
To follow me home and teach me how to be a real man

Islands Disappear was released last October, after an EP in July and another full-length the summer previous. The band formed officially in 2007 after a few years of basement recordings by high school pals. And they haven’t always sung about Canada. Their 2008 album Taking Albalonia and subsequent re-release Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia are both much more upbeat, while at the same time, so very indie.

This makes me appreciate Islands Disappear all the more. Knowing what the band is capable of makes it enjoyable to listen to a dedication of sorts to the vast, expansive Canadian homeland and all the pioneers who have shaped its history.


Download Said The Whale – Out on the Shield

…Recent history is not ignored on this album. Lest you think the very popular (well, in Canada…) track “Camilo (The Magician)” is just a fun song about an imaginary character, oh no dear. Mago Camilo is a young Colombian man whose life has been made of magic, and who has chosen the True North as his second home.


Download Said The Whale – Camilo (The Magician)

They released a new EP earlier this year, and they’re submitting new songs to Canadian radio all of the time. What say you, America? Are you going to catch up to the Syrup Lickers?

Wanna See It Now

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Life ain’t nothin but a dream
Realistic as it seems

Built To Spill @ Outside Lands 2009
One of the most well known indie bands is still relatively unknown to many of my friends. It’s necessary to get back to the original goal of this blog and to attempt to change that.

Boise is not just college football and potatoes. It’s the home of the band Built to Spill.

The band has just released a new album and it’s amazing. Although, you could pick up any one of Built To Spill‘s 7 albums and get your mind melted.

Doug Martsch is the driving creative force of the band. Initially he intended to be the only static member of the band, promising to rotate musicians for each and every album. I always think this is a great idea, but I imagine this hardly ever works out. When you spend so much time touring and traveling in the back of vans and buses, friendships grow strong. Doug’s plan didn’t work out, but he now records and tours with some amazing talent that have become permanent members of the band.

I’ve been listening to the latest album, There Is No Enemy on constant rotation. Even while I sleep. It’s woken me up in the middle of the night…holding my face amazed with the beautiful layering of guitars and the distinctive voice of Martsch and his amazing lyrics.

I have come up with many different ideas about the meaning of Martsch’s songs. I am not going to share them with you. Why? Well let me share a quote from Doug’s wife that sums it up:

Built To Spill @ Outside Lands 2009

I once overheard Doug on the phone being interviewed. He sounded almost stand-offish in not “telling” an interviewer the meaning of a song or describing its origin. Doug and I have speculated about this sometimes: meaning (whether intended or not) is not inherent in lyrics or in any art. Listening, looking closely, and responding with one’s feelings, thoughts, and senses transforms. Doug simply does wish to disrupt any meaning someone else has found.

With so much work behind the band, the record is here. Now comes the album’s journey into the world. This venture Built to Spill does not map out. The record is yours to respond to.

[Editor’s Note from The Little One: I think that sometimes people get one meaning for a song, but then they hear the next line and that throws them off. That might be what makes fans ask artists what the song was written about. So I am going to ask you now, just be OK with your interpretation of the song. Doug writes so many decent verses that you can take just one piece of the song and let it help you realize or reveal some truth or epiphany in your own life, your own understanding of love, politics, society, friendships, nature…]

Download Built To Spill – Life’s A Dream

Amazing track. That guitar work is so layered and stunning.

The thing about Built To Spill is that EVERY album is so DAMN good.

The Little One and I trip out when listening to the discography of Built To Spill. There Is Nothing Wrong With Love, for example is something we would have loved. It’s such an epic and perfect album. Yet, it was a decade before I had heard it. What the fuck were we listening to in 1994 that we missed this gem?

Listen to this song off There Is Nothing Wrong With Love and prepare to play the shit out of it for months on end:

Download Built To Spill – Car

I’m glad that I will never miss another Built To Spill album. Seeing them live really solidifies my love for the band. You must listen to BTS and you must catch their live show. They are heavily touring in support of their latest effort. Check the tour dates on their myspace page to see if they are making a stop near you.

Electro Pop and Indie Rock

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I am a sucker for these kinds of bands. They just get me on both sides of what I dig. The indie rock sound with its DIY ethos, and the DJ friendly-ish electronic pop sensibility.

The thing is, my love for them is shallow and fleeting. As soon as the next indie-rock/electronic-pop band/song/release/remix comes out…I just move on to that. Leaving a veritable graveyard of bands in this genre, in my wake.

Passion Pit is a band like this for me. Soon to be thrown in the trash like a paper plate. It’s hard to say that now, because I am totally digging it.

The more I listen to it, the more it reminds me of everything I liked about Prince.

Is it possible that this particular band with this particular album could remain in my heart?

[Download Passion Pit – To Kingdom Come]

The lead singer and songwriter, Michael Angelakos, says he wants to be the next Randy Newman. Whenever I listen to the song “To Kingdom Come”, I think I hear the influences of Newman. Maybe.

The best part of this album? The remixes that people have done off its release! I share one below from Wallpaper:

[Download Passion Pit – Reeling (Wallpaper Remix)]

Passion Pit even gets in on the remixing, taking on Dan Black of the now defunct The Servant.

[Download Dan Black – Symphonies (Passion Pit Remix)]

You may not have heard of Dan Black or The Servant. Dan Black has an album coming out, so keep an eye out for that. The song Symphonies was once called HYPNTZ and was a funky cover of Biggie Smalls track. Sadly, Big’s estate red-lighted that, and Dan had to write new lyrics. I am sure you are never gonna hear the old version on the radio, even though it’s super hot. So…we do it for you.

THE BONUS TRACK!

[Download Dan Black – Symphonies (Passion Pit Remix)]

Modest Mouse? I’m mad at you.

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For one, their last album was just not that great. The fanboys a couple years back were SO FUCKING ANNOYING.

“Oh my god! They got Johnny Marr! YES! HE WILL MAKE THEM THE GREATEST BAND EVAR!”

Umm. No. He won’t. Even more annoying was the group of dipshits after the last show I saw them play talking about how they “weren’t very good” because they played too much “old stuff.” WTF? Are you fucking kidding me? Go back to finding whatever band is hot on top 40 next, you weak-minded piece of garbage. Yeah, I hear Kelly Clarkson is going indie. Why don’t you jump on her? You’re not jumping any other girl right now, anyhow. Here’s a tip. Spend more time on social skills and less time nitpicking music you don’t fucking know.

Anyways, they were great live. Have been the three times I’ve seen them. Isaac Brock is a weird, weird dude, btw. First couple of times I saw them was before Good News…. made them over the top huge. So seeing them play older stuff, like “Doin’ The Cockroach” made me quite happy. I’ve included a pic I took at the show here in Boston a couple years back, also. Which brings me to why I’m pissed with them. They didn’t come here on their last tour. How the fuck do you NOT come to Boston?

Anyways, here’s “Doin’ The Cockroach” as well as a live version. As you were.

[Download Modest Mouse – Doin’ The Cockroach]

[Download Modest Mouse – Doin’ The Cockroach (Live)]

So stop being pretentious and go buy this stuff. No one cares if you’re a brooding emo kid. You have money. Now spend it, you tightwad!

Lube up!!!

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No, this won’t be some weird post about Brokeback Mountain or something. It’s about an album I recently picked up again after not having listened to it for years. The second album by Stone Temple Pilots, Purple, could possibly be the best album of the 1990’s. Yes. I said that. Better than the self-titled debut by Weezer, even. This is one of the very few albums I can listen to beginning to end and enjoy. That’s how I base my own personal “rating system”. So it’ll differ with yours, no doubt.

Well, of course, the song “Vasoline” is the first track I heard from it, and goddamnit-all if I still don’t just absolutely love this song. So here it is.

[Download Stone Temple Pilots – Vasoline]

And as for another little ditty? How about Scott Weiland’s solo career? Well, His first solo album, 12 Bar Blues, is mostly crap, to be honest. The first three songs on it I absolutely love, however. The following is the cut “Barbarella”. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, like good – or bad – liquor. And somehow it doesn’t take my self-respect away like the liquor does.

[Download Scott Weiland – Barbarella]

And if you don’t buy this stuff, I will make you eat my cooking. Seriously. You should be scared of that.

Basically, I just like these songs……

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Yep. Two songs I like. Now, I get assloads of promo stuff from places, but I’ll be honest – I don’t like a lot of it. It’s not that it’s not good. It is. I just don’t think it would be fair to post music just for the sake of continued e-mail press releases! There are a few I do like. I promise all you PR-firm folks I will get to the ones I do like! My one year at UNLV back in 2000 was a Comm major with an emphasis in PR, so I feel your pain for the amount of work you do for a mere pittance.

Anyhow, here are two tracks I’m just in love with right now. I just went through a nasty fucking break-up (isn’t it funny how they guy always takes the shit end of that stick?) so this first one made me forget a lot of my problems, which I realize are so damned small compared to everything else in the world right now. Perspective, people!

So first off I’ve got the group Air France. They’re from Sweden. Whoa! Clever! Sarcasm aside, I like what these guys do. Very ethereal and uplifting, and this song of theirs is exactly what I needed right now. This is the track “Collapsing At Your Doorstep”.

[Download Air France – Collapsing At Your Doorstep]

Next is a song I had sort of forgotten about for a while. He’s one of the many artists that continues SubPop’s tradition of really good indie bands. His name is Chad VanGaalen and he’s definitely influenced by guys like Neil Young, if that gives you any real idea of his sound. Check out “Sing Me To Sleep”, and I bet you will understand why I felt good after this. Great tune, folks.

[Download Chad Van Gaalen – Sing Me To Sleep]

And lastly, your PSA telling you to buy some of this or I will kidnap whatever domesticated animal you own and sell it to a Chinese restaurant.

Submissions Part 1

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Happy Jebus Birthday, folks! Better yet? Happy “So, we really don’t know that dude’s birthday, and we finally got rid of those blasted pagans, so why not steal their holy days and festivals, also?” Day. Sorry. I couldn’t resist it. Actually, right now? I’m high-fiving Emperor Aurelian. He’s a pretty fun dude.

And yes, nitpick away at the above. I know all the arguments about it. I’ll just be over there, sleeping and otherwise doling out my contribution to society.

Anyhow, enough of my contempt for…well…a lot. This post is to give you a few contributions I received in my e-mail these past few months. Now, I’m pretty honest, so I will simply give my opinions, and it’s then your job to go do a little research on these bands! If you like them? Hooray!

So after all these bands I list, I gave you a link to their myspace page. I’m pretty awesome like that.

First up? Ikoma. Click here for a link. Okay, sound-wise? Not bad. However, I get this nagging feeling I have heard some other bands that have this sound. It fits with the “pop-guy looking to show some indie cred” label. One thing, though, that bothers me. The statement that the band “represents the new rock regime.” Well, that’s for time to decide, really. Not a bad band, but needs to be a bit more unique. The one band that sticks out as a comparison is The Walkmen. That should give you guys a bit of a start!

Next up? The Volunteers. Linky-link be right here. I dig these guys. The music’s solid, and they sound like a more mature version of Ween (and checking the e-mail sent, yep! That’s one band they’re compared to!). And any band that makes a video for a song called “FckMyGhst” gets a thumbs up. Shit, why don’t I just post that video for you guys now? They have a new album called Spectrophilia out now, and I would personally suggest this one. Top notch submission!

And one last one for this week is Peasant. Yep, this is the trend – the link is after the performer name again! This dude’s pretty good. The voice takes a little getting used to, as it’s pretty high pitched. Listening to some of the Daytrotter Sessions, the first thing I thought of was either the recent Bon Iver album, or even a little Chad VanGaalen. I’m actually a bit bummed that I couldn’t at least catch his Boston area show. Nonetheless, to download this guy’s Daytrotter tracks, click here.

Next week, I’ll pass along a few more contributions, as well as post my favorite music from this year. Notice I didn’t say “Best of”. Know why? “Best of” is a load of crap statement that purports importance. And I and my opinions don’t really mean squat. So it’s a “Hey, this shit’s been on my iPod all year!” list. It’s a fucking awesome list. The other four voices in my head think so, so it has to be true!

And yes, buy this stuff! Especially these guys! They would love you long time if you give them your business!

You blew it!

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Well. We are here to help. Hopefully if you read us regularly this won’t happen again. I won’t tell anyone, but you really gotta step up too.

Ok?

THREE BANDS THAT YOU COULDA BEEN A HUGE FAN OF BUT BROKE UP BEFORE YOU EVEN GOT TO LISTEN TO THEM!

1. SPARTA
Sparta is an American alternative rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. Jim Ward (vocalist/guitarist) and Tony Hajjar (drummer) are former members of At the Drive-In. Keeley Davis (guitarist) is the former frontman of Engine Down.

In June 2008, Ward stated that Sparta is “currently on hiatus and label-less”, and that he will be focusing on his project, Sleepercar.

Oops. Missed the opportunity to see this band live? Bummer for you. They were amazing. I got to see them twice. Blown away. I just stood there being pummeled by the awesomeness that was Sparta. Too bad you never heard of them…

[Sparta – Red.Right.Return. (Straight In Our Hands)]

2. PISTOLITA
Pistolita is an indie rock band from San Diego, California that has a real catchy pop feel underneath the punk rock grittiness.

They have previously toured as an opening act for bands such as Brand New, but it was when they toured with Saves the Day that I finally got to see them. I became a fan that night. Bought the album the next day. A few months later they broke up. Although part of this band went on to become Weatherbox, the magic that was Pistolita is gone forever. Shouldn’t stop you from picking up the album Oliver Under The Moon. It’s a great piano/rock album.

[Pistolita – Killjoy]

3. NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL
Damn. It’s ok. I missed this one too. It breaks my heart, but as this band reminds me, you can turn pain into something beautiful. Jeff Magnum is really the catalyst for this band, and the critcally aclaimed In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Critically aclaimed in the very underground kinda way.

Don’t worry.

All your favorite bands have had this album in their CD players for the last 10 years (tape players maybe….how long have we had CDs anyways?), so you have been a fan at least through some sort of weird trickle down effect. Right?

[Neutral Milk Hotel – Oh Comely]