Clipd Beaks remind me of early Sonic Youth. With their experimental haziness and drones, their slightly strained and sometimes whispered lyrics, they really bring the moodiness. This song, “Blood,” is take from their forthcoming album, To Realize, out January 26 on Lovepump.
The above image is from the video for “Blood,” which is yet to be released. Filmed in Cali, cos that’s where they’re from.
Clipd Beaks: Blood
Dear Jeff Walls’ project Campfires sees its Mexican Summer release! The 7″ features “Stormy Late Fall,” “Rustic Arcadia” and the newbie “She Was Down.” Go get it!
Today feels like STORMY LATE FALL, even though it’s winter.
Campfires’ music is pure lo-fi pop. When you get down to it, this is the stuff of peanut butter and fluff perfection. Shiny melodies, fuzzy guitars and lazy vocals, you’ll be lapping it up. I know i do. Like milk and honey and apples.
I did a Q&A with Campfires in October. Read more about him there, he’s very forthcoming about music, recording, the internet, etc. Here’s the exclusive he gave me then, which is very short and perfect. It’s on the 7″!!! It’ll sound better on wax!
Campfires: Rustic Arcadia
In the same email as the new Cloud Nothings was two more fucking awesome bits of strange and inspired music. The first is an excerpt of Kevin Greenspon’s “Window Pane,” off his upcoming cassette re-issue, Endless Distance. This song is so eerie in its instrumentation. The noise and sound bits and guitar drones couldn’t fit better than they already do. This is a song that turns your mind off and encourages you to look out the window and wonder. What could be, what has come to pass, what the next moment will bring. This all happens involuntarily. Get the tape, out on Tired Trails, in the next week or so.
The next shiny penny is “Tyrone,” a collaboration between Greenspon and Nicole Kidman. No! Not the strawberry-blonde Aussie! Nicole Kidman is the project of Jon Barba, Greenspon’s “best friend.” This track is so catchy and nostalgic. Talk about crushes, science teachers, 5th grade, you get the idea. Scratchy and distorted guitars that sound like toys and vocals all up front in the mix make me feel like a young child playing in a sand box. Like I said…nostalgia.
Kevin Greenspon and Nicole Kidman are touring the West Coast, er, the Best Coast, and playing tons of shows all over that great and bankrupt state. They will be selling their collaborative project, Blue Crush, which “Tyrone” is on. Wish I could be there! Check the respective MySpace’s for dates.
Kevin Greenspon: Window Pane (excerpt)
Kevin Greenspon and Nicole Kidman: Tyrone
Just saw this video from The Books on Boomtown. Not only is “Classy Penguin” bouncy and dramatic in the lightest imaginable way, the video is so pretty and nostalgic in a very Books-ian way. Apparently Mikey Zammuto, the brother of one-half of The Books Nick Willscher Zammuto, is one of the dudes in the video. This is so Massachusetts, am I right? That’s where The Books live…
The Books is putting out a new album in 2010…no tour dates or much news yet. There is this Pitchfork interview though– it’s funny and interesting.
A song full of direct riffs, chanting, distorted guitar solos and vocals laced with reverb, “Can’t Stay Awake” is a great wake up, get up type of song. Which, of course, is in direct contradiction with the song’s title. This song makes me want to wake up! I’m so glad the people at Bridgetown Records sent me this. Try it out– you’ll thank me.
It’s just over 2 minutes in length- so play it again and again. “Call, call, call, call, call me over.”
Cloud Nothings hail from the depressed land of Cleveland, also home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Could these two factors have led to their fresh and dedicated sound?
“Can’t Stay Awake” is off the band’s debut on Bridgetown. Get it here.
The band is opening the Real Estate/Woods show on Friday at the Market Hotel. You definitely need to be there. This is a band that will surely bring the new jams you haven’t heard. And, well, we all know what to expect from Real Estate and Woods. (FUCKING HAZY JAMS that will leave you swimming for your life in delight.) The band is also playing on Saturday at Shea Stadium with Coasting.
Cloud Nothings: Can’t Stay Awake
Kurt Vile played acoustic guitar last night at the FADER sponsored free night at Brooklyn Bowl- which is kind of my favorite place in the world- except when it comes to seeing bands. The stage is perfect for, say, Death Cab for Cutie or some other major lamo emo-band with a huge following. But Brooklyn Bowl is a cavernous bat cave, and Kurt Vile is a skinny, probably 5′6″ scrawny guitar player. It just didn’t look, feel or sound right.
Maybe with his band he could have pulled it off. Maybe.
I love Kurt Vile — some of his songs make me want to run around screaming like Maria in The Sound of Music, but last night I’d rather have been a bowler screaming when her team wins.
This is a example of wrong place, wrong time. So I honestly don’t feel writing a review of Vile to be productive. Could he have known better? Sure. Should he have run loops on every song to bolster the sound as he did on a few but not all tracks? Yes. But the guy has been non-stop touring for months, so I don’t think he needs to be harangued.
Why did the FADER book him to play this show? Of course they love him, we all do. Perhaps it was contractual?
Small Black, on the other hand, fit the setting. And the crowd knew it. Unlike when Vile played, people stayed around and danced during their set. Honestly it was sad to see Vile all alone on a big, bright and empty stage while the crowd thinned out.
Small Black performed while I was eating chicken across the room. They were having a ball — moving all over the stage and utilizing their effects and sound systems well. At first I thought their sound was a bit dull, but they got into the groove like Madonna, and played a fun and inspired set.
Not a bad night, but I was hoping for a little more passion. Vile should stick with the Silent Barn. Agreed?
TONIGHT
Kurt Vile and Small Black, Free at BK Bowl, 8 pm
WEDNESDAY
The Shaky Hands, Takka Takka at Knitting Factory, 8ish
Titus Andronicus, The Beets, Algernon Cadwallader at NYU Kimmel Center, 730
THURSDAY
The Big Pink, Crystal Antlers at Bowery Ballroom, 8ish (and Friday at Music Hall of Williamsburg)
Soundpool, Neon Gloworms, Family Portrait, Ivory Coasts at Cameo Gallery, 8ish
FRIDAY
Woods, Real Estate, Cloud Nothings at Market Hotel, 8ish
Pissed Jeans at Lerner Party Space at Columbia University, 8ish
SATURDAY
Orca Age Birthday Bashdown feat. JP05, Carl Davis and Dan Turnbull, The Golden Bloom, True Jacqueline and Slow News Day at Matchless, 8 pm
Air Waves, Talk Normal, US Girls, Total Slacker at Secret Project Robot, 8ish
Bowerbirds, Sharon Van Etten at Union Pool, 9ish
MONDAY
JEFF The Brotherhood, Dinowalrus, Sisters at Mercury Lounge, 8ish
Shark?, Dinosaur Feathers, Coyote Eyes at Cameo Gallery, 8ish
Carl Davis
The Shakes is named after a condition most likely to occur during a hangover or a spell of pneumonia. Both of which are very common and possible in the wilds of Bar Harbour, Maine. Trust me, i’ve been there. I’ve seen it all.
This song, “Gee Whiz,” rides in on a cold as hell wave of ocean water. The song is pretty yet crisp, hard-hitting and kind of sad. I love the double tracked vocals. The two voices are singing the same notes — they sound like echoes off a crystal clear lake.
This song has never been released. Last year the band changed its name to Rodick Lorraine, but they were still The Shakes when this song was recorded.
The Shakes are on an indefinite hiatus, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the songs of the Davis brothers, Gage and James, lovingly referred to as “Beer Guy.” Who knows, the cold and desolate east coast winter may just be boring enough to bring the band back together. Here’s hoping.
One Davis, the younger named Carl, will be playing at Matchless this Saturday night for the Orca Age Birthday Party. Orca Age is JP05. See details here.
The Shakes: Gee Whiz
This brings me back to October! Thanks Pixelwhorse! Horse?
Alex Bleeker’s album just came out. Get it! And come to the Real Estate show on Friday night at the Market Hotel. Something tells me he may just play a couple. According to Dent May, he did so last night in Mississippi. Read a story about Bleeker here.
This is just such a fucking good song. It rides the 90s line so well. Part girl-fronted-rock, part Nine Inch Nails spoken spooky word, Luscious Jackson’s “Naked Eye” is a golden track. I remember when this was a radio hit- GOOD OLD DAYS… See if it feels just as good for you, too.
“And it feels alright…”
Luscious Jackson: Naked Eye
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