You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2010.
Total Slacker has been making the rounds for a little while now with their hazy songs that are awash in reverb and, well, slacker-ness. The band has a lazy sound that perfectly fits their name and image. How often does that happen?
“Magical Date Night” is a fun Monday morning gem. It’s a demo. Total Slacker sent it in order to get peeps pumped for their upcoming 7″ release, “Crystal Necklace,” on Impose‘s label, Impose Records. That’s out in June, so get fully pumped!
The song is the band’s first love song and you can feel the romanticism coming through. The song is a lot less drone-y sounding than others by Total Slacker. It’s got a very specific story line: “its about a 14 yr old trying to date a 30 something community college teacher.” Fair enough.
Total Slacker plays on 4/20 with Air Waves and others at Union Pool and an as yet un-announced Beach Fossils record release show in late May.
Total Slacker: Magical Date Night
This is Titus and Cassie from The Babies, in case you weren’t sure… More details on the show in Philly at Styrofoamdrone.
This looks like college to me, not high school. But that’s ok. Of course I listened to Weezer in middle and high school, but it wasn’t til college that me and all my awesome friends would take drugs and play these songs and sing and jump on beds and shit… HA!
Twin Sister actually sounded a little bit like a different band on Saturday night. Not more grown up, per se, but more confident. In the past four or five months, Twin Sister has gone from good band to great band, and have charmed the ears off some of the harshest critics I know.
It’s not just that Twin Sister has good songs that make you feel like art can make life better. They certainly have that going for them. But what Twin Sister has more than anything, is an electric magnetism that is literally impossible to steer clear of. Once singer Andrea Estella begins with lines like, “I can’t see the other side of your face. But I know that it is mean,” you’re fixated.
“The Other Side Of Your Face” is Twin Sister’s best JAM. It’s a 7-minute crusher of echoes and crashing waves and deep sighs. It builds with insurmountable tension for what feels like forever before exploding out with brilliant colors all over the stage and audience.
“I could try to start over this week. But I can’t change the way I feel.”
The song goes on in psychic bliss and halfway through breaks down. Simple drums and one synth and one plucked guitar string builds and grows and grows and grows. This is moving on the band’s forthcoming EP, Color Your Life, but live it’s a different monster. Not only is Estella’s tiny tattooed frame dancing right in your face, but the jam goes on longer and bursts at the end. The bubble must pop. And it does.
Tortilleria Taqueria Tres Hermanos was filled to the gills, much like the tacos they serve. Covered in veggies and spicy chorizo. An employee of the factory was actually the biggest fan of all. He danced all over, right in Estella’s face for practically the entire performance. Not a care in the world held him back. In a way, that’s what Twin Sister’s music inspires: complete submission.
Twin Sister mostly played their newer, more spaced out shoegazer jams on Saturday. And while guitarist Eric Cardona sang at least one song, most were handled by Estella. This is a band that knows how to feature their talents. Cardona plays his guitar upside down, by the way, which is probably why you’re always aghast at his guitar sounds. So sweet and melodic?! I think he’s left handed… or maybe he’s just crazzzzzy.
If you haven’t seen Twin Sister yet, you must do so very soon. The way they move, the way they perform, what they give you, it’s priceless. And can’t be found anywhere else right now.
Mercury Lounge on April 28. Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand St. on May 14.
The band was giving away their upcoming EP, but no longer. Pre-order from Infinite Best. You can also get some demo stuff on cassette from the Curatorial Club.
See more photos on Flickr.
Ducktails is back with a new song, “Mirror Image.” It’s felt like a long time. Granted, Matt Mondanile has basically been on the road with Real Estate for like… ever? That band is playing tonight in Brooklyn too. Anyway, my head really hurts and this makes it feel better.
It’s a slow moving jam, one that sounds like the jungle in your ears through mosquito netting. There are shaky meringue-like drums, and a dark synth sound to temper that lightness. A keyboard line that relentlessly plays the same progression of notes throughout keeps you grounded during the adventure.
Sometimes, floating away isn’t so bad. But this is life, I mean music, and you’ve gotta appreciate both. The leaving and staying.
The song is being released by SHDWPLY. Get it.
I don’t think there’s any guitar on this track. A change for Ducktails.
Ducktails: Mirror Image
The Mountain Man Festival sounds like pretty much the best show ever, right? Woodsy Saratoga? Lakes and horses? Real Estate and HEALTH? And YOU can actually invest in it and feel like you’re giving something to mankind. Yup, it’s so DIY that the guys throwing it don’t even have the money yet. But still the bands have said “yeah, bra, sure.” Have you seen the video? Endearing as fucking hell. I’m glad the Internet, yes the Internet, has given Gabriel and Shane the opportunity to do this.
So far, the Fest has raised just about 2.5 thousand dollars. They need 65 thousand by May 12. DONATE.
Gabriel Stinson is one of the organizers. He says he dreamed up the idea “when I finally got Julianna Barwick’s beautiful white vinyl in the mail in march as the first result from something I’d funded on kickstarter.” Seeing the possibilities, Stinson called up Evan Brody of Underwater Peoples and asked him if he’d get on board. Brody, always the “hell, yeah!” type, obliged.
Stinson said the name choice is unrelated to the Underwater Peoples band Mountain Man, but that the ladies will hopefully play the fest. THAT would be a mind fuck.
Support this project. Even if you can’t attend. $10 goes a long way…
RAD TUNES FROM BANDS PLAYING
HEALTH: Crime Wave
Real Estate: Black Lake
Correction: Stinson did not attend Evergreen. He did, however, get the Julian Lynch tape from Dana.
Goddamn I love this song. First time I heard it was in college, my friend Carl used to play it. And he played it so good I thought it was his.
Thanks to Naturalismo for this mother f-’in gem.
Eternal Summers is in town. I missed them at SXSW, though I saw them around a lot, but I really hope I “am able to” see them this weekend. The band makes sprightly music that is perfect for bouncing around to.
Fri at Bruar, Sat at Glasslands, Sun at Coco 66.
Eternal Summers: Able To
Sam Amidon is a folk singer. He covers other songs and makes them his own. And not just traditionals, either. Amidon covers R. Kelly. He hails from Vermont, and you can see that clearly. Only a Vermonter has such a love for the romance of a simply pluck guitar and a simple, yet dramatic melody.
His voice, like a true folksinger’s, shifts and moves with each different song. Amidon manipulates it, treats it like the instrument it is, adding effects to change the tone. Those affects all come from within though– it’s quite remarkable.
Take, for example, “How Come That Blood,” by the Georgia gospel singer Bessie Jones. He sounds like an Appalachian hillbilly running loose over some hills.
Sam Amidon: How Come That Blood
After Alex Chilton’s death, Amidon and frequent collaborator Beth Orton recorded “Thirteen.” It’s an interesting cover. Does it work? The song has been covered by so many others, most notably Mary Lou Lord and Evan Dando, not to mention Elliott Smith.
Sam Amidon and Beth Orton: Thirteen
You can check out the R. Kelly cover at Consequence of Sound.
Those in attendance at MICRO-PIXEL-RITES were given the rare opportunity of seeing a stripped down Alex Bleeker and the Freaks set. Missing was lead guitarist Alex Craig of Big Troubles, and in his place, Real Estate drummer Etienne Duguay, on the big red bongo.
I like Bleeker as the lone guitar player. It makes his melodies the center of attention, and brings Martin Courtney’s smart as hell bass playing out from behind a wall of sound. Courtney is a skilled bass player, as well as songwriter, clearly. He doesn’t just anchor the songs, he moves around the neck a lot. What he plays could be sung by a back-up vocalist.
Visitation Rites has another memory, Family Portrait doing “Waitberry.” As Emilie reflects, it’s hard to believe this was nearly a month ago. A lot, and nothing, has changed.
“Getting By” is off the just released Group Tightener 7″ “These Days.” Get it here. Download “Getting By.”
Alex Bleeker: “Getting By”
(via)
