eMusic continues to give us reasons for its greatness: a five-song, eMusic-only EP from Sunset Rubdown (aka Spencer Krug from Wolf Parade).
I’m downloading it now as I continue to (slowly) warm up to Sunset Rubdown. (Obligatory pitch: Get it with a trial of 25 free downloads. That’s the EP, plus 20 more songs, jack. And you keep ’em all. And then you’ll end up subscribing like I did – $9.99 for 40 downloads a month.)
File this one under ‘new to me.’
Sébastien Tellier is a French soloist who has opened for Air, the Magic Numbers, Moby and Royksöpp. His album Politics, dropped way back in 2004, but sometimes (most of the time) I’m a little behind the curve.
Tellier makes colorful popish songs with layers of solid arrangement. He puts together an engaging sound and runs the gamut of instrument selection including the sci-fi Theremin.
see Blue time-
Sébastien Tellier | La Ritournelle
Between marveling at Scarlett Johansson’s overall fineness or trying to figure out how Sophia Coppala can be so darned cool, you may have missed this atmospheric diddy from Lost in Translation.
Sébastien Tellier | Fantino
He also plies the remix trade. He gives Phoenix a touch with this one. I’ve heard the kids are gaga about this rock music band.
Phoenix | Long Distance Call (Sébastien Tellier Mix)
Eight years after their last release, Golden Smog is coming back on Tuesday with Another Fine Day. The band is a side gig made up of members from the Jayhawks (Gary Louris, Marc Perlman), Run Westy Run (Kraig Johnson), Soul Asylum (Dan Murphy) and Wilco (Jeff Tweedy). Anything loosely affiliated to the Jayhawks or Wilco always will grab my attention.
I own Golden Smog’s 1995 release Down by the Old Mainstream, a loose, sometimes-twangy gem of an album. Judging by 5-22-02, which has lots of fun guitar work and some incidental horns, the guys are keeping true to the laid-back spirit of the project.
Golden Smog | 5-22-02
Whoa. Two posts in a row from Royce. Felt like I was on vacation for two days. And he’s got another lined up that is gonna be sweet. Hint: It involves the band Phoenix + remix. Look out!
By now, you might have heard a snippet or stream of The Killers’ new track When You Were Young. I created an mp3 from the stream, but because I enjoy my freedom and am really not interested in taking part in some Oz-like life courtesy of the RIAA, I’ll keep it to the stream here.
I’m hardly convinced this is a precursor to “one of the best albums in the past 20 years” (via Stereogum). In fact, the hook sounds more like a rip-off than anything – of another fairly mediocre song, no less. Listen to the guitar (or is that a synth?) line of When You Were Young, then listen to the snippet of the intro to Coldplay’s Talk. Eerily similar, I’d say.
[stream] The Killers | When You Were Young
Real Player or Windows Media
Coldplay | Talk (snippet)
Wading through the local concert calendar, I spotted an August 23 date in Tempe for seminal punk/hardcore group Gorilla Biscuits, who are reuniting for a monthlong tour of the United States. (Brooklyn Vegan has the dates.)
That got me thinking about Walter Schreifels, guitarist in Gorilla Biscuits and frontman of many projects, including the fabulous Quicksand, Rival Schools and, most recently, Walking Concert. So I hit up the MySpace page for Walter (yeah, we’re on a first-name basis). It appears he’s working on some acoustic-type solo material for something called the Arthur Lee EP. All I know about it is what I gleaned from his MySpace page, which is next to nothing.
Depressed Friends is a touching if not, well, depressing track – Schreifels coming to grips with how to console his down-and-out buddies. It’s a far cry from Biscuits/Quicksand/etc., but just as welcome.
Walter Schreifels | Depressed Friends
If I’ve discovered anything about myself in listening to so much music the past year, it’s that I can be impatient. I like hooks, I like beats. Get me in and get me out in four minutes. (OK, I’ll give you five or six minutes if your first name is Sufjan.)
So when I popped in Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House – probably in the car or something – it didn’t last but two songs. This has little to do with Grizzly Bear and more to do with my sometimes antsy nature. From the get-go, I could tell listening to Yellow House would not be a mindless activity. This requires physical and mental concentration. Restraint and patience.
Although I’m not entirely familiar with the “freak folk” scene, the band was mentioned in passing in the New York Times article about it, although the guys dispute the story’s description of them. I prefer the label from Gothamist, which described Grizzly Bear’s music as “bewilderock.”
More than any album I’ve come across this year, Yellow House tests my iPod trigger finger. When I feel the urge to flip songs, then I’m oddly compelled to keep listening. There is no traditional verse-chorus-verse safety net to fall into.
Again, this probably says more about my tendencies as a listener than Grizzly Bear as a band, because they’re good. Really, I need more albums like this. Or I need to actually listen to more albums like this. Each song takes awhile to wrap my head around. Plans, for example, offers everything I love in a song: horns, great drums, rhythm. But its scattered approach tends to confuse on first listen and then fall into line with each successive play, much like the album as a whole.
Yellow House comes out on Warp Records on Sept. 5. Sept. 4 The group is offering a free download of the single On a Neck, On a Spit at its Web site.
Grizzly Bear | Plans
Finally. Birdmonster and Division Day are making their way to our fine state, playing Modified on August 19. Only $6.
These two bands have been touring like mad with no Phoenix stops. Birdmonster has played Tucson a couple of times. So I’m pretty jazzed about this show. Six dollars? Six American dollars? Hel-lo! That’s a bargain. You can’t get out of Subway these days for less than $6.
Birdmonster | Balcony
Division Day | Hurricane
Related:
Birdmonster on WOXY.
Division Day video for Hurricane.
Are you wondering what other shows are coming to Arizona? I thought so:
With the release of debuts by Silversun Pickups (July 25) and Darker My Love (August 22), Dangerbird Records could have a very fruitful summer.
The similarities between the two bands are pretty evident; they both have updated takes on the shoegaze/psych-rock sound. To me, Darker My Love recalls a little Kyuss with driving melodies of British Invasion era (especially on Summer Is Here). The bio cites My Bloody Valentine, The Velvet Underground and The Dandy Warhols, so I may be way off. I only know what I hear.
Either way, I think a tour with Silversun and Darker sounds like a fine idea. That said, Darker My Love is playing in Phoenix at (sigh) Dodge Theatre on August 8 as openers for AFI. Nothing against AFI … Dodge is just a fairly sterile/impersonal venue.
Darker My Love | What’s a Man’s Paris
Darker My Love | Summer Is Here
Dangerbird Records is giving us a sneak peek into the upcoming Silversun Pickups full-length debut, Carnavas (due out July 25), which I’m exctitedly hyping to myself as my most-anticipated record of the year.
I’ve posted on Silversun quite a bit (see below) just based on last year’s Pikul EP. (In fact, I think I’ve run out of press photos to use with my posts. Seriously, time for some new pics.)
Anyway, Well Thought Out Twinkles seems to follow the path Silversun laid down on the EP: fuzzy guitars topped by taut drumming and Brian Aubert’s strained and distant vocals.
You want comparisons, don’t you? Well, you’re gonna see Smashing Pumpkins come up quite a bit when you read about Silversun; I bet Silversun is really sick of that. (Or maybe they’re flattered by it.) But I’m going to say that this song reminds me of (gulp) Gwen Mars. Seriously, I don’t mean that in an offensive way because I dug Gwen Mars a little. I mean, they once opened a tour for Catherine Wheel, so they’re good in my book.
But listen to Gwen Mars’ Cosmic Dick (mp3) and tell me if the guitar riffs from Well Thought Out Twinkles don’t bear just a faint resemblance. I’m not suggesting a note-by-note comparison. It’s more about guitar effects: They’re both crunchy/fuzzy/echo-y. There’s just enough distortion to balance the driving melodies.
Silversun Pickups | Well Thought Out Twinkles
Related:
Silversun Pickups on KEXP.
Silversun Pickups: Kissing Families.
There’s no better news than to see Alejandro Escovedo touring again on the heels of his new release The Boxing Mirror.
In April 2003, Escovedo fell ill after a show in Phoenix. He was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver caused by hepatitis C. As Escovedo put it in an interview with the Washington Post, “I was in really serious, serious disrepair.”
In an interview during this show, Escovedo says it was the tribute album from fellow musicians, Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo, that inspired him to write again.
It’s no small miracle that he’s recording and touring again. This live stream from World Cafe Live is a great peek into the emotions of a singer who, without reaching for dramatics too much, we’re fortunate to still have.
Stream Alejandro Escovedo on World Cafe Live, 6/23/06.
Set list:
Put You Down
Dearhead
Arizona
Everybody Loves Me
Juarez/Rosalie
Evita’s Lullaby
The Ladder
Break This Time