Vol. 5 Issue 40 April 2009
April was always one of my favorite months. But this April holy smokes. It’s been made even better. Not only is my crazy runner self running the Boston Marathon in a few weeks, BUT this month’s BRM web update has not one but three of what will certainly be Top 20 of ‘09 listmakers. And to make matter even better – these three jams sound NOTHING alike. If you are not up on Merge Record’s latest signees, Telekinesis, you are in for a treat – it is the best power-pop album we’ve heard in a long time. Add to that Bill Callahan’s career-defining new album, and the debut from ska revivalists/Village Voice’s second favorite band at SXSW, Still Flyin' and you’ve got three unbelievable BRM treats. But that not all – add to that new shambling folk anthems from the Felice Brothers and Akron Family, lo-fi pop from The Balky Mule and a solid 70’s esq songwriter record from Richard Swift and you’ve got one hell of a listening session. READ ON!
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Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Drag City
- FatCat
- Bank Robber Music
Merge
www.mergerecords.com/
Telekinesis
"Telekinesis!"
Telekinesis is the nom-de-plum of Seattle-based songwriter kid, Michael Benjamin Lerner. It’s a name you’re going to be hearing a lot from. His debut for Merge Records, Telekinesis! (note the exclamation point) was produced by Death Cab For Cutie’s Chris Walla, and it’s no wonder that the album is overflowing with many of the hallmarks that will make Telekinesis a household name. Rarely has a debut come through our offices with so many instantly memorable tunes. “Coast of Carolina,” “Tokyo,” and “Awkward Kisser” especially are all filled with the same boyish clean-channeled guitar tones, sentiment and exuberance of DCFC at their finest. A new pop classic. Check out "Awkward Kisser".
Drag City
www.dragcity.com/
Bill Callahan
"Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle"
Bill Callahan has just made the best record of 2008 so far. Sure it’s still semi-early in the year, but for dudes like me who are suckers for insightfully droll, lushly orchestrated gothic American jams – Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Drag City) is a revelation. A masterpiece. Eagle is every bit the reclusive arty companion piece to Callahan’s last album - ‘07’s magnificently out of character, Woke On A Whaleheart. Where Whaleheart found Callahan penning foot-stomping pop anthems – or at least something as close to foot-stomping pop anthems as he ever put out, Eagle is certainly more of a brooding affair. That is absolutely nothing to be afraid of though. What Eagle lacks in optimism, it makes up for in sheer epic, powerful songwriting and arrestingly gorgeous accompaniment. Each of these tunes seem to wrap Callahan’s oblique imagery, self-reflection, and Leonard Cohen-worthy baritone in what sounds like some great lost Ennio Morricone score. Furthermore, the enough cannot be said about Callahan’s lyrics on this one – the album is a slow burn that with ever turn of phrase, unraveling arpeggio, swooping string section, and lazy rhythm never loses it’s grip on the listener even after the record is long finished. Check out: “Jim Cain” “Too Many Birds” or “Eid Ma Clack Shaw”.
FatCat
fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/
The Balky Mule
"The Length Of The Rail"
The Balky Mule is really just the name that Bristol songwriter Sam Jones, releases his music under. Jones’ latest, The Length of The Rail (Fat Cat), is one of the finest neo-classical lo-fi pop jams we’ve heard in some time at Bank Robber. Unrepentantly “indie,” Jones’ songs are all scrappy and sound like they were recorded on a tape machine and could fall apart at any second. The whole affair reminds me very much of 1994, and it’s almost impressive how Jones conjures up the days when independent music was truly independent and not the big business behemoth that it’s become. Much of Length sounds like Phil Elvrum’s Microphones stuff – rhtyhmic, shambling, nylon string guitar folk-pop with ernest boyish vocals – equal parts oblique and accessible. Let it move you. Check out "Length Of The Rail".
Bank Robber Music
www.bankrobbermusic.com
Various
"Bank Robber Music Compilation Volume 18"
The wisdom of The Watchmen schooled the Bank Robber on the fact that the “Times They Are A Changing”. Well, yes they are. And you know for every season turn, the BRM has a sexy new comp to celebrate. L’chayim. In the realm of buzz bands on the verge, 18 delivers some seriously awesome contenders: Telekinesis is power-pop from a Death Cab For Cutie associate, Here We Go Magic is total emotional Bon Iver-sounding folk loveliness, Still Flyin’ are perhaps the greatest reason for 60’s Ska revival, La Strada are Brooklyn’s answer to London’s Noah and The Whale, Mt. St. Helen Vietnam Band actually kinda sound like Fall Out Boy in a good way... Truthfully, though, that doesn’t even scratch the surface here folks! BRM 18 also has new music from M. Ward – and if you don’t know who M. Ward is, you need to advance to track 2 on this baby and get schooled. Plus, if that doesn’t have your singer-songwriter needs met we’ve got new music from Mark Kozelek, and Julie Doiron too. And since we know you guys are suckers for African sounds we have not one but 2(!) world-flavored tracks from Fader magazine favorites, BLK JKS, and Obama-loving Kenyan popsters, Extra Golden. Another season turn, another Bank Robber compilation for the record books.
- Click to see:
- Team Love
- Dead Oceans
- Secretly Canadian
- Ernest Jenning
Team Love
team-love.com/
The Felice Brothers
"Yonder Is The Clock"
Get your moonshine ready cause The Felice Brothers are back. Nobody does drunken, shambling Band-loving American music like these bearded “broheems” from Upstate New York. The band’s new one is called Yonder Is The Clock (Team Love), and there’s enough unironic references to Bethlehem, shuffle-board drums, and harmonica to make you think you were lost in a Bob Dylan biopic or just about any random Saturday night on the L train. Album standout “Penn Station” even has a breakdown with hooting and hollering and bar-scene atmospherics dubbed in to add to the pandemonium party vibe; essentially, it’s Felice’s answer track to Conor Oberst’s “NYC – Gone Gone”. It’s one woozy sing-along after another on Yonder. Perhaps the expanded edition can come with a bottle of Bourbon. Check out "Penn Station".
Dead Oceans
www.deadoceans.com
Akron/Family
"Set 'Em Wild Set 'Em Free"
Holy Native American jams. The Akron Family make their debut on the Dead Oceans label with Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free (Dead Ocean) a freewheeling collection of patchuli-fried freak out and bucolic folk harmonies. Truth be told nobody does the folk jams as well as Akron – these dudes can play the hell out of a song. Plus they can sing. Thing is, you know what you’re in for here. If not taking showers, or shaving, and hippie chants and proto-jazzy experimental riffage and smoking marajuana isn’t “your bag” than this band probably won’t be for you. Lucky for all of us, though, for every far out moment on Set ‘Em, there’s a beautiful little counterpart like the title track. Check out “Set ‘Em Free.”
Secretly Canadian
www.secretlycanadian.com/
Richard Swift
"The Atlantic Ocean"
LA troubadour, Richard Swift, does it all. He’s nothing if not prolific, and it turns out his restless sonic whims pay off far more than Ryan Adams’ - so we at the Bank Robber are all for it. In the past Swift has put out everything from reverb-y distorted garage dub, experiments in Kraut rock, an EP that half of which sounds like Daptone-flavored retro soul and the other half sounds like Postal Service electro pop, and a double-album of Tin Pan Alley pop. Well on Swift’s new one, The Atlantic Ocean (Secretly Canadian), we get the dude in all his disparate guises. If I had to pick my favorite “Richard,” I’d go with when he’s doing his best Mark Ronson thing as he does so well on album standout, “Lady Luck.” Over a languid Al Green vamp, Swift knocks it out of the park with a little too perfect falsetto vocal. So. Richard, we implore you to make a retro-soul/R&B album next. For the meantime, though, The Atlantic Ocean’s whimsical pseudo-uptempo concept pop will more than do. File Under: Plastic Ono Man. Check out "Lady Luck".
Ernest Jenning
www.ernestjenning.com/
Still Flyin'
"Never Gonna Touch The Ground"
Still Flyin’ is a collective fronted by Sean Rawls (formerly of the band Masters of The Hemisphere), which also features members of bands like Ladybug Transistor, Architecture In Helsinki, and at times even swooning Swedish popster Jens Lekman. For a “jokey proto-Reggae band” who self-describe their sound as “Hamm Jamm”, Still Flyin’s debut, …Never Gonna Touch The Ground (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) is far better than any non-stoner logic would deem it should be. In fact, as I’ve been addictively listening to the rough demos since last year, I can almost certainly claim that Never will end up one of my top 10 albums of ’09. It’s one of the most unabashedly fun jams I’ve ever heard – there’s not a boring moment on the entire record – even the slow song is about a “Haunted House”. With outstanding production courtesy of Ladybug Transistor’s Gary Olsen, replete with sax solos, hand claps, choral shout-a-longs, Kenyan-clean channeled guitar noodling, and tons of reverb, Still Flyin’ manage to recall everyone from The English Beat and The Specials to Midnight Oil and Vampire Weekend. Hamm Jamm on, brothers.