Vol. 4 Issue 23 November 2007
It may be oddly unseasonal – but a little Global Warming ain’t gonna stop the monthly BRM web update from truckin’. I couldn’t tell you about Bob Pollards “carbon footprint” at this point, but folks, I’m assuming it’s not pretty. However, that’s fine with us here as long as the guy keeps pumping out consistently solid albums (nay, double albums) like he did this month. Also, we got one amazing atmospheric, very Fripp-Eno doing bong hits on Haight-Ashbury album from Dead Ocean’s new signees, Citay. Plus, for all you people that are dying for Coldplay replacements, we got the best unsigned Coldplay-sound-a-likes around, The Whiles. I’m not kidding folks - unsigned. If you work for a label and are reading this – you’ve just discovered how to send your kid to private school. And of course, that doesn’t even scratch the surface – we got even more new releases from Sunset Rubdown, Takka Takka, Efterklang, and Major Stars too! Ah, just another day at the BRM.
See News Archives
Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Drag City
- Misra
- Anyway Records
- Ernest Jenning
Drag City
www.dragcity.com/
Major Stars
"Mirror/Messenger"
Stop me before I name-drop Blue Cheer, no wait, Sabbath, no wait the MC5, no wait Wipers…Boston’s unabashedly brash his and hers sextet, Major Stars are totally seminal, cult rock territory, an “indie” band that was never afraid to just shred, a band who kind of just did their own hard-rock thing while everyone around them did the whole wallflower, bookworm, liberal arts shoegazer thing instead…Mirror/Messenger is the band’s debut for Drag City, and their second record since reforming in ’05. As expected, Mirror is full of the same shambling, jam metal these guys made their name on. Lyle says these songs are “barnburners,” I say “for a band with ladies in it, they absolutely destroy.”
Misra
www.misrarecords.com/
Southeast Engine
"A Wheel Within A Wheel"
Southeast Engine’s A Wheel Within A Wheel (Misra) seems like the proto-typical indie record to me these days. I mean, this band from the woods, is indeed friends of BRM-beloved, The Wrens – but hey, at least “The Engines” as their boys call ‘em aren’t from Williamsburg. Or Greenpoint. … Not even Bushwick. YES. Wheel, the bands third and most inspired jam, sets it’s foot evenly is fractured mid-tempo guitar-charged rockers, and bucolic folk ditties. The opening track, “Taking The Fall,” even reminded me of Superchunk with more “ba’s”. And y’know “ba’s” are always a good thing. Also, sometimes the lead singer sounds eerily similar to Will Oldham. Check out: “Taking The Fall.”
Anyway Records
www.anyway-records.com/
The Whiles
"Sleeper's Wake"
Well, germs and gents, here’s your blessed Snow Patrol replacement! The Whiles’ “Songs We Used To Know,” (off the band’s sophomore album, Sleeper’s Wake) is pretty, and building, dramatic, and huge – it’s enough to make The Whiles a house hold name, which in a more perfect world, BRM’s favorite Simon and Garfunkel-influenced alt-popsters would be.
Ernest Jenning
www.ernestjenning.com/
Takka Takka
"We Feel Safer At Night"
Holy Brooklyn Buzzband! These friends of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and The National, are poised to make a big impression upon the indie rock masses in the ’08. They’ve got a new label, Ernest Jennings Record Co. (home to fellow blog favorites like O’Death, and The Black Hollies), and if “Draw A Map” is any early indication the Takka Takka guys have stumbled upon a totally engaging blend of Velvet Underground-level cool, and left-field quirk pop. Love it.
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Jagjaguwar
- Dead Oceans
- Leaf
Merge
www.mergerecords.com/
Robert Pollard
"Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love/Standard Gargoyle Decision"
Oh my god, Robert Pollard has not one but 2(!) new albums – Pollards’ 1,234,567 and 1,234,568th releases respectively. Coast To Coast Carpet of Love/Standard Gargoyle Decisions (Merge Records) is one half pure underachieving beer stained, tape loop’d guitar pop, one half dark as hell crypto-blues grunginess. God bless this guy.
Jagjaguwar
www.jagjaguwar.com/
Sunset Rubdown
"Random Spirit Lover"
Spencer Krug’s Wolf Parade side-project carnival is back! Yes folks, Random Spirit Lover (Jagjaguwar) is Sunset Rubdown’s new one, and it’s absolutely epic. Unweilding rhythm change ups, slack-jawed vocal yelps, seething guitar crescendos, accordions, the occasional glockenspiel solo and more – Krug has more than proven his little side-project is just as inspired as his main-gig. Check out: “The Mending Of The Gown.”
Dead Oceans
www.deadoceans.com/
Citay
"Little Kingdom"
San Francisco’s Citay, play a kind of sprawling epic 70’s jam rock for record nerds, and assorted other dudemanbros with quality record collections. The group’s brand new sophomore album, Little Kingdom, (Dead Oceans) is chock full of acoustic grooves, and seething ebow-blessed electric guitar lines. Ebow Rock. Yes indeed, and you wouldn’t be wrong if you were thinking they sound more than a little like Popol Vuh, Mike Oldfeild, or those Fripp-Eno collaborations. Check out: “Little Kingdom.”
Leaf
www.theleaflabel.com/
Efterklang
"Parades"
Some bands have a ton of members, and it’s just all excess. Hey look guys, we’ve got 5 drummers! And it all just sounds like one dude. Efterklang is not that band. I don’t even know if I would classify them as a band per say, given that the style of at once sprawling, and intimate electro-organic post-rock music they play, seems the product of some varied tight-knight Danish community…or as the hipsters say: a collective. Efterklang’s new sophomore album, Parades, (Leaf) is brimming with ideas – there’s a lot of really interesting tinkering with vocals and harmonies and chorus’ and choirs, and sure, it all swoons too. Collective indeed. Check Out: “Cutting Ice To Snow”