Vol. 5 Issue 50 February 2010
OK, well that wasn't a fun January.......cold, grey, days getting dark at 4:30......the bulky coat worked to my advantage but besides that I could really use a good dose of global warming! If you are still feeiing that February isn't going to turn your mood around, then get cranking with the new releases from A Weather and Scout Niblett. If your glass is half full and that damn groundhog isn't right then crank it up with the new Shout Out Louds, Yeasayer and High Places! Enjoy!
See News Archives
Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Barsuk
- Secretly Canadian
- Team Love
- Drag City
Barsuk
www.barsuk.com
Rocky Votolato
"True Devotion"
Sometimes, a musician like Rocky Votolato comes along to share experience from the trials of a hard life, using words and melodies to release anguish and explore demons, all the while enlightening those who listen. Rocky’s been doing this for over ten years now, and, despite the fact that the wounds of his past have healed, he has the uncanny ability to channel his former tortured artist. On True Devotion (Barsuk), simple songwriting is crafted into a prolific examination of pain, societal injustice, and personal purity. Despite its acoustic sound and reflective nature, True Devotion never loses the urgency behind it’s meanings. Check out "Don't Be Angry".
Secretly Canadian
www.secretlycanadian.com
Yeasayer
"Odd Blood"
Brooklyn’s Yeasayer are gearing up to release their second collection of uniquely psychedelic pop entitled Odd Blood (Secretly Canadian). It starts with “The Children,” one of the most unique and compelling opening tracks I can remember and from there travels a cohesive path that somehow manages to NEVER repeat itself. Parts of the record feel like they’ve already been remixed by Aphex Twin, all stuttering beats and demonic vocals… Check out first single “Ambling Alp,” and hear the sounds of a psilocybin pop dance party at its best. This whole album crackles and buzzes like something new at the forefront of something special. Check out “Ambling Alp”.
Team Love
www.team-love.com
A Weather
"Everyday Balloons"
The art of down-tempo, hazy, forlorn indie-rock is alive and well in the hands of Portland’s A Weather. While the band boasts the geographic and relational bona fides to fit into the nu-folk genre, this music hearkens back to a simpler, more straightforward time. More Carpenters than Karen Dalton, the directness of the melodies on Everyday Balloons (Team Love) belie an emotional depth evident in the interplay of Aaron Gerber’s and Drummer Sarah Winchester’s vocals. Fans of late nineties slow burners, Low and The New Year will find similarities in the delivery. Piano driven ballads like “Midday Moon” and “Winded” swirl around quiet guitar-pop nuggets like “Ducks” and “Fond” to create a perfect introspective Sunday morning masterpiece. Check out "Midday Moon."
Drag City
www.dragcity.com
Major Stars
"Return To Form"
What if Deep Purple had a female vocalist? What if Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin had lived long enough to see a Slits concert and then started a band after realizing the power of punk rock? What if Major Stars’ Wayne Rogers, Kate Village and Tom Leonard had been there to see Jimi and Janis’ band and took inspiration from them? Well, wonder no more. These questions are answered on Return To Form, Major Stars’ seventh full length (and second for Drag City) a seven song psychosonic wonder featuring their now famous triple guitar assault and Sandra Barrett’s lusty vocals. Alternating between 7 minute guitar freakouts (“Black Point,” “Low Grade”) and shorter three minute classic rock heaviness (“Better Stay Down,” “Only Now the Flames Blow Out,” “Two Degrees”), Return to Form has all of us at Bank Robber head banging and reaching for the keys to the “Second Base Mobile” (tm – The Simpsons). You’ll be screaming “Yes! Yes! Yes! This rocks!” and “No! No! No! Don’t stop a-rockin’!” too. Check out "Only Now The Flames Blow Out."
Scout Niblett
"The Calcination Of Scout Niblett"
At Bank Robber, we love it when the stars align in the music business. For example, when a distinct and sharply focused artist teams up with a talented and rightly respected record engineer, the resulting project has no choice but to be glorious. Our pals over at Drag City are releasing just such a gem: The fifth album by Scout Niblett, The Calcination Of Scout Niblett (Drag City) was recorded with help from the amazing Steve Albini, and its songs are a brilliant synthesis of folk and grunge. Scout’s songwriting is hypnotic in its secret simplicity, and her electric guitar accompanies her eerie melodies perfectly. Check out “The Calcination Of Scout Niblett”.
- Click to see:
- Merge
- Thrill Jockey
- Dead Oceans
Merge
www.mergerecords.com
Shout Out Louds
"Work"
So as some other Swedish whistle rockers prove they may have been nothing more than one hit wonders, the underdog Shout Out Louds have surfaced with what may be their strongest record yet. I thought the best thing to come out of the land of IKEA in the last year or so was the beef Rydberg I had at Aquavit, but it turns out these guys are giving it a run for it's money. Less Cure than the last time around, the band stripped things down for their new LP, Work (Merge), and underneath all the smoke and mirrors are some great pop gems. Check out “Show Me Something New”.
Let's Wrestle
"In The Court Of Wrestling Let's"
We can’t figure out why these raw London rockers sound so much like summertime in California, but we’re not complaining. Our neck of the woods still has at least one more hellish month of cold up it’s sleeve, and In The Court Of The Wrestling Let’s (Merge), the new record from Let’s Wrestle, is going to keep us warm till Springtime. The name of their first single says it all: “We Are The Men You’ll Grow To Love Soon” is a driving, optimistic track that pulls together old punk influences and new indie ingredients. We also loved “Song For Old People” and “Diana’s Hair,” a semi-creepy ballad about a man with hair like Princess Diana. You’ll have to grab the album for a full dose of these guys’ sense of humor and rock and roll, but of course we’ll provide a small piece: Check out “We Are The Men You’ll Grow To Love Soon”.
Thrill Jockey
www.thrilljockey.com
Jack Rose
"Luck In The Valley"
In the time of Facebook, Iphone Apps, Pro-Tools, and Garage Band, the thought of any musician recording anything live to tape is almost unthinkable. There isn’t a piece of media that my still boyish eyes has set on recently that hasn’t been mediated/edited/tempered the hell out of first. This mediation works really well for some things like crappy reality TV programming (here’s looking at you Jersey Shore), and sadly less-well with, say, uh MUSIC. No shots at Brian Eno and brainy sound tech-heads everywhere, but there is something to just hearing live music being played in a room and capturing that on tape – raw. It’s this allegiance to the old, that made Jack Rose one of the most beloved musicians of my time and certainly one of the greatest guitar players around. His solo recording, Kensington Road, has since it’s release in 2005 become one of the major contemporary classics in minimalist instrumental acoustic guitar-laden folk sounds. Yes, Jack Rose was certainly the very definition of a musician’s musician right up until his untimely passing last year. Luck In The Valley (Thrill Jockey) was the last thing he recorded before his death and it is certainly another stunningly beautiful example of plaintive, pre-war Americana. You would be hard pressed to find a warmer sounding album in your collection – Rose was not only a successor to John Fahey, but he was an inspiration to all those who heard his music. Unmediated, raw, and beautiful. Check out "Woodpiles On The Side Of The Road."
High Places
"High Places vs. Mankind"
High Places new one, High Places vs. Mankind (Thrill Jockey), veers only slightly from the road that Mary Pearson and Robert Barber first explored on their 2008 eponymous debut. The band still employs dub-influenced spacey, vaguely Caribbean rhythms layered densely underneath Pearson’s ethereal vocals. But this time there’s less processing, less studio trickery and more human emotion. We can’t get enough of this beautiful record. Check out "On Giving Up."
Dead Oceans
www.deadoceans.com
White Hinterland
"Kairos"
Time for a BRM history lesson! Back in 2008, Dead Oceans signed Casey Dienel, a pop savvy vocalist who’s been grinding out juicy pianos based tunes under the moniker White Hinterland ever since. ‘Twas a nice move on all parts it would seem. The first White Hinterland album, Phylactery Factory came out that year, then an EP, and now, not two years later, she’s releasing another one, Kairos. All of the experimental work she’s done since her beginnings as Casey Dienel—the pop-quirk narrative singer with a piano and a borrowed recording space—has paid off extremely well. The industrial sound of her digital backing contrasts with the somewhat tribal rawness of her voice (truly an instrument in-and-of itself) and gives the record a Dirty Projectors meets Bjork feel that’s refreshingly current. Check out “Icarus”.