Vol. 5 Issue 55 June 2010
It's June and school is almost out, so how about a new web update. Lots of new releases from bands you know like Mates Of State, Here We Go Magic, 8mm, and Nina Nastasia. New releases from bands you might not know like Future Islands, Tame Impala, Woom, Sebastian Blanck and Maps & Atlases. Brand new on the BRM roster and possibly still in high school, Tokyo Police Club. We've also included the ultimate world cup jam "Zol!" from BLK JKS. And what summer wouldn't be complete without a gospel jam from the numero group catalog. Enjoy!
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Current Releases
- Click to see:
- Mates Of State
- Barsuk
- Secretly Canadian
- Numero Group
- BaDaBing
Mates Of State
www.matesofstate.com/
Mates Of State
"Crushes"
Cover records. Who doesn’t love ‘em? Easy to make. No drama on how the songs should sound – because, duh, you already know how they sound. No drama on if you should change the lyrics in the second verse, because someone has already written those lyrics for you a long time ago. Sometimes covers records suck. Sometimes covers records become one of my favorite albums of all time (Yo La Tengo’s Fakebook). Sometimes covers records become best sellers at your favorite record store...Starbucks. Well, Mr. and Mrs. Cute aka Mates of State are back with you guessed it: a covers record. Since they are Mates of State they’ve named it, Crushes (Barsuk). Turns out we like their crushes. Mates of States’ cover of Death Cab For Cutie’s “Technicolor Girls” might be Barsuk Records’ own version of a 360 deal, and god knows that that Tom Waits number is gonna be about as easy to clear as a room full of tweens watching Twillight, but the duo certainly had us with any record that includes their own version of hipster drug addicts Girls’ single “Laura.” Plus, with keyboard drenched covers of everyone from the Mars Volta (!) to Vashti Bunyan, and obscure indie-popsters Dear Nora, Mates can play house band at our Bank Robber frat party any day. Check out "True Love Will Find You In The End"
Barsuk
www.barsuk.com
Maps And Atlases
"Perch Patchwork"
Simple arrangements of complex songs can make for a very interesting listen. Take, for instance, Maps & Atlases’ album Perch Patchwork (Barsuk). Each quirky tune is essentially guitar, bass, drums and vocals. But each of these instruments is used in such a creative way that they sounds like all new instruments. Guitars are frenetic and restrained at the same time. Melodies can almost sound like they are backwards. Listen to “Living Decorations” for a perfect sense of what this amazing band is up to. These are songs that would so easily fall apart in lesser bands hands. Here, they flow so well into each other on this perfectly sequenced LP.
Secretly Canadian
www.secretlycanadian.com
Here We Go Magic
"Pigeons"
Is it possible for a band to sound pastel? Despite the fact that you can’t actually hear colors, Here We Go Magic glide through an impressionist painting of an album, smearing through greens and reds on their way to yellows and blues. Which is actually what the album cover looks like, oddly enough, strange shapes swirling in and out of each other, playful and weird. (And – what the hell? Those reds are actually the titular pigeons!) Things continue to devolve into psychedelia, and get a little more frighteningly tangible: Imagine walking into the band’s rehearsal space – Luke Temple and co. tuning instruments, checking levels – and being greeted by a thick, transparent liquid sheen that envelopes your perception of the room. As the band begins to play, each instrument chimes and swirls and each beat punctuates time, and more pastels explode from the surface of the liquid, warping the view into a glorious rippling puddle (insert stock Donnie Darko reference here) – it’s like watching the band in the reflection of the craziest lake you’ve ever seen. The band can rock through the goop, though: immediate standouts include first single “Collector” and (hopefully second single) “Old World United.” But it’s the hazy warmth of slow-growers “Surprise,” “Bottom Feeder,” “Moon,” and “F.F.A.P.” (which features a nifty brief burst of distorted Malkmusian guitar solo) that end up sticking like rainbow bubblegum to your brain stem. Somewhere, Sid Barrett cackles gleefully. Check out "Collector."
Blk Jks
"ZOL!"
Post-millenial revolutionary South African afro-pop on an American based indie lable!!?! Yep. BLK JKS are back with a new ep titled, ZOL! (Secretly Canadian). Sounding like a cross between TV On The Radio, The Roots, MIA and Fela Kuti – it’s no wonder that BLK JKS’ SC debut, After Robots, was dubbed “probably the most important South African record released in the last 20 years.” Zol’s title track is an anthem built upon a stuttering groove that wouldn’t be out of place with MIA toasting over it. It’s the kind of song that “young dudes from Soweto can sing on their way to Futball matches.” Well yeah...And I’m guessing some bearded cats in Brooklyn are gonna eat this up too. No doubt. Check out "Zol!".
Numero Group
www.numerogroup.com/
Brother Samuel Cheatam
"Good God! Born Again Funk"
Lordy lordy do we have some earth shakin' jams for you on the new Numero compilation. When you're done you'll wonder how something so holy can make you feel so funky. "Been Trying" sounds pulled right off the streets of South Chicago, and most definitely should be soundtracking a gritty crime drama (if only The Wire were still around!). "Troubles Of The World" may be a righteous bible beater lyrically, but aurally it's a Screamin' Jay Hawkins channeling voodoo moneymaker, replete with oom pa pa drums and ominous organ. Repent for the end is at hand. Get your preach on with "Troubles Of The World."
BaDaBing
www.badabingrecords.com/
Woom
"Muu's Way"
Woom's new one, Muu's Way Or Pictures From The Uterine World (BaDaBing), is an audio enigma. Melding male/female vocals, glitchy electronics, folky acoustic guitars, and even samples of animal noises, Muu's Way is somewhere between Bjork, Neutral Milk Hotel, Portishead, and Dntel. I imagine this album was recorded in a hut in the woods with a lot of peyote involved. "Back In" sounds like Tegan and Sara rewriting a mellow version of MIA's "Paper Planes". Track "Backwards Beach" is reminiscent of labelmate Beirut's "A Sunday Smile". Get back into "Back In."
- Click to see:
- Thrill Jockey
- Mom and Pop
- Fat Cat
- Modular
- Rare Book Room
- Chelsea Girl
Thrill Jockey
www.thrilljockey.com
Future Islands
"In Evening Air"
Did you ever wonder what it would sound like if young Tom Waits sang for Joy Division? Well, you don't need to because Future Islands have done the legwork for you. Fusing gruff, oddball vocals (that also remind me a bit of Modest Mouse) with lush, atmospheric textures, Future Islands have crafted a winner on In Evening Air (Thrill Jockey). Album opener "Walking Through That Door" sounds a bit like riding your harley through the desert (or dessert if you're tripping real hard) after your friend Goose got dead. Stand-out track "Tin Man" is somewhere between TV On The Radio and Animal Collective on the booty-shaking-clap-your-hands-jump-up-and-down meter. Get into "Tin Man."
Mom and Pop
www.momandpopmusic.com/
Tokyo Police Club
"Champ"
I need to preface this by saying I really, really like Tokyo Police Club. Elephant Shell was easily one of my favorites of 2008. And now we're working the new TPC joint, Champ (Mom & Pop). Color me stoked/badd. TPC have always reminded me a bit of a youthful Spoon or Interpol. Where Britt Daniel's songs often have this knowing melancholy to them, the songs on Champ have this brashness that you'll only find on a record written by a band in the 18-25 set. That's not to say the record is without polish - this is the tightest the band has ever sounded. Champ's lead single, "Breakneck Speed" is a total sit by the pool drinking brews jam; that little guitar line in the chorus (you'll know it when you hear it...) has been stuck in my head since the second I heard it. The presumable second single, "Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)", is kind of an arena rock counterpart to anything off of Vampire Weekend's Contra. I'm hopped up on too much coffee and the damn thing is making me bounce up and down in my chair. Dig on "Breakneck Speed."
Fat Cat
www.fat-cat.co.uk
Nina Nastasia
"Outlaster"
As far as album titles go, Outlaster is a pretty brazen one. Indeed, Outlaster is Nina Nastasia’s third record for the Fat Cat label featuring production from the infamous Steve Albini – but those two elements aren’t the only resilient qualities Outlaster has to share with us. Once again, Nina blesses us with her woeful, earnest vocals and haunting modest songscapes only this time Nina’s frantic minor-key acoustic guitar melodies are filled out with lush strings, woodwinds, and horns. It’s rare to hear a singer-songwriter record arranged in such a way where the string accompaniment doesn’t become saccharine, or sentimental or bloated – so credit where credit is due to arranger Paul Bryan whose worked with everyone from Allen Toussant and Mavis Staples to Grant Lee Buffalo. On tracks like the sweeping, “Moves Away,” Nastasia splits the different coming off like Cat Power ad-libbing off an old copy of Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain. It’s a good look. Ultimately Outlaster is just that; a testament to the quiet consistency of Bank Robber’s most alluring little songstress. Check out "Cry, Cry Baby."
Modular
www.modularpeople.com
Tame Impala
"Innerspeaker"
Tame Impala are dropping their debut LP and boy is it a doozy. Innerspeaker (Modular) is an acid hazed rock record, sounding like The Beatles at their trippiest. Mixing fuzzed out high gain guitars with reverb dowsed vocals and pounding drums, Innerspeaker has almost a tribal feel at times, evoking a bit of Jimi-on-stage-guitar-burning in the mind’s eye. “Solitude is Bliss”, the album’s lead single, sounds like it should score a protest scene in a 60’s period piece. Check it out and tell me I’m right.
Rare Book Room
www.rbrrecords.com/
Sebastian Blanck
"Alibi Coast"
When somebody mentioned Sebastian Blanck in the office, I misheard them and thought they said "Sebastian Blanket", to which I yelled "I HATE THAT." Lo and behold, I was wrong, and this record rules. There's a lot of things I can compare this record to, it reminds me of Fleet Foxes and their CSNY-influenced indie folk, but also reminds me of The Magnetic Fields (in spirit if not in sound.) The melancholy drenched "Thunder" could easily be a long lost Simon & Garfunkel tune, which I believe makes this the anti-Vampire Weekend. There's a definite cinematic quality to Sebastian's songs; peep the video for "I Blame Baltimore" if you don't believe me. Lonely astronaut jam for sure (Hello Sam Rockwell, I loved you in Moon)! Interesting side note: Sebastian was in an early incarnation of noise-outfit Black Dice. Think about that while you dig on "I Blame Baltimore."
Chelsea Girl
www.iodalliance.com/
8mm
"Love And The Apocalypse"
The glamorous neo-noir love-child of David Lynch, Aimee Mann and Portishead...nah, I didn't write that, i just cut and pasted it from the bands myspace page (or was it Friendster?)...A little less with the trip hop, and a little more with the acoustic guitars Love and the Apocalypse the band's new EP seems more focused on love with such jams as "never going back again" and "life is good" and less on the apocalypse.......One look at 8mm and you know they are focusing on the love part, which is a good thing cause the last thing i need right now is a record about the apocalypse.....in the meantime, I can sit back, think i'm in LA, and enjoy the love from 8mm. You will as well.......