About a year ago I received a 5 track demo from a fairly new DC band True Womanhood. Their sound was truly unique. Not overly complicated – guitar, vocals, drums, and the occasional strange sound I couldn’t quite place. The trio of Thomas Redmond (vocals, guitar), Melissa Beattie (bass, aux), and Noam Elsner (percussion, aux) have since played a slew of area shows and have been highlighted on many blogs. They have just released a new EP Basement Membranes on local Baltimore label Environmental Aesthetics (home of Weekends, Lands & Peoples, In Every Room, and more) and holy crap is it good. I knew when they put out the digital single of “Magic Child” a little while ago that they had seriously grown as artists, but hearing this explosive EP has put them on another level. I’m guessing that working with J. Robbins and Death By Audio had an effect for sure. The difference between these new versions and the older demo versions is pretty drastic. The rhythmic intensity on the EP is simply breathtaking and powerful. I know that seems cliche – but its the friggin truth. Also, as I stated on our post about the “Magic Child” single, Thomas Redmond’s voice has blossomed into its own powerful entity within these songs. Previously it seemed to just blend and waver between its other musical counterparts, but now Redmond’s vocals charge to the front. There’s not much else to say but GET THIS EP then beckon them to get a-workin’ on the LP.
Thanks to Analog Giant and their pretty swell top ten 2009 albums list. This list turned me on to Lindstrom and Christabelle’s Real Life Is No Cool (which AG selected as their top LP of 2009) – an album I completely missed out on. If you can imagine some sort of alternate reality where Michael Jackson was a Norwegian woman and waited 30 years to release Off The Wall – then you’d probably be listening to something sounding quite like Real Life Is No Cool. The duo of Hans-Peter Lindstrom and Christabelle Solale summon that disco funk pop r&b early 80s spirit then splatter it with their modern Norwegian electronic seductive electronic whispering charm. I slept on this album. Don’t make the same mistake.
So there’s a “CRIPPLING” snowstorm upon us here in Baltimore. Some are dubbing it the Snowpocalypse. It looks like this is it. It’s been real…
Seriously though, lots of snow on the way and with this impending doom it feels only right that I make a few comments on the new EELS LP End Times. Yup you guessed it – it’s a downer of an album about the last days. That being said, I really dig it. Since last years release of Loco Hombre and this new LP, I’m starting to believe EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett is a modern day Tom Waits with a freakish Nick Drake sensibility. While End Times isn’t a “play anytime” album for me, I’ve enjoyed it quite a lot over the last few days of listening. And this track simply makes the album for me:
Saratoga Springs, NY. Skidmore College. Mostly known in the music world for the place where Ratatat hooked up. Perhaps in the near future it will be known for the place that is home to the duo of Phantogram. Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel make up the twosome that have their debut LP Eyelid Movies about to surface on the fine label of Barsuk.
Imagine some fantastic world where Portishead, J Dilla, and School Of Seven Bells could some how meet and create some stellar cosmic dark soul rough cut trip hop. This is where Phantogram resides. The music on Eyelid Movies draws from artists like that in a big way and it really appeals to me. Sparse yet booming beats, a minimal sample or two, usually some sort of guitar riff, and the soulful vocals of Barthel (though Carter also sings on a few).
It’s dark and cold around Baltimore. I have Eyelid Movies blaring and it seems to just melt into the cityscape around me.
What was going on in 2008 when I managed to miss Brooklyn’s Lemonade’s S/T debut album? It better have been important because DAMN Lemonade is killing my ears (in a good way of course) this week. The S/T jams intense sliced up techno tribal explosions that make me want to dance and run at the same time (and I’m not gonna bust out the Running Man fors ya – but I totally could).
So your probably wondering why I was rediscovering an album from way back in ‘08…well just the other day I happened across a new track of theirs “Lifted”. From the Pure Moods EP, “Lifted” is sampled crazed blissed out bumpy ride. This track has definitely one of the best things I’ve heard over the last few weeks – so much so that I seriously CRANKED it on my drive home from work (new job YAY!) yesterday.
You can also check out another cut from the EP on their myspace. Pure Moods comes out on March 9th via True Panther/Matador. You can order it from here or here or go for the deluxe 3-pack (bundled with EPs from Tanlines and Janka Nabay) for just $21.
Drink Up Buttercup’s debut album Born and Thrown On A Hook is almost definitely going to be residing in my “Best of 2010 Albums” list at the end of the year. I know that’s a bit hasty…and bold, but when I listen to this album I just feel energized… It’s like reliving the history of rock and roll and perhaps even re-inventing it a bit. The 60s era rock sound is so prevalent, you can’t help but make comparisons to The Beatles and the Stones, but as the music rolls on I realize there’s a whole new twisted animal circus in there that propels Drink Up Buttercup to another level. Okay okay maybe I’m exaggerating a tad, but man does Born and Thrown On A Hook COOK (hey that rhymes! And you know it rhymes, admit it!)!
The best part of listening to this album is knowing that it doesn’t even come close to Drink Up Buttercup’s live show. I mean how can any recording possibly capture the massive sing-a-long stomp-a-long smash-a-trashcan-lid force that is DUB’s beastly live experience? It can’t.
My advice? Get this album and crank it whether you’re slaving away at work or in some dark basement with a few day glow posters and a black light. Next – go see these dudes live (new tour dates coming soon). You won’t regret it.
Florida’s MillionYoung aka Mike Diaz and his new tape/EP Be So True has softened my ears and jolted my senses. Drum machines topped with Diaz’s soaked reverb heavy vocals are sewn together with new wave (or should I say New Order) synthesizers. This style seems to be popping up in many forms lately, but I dig it…so I dig MillionYoung. His Be So True EP is out now via Arcade Sound Ltd. and you can download his Sunndreamm EP for free here.
Sometimes things just need to be L O U D. In music it’s a rare thing for me to be into the harder side of rock. Sometimes it’s way too abrasive for my tastes, but on occasion a band pulls it all together and creates and beautiful brash and L O U D escapade that I fall in love with. Enter Minneapolis’ Red Pens, the duo of Howard W. Hamilton III, (formerly of The Busy Signals) and artist-turned-drummer Laura Bennett, who are an elegant stick of dynamite – fuzzy and explosive on the inside, but held together by some damn sweet pop casings. Red Pens have almost done the impossible balancing between indie rock/pop sounds like Sebadoh and full force punk craziness like The Death Set…or perhaps Sonic Youth on one end and The Sex Pistols on the other. Their new album Reasons (due out February 16th) is overflowing with gritty experimental pop verses coupled with punk anthem choruses.
If you couldn’t tell, I supremely dig this band. Play these L O U D if you can:
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