Top News Story:

There’s a whole lotta tourin’ going on.  Terrible pun aside, a slew of bands announced tours this week.  Sleigh Bells, Neon Indian and CSS will be starting their tour at the Coachella Music Festival, Lil Wayne announced his “I Am Music II” tour with co-headliner Nicki Minaj, and supporting cast Rick Ross, Mix Master Mike, and Travis Barker.  Black Lips and Vivian Girls announced their tour across the east coast and most of the Midwest.  Wavves and Best Coast are hitting the road together, while The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are touring with newcomer Twin Shadow.  The spring is looking to be quite a busy season.

On a side, and extremely sad, note, the Coachella Music and Arts Festival is sold out.  Tickets were only available for 4 days before selling out, and they’re now being sold on eBay, Craigslist and ticket bartering sites for as much as $1,500.

However, All Tomorrow’s Parties new festival in Asbury Park (starting 9/30) still has some tickets left, even though Jeff Mangum’s private Monday show is sold out. Curated by Portishead, they will play alongside Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Shellac, Chavez, and many more to be announced. 3-day passes run for $269.

————————————————————————————————————————————–

New Tracks:

Young Galaxy – We Have Everything

* Young Galaxy had the misfortune of being lumped into the chillwave obsession of 2010, but their brand of chilled-out electronic swirls have Studio’s Dan Lissvik producing their upcoming album, Shapeshifting.  “We Have Everything” is an absolute pleasure to hear. The bleeding vocals compliment the lighthearted melody without overpowering the overall mood.

Memory Tapes – Today Is Our Life

* Memory Tapes’ 2009 LP was fantastic. “Today Is Out Life” comes from the new Love SIC Disco compilation.  The track showcases a more focused style from Memory Tapes than was seen in ’09, but still retains Dayve Hawk’s signature hazy flutterings.  Hawk also stated that the song would be included on the Memory Tapes sophomore release.

Times New Viking – No Room to Live

* The first single from their new album, Dance Equired, which is out on Times New Viking’s brand new label, Merge.  This single is telling of TNV’s move toward more traditional recording methods whilst attempting to keep an air of analog goodness.  The obvious shift in style between Rip It Off and Born Again Revisited is even more evident in “No Room to Live.”

————————————————————————————————————————————–

Best New Album of the Week:

Destroyer – Kaputt

Destroyer – Chinatown

Destroyer – Suicide Demo for Kara Walker

Destroyer – Blue Eyes

Dan Bejar decided on the name ‘Destroyer’ for his side project because he was so surprised no other band had ever taken the name.  And while the name has a negative connotation, Bejar’s experiments in the world of singer/songwriters has produced some of the best albums of the last decade.  Destroyer albums range from the minimal and acoustic to the sonic and electronic. With Kaputt, Destroyer delves even deeper into Bejar’s experimental personality.  One of the biggest examples is the first track, “Chinatown”, which employs a late-80s synth/drum/sax combination that, when coupled with Bejar’s haunting vocals, produces a track that sounds out of place at first, but then eases into itself and eventually sounds no more awkward than most of Trouble in Dreams. With Kaputt, Bejar keeps to an overall thematic use of synthesizers and 80s style arrangements; long, luscious and overdone.  And while today’s music tends to veer away from this perceived fault, Bejar uses it with such confidence that he has you believing Olivia Newton John will start playing next.

Read Mike’s review of the album here.

BUY

————————————————————————————————————————————–

Song of the Week:

The Strokes – 12:51

by Jay Mattson

Room on Fire was released when I was a senior at Grimsely Senior High School.  This was a time before I wanted to hear anything beyond what the radio played.  But I bought the sophomore album from the Strokes, mostly because the scene girls in my art class talked about how good Is This It? had been.  Obviously fawning for their attention by letting the album sit halfway out of my book bag so they could see I had it didn’t work to curry their favor.  Instead, it became one of my favorite albums. Specifically, “12:51” was one of the best songs I had ever heard.  It was short, to the point; “rock ‘n’ roll”, but not bawdy; it had the garage aesthetic without sounding overly grimy.  Some of the reasons I love the Strokes are the same reasons other people dislike them.  “12:51” became a sort-of mood lifter for me.  Whenever I was having a bad day, I’d pop Room on Fire into my car stereo.  To this day, “12:51” makes me smile, not only because the track is one of the Strokes’ best work, but also because it reminds me of the days when I first became enamored with Casablancas and Company.

BUY

The post Week in Review (1/29) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Week in Review (Jan 15-21)

by Jay Mattson

Top News Story:

COACHELLA!  The 2011 Coachella Music and Arts Festival artist lineup has been announced and is currently flying all over the Internet, kind of like a little indie-rock Christmas present for the kids.  Exciting acts include Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Kanye West, the reunion of Death From Above 1979 (!!!!), Animal Collective, The Black Keys, Lightning Bolt, Best Coast, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tame Impala, and many, many, many others.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

New Tracks:

Wavves – Mutant

* A reported b-side left over from the King of the Beach sessions, “Mutant” is Nathan Williams at his best with Wavves.  Hazy instrumentals and Williams’ unique vocals swim through the first half of the track before breaking down into a full instrumental movement.  Williams has stated that “Mutant” may appear on an upcoming 7” single… maybe.

Nicki Minaj – Roman’s Revenge 2.0 (featuring Lil’ Wayne)

* The only thing that’s changed on this 2.0 version of “Roman’s Revenge”, from Nicki’s debut, Pink Friday, is that Lil’ Wayne contributes the featured verses instead of Eminem. Overall, “2.0” isn’t better or worse than the original, it’s just different.  Wayne’s tempo doesn’t fit as well as Eminem’s, and it shows when each version is played consecutively.

The Mountain Goats – Damn These Vampires

* As the first new track from John Darnielle since the Mountain Goats’ The Life of the World to Come way back when in 2009, this track held a heavy burden.  Would Darnielle choose to continue down the dark and relgious path he set for himself, or would he start climbing toward a lighter tone and less serious tone?  The latter is proven true, as “Damn These Vampires” is a spirited acoustic jaunt through some of the Mountain Goats’ greatest strengths.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Best New Album of the Week:

Smith Westerns – Weekend

Smith Westerns – All Die Young

Smith Westerns – Dance Away

If you wish you were born in the 1970s, Dye it Blonde is for you.  Built upon the jangle and swoon of the beginning of psychedelia without sounding too…well, psychedelic. More so, Smith Westerns manage to match the tone of psychedelic past, but crank the tempo up a few notches and add more electric guitar than hazy sitar.  In today’s increasingly niche-based musical world, it has become increasingly difficult to record an album that audiences will willingly listen to from start to finish without skipping a track.  Dye it Blonde accomplishes this through songs that consistently grab your attention with their lighthearted melodies and catchy instrumentals.  More often than not, the guitar work carries the tracks, which is not a bad thing at all.  Smith Westerns have carved a sound for themselves that’s simply enjoyable to hear and Dye it Blonde is the result of that.

BUY

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Song of the Week:

Beirut – Elephant Gun

Everyone has a few songs that stay with them.  There are those few tracks that hold meaning, no matter what that meaning may be.  Perhaps it is a memory of a specific summer, or a feeling of happiness or depression rushes over you.  Maybe you actually become frightened, or it could simply that you really love the song.  For me, “Elephant Gun” is one of those songs.  It was the Beirut track that truly made me fall in love with Zach Condon’s mesmerizing vocals and uncanny arrangements.  And while Beirut’s entire catalog is genius, “Elephant Gun” is my favorite track by Condon and company.  The blending of instruments evident throughout the song is gorgeous, as Condon seamlessly adds and removes different layers of horns, strings and vocals.  When I first heard this song, all I could think about was a parade, a procession making steady progress down a smallish street in a populated French city.  Condon is, of course, the leader, but he’s not walking in front.  Instead, he’s sitting atop an elephant in a carrier while he strums away at the ukulele while his marching band whimsically plays along.

BUY

The post Week in Review (1/21) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.