April was a busy and thoroughly enjoyable month in music. It’s easy to point out that big names dominated most of it, some of them even brand names in indie music; Panda Bear, TV on the Radio, and Fleet Foxes are as close as you can get to that. I try to avoid featuring artists that are extremely well-known like that, but it’s hard to ignore a a relatively essential effort. After all, several of these releases will be appearing in the Top 50 at year’s end. More importantly, in most of these examples they have offered something new and innovative to their pre-existing sound. Even if you can’t stand hearing about Panda Bear or Fleet Foxes one more time this year, I feel that I selected the tracks from their respective albums that best show how they developed from their previous, more familiarized sound. Even with that in mind, this month’s compilation is pretty thick at 15 tracks, so a handful of artists that you already know shouldn’t be too detrimental to your listening experience.

Many of the other artists on this month’s compilation are on the absolute fringe of a breakout. Cass McCombs is seemingly one album away from gaining the widespread acclaim he deserves, and Wit’s End was certainly a step in the right direction. The Antlers did much of the same, with another devastatingly haunting album in Burst Apart. Then you have the long-awaited return of three artists specifically in John Maus, Peter Erchick (Pipes You See),  and HAL. It has been a half-dozen years or so since either have released a full-length. Judging by Maus’ “Believer”, Erchick’s “Lost in the Pancakes”, and HAL’s “Be With You“, they all sound better than ever. Their breakouts seem to be in the near future as well.

Of course, new and emerging artists are not forgotten. The buzzed-about Son Lux and Shabazz Palaces have albums on the way that are sure to get some positive press, while brand new artists like Mass Fiction, The Salvadors, Silk Flowers, and Brickwork Lizards are showing heaps of potential. Check out Mass Fiction and The Salvadors, specifically. Hopefully all these tracks, from both the headliners to unknowns, can distract you from the over-excess of political opinions stemming from almost everyone today. If someone starts ranting, just tell them to relax. Then put on your headphones. Many of the songs on this month’s compilation are perfect for blocking out excess.

01. Cass McCombs – County Line (post)
02. Panda Bear – Alsatian Darn (post)
03. Pipes You See, Pipes You Don’t – Lost in the Pancakes (post)
04. Fleet Foxes – Grown Ocean (post)
05. The Antlers – No Widows (post)
06. Son Lux – Rising (post)
07. Mass Fiction – Cold Heart (post)
08. Shabazz Palaces – Are You… Can You… Were You (Felt) (post)
09. TV On The Radio – Will Do (post)
10. John Maus – Believer (post)
11. The Salvadors – Wilson (post)
12. Brickwork Lizards – Live at Cirque Subite (post)
13. Silk Flowers – Small Fortune (post)
14. HAL – Down in the Valley (post)
15. The Belle Brigade – Losers (post)

DOWNLOAD ENTIRE COMPILATION>>> (94.9 MB, .RAR)

The post Obscure Sound: Best of April 2011 appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Ben Talmi wants to fuck with your ears. He does not want you to know that his instrument collection is limited, or that his recordings rarely extend beyond his bedroom. In an age where popular music is bursting with superfluous production it is hard to blame him. Talmi recorded his debut EP, For the Dreamers, completely alone in his bedroom. And like most albums recorded in isolation, it resounds with a presentation unique to the artist. The Boston native seems to make music by his own standards, abiding by the belief that “limitation breeds creativity”, which makes me think that even if he was supplied an instrument apart from an acoustic guitar, a moog synth, and a piano free of charge, he would consider it to be cheating himself and – more importantly – his sound.

Admirable ideologies have little relevance in music if the material being produced is poor. I would not be featuring Talmi if that was the case though. His desire to bring out the most unconventional uses of his guitar/moog/piano arsenal results in some interesting efforts, for sure. But his most admirable traits of all, which are continuously infectious melodies and revolving song structures, are more prevalent than anything. Talmi successfully produces a vein of glitch-pop that – for once – does not express a reliance on sounds over melody. His material sounds simultaneously tightly infectious and creatively personalized.

The tightness of Talmi’s compositions are immediately recognizable, like on the crisp “Ticking of Your Bicycle” where the acoustic guitar swipes, beeps of synth, and clouting electro-bass combine for a tightly infectious journey. “Scales of a Fish in the Sky” is certainly more subdued initially, with an acoustic guitar arpeggio interweaving multiple progressions over the clock-like formation of the bass. The track picks up very quickly though, with a background of “ooh-ing” creating a serene feel about a half-minute in. From here, the listener is exposed delightfully to Talmi’s skills as a songwriter, which aligns perfectly with the styles of glitch-pop and electronica he maneuvers through. His innovative replication of orchestral elements is thoroughly fascinating, but it never overrides the infectious songwriting found on both “Ticking of Your Bicycle” and “Scales of a Fish in the Sky”.

It is appropriate that this feature comes only a few days after our review of Sufjan Stevens’ The Age of Adz. If anything, Talmi seems to possess the youthful ambition of Sufjan Stevens, and their stylistic preferences certainly appear aligned with these two releases. Talmi is younger and experienced, which shows, but sometimes it actually serves as a positive. Sufjan has lately been a bit over-ambitious in sacrificing accessibility for some puzzling choices within the avant-garde. That is not always true for him, since tracks like “I Walked” are as straightforward as one would want from him, but The Age of Adz was far from perfect with some notable missteps. Talmi, though, is still refreshingly experimental, in that he shows his bursting creativity but also knows that his chances for exposure would be weakened by acting too out there. Sometimes innocence and inexperience can pay off, especially when you pack as much potential as Talmi.

RIYL: Sufjan Stevens, Pinback, Andrew Bird, Grizzly Bear, Radiohead, Anathallo, Own Pallett, The National, Tor, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, The Dodos, Dave Sitek, M. Ward, Mass Fiction, Ross Fish, The Antlers, Rosie Thomas, Bright Eyes, My Brightest Diamond

Ben Talmi – For The Dreamers EP

Ben’s Bandcamp

MySpace

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