Koko and the Sweetmeats, a four-piece from Seattle, recently announced the release of their new record Sacrifice. The band, who were named “Best Garage Band” for 2011 by Seattle Weekly, describe Sacrifice as a concept “double EP”. The six songs on side A are reinterpreted on side B. It’s free for a limited time on their Bandcamp.

Within the first few seconds of listening to the LP, I had the band pegged down as “The Phoenix Foundation but a bit heavier.” And I wish that were true, because it’s a nice sounding description that would make me look sensible in my first article for Obscure Sound. But it just isn’t that easy to pin down. By the end of the first track I decided my descriptive line would be “channeling the spirit of Neil Young.” But no, a few more tracks in and any listener will discover that doesn’t quite nail it either… although I maintain that the singer, Garett Van der Crimp, sounds very similar to the Canadian singer-songwriter, which is certainly no bad thing. But one thing is clear: this record will never, ever be a hit. And this is a record that has no intention of being a hit.

Sacrifice is dense. Not in the stupid sense of the word, but in the fact that almost every song on this 12-track album seems to be covered in a layer of white noise (presumably feedback from a guitar), and this makes it all the more challenging to get to grips with the music, in the best possible way. This is a band that do not underestimate or patronize their listener, which frankly is something this industry has been crying out for lately.

Interestingly, Koko and the Sweetmeats have listed Prince as one of their key influences. This does seem a bit bizarre, as there is nothing on this album to suggest that Prince’s synth-pop and dance-oriented numbers are conducive to Koko’s repertoire. However, excitingly (for me at least) this means there is even more to come from this quartet, who have already showcased loads of potential on this professional and sprawling LP.

If you held me at gunpoint and asked me which single song from this LP to download, I would probably plump for “Love Song to Make Us Millions“, the second track. It’s not just for the wry nod to mainstream pop music in the title either. It features the kind of riff that wouldn’t be amiss on a ’70s rock album, but nicely distorted to fit in with the aforementioned theme of density. It would seem there is too much to this band to base the song on that opening riff, however, and the rest of the track makes it nicely challenging, but possible, for the listener to identify various rhythms within the song. Excellent stuff. Fans of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols should download this immediately.

So to summarize, since it’s currently retailing at the price of $0.00, I can’t recommend downloading this LP enough, if only to give it a chance. You won’t be disappointed.

RIYL: David Bowie, The Dandy Warhols, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Neil Young, The Phoenix Foundation, Smith Westerns

MP3: Koko and the Sweetmeats – Love Song to Make Us Millions (Side A)

MP3: Koko and the Sweetmeats – Will We Ever Make It to the Ocean? (Side A)

Bandcamp / Facebook

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Ish Marquez is the hidden light at the end of the otherwise tedious anti-folk tunnel. He has the melodic gifts of Arthur Lee, but without any of the failed lyrical obtuseness. Someday there will be a compilation to sand over the numerous repetitions in his discography, and America will finally take notice of him. He will be placed alongside Paul Westerberg in the pantheon of self-sabotaging genius.

Marquez touts superb rhythmic techniques in his vocal delivery, and he can apply a lo-fi swirl when appropriate. When it isn’t, he doesn’t; he has no dogmatic allegiance to any production style. Marquez avoids the pitfalls of Anti-folk, the lines which purposefully don’t rhyme, and detail the endless petty narratives of shallow post-collegiate relationships and screeching hesitant guitar tones. All he keeps is a suspicion of overproduction and an allegiance to tunes. His connection to the scene, like a couple others, was mostly geographic; The Sidewalk Cafe was the epicenter of anti-folk and anything played there was considered Anti-folk by default.

Fall Into Shadow, recorded with members of Herman Dune, is an uneven album, but one filled with great highlights and Marquez’s nasally moody vocal stylings. That it manages to be his greatest album despite containing none of what I’d consider to be his best songs is notable in itself. “I Perceive Things”, “Approaching Su God”, and “Glow Yer Glow” are all spread across other cassette releases and proper albums (some of them multiple times.) Yet on the other albums Marquez is plagued by poor production and substandard background players that kill any cohesion possible in the listening experience. Perhaps the next best release is Goin’ Thru which displays Marquez’s penchant for psychedelia much more prominently.

Herman Dune manage to provide a background to let Marquez stretch out. While this occasionally backfires into silliness or unnecessary covers, such as “Moo Moo Cow” or “Out on the Weekend”, this otherwise provides consistent shifts in dynamics and rousingly loose renditions.

Marquez sees life as something dramatic, Verdi-like at times. He frequently ends each line with a strong downward strum and held note. The lyrics aren’t as strong as the melodies, though occasional gems pop up like on album highlight “Sound the Alarm”. “I’ll be the victim if you’ll play along,” he sings there. Rarely can one hear so many confused dynamics in one line.

Fall Into Shadow is a good Sunday chill-out album and, until a proper release of the first two self-released cassettes, the best place to start on Marquez. Hopefully he can pull it together and add some official releases to his discography.

RIYL: Elvis Costello, Neil Young, Ritchie Valens, Johnny Mathis, Love, Guitar Situations, Jeffrey Lewis, The Replacements

Ish Marquez – I Perceive Things

Ish Marquez – Gin Is Not My Friend

Ish Marquez – Is There Really Such a Word?

Official Site / MySpace / BUY

The post Drive-By Proposals – Fall Into Shadow (2005) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Of all the upstate NY bands to show promise in the last five years – only to fizzle out – did any show more promise than the Kamikaze Hearts? If there was, I didn’t hear them. No other band quite captured the feel of the region quite as well.

See, I know upstate NY. I grew up there. It’s a bit like the American South… more relaxed, but with a heavier edge of fatalism; electric instruments don’t seem right in it. Distortion and noise there seems mostly like a younger brother imitating the NYC older brother. Punk there is mostly a chronicle of the minutia of local gossip. Yet acoustic groups also don’t quite capture the feel of the area, though they come closer. Caffè Lena, where I frequented, and where the Kamikaze Hearts played several of their earliest and most memorable shows, is supposedly the oldest Caffè in America. Don McLean supposedly wrote “American Pie” in The Tin and Lint, a bar down the street (where I also met two very drunk Oxycontin dealers on one dollar draft night, a story for another occasion), then performed it for the first time at Lena’s. A very young Bob Dylan was almost booed off the stage until an irate Lena Spencer supposedly yelled to the crowd to “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” between sets. Among the various couches on which the great Dave Van Ronk slept, it hosted one of the most prominent ones. The place is littered with ghosts and folklore which unfortunately took over the space after the battle for control over it that occurred after Lena’s death.

The Caffè Lena I grew up near was one of the several hubs for Saratoga-based music, but it was also a graveyard of dried-up folk revivalists, who – because of the Caffe’s non-profit charter – were carted up in a seemingly unending cycle as a way to show the country’s culture or something. They played the same couple boring Dylan covers and traditional folk songs (never the juicy murder ballad stuff though) with the same boring Peter Paul & Mary harmonies, the sort of people who honestly saw a cultural line between Clarence Ashley and John Denver. It was embarrassing. America was a much more strange and dingy place than that. That wasn’t our culture. That was the dessicated remains of a dead plagiarism culture, that of the folk revival of the 1960s.

The Kamikaze Hearts – taking liberally from the Neil Young tradition but with enough of their own swagger, craft, and dinginess to distinguish themselves – stood out brilliantly from their first and now impossible-to-find self-titled release. Each successive release grew stronger and stronger, their confidence behind the instruments and behind the board growing exponentially. A wonderful porch-rock sound cushioned the plaintive whines of singers Troy Pohl and Gaven Richard, who sang about common afflictions like pining after women, addiction, and long road trips, but added specifically upstate flavors; they often were couching narratives in civil war imagery, listing off local stalwarts without fanfare, all in a catalog-like fashion. A frequently performed song in live performances, but now only available on the solo Gaven Richard release Wayward Puritan, was “Mahogany Ridge”. It highlighted a broken down bar near Delucia’s Deli in Malta NY with very interesting prose; the narrative was not commemorative, but rather the specific setting simply positioned an internal narrative. People don’t have conversations in Kamikaze Hearts songs, except with themselves.

Foxhole Prayers would not have been their greatest release if the group had continued and finished their final record. I remember a show I saw shortly after the release of Oneida Road; they were the best they’d ever been. The subdued sound of Oneida after I brought it home seemed a disappointment; the show had been more enervating and exciting, more uptempo than any I’d seen by a punk band in the area. Songs off later live recordings such as “Galaxy Room” and “Boston Wailer” offered a glimpse into what could have been.

But as it stands, it’s a lovely release. A combination vinyl EP and mini-CD, the cover stencil of an old man would not have been out of place in John O’Brien’s Vermont trilogy or the kitschy blarney paintings of The Parting Glass, a local bar. I remember working at WSPN Skidmore Radio and playing the songs off it before it was actually released for sale so I could use the recording of my radio show as a bootleg of the album. On a grainy Tascam cassette I sat rewinding “Cinnamon Life” over and over in the grey-silver boombox I’d taken to the backyard to be alone with my discovery.

Opener “Tennessee” has a slow shuffle and repeated guitar line that makes it a direct descendent and refinement of the similarly excellent album opener to their earlier Seven More Wonders of the World album, “Weekend in Western New York”. Pohl’s voice comes across soft with an edge, delivering matter-of-fact punches with such lines as “you always seemed to be that clever and able / to swallow the natural instinct to scream.” The effect isn’t chilling so much as oddly entrancing in its resignation, the workmanlike attention given no matter what one’s station. Chilling, what Sufjan Stevens unsuccessfully strove toward in his strained and promiscuous regionalism.

“Lubbock, TX” is the EP’s other gem, another narrative of people stuck in places. It is interacting with them, almost as much as the other characters in the narrative. In a tone of heartbreak so strained, so urgent, and so marked with déjà vu it approaches trailer park absurdities, the band reaches a pinnacle. The backing stops and starts, stops and starts, stops and starts…

Seven More Wonders of the World, also sometime mistakenly referred to as the self-titled album, is a wonder of vocal tensions and instrumental rejoinders, with strumming patterns tight as tied twine. This is the most emotionally volatile Hearts album, less tinged with regret than with the chaos of recollections and yelps of rationalization, especially on standout tracks “Accident”, an account of a military massacre, and “War Horse”.

Military imagery spots the albums like the fading discolorations of old stone buildings. “Grand Tactics”, perhaps the album’s greatest track, merges both the lovely slow harmonies the group executed so well with a rallying dynamic coda. A rare gospel influence works it’s way into later tracks “Secret Handshake” and “In My Way”.

The song links above are all clips. The following are full song MP3s courtesy of Kamikaze Hearts:

Kamikaze Hearts – Five Point Turn
Kamikaze Hearts – Beverly Hills
Kamikaze Hearts – Ash Wednesday
Kamikaze Hearts – No One Called You a Failure

RIYL: Neil Young, Ish Marquez, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, Quichenight, Jayhawks, Grapes of Wrath

Official Site / BUY

The post Kamikaze Hearts: An Upstate Retrospective appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

You can grab Crooks’ EP at a 60% discount on GroopEase the next few hours, so act quick. All four tracks are a blast.

Glimpses of country-rock and folk appear on Crooks‘ EP, Lonesome, Rowdy and Restless. On the memorable “Downtown”, a series of spaghetti-western horns pave a smooth road for the soaring vocals of Josh Mazour, whose nasally croon is the driving force behind the quartet’s infectiously twangy down-south sound. Somewhat surprisingly, the acoustic progressions and their rhythmic choices can also resemble Celtic folk at times.  The acoustic progression in this song’s intro is such an example, though once the booming drums and interweaving vocal harmonies arrives it becomes the pure country-rock bliss that dominates the rest of the EP. This is far from easy-listening, commercial-friendly country-rock though; it’s packed with ambitious ideas and revolving song structures, bringing comparisons to Neil Young and The Allman Brothers on both a lyrical and stylistic level.

“18 Wheels” finds Mazour emulating Young not only with his similar crooning snarl, but in the music as well. A steady rhythm guitar is an apt supplement to a roaring guitar lead, which touts twangy distortion found throughout Young’s heavier albums – like Living with War and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, the latter his first with Crazy Horse and also a glimpse into a future string of releases with a heavier style of rock. The horns on both “Downtown” and “18 Wheels” resemble the likes of Calexico or DeVotchKa more than Young, but his influence remains in the inner-fabrics of the song.

In addition to the impressive “River Road”, which features Neko Case-esque backing harmonies, the fun “Bar Stool” is a stark contrast from the other two efforts. Instead of hard-rocking ambition, this one is a tongue-in-cheek barnyard dancer that resembles traditional country in the vein of Hank Williams or Merle Haggard. “So pour me a glass to the working class / I’ll hang my hat when I’m dead,” Mazour sings. “Dusty roads and lonesome souls keep on calling me back home.” He ain’t got much to lose, so pass him a bottle of booze; that’s essentially the purpose, and it’d hard not to fall over the sentiments mixed with the nostalgic, warm sound of vintage country. Like all songs on the EP, the track pursues an interesting direction at the end, again involving horns. It’s a nicely executed vision, but it would be great to hear the horns utilized as a background supplement to the vocals, rather than continuously as an instrumental bridge during a song’s last two-thirds.

Traditional country sentiments like open dusty roads and working ‘til sundown make it easy to enjoy the EP over a bottle of whiskey and a hard day’s work. Even if that means nothing to you and you hate anything to do with country, Crooks’ EP is an extremely accessible entry into the style. This Texas four-piece really stand out among a crowd of generic country-rock imitations, many of them content with Johnny Cash and Hank Williams covers. Crooks maintain the spirits of their influences while showing creativity within their original songwriting, which is a lesson that many country artists have yet to learn.

RIYL: Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, The Allman Brothers, The Black Crowes, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Crazy Horse, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Gram Parsons

Crooks – Downtown

Crooks – 18 Wheels

Official Site / MySpace / BUY (60% discount)

The post Crooks Country appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

The NYC duo Chappo received some recognition last year with “Come Home”, a summertime psych-rock jam with a shimmering quality reminiscent of alt-rock groups like Teenage Fanclub and The New Radicals. The track was an excellent expansion of several genres; jangly guitars provide the power-pop background, while hints of Neil Young-inspired southern-rock lead just prior to the two-minute mark, eventually serving as a bridge to an effervescent burst of psych-rock magic. The last thirty seconds are a jam-packed recollection of the song’s stylistic twists, reminding the listener just how adventurous yet consistently infectious “Come Home” is.

Chappo plan to release their new EP, Plastique Universe II: Pisces Princess, for free on August 15th. Much like how “Come Home” was written about “a pair of bandits who figure out how to shift into a parallel universe and decide to wreak havoc on their doppelgangers”, the new EP has a concept as well. This time, it tells “the story of a far-away ocean love affair between a caped shape shifter and an underwater siren.” Chappo recorded it at their home studio in Brooklyn over a four-day musical frenzy. Keep in mind, this EP is completely separate from their debut full-length, which is finished and will be released later this year. In the meantime, check out the newest from Plastique, the prickly “Bodies Coasting”.

“Bodies coasting, all these baby fish are floating by, the ocean’s glowing,” is how Chappo opens up the track, each successive verse providing a new accompaniment to the surf-rock inspired guitar movements; they tout a glistening eminence akin to groups like The Morning Benders and Surfer Blood, though Chappo’s song structures are more ambitious in their stylistic approach – as evidenced last year with “Come Home”. The second half of “Bodies Coasting” shows this well; the bass line comes out from semi-dormancy to the front of the mix, paving the way for the gorgeous backing vocal harmonies and brilliant trickling guitar work which enhances the track’s depth while maintaining its infectiousness. A hazy synth pad floats the track to its end, closing with an abrupt blur though its memory remains strong with any listener. If this effort is any indication, Chappo’s upcoming full-length will escalate their popularity to extreme levels – even if the inclusion of “Come Home” in a new iPhone 4G commercial was the first precursor to that. Plastique is a more definitive one.

RIYL: Teenage Fanclub, The New Radicals, The Morning Benders, Surfer Blood, Neil Young, Smith Westerns, Local Natives, Real Estate, Wild Nothing, Girls, Fang Island, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Tokyo Police Club, Fleet Foxes, The Dodos

Chappo – Bodies Coasting

Chappo – Come Home

Official Site / MySpace / BUY

The post Chappo appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

It is mainly a personal thing, but NFL kickoff is when I consider it fall. The official calender date has no relevance to me. There are more autumn MP3 compilations out there than one could count, so I figure that recommending some autumn-suitable albums instead of songs would be more productive. Some will have been heralded, others will be relatively unknown. Some old, some new. Regardless, each is recommended listening in full. Mediafire, Rapidshare, and Google can help you out there, but I also included some tracks below that I feel best represent their respective album’s high points. So, enjoy the weekend and impending presence of fall. There is plenty of great music to celebrate its arrival with.

Click here to download this compilation as a streaming playlist.

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Hall & Oates – Abandoned Luncheonette

Hall & Oates will forever be ridden in ’80s-bound stereotypes, which they were certainly guilty of to some degree. The cheesy hooks and dismal fusions took pace after their masterpiece, Abandoned Luncheonette, which embodies itself as an overwhelming collection of quality soul-pop that – to many – sounds distant to the duo’s subsequent material. While “She’s Gone” is always included in their Greatest Hits, tracks like “Lady Rain” and “I’m Just a Kid (Don’t Make Me Feel Like a Man)” are severely overlooked. Sure, “Lady Rain” might sound a bit out of place i its vintage southern-rock and blues lure, but when Darryl Hall applies his soulful croon over the accentuated and drawn-out guitar twang, the listener embraces a tasteful fusion that, for Hall & Oates, occurred too infrequently after this landmark 1973 release. The power of “Lady Rain” and the breezy, autumn-laced acoustical sensibilities of “Las Vegas Turnaround” and “I’m Just a Kid (Don’t Make Me Feel Like a Man)” is hard to overlook when given the chance. Just throw the future failures and aligning stereotypes out the window for a second… Abandoned Luncheonette is one heck of an album.

Hall & Oates – Lady Rain

Hall & Oates – Las Vegas Turnaround

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Van Morrison – Veedon Fleece

Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece was like the last mile of a triumphant marathon performance. As usual for the Irish legend, he showed no signs of weariness either. After the release of this classic in October of ’74, he took a three-year hiatus. Three years today is pretty typical; if a group like Radiohead released an album religiously every three years, no one would complain. But for Van Morrison, who released seven classics in seven years prior to that point,it was the end of one of the most productive creative streaks in 20th century music. Said by many to be the counterpart to his legendary 1968 release, Astral Weeks, Veedon Fleece shows one of his best vocal performances, which resound in an unrestrained and unprecedented artistic delivery completely unique to Morrison. “Cul de Sac” is an amazing example of this. In regard to the album, Bill Janovitz said “one of the least known is one of his best … definitely autumnal in tone,” before calling “Cul de Sac” one of his best “gospel-soul-folk tunes.” “It still has that bit of melancholy, even though you might not have any idea what he is singing about or even the very words he’s singing,” he said. “It’s all about capturing the vibe, the spirit, the mystic.” I could not put it better myself.

Van Morrison – Cul de Sac

Van Morrison – Come Here My Love

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Neil Young – Harvest

Neil Young’s 1972 album, Harvest, is an understandably popular inclusions on lists like these. Sure, the amber-ish album art and title bring to mind a brisk autumn sensation before even playing a track, but once the songs start pouring out we are again reminded of Young’s inimitable talent. To be fair, this along with his consistent style allows for most of his albums to be nice autumn list inclusions. Harvest just has the right tinge of thematic relevance to make it work here though. Fitted with an orchestra, the album is lush in presentation but with a quivering emotional charge in songs like “A Man Needs a Maid”, which confines misunderstood sentiments in a piano-laden grace before a majestically trill orchestra permits Young to stretch out his coyly invigorating vocals. Most Young albums contain a fine diversity of quality southern-rock and variations of folk, and this one is no different. With “Alabama”, a fully-charged effort that could be a “Southern Man”s cousin, we hear his infectious tendencies prevalently with a distorted Southern-cooked guitar and a sprinkle of keys that create a numbingly memorable verse. Ohhh Alabama… this anthemic gem has little to do with fall, but Neil Young is always one of the go-to’s on a brisk autumn day.

Neil Young – A Man Needs a Maid

Neil Young – Alabama

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Magenta Skycode – IIIII

Magenta Skycode’s IIIII was my favorite debut album from 2006. The group from Finland stunned me on first listen, with a unique sound that bordered between eerie and mystical. As I wrote when including this as #11 on The Best Albums of 2006, it is ironic that the band has an interest in monochromatic photography, as their music is anything but colorless. In fact, it’s incredibly vibrant and colorful, all while maintaining to be serene and enjoyably atmospheric. Sounds like autumn to me. With an assortment of synths and gentle guitars, Magenta Skycode utilize the natural art of clapping as percussion whenever they can. It is in perfect form for IIIII, not being overused or underestimated. “Go Outside Again” is a good example of the execution, being my favorite on the album.The song initially works around a building guitar-led verse, as some beautiful synth complements the surroundings before the ascent into a enigmatically catchy chorus. Magenta Skycode never got the attention they deserved, but they seem to have a new full-length on the way. I imagine a feature in the near future is imminent for that. But in the meantime, enjoy these great sounds from the band’s debut, IIIII. In addition to being the most impressive debut of 2006, it is a great album for autumn.

Magenta Skycode – Go Outside Again

Magenta Skycode – People

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Twin Shadow – Forget

I initially thought Twin Shadow was a prank. I remember someone showed me this, on Hipster Runoff of all places, and you could see with the grainy video quality, ’80s jangle-pop in the background, and George Lewis Jr.’s throwback hair-do why I thought it was a spoof. But then the music kept going, and it was obvious that Twin Shadow is not a joke at all. In fact, his album Forget is damn impressive. Lewis shows appreciation for many artists, from Scott Walker and Morrissey to Neu! and Joy Division, but his utterly infectious songs arise from appreciation, not derivation. His original vein of songwriting, sitting somewhere between post-punk and art-rock, perfectly suits his deep and melancholic vocals. Like any album by Joy Division, The Smiths, or Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Forget is a wonderful album for the autumn because of its delicate pop songwriting. The high-pitched vocals over the echoey keys in “When We’re Dancing” brings to mind a hundred or so lost ’80s classics simultaneously, with tracks like “Shooting Holes at the Moon” demonstrating a funky sort of electronic/post-rock fusion that is only possible from an artist able to separate himself from today’s repetitive trends. The hype for Lewis is just beginning, and I imagine it should increase exponentially this fall. A pretty perfect time considering the vein of music, don’t you think? This one would likely not sound out of place on a Halloween mix either.

Twin Shadow – We’re Only Dancing

Twin Shadow – Shooting Holes at the Moon

The post Albums for Autumn, Pt. 1 appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Whether referring to fusions or collaborations, co-creations are often best digested with familiarity of the two or more components at hand. For instance, the food grapple looks like an apple, but its skin tastes like a grape and the insides taste like an apple. Perfectly enjoyable, but those attempting to eat it without prior familiarity of either fruit will be restrained by first-time observation as opposed to objectively finding the mixture’s success and multiple likenesses with contextually supported formulations. Similarly, if I had not had a taste of Laura Burhenn’s work as a solo artist and with Georgie James, I feel my perception of her new project would be different. Her songwriting takes a giant leap forward on The Mynabirds‘ debut, aided by another familiar face in Richard Swift. His most recent album, The Atlantic Ocean, was #16 on Obscure Sound’s ‘Best Albums of 2009‘ feature, so Swift’s collaboration is nothing to disregard. Familiarity with the work of Burhenn and Swift prior to listening to The Mynabirds is not essential for its enjoyment, but it certainly contributes to a spontaneous feel that appears reminiscent of old friends getting together and having a grand old time. With the way The Mynabirds’ debut was recorded, this reaction is not surprising.

Burhenn and Swift spent this previous summer in the hills of Oregon, recording what would be The Mynabirds’ debut, What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood. Their chemistry was fairly evident from the get-go, and their nightly ritual of whiskey and dancing didn’t hurt. As the polished production and melodic sounds show though, the whiskey was often saved for the post-recording party. Their nighttime listening playlist included the likes of James Brown, Dandy Livingstone, and other staples of ’60s and ’70s in areas of R&B and folk. Coincidentally, the origins of The Mynabirds’ name relates to such a playlist, as they are actually named after the ambiguous ’60s R&B group with the same name. The first incarnation, named ‘The Mynah Birds’ instead, was based out of Ontario and even included Neil Young, Rick James, and Bruce Palmer (Buffalo Springfield) at various points in time. Their work is hard to find, but is certainly recommended. The Mynabirds of today would agree.

Likely single “Numbers Don’t Lie” initially treads in the warmth of an echoey organ, the mood resembling Beach House before Burhenn’s emotive voice enters alongside a series of folky acoustic guitars and accompanying keys. The instrumental style on this track and many others are in this vein, often led by an acoustic strum or slick keyboard melody that finds clever accentuation through orchestral flourishes or in Burhenn’s exceptional range. In the background of “Numbers Don’t Lie”, you can hear Burhenn’s laughter as the instrumentation escalates; it is a reminder of how unforced and charismatic these recordings are, making the context of Burhenn and Swift writing songs and then sharing a bottle of whiskey quite relevant. These two clearly were not sitting in a room and biting their fingernails because of deadlines or lack of chemistry. They were writing music together selflessly, having fun with it, and continuing the fun once recording was over. They combined on instrumental portions gradually, sometimes separately and sometimes together. However they did it, Burhenn and Swift have certainly produced something they should be proud of.

Along with members of Bright Eyes and These United States, Richard Swift’s essential contributions to this album primarily involved instrumentation. There is a resemblance to his material as a result, particularly how the broodingly softened piano of “Give It Time” bears likeness to an anticipatory gem like “Already Gone” (one of the best efforts on Swift’s The Atlantic Ocean). There is also an old-fashioned feel, particularly that of someone playing piano with a top-hat in a lounge circa 1950. The reason for this is the lack of superfluous additives on the recordings, which rely on guitars, keys, and Burhenn’s alternation between caressing whispers and electrifying howls. Like she did with Georgie James, I cannot stress how skilled Burhenn is at complementing melodic instrumentation. You could probably give her a continuous loop of a five-second sample and she could turn it into something structurally interesting. This is shown on a track like “Ways of Looking”, where she turns a simple guitar riff and percussive click once every measure into a with her suave and smoky delivery. Her complete awareness of impending hooks makes moments like these abundant throughout What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, which is one of the best things both Burhenn and Swift have released.

Stream the entire album for free here.

You can also download the March 2010 Saddle Creek Sampler, including “Numbers Don’t Lie”, for free here.

RIYL: Richard Swift, Georgie James, Miss Li, Sarah Jaffe, Kisses, White Hinterland, Marit Bergman, Amanda Jenssen, Säkert!, Timo Räisänen, Lou Barlow, Pajo, Damien Jurado, David Bazan, Benjy Ferree, Little Wings, The Love Language

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The Mynabirds – Numbers Don’t Lie

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The Mynabirds – Let the Record Go

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The Mynabirds – Give It Time

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Official Web Site

MySpace

BUY

The post The Mynabirds appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

by Mike Mineo

Although they have only begun to break out the past two years, I already have fond memories of The Morning Benders. When I posted about them back in April 2006, it was only a month after the site formed and I was eager to cover something fresh and worthwhile. At the time, this site had little direction and my focus was sporadic, so anything to attain readers was desired. One thing was clear though, and that was the undeniable potential of The Morning Benders. Their debut EP, Loose Change, is definitely one of the earliest memories I have of sharing great, new music to more than a room full of close friends. There was nothing to dislike about the young quartet from Berkeley, California living up to their flexible namesake in their surf-inspired pop and rock songs. ’60s pop collided with an early Strokes sound to make their emergence in 2006 timely, though it was not nearly enough material (in quantitative standards) to get excited over. They teased audiences some more with two EPs before their debut album, Talking Through Tin Cans, was released in 2008. The tracks were as stellar as the EPs, but it felt more like two or three EPs glued together rather than a full album. With their follow-up Big Echo, they have done a remarkable job of creating a satisfying full-length that marvels with cohesive songs and production.

Like any band whose first five years are pinnacled by a string of EPs, The Morning Benders prepared Big Echo with plenty of expectations surrounding them. Previous releases found them producing a very amiable style of lo-fi pop, the hooks appearing prominently despite a lack of resources. As five years have past, The Morning Benders have been searching for a sound that caters to their natural indie-pop sentiments without limiting themselves to a DIY schtick. On Big Echo, one finds a band comfortable for the first time. Sure, the majestic use of strings and vocal accompaniments help and are new for the group, but what shines most brightly is the presentation. The production is exceptionally suitable, sounding like sparkling indie-pop performed in a concert hall. This growth can be attributed to producer Chris Taylor, who is already quite established at the age of 28 with Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, and TV on the Radio to his name. The Grizzly Bear multi-instrumentalist and Chris Chu recorded the album together in San Francisco. Chu’s songwriting flourishes with this clean presentation, particularly on gems like “Promises”. This effort in particular is the best thing I have ever heard from The Morning Benders, not to mention 2010 in general. There is still that anthemic, Strokes-like indie-rock vibe going on in the chorus, but the structural variation elsewhere is more reminiscent of Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo when he actually gave a shit (1994-2001).

Weezer and Neutral Milk Hotel are certainly obvious influences, but unlike The Morning Benders’ previous releases there is no feeling of replication on Big Echo. They have a nice arsenal of instrumentation that makes for some great moments, once again courtesy of new production advantages. The high-pitched marimba feel on “Cold War (Nice Clean Fight)” that slowly evolves into a addictive, folk-based sing-along is indicative of this, as is the subdued wave of organs on “Pleasure Sighs”. The vocals here sit somewhere between Neil Young and Wayne Coyne, adjusted accordingly since the subsequent “Hand Me Downs” is more akin to The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser and the respective group’s excellently unpredictable rhythm section. The Walkmen find themselves to be an apt comparison as well, mainly because they are expanding upon the boundaries of traditional indie-rock led by guitars and keys without borrowing too heavily from the past. The guitars on “Pleasure Sighs” resound with heavy doses of reverb and intricate progressions, which under the slight touch of organs creates for a serene feel that fits perfectly in the middle of Big Echo. Away from the guitar-driven pop that marked most of their early releases, the ambition shown here alone marks The Morning Benders’ revelation here.

The first half of Big Echo, particularly the succession from “Promises” to “Pleasure Sighs”, is breathtaking. The last four tracks are more spotty in their consistency, but still have their shining moments. “All Day Day Light” is not amusing enough with its acoustic arpeggios and steady drumbeat to make it memorable, and the vocals sound like too much of a stretch in their twangy delivery. This song in particular is one of the only instances of a lazy chorus though, for most tracks introduce a plethora of variations that unexpectedly sneak into your head. “Promises” is probably the best example of this, though the epic demeanor of “Pleasure Sighs” and the beautiful, post-rock frailty of “Stitches” come close. The heavy-charged and vivid emotions of the latter remind me strongly once again of The Walkmen, a band for which comparisons are rare. A minor miscue like “All Day Day Light” and the somewhat extraneous “Sleeping In” aside, Big Echo is a tremendous step forward for a band whose potential has finally caught up to them. Rough Trade Records really struck gold with this one. Thanks to the imminent success of Big Echo, The Morning Benders are bound to be one of the most popular indie-rock acts of 2010.

8.5/10.0

RIYL: The Walkmen, Neutral Milk Hotel, Ra Ra Riot, Dr. Dog, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, The Broken West, Bishop Allen, Voxtrot, Grizzly Bear, Sunset Rubdown, Neil Young, The Flaming Lips,

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The Morning Benders – Promises

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The Morning Benders – Pleasure Sighs

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The Morning Benders – Stitches

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The post The Morning Benders – Big Echo (2010) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

Continuing with the stream of CMJ-bound artists, The Library are a bit different from what many expect at a festival of CMJ’s often frenetic vein. Often popular for artists that tout theatrical art-rock, synth-pounding dance-pop, or other forms of danceable bliss with high tempos, the audience at CMJ may initially be startled to hear this Brooklyn five-piece’s serene interpretation of folk. Deriving members from The Mayflies USA and The Comas, The Library draw most prominently from influences of ’70s. Neil Young’s more reflective material (On the Beach) is one of them, as are others that were precursors to the psyche-folk movement of the ’70s. The Library tend to integrate these influences with retrospective views of ’90s alternative-rock, even if the components are so subtle that only committed fans of certain artists could recognize them. Maybe it was how bands in the vein of Slowdive, Ride, and Spiritualized collided defiant alternative-rock with reverb-heavy doses of ’70s pop and folk, resulting in a path between shoegaze and nostalgic pop that established such artists as the most effective of the ’90s. Either way, The Library are safely following a similar path in attaining success through manipulating our perceptions of a style or genre often deemed as nostalgic.

Vocalist Matt Long is hardly a far cry from The Clientele’s Alasdair MacLean in vocal range and delivery, both using their admiration for ’60s pop and its subsequent sub-genre concoctions to create a world where melodies are both frail and beauty, with the emitted emotions being genuine and memorable. The Library’s new album, The Life and Times of Rosa Lee, combines this emotive sensibility with nostalgic stylistic references to compel listeners into a substantial accomplishment. “Tomorrow is Better” adds a slight twang to the predictably smooth accompaniment of hazy acoustics and usable percussion, adding in a harmonica for further effect over the subtle accompaniment of keys. This natural arsenal of instrumentation – guitar, rhythm, lap steel, and harmonica – generally compares to their earlier influences, even if the production is polished enough to easily spot its origination in the ’90s or ’00s. Slight components, like the lap steel arpeggio during the first verse, tend to sound more modernistic, while the beautiful bridge into a simplistically alluring chorus sounds like the work of a lost legend from the ’60s. “Tomorrow is Better” summarizes the sound of The Library exceptionally, it being a soothing and ethereal journey into the derivations of ’60s pop and folk while maintaining an emphasis on contemporary folk.

The romanticized contemplation expressed in “Tomorrow Is Better” serves well for the album’s general theme, with the opening “Wish I Knew” also expressing similar sentiments. Long’s vocals are particularly high-pitched but also relaxed here, probably adjusted for the use of strings that are similar in pitch. The result is a cohesively masterful arrangement that collides Long’s tenderly forlorn vocals, slow and emotive strings, and moderately paced acoustics into a breathtakingly exceptional track that serves as the perfect opener for The Life and Times of Rosa Lee. “You can call me up most anytime at all,” Long offers, merely requesting one chance to prove his point, “I promise not to be like them.” The Library are hardly like the others after all, abiding by their own standard and interpretation of nostalgic pop despite prevalent resemblances to The Clientele and other mood-based groups. Although it is certainly more of a mood track than one bursting with hooks, there are other tracks like “Tomorrow Is Better” and “Club Amnesia” on The Life and Times of Rosa Lee that emphasize more hooks than mood, with the self-titled cut also being one of them.

Keys and strings take over in absence of the initial acoustics on “The Life and Times of Rosa Lee”, leaving little room for vocal errors on Long’s part. The performance, barring one or two melodic miscues, is extremely commendable and genuine, its lo-fi production serving as the perfect closer to a highly impressive release that should provide some nice press for The Library before their CMJ appearance later this week. When the acoustics pick up after Long’s lyrics compel the listener about the overdue formation of a certain band, one can sense the passion for musical ingenuity within the songwriting and delivery. That their styles may derive from the past should only serve to supplement The Library’s amiable level of enjoyment. After all, in kicking off a decade of supposed stylistic declassification, everything seems fair game at this point.

RIYL: The Clientele, Slowdive, Belle & Sebastian, Felt, Neil Young, Ride

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The Library – Tomorrow Is Better

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The Library – Wish I Knew

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The Library – The Life and Times of Rosa Lee

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The post Brooklyn’s Favorite Library appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

It can be a difficult task to find a band whose lyrical content tends to stray away from the clichés of love and the emotions caused by it. Although I enjoy a diverse range of topics, it is hard to blame most of these artists. After all, if there is one thing that all listeners can personally relate to, it is the feeling of loving one another or being loved. Mutual reciprocation often results in accompanying music that is gleeful and optimistic and nature, while an unrequited form sees somber and bleak instrumentation take over. This is conventionalism at its most prevalent, and it is a method that many groups have found reasonable success with. However, since this site always aims to feature capable artists that can potentially attain success through their innovation alone, I tend to favor an act like The Deep Dark Woods. Rather than simply reiterating themes of loneliness through tragic instrumentation or proclaiming true love over an upbeat melody, this Canadian four-piece already have a skill that many other contemporary folk groups of their nature do not possess. Whether a track by The Deep Dark Woods involves the murder of an ex-girlfriend, the financial struggles of being an independent musician, or the decision of choosing between fame and friends, each effort on their new album combines great songwriting with reflective lyrical sentiments that are always uniquely captivating. Tragically, this form of individuality is a rarity among most contemporary folk songwriters.

The beginnings of The Deep Dark Woods trace back to the childhoods of all four members. Guitarist Burke Barlow and bassist Chris Mason went to the same high school together in Saskatoon, while Barlow and guitarist Ryan Boldt had known each other since the age of 12, when they met at a summer camp. The three met drummer Lucas Goetz shortly after they decided to form a band, recording their initial demos in his parents’ basement. The Deep Dark Woods’ first batch of material tended to be more representative of indie-rock. Due primarily to inexperience, high school bands tend to mimic their favorite artists instead of attempting to craft their own sound and this was indicative of that. In The Deep Dark Woods’ case, the influence of bands like Radiohead and Queens of the Stone Age showed. However, after a few years of maturation, the four naturally gifted musicians found that they had enough ability to attempt innovation and bring their project to the next level. The growth that The Deep Dark Woods would experience in the next several years would prove extraordinarily, eventually leading them up to where they are now with their best album yet, Winter Hours. As their third full-length release, it capitalizes on the potential shown on their first two albums, attempts that were memorable but still seemed to be striving for something bigger and more indicative of the group’s cumulative talent.

When The Deep Dark Woods released their self-titled debut in 2006, the ten tracks tended to showcase the band’s excitable live presence rather than the songwriting itself. Recorded entirely on analog, the tight craftsmanship led the four-piece to gigs alongside the likes of Magnolia Electric Co., The Sadies, and The Stills. It also earned them a deal with Black Hen Music, a Canadian record label that was founded by producer and musician Steve Dawson. Dawson has appeared numerous times on this site, whether it has been to showcase his impressive solo material or his wide range of produced artists, which represent anyone from Ndidi Onukwulu to The Voyces. So, when I learned that Dawson had produced The Deep Dark Woods’ second album, Hang Me Oh Hang Me, in addition to their new album, Winter Hours, I knew that production quality would not be an issue. Dawson has a tendency to bring out to the best of folk-oriented artists, and he has done wonders in unveiling The Deep Dark Woods’ individuality as songwriters and lyricists.Winter Hours is one of those albums that capitalizes on subtleties and creative lyrical themes to achieve a reputable status that separates itself from other albums in the same genre. To simply put it, Winter Hours is one of a kind, even if the occasional shades of Neil Young, The Band, and The Byrds are enjoyably evident in the process.

As Winter Hours establishes with the opening “Farewell”, a haunting retelling of a man convicted for murdering his girlfriend because she broke up with him for being “a bore”, this is not your typical folk album. After Boldt’s somber vocals establish imagery of a man leaving his hometown, bidding farewell to his friends, and finding love in his new location, the vocals of two or three members to combine for a ghostly chorus that combines slide guitars and quivering whimpers to foreshadow what is to come. “He plunged a knife in her stomach and grabbed her feet”, Boldt sings shortly thereafter, “and threw her into the waters so deep.” The chorus then repeats itself, sounding even more powerful than before. Sure, the theme practically boils down to a bad break-up, but The Deep Dark Woods tell it so poetically with such melodic conviction that their uniqueness is a quality that should be cherished. Even on a more lightheartedly simplistic track like “Polly”, which was created randomly during one of the band’s jam sessions, their grasp of harmonic infectiousness is impressive. Boldt’s vocals here sound like The National’s Matt Berninger, an apt comparison since both bands capitalize on similar strengths of catchy indie-folk and unique lyrical sentiments.

Another aspect of The Deep Dark Woods that should be appealing to most fans of folk is their lo-fi tendencies. There is rarely more than a few guitars, a bass, and drums on one of their songs. An outstanding effort like “All the Money I Had Is Gone” exhibits this well, employing a mixture of acoustic and slide guitars over a tight rhythm section as Boldt uses his deep croon and melancholic demeanor to successfully establish the hardships of debt and finances in a world that uses it so desperately as a point of judgment. Even when an organ emerges toward the song’s conclusion, it is implemented so well that it substitutes for Boldt’s concluded vocals. This is how much of Winter Hours works; the band does not waste one second in making a song overly simplistic or complex. Even on story-led westerns like “The Gallows” or epic successes like “The Sun Never Shines” (the three-minute guitar solo is Grateful Dead fetishism at its best), there is not one second that is wasted. Another noteworthy effort is “The Birds on the Bridge”, a diverse mixture of vocal-led harmonies and instrumental build-ups. Here, Boldt alternates between deliveries that are reminiscent of Neil Young and Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold. Considering that the songwriting also tends to be just as good, it is one of many successes on an album that will likely pinpoint The Deep Dark Woods as one of the better indie-folk acts of 2009.

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The Deep Dark Woods – Polly

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The Deep Dark Woods – All the Money I Had Is Gone

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The Deep Dark Woods – Farewell

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The post The Deep Dark Woods’ Winter Hours appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.