we all love the Ok Go boys. their pop-beat songs and super original coordinated dance videos win hearts. unfortunately they weren't on that indie sound's review list because the smaller cali bands had been taking up my time. today, a friend (keep them coming Dibakar) sent me a video from OK Go's new album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky and i just had to put it up.
that indie sound has bored friends talking about him, shadily changed other people's music and played him, hollered from rooftops about him, and still hasn't had enough. in a way that indie sound is a breathing, living thing because of him. the conception of that indie sound started that day - when the people had grown tired of my obssesion, worn their coats, and gone back to playing their dave matthews, or jay z, in some cases. the rant needed a space even if it was to the depthless bowels of the web. so ta da!
oh and i'm not being patronising. i do still like you dave, after all these years, but i've discovered the internet - and i think i'm in love.
no, he's not 'fresh' and no, he hasn't come up with another album. but that indie sound isn't the site that keeps up with js. tis has deep, deep respect for this man.
The kooky music man - Andrew Bird's music can conjure up places and people in vivid verses. he's actually a poet first, but can also give the kettle a run for its money with the kind of whistling he's capable of. lyrics of his song 'Scythian Empire':
lovely innit. Bird has the ability to combine antiquated sounds and adapt them to a new feel. yes, he does have a bachelor's in violin, and can play the guitar (duh), mandolin, loop pedal, glockenspiel (the xylophone family). he can be jazz, rock, folk, blues, a ballad and anything else he wants to be, where ever he wants to be. but tis loves the fact that he's low-key and a bit nutty, and has a friggin smashing sense of humour. don't we love musicians who can still laugh. now he has one album too many and tis would go a bit mad trying to pick one to write about. so a list of songs instead to fire up that imagination, me lovelies (done with a four-beer-down scot accent)?
in no particular order that indie sound presents: tenuousness fake palindromes a nervous tic motion of the head to the left plasticities headsoak tnt how indiscreet sovay sycthian empire (scroll up) oh no (album starts with 'oh no' and closes with 'on ho!' the clever bird!) fitz and dizzyspells (that indie sound's ever-favourite) a sic of elephants the trees were mistaken
go ahead and listen listen listen.
albums to look out for: Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs Noble Beast Weather Systems
apologies for being lazy. lots of new music coming in from good friends all around. and that indie sound has been doing the listening. among the piles of music was Blitzen Trapper's new album Destroyer of the Void. that indie sound still has a throbbing toe after stubbing it while jumping around, album clutched tightly to self, on discovery of it.
most of us in the indie world think no end of Blitzen Trapper. however, after a first listen that indie sounds feels that their new album is a bit shy of that big big applause we had given Furr - the fourth album from this Portland sextet.
Furr was all things good in life. their earnest-to-god, poetic, late-nineties americana style sets them apart from all other bands. they write music beautifully, understand harmony better than most, and have their feet are firmly planted on green terra firma. Furr is an intimate, poignant, no-fuss album - an album you know you'll go back to years later. it's for keeps. fyi: for this album, Earley wrote and recorded many of the songs on an old piano (a new element for the band) missing a few of its teeth, which mysteriously 'appeared in the hallway' of where they were recording. Their label says, 'The beast has gone away to the landfill now, but you can still hear the clacking and clattering of its rickety skeleton in songs like "Not Your Lover" and "Echo".'
song picks would include 'Furr', a song for a yellow summer's day. 'Black River Killer' - a dusty, outlaw song about murder is that indie sound's favourite. 'Love U' with its big electric guitars and strong vocals takes me off my feet. Then, there are 'Lady on the Water' and 'Not your Lover' - both lyrical, folksy numbers. and with its opener being called 'Sleepy time in the Western World', why wouldn't you want to give it the listen?
smarties: blitzen in german means 'lightning', and one of santa's reindeer is also called that (the other is 'donner' or dondor, i.e. thunder).
the sound: Eric Earley: vocals, guitar, keyboards Erik Menteer: guitar, keyboards Brian Koch: drums, vocals Marty Marquis: guitar, keyboards, vocals Michael VanPelt: bass Drew Laughery: keyboards http://www.blitzentrapper.net/
i cannot begin to describe how much i love this band. mostly because Karen O's genius vocals take a bit of me with every listen. they rock the NY way - in that noisy, smokey, garage pub rock way and suddenly do the turn and slip into the acoustic with supreme ease. they can put me out of any misery i may have. they make me tell the world to fuck off. this Brooklyn art-rock trio isn't trying to please anyone. they do their thing just they way like it. so get your leather on or fuck off (it's the music doing the talking now).
the Yeah Yeah Yeah's 2006 album Show Me Your Bones was a gargantous album with tracks such as 'Cheated Hearts' and 'Gold Lion' making it to the top of many charts. they broke all bounds with that one. their new album - It's Blitz - has a brand spanking new sound - a daring reinvention with disco beats that resonate from Brooklyn streets, a synth-pop touch, and a cleaner, maturer style, but with the only constant - Karen Os clear-as-water 'Budweiser-banshee wail'.
'Heads will Roll' is as exlposive as its title - a slick disco-rock call to the dancefloor. ear open for the barely-audibly, but sexy as hell, 'uh-oh's' in 'Soft Shock'. 'Skeleton' is breathtaking. for YYY lovers there's a pop rendition of their previous beautiful acoustic number 'Hysteric'. then Karen's O's crying vocals in 'Zero' enunciates the band's underlying ethic - that they'll play their music the way they want to and the critics can, well...fuck off.
folk-rock again. can’t help it. AA Bondy’s sophomore album (2009) - When the Devil's Loose – has got me hooked to its roomy languid music and haunting lyrics.
Scot Bondy’s got a lot of flak for dramatically moving on from much-loved Verbena – his earlier indie-rock band – to his acoustic guitar and harmonica. so it came as a surprise when his debut album American Hearts, a one-man show, got the number of listeners it did. for When the Devil's Loose, Bondy’s put together a band and the results have been stellar.
his lyrics are poetry and the intricate detailing of music (echoing mics that complement the song ‘When the Devil’s Loose) is genius. the opener ‘Mightiest of Guns’ is a favourite with its Dylan-like lyrics and feel. that indie sound picks ‘I Can See the Pines are Dancing’ as the winner; weary yet soul-lifting, its lucid and earthy lyrics remind me of Neruda’s poetry.
I Can See the Pines are Dancing
this is a hammer this is a hymn this is a match to a ball of lies this is the blade this is the beauty these are the stars raining down from the sky
this is the light that shines and
I can see the pines are dancing
this is the leaving of another love this is the howling at the moon these are the arms you fell into i am a fire and I must burn today
this is an echo this is the glory this is the pounding of a midnight heart this is the mountains this is the lightning this is the man pulling on his iron chains this is the light that shines and I can see the pines are dancing this is the leaving of another love this is the howling at the moon these are the arms you fell into i am a fire and I must burn today
this one's for those days when you're good, no great; when you all you need is the day to unfold in unexpected beautiful folds around you.
Chief's full-lenght debut album - Modern Rituals has the unmistakable Californian folk-rock buzz. the boys started their days in Santa Monica, California, then moved to NY (weird how they wrote these impossibly melodious songs in urban NY) for a bit and now they're back in Cali. the quartert's soulfully strummed mellow songs can bring in the long road and the breadth of the Appalachians into a room.
not many have taken to them but that indie sound loves their guitar licks, their end-of-summer lyrics, their warm earth feel, and most importantly, their long hippie hair :)
