reviving rockability: kim lenz and the jaguars

'there's no god, just rock n' roll.' rightly said by pater a long time ago. if you feel even remotely touched by the sentiment then this short post will rock thy boat. 


all those who've come to my place will have seen my shrine to elvis. yeah, yeah it runs in the family. so much so that pater had named our dog, King (god rest his soul),  after the southern rock n' roller. King the german shepherd hadn't been south of the Mississippi and had big shiny shoes to fill. but fill them he did brilliantly - bit our driver four times. once in the rear.


i digress. point is that, the sun's out, the skies blue, the chilled beer flowing and that indie sound was feeling like a bit of rock n roll. so it dug up Kim Lenz and the Jaguars's 2009 album It's All Right.


if you hadn't heard of them before here's what the Rolling Stone said about them:


'If Elvis had been a woman, he probably would have sounded just like Kim Lenz.'


you get the idea. this LA-based, red-haired songstress is on fire in this album. her sassy growls are stronger and the songs, super energetic. songs such as 'Ramblin' Feeling', 'Touch Me', 'Zombie for Your Love', 'Shined Up and Ready to Shout' make you want to get up and dance or maybe just have another drink.


keep that rock n roll alive. 


the sound:
Kim: vocals
Nick Curran: guitarist
Jake Erwin: bassist 
Scotty Tecce: drummer  

fresh intro

i think that indie sound has been misunderstood and needs a fresh intro. its been getting questions about why there's no mention of some of the biggies such as Animal Collective and Dirty Projectors. that's not totally true (see post on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

but essentially this space features bands that are more that indie sound's style, mainly americana and alt-folk. but that indie sound is always open to suggestions and different genres. and tis doesn't diss bands that it doesn't dig (although on an after thought, way too experimental rock, Kings of Leon, The xxs, and Animal Collective are just boring).

so there it is.

cheers       

horse feathers

the lovely Thistled Spring album cover 

this evening i thought i caught a wiff of the onset of winter in the air. and i came home to play Horse Feathers. this one's for that space just between autumn and winter. it's apt because this elegant indie folk band is fantastic at doing just that - creating beautiful spaces in their songs for listeners to breathe and take it all in before they go on to the next verse. no, it's not music for the dying. that indie sound would never do that to you. point is that you've got to take time out to listen to Horse Feathers. but listen you must.


Horse Feathers is led by songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Justin Ringle and supported by multi-instrumentalists Nathan Crocket, Catherine Odell, and Sam Cooper. and each one is f****** talented. that indie sound strongly suggests getting both their albums Words are Dead (2006), and their latest Thistled Spring (2010).


afterword:


that indie sound's good friend - an electro-trash, acid jazz junkie (god save his soul) - was holding on to Thistled Spring to pass it on to me. the sealed cd and the eloquent words (thistled spring) were slowly eating him up alive. then one day he ripped it open and put it on. i gave him the raised eyebrow when i finally picked it up from him and saw the plastic gone. he turned back to his computer but not before muttering, 'breathless'. enough said.


songs to look out for 'Starving Robins', 'Thistled Spring', 'Cascades', 'Cur in the Weeds', 'Belly of June', 'As a Ghost', 'Hardwood Pews', oh just go and listen to them all.


curs in the weeds





starving robins

 



thistled spring

big echo by the morning benders

twentieth reason why california rocks:
The Morning Benders


that indie sound had given their first album Talking Through Tin Cans the good nod. and they still have that indie sound nodding with their new album Big Echo.


there's brilliance in this album. a pop record where every song is laid out beautifully with sonic brilliance. this will be on top of everybody's list this year (maybe after the black keys). the tiny, hidden melodies is what got that indie sound. there are very few numbers that have that genius. for example that indie sound had the Big Echo playing on for a week. end of week, it discovers two layered harmonies in 'Excuses'. dont you love these tiny surprises?


song picks would include 'Wet Cement', 'Excuses' (of course), 'Stitches', and 'All Day All Night'.


here's what that indie sound's favourite reviewer had to say about the album:


'Remember that line in As Good As It Gets when Nicholson’s character used one of the greatest panty-dropper lines of all time, “You make me want to be better man.” The Big Echo makes me want to become a better reviewer of music.'


the sound:
Chris Chu: vocals, guitar
Julian Harmon: drums
Tim Or: bass
Jon Chu: guitar, keys

here they go again

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.


now to get me hands on this album.







and another

a bird and the mysterious production of eggs

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':


five-day forecast bring black tar rains and hellfire
while handpicked handler's kid gloves tear at the inseams
their Halliburton attaché cases are useless
while Scotch-Guard Macintoshes shall be carbonized
now they're offering views of exiting empires
such breathtaking views of Scythian empires
Scythian empire
horsemen of the Russian steppe
Scythian empire
archers of an afterthought
routed by Sarmatians
thwarted by the Thracians
Scythian empire
kings of Macedonia
and the 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


http://www.andrewbird.net/





dont know if it sounds better on the album or live so here are both the versions.