FROM THE STACKS: Geographer
Posted on March 15, 2010
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We get a lot of crap CDs at the self-titled offices. But once in a while, a pleasant surprise slips into our promo stack. Here’s a recent delivery that knocked the s/t staff on its collective ass. Read more
RECORDING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Frightened Rabbit On … Bodies of Water, Walking Like a Man, and the Weightiest Poetry Book You’ll Ever Read
Posted on March 15, 2010
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[Photo by Danny North]
Recording Under the Influence is a recurring self-titled feature where we ask artists to ignore their musical inspirations for a minute and share what really went into the making of a particular record. In the following post, Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchinson explains the easy, breezy sound of the band’s third album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks (FatCat), and why he’s not a miserable Scot anymore. Read more
RECORDING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Eluvium On … Warped Memories, His Book Addiction and the Bearable Lightness of Being
Posted on March 12, 2010
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[Photo by Noel Javier]
Recording Under the Influence is a recurring self-titled feature where we ask artists to ignore their musical inspirations for a minute and share what really went into the making of a particular record. Eluvium’s always been one of our favorite ambient artists, so we were as surprised as anyone to hear Matthew Cooper actually sing on his new Similes album. Well, sing his way. Meaning: barely-there melodies, swept up in the currents of Coopers minor-keyed soundscapes like any other instrument. Read more
FREE ASSOCIATION: The Morning Benders Take Us on a Track-By-Track Tour of ‘Big Echo’
Posted on March 11, 2010
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[Photo by Matt Jacoby]
By Arye Dworken
As we quickly discover over fish tacos and bowls of bibimbap at Dokebi in Brooklyn, Chris Chu is an “old soul” right down to the way the Morning Benders frontman name-checks Phil Spector, Alex Chilton, Brian WIlson and the Beatles as his main influences. In one of our more revealing Free Association segments, Chu spent nearly two hours sharing the back stories of Big Echo—an album that actually sounds like one. Here’s the long and the short of it, along with the entire record in streaming form. Read more
TEST PRESSING: Listen to a Premiere of Fol Chen’s Liars Remix While Reading Our In-Depth Cover Story About the Sordid Roots of ‘Sisterworld’
Posted on March 9, 2010
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Liars frontman Angus Andrew
[Photo by Alexander Wagner]
He’s baaaaaack. And by he, we mean J. Bennett—the rather wild and crazy guy who earned a spot in last year’s Best Music Writing book for his extensive self-titled profile on Jay Reatard. We pay our respects to Reatard in the final pages of our new issue, which debuts today along with Bennett’s cover story on Liars and the following features: Read more
PRIMER: Harvey Milk Tear Their Discography Apart, From the ‘Shitty Blues Rock’ of ‘The Pleaser’ to the ‘Total Creative Bankruptcy’ of Their Latest Album
Posted on March 8, 2010
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The very essence of Harvey Milk, as exemplified by Stephen Tanner
Since Henry Owings already told us why Harvey Milk rules, we figured we’d open the floor to drummer Kyle Spence and bassist/kick-ass cook Stephen Tanner. In the following post, they give us a brutally-honest beginner’s guide to their entire discography, from the rubber-burning ZZ Top nods of The Pleaser to their “most pretentious” LP yet, this spring’s A Small Turn of Human Kindness. Our favorite line from a story that’s full of ‘em: “This record is pretty great except for the performances and the sound of all the instruments.” Oh, and this: “So fuck you. At least it’s better than Tortoise.”
If you like what you hear, be sure to check the guys out at (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight, as part of New York’s ongoing Blackened Music Series. Read more
RECORDING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Dinosaur Feathers Take Us Where No Man Has Gone Before On Their New Album, ‘Fantasy Memorial’
Posted on March 8, 2010
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By Arye Dworken
Recording Under the Influence is a recurring self-titled feature where we ask artists to ignore their musical inspirations for a minute and share what really went into the making of a particular record. In this installment, Brooklyn’s very own Dinosaur Feathers guide us through the trio’s magical self-released debut record Fantasy Memorial.
While the band lists Ruby Suns, Os Mutantes, Animal Collective, M.I.A. and the Beach Boys as their sonic influences on Facebook (and for once, we commend a band for listing its inspirations non-ironically), it would seem that, well, Star Trek and Errol Flynn informed the band’s exotic Caribbean-flavored pop equally. But frontman Greg Sullo, ever the overachiever, went one step further and linked each outside influence with a matching sound. And who can argue with the supposition that pepperoni pizza is the food equivalent of Billy Joel’s The Stranger? Not us. Read more
PRIMER: Now That They’ve Broken Up and Released One of Their Best Records, Yellow Swans Give Us a Beginner’s Guide To … Yellow Swans
Posted on March 3, 2010
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(L to R: Gabriel Saloman, Pete Swanson)
Some people complain about never seeing Nirvana or the nose candy peak of the Stones; us, we’re a little sore that we never succumbed to Yellow Swans. The undisputed noise circuit champions announced their retirement nearly two years ago, and while we’d heard their name spoken in hushed, reverential tones before, self-titled didn’t stumble upon the weight of their work until a few months ago. That’d be the very second we heard Going Places, a coffin-nailing collection that has absolutely engulfed our office stereo and subway routine in recent weeks.
As you’ll see in the following Yellow Swans guide—featuring six must-listens, hand selected by the guys themselves, Gabriel Saloman and Pete Swanson—their best music finds a delicate balance between sensory deprivation and sensory overload. And we simply can’t get enough of it these days… Read more
A QUICK TALK WITH WILD BEASTS ABOUT … High Art, Fan Letters, and Toeing the Line Between Being ‘Half-Rapist and Half-Elvis’
Posted on February 26, 2010
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By Arye Dworken
Some bands are inherently masculine. Some bands are inherently feminine. Britain’s Wild Beasts are claiming the distinctive androgynous zone found somewhere between the two. This is mostly due in part to singer Hayden Thorpe’s voice which alternates between wildly flamboyant or lecherously creepy. He’s undoubtedly the most distinctive vocalist singing rock music since his influence Jeff Buckley.
And while the band has garnered almost nearly critical acclaim (Two Dancers was one of our favorite albums of 2009), it’s the band’s growing and obsessive fan base that warrants Wild Beasts our attention. What is it about this band that inspires such a feverish response (as we’ve discovered through many conversations, you either LOVE this band or…it’s just not for you)? Thorpe explains to us that perhaps it’s the art rock quartet’s ability to not condescend to the listener, or as he tell us in our chat, “high art [can be] down to earth, and personal, and transfixing.” Read more
FROM THE STACKS: White Hinterland
Posted on February 26, 2010
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We get a lot of crap CDs at the self-titled offices. But once in a while, a pleasant surprise slips into our promo stack. Here’s a recent delivery that knocked the s/t staff on its collective ass. Read more
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