The Decemberists and Blind Pilot – Bristol

Posted on March 9, 2011 by haymoncollins

The Decemberists

Blind Pilot

The slightly inglorious but rather familiar surroundings of the Bristol Academy was the place to finally catch up with two bands who have been on my list for a little while – Blind Pilot and The Decemberists

The Lad and I turned up so early it made us look a little suspect but at least we secured the preferred spot on the balcony. Blind Pilot appeared on my radar  quite some time ago, back around 2008 I think,  thanks to a KEXP podcast which was trailing their then new CD, 3Rounds and a Sound. I recalled Blind Pilot as being a twosome (presumably Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski)  but on stage they are the filled out band referred to on the CD liner as ‘additional musicians’.

Well the US pacific north west, and especially the Portland/Seattle area is home to many a fine artiste and there is a running trait in many for me – that slightly rural, pastoral twang that brings with it a sense of the relaxed and the comfortable. Indeed from by brief experiences of Oregon and Washington that’s exactly what you take away from the two states. Well Blind Pilot fit that caricature just fine and the set, made up of material from 3 Rounds, was enjoyable and satisfying, to be honest I never thought I would get to see them so their support of The Decemberists was an unexpected delight. Live, their sound is better even than the CD, richer and fuller somehow with Go on, Say It  and 3 Rounds and a Sound being particular favourites of the night. I can’t have been alone in warming to them  as they left to a typically enthusiastic Bristolian  reception. It would be good to see them back under their own steam someday… how about it?

Around 9pm The Decemberists came on for what was to be a two hour set. They were introduced by an announcement from a Sam Adams pretender (mayor of Portand for those of us from out of state) who encouraged us all to engage with our fellow gig-goers. This sort of jovial audience connection became a theme of the evening – how much more enjoyable is it when a band makes the effort, not just to ‘do their thing’ but also connect with the audience? It creates an intimacy and sense of community

They very helpfully posted a full set list on their FB pages and so here it is in all its glory:

July, July!
Calamity Song
Rox in the Box
Rise to Me
We Both Go Down Together
The Sporting Life
Grace Cathedral Hill
Won’t Want for Love (Margaret In The Taiga)
The Crane Wife 3
The Rake’s Song
Don’t Carry It All
Down by the Water
This Is Why We Fight
16 Military Wives
The Chimbley Sweep
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Red Right Ankle
The Mariner’s Revenge Song
—
June Hymn

All were in fine fettle, the usual five becoming six with the addition of Sarah on violin, vocals, guitar and things. Too many highlights to mention really but it was good to hear a couple of songs from Hazards give that they didn’t seem to tour that in the UK. Good too to hear Crane Wife as that UK tour got cancelled if i remember rightly because of some family traumas. So its been a while since last they were here and the crowd lapped it up. Not for the first time the Bristol crowd was referred to as ‘attentive’ ( almost unnervingly  so according to Colin Meloy) but it is often the case that a Bristol crowd really does give it full attention to the band they have come to see – not sure why this should be so remarkable but it is… a sign of our times.

The new songs like Rox in the Box, Down by the Water and This is Why We Fight (from the very fine The King is Dead album) blended seamlessly with older favourites such as July! July!, Calamity Song, We Both Go Down Together, reinforcing the excellent and extensive canon they have now established

The running humour throughout – throwing a bottle lid and getting to to stick on John Moen’s nipple, the crowd banter and the tomfoolery during The Chimbley Sweep and getting the crowd to imitate the sound of being eaten by a whale during Mariners Revenge, may all have been scripted to a degree but it still felt done with a genuine warmth  and spontaneity.

June Hymn is a splendid song and a strangely appropriate way to wind down at the end of a generous set played with fine musicianship and humanity by a band at the peak of their profession. Lets hope its not so long before they come back next time

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Totally For Free – Brown Recluse, Ruby Coast, White Denim , Robin Pecknold and Chums

Posted on March 7, 2011 by haymoncollins

Cruising  through a few sites, and especially Austin Town Hall, I stumbled across a few for free and gratis downloads of a couple of bands, and being a  sucker for something free of course I partook, and just for the record here are the links to do the same

Ruby Coast – Whatever This Is

A Canadian five-piece, @rubycoastband have worked with the likes of producer Howard Billerman (Arcade Fire) on this their debut fell length CD . A sparky, poppy concoction that is indeed very endearing and well worth a listen or two. It can be downloaded for free from their Bandcamp site

 

Brown Recluse – Panoptic Mirror Maze

Slightly psychedelic tinged, jangly indie pop with a more than a passing reference to the likes of Belle and Sebastian, this EP was apparently something to be getting on with as they prepared their full length album, evening Tapestry due for released later this month. This Panoptic EP can be downloaded from their Bandcamp site

White Denim – Last day of Summer

This album length free offering was put down as they prepared their third album proper and benefits from a rather freer approach rather befitting of the Summer in the title – it feels like a holiday and scored a very creditable 7.4 from Pitchfork. The album can be downloaded from  the White Denim web site

 

 

Robin Pecknold

Surfacing via the Fleet Foxes FB page this sumptuous little song trio was recorded in LA recently with Mr Pecknolds friend Noah. One is a new song that’s a duet with  Ed Droste from the Grizzly Bear, one is a solo new song, and the other is a cover. The three songs can be downloaded here

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Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!

Posted on March 6, 2011 by haymoncollins

Suffice it to say that this is a fine, fine album. There are many reviews around that go through track by track, describe the intricacies of the playing, the production qualities and so forth  much better than I could, so I won’t bother.

Elbow are another band whose time is deemed ‘to have come’, or rather ‘arrived’ with the last album. Much like with The National and High Violet this stage of a bands growth fills me with anxiety. I am never sure whether it’s the impending sense of loss – a band I rather presumtuously claimed for my own (along with a myriad of others) finally receiving yet wider recognition – or the fear that with the ‘success’ they would lose touch with that nebulous thing that had struck such a chord with me in the first place. Fearful too am I that moving from 1500 seaters to the cavernous impersonality of the arena circuit is not so much an effort to be accessible to the larger fan base but more a chance to enjoy the rock and roll ego massage.

How much of my listening pleasure is made up of the hungry search for the new, the relatively undiscovered, the arrogant warm glow of getting to a band, if not first, then amongst the first; and how much made up of a nostalgic wash of pleasure of what has been and the memories tagging along behind?

Maybe bands making that attempt the transition to wider success fall, for me, into that dangerous territory of slipping into the formulaic, the slightly bland, trendy clothes shop music or worse still playlist fodder for the demographic driven radio stations. Heaven knows there have been enough of those – U2, Manic Street Preachers, Kings of Leon (insert your own examples) all of whom have gone from tantalisingly exciting and new to dull and forgettable

But back to Elbow. BARB! could so easily have been their route to that future but it doesn’t seem to be. For despite the new arena tour (which may or may not be a good thing – the experience of Cardiff will tell me that), this album contains remarkably little of the reach-to-the-back-of-the-stadium moments. It’s relatively contemplative, slightly mournful, low on the bombast and grande geste and high on the finely observed, carefully crafted word-smithing and expert musical playing.

Overall it has an authenticity, the mark of the genuine and a reality which, although I cannot shared the specifics of experience and location, still succeeds in resonating, touching both a commonly and personally held sentiment. Maybe this is the differentiator – the ability to remain authentic and personal but still be able to connect with a wider experience.

If bands like Elbow can sustain the ability to walk the fine line between popularity and personal connection then maybe ‘success’ isn’t such a bad thing.

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Her Name Is Calla – Maw EP

Posted on March 4, 2011 by haymoncollins

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Those fine fellows Her Name Is Calla are shortly to embark upon a welcome European and UK tour. It would be well worth anyone’s time and cash to run along to any (or indeed all if that were possible) of their up coming dates. Full dates can be found on the obligatory FB page , but of course I must give  a shout out for the Bristol show at the Croft with support from To Bury a Ghost. (grovelling apologies for not mentioning/forgetting/wasn’t sure it was for definite blah blah, that the mighty Bravo Brave Bats will also be at the Croft alongside TBAG and HNIC – – makes it even more unmsisible – get those tickets bought!) I assume that in order to mark the occasion, they have been busy in the studio and will be releasing an EP, Maw,  that will be available at the dates as well as on download, and indeed they are previewing each of the three tracks on successive Mondays via their Soundcloud site for the EP.

The three track EP is a veritable mini-smorgasbord of different aspects of HNIC.  well title track, Maw, is a real turn up for the book! Eerily like a single length track, the insistent drum track and dirty guitar creates (shock) an almost toe tapping sound. At around 1’30” the sound is redolent of early era Black Sabbath (someone has been digging through someone’s back catalogue deep in a dark bedroom ), then the horns kick  in and reclaim the track for HNIC territory. This could so easily have been extended to a much longer track but it wisely finishes short and sharp, leaving a slightly breathless listener – excellent stuff indeed.

The elegantly titled The Beat That My Heart Skipped is a languid and lazy affair , with a quite beautiful guitar section at around 43″,  heralding the start of the slightly aching violin of Sophie (particularly so in the later sections). There are nice up front vocals from Tom and deftly pitched harmonies. A quite beautiful  track and an especially delicately wrought three and a half minutes.

Dreamlands, at eleven plus minutes, is a more familiar HNIC track length, a mini suite all of its own, with Toms falsetto range vocal over the top of the picked guitar and string pulse for the first section. The second section is introduced by its distrested and distorted instruments,  the sound of a slumbering, captured underground beast, before the tremulous vocals and strings add an ethereal choral quality. This middle section is possibly the most successful, but is swept away by the distortion that takes you away and into the third and final section with Toms vocal preoccupation with graves suspended over the picked guitars repeated refrain. The addition of Sophie’s harmonies and violin adds depth and colour and brings the piece towards is swirling final stage before the track gradually fades into the mist and out of sight.

Dreamlands has that haunting and haunted quality of some HNIC tracks, the sense of loss and longing wrapped in the orchestral structure. But the two other tracks here manage to pack a punch (albeit very different ones) in much shorter time-scales. Maw and The Beat… have a freshness and spontaneity about them, respectively almost toe-tapping and melancholia that is refreshing and welcome. I love a long and evolving piece as my prog antecedents will testify, but it is great to see two different approaches so successfully employed here.

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Bravo Brave Bats – Green EP

Posted on March 1, 2011 by haymoncollins

What a difference six months make. It was only in October 2010 that Bravo Brave Bats released their inaugural Red EP; full of that fire-in-the-belly, hurry-up-Harry-ness of a band wanting to get itself out there and be heard.

But here we are with another, this time the Green EP, soon to be released. In the short time in between, BBB have been gigging a-plenty (24 dates in 10 months) and writing new material and the second fruit of their metaphorical loins will be presented to the world at Cafe Kino in Stokes Croft, Bristol on 26 March. The FB event page gives all the details – support from the excellent Tessellators and Model Boat – be there or be a regular quadrilateral.

What the Bats are planning to do in having three EP’s out in relatively quick succession is to provide an unusual opportunity to see how a band grows and changes in the space of a few months. Red was pretty much a slice of how they sound in live setting, the drive and excitement of their live shows. Green properly had to do something more, to build on the experience of gigging and reflect the growing maturity and band development. This set does not disappoint: bookended by their more upbeat, poppy (not intended to be a slight that by the way) style the core of the EP is the three songs that are slightly darker, more adventurous, and for me a tantalising glimpse of where they might go next.

First up is Pedalling, the sets obvious single if such a thing still exists and the subject of the first BBB video (see end of post). From the drum-led opening, swiftly augmented by the bass and then guitar riffs, this is redolent of nothing if not a 70’s inflected pop/punk song. The strong hook and with harmonies that are vaguely folky in origin; this is one of the more straightforward songs with obvious massive live potential and a great way to kick off this set.

Wagons signals a new departure from the off; the HDU–esqe noodling guitar opening and trademark dry rifle shot drums precede the fabulous swooshing, squashy guitar sounds that return at intervals throughout. This track has more ‘regular’ vocals that give much better access to the lyrics (the strangely almost Fleet Foxes harmonies supporting and enriching) – and the lyrics deserve not to be lost in the excitement. There is an altogether ‘fatter’ sound here, a steady build of aural tension with a controlled release. Great stuff – love it

Third track A Hymn continues the feel of Wagons, starting with Dan’s beguiling, loping bass line and a heavily treated guitar over-lay before the vocal begins. Again Ieuan delivers the vocals in a more contained, disciplined way which, as recorded material, makes such songs much more enjoyable with repeated plays – rightly differentiating between listening to the recorded material and enjoying the more visceral live experience. The increased restraint on songs like this and the careful delivery of well written lyrics, makes the arrival of Hector’s Mono style guitar in last minute or so all the more satisfying. This, the second of the newly matured and confident songs of the Bats canon is pretty much my favourite so far of all that they have written (oh and I like the out of tune piano buried deep down in there!)

The gentle let-down at the end of A Hymn is brought to a halt by the start of Dry Drop which is once more song with greater power because of the increased control with which it is played. There is a rather subtle and delicate bass line riff  (Dans’s playing through this song, and indeed elsewhere, is very good indeed. Perhaps we could have it a tad higher in the mix next time lads?). Once again Ieuan’s vocal is much more deftly delivered, with a build toward the last minute of rumbling bass and drum holding aloft the echoey, spangly guitar work of the final section – Hector’s guitar work is outstanding across the whole set and I am glad to see that the pedal tray is now really earning its keep! The track ends with a gentle slide back to a harmonised close.

Anty Matter has been a live track for some time now and it’s a more obvious crowd pleaser with closer links to the Red period. The track has more chiming guitar and running bass lines  which add a bit more texture and colour but its not such a rich sound and the harmonies not as tight as on some of the other tracks.

Closer, Boys ♥ Me, is obviously designed to leave listener on a rollicking high with a great bass riff throughout. The bouncy drum attack, pop-tastic jangling guitar lines and shout-along chorus help make it a  jolly, upbeat affair and is clearly a good fun live track.

Altogether this a massive step up and a sparkling sextet of songs. The playing throughout is of the highest order and a remarkable sound-scape from a three piece and all without the use of over-dubs a-go-go. The tight underpinning drumming, more assured and controlled vocals, a fluent and musical bass and the newly enriched and augmented guitar sounds make for a more sophisticated and engaging set.

But for me the triptych (can you have a triptych of songs?) Wagons, A Hymn and Dry Drop are where the greatest developments are to be found. The assuredness of writing and playing, the confidence revealed through the quieter passages, as well as the more intricate playing, all actually accentuate the quality of the band and their delivery.

To be a great live band is a good thing as it stands, but to be a good live band supported by recorded material that stands up to repeated listens and offers more on each closer inspection is the sign of a band that  is getting into its stride.

If this is the sort of progress that has been made between the Red and Green EP’s in a matter of a few months, what might we expect from the third, Purple, EP that is due to conclude the planned series?

Pix courtesy Bravo Brave Bats

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James Blake – James Blake

Posted on February 17, 2011 by haymoncollins

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Now here’s a thing. Not naturally part of my usual core listening pleasure, this Mr Blake has either been the recipient of  a lot of hype or there is a genuine groundswell of opinion that he is something to be excited about

His roots in dubstep are well known but his eponymous album, following on from a series of EPs, seems to me to have feet in several musical camps. For sure some of the treatments here and occasional sub base refer to his dubstep antecedents. But there is much here, and I don’t just mean his vocal delivery but also the phrasing and composition, that has links to the likes of Justin Vernon (Beacon Don’t Fly) and Antony Hegarty (My Brother and my Sister) who must have been in his listening bank of late one suspects

Naturally tracks like Wilhem Scream and Limit to Your Love have a genuine beauty to them and an immediacy that others do not possess. It is interesting to listen back to the original Feist version of Limit to Your Love and see how, despite what sounds like such a different treatment, that Blake’s version is remarkably true to the original. However after a few listens the less immediate tracks find their own spaces to inhabit. Now a goodly time after the first feverish listenings, I find myself drawn back to the less obvious tracks, rather relishing their difficulties and peculiarities – surely a sign of good things. I have unwittingly gained some ‘cool’ points with the Lass’s mates, clearly a duffer like me isn’t expected to enjoy this sort of music!

A shortish album and although, to my ears not a comprehensive success, at the tender age of 23 Blake has managed to produce an album of charm and emotion, using contemporary sounds that manages to sidestep easy categorisation. If he can ride out the hype and continue to be this inventive and creative he may be a significant influence

Apologies that the vid will only play through Youtube, Mr Blake’s ‘people’ won’t let it fully embed

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The Boxer Rebellion – The Cold Still

Posted on February 16, 2011 by haymoncollins

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I seem to have arrived rather late to the Boxer party given that this their third release. Their struggles with collapsing labels and band member illness is already well documented but does point to a band that has determination to overcome hurdles thrown in their path

There is some real momentum around this fine album – a slot on US network tv courtesy of the Letterman show, top 40 album status within 24 hours to name but two things.

I came to this through the excellent streaming of the album from KCRW (why no such services over here?) and it immediately had that ‘something’ for me. Without trying to pigeonhole the band or their music they occupy the same emotional space for me as do Elbow and The National

The album, released on their own label Absentee Recordings, was produced by Ethan Jones who has done great job, loads of space around the sound, great clarity around the vocals and instruments for a collection of songs that might have sounded cramped and dense in lesser hands. The ten song set has a sense of unity to it, a purposefulness to the whole kit and caboodle, no fillers and an impulse and momentum that runs throughout, even with the more introspective tracks. Apparently much was recorded ‘live’ with very few over-dubs and there us great sense of tightness here that bodes well for live show and I look forward to the London Heaven show in a few weeks

There isn’t a duff song here to my ears though of course single Step Out of the Car is a standout song but so too are tracks like Caught in the Light and Both Sides are Even. The playing throughout is exemplary and Nathan Nicholson’s vocals have a remarkable clarity and quality to them, almost euphoric on occasions

To be honest this is an album I can’t stop playing, a triumph and the first musical obsession of the year and a source of joy for what is proving to be testing time right now

Step Out of the Car – The Boxer Rebellion

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To Bury A Ghost – The Hurt Kingdom

Posted on February 5, 2011 by haymoncollins

I have to admit to being late to the party in respect of the début EP from To Bury A Ghost Last. The Hurt Kingdom was released at the back end of 2010 and rightly got many good reviews, for it is indeed an impressive first outing for a band. TBAG finally came to my attention when they were announced as support for the wondrous Her Name Is Call for their first Bristol show on April 16 at The Croft – tickets from Bristol Ticket Shop and Gold Flaked Paint – hurry! Go buy!

I popped a copy of The Hurt Kingdom into my virtual basket at Big Cartel for a paltry four of your earth pounds and Lo! it arrived in really rather lovely packaging – CD in wallet with extra photo card all in see-thru over-printed sleeve tied up with string and a button badge to boot – nice job!.

The band has also just had a day or so down at Abbey Road courtesy of the BBC, having been successfully nominated for the BBC Introducing at Abbey Road masterclass – got to mean something, eh!

Anyway I promised a little bloglette about the EP and I have taken too long getting around to it. The opening track, Birthday, starts a bit like a modern day Also Sprach Zarathustra with trumpets, viola (i think) and an orchestral feel, later echoed again with the rolling piano arpeggios . The track feels a bit like an Overture  previewing the sections to come, introducing the various facets of the band. You quickly get an appreciation of the strong and distinctive vocals of Jonathon Stolber and the bands general musicianship. This Leicester based three-some do undeniably, and perhaps regrettably (or is that just me?) have some superficial similarities with Muse – the vocal delivery and tendency to an ‘epic’ quality of the music and of course the fact that they are a 3 piece band (to state the bleedin’ obvious)

The second track, Coming Up for Air, feels much more like a single coherent piece – with a sustained vocal refrain and strong running base line plus a great ‘scrabbly’ guitar noise over the up front bass sound. Jaws of Love, the third track, has an instrumental melody line oddly reminiscent of the great Tortoise, and I personally might have liked a little more development before the key and mood shifts that get to be introduced from around the middle of the track and before a brief return to Tortoise-esque coda.

The fourth, and my personal favourite, track Beginning is the End is a fully instrumental track. I am not saying at all that I don’t enjoy the very distinctive vocals of Mr Stolber but this track feels the most developed, mature and considered. The track takes fewer ideas and builds them into something very satisfying and coherent where the key shifts feel like natural progressions. The added strings bring the required warmth to the track and the guitar work is a bit reminiscent of the blessed Mono and provides the swelling musical backdrop to the piece. Furthermore any band who puts in a bit of glockenspiel in a track has to be a good thing! More stuff like this track please, add some suitable vocals of the quality found elsewhere on this EP and it will be monster!

There is an extra tack, a remix of Coming Up for Air which is perfectly fine but I am not sure it adds much to the original track.

All in all this is a good EP, very strong, with abundant talent and musicianship. The sort of disciple and focus apparent on Beginning.. will only take them to yet better places and it will be very interesting to see how they take this to a live setting and I am very much looking forward to the HNIC show with them – promises to be a good evening

 To Bury A Ghost – Beginning is the end

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Band of Horses – Birmingham

Posted on January 29, 2011 by haymoncollins

Band of Horses

Goldheart Assembly

Mojave 3

 

 

Three fine bands, one bitterly cold night in Birmingham, Mrs HC and I together with Mr & Mrs IDS. Truth be told I couldn’t quite believe my luck that BoH were back on these shores so soon after their last visits and this time accompanied by the splendid Goldheart Assembly (who I had failed so far to see and whose early Youtube vid now looks rather quaint) and Mojave 3 who, to my shame, I thought had slid into oblivion.

Goldheart Assembly were first on at a grim 6.45 start (largely because the pride of Birmingham’s yoof were due in at 10.30 for the Friday club night… mmm, nice)  but still had a decent sized and enthusiastic crowd. Despite their tender years and shortness of time together they have already produced a fine album, Wolves and Thieves (which inexplicably I failed to review last year). On stage they already have a comfortable bonhomie between songs and a general air of having a good time. Live, the harmonies that pepper the recorded songs are spot on and the songs have more of an edge than they do on record. I am not alone in thinking that if they carry on in this vein these young chaps have a good future ahead. Certainly I for one will be sliding along to the next headline gig of theirs that I can get to. A scant 30 minutes later and they were gone having set the tone and the bar for the evening.

I first fell in love with Mojave 3 when I chanced across their second album, Excuses forTravellers, in 2000. Neil Halstead has a beguiling voice, and the songs follow the time honoured route of telling stories and painting pictures. Despite their Americana leanings they are a UK product and indeed sprang from the ashes of shoegaze band, Slowdive when that dissolve back in the mid 90’s. The last album Puzzles Like You from 2006 is unknown to me (but I will catch up) and although solo work has been forthcoming Mojave 3 were thought to be on hiatus. Well perhaps with luck this signals a return, certainly if those around me were typical they will have gained new admirers last night. The sound was excellent and the material of sparkling quality, and bless their souls they ended their al too brief set with a personal favourite, My Life in Art. Lets hope that Mr Halstead et al get back in the groove, so to speak – brilliant.

Tonight was , I think, my fifth BoH outing and each time I am surprised a-new how different they are to the recorded songs, how they, well…rock. Indeed it is on their account that I now have some excellent Alpine ear plugs precisely for shows like these. The other thing about BoH is how they all seem to have a damned good time on stage, its all rather wearying to have a good band stand their in earnest seriousness, no such problems with BoH.

Sadly I can’t recall the set list in perfect order but no matter, it was a grand mix of material across all three albums including Ode to the LRC, Detlef Schrempf, Is There a Ghost, Island on the Coast, Great Salt Lake, Monsters, the mighty Funeral, Laredo, NW Apt… oh you get the picture. Each night they do a cover of something they haven’t played before, the “Du Jour of the Day” as Ben Bridwell puts it. Tonight a splendid Neil Young cover (update – twas Powderfinger and a little Youtube vid can be found here with a sneaky back of head cameo of yours truly down the front :)).

As usual my pictures are a bit rubbish but the inestimable IDS has some of his featured in this post (thank you sir) the rest can be seen on his Flickr page and some professional ones (with the appropriate copyrights and all) can be seen firstly by Danny from Concerts Captured and also some really rather good ones by the talented  Jodi Cunningham

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Six for 2011

Posted on January 26, 2011 by haymoncollins

OK, not super fast on recommendations and top tips for 2011 but better late than never, six of the best for the new(ish) year. Looking back at the selections here, well the first three at least, I have obviously slipped back into that hazy-summer-dream thing… will try to bring up some more gutsy stuff another time…

Still Corners


Clearly if I had got to this when it was released last July I could bang on about Endless Summer being the quintessential summer track, but here in the depths of January it is still a great fuzzy, squashy, trippy track, reminiscent of Beach House.

More recent track, Eyes, is on free download from Soundcloud and finds Still Corners in a yet more dreamy place. But Don’t fall In Love is a drop dead gorgeous track redolent , as The Guardian points out, of a David Lynch soundtrack. Londoners, Still Corners shine out from the current retro psychedelic wave of new bands, the future of indie never sounded more blissed

 Still Corners – Don’t Fall In Love

Twin Sister

 

 

Continuing the dreamy stylee, the Brooklyn via Long Island Twin Sister have an assuredness that belies their brief two years together. With definite nods to 80’s synth pop and a  good smattering of Cocteau Twins influence, tracks from the Colour Your Life and previous Vampires With Dreaming Kids, Twin Sister deliver an almost icily chilly sound that still manages to have an organic warmth to it.

A few listens and the infectiousness of the songs seeps in, lush and enchanting, mellow but oddly uplifting, maybe the Kings of Convenience claim that The Quiet Is The New Loud moment has finally arrived.

 Twin Sister – “Lady Daydream”

Porcelain Raft


Relentlessly pursuing the out of  season infatuation with warm summery and fuzzy sounds Mauro Remiddi aka Porcelain Raft is another of those Beach House-esque artists putting out rather sumptuous, bleary ballads that make me yearn for a bit of sun and warmth.

Porcelain Raft and Yuck ( the next band on my list here), obviously have a thing going on as they had each produced covers of the others songs both of which can be heard on Soundcloud and can be boight ( if any copied remain ) via Transparent. The lovely Tip of Your Tongue is a fine place to start here

 Tip of Your Tongue- Porcelain Raft

Yuck

 

 

OK maybe not the most enticing name for a band but this little collective with members from Hiroshima, New Jersey and the UK are any thing but Yuck, actually really rather good.

Sure there is a debt in there to bands of yore like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr but that’s really no bad thing, these days everything gets re-purposed and regenerated and Yuck still sound ‘now’. With a couple of members who were in Cajun Dance Party they aren’t exactly straight off the proverbial banana boat and indeed they have an album to be released in February. Currently in the states they bring some shows back to the UK around the time of the album release – lets hope we hear more from Yuck in 2011

 Yuck – Georgia

Maybeshewill

 

 

Right, here we go, something not as dreamy and woozy (as nice as that is) – Leicester’s Maybeshewill are mates with Her Name is Calla and to a degree inhabit a similar sort of space. Springing from that over-used and not terribly helpful category ‘post rock’ this has all the ingredients of the said genre but delivers it all rather more immediately. Now I am all for a bit of delayed gratification but frankly how much more satisfying is it to get what you’re looking for without waiting 23 minutes for the hook or the pay-off.

With already two well received  albums and a few other bits and pieces to their name, a third album is in the final throes of production (with some strings courtesy of Sophie from HNIC who says the new material is sounding great) and a slew of dates this spring in Europe and the UK, lets hope 2011 is a big year for these fine fellows

 Maybeshewill – This Time Last Year

Sharon van Etten


I have already burbled on about this fine singer songwriter and to be sure she isn’t exactly an underground artist but Epic is just that – a wonderful album and she deserves a greater audience and acclaim. I wrote a post barely ten days ago so no use repeating myself but should there be anyone who doesn’t know her… go find

 Sharon Van Etten – Peace Signs


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