I've got Free Energy on the mind today. The band is playing tonight at Mississippi Studios in PDX and I couldn't be more ready for some blissed-out good time rock and roll. The band, with the help of LCD Soundsytem's James Murphy, have crafted a fine 1970s rock record and the best part is it's 100% irony free— no ridiculous Darkness theatrics, pretension, or snark here. Yes, this band deserves a proper "Ball to Rock" ratio: maybe a perfect 1:1?
Just wait for the chorus and you'll quickly see "Slippin" is well worth you're time. Copenhagen, Denmark duo Quadron have lit a fresh fire under the Motown sound. Classic pop and soul instrumentals from musician/producer Robin Hannibal and 21-year-old Coco Maja Hastrup Karshøj's deep and powerful set of pipes make for an irresistible pairing. Just sit back and let the grooves fill your room.
When I was just a kid, they said kid don't you cry. I am older now, I say it's alright. Have a tear rolling down, there's a lesson learned. Are you too old to turn, are you too young to burn? Too young, too young to burn.
Nick Thorburn, who along with Jamie Thompson makes far out pop music as the Islands, posted a solo song on his Twitter yesterday with a few words about the project: "I vacillate between thinking this solo jawn, 'I am an attic', is total trash or worth releasing. Here's an unmixed mp3, for your pleasure." I'm going to side with the latter.
Here's another new one from She & Him titled "Thieves" (via Stereogum). M. Ward hasn't had much vocal time yet in either of the duo's records, but he lends a few notes to the chorus here. Also be sure to check out the live version, recorded earlier this month via BBC 6.
Na Kim, a Baltimore-based illustrator who produced the great matchstick album art for Lands & Peoples' EP, also apparently has a knack for music herself. Kim confessed to me that she has no idea what she's doing when it comes to music, but in her song "Farewell" she takes a simple organ chord pattern and stacks thick and beautiful harmonies on top of each other creating an ethereal and dreamy sound. It's a home-recording, sure, but that's one haunting voice.
The textures on Bobby Birdman's New Moods sounds like little else. Every instrument is finessed and sculpted into a unique vision of a vivid and funky eccentricity. Through the syncopated bass lines, percussion and menagerie of synthesizers on "Only For A While," it's not always clear what direction Birdman is heading, but there's no question you'll want to follow along with him every step of the way.
Against Me!, whether bellowing out punk classics or rugged pop masterpieces, have gone through a transformation or two while piling up consistently great music since the late 90's. According to the wordy and raspy-throated frontman Tom Gabel, the band is set to return with White Crosses, due out in early June.
Kyle Thomas, the creative force behind the great power-pop savvy King Tuff, is officially returning to your eardrums on March 16th with his new band, Happy Birthday. Fuzzy, psychedelic, hook-filled pop jams are en route. Till then, enjoy the first single off the band's debut.
Prince put out his first good record since the 80s last month in the form of OK Go's Of The Blue Colour of the Sky. From a band that was previously best known for its use of viral marketing via a snazzy treadmill dance routine, the record is surprising in its near-relentless attention-grabbing construction. The synthesizer—a very of-the-moment instrument—has been adopted here, but it melds easily and never feels forced with the band's unapologetically poppy and sharp style.
Brooklyn by way of Tufts University band The Gentlemen's Bet have a classic sound: it's big drums and big guitars all the way. But on the band's sophomore record Big Gunpowder Falls, the group displays an impressive knack for dynamics and control, one moment busting out dark thunderous clouds of blaring organ and guitar riffs reminiscent of Widespread Panic and shutting them down the next for a quiet acoustic guitar and vocal exchange (see "Small Talk" below). Stream the entire record at Reverb Nation.
Citizen Cope's single "Healing Hands" off his latest effort, The Rainwater LP, reminds a lot of college: it's political, idealistic, and sounds like an outdoor lawn concert permeating with reggae rhythms and a loose jammy vibe. It's also a much more polished sound than Cope's three previous efforts (compare it to the gritty "Mistaken I.D" or ethereal "Let The Drummer Kick"), but this change isn't necessarily a good or bad thing—it's simply a matter of taste. It suits him especially on the escalating skank of "Off The Ground"—perhaps the best song on the album.
Boston multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Birnbaum, who records under the moniker Boy Without God, recently released the single "City Kids" for Bad Panda Records. There is a bit of a Magnetic Fields flavor to Birnbaum and that works magic for him on this pleasant, horn-dusted single.
I can dig me some Shuggie Otis, especially the slow strolling funk of "Strawberry Letter 23." And the mustache? You love it.
