Where the food sounds good, and the music is pretty tasty too.
Without a doubt one of my favorite rock duos the Japandroids are back just in the nick of time to ensure that Summer 2012 will have it’s share of all out rockin’ musical fare. Check out what else Japandroids’ Brian King and David Prowse are up to at Polyvinyl Records. Peace. Continue reading “Japandroids / / The House That Heaven Built”
From Nottingham, UK there’s a trio of guys playing a brand of alt-rock clinging to the underbelly of distant rumbling thunder and far off smouldering fires. The guys are
Neil Wells (bass/keys/vocals), Pete Fletcher (guitar), Nick Davis (guitar/keys) and they are known collectively as the Escapologists. Their first single “Conscience Or Regret” from the bands January 2012 release Fireworks is presented in fine video form. And although this particular song is a bit of a departure from earlier material, with more synths and a tad more upbeat, it’s nonetheless a good start. I am looking forward to listening to more of what this subtlety atmospheric band has to offer. I’ve got more tragically hip examples of why I love this band after the jump, and please do enjoy. Peace. Continue reading “Escapologists // Conscience Or Regret *Video”
Nothing like a little dark song to make you feel better, right? The 5-piece band Spring Offensive from Oxford, U.K. have honed melancholy to a razor’s edge with their latest offering “Carrier.” And not only should you thank lead vocalist Lucas Whitworth for his beautifully maudlin delivery, but video director Nicky Davidson should get a nod too. And if you’re one of our many fans in the U.K. do yourself a huge favor and check them out in person. After the jump you’ll find the latest video and tour schedule. Peace. Continue reading “Spring Offensive // Carrier”
Check out the Jono Chanin directed video for Spanish Prisoners’ first single “Know No Violence,” from their Gold Fools album. The video has all the snowy goodness of the white winter season, plus a delusional amnesiac hipster chick. Yes, good stuff. I really love this song, so much so that I’ve provided the lyrics so you too can all sing along. I am really too nice to you guys. Peace.
Continue reading “Spanish Prisoners // Know No Violence (Video)”
Vivian Girls alum Katy “Kickball” Goodman returns with her project La Sera and the first single “Break My Heart” is the spitting image of Lo-Fi love gone asunder beneath the hammer drop of irreconcilable differences and a hail of fuzzy guitar. And this is only the first song! I can hardly wait to hear what the rest of her 2nd solo album Sees the Light sounds like. Hopefully, there is more gorgeous music. Peace. Continue reading “La Sera // Break My Heart”
When I listen to the grudge-rockabilly, slightly post-punk sound that is Killing Kuddles, I hear an artist pouring out his soul towards an idyllic destination. And like all good destiny’s, it remains mostly one within his mind’s eye. It is faint, and no, he may not know what getting there will look like. However, he knows it will nonetheless feel righteous, and worthwhile. It is generally understood that there are no true paths to getting there, whatever ‘there’ means. But, I also suspect Elwood Kuddles wouldn’t want it any other way. Because being formulaic is not his bag, he’d rather play it loosey–goosey, with room enough to grow and embellish, and more importantly, he needs space arrive on his own terms. Listen to the 5-song collection of the Waking Up Older EP. It sounds like a good coming-of-age story work filled with heartache, longing, and a new awareness and maturity. These songs are his struggle upon an unknowable path and they sound raw and sweet, and there is hungry guitar licks everywhere. Peace. Continue reading “Killing Kuddles // Waking Up Older”
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††† is the side project of Deftones singer Chino Moreno combined with guitarist Shaun Lopez and Scott Chuck. Last month the trio released the semi-dark and electro-rock driven track “Prurien†”. This track is from the new EP and I’m diggin’ it immensely. You can cop a free download right here. Peace. Continue reading “Crosses // Pruient (Lopez Remix)”
With the Indie music scene being what it is (Amazing!) it is hard for a band to stand out from the crowd. Unless of course your band kicks balls and goes by the indefatigable name The Library Is On Fire. And like the urgency such a name implies, you too should with much alacrity lend your ears and give a listen to the Brooklyn-based trio (Steve Five, Pete Sustarsic and Travis Tonn). For the record, these guys just don’t make music, they make music you’ll identify with, because they’ve got the goods for all your crummy and euphoric emotions alike. And check the back story on this band and get your hands on their Magic Windows, Magic Nights (2010) album released on (Fill in the Blank) Records. The 2010 LP is 15-tracks that’ll back up all the kudos this band has justifiably earned along the way and then some. But, for now luxuriate in the chill sonics of “They Don’t Know You (Like I Know You)” from the bands Works On Paper (2011) release. Peace. Continue reading “The Library Is On Fire // They Don’t Know You (Like I Know You)”
In 2oo3, a lone would be apprentice of music-making (Jordan Jeffares) sat in his chambre à coucher constructing and conjuring songs from his frenetic mind, (think Dumbledore using a Legilimency spell to extract memories, yep I’m a HP geek too). The results eventually manifested what we know of today as the four-piece band Snowden. Several EPs followed: Snowden EP (2005), Black Eyes 7″ (2005), Licorice EP (2005), Fuel Of The Celebration (2007), and Slow Soft Syrup (2010). And yes, there was the counter-culture indie music scene favorite Anti-Anti in 2006. Jordan Jeffares, Chandler Rentz, Corinne Lee and David Payne are the real deal, and there is the most excellent scuttlebutt, that Snowden will return to the airwaves with release of a new album via (Kings of Leon) Serpents & Snakes imprint. Me, excited! Peace. Continue reading “Snowden // Between The Rent And Me”
‘The Darlingtons are what happens when the collective energies of four young men are harnessed (barely), hammered out and pressed onto vinyl. What you hear in the raging notes and lonely lyrics of their music, is the full gamut of human emotions. The channeling of the hope, desire, and emotional baggage (with all its ups and downs) multiplied by a factor of four. The rage is evident. Yet, it is retrained, introspective and always passionate within the width and length of each song. Still, it isn’t enough to simply say something kind about The Darlingtons and leave well enough alone. I admire and applaud their efforts mainly because, like so many of their countrymen, a connection is being forged.
I cheer for them, not because I am being paid to do so, I most assuredly am not. I write what I write because when I put this band’s music on the player and I hear what comes forth, it feels like small doses of adrenaline are being dumped into my veins, and I feel enlivened.
With the forthcoming release of “Bats”, the new single from The Darlingtons’ upcoming debut LP Decades Dance. This song is awash in an enlivened tempo, and it is only natural to gravitate towards something which inspires one’s soul to soar a bit. The Darlingtons, without a doubt, I play them really loud, and often. Peace. Continue reading “the darlingtons | bats”