For a normal band, making an accordion sound cool would be no easy feat. But for the dream-folk duo Twin Limb, it’s no big deal. Lacey Guthrie plays the instrument along with keys and vocals, and Maryliz Bender contributes vocals, drums and guitar, while Kevin Ratterman fills in the gaps with miscellaneous effects and instruments for the Louisville, KY band.
Like its name, their track “Long Shadow” casts a brooding atmosphere over the listener with the aforementioned accordion. Then suddenly, synths and strings peek through the gloom, and transform the song into something bittersweet. The vocals, emotional without being overly dramatic, make the transition from hopeless to hopeful effortlessly.
This is a band that you definitely don’t want to overlook. Check out their dreamy video for “Long Shadow” below.
There’s a cute dog and cat on the cover of Built To Spill’s upcoming album, Untethered Moon. I could only take that as a good sign that I’d like their new song, and I was right.
“Never Be The Same” layers strummed guitars over a laid back groove, in the form of a killer bass line. “Go everywhere you wanna go/ See everything you wanna see/If that’s what you want, you got it, you got it” Doug Martsch sings. His voice wavers between being encouraging over a new beginning, and somber because it means the end of something else and things will, of course, never be the same.
This is the band’s eighth album, and the first with drummer Steve Gere and bassist Jason Albertini. Untethered Moon will be available digitally on April 21st, and on vinyl as a Record Store Day exclusive on April 18th. Check out “Never Be The Same” below!
Raindear is the Swedish indie-electro artist 25-year-old Rebecca Bergcrantz. With dark purple lipstick, a septum piercing, and hair so fine someone would steal it to make extensions, the artist transcends her personal style through music and visual aesthetics to create a fairy tale with a perfect built-in soundtrack. We’ve seen a lot of this particular genre of music emerge from her homeland, so to say that she’s caught our attention isn’t so much jumping on the bandwagon, but rather finding someone who sticks out of the herd. “Veins” (WTNSS Remix) is a moodier take on the original, a well-tied version of lumbering bass sewn with joyful synths, all decked-out with her enchanting voice.
I live in Brooklyn. Despite years in the entertainment industry, I don’t know L.A. So if I were to die there, I imagine it would be in the air above in a plane crash or by having given into all my vices and overdosed in a mansion dressed still wearing my black leather pants. Either option sends me out at the rock star age of 27. That’s just where my morbid mind goes.
Lower Dens are an “entropics” band from Baltimore. “To Die in L.A.” is hot off their forthcoming third album Escape from Evil, to be released on March 31 via Ribbon Music. A preview of what to expect from the whole damn thing, “To Die in L.A.” is dark; it’s whimsical. The voice of Jana Hunter reverberates loud and bold over an experimental track that standing alone could work as the theme for an indie horror flick. “I wish I could count on you…” echos Hunter’s vocals in the opening line.
Lower Dens will play a release show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn on Tuesday, March 31. Buy tickets here.
Sunday evening post-New Year’s is statistically the most popular time to join an online dating site, and therefor likely one of the loneliest and horniest nights, but also creating that awkward time of the winter year between Christmas and Valentine’s Day the most promising time to get laid. (Side note: Statistically, I believe Monday morning post-New Year’s is the most difficult day to force yourself out of bed in the morning.) Returning to the perhaps two most inspiring human emotions, love and sadness, I warmly present Dream Brother‘s (a new project from Ian Anderson) new single “Uppr Dwnr,” as the name suggests, a speedball of sorts. The whimsical pop track debates the uncertain future of a romance with careless wonder.
“I could walk away, you could walk away…” ponders Anderson before evolving to culminate in an offer of, “I could want to stay, you could want to stay. No one would have to know.”
Pour this song in your ears this morning and lighten up on life a little. As they say, no one makes it out alive anyways. You can download “Uppr Dwnr” here.
Love and heartbreak, sex and death, highs and comedowns. The duality of life’s most intense aspects of being human inspire the best art. Infiltrating our hearts and resonating with our own experiences, it’s what we dig about music. Melody or lyrical expression, people love to relate, to have your own emotions captured and expressed in art form by another soul to know you’re not alone. There’s the light messages of life’s little joys and complaints pumped out by the pop power houses, and then there’s the real shit. “Black Heart,” off Brian Robert’s EP Feels Like I’m Gonna Die is the real shit. The lead singer/songwriter of the Charleston band Company, friends and favorites of their neighbors Band of Horses, Robert spread his wings to fly solo in the sadness of the death of his childhood best friend and Company costar Kelly Grant. So, when he titles his first EP post-tragedy Feels Like I’m Gonna Die you get the impression he isn’t mincing words or using the concept of death for shock value. These songs are coming from his deep black lake of a heart, picturesque on the surface but churning with life and all of its cruelties below. “Black Heart,” with its (my favorite expression) beautifully morbid melodies doesn’t have soul searching lyrics, it has soul revealing lyrics.
Stream (or download!) “Black Heart” via Bandcamp below.
Last week, Brooklyn’s own A Place to Bury Strangers announced their fourth studio album, Transfixiation, due out Feb. 17th via Dead Oceans. The first single off the upcoming record is the hard-hitting, noise-laden gem “Straight” — so good we chose it for our track of the week!
“Straight” is the first single from APTBS since the release of the trio’s 2012 album, Worship, and it’s a doozy. The track begins right away with an electric guitar coming into focus, quickly evolving from muffled to blaring, and from there the song is unrelenting. Oliver Ackermann’s guitar screeches, whines, and growls while the singer himself puts on a blase tone, half-speaking through the three-and-a-half-minute-long track. The breakneck beat, courtesy of drummer Robi Gonzalez, makes “Straight” immediately danceable—certainly you won’t be able to resist headbanging along, at the very least.
APTBS will celebrate the release of Transfixiation at The Music Hall of Williamsburg on Feb. 17th. Until then, enjoy “Straight,” below.
Reverb-drenched vocals reminiscent of Morrissey, driven by percussive synth lines, The Midnight Hollow’s single “Forward” off their upcoming EP “For The People Inside” accents the Brooklyn based psychedelic rocker’s ethereal sound. The laid back vocals emerge from frontman Spencer Draeger, who is partnered with Andrew Segreti on drums, backed with the full lineup for live shows Matt Liebowitz on bass, Vahak “V” Janbazian on percussion and Katie Lee Campo on the keys. The track is rounded by solid live drums and percussion rooting the electronic elements, as far too often groups with a similar sound become a bit lost in space. When waking up on a rainy Monday morning, ground your caffeine and nicotine buzz with the lush synth strings of “Forward” to mellow out your post-weekend angst.
Catch The Midnight Hollow in all their glory live at Piano’s on Tuesday, November 18th at 8PM. Word up to The Midnight Hollow for reminding us that the delightful post-punk sound is still alive and well in Brooklyn.
Before Craigslist popularized Missed Connections, there were very few ways to get the attention of the potential lover who caught your eye the night before; you had one chance to chat up that handsome stranger in the darkened bar or lose touch forever. There are few moments more salient than the electricity of first attractions, and when we don’t act on them, we’re faced with mountains of regret, asking ourselves what could’ve been.
L.A.’s Greta Morgan isn’t taking any chances. As Springtime Carnivore, she’ll release her debut LP November 4th on Aquarium Drunkard‘s Autumn Tone Records, co-produced with Richard Swift (who’s also worked with The Shins and Foxygen). Her second single from the self-titled record, “Name On A Matchbook,” is an ode to romantic first encounters, the exchanging of contact information and coy glances in anticipation of exchanging more in the future. But she’s going to make her would-be suitor work for it — in the lighthearted bridge, she coos “So long, so long… until you prove me wrong.”
The track is as breezy as it is infectious, the cheery whistling and plucky piano in the intro denote that this is a casual affair. For all her nonchalance, Morgan dabbles in cinematic flourishes, sonically referencing 1960’s girl group pop with aplomb and even a little grit. While it’s not as sassy as the guitar-oriented “Sun Went Black,” Springtime Carnivore’s first single, there’s still lots of soft psychedelic underpinnings — the slight fuzz on the vocals, for instance, amounts to the aural equivalent of smearing vaseline on a camera lens for nostalgic effect.
Morgan is a pro at the flirtatious brush-off, shrugging and singing “I’ve got your name on my matchbook” as if to say “We’ll see what happens.” But there are wistful backwards glances too. After solemnly stating “I’ll leave your books unread / your mouth unkissed / Your bed can stay all made up / Step too easily / Into a possibility” she wonders “Is it wrong that i want more?” It’s the same daring hope that made Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2012 smash hit “Call Me Maybe” so buoyant and inescapable. There’s no commitment intrinsic in that first encounter, when anything can happen, and there will never be another like it, whether someone initiates something more serious in the future or remains a random name hastily scrawled on a napkin. So the next time you’re at a bar and are suffering a loss of words in the face of unadulterated crushworthiness, take a page out of Springtime Carnivore’s playbook and start a fire.
Springtime Carnivore will be in NYC for CMJ before hitting the road with The Generationals. Tour dates below:
Thu. Oct. 16 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Mayan w/ Of Montreal
Fri. Oct. 24 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade (Aquarium Drunkard showcase – CMJ)
Sat. Oct. 25 – New York, NY @ Pianos (Bowery Presents Day Party – CMJ)
Sat. Oct. 25 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom w/ Sam Roberts Band, Water Liars, Dilly Dally (CMJ)
Tue. Oct. 28 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar w/ Generationals
Wed. Oct. 29 – Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop w/ Generationals
Thu. Oct. 30 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall w/ Generationals
Sat. Nov. 1 – Madison, WI @ Freakfest
Sun. Nov. 2 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave & 7th Entry w/ Generationals
Wed. Nov. 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour w/ Generationals
Thu. Nov. 13 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel w/ Generationals
Sat. Nov. 15 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile w/ Generationals
Sun. Nov. 16 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge w/ Generationals
Mon. Nov. 17 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret w/ Generationals[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
We’ve all had that friend that just can’t get over the past, no matter how seemingly small the trauma, that friend that wants to coddle her pain as though it were something precious rather than something that should be released. And, for better or worse, many of us have been that person who just can’t let go. That’s what makes “The Knot,” the debut single from Brooklyn band Oracle Room, so poignant. Lead singer Alex Nelson is all tough love and real talk, here to provide a good dose of therapy in sonic form – so much easier and less expensive than a trip to the psychiatrist.
Nelson’s voice alone has healing powers; at once lush and articulate, PJ Harvey and Cameron Mesirow of Glasser immediately spring to mind when searching for comparisons, though you get the sense that she’s be influenced by classical and pop vocalists alike. Even more startling are the gorgeous production flourishes; Nelson co-produced the track with Grammy-award winner Derik Lee and the pair made some beautiful choices. “[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][He] approached me a couple years ago and expressed wanting a passion project,” says Nelson of the collaboration. “He always had so much work, but he wasn’t working on a lot of music that he loved.” His admiration of Nelson’s songwriting comes through in their work together – when she sings you want to feel hollowed out, the vocal sounds hollow; airy harmonies shift and swirl in a warped, ghostly chorus, the aural equivalent of a knot tightening in the stomach. “We’ve spent the last two years working on properly recording and producing my work in his free time, which was very sparse,” says Nelson, adding that there are five tracks that will be released as singles before appearing physical EP.
Sinister synths burble through “The Knot” courtesy of Joe Phillips, while Zack Fisher’s roomy, organic drumbeats dissolve fizzily into the rest of the composition but keep things marching along at an insistent pace. Moody strings from Pamela Martinez soar here and there, but the focus is always on Nelson’s vocal, as it should be — she’s the emotional catalyst for its lyrical content, an unlikely cheerleader for getting through the tough stuff and moving on to bigger, better, brighter things. “I believe our planet and all of its inhabitants are going through a major transition right now,” Nelson explains. “It’s a really wonderful and powerful change. I usually write songs to encourage people to stay uplifted, to embrace love and express compassion and to really come into their highest being, as this is what will facilitate the transition we are all looking for. A lot of the songs have a darkness or heaviness to them sonically, but usually the lyrical message is quite positive.”
As a band, Oracle Room have recently undergone a similar transformation; formerly known as Andra, they dropped their old moniker because it infringed on a very famous Romanian pop singer. Their show at Glasslands on Tuesday was the first they’d played under the new name, and Oracle Room added Joe Sucato on keys, guitarist Justin Gonzales, and bassist Ian Milliken to the usual duo of Nelson and Fisher. But perhaps the most telling addition to the lineup was a mini-chorus who sang back-up on the first three songs of the set, helping bring to life the harmonic vision that Nelson and Lee played with in the studio. With ideas this big, won’t be long before Oracle Room becomes Brooklyn’s most buzzed about act, and “The Knot” is simply the first in what will hopefully be a long line of breath-taking singles for the breakout band.
Before forming Landlady in 2010, Brooklyn-based musician Adam Schatz already knew he wanted two drummers and two people playing keys. That’s the basis for the group’s complicated choral pop arrangements and powerful sound. But it takes more than bodies to orchestrate a song, and Landlady’s energy is matched only by the control the group has over the way the music sounds. There’s nothing chaotic about it. Each instrumental thread is fastidiously shaped and as pronounced as it’s meant to be, every dynamic shift is calculated for contrast–every move the music makes is palpably intentional. But though Landlady may be meticulous, their playing has too much melody and sheer pop-infused heart to seem sterile. Their latest song, “Dying Day,” is proof.
“Getting better every day,” the track begins with unembellished vocal delivery from Schatz. “I think I’m getting closer to my dying day.” “Dying Day” is a completely palatable experiment in idiosyncrasy and weaving self-contradiction. The lyrics correct themselves and mull over meanings and instrumentally, the song behaves similarly. The rhythms bounce along nonchalantly, and sometimes lean with their full weight into the backbeat in a sauntering pose that makes the music seem–for all its jumpy complexities–carefree. Although the song’s mood is hard to pin down when you look at it under a microscope, a less aggressive listen–road trip soundtrack? mix tape opener? These summery chords are damn versatile–makes for just plain fun.
“Dying Day” will be included on Landlady’s forthcoming album Upright Behavior, which will be out this July on Hometapes. Stay posted here.
Frankie Rose’s penchant for lo-fi garage pop is pretty obvious by now—not only did she play key roles, over the years, as a member of the Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Crystal Stilts, but she also developed her own sound as a solo artist. Now she’s teamed up with Drew Citron (from her touring band) for a new project called Beverly, and it might just be her best effort yet. The duo’s second single, “You Can’t Get It Right,” is a sweet taste of their upcoming debut album, Careers, out July 1 via Kanine Records.
The song has a lo-fi aesthetic with catchy guitar hooks that sound warped and almost menacing as the girls sing “And maybe this time you’ll know to get in line with me.” They bare their teeth at the same time that they flash a sweet smile. The overall sound brings The Breeders/The Amps to mind, but this tune’s got a faster heartbeat and brighter tone that makes it perfect for summer.
“You Can’t Get It Right” follows the release of Beverly’s first single, “Honey Do,” which is an equally catchy and fuzzy track. Both are good indications that Careers will be one of this summer’s highlights. Check out this week’s track of the week below!
Last year, producer/composer Ryan Lott, aka Son Lux, released his amazing full-length album Lanterns to immediate praise. How’s now returning with Alternate Worlds, an EP of four of Lanterns’ songs reimagined and reinvented. The tracks are all worth a listen, but Son Lux’s collaboration with Lorde on a remake of his song “Easy” is our favorite.
“Easy (Switch Screens)” ups the ante by replacing “Easy”’s originally slithering, quietly hypnotizing sound with a heavier, more intense one. The song is still rather minimalistic but the percussion takes an industrial turn here, and when paired with Lorde’s now unmistakeable voice, it’s downright sinister—but in an oh so sexy way. She sounds like a movie villain spurned as she sings Son Lux’s lyrics, “Pull out your heart to make the being alone easy.” An abrasive electrical guitar solo punctuates the track with a distorted sound that almost nears scratches on a chalkboard.
The overall effect is ever so slightly disquieting, but 100% mesmerizing. Alternate Worlds is due out May 27th on vinyl via Joyful Noise Records, but it’s available digitally right now. Take a listen to “Easy (Switch Screens)” below!
As if you needed another reason to be excited about Record Store Day (which is NEARLY UPON US, coming up April 19th!), Austin psych trip The Black Angelshave announced that their 10″ clear vinyl Clear Lake ForestEP will drop the same day. It’ll be the third in a rapid-fire round of releases since 2010 for this foursome, and if new single “Diamond Eyes” is any indication, it’ll be more of the heavy-rocking, straightforward psychedelia that the group’s been putting out for years.
The Black Angels released at least one bona fide rocker in 2013 with “Don’t Play With Guns,” off Indigo Meadow, which came out that spring. This group doesn’t favor long jams–their style of psych is no-nonsense and utterly, miraculously free of stoned musings and distortion-packed trips to nowhere. The songs are direct descendants of The Velvet Underground’s, and the group even took their name from a Velvet track, “The Black Angel’s Death Song.” It’s psych music with a steady rock and roll heartbeat.
The instrumentals on “Diamond Eyes” are a sludgy mess, but it’s clearly an organized chaos. Alex Maas’ vocals glide over the track in smooth, practiced slides, reality sliding in and out of focus. Still, The Black Angels are too catchy for “Diamond Eyes” to be a demanding listen. The group’s expertise as perpetrators of this particular style allows you to relax into the music, because even at their most tangential, The Black Angels clearly know how to write a rock song.
The Black Angels will be playing Austin Psych Fest, which they also curate, in very early May. But before you buy your plane tickets to Texas, make sure to pick up a copy of Clear Lake Forest on vinyl April 19th. Listen to “Diamond Eyes” below:
Nick Waterhouse‘s R&B-inflected debut Time’s All Gone came out in 2012, and may seem like a non sequitur coming from a twenty-something white guy from California. The album borrowed substantially from the bluesier end of sixties rock, meshed interestingly with a soulful Motown slant. But so much of modern music mixes up decades and blends stylistic influences—especially those from the sixties—that it no longer seems fair to dock points for anachronism. Waterhouse’s particular musical blend, while not unique, is certainly endearing—Time’s All Gone radiates with the kind of garage rock that lets you notice each instrument individually, without them being much treated or blurred into each other.
Waterhouse doesn’t change that aesthetic in “It No. 3,” a Ty Segall cover just released off his upcoming sophomore album Holly, out March 4th. The minimal production on this track doesn’t matter a bit next to the sheer vocal personality. Maintaining the jumpy soul of Waterhouse’s first album, “It No. 3” indicates Waterhouse is gaining a greater comfort level in the music he makes, having more fun and paying less attention to the many—and formidable—influences that contribute to his work. His ownership of this song is especially impressive given that “It No. 3” is a cover, and though the rendition is a fairly faithful one in many respects, the personality behind it is all Waterhouse, no Segall imitation. Shrinking Segall’s original down from fifteen minutes to three, Waterhouse creates a concise, likeable sound that offers a lot for what it asks.
Go here to pre-order Nick Waterhouse’s new album, Holly, out March 4th. Listen to “It No. 3” below:
Alberta, Canada’s Chad VanGaalen is set to return with his fifth studio album, Shrink Dust(his first solo release since the 2011 record, Diaper Island) on April 29 via Sub Pop Records. “Where Are You” is the second track on the upcoming record. The song is lo-fi and a bit bizarre, as per VanGaalen’s usual work, placing us in sci-fi territory with spaced out sound effects layered over VanGaalen’s near-yell of “Where are you.” It’s an extremely interesting listen—catchy in the least obvious way possible.
Listen to the track on Soundcloud, or watch the accompanying video below, with amazingly weird animations galore!
Prinze George is an exciting new electronic pop trio from right here in New York. Their latest single, “Victor,” is anchored by lush sounding beats and singer Naomi Almquist’s beguiling vocals. The song is a soulful slow burner for the most part, but it steadily unfurls and picks up the pace near its end. It’s only the band’s second released track and it shows a lot of promise from these up and comers. Here’s to hoping we get some more material from Prinze George soon!
Stream “Victor” below or through today’s mix of the day on Spotify!
Here’s a new song that simultaneously warms you up and gives you chills—a perfect complement to the coming post-Hercules weather. Solander’s second single from their upcoming album, Monochromatic Memories, is a sweeping track that alternates between a sense of motion and suspense, combining rolling percussion and guitar work with a haunting cello. The lyrics, on the other hand, take you through loss and feeling lost, and are clearly meant for wintertime (“The road to your house looks snowy and white”).
The pop/folk/indie Swedish duo, comprised of Fredrik Karlsson on vocals and guitar and Anja Linna on synth and cello, has been active since 2009, and Monochromatic Memories will be their third full-length release. “The Woods Are Gone” follows the release of the album’s first single, “All Opportunities,” available on Spotify (and in today’s mix of the day!). So far, it seems like this album was made for brisk mornings and snowy nights, so keep your eyes peeled until the album’s release on Feb. 3.
“Don’t wake me up,” howls Blank Paper‘s lead vocalist, Marie Kim, on their new track “Ambien.” It’s not a track that will put you to sleep in the least; instead, it’s more likely to hypnotize you with its sharp beats and bombastic percussion. You, too, won’t want to be woken up from this electronic dream of a song.
The Brooklyn-based synth-pop foursome was formed last year by Taylor Bense (synth, keys, guitar), Chris Holdridge (drums, sampler pads), and Cory Sterling (bass, synth bass), along with Kim. Their new track, with its blustering and glittering ’80s sound, recalls contemporary favorites like the Gorillaz and The Knife—a compelling dance beat paired with fervent vocals that give off both a sweet and edgy feel. You can’t help getting lost in this track, which makes it ideal for the dance floor.
The song even comes with a 30 second teaser that’s equally as slick, replete with vivid visuals of leather jackets, darkly contrasted facial close ups, and a retro-looking car.
Check out the track below, and keep your eyes peeled for Blank Paper’s new EP coming out in early 2014!
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“Oh what an ordinary day / Take out the garbage, masturbate,” begins St. Vincent‘s brilliant new track, “Birth in Reverse.” In her typical fashion, St. Vincent (the moniker for multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Annie Clark) manages to entice and electrify with this preview to her upcoming album, St. Vincent, due Feb. 25th.
The song is spastic yet mechanical with its fast-paced pulse and gritty guitar. The first few seconds bring a car junkyard to mind—robotic and metallic—but the song builds up with a kind of anxious energy. It’s confident, almost boastful, and a perfect way to tease Clark’s anticipated fourth album (her first solo album since 2011, following 2012’s collaborative album Love This Giant with David Byrne).
Listen to “Birth in Reverse” here:
And check out the teaser for St. Vincent’s European tour which features a snippet of another similarly crunchy song, presumably one of the other ten tracks on the upcoming record.
Ticket Giveaways
Each week Audiofemme gives away a set of tickets to our featured shows in NYC! Scroll down to enter for the following shindigs.
