Tag: Crystal Stilts

Awesome Pop Compilation from Indietracks Festival

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In my opinion, there’s only one festival that would be seriously worth my time this summer, and that’s the Indietracks Festival in Derbyshire this July.  Unfortunately, I can’t quite afford the trip, but I can enjoy this great compilation you can grab too put out by Make Do and Mend Records.  It’s like the best sampler ever, with 40 jams, some exclusive, from some of the best bands around, including those I’ve admired on there here pages, like Milky Wimpshake, Crystal Stilts, and Math & Physics Club.  If you can’t go, head over HERE, and check out the sampler.  Don’t forget to donate, as it goes to a good cause!  Seriously, it’s 40 incredible pop songs, including the one below!

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/03-Trying-To-Say-I-Love-You.mp3]

Download: Math & Physics Club – Trying To Say I Love You [MP3]

Psych Fest Recap 2011: Part 1

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The Seaholm Power Plant played host to psych, prog, indie and noise for three days, we were on hand for two of the three, picking out the best for the ATH faithful. The main stage centering the cavernous interior offered several interesting viewing angles due to the fenced off holes in the floor to the level below. Lighting throughout accentuated the scale of the interior and depth of the catacombs. Stage two was a smaller space set off to the side that remained at human body. Hit the jump for band summaries and pictures from the festival.

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Girls Names – Dead to Me

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Rating: ★★★★☆

While it may be extremely easy to write about Girls Names, based on the fact that they fit right into the musical landscape as it currently stands, it’s almost impossible to get their latest effort out of your head. Being released by Slumberland, Dead to Me displays a band that’s sharpened their knives, ready to go to work crafting infectious pop you can bounce about to while working on pretty much anything that comes your way.

One of the great things about Dead to Me is that you aren’t likely to get bogged down listening to one particular track over and over again, as only two songs go beyond the 3 minute mark.  “Lawrence” begins it all with that jagged club dance guitar, but the drums themselves sound as if you’re tapping your toes, not like your normal snare work. And that just takes you right along to another track that gives you a little bit of pep in the step, though “I Could Die” has a much more gritty guitar that hammers throughout those hypnotic melodies.  Strikingly, the guitar, at times, has a sunny disposition, which is odd considering the group hails from Belfast, not Cali, but you’ll be glad they’re utilizing such style.

“No More Words” takes a softer approach to the craft of Girls Names, as Neil Brogan’s vocals warmly float over the entire track.  It’s not like you’ll find too much different here, but Brogan manages to off-set the pep by slowly drawing out his vocals, which might remind listeners of early work by Tim Cohen. Still, it’s all done in short time, so you’re sort of taking at shot in the dark at finding various textures, that is until you get to the longest track on Dead to Me, “I Lose.”  There’s a cloudy coat that barely drapes itself over this song, and the guitar’s are furiously pumping through the track, and you can tell that this isn’t just your ordinary stab at rehashing things that have come before the band.  It’s at this point, while noticing the differences, that you can clearly say you see the Girls Names as a fully functioning entity.

There’s likely to be comparisons to band’s like Crystal Stilts, especially after listening to the record’s single “Seance on a Wet Afternoon.”  There’s a darkness to the track, and one that likely permeates from the title Dead to Me, but perhaps it’s not fair to lump the band in with anyone else.  Brogan clearly has similarities to other dark crooners of the pop cannon, but his performance here makes it’s own mark, often feeling a bit unsteady, but in a heartening manner.  Surely by this point, if you’ve made it through all ten tracks as you should have, then you’ll recognize that it’s simply a joy to involve yourself with Girls Names.  They’ve worked hard to tighten up the unit, flesh out the sound, and it pays off huge dividends for both the band and listeners alike.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/10_Seánce_on_a_Wet_Afternoon.mp3]

Download: Girls Names – Seance on a Wet Afternoon [MP3]

Crystal Stilts – In Love With Oblivion

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Rating: ★★★½☆

Last time you caught Crystal Stilts, you probably remember them for a bit of angular fuzz pop, featuring Brad Hargett’s throaty vocals, haunting every inch of Alight of Night.  Then several members went on to make a bright bit of pop with Cinema Red and Blue, but now they’ve all returned to the fold.  Despite their various whereabouts, the group have constructed In Love With Oblivion, possibly the darkest mark of their short career.

Atmospherics start off the record on “Sycamore Tree,” and despite a steady bounce to the drums, thematic darkness immediately sinks into the mix, as those acid-house guitars churn the noise forward. Hargett’s vocals sound somewhere between Morrison and Curtis, an image of despair in and of itself.  Although we begin with this foreboding feeling, we’re soon thrown into a bit of ballroom glitz, were it to be thrown on the Day of the Dead.  Surely the underlying elements of pop were meant to be disguised, offering another look into Crystal Stilts‘ idea of oblivion, obscuring the clarity we’re used to with our pop.

It’s definitely refreshing to find the band experimenting a bit here, as they appear to do on “Alien Rivers.”  While you’ll find some psychedelia living on the floor of the track, the spoken word delivery tends to lead you from ghost town to ghost town, darkening your soul as you listen to In Love With Oblivion. Other bands might continue to churn out those fuzzy-scuzzy pop moments, but that ominous tone to this definitely provides listeners with an expanded understanding of the group’s efforts.  But, Crystal Stilts can’t stay away from their bread and butter for too long, as those elemental urges will finally break through on the record’s latter half.

“Half A Moon,” perhaps concocted after album artwork was chosen, pushes the emotional pace, and those organs still provide a hint that there lives a brighter moment in our future, despite how dark we find our world, or our music. You’ll find the happiest moments, musically speaking on “Flying Into the Sun,” utilizing bright guitars and a cloudily pounding guitar to push forward.  Just because Hargett sounds haunting doesn’t mean we can’t eek out a bit of happiness. Then you blast on through “Shake the Shackles,” the record’s first single, and end up finding yourself on a downward emotional spiral.  With a title like “Death is What We Live For,” it’s hard not to feel a bit down about yourself while listening here, even if the music offers you a peak at the sun as the Moon rounds the Earth. You’ll want to stomp your feet and jam, but if you listen closely to the lyrics you’ll be stomping your way to musical damnation.

Listening to In Love With Oblivion can be difficult to take in at times, as its offerings are much darker than your usual fair, if not in lyrics, then in emotional toll.  But, getting to meat and potatoes of the album is easy to do, allowing you to lift yourself in and out of that darkness, extracting the great musical moments that bounce throughout.  Admittedly, it’s possibly not the record for everyone, yet Crystal Stilts have constructed something here that will have you operating on all kinds of tangents: oblivion, darkness, pop, psychedelia, etc–and provoking music, even emotionally so, is a definite must in this day and age.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/07-Shake-the-Shackles.mp3]

Download: Crystal Stilts – Shake the Shackles [MP3]

Cinema Red and Blue – s/t

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Rating: ★★★★½

Honestly, this has been one of our most anticipated records for some time, ever since word hit the streets that members of Crystal Stilts and Comet Gain would unite to create Cinema Red and Blue.  While this might just be a brief off-shoot for all those involved, it’s got the feel of a classic record that will only get better as time goes by.

One of the members that needs mention here, as he’s the primary vocalist, is David Feck.  He’s always been able to carry tracks entirely on the foundation of his voice, much as he does on “Far Out Isn’t Far Enough,” the opening track on Cinema Red and Blue. But, just as you think he’ll do it all alone, the band kicks in just shy of the 2 minute mark, jangling their way to a solid ending, while Feck’s vocals strain to grab every drop of emotion.

Then you’ll hit the trilogy of “Ballads,” all named for different interests, and its the wordplay of Feck that wins out, as it usually does.  For instance, there’s something clever about the way he puts together “we’re trying hard to sound like the Swell Maps/what a terrible name for a pop group,” during “Ballad of a Vision Pure.” It’s not just his word slinging that’s clever, but his delivery has the perfect amount of inflection and soul to win listener’s over.  There’s something about his tone too, especially in “Ballad of a Bus Stop” when its accompanied by a female counterpart.

Cinema Red and Blue isn’t entirely about David Feck, however. While you can see the homage to their bands, with flourishes of indie pop and psychedelic darkness, they also pay tribute to their favorites, such as Vic Godard, Julian Cope and the Chills. One that everyone is sure to like is the group’s cover of “Same Mistakes” by Godard.  Their version was released as the first single on the record, and its filled with a bit of electronic organ and low-tempo jangle.  It doesn’t hurt that David gets to match his vocals up either with another soft female vocal.  Listening, its odd how the band doesn’t seem to try at all with what their doing; its a casual affair of great songwriters, which inevitably wins us all over.

Something about this record just seems so precious, even though its not even a week old.  Every song, every note, really hits home as you listen.  There’s a familiarity to it that quickly attaches itself to your ears and heart.  That female follow up vocals in “Love in the Altitude” just hits home.  Or maybe the mellow mood of “Charlie Clarke” is more your style.  What’s clear is that you can find something beautiful, or you should, in every single track here.  While the members all have their respective projects going on, coming across an album as special as this definitely makes you yearn for more.  At least we’ll always have that one perfect record created for us all by Cinema Red and Blue.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/08-Same-Mistakes.mp3]

Download: Cinema Red and Blue – Same Mistakes [MP3]

Frankie Rose and the Outs – s/t

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Rating: ★★★★☆

With all the great lo-fi bands floating around, something is to be said about making a space pop album that doesn’t sound like all the rest. Frankie Rose should know this the best out of anyone, as she has been a member of many successful pop bands herself:  Crystal Stilts and Vivian Girls. Other bands cast aside, Frankie proves her knowledge of this craft with this semi-solo project.

The album starts out on a gradual pace, with only bare instrumental to begin, slowly submersing you into each layer of the opening song. First heard is the quivering feedback, which holds steady until Frankie Rose comes in to soak the song in a tone of wonder and bemusement that her echoed vocals provide. Next, sleigh bells are added for an element of percussion that carries the music slowly on, as Frankie repeats the same simple words, over and over. Is this the same person who was apart of bands that brought light and jangly pop songs to the table? Apparently not, as “Hollow Life,” is a deeper and completely different sound than anything Frankie and any of her previous accompaniments have put out before. Different, but overwhelmingly good.

That being said, this solo effort is not a complete turn from Frankie’s prior works. “Little Brown Haired Girls,” shoots out of the gate with driving drum beats, crashing cymbals and girlish gang vocals; sort of a combination of elements from the first two songs. You have the softer vocals from “Hollow Life,” mixed with a more prominent guitar part that “Candy,” the song in between these two, brings. It is a sure sign that there are still excellent quality pop beats to be enjoyed on this album.

 The rest of the album mostly follows suit from these two songs. There are softer songs such as “Lullabye For Roads And Miles,” which is as expected from its title, reliant on the lack of the quick drum beat and more focused on leaving a little emptiness to carry the song instead. And there are instances of superior jams, like “Girlfriend Island.” On this number, some la la la’s add to the catchiness of the guitar and proves this to be a song that is difficult to stay still to; it is impossible for me to stop tapping along with that irresistible drum beat.

 From this point, Frankie Rose And The Outs move through the rest of the songs quickly and wrap up their first full length album gracefully. They successfully combine a new hollow sound with the well loved, classic low-fi pop that bands like Vivian Girls are known for. With the slow moving songs so effervescent and the fast paced songs reminiscent of the sunny summer days not too far gone, there isn’t a more perfect time for this album to debut; at the brink of fall.

New Music from Cinema Red and Blue

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Odds are you haven’t heard much about Cinema Red and Blue, yet many of you will be familiar with the players.  The group, which is said to be just a brief project, is comprised of members of jangle-pop darlings The Comet Gain and dark post-punk outfit Crystal Stilts. Upon playing together, they created a beautiful collection of songs that will likely live on in the canon of underground music for years to come. Personally, David Feck’s voice will always hit me right in the heart, and I hope it does the same for you.  The self-titled album will hit stores on September 28th via the hard-working folks over at Whats Your Rupture?.  I can hear this playing around my house for years to come.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/08-Same-Mistakes.mp3]

Download: Cinema Red and Blue – Same Mistakes [MP3]

New Tunes from Comet Gain

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This band has been one of my favorites for the longest time, and I’m super excited that they have a new 7″ titled I Never Happened.  It features the Comet Gain trademark jangle pop, which just grows on you time and time again.  This 7″ also shows some promising leads as to the new work of the band, as it features two songs that were started by the band, then finished by Love is All and Crystal Stilts.  If this is any indicator of the work to come from the band in the future, then it looks like I might have another incredible record to enjoy for years to come.  You can get the 7″ HERE.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/01-I-Never-Happened.mp3]

Download: Comet Gain – I Never Happened [MP3]

Blank Dogs – Under and Under

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dogsRating: ★★★☆☆

Currently, the music scene is filled with waves upon waves of bands who are forging ahead with music under the lo-fi moniker, creating tunes shrouded in disguise. It’s as divisive a topic as whether or not to like Grizzly Bear or Animal Collective; clearly the jury is out, but Blank Dogs is yet another band opting to use a barrage of noisy atmospherics in order to compose the music on Under and Under.  Of course, you’ll find that the man behind the project Mike Sniper is familiar with other leading acts in the scene such as Crystal Stilts or Dum Dum Girls.

Musically, all listeners will have to admit that the skeleton of the album itself is quite interesting, and would normally garner huge popularity in another format.  Take the lead track “No Compass” with the bouncing rhythm and angular guitar cutting through the song.  Even when the tracks come across fueled with electronic elements such as keyboards on tracks like “Blue Lights” you can catch melodies that otherwise one would typically enjoy.

However, the presentation of these skeletons is what leads to a discourse on whether or not this music can be deemed as such.  Has the deconstruction of pop sensibility gone so far that we can accept as a listener lyrics run through some sort of effect machine, creating nothing more than what appears echoes of noise?  It’s actually a deeply haunting effect that pervades the entirety of Under and Under, but it takes a certain breed of listener to endure this for long periods of time.

Taking the album fragment by fragment, you have what looks to be the construction of a very basic pop album; the guitar work that is present is not super difficult, and not far off from what  is currently on the market.  An issue with many listeners will be that the recording and the creation of all these fragments has been marred for the most part by these elements of noise that coat both the music and the vocals.

Still, you can’t deny that there is magic in this album.  Standout track “Tin Birds” would easily be on any best of compilation from the eighties, even with the foggy vocoder effect on the song.  Mike Sniper has created some really intriguing music as Blank Dogs, and a lot of it is worthy of the praise that has been heaped upon him.  But, wouldn’t it be great to see if one could create such sublime music without all the frills of making it a deconstructionist lo-fi album?  Surely it would, and only the man behind the music can lead us there, so for now we’ll have to stick for the marginally great tunes we have.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/10-tin-birds.mp3]

Download: Blank Dogs – Tin Birds [MP3]

New Tunes from Crystal Stilts

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crystalThe last album Alight of Night from Crystal Stilts was one of those magnificently beautiful records that sort of crept around your brain for a period of time during 2008. The band are set to release a new single this Spring on Slumberland Records, and we’ve opted to throw a sample of the track your way. Listen closely as the lyrics swirl around the dense fog of energy.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/crystalstiltsloveisawave.mp3]

Download: Crystal Stilts – Love is a Wave [MP3]

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