This is fine.
Everyone seems to love Surf City lately, and they are picking up a lot of press over here in the states, which isn’t entirely rare from a band straight out of Oceania. We, too, are really excited to see what they can come up with when they release their full length to throngs of fans stateside. Here’s just a little sample off their self-titled EP.
Download: Surf City – Canned Food [MP3]
Rating: 
Elvis Perkins finally has a band to back up his soft-spoken folk leanings, but that isn’t too say that he’s moved entirely away from his original sound; in fact, he hasn’t traveled that far from where he once began his journey into the musical world. His latest release, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, is just another reminder of how capable a songsmith the man truly is.
Opening the album is “Shampoo,” which starts off with a mellow little progression on the acoustic guitar, as an organ fills out the background. Suddenly, the band kicks in, and Elvis’ voice comes sweeping in with a slightly more country-fied tinge than most listeners might be used to at this point in his career. It’s a testament to the man’s capabilities when he’s backed by a complete band, and it’s a phenomenal start, nearly a perfect song.
The next few tracks find Elvis walking the lines of his past, as he slows the numbers down so his voice can unfold before listeners. You can tell that he’s yearning for more, reaching for more with his voice, which is perhaps the reason why he brought in a complete band for the recording process of this album. Steady percussion fills in the space where Elvis previously was forced to fill it all with his voice.
His trademark six minute song, “Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville” is just another example of how wonderfully he can craft a song. Simple strumming typically doesn’t have the lasting power to garner your interest through six minutes, but when accompanied by his voice, and his attention to lyrical details, you find that you are drawn into the depths of the song. Horn arrangements added midway only build upon the already sound structure of this song.
Each time you listen to his voice, it seems to waver just a bit, much like Devandra Banhart, but with a less aggravating persona behind it all. It’s surely the focal point of each song, but his ability to maneuver in and out of different pitches is what makes the entire set of songs listenable, as he clearly understand exactly when to pull back. It’s an emotional attack on the listener, and it succeeds on almost every level. Listening, your drawn into the strength of the songs, but your mostly attracted to his voice, and that feeling is certainly not fleeting.
You’ll find that every song along the way has extra details added in to create an ornate composition. The folk stylings are merely just the beginning, as the backing band here has fulfilled the promise of Elvis Perkins, pushing his songs far beyond anything he’s written to date, and the listeners will be rewarded time and time again, as each listen unfolds new little secrets.
The week/weekend before SXSW is usually pretty bland for live music, but a few locals have put together a nice little festival going down this weekend. Over the weekend, if you’re not resting up for next week, you should make it out to the new Radio Room (map) for the 2nd annual Psych Fest. The lineup for the weekend events is pretty impressive with big names like Black Angels, Strange Boys, Dead Meadow, Shapes Have Fangs, A Place to Bury Strangers, and tons more. Tickets for the event are on sale now and are going for $45 for a 3 day pass and $15 for individual day tickets. Music starts at 9pm on Friday and 1pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Check out the official website for full schedule and band info or have a look at that trippy flier.
Download: The Black Angels – Young Men Dead[MP3]
A whole slew of websites & record companies are giving away some free MP3s from artist participating in SXSW. NPR has one featuring 16 tracks from artists involved in some of their events during the week. Famous UK label 4AD also has a sampler of artists playing their showcase available for download after you give them an email addy. And of course Amazon won’t be outdone with a sampler of artists playing the IODA opening day bash party. Are you ready for the party?
This Melbourne, Australia group has been on my mind a lot lately, and it was recent brought to my attention that they released a new single not too long ago. I had to have it, and I had to bring it to your attention; here is the newest tune from The Crayon Fields, who are set to release another album later this year. We’ll keep you posted on that front.
Download: The Crayon Fields – Mirror Ball [MP3]
Dakota Fish, project of underrated songwriter Mike Fish, just finished recording a new 4 song EP and it’s free to download. The new EP is called Motion In Relation to Other Objects and dropped on the Dakota Fish website last month. Here’s a preview of the free EP with track “Last Time”. You are correct, it does sound a lot like older Radiohead.
Download: Dakota Fish – Last Time [MP3]
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Dan Boeckner and his wife/girlfriend/whatever, Alexei Perry are releasing their second album, Face Control, on Sub Pop Records under the Handsome Furs moniker. The first outing had a lot of interesting moments, carried mostly by Boeckner’s voice. Interestingly enough, you don’t find the band breaking new ground with their latest release.
The instant the album kicks off with “Legal Tender” one will immediately note that the beats on this round are a lot more prevalent than on the last outing. That’s not to say that Dan doesn’t throw in some slicing guitar licks, as he surely does so on this track, but they seem merely as extra moments. It’s as if the beats support the entire infrastructure of the songs, while the guitar seems to be an afterthought.
Still, one has to question whether or not this is enough to carry an entire album’s worth of songs. Answering this question will more than likely divide a lot of people, as the better tracks coming from this album, such as “Talking Hotel Arbat Blues” or “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything,” are really fantastic, displaying how some of the more thought out moments on the album can rise above the simplistic formula.
And yes, there is Boeckner’s phenomenal voice. As part of Wolf Parade, he’s pushed his voice to the limits, sometimes letting his voice curl into a bit of a yelp. This is not so on the Handsome Furs work, where we find him restraining himself quite a bit, allowing for the vocals to pull out every ounce of emotion from both his voice and the listener. Clearly the power of his voice is capable of serving as the backbone of an entire album, but probably not as the sole focus of said album.
“I’m Confused,” for instance, relies upon Dan entirely, using his voice to carry the entirety of the song until his guitar work angularly cuts through the background of the song. It’s an interesting sound, but it fails in the fact that it comes across as if the whole song was just merely a momentary thought; it has no flesh or filling. This is not what one asks for in such cases. Sadly, this is the feeling a lot of listeners will be left with when listening to this album all the way through, time and time again. There are moments when you can’t help but to be taken aback by the songs, but other moments exist when you might ask for a bit of density to the songs, a little exaggeration if you will.
You’ll come to the end finding that you’ve enjoyed the album as a whole, most notably for previously mentioned tracks, but you won’t find yourself dying to listen to it over and over again, only asking yourself questions about whether the band could have done more to fill some of the blank space that stands motionless throughout the album.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/03-talking-hotel-arbat-blues.mp3]Download: Handsome Furs – Talking Hotel Arbat Blues [MP3]
Cut Copy brought their brand of poppy dance music to Stubbs on Friday night. The band was joined on the stage by fellow pop hit makers Matt & Kim, who seemed to steal the show from the famous Australian band. Follow the jump to read a full review of this show and see some fancy photos.
In case you didn’t follow our list of best albums of 2008, odds are you missed one of the gems of the year, Jeremy Jay. He’s got a new record slated this Spring off of K Records, and its been kicking around in our heads over here at ATH for the last few weeks. It’s a slow-burner, but as with all Jeremy Jay outings, it reveals more each listen.
This time out, he’s got a bit more of a step to his tunes, which is sure to delight audiences, as his unique stage dancing is one of the many reasons he’s so endearing. His understated speak-sing delivery is reminiscent of Calvin Johnson. His reliance upon classic R&B musical stylings, is more than just a throwback, as no one seems to do it with more passion. Simply put, its this passion and classic tinged tuneage that makes Jeremy Jay worthy of your time during SXSW.
He’ll be playing Wednesday, March 18th at the Beauty Bar at 1 AM.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/05-slow-dance.mp3]Download: Jeremy Jay – Slow Dance [MP3]
Here’s the first taste of new music from Polyvinyl band Joan of Arc since the release of their 2008 album Boo Human. First single “Explain Yourselves #2” will appear on the new album Flowers due out on June 9th. What’s the verdict on the new material?
Download: Joan of Arc – Explain Yourselves #2 [MP3]
