This is fine.
A lot has been made in the past few years about the ridiculous onslaught of sweet tunes that are coming from Dengue Fever. Earlier this year, they rocked everyone over at Club Deville. Tonight, they are the sepcial guest at the Fun Fun Fun Fest pre-party over at the Mohawk. We thought you should know!
They’ll be playing with a bunch of great Austin acts like Brothers and Sisters and The Lovely Sparrows.
We here at ATH are getting really pumped about this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Festival. But, as we all know, it’s difficult to figure out who to see when there are so many bands playing. You have time conflicts, you don’t know who some of the bands are and you wonder who will put on the best show? Well, our Friday Top 5 is a compilation of bands that ATH is excited to see. Hopefully this helps you make some decisions before you head out to the festival. We’ve also got some MP3s you can stream for each band in the list, so fire up the ATH Radio and enjoy.
While most people tend to turn their love and adoration towards Jenny Lewis, I’m more of a Emily Haines sort of guy. Seeing as how I love Emily, and her killer band Metric, I’m excited to throw a new song your way. Here you go, the track is called “Help I’m Alive”:
Download: Metric – Help Im Alive [MP3]
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The purveyors of cool over at Vice have brought us yet another exciting new band, except this one seems oddly familiar. Japanese Motors is a four-piece band from Costa Mesa, California who have just released their self-titled album. Immediate comparisons will be made, but break on through the banal qualities for an ultimately rewarding listen.
Let’s get this out of the way; Japanese Motors are coated in the spectral essence of The Strokes of old. Singer, Alex Knost, has precisely the same hollow echo of a voice that Julian Casablancas has, which really isn’t a knock on his singing voice. It fits the music appropriately. However, the fact that they don’t use dueling guitars on every single song, on most songs in fact, makes their sound entirely different than their New York counterpart.
Opening track, “Single Fins and Safety Pins,” creates an entirely different vibe than The Strokes; choosing to bask in the glory of the California sun rather than worry about the plight of upper-middle class elitists in New York City. You can hear the sound of the surf flowing out of the guitar-work, and the rythm of the beach trodding along in the song. Even here, the commonalities with other select groups are not yet noticed.
Then “Regrets A Paradise” comes walking along the shore, and Knost embraces his inner Casablancas, although videoes of this frontman show him having a bit more fun; he dances rather than using his mic stand to hold him up. Vocal stylings are similar throughout the rest of the album, especially in songs like “Coors Lite.” The similiarities don’t detract from the enjoyment of listening to such songs, for we all long for the sounds of a few years back, when everything seemed fresh and new. But, even the bass lines sound really close.
There is another, more Californian, influence apparent in a lot of these songs, and it might be one more close to the hearts of Japanese Motors. Listening to a song like “Better Trends” brings back memories of “Take the Skinheads Bowling” by Camper Van Beethoven, the Californian oddity commodity. Both bands had a tendency for catchy songs, worthy of listening for all audiences.
Now, those at Vice will tell you of their tendency to throw outrageous parties that cater to the homeless and surfers, the debutantes and the hipsters; this definitely has nothing to do with this band, nor their ability to write catchy lo-fi pop ditties with a surf twist. Listen to the band for their music, no matter where the influence.
In New York City long long ago, Longwave released one of the stronger debut albums of the decade, but they managed to go largely unnoticed. They had a slip-up on the sophomore LP, but they have a new album coming out on November 11th titled Secrets are Sinister. Here is the track “Sirens in the Deep Sea” off of said album.
Download: Longwave Sirens in the Deep Sea [MP3]
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It is now apparent that Fab Moretti of The Strokes is intent upon taking over the music scene this week, as this is the second release of the week with the drummer laying down the percussion tracks. This time, however, he has joined up with Devendra Banhart of neo-hippy lore in order to create a jazzed out pop folk album under the name Megapuss.
Unfortunately for us, Devendra Banhart is cool with indecent exposure, thus we get this horrific cover art, but perhaps this is set to draw in the female audience. Needless to say, one might have gone beyond the standard of taste here. Of course, the inclusion of such a picture furthers the sexual undertones all over the album, not to mention the band’s current moniker.
Expectations were that this would be one of the most creative pop albums of the year, as Banhart is known for his abstract approaches. This time he takes a more standard approach, including various other musicians such as Moretti and Greg Rosgrove of Priestbird. Fab’s precision percussion definitely allows a steadying pace to the oddly poppy songs present on the album.
It’s difficult to describe the ebbs and flows of this album, which can be driven by the album’s title, Surfing. Listening to the album takes you up and down, atop the wave and crashing to the ocean floor. The opener “Crop Circle Jerk 94” is a swinging number, while the albums title track is a more subdued jazzier number. You also have to include Devandra’s dedication to the psychedelic aspect of musical musings, as there is definitely a presence here.
In fact, it would be really easy to classify this entire album under the Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Songs like “Theme from Hollywood” or “Older Lives” have a tendency to live decades in the past, although the lyrical content is definitely less experimental, the music still leans toward an out-of-body listening experience.
One of the huge detractors on this album is the presence of background vocals. It’s difficult for Banhart to separate himself from the hordes of followers and friends he has, thus he chooses to include them on his album, which doesn’t always play to his benefit here. If you stripped those elements away you would find that there is a lot of substance.
All in all you find that this is definitely a nice step out of the traditional folk approach for Banhart, and yet another interesting step for Fab Moretti. Even if it is just for kicks, it’s refreshing to see these fine fellows step outside themselves for just a little while.
Vinyl collectors consider yourselves lucky! Tomorrow, seminal North Carolina label, Merge Records, will be re-issuing some of the great hits from their catalogue on vinyl. Some of these albums have been out of print for a long time, so this might be your first chance at grabbing them. Click here to pre-order Camera Obscura, The Magnetic Fields and Polvo or hit up your local record store.
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Most will recognize the percussionist of Little Joy, the newest offshoot made up of Strokes drummer Fab Moretti. Toss in Rodrigo Amarante and Binki Shapiro, and you have the line-up for LA based Little Joy.
Those in search of the upbeat pop specialties that Albert Hammond has thrown our way will surely not find what you are looking for in these songs, but instead you will find an entirely different genre, what one will call beach-influences crooner tunes. It would suffice to say that this group has created eleven perfect lounge tracks for your favorite smoky dive bar.
“The Next Time Around” is the album’s opener, which contributes the first of many island infused tracks. Guitars and percussion lie in the back of the song, as Amarante croons, not entirely like Julian Casablancas, but not too far off. It’s easy to see why Fab chose to work with this fellow; in the middle of the track there is an influx of Portuguese lyrics, which add to the Latin appeal of the album.
Listening to this album one should recall quiet moments spent on beaches with their friends, much like the members of Team Zissou. In fact, if you recall the soundtrack to the Wes Anderson movie Life Aquatic, you will find that this album is very reminiscent of the guitar work done by Seu Jorge, although the majority of the music here is in English; none of the songs are Bowie covers either.
“No One’s Better Sake” is the fourth track on the album, and it’s one that has the largest resemblance to The Strokes. The progression sounds strikingly similar to a few of the songs off Room on Fire, but a little organ work gives it an entirely different feel. Once again, Amarante croons in that very familiar tone. Even the progression of the song sounds too familiar to dismiss as mere coincidence.
Be sure to listen to “Don’t Watch Me Dancing.” This song features the female vocals from Binki Shapiro, and it’s one of those perfect little songs that creeps into your head as the day passes into the by and by. It’s a mellow little ditty, but most will appreciate the emotive number, possibly one of the strongest tracks on the album.
One thing missing from this album is a substantial pace. The lack of pace, and the organization of the songs on the album makes it a tad difficult to immerse yourself completely in the album. Even good beach parties have a few rollicking moments that move the crowd; this album seems to lack that pace and emotion entirely aside from one or two brief moments.
At the end of the day, listeners will have a decent debut album from Little Joy to attach themselves to for evening listening. If anything, this album is the perfect conversation starter as your friends try to figure out why the songs sound so familiar, yet so much like their last trip to Cancun. You’ll enjoy the album too; it just won’t make your top albums of the year list.
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Long forgotten Texan, Ben Kweller, has finally released some new music, coming our way this time with a tour EP that you can pick up here. No matter where you find it, its good to have new tunes from this guy.
From his first days in Radish, it seems as if Ben has been trying hard to find his own voice. Sometimes it seems to depend on where he’s living, or who he’s hanging with at the time he’s recording. His last album definitely seemed to have a NYC vibe to it. This time, we find him going, dare I say, Ryan Adams. Although, you can definitely feel the influence of the road on this album, it seems almost as if BK has returned to Texas.
“Fight” is a twangy little number, accompanied by some slide-guitar. Of course, the lyrics are every bit Ben Kweller, using clever rhyming couplets a la Conor Oberst. The end half of the song has a definite honky-tonk feel to it as the piano solo courses through the latter half of the song. It’s strange hearing Ben’s voice on this track.
He continues the country-tinged efforts with “Things I Like to Do.” It’s almost exactly like the first song, at least in instrumentation, but this is the first song when you can clearly make the distinction between Ben Kweller and any other alt-country singer. There’s possibly a little too much slide-guitar on this song, but it’s one of the more warming songs on the EP.
“Sawdust Man” is the only song on this album that just doesn’t fit. It’s ridden by a piano throughout, which definitely makes it seem as if he is trying to pull of a little Dr. Dog. There are several moments when his voice clearly struggles to hit its note, which is really disheartening. For some reason, this some just doesn’t come across the way one would hope. We all make mistakes.
He scores a definite winner, however, with “The Biggest Flower.” This song maintains a little bit of that coutnry sensibility that has been driven into this EP, but at the same time, it brings back the pop element that made Ben Kweller so endearing to us all. This is probably one of the more mature songs hes written, which makes it the stand out track on this EP.
The EP is closed off with “Somehow,” another fine tune. One might describe this as a whiskey song. It seems as if the song is full of longing and loneliness, just judging the feel of the vocals. That’s not surprising considering this is an EP written around Ben’s most recent touring scheduling. It’s a fine close to a pretty decent offering from one of our favorite Texans.
And speaking of that touring schedule, Ben Kweller is coming to Austin on November 2nd. You can buy yourself a set of tickets over at Frontagate Tickets.
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It’s been quite some time since anyone has given serious consideration to Austin’s And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, but it seems like the local boys are rearing up to put out another new album. In order to prepare us all for this new venture, the band has offered up a short four song EP titled Festival Thyme.
Since their last album So Divided, they seem to have lost a little bit of credibility in the music world, as other keep wishing for a rehash of the phenomenal Source Tags and Codes. Let’s face it, this is not the same band, not by a long shot.
The opening track, “Bells of Creation,” has an enormous sound, filled to the brim with swelling guitar sounds piled upon the backs of simple piano tracks. It’s a much more mainstream approach to the writing process, which we’ve witnessed from these men before, but the chorus is as brash as anything they’ve done before now. Did he just say “I felt like Satan?” Surely that will get your attention, at least for all you Satan lovers.
“Inland Sea” is the next track on the EP, and once again you see that the band has moved into a much larger scale sound. The ever-present piano serves as the focal point for this song, as the band moves in and out of the song. For some reason the vocals, with their emo-tendencies kind of grab at my heart strings. It’s the same sound as before; it just sounds strangely different.
The final musical track on here, “Festival Thyme” is actually one of the better songs I’ve heard from the band, especially in their most recent years. It definitely has a post-punk leaning towards Oasis sound, which takes a minute to get used to at first, but give this song a chance.
In fact, give this band a chance. Sure, they’ve moved on from their origins, or what we deem origins, but who is to say that a band cannot grow up and move forward. They’ve missed a few steps in the past, but they are still here trying to push on back against the masses. That, and you’ve gotta love a band based in Austin, Texas. Here’s to new ground for this well respected band.
And, the artwork is ridiculous. Ridiculous and good.
