This is fine.
We’ve fawned over Julien Baker about as long as everyone else has, and we’ll continue that adoration as long as she’s writing tracks like the one below. It’s the A-side to a forthcoming 7″ on Matador Records, celebrating her signing, as well as the reissue of her album, Sprained Ankle (March 7th). For such a young artists, she sure sounds confident on this new tune…whilst still maintaining a sense the sense of intimacy that makes her so endearing.
ACL Festival is this weekend, and while a great deal of the acts are well-known, the fest is still scoring some great acts on the undercard, like Lucy Dacus. She’s been writing some incredible songs that seem to have gone about rather quietly, which is unfortunate, for you. Matador Records released No Burden earlier this year, and it’s filled with these tracks that take personal recordings, and expand them into something wholly intoxicating. I mean, just listen to “I Don’t Wanna Be Funny Anymore,” and tell me that you’re not rushing to find out more about her. I included the track below to do some of the work for you. And while you’re all about Radiohead this week, don’t forget you paid to see tons of tunes, so schedule yourself some time at 2:30 over on the BMI Stage on Saturday.
Everyone loves themselves a little Steve Gunn– there’s something so effortless and balanced about the music that Steve Gunn puts out that makes it hard to ignore. I’m happy to share with you today a bit of new music from the gentleman, as he’s announcedEyes On The Lines, which is due out June 3rd on Matador Records.The video below, for “Conditions Wild,” is a nice blend of singer/songwriter aesthetic with some psych twinges to those guitars. It’s a mellow little jam that you’ll find yourself stopping your daily tasks to take note of.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/VsG0kDv2EGs[/youtube]
HaeLOS have graced our website quite a bit recently, but I’m super stoked to share this new single, “Separate Lives” with you. It’s a big number, dwelling in the electro pop realm, with vocals that soar through the mix. What’s really wonderful about this single is the way the track builds to its climactic ending, all while giving you a catchy chorus to sing along to. This is one of those songs that you can bet will be huge live, and will put the band even more on the radar of those who take a listen. Look out for their album, Full Circle, which is out March 18th via Matador Records. Be sure to also check out our interview with them for SXSW and catch them while they’re in town for thatchaos.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/IY0JVKORfR4[/youtube]
HAELOS, who hail out of London, are a relatively new band that are making ‘dark euphoria’ music. Now, that’s a genre that I’m not too familiar with, but when this track rolled into my inbox, something about it struck my interest and made me spin it over and over. When you listen to “Oracle”below, you’ll understand what I mean; there’s this compelling darkness to the minimalist style of the track. Synths waiver and pulse throughout, until the musical release, building up anticipation while the velvety female vocals fall smoothly over everything.
Haeloshave announced their debut album, Full Circle,which will be released March 18th on Matador Records.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/YoT-D0KdPyY[/youtube]
We’re about a week away from the first weekend of ACL, and that means that you should be getting your schedules hammered down. While it may seem still a ways off in your mind, Sunday of the first weekend looks like it’s shaping up to be one of the strongest days lineup-wise and so it’s important to get properly excited. One of these acts come late in the day towards the end of the weekend, but his set is bound to be one of the best of the weekend. Read more about why you should catch Kurt Vile and The Violators on the Austin Ventures Stage at 5:30 on Sunday evening.
I honestly hate the streaming youtube single motif. I mean, why not embed an MP3 or a Soundcloud? But, over the last few years I’ve been constantly obsessed with the music of Majical Cloudz, so I’ve got to hold onto that and give in to Youtube. They just announced a new album, Are You Alone, via Matador on October 16th. There’s plenty of open space on this track, and Devon’s voice seems almost pretty, but still fragile and intoxicating. Give a listen by playing the “video.”
[youtube]https://youtu.be/5-AWP6q26F4[/youtube]
I’m a huge fan of Ceremony. There live show brings huge energy, with Ross constantly stalking the stage to interact with the audience. But, their recorded material has continued to impress, especially with the newest single they just released. It’s the perfect piece of post-punk, and it seems Farrar voice has settled perfectly into the mix. The video seems to take on man’s loneliness, with the possible Ian Curtis nod flashing for just an instant. The L-Shaped Man will be released on May 19th via Matador Records, and I have a feeling that this is going to bring an even larger following to the band…and based on this song alone, it will be much deserved.
[youtube]https://youtu.be/80rvSq3oDqg[/youtube]
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“If I had a camera I’d snap you now cause there’s beauty in every stumble—” our wise sage Stuart Murdoch recounts in the heart of opener “Nobody’s Empire,” both easing and stirring our antsy minds as we ask the question: will our favorite Glaswegians knock it out of the park once again or will we be forced to find the beauty in the stumble?
The album opens with the track from which I just quoted from, and this opener has everything to appease your Belle and Sebastian pop sensibilities. From the beginning, the band doles out the whimsy you’ve come to expect: the whole song revolves around the sing-songy melody as Stuart spins you a nostalgic tale of looking back and you just want to sing along. It seems as though he is revisiting those gloomy times that served as the setting for albums like If You’re Feeling Sinister. Now, far away from that darkness he is able to look back with wise eyes and celebrate them—which seems to be the spirit of this album from the very start.
Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance is long and sprawling, stretching farther than an hour in length, and in this time you’ll find there are a wide variety of tracks that Belle and Sebastian add to their vast catalogue. The band goes down the synth pop road with songs like “The Party Line” and “Enter Sylvia Plath,” both of which see the band at their most electronic and straying from soft-spoken whimsical pop and their bluesy rock and into something new. However, through these numbers you still have the finesse that this band brings always: the songs are orchestrations far from strewn together haphazardly.
Where this album really shines, though, is on the subtler numbers that you don’t even reach until after the midpoint of the album: I’m looking at you “The Everlasting Muse.” This band is the best at storytelling, and so naturally “The Everlasting Muse” is a winding tale of an elusive and mysterious lady. Instrumentally, this track is one of the most interesting tracks this band has crafted, and they utilize all their skills with such ease and control. The song begins quietly with a grooving bass line, small drumbeats, Stuart’s soft vocals, little nuanced piano and synth parts, and electric guitar all simmering together in harmony. Then the whole thing flips on itself into the chorus, which is a bombastic and swaying, polka-esque spin, complete with handclaps and violin. But then the band switches back to a kicked up version of the verse, and now Stuart is complimented with Sarah Martin’s breathy vocals and Stevie Jackson’s electric guitar licks intensify. They try to tell you that “beauty crumbles with the years,” right before they jump into a glorious instrumental bridge/segue with horns before launching into the masterful end of the song where everyone comes together to sing and contribute and you have a little trouble believing what they tell you.
Somehow, Belle and Sebastian haven’t stumbled or lost any of their beauty. Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance marks their ninth studio album and yet another graceful step in their dance of a career. These Glaswegian heroes make music that glides through genres, but still remains quintessentially the wistful pop we fell in love with almost twenty years ago: “The music is for us.”
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Occasionally a voice is so striking, so brave, that it’s virtually impossible to ignore. From the moment you press play on Impersonator, you’ll find that you, too, are unable to turn your back on Devon Welsh. His Majical Cloudz project is possibly not the most musical piece out there, but that voice will forever brand itself into your subconscious.
The title track from Impersonator sets the tone for your listening experience immediately; it has a light atmospheric wash and some vocal samples spun in reverse, all before Welsh makes his first appearance. “I’m a liar, I say I make music,” might resonate at this point, but his work within the realm of his vocals is so striking that your intrigue will win out, pushing you onto the next track. “This Is Magic” ups the musical ante, utilizing a light pulse in the distance to make way for Devon to forever cement his voice in your life. Within the first few lines, he comes in deep, then let’s the vocal soar to loftier heights, quietly repeating syllables. There’s no going back.
Majical Cloudz isn’t a project that needs much more than just stripped down accompaniment to set the stage for everything in between. On “Bugs Don’t Buzz,” the hammering of chords sets a stark tone, and besides the heavenly performance from Welsh, you won’t get too much more. At times, his companion in arrangements, Matthew Otto, turns up some ambient noise, and it perfectly accentuates the performance, or clears space for re-introduction. And then it’s gone. It’s over. Yet you quickly go back to check yourself, wanting to be sure that the moment you just experienced lives beyond a snapshot in the past.
One of the things I like about Impersonator is the self-deprecating seriousness of Welsh. It’s clear at a certain point that he doesn’t entirely take this project, or at least the lyrics, as seriously as one would expect, considering the musical approach. There’s a childishness, or perhaps a bit of whimsy that enables your ears/heart to attach themselves either to the vocal or the lyric, which happen to be two very different things. Simplicity is rarely as successful as it is throughout the entirety of this album, and you won’t be able to escape the pleasure, as it provides an absolute clarity that benefits the entire listen.
I can’t explain Impersonator to anyone; it has to be heard in order to be completely understood. It’s existence, in a musical landscape burdened by “lo-fi” or “noise rock,” is extremely refreshing. Each track begs to be heard, and in fact, deserves to be heard; you’re not going to find a song that’s worthy of skipping throughout. Yes, in the end, Devon Welsh and his voice will be the force that wins you over. But, the concept and the execution are so perfect that you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything this year as endearing as this release from Majical Cloudz.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/majical_cloudz_childhoods_end.mp3]Download: Majical Cloudz – Childhood’s End [MP3]
