Are you keeping up with the debates? Like some politics in your pop music? Well Holy Hail are chiming in with their debut album opener, Elemental:
I’m aching. Elemental Set for tracks to be guided yet hostile The sun and the moon have conspired against me My only true recess – pursuing insanity
Save my mama and save my place Junior cries just to save his face To being, been seeing. Heathens, In my place of being
Fortress of the soul to brood That old cheap sunset – solitude. In the cave of my home rooms the truth That old cheap sunset – solitude.
We took our cues from the high almighty By that I mean the colonel man He gave us ten commandments Fighting wars in a desert land My mind’s made up, I want to get out (2x)
Be my. Tell my. Show my. Send my people back (4x)
Dear Betty, did I take your true and sweet lone heart? To the sea, my decree, that takes me from my liberty? Did I spell my deeds in sorrow sand? To kill and sleep and learn the land? To soak in bloody cloaks That shakes and takes and aches the folks?
Simple son of the mother gun The air our share of breeze and sun Encased my stain in sleeted sleep on streets of rain and slick and sleet Too shy to die and weep at feet of horses brave and sick of meat Retrograde degrade the salt of wounded knee, the march to halt The fault of hell, my fine decline. So languid, not aware of time.
In between touring Europe, first with New Young Pony Club then with Bonde Do Role, and gigging in Mexico, Holy Hail made their debut album, “Independent Pleasure Club,” to be released November 11th, 2008 on Kanine Records.
Fusing pop, hip-hop, new wave, and electro with an occasional country twang, Holy Hail creates one rollicking dance party. But don’t mistake them for your average dance band: a good portion of these tracks is strewn with political undertones. The album opener tackles the Iraq war and at album close, the south’s big catastrophe Hurricane Katrina. In the middle, references are made to the environment, wire tapping, and the American-Indian genocide. It’s not heavy handed; most unsuspecting audiences dance completely unaware of the politically charged lyrical content. Mixing in tracks with more lighthearted themes like Las Vegas and NYC, Holy Hail’s always-upbeat dance-rock covers both the promises of America, as well as its sprawling dark side.
THE AGE OF ROCKETS Hannah Label: Queue Records Release Date: 9.23.08
With the release of Hannah, their second album, New York band The Age of Rockets continues to build its rhythmic foundation around glitch-inspired beats, but now the sound surrounding it is more conventionally musical. They are one of the few rock bands who have successfully straddled the line between pop and classical sensibilities.
“The album took a while to record, because the it’s a palindrome,” says Andrew Futral, frontman of The Age of Rockets. “There are 11 songs, 5 on each side with a pivot/middle song. The middle song mirrors itself as well.” Taking certain aspects of each song such as melodies and string arrangements, Futral created a reflection of each song.
Futral started The Age of Rockets in 2003 as a solo project while studying at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music. After winning the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Futral churned out his first record The Drive Home in 2004. Fellow classmates and musicians Bess Rogers and Saul Simon-MacWilliams joined Futral creating 2008’s full length Hannah.
Hannah was an organic process that, in turn, subverted the dominant musical paradigm. Free from the constraints of preconceived recording processes, Futral experimented with unconventional arrangements. “We don’t have assigned instruments,” says Futral of the multi-instrumentalist members. “We all just play what needs playing.”
Early on in Hannah, “Avada Kedavra” presents tiny murmurs of what is to come. Bubbles of electronic blips and enticing vocal harmonies lead to the pinnacle, where Futral repeats “the sky explodes;” the result is a complex and stunning wall of sound.
Through fire, snow, countless states, many rental cars, and a hotshot new rhythm section, Darren Jessee and his band Hotel Lights spent the past year creating and perfecting a fantastic new album: Firecracker People
Hotel Lights is songwriter Darren Jessee, otherwise known as the drummer (and co-songwriter) of the now defunct Ben Folds Five. After releasing his self-titled debut album as Hotel Lights in 2005, critics lauded Jessee’s naturally gifted ability of “capturing the giant magnitude of tiny moments” in “heartfelt songs that make the most of a catchy melody.” After releasing a 6-Song EP, goodnightgoodmorning, having a song featured on Grey’s Anatomy, and touring the USA with like-minded peers Tift Merritt, Nada Surf, Bishop Allen, Jennifer O’Connor and Chris Mills, Jessee was more than ready to record another album with longtime band mate and producer Alan Weatherhead.
After an unfortunate fire derailed them from recording at The Sound of Music in Richmond, they brought a buoyant new rhythm section from Tift Merritt’s band (drummer Zeke Hutchins and bassman Jay Brown) and drove to Butch Vig’s Smart Studios to record the basic tracks. Jessee decided to keep it loose this time around and asked the band to not over-rehearse the new songs. The result is a fresh, live sound that recalls Wilco’s Summerteeth or Nada Surf’s Let Go. Jessee and Weatherhead finished the album by traveling back and forth to each other’s home studios in North Carolina and Richmond over the remainder of 2007. By early 2008, the band’s sophomore album was finally complete.
Firecracker People could very well be the perfect driving record because it takes you on a journey itself. While Jessee’s charmingly distinctive voice and lyrics are the focus of the album, the elegant melodies and subtly embellished crystal-clear guitar soundscapes make the album complete. You will find yourself listening closely for each word, and singing along to every melody. Jessee’s songs are akin to short stories, introducing us to new characters and intimate life moments, both real and imagined. On the opening track, “Blue Always Finds Me,” Jessee takes the listener from Maine down to Texas and straight on up to a star-filled sky. The title track, originally penned for a yet-to-be released Parker Posey film, reveals Jessee’s knack for simplicity and universal truths: “We’re all firecracker people, going off all the time.” Jessee’s songwriting was well-loved by Ben Folds fans, and he surely won't disappoint in this new recording of fan favorite “Amelia Bright.” Never released on a Ben Folds Five album, the song is a breezy highlight, with a catchy piano hook and a sweet tale about a certain girl in a “red ‘50s dress from a thrift shop nearby.” The album ends with a masterpiece, “Run Away Happy”, that begins in simple folk styling, slowly building into a gorgeous pop tale about possibilities of creating a new life. But citing lyrics, listing complimentary adjectives and name-dropping references merely scratches the surface of an album that can be a deeply felt listening experience. Simply put: this is an album you can easily listen to in its entirety, imagining your own experiences along the way.
As a whole, Hotel Lights is not your average band, and Firecracker People is not an average record. The album, like the band itself, is eclectic, effortless and classic all at once. While their debut effort was a wondrously slow burn, Firecracker People shines bright from the start. And as Darren Jessee continues to blaze his own path as a songwriter with Hotel Lights, Firecracker People is a beacon for all to take notice.
Imagine that Fujiya & Miyagi are mask-wearing technicians dissecting music, keen to magnify particles of sound to create a pulsing antidote to the ordinary. They speak in tongues, using language as a rhythm, picking words that sound good, rhyming ‘jigsaws’ with ‘carnivores’.
Their songs are incisive snapshots of real lives that make household appliances sound threatening. They are steeped in vintage music from evocative krautrock to deep soul, with wafts of early Human League synth, Floydian Englishness and the throbbing groove of Tom Tom Club, all filtered for modern times.
The band’s self-titled EP is out today and the band is keeping busy on the road, including an appearance at Fuck Yeah Fest. The EP is packed full of big tracks that solidify War Tapes as a band to watch. Check out what they're saying... " produce dark, atmospheric post-punk that recalls U2 and Interpol.." - And More Again
"War Tapes is .....1980s Joy Division/New Order/gloom sound kind of band. I know, there are lots of bands with this sound. But this one is a cut above the rest.." - Berkeley Place
"The band has created a sound that is emotional and vulnerable, as well as structured, layered with atmospheric ambiance. They have blended gorgeous orchestral arrangements with indie rock for a warm, dreamlike quality.." - Pop Stereo
Tammy Ealom – Vocals/Guitars John Hill -- Guitars Rob Greene – Bass Craig Gilbert -- Drums
Dressy Bessy are about power-pop chords, a dancing rhythm section and the compelling vocals of Tammy Ealom. Her witty lyrics hug the addictive melodies with true style. Backed by guitarist John Hill, whose guitar work helped propel Apples In Stereo to the forefront of the indie rock world and the thundering rhythm section of bassist Rob Greene and drummer Craig Gilbert -- Dressy Bessy have the true spirit of underground rock.
Following extensive touring behind their last album, Electrified, Dressy Bessy needed some well deserved time off. For Tammy this meant getting down to writing a new batch of songs. Tammy's always been a self-proclaimed "melody first" sort of gal and wanted to try her hand at a "beats first" approach, sitting down at a drum kit knocking out groovy beats one drum at a time.
SIGNAL HILL TRANSMISSION TO RELEASE DIGITAL EP, "STARTING GUN," ON SEPTEMBER 23rd
Los Angeles-based Signal Hill Transmission is proud to announce the release of their four song EP, "Starting Gun," on September 23rd on ATO Records. The forthcoming release is the band's first with ATO. This all-digital release is also a first for the label.
Luniculaire. It sounds French, but it is in fact a word invented by White Hinterland, taking parts of French words "lunaire" (lunar) and "funiculaire" (funicular, as in railway) to form the title of their second release. This EP is a highly ambitious recording containing five songs all sung in French, and it expands upon the wide palette of musical ideas heard on White Hinterland's debut, Phylatctery Factory. Featuring two original songs, plus covers of songs made famous by Serge Gainsbourg, Brigitte Fontaine and Francoise Hardy, White Hinterland feels right at home amid the musical tradition laid out by these legends.
We Are Wolves spit and hiss and growl and scream just like their furious name might suggest. Animalistic to the bone, their sound is decidedly unique, melding the frantic buzzsaw energy of electro with the angular intensity of post-punk to create a fiery, primordial din – or, you know, the sound of the Cramps making nice with Add N to X. But no matter how you describe it, the Montreal three-piece sure has wowed a throng of people on its way to creating 2005’s Non Stop J rte Plie en Duex, delivered to endless fanfare via Fat Possum, and the equally energetic Total Magique, issued last year by Dare to Care. Seriously, listen to this stuff:
Shannon McArdle - Summer of the Whore And since we gave Shannon McArdle the first word in this newsletter we'll let the critics have the last word on her new album Summer of the Whore.
"Many people get divorced, and all of them deal with it differently. McArdle, for one, just turned her ordeal into a contender for album of the year." - Sam Seiler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"A more sensitive and thought provoking record you're unlikely to hear. If you just broke up with your significant other, avoid this record like the plague." - Paul Zimmerman, First Coast News
"Perhaps McArdle is merely playing up her more seamy autobiographical details, or fabricating them outright, but like any hot tabloid story, I just can't get enough." - Jeff Terich, Amplifier
"These are frank, tough-minded songs that convey McArdle's maturity, humor, and self-destructiveness-- a potent combination-- in the face of such heartache." - Stephen M. Deusner, Pitchfork
CMJ Festival Bar/None CMJ Showcase 2008 Wednesday, October 22 at Delancey Bar, NYC 8:00p Starling Electric 9:00p Shannon McArdle 10:00p Hotel Lights 11:00p Greg Camp 12mid Hot Lava
CD Recycling Center Compacts Discs, when recycled properly, will stop unnecessary pollution, conserve natural resources, and help slow global warming.
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