I don’t know how people can achieve that “cute” sound, but when I listen to Kate Micucci I begin to realize that there is much more to it than playing ukulele or singing about animals. Armed with ukulele, guitar and piano, Kate, now residing in LA far from the woods of New Jersey where she grew up, manages to write and play songs with an amazing range of versatility, humor and humility. As for making silly comparisons, her voice sounds like a more sober, less slutty version of Jenny Lewis’s voice. Again, simple comparisons aside, Kate has a lot going on. She is also acts (has had some minor roles in various sitcoms), makes sandcastles, and draws funny comics. More and more in our society there is a growing legion of artists that do it all and are exciting and interesting in all that they do. I don’t think being a pure musician or a pure actor, etc. etc. isn’t logical or even feasible anymore and Kate is one case that this is so. However the main focus here is her music and I don’t know if she has plans for an album or anything, but the five songs on her myspace run the gamut from the hilariously cute, “Dear Dear” to the pretty and classic, “Walking In Los Angeles” to the melancholy motivator, “Just Say When.” Using just her voice and minimal instrumentation, Kate Micucci is more than just a musician she’s an artist.
Rob Crow’s pipes are one of the most readily identifiable traits of perennial easy-listening indie rock favorites Pinback, but the band’s strengths in its rhythm section and steady plodding melancholic style have kept his real fantastic riff writing and catchy hooks from shining through. It’s only been in his more experimental home recordings and side projects that he’s focused his compact rough-edged rock-pop into songs that max out at roughly 2 minutes and pack all their ideas concisely into undeniably memorable bursts. Some of his strongest writing has been with Thingy, in which he paired his own silky vocals with harmonies from a female counterpoint, and featured the drumming of my personal favorite Mario Rubalcaba from Rocket from the Crypt, and Clikitat Ikatowi. The band is wound insanely tight, and the sometimes frivolous lyrics give their albums a breezy and humorous tone (see their acoustic ode to Star Wars “O.B.1″, one of his many dedications to the series), but on darker songs like “Blueprint” and “Letterbomb” the tightness of the band, though evidently catchy and refined, can leave you breathless. There isn’t a better pop writer working in indie rock.
Personality counts for a lot in lo-fi music. Bob Dylan only wrote 2 of the 13 tracks on his debut album, but his voice and guitar playing crackled with life, wit, and a taste of the dry sense of humor to come. Morgan Orion wrote all 9 tracks on his debut album, and it drips with his personality, particularly the sound of his voice. A common flaw many beginning folk artists make is to allow their influences overpower their creativity. There are a million and ten bearded 20-somethings out there who are trying desperately to sound like an Iron & Wine, or a Bruce Springsteen. There is only one Morgan Orion.
One of the great things about Morgan Orion is that he sounds exactly as you would expect him to after looking at him, and he looks exactly like you’d think if you heard him. It’s a friendly, unpretentious, and slightly defeated sounding voice, one that is perfectly mirrored by his lyrics. Songs like “Furniture” and “Seashore” are driven by free-associative imagery like “Sweeping what’s swept up and keeping what’s kept up/it’s not so easily done/the battles are ample but we’re just a sample/of all that’s been lost and won” and “They had a child, the child had another/this young boy was that child’s brother/he looked at his Grandfather with eyes like sailing ships”. His clever wordplay gives the songs a terrific rhythm and energy that no amount of additional insturmentation could duplicate.
With 9 tracks clocking in at 30 minutes, Circle of Allusions is a highly enjoyable and propulsive record that gets in, does it’s job, and gets out. It’s been getting a whole lot of airplay at my place, even as background music it always puts me in a good mood. Do yourself a favor, and check him out.
Also, Morgan is going to be touring all over the place with the duo Kiki & Peepee throughout March. I had the good fortune to see him perform last night at the House of Grey Noise, and they were both excellent. I highly reccomend you see these excellent performers, so check out the tour dates on his myspace.
so i have this song on my computer, it’s “fingernails” by “the nouns.” I don’t really know anything about it, except that it’s really fucking good. it’s distortion heavy, with a steady roland 808-esque synth drum beat and cryptic lyrics with some really beautiful imagery (e.g. “my fingernails are rooted to the earth, and I’m smiling while you are still breathing, and I watch you swallow your vowels like a pill that you take to go sleeping”).
the problem is, I have looked and looked and I have no information on the band “the nouns.” no myspace, no website, no nothing really. all I know is that at one time they were on Oh! Map Records, and then they just kind of disappeared from the site.
so if anyone knows anything about this band, please comment or email or something. let me know, this song leaves me craving so much more. and if you haven’t heard it, give it a listen. get down with this a little, then help me in my quest.
P.S. I realize this entry is not anywhere near as detailed or thought out as my last ones. it’s not just because there is a lot of mystery surrounding this song. honestly, i’ve been really lazy and school is hectic. I am attempting to clean up my act by next monday. please bear with me and support me in this endeavor.
But even after playing 130 shows last year it is still very possible you didn’t see them.
I didn’t.
But, I did find them somehow. Probably one of those late myspace sessions I’m trying to stay away from of late. I acquired their album via the internet (the illegal way) and was very taken with it. That was last summer.
I listened to it last night again and go figure it’s still good!
My first brush with them, “Apple for Evan”, is still a possible favourite, but there are plenty of other gems. Really…there isn’t a second wasted.
I love thirty minute records!
Currently, they are recording their second album for national release on May 6th through Standard Recording, from which you can buy their debut here.
Christopher Willits processes guitar notes through a series of self-written Max/MSP plug-ins, garbling the guitar’s natural sounds into a series of clicks and hums. It sounds like an auditorium full of crickets underwater, but is sublimely rhythmic, and the cascading melody of his textured guitar clicks can express much more than you would expect. His playing on self-released CD-R “:plateaus, centers, stoma” sounds extremely personal on untitled track #2, which drifts on spare guitar notes and airy background drones with the rhythm of a slow dance.
On his debut for Ghostly International “Surf Boundaries” in 2006, he brought a full band sound to support his signature style, and dreamy vocals to drift in and out of the mix, and on stand-out track “Medium Blue” the drums accentuate the rhythm that was hinted at in the empty space of his earlier recordings while leaving room for his clicking guitar to be felt.
The band is Meg and Wayon Costello who, according to their myspace, live in both Gainesville, Florida and Richmond, Virginia.
Green Fingers is a 15 minute EP recorded in Waylon’s shed. It goes by fast which is fine because you will want to give a good few of the songs multiple listens.
The two that really stuck out at me on first listen were:
“Only Daughter”, a sort of Velvet Underground meets Animal Collective number which pretty much sold me on the release.
“This Town”, a great track beginning with some entertaining dialogues and some how reminiscent of The Unicorns for me. Maybe it’s the keyboards or the spooky childishness…
But, I keep on listening and I keep on liking more of these songs.”Ring Around the Rapture”, for instance, is a folkier number with some grand whistling and then this last song “You’re Aware”….“You’re aware, I’m a werewolf…”
This is brilliant stuff and perhaps a sampler for the many other releases they have available on 001 collective.
Colloquial Mage reminds me of Link from Legend of Zelda only Colloquial Mage is more eager to share his adventures. His collaboration with the ever–so-brilliant Secret Owl Society was a perfect match for Mage to share with us this two song tale Story of the Sand. Sort of an allegory of his fears, anxieties, hopes and dreams about his mission to Taiwan, Story of The Sand is a dreamy surreal tale about a boy falling in and out of a dream. Secret Owl Society’s music perfectly underscores the sense of uncertainty, but reinforces Colloquial Mage’s optimistic outlook.
Divided into two parts, “Sand Creature Part I” and “Sand Creature Part II,” Part I feels like the beginning of those sorts of adventures where the plucky young kid falls into a hole or a cave and emerges in another world. However, the distinctions between reality and dreaming blur almost immediately as he leaves his friend behind to look outward on sand dunes stretching for miles. He finds comfort in the sand, “It would never betray me,” and transforms himself preparing for the adventures ahead. Part II turns into a Mad Max like chase through the dunes as Mage tries to deal with similar, but foreign feeling individuals. Every line can be taken several ways and when I listen I get flashes of a childlike whimsy; that this whole story is part of the type of imagination games we all used to play when we were younger. Again Secret Owl’s dreamy score adds a level of ambiguity to the words coming out of Mage’s mouth, reinforcing this blurring lines between reality and dreams.
I am typing this in an airport in Fiji as I await my new unknown adventures in New Zealand. Like Colloquial Mage who is now well underway on his mission, I know what impending change can do to a person’s mind and his pairing with Secret Owl Society hits on the mark all the feelings I have at the moment perfectly. Yet, anyone who’s dreamed of adventures can see that they aren’t just dreams, they are coming true all the time.
Hey everyone, I’m in Auckland, New Zealand right now and I have a bit of free time. Sorry if I’m posting out of turn, but I know ya’ll understand.
orginal post date: Thursday, August 16, 2007
The Lonesome Architects are a band (Josh and Martin) originating from LA who play dare I say, “Folktronica”? Is it possibly the greatest antithesis to rap/rock? Genre-bending aside, their latest EP The Ocean at Night is a surprising album given their more acoustic background. However there were inklings of the sound on their last record 15 songs of loss, love and longing. This mixing of folk and electronic music is simply stunning and each form compliments each other greatly. The warm intimacy of acoustic guitars entwined with the cold discipline of electronic beats really recreates the surreal landscape we all live in. So what is this EP all about? Well relationships are one big answer and our relationships to those relationships too. It’s very post-modern; the very best kind. I think I really like The Lonesome Architects because of the pervading sense of individualism that comes from these two guys. It isn’t a selfish or self-absorbed type of individualism, it is us the individual who looks and feels and perceives. I could go on and on about this type of stuff (I’m taking culture and film theory at the moment), but I think what will really win you over is their craft at coming up with very memorable melodies and interesting song structures. “Julie Vignon” is an instant classic. It has a very biting edge to it; a synthesized beat intermixed with some screeching guitar, handclaps and a killer hook, “And now I’m living alone/ just like Julie Vignon/you can catch me by/ the swimming pool anytime.” I’d be afraid to be this girl. Josh and Martin mentioned at the Muddy Waters show yesterday (Read my review here) that while making this record they decided to make it a dance record, or an attempt at one. Now I wouldn’t necessarily call this a dance record, but if some DJ were to remix it I’m sure it would be tearing up the clubs. The song, “Was It You?” Is the most obvious of their intentions. It is the kind of dance song all young un-dance oriented guys would make who wished they had moves (like me): earnest, serious, and a bit cute (in a good way!). The poetry is something else when Josh sings, “And in to this field of schemes/ that once was filled with dreams/ but dreams do rot/ and fruit gets soft/it’s true or is it not?” Attempt to get The Ocean at Night any way you can right now. It is necessary for anyone who’s ever thought about our place in this world and with everyone else.
No one knows how to really take white people in hip hop, not that race is a big issue, but you always have to wonder how authentic it really is. That probably opens up a whole other can of racial worms, but I honestly have an inherent distrust of my own race, and I can’t say white people haven’t earned it. We don’t talk about it, but we’re really terrible. We by-and-large can’t rap, we have some good authentic producers, but the only time I’ve been able to take a white rapper seriously has been when they stop being a cop-out and represent their roots (Bubba Sparxxx is the exception, I can’t even look at him without laughing).
Food for Animals kind of personify where they’re from without cheaping themselves as caricatures. They’ve been based out of Washington, D.C. for the formative years of their sound, and on the majority of their “Scavengers” EP they take huge shots at the Bush Administration in between bursts of chainsaw-distorted melodies. Andrew Field-Pickering (aka Vulture Voltaire) and Nik Rivetti (aka Ricky Rabbit) hide hip-hop under layers of drill & bass and glitchy noise that sometimes bypasses all semblance of a beat, while punchlines fly at directly at you with clear delivery and gruff inflection, energetic and pronounced enough to keep the song punchy over the discordant melody backing it. Ricky Rabbit’s production style shows knowledge of hip hop roots on their new album “Belly”, but the band has been lauded more by the IDM crowd and Jason Forrest’s label Cock Rock Disco releases “Belly” this month, after half a year of delays. It’s more cohesive than “Scavengers”, and it’s the first sign of Vulture Voltaire distancing himself from the D.C. political themes of their earlier stuff, while the U.S. gets a licking, he’s frank and vivid on “Grapes”, where he waits around as his mother dies from cancer, laconically dead-panning “every time I hear the word cancer, I need a cigarette/I’m not sure I get it yet”.
They’re a tough listen for casual fans of rap or anyone who can’t digest glitchy songs, but if you want something to alienate everyone in the world when you blast it from your car speakers, look no further. (Also see: Hearts of Darknesses)
