Asobi Sesku Reveal New Album Details

Having let the anticipation build to a big shoegazey swell, Asobi Seksu are finally ready to let forth their latest crescendo in the form of Hush, the pedal-happy combo’s previously discussed third long-player. The set, assembled by core band members James Hanna and Yuki Chikudate in the wake of some lineup shakeups, will wash over us February 17 thanks to Polyvinyl.

Hush packs in 12 tracks with such bliss-out-ready titles as “Transparence”, “In the Sky”, and “Glacially”. It also includes the Forkcasted single “Me & Mary”, which, as previously reported, hits 7″ and digital download next week thanks to Polyvinyl in the U.S. and One Little Indian overseas.

Speaking of vinyl, Asobi will finally do us the pleasure of putting sophomore offering Citrus on wax for the first time. Friendly Fire Recordings unloads the set on November 25, and each of the 1,000 copies pressed includes a download code that will get you a couple Asobi Sesku remixes by CSS and Ulrich Schnauss.

For the moment, the Brooklyn band is getting its gear in order for a tour of the UK and Ireland with Ladytron, and a trio of German dates with the Dears just beyond it. If you’ve ever wished you could see the docile-looking lady in the cover art down there go batshit on a drum kit, people, this is your big chance.

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This was from Pitchfork Media - Today.

Based in the center on the central valley, about an hour east of San Francisco, Solar Powered People have been making a name for themselves throughout California and everywhere else for that matter. This four-piece rock/shoegaze band consists of members: Tony Pennington, Ryan Coscia, Douglass McKinnon, and Dustin Morris. Over the years these four have played in many different projects such as Long Division, Scenic Route, Fiver, Apollo Trigger and Running Riot to name just a few.

Now together and feeling the mixture of influences and experiences, they have finally found themselves in Solar Powered People. The music is rich with atmosphere and space; the drums have a certain hypnotizing drone to them while the bass lines provide a perfect backbone and regiment which brings all of the elements into one solid beast. Some might say Solar Powered People pull influences from bands like The Cure, Failure, Sunny Day Real Estate, Joy Division and Boards of Canada among others.

Their first self-titled album is set to be released in the Summer of 2007. The album was recorded and mixed in Sacramento by Matt McCord (The Deftones, Team Sleep, Cake).

“Picture Fade”

Tell Tall Tales is a collection of songs written and recorded by Donny Hue. It is currently a digital only release with 10 stripped down songs showcasing Donny Hue’s song writing craftsmanship, acoustic guitar and harmonica. The album was self recorded by Donny Hue in Brooklyn in 2008. The story of the Tales from Donny Hue, “I picked these songs up while on the move….on a train, a bicycle, a plane….however you see fit. They come from certain sights and sounds that never leave you alone, that creep up and tap you on the shoulder every now and then, eager for attention. Maybe these aren’t meant to be tales, or even songs, but pictures of someplace that I’ve been or seen. It doesn’t matter where they take you, or if they got you where you were going, but at least, even for a moment or so, you saw ‘em.”

11.11.08 - San Francisco, Hemlock Tavern
11.12.08 - Santa Cruz - Crepe Place
11.13.08 - Santa Barbara - Biko Co-op Garage
11.14.08 - Los Angeles - Relax Bar
11.15.08 - Los Angeles - Little Joy

http://www.myspace.com/donnyhueandthecolors

The Sugar Report - Morrissey meets Interpol Eine Band, die wie eine Mischung aus Morrissey und Interpol oder “a post-punk Coldplay” klingen soll, finde ich natürlich schon mal sehr interessant. Und tatsächlich sind The Sugar Report aus New York eine richtig gute Indierockband mit viel Wave-Einfluss, einigem an Pathos & Drama und zudem schönen Melodien. Ihre erste 5-Track-EP gibt es komplett gratis bei FreeIndie.com. (Danke an den Blogleser Christian H. für den Tipp!)

• Link zur Band-Website
• Link zur Bandseite bei Myspace
• MP3-Download The Sugar Report «Dear Friends and Enemies»
• MP3-Download The Sugar Report «For my sanity alone»
• Zum Download der EP bei FreeIndie

This was from Coast Is Clear.

iTunes On OS X Finally Has Competition mallumax writes “The truth is, iTunes is an average music player. Though the UI is simple and good like most Apple products, it has lagged in features compared to music players available on Linux and Windows. A feature as basic as monitoring a folder and adding the latest music files to the library is unavailable in iTunes. There are no plugins or themes. Despite the many faults, many of us continued to use iTunes because of the lack of options available. But today the wait is finally over. Not one, but two music players have become credible contenders. Songbird: An open source music player which has been in the works for more than 2 years has finally released its 1.0 Release Candidate builds. The team behind Songbird has members who previously developed for both Winamp and the Yahoo Music Engine. It has support for extensions and themes (’feathers’ in Songbird parlance). Amarok: The undisputed champion among Linux music players is finally coming to OS X, thanks to KDE 4 being ported there. Amarok developer Leo Franchi has been able to run a Amarok on OS X natively. So we can expect a reasonably stable Amarok to hit OS X in a few months’ time. Hopefully these players will gain traction among OS X users, which will finally force Apple to either step up in terms of features or open up iTunes for extensions.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

This was from Slashdot: Apple.

The Harpeth Trace

A prevalent veneration for the past can certainly be detrimental to an artist’s work if their techniques are either outdated or generic, but holding such a high esteem for successful precedents can also prove to be quite beneficial when the artist maintains a constant yearning for innovation and quality. This is especially true in the field of music, where artists can flawlessly imitate a style performed regularly over 40 years ago due to the technological resources we have today. Many musicians and fans alike feel that this modernistic advantage causes some artists to overly regard style over substance (the actual songwriting) and this is very true, but it also reminds us how important songwriting and natural chemistry is in appliance to the creation of music. With many computer programs that replicate reverb, droning, and other aspects of audible production with names of presets that are precisely indicative of certain glaring genres like “dream-pop”, “shoegaze”, and “hard rock”, it is not entirely difficult for budding artists today to attempt any style and the accustomed method of production within it. This can be a productive measure for the sake of accessibility because music fans can now pursue songwriting and realistically attempt to sound like their valued influences. Its detriment, however, arrives in the fact that many may regard it too highly and dismiss the importance of songwriting and creativity altogether.

While it is extremely noticeable that The Harpeth Trace employ a stylistic formula that is highly reminiscent of the past, they are one of the few acts that chooses to focus on songwriting to an equal or higher extent. Their interpretation of subdued ‘60s pop is undoubtedly one of the most accurately enjoyable versions I have heard in quite some time, and this is not even the main reason why I am so hooked. Instead, it is the band’s magnificent songwriting that most consumes me. While maintaining a high degree of pure nostalgic bliss, this trio-gone-duo utilizes a wide array of moods and emotions within a consistent showcase of instruments that complement an anecdotal lyrical approach with rich imagery and intelligent metaphorical allusions. Multiple types of guitars with accentuated delay and reverb, weightless backing keys, and a delicate rhythm section are the primary contributors to most of the tracks on the group’s full-length debut, On Disappearing, and the three members did an excellent job of infusing a sense of equality within them. On a track like “Who Knows Where Are You”, though, the group relays their atmospheric brilliance with additional elements like a whirring synth pad that consumes the background as a clip of a bird chirping as played as the gentle rhythm section incorporates itself over Josh Kasselman ‘s caressing vocals. It is just a single example of many throughout an album full of memorable ones.

Keeping in sync with their steady grasp on the past, The Harpeth Trace take their name from Kasselman’s former childhood street name (Harpeth Trace Drive). If he added his first pet’s name, I wonder if the name would have ended up looking like something on a porn star name generator. That interesting tidbit aside, the initial formation of The Harpeth Trace revolved around the workings of singer/songwriter Kasselman, bassist/guitarist Rune Freeman, and drummer Robert Poynter, three friends from L.A. and Phoenix who had decided that their stylistic direction of relaxing ‘60s pop and lo-fi alternative was the right way to go. Freeman left in late 2005, but Barry Poage was quick to take over his role. Capitalizing on their stylistic vision, The Harpeth Trace released their first release in 2005, entitled Man and the Cousin. Drawing critical acclaim for its timeless ability to capture nostalgic pop music while remaining within the realm of contemporary production, fans of psychedelic and ‘60s pop took notice and the group found a burgeoning fan base at their side as they began work on their full-length. Contrary to the recent release date of On Disappearing, the album was actually finished in December of 2006. Kasselman, though, opted to release the album in January of 2008 instead because he spent the majority of 2007 on a trip across Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.

Unable to support the album from such a distant location, the decision to wait and release the album after he returned to US now looks like a wise one. After all, On Disappearing is one of those few debuting full-lengths that simultaneously offers a focused style and excellent songwriting that supplements that style in ways that are both innovative and captivating. Kasselman truly makes his mark as the group’s songwriter and vocalist, his airily high-pitched vocals being somewhat reminiscent of The Clientele’s Alasdair MacLean. The stylistic comparison to The Clientele is prevalent as well due to their mutual reverence for ‘60s pop, but I find The Harpeth Trace to have a significantly more subdued sound that is more focused on gradually evolving guitar progressions, intricately evolving rhythm sections, and progressive layers over The Clientele’s sweeping string arrangements and, in comparison, more bustling rhythm sections. For instance, one of my favorite tracks on On Disappearing, “Dead Eyes” begins with a single guitar progression before it gradually expands into an intricate array of multifarious guitars, bass, and percussion. The intensity of the group’s rhythm section is often indicative of the overall instrumental involvement, with the transitional movements in the bass lines and rhythmic spurs often establishing stellar hooks over impeccable harmonizing; this particular technique occurs in “Dead Eyes” around 01:55 after the keys emerge as yet another stellar accompanying attribute.

While “Dead Eyes” proves rather accessible for its ethereal grasp of ‘60s pop, another track like “Who Knows Where You Are” infuses psychedelic pop with minimalism (complements of the chirping clips) to create an outstanding effort that adds more depth and experimentation to an album that already boasts a nice amount of it. After the whirring synth pad becomes more subdued, a guitar progression emerges for the elegantly applicable chorus, one that features multiple vocal harmonies and a somber bass line that truly takes over the melodic bulk in fantastic form. “Georgia May”, while still in the vein of ‘60s pop, is the briskest effort on the album with a tinge of folk and country in Kasselman’s altered delivery. In terms of additional instrumentation, strings make a dramatic appearance toward the conclusion of “Kodachrome Wolves” to establish it as a graceful concluding effort alongside the sparse mixture of keys and acoustics in the beautiful closing “Hotel Bristol Forever” to wrap up an excellent album. Currently, after the departure of Freeman and recently Poynter, The Harpeth Trace is down to a duo with Kasselman and Poage. Still, as their web site states, they are already in the studio working on another album and “maybe even two”. Based on the effort of On Disappearing alone, that sounds like great news to me.

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The Harpeth Trace - Dead Eyes

Download audio file (htrace-dea.mp3)

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The Harpeth Trace - Georgia May

Download audio file (htrace-geo.mp3)

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The Harpeth Trace - Who Knows Where You Are

Download audio file (htrace-who.mp3)

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Official Web Site

MySpace

BUY

This was from Obscure Sound - Indie Music Blog.

Quagmire - We Know We Don’t Know Got to give props to Andrew over at Aversion for alerting me to this release from Sweden’s Quagmire (aka: QGMR). I had no idea that the band was releasing a new album so I was extremely surprised and excited to see a post about them and their recent release We Know We Don’t Know out now on Groupsounds. I remember hearing their first album Quiet is Not Loud a couple or so years ago and thinking it was pretty solid but I mistakenly didn’t keep tabs on the band afterwards. I doubt that will be happening again. But oh well, makes for a very nice surprise in ‘08 and I definitely could use a few of those.

Having formed in the late nineties, Quagmire has put out two full-lengths now along with a couple or so singles and two EP’s. On We Know We Don’t Know the band once again successfully fuses together influences of post-punk and the good old days of post-hardcore. Compared to their debut there isn’t a considerable difference here music wise, however the production on the new record definitely allows the band to shine a bit more by opening up the guitars that were sometimes a bit overshadowed before due to the muffled rumble of bass. There is a lot of interesting guitar interaction going on between the two guitarists that gives We Know We Don’t Know a huge boost. Quagmire is a band that obviously has a taste for some of the past Dischord catalog and they absolutely do it justice here on their latest effort. This is a no brainer for fans of post-hardcore/punk.

Quagmire – Pre-emptive Retaliation [MP3]
Quagmire – No Language [MP3]

The band has actually released the album for free online over at their website. However, for those that would like to get their hands on an actual copy of the album then head on over to Groupsounds.

This was from Built on a Weak Spot.

Pitchfork.tv: Indian Jewelry: “Swans” [Video Premiere]

Houston pedal-pushers Indian Jewelry meld the noisy atmospherics of shoegaze, the druggy languor of Spacemen 3, and the portentous tribal drones of Drum’s Not Dead-era Liars on “Swans”, from 2008 album “Free Gold!”. In other words, judging by sound alone (the lyrics are mostly indecipherable, anyway), the track is more likely to be about its namesake band than its namesake bird. Directed by Ivan Shumaker, the video makes the most of its arid, apocalyptic desert setting, lingering lovingly over scrub-brushed hills and naked dunes. Long shadows fall over the band members, who play solemnly, wearing shades and/or Native American-style garb, beneath a threatening, almost alien cloudscape. There will not be blood, but there will be strobes.

Pitchfork.tv page with embed code is here.

[from "Free Gold!"; out now on We Are Free]

This was from Pitchfork Media - Today.

Music Review: The Cure - 4:13 Dream

A polished new release that almost plays like an ‘inspired by’ record to much of The Cure’s older work.

4:13 Dream, the latest release by rock stalwarts The Cure, alternates a bit in style between some of their previous records. At times it is a very Wish-era blend of dreamy shoegazer rock mixed with more upbeat radio-friendly goth-rock. At other times, it hearkens back to much of their earlier work with more of a raw, punk edge that is short and…

This was from Blogcritics Music Reviews.