If you’re going to claim “Other/Other/Other” as your musical genre on MySpace, you better have a whole lot of “Other” to back yourself up. Fortunately, I’m finding that London’s The Joy Formidable have just that. Their stymie catch lies in their strong, varied music over consistent front vocals approach, which is tough, as this tends to drown out other favoring artists. I hate to end this with a formulaic remark about how The Joy Formidable is a really infectious band with a perfect and eclectic sensibility, but sometimes the truth is best stated plainly.
Chicago female-fronted rockers, Sybris will release their sophomore LP, Into The Trees on Absolutely Kosher Records. Angela Mullenhour’s edgy, yet somewhat endearing, vocals over a fulfilling dose of drum-based rock and roll create a complete package. Apparently, Into the Trees, recorded with Grammy-nominated engineer John Congleton (Explosions in the Sky, Mountain Goats), came together in the backwoods of Minnesota at Pachyderm Studio, a location sounding unlike your typical solid rock atmosphere. But as the studio also birthed both Nirvana and PJ Harvey LPs, I guess I’m dead wrong about assumption. Into The Trees drops May 20th.
Tokyo Police Club have released a new track from their upcoming full length, Elephant Shell. The track is entitled “In A Cave” and true to TPC form, it is under 3 minutes.
The band will also be out on tour and hit the region later in the spring.
4/28: First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA 4/29: Black Cat, Washington, DC
San Francisco’s The Dodos drop their second full length, Visiter on March 18 and are already in the throws of a national tour. In my opinion, any band named after a squat, flightless bird deserves a listen. The half experimental, half indie rock duo played around with mic placement and impromptu horn sessions on Visiter, a record written from an on-tour perspective, as the band has mostly had that for the past few years. They come our way in March and April and they just recorded a Daytrotter session that is worth checking out.
3/30 – Washington, DC – DC9 w/ Silje Nes 4/04 – Washington, DC – The Black Cat w/ Les Savy Fav and The Big Sleep 4/05 – Philadelphia, PA – Theater of Living Arts w/ Les Savy Fav and The Big Sleep
Taking their natural sound and random beginnings into consideration, The Bittersweets have pulled things together rather quickly. Within weeks of starting a string of jam sessions in a barn behind vocalist Hannah Prater’s house, neighbors started pulling out lawn chairs and rehearsals became impromptu concerts. To boot, The Bittersweet’s current drummer, Steve Bowman (former Counting Crows member), jumped on board after hearing just a couple of demos. With this type of background, their full-length debut, The Life You Always Wanted, seems aptly titled. In the streak of Over the Rhine’s Karin Bergquist, Prater carries the sweet, doleful Americana straight through each and every song. They travel to Arlington’s IOTA on March 11 and meet up with local, bleary-eyed crooner, Rose.
Check out a live video of “Long Day” and the mp3 for “Rapture”.
With a vocal range straight out of the 50’s pop scene, Nicole Atkins brings a sweet and spooky tone to storytelling. Columbia Record’s slightly psychedelic tough girl stops in our area on her way from SXSW. She’s just as brilliant live as she is recorded; the mark of an artist with staying power.
March 24 – Washington, DC- Rock and Roll Hotel March 25 – Philadelphia, PA – Word Café Live
Check out her Letterman performance of “The Way It Is” from a few months ago:
And her performance of “Maybe Tonight” from her January appearance on Conan:
Well, The Terrordactyls seem to have figured out how to jump to the top of the whole Twee genre. When in doubt, hitch your wagon to the biggest star in the game. This duo, comprised of Michael Cadiz and Tyrel Stendahl, recently put out their eponymous debut featuring the wonderful track, “Devices,” with none other than Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches and, I suppose, Juno soundtrack fame. Now, I’ve been a fan of Ms. Dawson ever since I first heard the Murderball soundtrack, but I was unsure of my stance on that whole lo-fi, twee thing. Well, if The Terrordactyls are any indication, I suppose I’m going to have to say that I’m a fan. Implementing such instrumental mainstays as kazoo and toy piano, the boys put out an upbeat, enjoyable sound that, quite frankly, gets my toes tappin’. Think getting into a room with a bunch of English majors who had garage bands in college, with a lot of pot thrown in for good measure. Or maybe I’m just projecting.
The Terrordactyls are getting ready to put out the Mike Bowers EP, five cover songs of Seattle’s The Pharmacy. The boys look to be heading to the area in late March, but haven’t settled on venues yet. Keep an eye on their calendar on myspace for more details. In the meantime, here are a couple of tracks to check out.
February 29 only happens once every four years, so I decided to do something special for my weekly Friday mix. In addition to my normal new indie mix, I decided to add an all hip-hop one. Both consist of the normal 10 songs. I asked Joe to help me out and he came up with a 9 track classic indie mix to round everything out to 29 songs. So here are 3 in 1 post. Have a great weekend.
Baltimore’s Beach House are set to kick off their tour with Papercuts tonight. In honor of the release of Devotion, they are starting things off with a hometown release show at G Spot. Can’t make it tonight? They finish the tour up regionally in early April.
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