Instrumental Analysis

J Roddy Walston and The Business are just good old fashioned, stomp the floor, fist in the air, holler at the sky rock and roll. Imagine the soundtrack for your next 3 day bender, if your drinking buddies were Jerry Lee Lewis, Freddy Mercury, Jack White and Ronnie Van Zandt. Then imagine what Jerry Lee’s undershirt would look like on Monday morning: that’s the sound of J Roddy in a nutshell.

Already getting lots of love throughout the blogosphere, J Roddy and co. are now preparing to threaten the quiet existence of the masses, opening for the Hold Steady, putting the finishing touches on their latest, Hail Mega Boys (dropping on September 9th), and bringing their rock n’ roll circus back to IA country on July 18th at IOTA.

mp3: Used To Did

You might be tempted to think twice before standing next to Imaad Wasif, say, in a line for the movies. No, I don’t mean because of his Middle Eastern features and the seemingly ubiquitous way we Yanks have been taught to cast wary glances at anyone of a light brown shade. Homeboy just looks kind of weird. His moustache alone probably is enough to scare most kids. Of course, these issues have little bearing on the IA writing staff, other than to provide us with endless hours of amusement in our back-and-forth email chatter.

No, the real question is, can the guy rawk? I’m here to answer with a resounding “yes.” Now, I don’t mean full-out, balls-to-the-wall rawking here, nor do I mean your standard indie rawking, either. Instead, Wasif appears to have perfected what I’m calling quiet noise rawking. On “Oceanic”, he backs his ethereal vocals with a completely fuzzed out guitar, somehow taking seemingly noisy vehicles and packaging them into a calm, controlled ride. Think codeine laced with speed or maybe a panda bear on steroids. Or maybe I should think about working on my metaphors.

Whatever the case, I strongly recommend checking him out when he strolls through our neck of the woods on his upcoming tour to promote his latest, Strange Hexes, with his backing band, Two Part Beast. Just try not to look directly at that ’stashe.

July 12: Baltimore, MD, Talking Head
July 13: Washington, DC, Velvet Lounge
July 16: Philadelphia, PA, Johnny Brenda’s

mp3: Oceanic

UK vocal/instrumental duo, Vanilla Swingers, dropped their self titled, debut album this past May. Right out of the dreamy, light progressive rock sky, it comes at us with a story about two people who run away to London together, then go back in time. Classy and literate, I’d definitely mark them down as a band that’s growing on me. They start off at a crawling pace and by the end of the record, you’re ready to start it over again. Get your sleepy rock fix and check out “Goodbye Lennon”.

mp3: Goodbye Lennon

Sam Sparro is pretty much sitting in the catbird seat across the pond these days. He’s getting all sorts of love from BBC Radio 1. Chaka Khan has gone so far as to say, “Damn, that white boy can sing.” That may or may not equal, “That boy is GOOD!,” but obscure Coming to America quotes aside, he’s being compared to everyone from Prince to Stevie Wonder, and his debut, Black & Gold, charted in the UK top five. High praise, indeed.

Personally, I’m hearing a lot more Seal than Prince, but I will agree the eponymous track he’s dropped is pretty damn catchy. It’s more dance floor than funk, but it’s bound to get your booty shaking regardless. I’d also argue he uses a bit too many vocal distortion tricks to get Stevie Wonder love, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth checking out. I guess the real question is can the man pull off ruffled shirts and/or dashikis? If he can do that, then we’ll talk more.

mp3: Black & Gold

I’ve been working on the release posts all month, but with the server switch and other things that we had going on, they never saw the light of day. I’m going to correct that, by presenting you an entire month’s worth of releases at once. It pretty much goes without saying, that this is going to be the longest post in IA’s history. We’ll be back with the regularly scheduled weekly posts this week. Enjoy!

Week of June 24

I cannot say enough about the amount of great music out this month and the week of June 24 is no exception. The one album that I am playing over and over is by a new band from the UK, Passenger. Their Night Vision Binoculars EP is a beautifully crafted album. This week also featured a few hip-hop albums from RZA and Seattle favorites, The Saturday Nights. Au and Podington Bear released a couple of cute electronic albums.

Passenger

Night Vision Binoculars – “Do What You Like“

Other Notable Releases:

Calico Horse

Mirror – “Father Feed Me“

The Saturday Knights

Mingle (Buy) – Full Album Stream & “Part 2“

Sigur Ros

Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust – Full Album Stream

Jon Sonnenberg

Acoustic Selections – “DOA“

Anthem In

Anthem In – “Down“

Podington Bear

The End – “Ebullience“

Au

Verbs – “Are Animals“

Cineplexx

Picnic – “Espiral“

RZA

Digi Snax – Full Album Stream

G. Love & Special Sauce (Philly)

Superhero Brother – Full Album Stream

The Revisionists

The Revisionists – “Universal“

The Wombats

A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation

Electric President

Sleep Well – “Monsters“

Week of June 17

This week saw the return of local area bands to our release list and it helped prove that the summer is when all the best releases are. There are way too many releases that I enjoy listening to, so I won’t be able to pick any to feature.

Wolf Parade

At Mount Zoomer – “Call It A Ritual“

Bowerbirds

Hymns For A Dark Horse – “In Our Talons“

Computer Vs. Banjo

Computer vs. Banjo – “Give Up On Ghosts“

My Brightest Diamond

A Thousand Shark’s Teeth – “Inside a Boy“

The War On Drugs (Philly)

Wagonwheel Blues – “Taking the Farm“

Ponytail (Bmore)

Ice Cream Spiritual! – “Celebrate the Body Electric (It Came From an Angel)“

The Impossible Shapes

The Impossible Shapes – “Hey“

Adem

Takes – “Oh My Lover“

Tilly and the Wall

o – “Pot Kettle Black“

Silver Jews

Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea – “Strange Victory, Strange Defeat“

The Low Lows

Shining Violence – “Sparrow“

The Notwist

The Devil, You + Me – “Good Lies“

Stars Like Fleas

The Ken Burns Effect – “I Was Only Dancing“

Oh and Coldplay released an album this week as well. I guess that’s important to some people…

Coldplay

Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

Week of June 10

The only big name that released an album this week, was My Morning Jacket releasing Evil Urges. This week also featured many talented newcomers with some great folk and soft-indie albums for your listening pleasure.

My Morning Jacket

Evil Urges

The Awkward Stage

Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights – “Anime Eyes“

KaiserCartel

March Forth – “Oh No“

Ben Sollee

Learning To Bend – “A Change Is Gonna Come“

The Charlatans

You Cross My Path – “You Cross My Path“

Joan As Police Woman

To Survive – “To Be Loved“

My Education

Bad Vibrations – “Arch“

Rachael Sage

Chandelier – “Vertigo“

Unicycle Loves You

Unicycle Loves You – “Highway Robbery“

Twin Tigers

Curious Faces / Violent Future – “If“

The Swedes

Nothing Says Rich Like Golf Clubs – “Julie Walker“

Week of June 3

The first week of the month’s releases really took me by surprise, as the only band I was familiar with was Ladytron. To my complete delight, most of the other albums released this week were just great. My picks for this week include the aforementioned Ladytron album, along with a band I have never heard of. Oppenheimer came out with a quality electronic tinged indie rock album. Some of my other recommended albums are also in the electronic genre, but for those of you that like well written and sung folk songs, we have plenty for you as well.

Oppenheimer

Take The Whole Midrange And Boost It – “Steven McCauley For President“

Ladytron

Velocifero – “Black Cat“

Other Notable Releases:

The Pinker Tones

Wild Animals

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes – “White Winter Hymnal“

The Cool Kids

Bake Sale – “Basement Party“

The Ting Tings

We Started Nothing – “Great DJ“

Manu Chao

Politik Kills Remix EP – “Politik Kills w/ LKJ (Dennis Bovell Dub Vocal Remix)“

Aimee Mann

@#%&! Smilers

Baskervilles

Twilight – “Caught In A Crosswalk“

Shearwater

Rook – “Rooks“

Centro-matic/South San Gabriel

Dual Hawks – “I, The Kite” & “Trust To Lose“

The M’s

Real Close One – “Don’t Be Late“

Weezer

Weezer (Red Album)

The Futureheads

This Is Not The World - “Broke Up The Time“

It’s another summer weekend in the area and that means plenty of shows to choose from. Here’s what is on tap.

Most of the bands are doing us a favor and playing two shows this weekend. The big tour rolling through right now is The Hold Steady. They have new album hitting the shelves in the middle of July (already available in e-format on iTunes), so expect some new songs with your old favorites. Birds of Avalon, also supporting a new album released back in March, open up for them in Baltimore.

6/27: Baltimore @ Rams Head Live
6/28: Philly @ Festival Pier

mp3: The Hold Steady – Chips Ahoy
mp3: Birds of Avalon – Measure of the Same

Another big name coming through is Mission of Burma. They are playing an exclusive set of favorites, their first releases from the early ’80s. A must for M.O.B. fans.

6/27: Philly @ First Unitarian Church
6/28: DC @ Black Cat

mp3: Mission of Burma – Thats When I Reach For My Revolver

The Delta Spirit and AA Bondy are also doing the double dip as is the electronic-ambient pop of Ulrich Schanuss, joined by Auburn Lull and Screen Vinyl Image.

The Delta Spirit/AA Bondy
6/28: Philly @ The Khyber (w/ The Writer’s Club)
6/29: DC @ DC9

Ulrich Schanuss/Auburn Lull/Screen Vinyl Image
6/27: DC @ Velvet Lounge
6/28: Baltimore @ Metro Gallery

mp3: AA Bondy – There’s A Reason
mp3: Ulrich Schanuss – Mahogany (remix)
mp3: Auburn Lull – Shallow In Youth

As for the locals staying close to home, Friday it’s a folk-pop explosion as Illinois is outside at Lindenwold Park in Jersey joined by bluesy Back Door Slam. Elsewhere Friday and continuing with the rootsy theme, Frog Holler and Tin Bird Choir are at Johnny Brendas.

mp3: Illinois – Alone Again
mp3: Back Door Slam – Come Home
mp3: Frog Holler – Hey Boy (live)
mp3: Tin Bird Choir – Cornfield

Apparently, no one in ism has seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If they had, they probably would have opted for a different name. As Matthew Broderick’s character put it in the movie, “Ism’s, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself.” And if you’re not going to listen to the words of such a luminary, should you really be taking your message to the world?

That’s probably a discussion for another post, so let’s focus on this ism for the time being, shall we?

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s something distinctly ’80s sounding about their single, “Sacred Cows.” It could well be that lead singer Andre Mistier’s voice sounds a whole lot like a toss-up between Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr and INXS’ Michael Hutchence. Or it could be the blasting, spaced out effects on Leigh Battle’s bass which create a keyboard-sounding line of attack. Perchance, it has something to do with the fact that lead guitarist Gerard Toriello is a self-professed “not-so-secret ‘80s metalhead.” Maybe I’m just hung up on the whole Ferris Bueller thing. Listen and decide for yourself.

On August 5, 2008, STM Records will be releasing the band’s sophomore album, Urgency, which was produced by Joe Blaney (The Clash, Tom Waits, Prince).

mp3: Sacred Cows

DC’s very own classically trained vocalist, pianist, and cellist, Flo Anito is out and about in the area this summer promoting her new record, No Dust Bunnies. Sweet, sultry and surprisingly concise considering her classical background, Anito’s style fuses Ani DiFranco and Jewel (pre-her silly pop phase) and still comes out a little more like Nelly McKay than I could have ever hoped.

7/11: College Perk, College Park, MD
7/25: The Red and the Black, Washington, DC
9/07: Wonderland Ballroom, Washington, DC

mp3: Work!

David Ford must really like Philly. For what seems like the hundredth time in the past two months, he is gracing the World Cafe with his presence. If you missed him all the other times or just want to see him again, here’s your chance, plus most of the college kids are gone, so less crowd.

mp3: Go To Hell

Ladytron and Datarock join forces to make one great electronic dance party. You can catch them through out the weekend, together Thursday and Friday and at separate shows Saturday.

6/26: Philly @ TLA
6/27: Baltimore @ Sonar
6/28: DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel (Datarock w/ KI:Theory)
6/28: Columbia MD @ Merriweather (Ladytron w/ Thievery Corporation & TV on the Radio)

For all of you who didn’t know, The Lo-Fi Social Club is re-opened and under new management. Stop by Thursday night and check out Quitzow and Setting Sun from upstate New York and both supporting new albums.

mp3: Quitzow – Sponsor
mp3: Setting Sun – No Devil Me No More

For a more local show, Zulu Pearls are at Fort Reno in DC with Dress Up and The Shakes.

mp3: Zulu Pearls – Come Back
mp3: Dress Up – Swimming In The Sea
mp3: The Shakes – Summer