Between work and “the move”, my resources have been fully obligated. The suck is now over and I should be back on the grind. Found some rad new Fresh & Only’s tunes amongst many others soaked in murky garage goodness.
The Outsiders – You Mistreat Me
Intelligence – Secret Signals
Lenguas Largas – I Feel
Rainbow Bridge – Big Wave Rider
Fresh & Onlys – Happy To Be Living
Fungi Girls – Crystal Roads
Hands and Knees – We Are the Man That Cannot Fly
Thee Oh Sees – Inquiry Perpitrated
The Mayfair Set – Already Warm
The Smith Westerns – Give Me Some Time
The Sonics – Strychnine
Intelligence – Block of Ice
Crystal Stilts – Love Is a Wave
Dum Dum Girls – Catholicked
This entry was written by , posted on May 29, 2009 at 9:01 am, filed under mixtape and tagged crystal stilts, dum dum girls, fresh and onlys, hands and knees, intelligence, lenguas largas, mayfair set, smith westerns, the outsiders, thee oh sees. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
There’s something quirky and memorable to Boston, MA band, Hands and Knees. Previously posted on last week’s mixtape, I figured a little more info on said band was necessary. (Or at least a few more tunes!) Pop at its root core, but very rough around the edges and delivered with some ferocity to it. Et tu, Fluffy? will keep your head moving and the mixture of boy/girl vocals of Joe O’Brien and Carina Kelly work flawlessly. Album out now on Midriff records and it sure is a fun one to listen to. Buy here.
Hands and Knees – Midnight in the Applefield
Hands and Knees – We are the Man that Cannot Fly
This entry was written by , posted on May 27, 2009 at 5:25 pm, filed under New Tunes and tagged boston, hands and knees, pop. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Tropical sepia tones! New video “Doki” from Friend.
This entry was written by , posted on at 11:20 am, filed under video and tagged friend. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
In eager anticipation for my new Smith Westerns LP to be crammed into my mailbox, I’ve had their “myspace tuner” on blast at the house for a while now. Bubblegum/shit pop/buzzsaw pop/shitgaze, I’m finding myself tired of trying to keep up with all of the different “genres”. Adjectives really don’t do the ears justice, but we all have an imagination right? Whatever the case, this outfit from Chicago plays dirty ass garage rock that has probably been a harbinger to six or seven riots. Their newest LP is now available through Hozac Records. Get yr copy!
The Smith Westerns – Give Me Some Time
This entry was written by , posted on at 10:13 am, filed under Uncategorized and tagged hozac, smith westerns. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Nate has been busy bustin it at work this week and I’m gonna try and help out with the mixtape. Here it is. Enjoy! Memorial Day = Drinking…do your part and have fun!!!
The Beach Boys – Good Vibrations
Condo Fucks – Shut Down
El Guincho – Palmitos Park
Clasixx (feat. Jeppe) – I’ll Get You
Vega – No Reasons
Height w/friends – The World
Nathan Oliver – Icicles for Fingers
Black Lips – Disconnection
Hands and Knees – Do You Really Need a Drummer?
Think About Life – Sweet Sixteen
The Stooges – I Wanna Be Your Dog
This entry was written by , posted on May 22, 2009 at 3:01 pm, filed under mixtape and tagged weeklymixtape. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Baltimore area rapper, Height (w/friends), brings tight samples, beats, and lyrics back to indie rap. Part of Dan Deacon’s Wham City scene, Height delivers his raps through deliberate pacing of his words on Baltimore Highlands. I don’t have much to describe them other than I can’t stop playing this album. I get reminded of Why? and the Beastie Boys (obvious white rappers comparison here) with the way the whole album comes together, a definite old-school throwback. I’ve been waiting for something new on the hip hop tip for quite some time and as you’ll see with, “The Woods,” the music on this album is a treat to the ears. Buy it here.
This entry was written by , posted on at 7:27 am, filed under New Tunes and tagged baltimore, dan deacon, height, hip hop, rap, wham city. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
We had the pleasure of conducting our VERY FIRST INTERVIEW with Joseph Denney of the great Spirit Spine (ironically, it was his first as well) this last Monday. Mr. Denney talks about his latest album, random band name generators, and the future. The audio, well decided to scratch that idea. But here it is (finally…), the first ever WTD Interview.
WTD: I know you haven’t had any interviews in the past, basically this will be both of our first interviews.
Joseph Denney: Yeah, it’s very special.
WTD: Let’s get a little bit into your music background. I’ve noticed a lot of the artists that mention being Bow Bow wow, Cocteau Twins, Animal Collective. Are these bands you actually grew up listening to or is it more something that you discovered recently?
JD: It’s something I’ve discovered recently, I’d say within the last two years. The first album I bought was Astro Lounge by Smashmouth. So I don’t have anything cool like, “Ah yeah I’ve been listening to 80’s music all my life”, or anything cool like that.
WTD: What’s some of the stuff that you’re currently listening to that’s been an inspiration?
JD: I’ve been listening to a lot of tropical music that I’ve been finding, just randomly I guess. I’ll be on Wikipedia and keep clicking on links, they just keep getting more and more obscure. Um, surf rock, I really like surf rock. Like Dick Dale, obviously that’s a big one and pretty much like every 60’s garage band. The Move and, uh, now I’m blanking and this is sad. I think The Smoke was one of them, tryin to think. Hmm, The Zombies, The Zombies I’m really big on.
WTD: Os Mutantes perhaps?
JD: Yeah, alot of tropicalia. Like Os Mutantes, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa. So tropicalia, surf rock, and 60’s bands.
WTD: Cool, that gives me a good background. Some of these comparisons you’ve been getting, these are some heavyweight guys. Like Ian Curtis, Noah Lennox (Panda Bear). I’m sure you take these as a compliment, but do you feel pressures from any expectations to live up to?
JD: Kinda, but I would say they are expectations to try and not stick with that. Like I’m working on a second album right now that I hope I finish towards the end of the year. I just wouldn’t want it to be that one thing where, “Oh, I made that one album that sounded like Panda Bear/Animal Collective and that’s all I ever did.” I just wouldn’t want it to seem like I’m capitalizing on the kind of new era of just like these really tiny bands that are copying whatever is popular right now. But as far as the comparisons go, I think they’re great. Person Pitch, one of the top ten albums, for me. New Order and Joy Division, those are bands that I listen to walking to class every day. So, it’s really nice to hear that.
WTD: Excellent. How to you plan to differentiate your self from these comparisons? I know people say, “oh, he sounds like this guy.” How do you plan to stick out?
JD: I guess just trying to listen to a lot of different things. Right now, I’ve been take in some different influences from the first album and hopefully it’ll just mix up in my head and then I’ll spit out something different from the first one. Hopefully, I can keep doing that. Then I’ll end up different from where I started.
WTD: I’ve actually been checking out some of your earlier monikers: Crimson Citizen and Lumigra. I, actually, just recently found out that you were a part of this, about a week ago. The sound on the new album is completely different from these. Crimson Citizen being more “actual” guitar, and was that a drum machine?
JD: Yeah, drums on a keyboard….that I had to play with my fingers.
WTD: Nice. And Lumigra was more towards the electronic/laptop side. Spirit Spine is like a nice amalgamation of the two. By the way, the new album is one of my favorites, I’ve been listening to it a lot. With sampling, how do you select the samples? Trial and error or do you already have something in mind?
JD: Mostly, it’s like trial and error. I’ll just have iTunes open and it will be playing whatever it’s playing. Then it’s like, “Oh! That would be cool if it were playing over and over again.” I have a little playlist called “samples” and I drag them over and I think I only use like 5 out of 150 songs that are in that playlist. But, some of the work, some of them don’t. Like the track “Heart Races”, I use “XXXXX” by XXXXX. That was an accident, I was playing the song, it was just an instrumental and I just dragged the “XXXXX” sample in. It was like, “Thats kinda cool! But I can’t use that in an album.” But whenever I took it out it sounded so empty without it. So I just left it and just hoped that it works.
WTD: It definitely works! One of my favorite tracks on the album. Was that drum loop at the beginning XXXXX?
JD: Yeah, that’s “XXXXX”.
WTD: Since this is your first album, how has the success and touring been? How have things been coming together for you?
JD: It’s been really surprising. Like the amount of people who know about what I’m doing. Like it’s definitely gotten way more coverage, I guess. I just thought I would make it and I would get maybe 1000 views on myspace. Something, “something decent”. But it’s definitely superseded my thoughts on how far it would go. Surprising.
WTD: On the album, the lyrics seem to point out character flaws, not necessarily within your self, but from things you’ve seen in others? Back to “Heart Races”, you talk of someone who’s gambled their money away and alienated themselves from their family. Is that something you personally dealt with? Or do I have it wrong altogether?
JD: No, no there is no “wrong”. It comes more from less personal experience and just me interpreting whatever I’ve read. I guess just making sense of it in song form. I guess that’s the best way I could explain it.
WTD: It just seems like you pulled out some pretty intense emotions. Just wondering where that stems from.
JD: I’d say early morning hours. I would say 95% of the songs are written and finished at 3 or 4 a.m. You brain kinda gets on a different track and sometimes you can write things you wouldn’t normally think of, I guess. Not sure how to really explain it.
WTD: Cliche question, but how did you come up with the name Spirit Spine?
JD: Spirit Spine… actually came from a random band name generator. It’s sad to say. I wish I had a really cool story. One radio thing contacted me and asked me how I got it and I didn’t have any story so I just made one up. I told them I saw a like on a road trip with friends and we came across this, like a new age healing place. But it was actually just a band name generator. So, yeah I’ll just stick with that.
WTD. So you said you’ve got a new album coming out and you just finished school. Is it easier to write now that you’re out of school or are you able to juggle?
JD: Well, the first album I wrote entirely while I was still in school. So hopefully I can finish this one faster. But, I feel like I able to write whether or not school or anything else is happening. I just work on it little by little and it builds up.
WTD: What we expect with your new album?
JD: I’ve thought about a mindset of how I want to make it. And the things that have come up were I wanted it to sound like you were surfing in New York City at night. I feel like that’s how I want it to sound, not exactly sure if it will. There are definitely going to be more danceable and ambient aspect to it. Probably going to be more guitar, in a kind of a “shoegaze” sense. I dunno, I’ll see what happens from what I listen to and hopefully it comes out good.
WTD: We look forward to that. Are you going to release on Neon Aztec or will you be exploring new labels?
JD: I’m not quite sure. Neon Aztec has served me well so far. I don’t think I have any complaints with them. I’ll ust have to wait until the album is done. See if I want to stay with the label I’m with now or if I feel like it might need something a “little extra”. For right now, I guess I’ll stick with it but when the album is done I’ll be thinking about that.
WTD: No school, does this mean you plan to do some touring? Particularly in the Texas area?
JD: (Laugh) I’ve got nothing in Texas planned, but if someone were to contact me and ask me about and offer me something I’d probably consider it. Show wise, it will probably be limited to Indiana.
WTD: Playing the local scene all summer?
JD: Yeah, in Bloomington and Indianapolis. I guess just trying to build things up here.
WTD: Well that’s all we got. Thanks!
JD: Thanks, thanks very much!
Once again, big thanks to Joseph for giving his time to with us.
This entry was written by , posted on May 21, 2009 at 11:29 pm, filed under interviews and tagged spirit spine. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Yesterday, Pitchfork “forkasted” this great track from UK DIYer Banjo or Freakout. His latest 12″ ep, Upside Down, puts me at a total loss for words. Alessio Natalizia’s music is like a bird’s eye view and will take your head way past the Earth’s atmosphere. Like I said, complete loss for words. Listen for yourself, I strongly recommend this track. His EP is available here via Half Machines.
Banjo or Freakout – Upside Down
This entry was written by , posted on at 9:38 am, filed under New Tunes and tagged banjo or freakout, half machines. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Cool summertime montage from Crystal Stilts most recent ep, Love is a Wave. No matter how eerie and dark their tunes may sound, I can’t help but imagine my self catching a huge wave (and I’ve never surfed!).
This entry was written by , posted on May 20, 2009 at 9:33 am, filed under video and tagged crystal stilts. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Hot off the press, Denton’s own Western Giants have been cool enough to give me a sneak preview of thier upcoming, self-titled, EP. Better suited for a cold, damp day than the heat of summer time, their album cover art is actually a perfect harbinger for what to expect out of their tunes. A favorite track of mine, “River Cry Bayou”, opens with a codeine wail of slide guitar that is nicely paired with frontman, Kennon Talley’s soft and almost effortless vocals. Being consumed in sadness is one thing, realizing that it takes something beautiful to draw that emotion is completely different. What is so wrong with an overcast sky? The Western Giants help us realize, nothing is. Their EP will officially release Thursday, May 28th. Don’t forget to see them live on the SAME DAY at the Lounge on Elm Street. Get yr tickets!
Western Giants – River Cry Bayou
This entry was written by , posted on at 9:02 am, filed under New Tunes, local music, mixtape, news and tagged the lounge, western giants. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
