Thee Oh Sees release a ballad … that’s right, a ballad, with new song, ‘Minotaur’
Listen to this new song from Thee Oh Sees, Minotaur. It’s not your typical breakneck, frenzy of a psych garage rocker. Minotaur is a slow ballad and an interesting diversion for John Dwyer and his crew.
I’ll be interested to here the rest of the album, Floating Coffin, which is set for an April 16 release.
Cymbals Eat Guitars shares ‘Hawk Highway’
Check out this new song, Hawk Highway, from Cymbals Eat Guitars. These guys sounded like Pavement on their last album, Lenses Alien. They sound like Superchunk on this song.
Hawk Highway – Cymbals Eat Guitars
New song: Cold Showers releases ‘BC’ ahead of debut album
Here’s a cool song, BC, by L.A.’s Cold Showers. After hearing singles from this band last year, I’m excited for the debut album from these guys. Love and Regret is due out October 9.
New music: Ty Segall and White Fence
If you’re a fan of psych-garage, I highly recommend the soon-to-be-released collaboration between Ty Segall and White Fence (aka musician Tim Presley). The album, Hair, due out April 24, has pretty much lived up to my expectations, which were high.
Check out the video below of Scissor People – an extended live version – and download the song, I Am Not a Game. Both songs appear on Hair. Segall, White Fence and Presley’s other band, Strange Boys, play Lincoln Hall May. 10.
Royal Baths, Black Bananas lead list of scuzziest recent releases
If you enjoy music that’s kind of messed up — the kind that makes you want to bathe when you’re done listening – I have a couple of recommendations.
Royal Baths is frankly depressing and disturbing but the sound intrigues. There’s the obvious nod to the Velvet Underground. But these guys stretch much farther than the Velvets to shock. Check out this video:
Royal Baths’ new album, Better Luck Next Life, was just released last month.
Jennifer Herrema is an old hand at really f’d-up music. As a teen-ager, she and boyfriend Neil Hagerty formed Royal Trux in the late ’80s. The couple made music for another decade as Royal Trux, a sort of trailer trash version of Sonic Youth. Herrema then formed RTX. That project has now become Black Bananas. Rad Times Xpress IV, the new album by Black Bananas, is probably best enjoyed as a party background. What kind of a party? The type in which you have a lot of fun but wake up with a killer headache in the morning.
La Sera drops new track, ‘Break My Heart’
La Sera, the side project of Vivian Girls’ Katy Goodman, is set to release a new album, Sees the Light, at the end of March.
Goodman this week gave us a glimpse of the album with the new song Break My Heart. Check it out below.
New music: Dana Buoy’s ‘Call to Be’
Dana Janssen, percussionist for Akron/Family, plans to release his own album, Summer Bodies, in May under the name Dana Buoy.
Janssen (or Buoy?) just released a song off that album, Call to Be. Reminiscent of Animal Collective, Janseen draws on African beats mixed with synthesizer.
Check out the song below.
Wilco, Matthew Sweet, Dum Dum Girls lead new releases
The more Wilco moves away from its early ’90s sound, the closer Matthew Sweet draws back to those days. At least that seems to be the case with new albums out today, Wilco’s The Whole Love and Sweet’s Modern Art.
As Sweet also tours to support the two-decade anniversary of his pop classic, Girlfriend, Jeff Tweedy’s Wilco has moved far beyond the simple sounds of his band’s debut, A.M. (More on Wilco later.)
The Dum Dum Girls also have a new album out today, the addictive Only in Dreams. There’s nothing revolutionary about the Dum Dum Girl’s sound, which — like the Vivian Girls — draws from ’60s girl groups. It’s just good stuff. Other notable releases today include Youth Lagoon’s The Year of Hibernation and Twin Sister’s In Heaven.
New release Tuesday: Veronica Falls
It’s another big release day today, and my pick for the best new album this week is the self-titled debut from Veronica Falls.
The UK band, fronted by singer Roxanne Clifford, has sort of a ’60 garage/pop sound. Some of the songs have a dark undercurrent with the lead track, Found Love In a Graveyard, setting the tone. Galloping rhythms and great hooks abound.
Fans of garage and the Dum Dum Girls probably will like this album. I recommend it.
Best bet: Tristen at Subterranean Tuesday
She’s a little bit country and a little bit rock ‘n’ roll. And Tristen Gaspadarek made one of the best albums of 2011, Charlatans at the Garden Gate. Check her out at Subterranean Tuesday night.
Best bet: War on Drugs at Schubas
War on Drugs is touring to support its new album, Slave Ambient, which was just released this month. Check out the band tonight at Schubas.
New song: Nurses’ ‘Trying to Reach You’
Check out the song Trying to Reach You from Nurses‘ upcoming album, Dracula, out next month.
Panda Bear to play the Vic next month
In other concert news, Panda Bear, aka Noah Lennox, will play a show at the Vic September 29, part of a limited U.S. tour.
New video: Fucked Up’s ‘The Other Shoe’
The Other Shoe, the second video from Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life, was just released.
Fucked Up is still one of the hardest of the big indie bands (even if it did just make a concept album).
Speaking of Fucked Up, the band will appear on a six-song EP to be released by Wavves next month.
Aussie Band The Middle East makes album and video, breaks up
Just as I discover Queensland, Australia-based The Middle East, I also learn that the band is breaking up.
The Middle East put out an album, I Want That You Are Always Happy, just last month. The band also held a contest to make a video for a pop gem single off the album, Jesus Came to My Birthday Party.
Band spotlight: Guadalupe Plata
Hailing from Spain, Guadalupe Plata belts out a raw, dirty sound that draws heavily on blues and rockabilly. It’s a swampy style of blues and boogie that should appeal to fans of Thee Oh Sees, White Stripes and the Black Keys.
Check out the video and download for Polo Podrio (from the band’s self-titled release earlier this year).
Iceage delivers a short, hard punch
In just 24 minutes, New Brigade, the debut album by Danish punks Iceage, packs a real punch. At points brooding and other places furious, these teens from Copenhagen have made one of the most exciting releases of 2011.
The band just played its first U.S. gig in Brooklyn. Hopefully, we’ll get a Chicago show in the near future.
Best new music: Woods’ Sun and Shade
There’s been some grumbling about the new Woods release Sun and Shade. Some reviewers don’t think the album lives up to the rep that the band created with its earlier offerings. I, on the other hand, really like this one and highly recommend it.
Sun and Shade is a hodgepodge of 60s influences (psych, kraut, folk, etc.). It works.
Woods is one of the early bands playing Pitchfork. Check them out if you can.
Yuck plays ‘Get Away’ on Jools Holland
OK, yes, I post a fair amount about Yuck. But how can I resist? Here’s a clip from a performance on Jools Holland.
New music: Ty Segall’s ‘You Make the Sun Fry’
Ty Segall released a new song, You Make the Sun Fry, a slow number (especially by his standards) that will appear on the upcoming Goodbye Bread release next month.
You Make The Sun Fry – Ty Segall
Here’s Ty playing Goodbye Bread:
And here he is covering Red Kross:
New videos: No Age, Thurston Moore
Tis the season for new videos. No Age just released Common Heat, a song off last year’s excellent Everything In Between.
Thurston Moore released a video for Benediction, a song off his upcoming album Demolished Thoughts.
New video: Sonny & the Sunsets’ ‘Reflections on Youth’
Sonny & the Sunsets just debuted this video for Reflections on Youth. The song is off the recently released Hit After Hit. Give it a spin.
New video: Cave Singers’ ‘Black Leaf’
Check out this new video for the Cave Singers’ song, Black Leaf.
Weekend shares ‘Coma Summer’ remix
Have a listen to this remix for Weekend’s Coma Summer. It’s the B-side for a 7-inch release of the single, End Times, out next month.
Weekend’s album Sports, released in November, will appeal to fans of Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and A Place to Bury Strangers. The Coma Summer remix gets the Krautrock treatment (think of the beginning of Wilco’s Spiders (Kidsmoke).
