Friday, October 31, 2008

Pallers

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ARTIST / BAND: Pallers
SONG (MP3): Humdrum
ALBUM: Humdrum 12"

FILE UNDER: Indie, Electronic, Pop
LABEL: Labrador
INFO: Pallers is neighborhood in Åhus, Sweden, not a Swedish word for buddies. It's also the name of a new duo on Stockholm's Labrador imprint. Far from the realm of Kansas, Boston, or Chicago when it comes to geographical band names, Pallers' debut single "Humdrum" is dreamy, Saint Etienne-esque electronic pop, with programmed beats and warm, flickering synths washing over spiky, reverbed guitars and androgynously intimate vocals that could explain why the band was briefly known as Sara and Jenny.
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Facing New York

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ARTIST / BAND: Facing New York
SONG (MP3): All A This
ALBUM: Get Hot
FILE UNDER: Progressive / Indie / Rock
LABEL: FiveOneInc
INFO: Facing New York formed in 2004 when ex-members of ex-bands became ex-friends and formed the group on January 1st, viewing this symbolic birthdate as a good omen for the year and those to come. The band begun as a five piece: Eric Frederic on vocals and guitar, Rene Carranza on keyboard, Matt Fazzi on guitar and vocals, Omar Cuellar on drums, and Brandon Canchola on bass. The eager young band rushed through rehearsals to meet the mid January recording dates that singer Eric Frederic had already booked. A 6 song EP was recorded entitled "Swimming Not Treading" to document this aggressive approach to making records and music business in general.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Fred

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ARTIST / BAND: Fred
SONG (MP3): Running
ALBUM: Go God Go
FILE UNDER: Alternative Pop
LABEL: kill beat music
INFO: Fred are a five piece from Cork City, Ireland who take the anguish, angst and pain out of Rock'n'Roll, opting instead to just be really good. Some journalists interpret this as 'quirky', but Fred's achievements both live and in their recorded output far exceed any 'quirky' flash in the pan. Having a 'Cult Status' for a long time on the live scene, 2008 has seen Fred deliver the studio album their fans both home and abroad were waiting for.
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Saturday, October 25, 2008

Project Jenny, Project Jan

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ARTIST / BAND: Project Jenny, Project Jan
SONG (MP3): You Said (feat. So Percussion)
FILE UNDER: Electronica / Experimental / Indie
LABEL: Might Records
INFO: Project Jenny, Project Jan is a laptop rock band from Brooklyn, New York. The band consists of singer Jeremy Haines and programmer/keyboardist Sammy Rubin. Formed in late 2004/early 2005, they have released an EP called EP in 2005 and an album, XOXOXOXOXO in 2007. Influenced by varied bands such as Aphex Twin, Basement Jaxx, and The Gorillaz, Billboard called the band a "shockingly dynamic, danceable and hilarious affair."
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Friday, October 24, 2008

Curumin

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ARTIST / BAND: Curumin

SONG (MP3): Compacto
ALBUM: JapanPopShow
FILE UNDER: Samba / Soul / Dub
LABEL: Quannum Projects
INFO: Luciano Nakata Albuquerque, born in Brazil to Spanish/Japanese parents, early on earned the moniker Curumin, a term reserved by indigenous Brazilians for their more precocious children. It was the 1970s in Sao Paulo, and with his older brother Curumin began his journey through the world's music, from Jorge Ben to Devo to Bebeto. By the time he was 8, he'd already formed his first rock band with classmates, with pots and pans substituting for a proper drum kit. Within two years he'd formed another band, this time an instrumental funk group called ZU. By the time he was 14 he was already a percussionist at Sao Paulo's top clubs. By 16 he'd taught himself to play keyboards as well.
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Thursday, October 23, 2008

School of Seven Bells

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ARTIST / BAND: School of Seven Bells
SONG (MP3): Half Asleep
ALBUM: Alpinisms
FILE UNDER: Other / Psychedelic / Other
LABEL: ghostly
INFO: Like many bands before them, School of Seven Bells were born as the result of a late-night revelation. Benjamin Curtis connected with sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza in 2004 while their bands—Secret Machines and On-Air Library!, respectively—were on tour. While watching PBS at 3am, Alejandra caught a show about the School of Seven Bells: a mythical South American pickpocket academy that may or may not have existed in the ‘80s. The idea of seven minds working as one appealed to her, as did the phrase’s cryptic musicality, and a creative spark ignited.
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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

+/- {Plus/Minus}

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ARTIST / BAND: +/- {Plus/Minus}
SONG (MP3): Snowblind

ALBUM: Xs on Your Eyes
FILE UNDER: Pop / Electro / Rock
LABEL: Absolutely Kosher / Teenbeat / & Records / WWR
INFO: With their fourth album, X’s On Your Eyes, James Baluyut, Patrick Ramos & Chris Deaner haven’t dumbed down their approach, but they’ve slowed it just a wink (or slowed it long enough for a wink and a smile).  Handclaps, warm vocal harmonies and rhythms you can tap your toe to without hurting yourself.  The results are sublime, an engaging and catchy pop record better than anything the band has ever done.  Maybe it’s the rash of marriages and children that came since the last record was finished.  Maybe it’s James Baluyut's many late nights belting out the ballads of the 1970's at his local karaoke bar. Maybe it’s drummer Deaner’s increased role in the album’s composition following his touring as Kelly Clarkson’s drummer.  Maybe it’s hearing Ramos’ soaring vocal from Let’s Build A Fire’s “For You” in a placement over David Caruso’s histrionics on CSI: Miami last year.  Maybe it’s just a matter of maturity and the changing nature of things.  In any case, this is a band still bristling with excitement, but a more inclusive, kinder sort.  There’s still plenty, like Baluyut’s lead single “Snowblind” and Ramos’ companion “Subdued,”  to captivate their core fanbase and a whole lot more for new fans to put their arms around.  +/- {Plus/Minus} will be touring the world in support of the album.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Hauschka

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ARTIST / BAND: Hauschka
SONG (MP3): Freibad
ALBUM: Ferndorf
FILE UNDER: Experimental / Electronica / Acoustic
LABEL: FatCat
INFO: Hauschka’s second album for FatCat’s 130701 imprint offers a brilliant advance on 2007’s ‘Room To Expand’. Where the previous album comprised mostly solo recordings of Hauschka’s ‘prepared’ piano (with a few electronic and instrumental overdubs), ‘Ferndorf’ is a far more expansive and fully-realised album, with many of the tracks also featuring a string duo, enabling an increased solidity.
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Interview with FREQNASTY (Tbilisi,Georgia)

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Dancer Vs. Politician



ARTIST / BAND: Dancer Vs. Politician

SONG (MP3):
Mach Dich Los

ALBUM: A City Half-Lost

FILE UNDER:
Pop / Indie

LABEL: none

INFO: DANCER VS. POLITICIAN is the band/recording project of Audition With Max Reinhardt's Sanni Baumgaertner. After flying back and forth between Athens, Georgia and Berlin, Germany for the last three years, she has now settled back in Athens and is quite happy to have escaped Berlin. She would love to come to visit soon though. Back in Athens, she has found fabulous new people to play music with and is currently working on new songs for Dancer vs. Politician, and on German lyrics for some of Jeffrey Butzer's songs for his upcoming album "The Garden of Scissors". The songs are based on a screenplay he wrote. His album will be released on Hongkong based Lona Records next year.

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Sunday, October 05, 2008

The Rollo Treadway



ARTIST / BAND: The Rollo Treadway

SONG (MP3):
"Dear Mr. Doe" "Kidnapped"

ALBUM: 
The Rollo Treadway

FILE UNDER: 
Psychedelic / Pop / Rock

LABEL: none

INFO: 
The Rollo Treadway are five people right now but they used to be only two when Blake and David did some demos a bunch of years ago and then they were four people for awhile when they were recording the record but the other two besides Blake and David aren't part of the other three that are in the group right now. Those other three are Jörg, Grant and Tyler.

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Simon Bookish




ARTIST / BAND: Simon Bookish

SONGS (MP3):
"Synchrotron"  "Dumb Terminal" 

ALBUM: 
Everything/Everything

FILE UNDER: 
Simon Bookish

LABEL: 
Tomlab

INFO: 
Lyrically, the album’s concept is “the flood of information” in our modern age, taking in chemistry and ecology, language and art, sometimes surreal, sometimes humourous, sometimes provocative, a weird blur of fact and fiction, delivered in Bookish’s distinctive English-eccentric vocal.

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Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Michael Zapruder



ARTIST / BAND: Michael Zapruder

SONG (MP3): Ads for Feelings

ALBUM: Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope

FILE UNDER: Indie

LABEL: Sidecho Records

INFO:Minimal and tricky, Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope presents a world of large spaces and tiny details. It dwells in contrast and juxtaposition. Whatever intuition made Zapruder set the two-week limit on this record, it was a good one, because the recording lacks oversight and planning and thereby exposes common threads in songs that might have initially seemed too dissimilar to belong together. What results is a larger world that feels strangely effortless and surprisingly unified. And thanks to Scott Solter, on Dragon Chinese Cocktail Horoscope for the first time, the quality of the recorded document equals the quality of Zapruder's songs. This is the best record that Zapruder has yet made.