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Discovery’s album is coming out July 7th, but between now and then you can download it from their website and two dollars of your purchase will be donated to OXFAM, an international relief and development program.
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A word of caution for anyone looking for "Young Folks" pt. 2: you won't find it here. With Living Thing, Swedish rockers Peter Bjorn & John are playing a whole new ballgame -- trading in the tightly wound, guitar-based indie rock of 2006's Writer's Block for minimalistic tunes heavy on the electro dance beats, synthesizers, and with plenty of open space for the sound to run around.
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After the lackadaisical and disappointing Uninvited, Like the Clouds (2006), it was uncertain as to the future of Australian psychedelic group, The Church. The band has reemerged with not only a new album, but with two E.Ps as well, all of which are on their own recently founded record label, Unorthodox Records. The great news is that Untitled #23 is a refreshing return to form after a bit of a slump in their career with the previous studio effort. The new disc reveals that the band still has the ability to craft exceptional music even despite the occasional misstep.
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The primary complaint I’ve been hearing against Art Brut’s new album, Art Brut vs. Satan, is that it’s not as fantastic as their debut album but merely “good” or “great.” Art Brut is a fantastic band and even their weakest material is head and shoulders above most other bands out there today.
Bang Bang Rock And Roll was solid gold, a witty mixture of Post-Punk musicality and rock deconstructing lyrics. The follow up album, It’s A Bit Complicated wasn’t gold, but it was still shiny. This latest release is also shiny and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Art Brut is witty and genuinely fun, something that feels rare in the musical world these days. Their music is post-punky guitar Rock with strong pop hooks, which on its own would be OK, but it’s front man Eddie Argos who gives Art Brut its character. I don’t know quite where to begin with this man. For one thing, he’s one of the greatest front men I’ve ever seen in my life. I still look back on the Art Brut show at Bumbershoot 2007 as one of the highlights of that year. Not just the festival, the year. This is because Argos has charisma pouring out of his being, I don’t know where it comes from, probably his nostrils—that’s where most people hide their charisma, right? At one point in the show he dove into the audience to dance with them, taking the microphone with him so he could still sing.
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“Smash the moral hypocrisy” is one of the lines in “Anti-Orgasm,” one of the many standout tracks on Sonic Youth’s brand new landmark album, The Eternal. The epigram is not only standard fare, but is also a sign that the group still has the characteristic unsettled angst that it is known for. After countless classic albums, the band still has the gritty edge and intellect that defined them some twenty-five years ago.
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It's hard to describe why listening to an album as atmospheric and sad as My Maudlin Career would be a pleasant experience, but it's probably best understood with a bottle of whiskey on the bedside table and a few quiet hours alone.
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The Apple War came into existence when the founding members met in Bellingham in 2007. Upon relocating to Seattle in 2008, they recorded this engaging full-length album. Part funky post-punk, part progressive rock and a large part melancholy ballads, it is an amalgam of interesting sounds and textures.
Alarm Bell City took me by surprise. By the look of the cartoon adorned cover, I thought that this was going to be your standard contemporary Seattle indie rock, but the opening moments of the first song proved my prejudice to be dead wrong. The song, “Alarm Bell City,” is a refreshing exercise in songwriting. With scowling guitars and eerie keyboards layered on top of a fantastic drum performance, it sounds a little bit like OK Computer period Radiohead, but isn’t a shameless reproduction in the least.
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On Elvis Perkins’ first album, Ash Wednesday, he sounded like a mixture of Bob Dylan and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel. I even initially mistook the song “While You Were Sleeping” for a lost Neutral Milk Hotel song, due to Perkins’ uncanny resemblance to Mangum’s nasally voice and the use of an excellent horn section. On this new album,Elvis Perkins In Dearland , he mostly just sounds like himself. Sure, the comparisons to Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Mangum are still valid, but you wouldn’t mistake a song onDearland for an Aero plane Over The Sea B-side. Sophomore slump is a problem that affects lots of musicians, but Perkins seems to have artfully dodged that condition. Instead, he’s managed to pull together an album that takes the best elements of his previous record and incorporates some new stuff as well.
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Seattle quintet, Star Lake Drownings, has the perfect sound for your summer soundtrack. Their self-titled debut has just been independently released and it is a catchy little collection of woozy dream-pop. Their shimmery, atmospheric sound lies somewhere in between My Bloody Valentine and Belly.
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Seattle's exceptionally cool Light in the Attic Records has wisely released another long lost classic. This time, it is one by the relatively unknown French icon, Serge Gainsbourg. The album, Histoire de Melody Nelson, was originally released in 1971. The reissue CD (which is also available on LP) has been lovingly remastered and comes with a tome of a booklet that includes generous footnotes, historical information and lyrics in both French and English.
Gainsbourg has gone on to achieve cult status in Europe, but has remained under the radar in the United States. I can't figure out why. This album is truly stellar. It seems if his lyrics were sung in English that this would have been rather popular in the US. The music recalls Can, Pink Floyd, the Bad Seeds and Sonic Youth. Yes, this is quite an impressive range.
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Fathers, lock up your daughters. Jarvis is back, babies, and he has come to rock your socks (and possibly your panties) off. He emerges from Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studio, ribald and triumphant to present his second solo-project album, Further Complications on the Rough Trade Records Label. While playing the Pitchfork Festival last year in Chicago, bassist Steve Mackey made the suggestion they work with Albini on this album, as it was incredibly cost effective (about half the price to record stateside), and they were already in Chicago. The result is one loud, sexy, rock-n-roll album. It is a far cry from the richer, more orchestral Richard Hawley-produced Jarvis, but it is a logical and interesting direction for Cocker, one that he should continue to explore.
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The Beta Popes are going to destroy you. A Power Doom trio, The Popes are what happens when three Jazz heads form a Death Metal band. The result is a crushing sound that will sunder your soul and reduce you to rubble.
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The Divide is the debut full-length album by Romance, a Seattle group with a characteristic post-punk sound that is unlike most local acts. They have toured extensively over the past few years and even opened for The Sisters of Mercy in November at El Corazon. Featuring solid production to boot, this LP reflects a well honed selection of songs that are impressively strong.
Working as a full album experience, The Divide, is a seamless assortment of songs that are strung together with precise cohesion. Elements of both old and new bands are present in this recording. Singer Drew Jackson's vocals are similar to those of Paul Banks from Interpol and Romance's music is at times reminiscent of them and at other times resembles the early eighties sound of groups such as Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division and The Chameleons.
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Mike Dillon has been described by the Hyena Records website as the world’s only Punk vibraphonist and it’s probably true. Originally hailing from Texas, Dillon is one fourth of Seattle’s eclectic electric Jazz band Critters Buggin’ as well as a member of Les Claypool’s Fancy Band and Garage A Trois. In all three capacities, he serves as a percussionist, playing the marimba, vibes, tabla and whatever else you can hit with hands or stick.
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Tea Cozies celebrate their CD release on Friday, May 1 at the High Dive with Katherine Hepburn's Voice and Basemint.
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Fuckbook is a fabulous album for a side project. It feels like it scratches their itch to play fast and loose, to geek out a bit, and to play simply for the joy of collaborating with people they love to work with. It's short, sweet, and sloppy, and has very high replay value. Fuckbook? Fuck yes!
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The last time that we had a collaborative album from PJ Harvey and John Parish was in 1996 with the wonderful Dance Hall at Louse Point. For that opus, she wrote all of the lyrics and performed the vocals and he wrote the music and played almost all of the instruments on the record. Thirteen years later, A Woman A Man Walked By follows suit with the same formula as its predecessor, and once again highlights the nearly untouchable talents of these two artists.
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The Very Most are the next in a line of feel-good pop bands, whose latest Spring EP will keep you warm all year long.
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Madeline Adams has a voice that sounds frighteningly close to Joni Mitchell's and her band is full of a Southern twang that goes hand and hand with her quivering vocals. Pedal steel guitars and brushed snare drums permeate the new record, White Flag, with the flavor of Athens, Georgia, which is where it was recorded and also happens to be Madeline's hometown. Three years in the making, the record features thirteen songs that matured while being honed on the road.
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The Smittens are like a trip to the candy store, full of extremely sweet and sometimes overwhelmingly saccharine morsels -- definitely not for the faint of heart, or at least the un-indie-pop-initiated.
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