When I saw Washed Out a couple years ago, it was just Ernest Greene and a laptop on stage and I left unimpressed. His opening set on Day 3 of Pygmalion Festival though, was a massive improvement and turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. What helped the most was the addition of a full band, including multiple synths, samplers, bass, trumpet, and live drums which created an extraordinarily more dense and full sound. The song themselves were another improvement, his newer stuff is far more upbeat and dynamic, while still incorporating the lush, swirling soundscapes that made Washed Out one of the pioneers of the chillwave movement. Sublime tracks like “Eyes Be Closed”, “Soft” and “Far Away” sounded huge and spacious and got the crowd swaying and dancing along, which more then prepared us for the absolute dance-fest that was Cut Copy’s headlining set.
2011 has arrived and I’ve been spending the first few days of the year catching up with some new music. While going through my inbox and reading up on new artists, the band that stands out the most to me the most is Lord Huron, the moniker of a Michigan-via-L.A artist otherwise known as Ben Schneider. He has a couple of excellent EPs out and will presumably be releasing an album sometime in 2011. After hearing a couple songs, I was immediately compelled to download everything the artist has done and I have a feeling I’ll be listening to them for a long time. I think it’s safe to say, if you’ve enjoyed music by Panda Bear, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, or Local Natives you’ll dig this as well.
This has really been a breakthrough year for The National. After years of quietly putting out great records, they’re have really arrived. They’re now sitting comfortably in that elite class of top tier indie rock bands with High Violet hitting #3 on the album charts and the band selling out large-sized theatres (including legendary venues like Radio City Music Hall) across the U.S. I’ve seen the band play three festival sets, and have loved each of them but those didn’t compare to seeing the band at The Pageant, a beautiful theater in the Delmar Loop part of St. Louis. The band’s frenetic chamber rock is meant to be heard in this type of environment and they absolutely nailed their performance.
While I was very bummed to hear that Sigur Rós were taking an indefinite baby-making hiatus, I’m getting more and more excited about the debut album from the band’s frontman, Jón Thor Birgisson (who we all know as Jonsí). I was a big fan of the direction that Sigur Rós was taking with their last album, and Jonsí’s new track, “Go Do” is an explosive, triumphant fulfillment of all the pop sensibilities hinted at throughout Með suð i eyrum við spilum endalaust.
Being as band-loyal as I am, I’ve over-acquainted myself with the fact that every now and then one of my favorite artists will fall short of producing an album quite as well as their first, or at least the one that I’ve fallen in love with… but that in itself is an outcome of “growth,” and “change” and subsequently personalizing my taste in music. I see it more as an artist giving me… say, options.
How can I say no to that?
Where some might agree that Sainthood is lacking, I feel the need to defend Tegan and Sara’s sole objective to develop a technically professional sound, moving from that acoustic set in your bedroom to the sound booth of their studio. It’s always a win-win situation with these girls. Granted, the lyricism is much more straight-forward and simplistic than familiarly metrical and didactic… but that leaves less room for the story-making and more opportunities to really see these girls eye-to-eye in these true-life black-and-white situations.
In the music video to Banjo or Freakout’s “Upside Down” an Indian, a football player, a guy in a chicken suit, an angel, a solider, a Playmate bunny, a man covered in blue paint, and the Grim Reaper are all seen running and jumping into the ocean in slow motion. It’s a striking sequence and the band’s music has a surreal, transcendental quality that fits those images perfectly. Banjo or Freakout is the moniker to Alessio Natalizia, a London-based bedroom-pop artist who’s made a name for himself on the internet by covering artists from Burial to LCD Soundsystem to Vampire Weekend.
I know I’m a little late in the game, but I’m not going to make up some excuse about… having heard of this band a long time ago and not being able to write about them until now. The truth is, I just discovered them… and if I were adequately blessed with a skill to write about music as much as I listen to it, you’d have an x-rated novel on your desk two weeks ago…
I should take an entry or two to address how absolutely thick the music scene is here in the Northwest. Whether it’s an annual festival like, Sasquatch, Bumbershoot, or even the Capitol Hill Block Party, the centrality of the city alone continues to make Seattle a stop on countless tours… and while the web of venues within these hills seems to attract musicians from across the globe, we’ve got a plethora of local artists who truly give our city character.
Going into The Thermals I expected a non-stop whirlwind of fist-pumping power-punk songs which the Portland trio definitely delivered but what I did not expect was a slew of 90’s cover songs ranging from Nirvana’s “Sappy” to Sonic Youth’s “100%” to the classic Green Day anthem, “Basket Case”.
Jay Reatard might have an eery resemblance to Meatloaf on the Watch Me Fall album cover, but you won’t find him making 12 minute rock operas with ambiguous meanings any time soon.
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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