Loudersoft » Ones To Watch

[CMJ 2011 Recap] Elizabeth gets rewired with Cities Aviv, Datarock, Blonde Summer and more

elizabeth — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:08:58 +0000

New York City is pretty much already the definition of sensory overload, all by itself, on a random Tuesday, in the middle of nothing, when half of the city calls in sick. So when it’s time for the annual cluster-you-know-what known as the CMJ Music Marathon? If I were Johnny-Five, my circuits would have shorted. Lucky for you, I just eeked by in the “living to tell about it” category, so I here I am, living. And telling you about it! In no particular order, I present to you: my favorite finds from CMJ 2011.

BUXTON

It’s possible that when I saw Buxton at the Living Room on Thursday, I wasn’t even planning on staying. In fact, I think there might’ve been something upstairs or next door or across the street or in the ladies’ room that I’d actually intended to see — until I walked in and heard Buxton.

Most any six-piece can’t help but catch your attention by sheer size alone, but these guys caught my attention and kept it. Well, guy. Singular. Jason Willis, lead guitar, at your service for fast, effortless and wildly roaming guitar melodies. Right underneath them you’ll find a rich layer provided by two more guitarists and keys and these big, unabashed drums. And then, just fade it all out for a minute so you can sink into the unassuming vocal — sort of sweetly drunken, love-song-folk.

DATAROCK

The Datarock set at Brooklyn Bowl Thursday night sort of happened to me, the way really good things often do. I’d actually come for the DJ set that was happening later but then there they were, in all their track-suited glory, like the uncle you should probably find creepy but is somehow pretty endearing.

Upon further investigation, I’m fairly sure that this was a legitimately impromptu-type situation. Not sure who was meant to be there that night, but after the guys reenacted the final scene from Dirty Dancing (complete with appropriate soundtracking) and had everyone sit cross-legged on the floor, I don’t think anyone cared. They sang “California” for the crowd that resembled, from my vantage point, an oddly grown-up-sized kindergarten class during music time. It was perfection. I only wish I could’ve joined them all down there, but the ensemble I’d chosen that evening would not have supported floor-sitting without me showing everyone my Britney Spears.

Alas. Next time, guys.

BLONDE SUMMER

Never was a band better matched with its name and its homeland. (Okay, maybe once.) Danceable, surf-inspired rock with solid pop songwriting and just enough reverb on the guitar to never let you forget you’re in the Sunshine State.

Blonde Summer – Silver Jesus

WIM

The award for best on-stage banter definitely goes to the lead singer from WIM, who paused before the song “Moth” to remind us that a moth only lives for 24 hours. And a lot of stuff can happen in 24 hours. One can live, one can love, one can die.

One can buy shrooms?

Incidentally, though, I can’t stop listening to that very song. It’s got these big playful choral hooks and bouncy, jam-band-prog-inspired organ/guitar melodies with about three different movements that ebb and flow into each other — it wants to be its own little opus. When I listen to WIM I sort of feel like I should be at a planetarium. Or watching one of those weird shape-shifting screen savers from early versions of Windows.

One can buy shrooms?

CITIES AVIV

Cities Aviv said “fuck all you bloggers” during his set more times than I can count (thankfully somebody did it for me), but you can’t really take it personally when he also did a few rounds of “fuck everybody here.” Fuck everybody? I’m not even special anymore. All fucking aside, I’ve liked this kid since I first heard Digital Lows and he’s one of the few solo rappers who rhyme with DJs that I even care to see live. Maybe it’s that fuck-all attitude or just the style of his flow, but I tend to forget there’s no band and just lay into the tracks. His CMJ show was no different, and I think the packed house at Pianos agreed.

Planet (ft. Clement Roussel x Alexia Gredy) by Cities Aviv

ARMY NAVY

Army Navy was possibly the only band during CMJ that I saw more than once, and though I knew they would make this list I was having a hard time articulating exactly what it was that I liked about them so much — until I came home, starting writing and found the music video you see above. You’re welcome.

A HOUSE FOR LIONS

I had a 90s alternative rock dream, filled with the kind of music best punctuated by the rhythmic passing of streetlights on some interstate in the middle of nowhere. But then I woke up. Turns out? I was at The National Underground on Friday night, seeing A House for Lions. In my case (unlike Biggie’s) it wasn’t all a dream — but while there are flashes of Gin Blossoms or Toad the Wet Sprocket or Better than Ezra in there, there are also these lovely little patches of John Hiatt and veritable miles of Lyle Lovett.

All nostalgia aside, this is a band that has figured out how to craft a song, entirely in the present tense. The writing is simple, but evocative and intelligent. Mike Nissen’s guitar work is smart and versatile — warm where it needs to be, piercing through the texture where it needs to, calling up country and bluegrass on one track and settling into alt-rock reverb on the next. And on just about every track, my ear jumps at an inescapable comparison to Mark Knopfler. It’s these subtleties of tone that allow them to take their sound into a lot of different territories — so far they seem to be charting all of them with ease.

A House For Lions – Come On Let’s Go

The CMJ Music Marathon is held every fall in New York City. Details are available year round at cmj.com/marathon

[RemiX] GIVERS – Meantime (Deerhoof Greg Saunier Remix)

E.J. — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:03:27 +0000

Last weekend, after weeks and months of ignoring some band I kept getting emails about from Lafayette, LA named GIVERS, I came face to face with them at the Hi-Tone in Memphis for the Grammy GPS showcase & panels. I had planned to hang out for Cities Aviv and then go home, but once they took to the stage, I became completely engaged with what was happening in front of me.

The five piece band of young musicians — Taylor, Tiffany, Kirby, Josh and Nick — who cobble together Afro beat, folk, jazz, indie rock, funk & experimental sounds and do so with a complete sensibility of pop music, commanded the stage from the first note. I learned very quickly, standing next to Jody Stephens of Big Star (who marveled with me at their skill), GIVERS is not just a band, they are a phenomenon that only comes along once in a great while, steeped in the traditions of their Louisiana upbringing but so comfortable with those traditions that it makes them fearless to attempt new twists on those sounds. They create an environment of family at every show because of the tightly-knit family vibration within the band. It’s exhilarating and breathtaking, like a scene from a movie that you want to freeze frame and carry with you in your wallet to show to all your friends.

Seeing GIVERS live is the concert experience I’ve been waiting to have again for years, where I walk in to hear a band having never heard a single note of one of their songs & walk out an instant fan. I can’t wait to see them again and again and again.

AND HEY LOOK! Givers just got their track “Meantime” remixed by Greg Saunier of Deerhoof. Enjoy.

GIVERS OFFICIAL SITE | GIVERS ON FACEBOOK | GIVERS ON TWITTER ]

[Late Bloomer] The Weeknd – Wicked Games

E.J. — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:00:43 +0000

I’m coming off a horribly shitty day. I’ve been abused by friends, talked shit about, put in the corner and given a virtual timeout, and now I’m so angry I’m seeing spots. My thoughts are so jumbled, I feel like I have to censor myself with every keystroke. I keep backing up and starting over as if I’m trying to compose one lengthy email I’ll never actually send wherein I tell everyone that I have ever had any kind of a beef with to go fuck themselves.

You know that feeling, right?

You probably have go-to songs that you’ll hit up when feeling like you, too, want to blow up the world, some of them played so many times you could recite the words as you sleep. I have my fair share of those songs. A couple of weeks ago, though, they were all suddenly replaced by The Weeknd’s soon-to-be-bigger-than-life song “Wicked Games” from their recently-released free mixtape House of Balloons, a stunning piece of R&B/soul music that came out of nowhere and shattered the glass ceiling of the genre. Since I first laid ears on this song, I feel like it’s taken the upside down parts of my life and put them right side up again. Even if I ended up back in that place, there was some momentary comfort from the act of playing this one song over and over again.

The Weeknd – Wicked Games by The_Weeknd

Yeah, I know, every music blog and music publication on the internet has shit themselves about The Weeknd already for weeks. But you? You’re probably so cool you downloaded it the day it was posted to October’s Very Own or maybe the day Drake tweeted about it.

In case you didn’t or you haven’t and you don’t know what The Weeknd is, I’m here to share with you that Toronto’s Abel Tesfaye is the thing of the moment with good reason. And for his part, the previously unknown 20-year-old Tesfaye (backed by the ill beats of Doc Mckinney & Illangelo) seems to have maintained radio silence through it all. The swagger and sadness, the raw honesty and the unbridled highs and lows that come out of the songs on House of Balloons aren’t likely to be the victim of any hyperbole by the press. There’s something about this collection that defies any definition besides, simply put, real.

Who Tesafaye is and what he’s out to do may still be up for debate, but one thing certainly isn’t: there’s an unholy sadness and pain in his voice on this song that takes my pain away. For that, I am thankful today.

[ You can download The Weeknd's mixtape House Of Balloons by clicking here. ]

[ViDEO] WU LYF – L Y F

E.J. — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 17:33:40 +0000

Manchester’s WU LYF have developed a moniker that stands for World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation. I first heard about them last January from Veronica at CreamTeam. While I’ve been looking the other way, WU LYF have been blowing up huge, and with good reason. Here is their latest video for the song “L Y F” from their forthcoming debut album Go Tell Fire To The Mountain due 13 June 2011. If you’re going to watch this, watch ALL THE WAY TO THE END. Trust me: it’s worth it.

[ WU LYF on Facebook | WU LYF Official Site ]

WU LYF – L Y F

:: WU LYF 2011 TOUR DATES ::

30.07.11 Fuji Rock / Naeba / JAPAN
16.07.11 Manchester International Festival / Manchester / UK
09.07.11 Optimus A Festival / Lisbon / PORTUGAL
31.05.11 Sydney Opera House Studio / Sydney / AUSTRALIA
30.05.11 Sydney Opera House Studio / Sydney / AUSTRALIA
29.05.11 Sydney Opera House Studio / Sydney / AUSTRALIA
28.04.11 Messeglande / Donaufestival/ Krems / AUSTRIA
09.04.11 Domino Festival / Brussels / BELGIUM
08.04.11 Motel Mozaique / Rotterdam / NETHERLANDS
02.04.11 Shea Stadium New York / USA
01.04.11 Glasslands / New York / USA

[Live @ SXSW] James Blake at Stubb’s BBQ

E.J. — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:17:02 +0000

As the unofficially official wunderkind of the dubstep modernist set (and currently most important name you need to know in music), 21-year-old James Blake had a lot of expectation laid upon him when he took the stage during SXSW 2011 at Stubb’s Bar-B-Que last night. The results speak for themselves: his precociousness never overshadowed his soul-stirring performance, and the audience seemed to pay nearly rapt attention to him — a stunning accomplishment for an artist performing outside at Stubbs. Check out this recording of his performance, courtesy of NPR.

[New Music] Bosco Delrey – 20 Flight Dub

E.J. — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 19:23:37 +0000

We’ve been consciously anticipating the release of Bosco Delrey’s forthcoming album on Mad Decent/Downtown Records, Everybody Wah, for some time now. If you read this blog, you know we’ve been digging the tracks he’s been putting down for a long time. Thanks to the good people at MD, we have a track to share with you from that album. This song, “20 Flight Dub” is the last song on the album, lucky number 13.

Put on your seatbelt: the Bosco Delrey Great Space Coaster is ready for ignition. (Release Date: 29 March 2011)

Tracklist:

01 Baby’s Got a Blue Flame
02 Get Outa Dodge
03 Don Haps
04 Lovely Sleepy Dead
05 All Are Souls The Same
06 Glow Go the Bones
07 Expelled Spelled Expelled
08 Archebold Ivy
09 Afterlife
10 Down We Go
11 Cool Out
12 Insta Love
13 20 Flight Dub

[Album] Mother Mother – Eureka

E.J. — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:33:12 +0000

If power pop is really not your thing, you’re probably in the wrong spot. To my excitement, it happens to be the thing of Vancouver, BC darlings Mother Mother whose third studio album, Eureka, is due for release on 15 March worldwide.

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Sometimes real musical gems come strolling out of left field wearing bright colors, and count this album among them. Eureka’s great strength is in how it effortlessly floats seamlessly between bubblegum pieces of power pop, candied new wave and rock, never becoming altogether an effort of puerile attrition nor a stiff cardboard copy of the genres it bleeds into.

Don’t get me wrong: Mother Mother knows how to inject some rather dark lyrical overtures into their soaring harmonies. But it informs the work we hear without bringing us down in the process. Not merely individually good songs, the album as a whole is the sum of its magnificent parts. The songs come crystalline across the wire like an elegantly crafted thank you letter to Jellyfish, The Cars, Jon Brion, Jason Falkner, The Grays, and Matthew Sweet, all the while maintaining the band’s (and each song’s) individuality. There’s unbridled joy in Mother Mother‘s harmonic blasts, well-worth the broad attention and accolades they deserve. If there’s any justice, this should be the album for the summer of 2011.

Mother Mother – Chasing It Down
Mother Mother- Baby Don’t Dance

[ Mother Mother will appear at SXSW [sched] Friday, March 18, 2011 11:00 PM at Swan Dive (615 Red River Street) ]

[VIDEO] Tyler The Creator – Yonkers

E.J. — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 08:29:10 +0000

Tyler the Creator of OFWGKTA drops a video for the single “Yonkers” from his forthcoming album Goblin. You can cop this single on 2/15 from iTunes.

If you don’t know about OFWGKTA, they’ve got next, like it or not — so get familiar. Prepare to be outraged and amazed at the same time.

FREE EARL

ODD FUTURE WOLF GANG KILL THEM ALL ON TOUR

02/14 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall
02/15 – New York, NY @ Santos Partyhouse
02/17 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbary
02/22 – San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s
04/15 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music Festival

[ OFWGKTA on Tumblr | OFWGKTA Official Site ]

[Video + MP3] Cities Aviv – Float On

E.J. — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 19:51:36 +0000

Memphis today has its fair share of people grinding away at what we would call ‘traditional hip-hop’ — and if you’re familiar with the city’s Oscar-winning exploits, you’d see this as an opposing force to what the city is best known for creating. Memphis is, after all, the city that brought you Three 6 Mafia, Yo Gotti and Al Kapone, just to name a few. The current cultural emphasis on chillwave, lo-fi, echoes of latter-day indie rock and game-spitting masters of hip-hop like Guru (R.I.P), Mos Def and Pete Rock, have subliminally entered the regional zeitgeist, trickling down and giving platform to the rhymes of cats like Cities Aviv.

While mainstream rap music has consistently morphed back into itself, a new generation of MC’s have started to emerge from Memphis’ locally vibrant arts movement, of which Cities Aviv has become a mainstay. When these MC’s grab the microphone, you can immediately tell: they take their cues from a completely different station and location. Still only 21 years old, Aviv comes with a unique delivery and vocal style that searches for the place from which he can calm his nerves and aim his thoughts. He puts out his chest and spits very personal, unapologetic rhymes over left-of-center beats, evidenced on the verses he spits here over Blackbird Blackbird’s cover of “Float On” by Modest Mouse.

While there’s only a handful of digital singles out there right now (most of which you can purchase from his Bandcamp page), his 7″ of “Coastin’” will be released by Fat Sandwich Records shortly, followed closely by his full-length album Digital Lows. Dig this video and accompanying single. And while I’m at it, dig on “A Beautiful Hell” which features the lovely and talented New Orleans-native-now-Memphian Fille Catatonique on vocals.

Cities Aviv – Float On

[ Cities Aviv on Bandcamp | Cities Aviv on Tumblr | Cities Aviv on Facebook ]

VIDEO: The Hundred In The Hands – Commotion

E.J. — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:08:20 +0000

I’ve purposefully taken my time enjoying and toying with The Hundred In The Hands self-titled album in spite of it’s fast-burning reputation. The terrific second single from this momentous self-titled debut is called “Commotion”.

Jason Friedman (no relation) and Eleanore Everdell have tempered an album filled with shimmering songs poised to shoot them past the point of mere dance rock innuendo and well into the consciousness of electronic and modern rock fans.

The Hundred In The Hands – Commotion

The single, “Commotion”, will be released November 2nd. Tracklisting:
A1. Commotion (3:39 Edit)
A2. Commotion (Tiger & Woods Remix)
B1. Aggravation (LA LA-LA LA)
B2. Commotion (Capracara’s Red Zone Dub)

[ Purchase the S/T album (Bonus Track Version) from The Hundred In the Hands via iTunes ]

The New Mary Jane: Sonic brothers in arms

E.J. — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:38:15 +0000

_{Photos courtesy of Dan Ball}

There’s a certain amount of blood, sweat and tears that goes into putting music together for presentation. Some people have the ability intrinsically to do exactly what they want to do; they can see the music and feel it with their hands, describe it in an unformatted manner. Conserving motion as energy to place the effort needed in order to get the music out there is something that comes from years on the road. In some cases, too many years. There’s a desire among gifted musicians to wrestle publicly with the tiger, trying desperately to punch and claw their way into, or out of, the jaws of death using whatever sonic weaponry happens to be in their arsenals.

The New Mary Jane is a culmination of these efforts stemming from two of independent music’s truest road warriors, Dave Shouse and Scott Taylor. Both Shouse and Scott have put innumerable road and stage hours behind them as members of The Grifters, a seminal garage rock band from Memphis, TN that effortlessly combined three-chord blues with crunching, driving noise rock. Dave has gone on to perform with many other incarnations — Bloodthirsty Lovers being, perhaps, the most notable. With the additions of the exceptional John Argroves on drums and James Godwin on keyboards, bass and vocals, The New Mary Jane is as sonically rancorous as any comparable act and, in some ways, even more steeped in the inherent blues traditions that southern music, particularly southern independently-made music, is known for.

What has taken Dave and Scott these many years to cross is some sort of cosmic divide between the people we are when we’re younger and the roots that tie us to each other more closely as the years gain momentum. There’s a loyalty and comraderie, a friendship and a countenance behind it that informs the music as much as the people themselves.

To think back 14 years to the last time I saw The Grifters perform, the progression and the arc of the progress itself is drawn in eerie, jangled keyboards piped through vast circuitry of effects pedals and theremin. The expressiveness of this incarnation, raising the mythical ghosts from the Mississippi delta, is a touchstone of The New Mary Jane’s sound. It tells the story of the gathering, the breakup, the resurrection and resolution of two of Memphis music’s finest sons, seething past the simple into new territories far beyond the imagination.

But make no mistake: The New Mary Jane are not the new Grifters. They’re the evolution of a sound that continues to change and grow.

Ed Wood Soundcheck by The New Mary Jane

Hail The Young Girls Who Pulverize Clouds by The New Mary Jane

Microgore by The New Mary Jane

[ The New Mary Jane on Facebook ]

VIDEO: Aloe Blacc – “Femme Fatale”

E.J. — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:34:14 +0000

Aloe Blacc‘s undeniably brilliant new album of instant soul grooves Good Things has already skyrocketed to #1 on iTunes in France. Check out this video for “Femme Fatale”, a stirring cover of the classic Velvet Underground song of the same name.

Aloe Blacc – Femme Fatale

[ Purchase Aloe Blacc's Good Things from iTunes | Aloe Blacc on Facebook ]

VIDEO: Gyft & Skewby – “So Dope” [certified next]

E.J. — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:29:21 +0000

Here comes a brand new video from Gyft & Skewby. This is NEXT.

MEMPHIS: Bosco Delrey + Youre_Strooly (Electrocity) @ Hi-Tone on September 8th, 2010

E.J. — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:59:48 +0000

Loudersoft in association with Matthew Ess & B Thornburg proudly presents Mad Decent recording artist Bosco Delrey + a live DJ set from Youre_Strooly (Electrocity) live at Hi-Tone Cafe on 8 September 2010.

This show will be 18+ so come on down.

Check out a track from Bosco Delrey
RSVP on Facebook

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Sink/Let It Sway + Everlyn

E.J. — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:13:23 +0000

To say the new album from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin stopped me in my tracks would be an understatement. Whenever I hear them, I’m instantly transported back to the first time I saw them perform live at the on-again-off-again Midwest Music Festival in 2006. In the course of that four years, SSLYBY have done nothing but improve.

Their third album Let It Sway (Polyvinyl) is triumphant, not-too-sweet indie pop with seamless edges in a direct line with The Shins, a collection of nearly perfect gritty pop songs with an achingly sugary filling. The production is never overbearing, set just enough to let the stellar songwriting shine through. Let It Sway, full of sneering sing-along melodies and marching rhythms, droning guitars and punch-drunk effects, has quickly become one of my favorite albums of 2010. I cannot recommend this album enough.

[LISTEN] Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Sink/Let It Sway [MP3]

[LISTEN] Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin – Everlyn

[Pre-order Let It Sway from Insound and receive a FREE 7", poster, sticker, and button (while supplies last)!]