Archive for 2011
Jens Lekman’s most recent excercise in syllable cramming is called ‘An Argument With Myself’ and is yet another reason to love the already charming, notoriously wordsy Melbourne based Swede. The good news that there’s a new release from Jens on the way was tainted by the addendum that it’s an EP rather than a full length but whatever, I’ll chow down on anything he sends in our direction. The EP is out in September.
Jens Lekman – ‘An Argument With Myself’
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SD endorsed musicians doing cool junk on camera, watch these.
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Tim Fitz – Morning Mr Magpie (Radiohead Cover) |
Sleepyhands – Autumn March (Shoot the Player Session) |
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Sufjan Stevens (ft. Bryce + Aaron Dessner) – Pleasure Priciple (Live on Soundcheck) |
The Tallest Man On Earth – Love Is All (Live on KEXP) |
James Blake tonight, get jealous.
These have been a formative past 12 months for Sleepyhands. The reasonably ragtag debutante that we saw play it’s first ever show at the Brass Monkey 13 months ago is now a finely tuned sonic collosus. Their facebook followers (the true qualitative measure of a band) have moved from 10 to near 1,000 and they’ve picked up the single greatest drummer that has ever been [in Sleepyhands]. Even more impressive is the fact that they’ve managed to grow so heartily in spite of the band’s serious inter-personal difficulties. Accusations that drummer Tim Watkins has been funneling band profits to anti-semitic group Hizb ut-Tahrir and that guitarist Tim Adamson actually stole the head of Christopher Mintz-Plasse left the band embroiled in multiple law-suites late last year. But, having overcome these hardships, Sleepyhands have delivered us a new madrigal.
The track is called ‘Smoke People’, which if read as a directive is pretty socially irresponsible given the high rates of smoking related illness and prevalence of lung cancer. More seriously though, it’s a strong indication that Sleepyhands aren’t a one trick pony as their movement forward is undeniable, notably in the songwriting. They’ve shed the formulaic song structure present of their self-titled EP (which was, nonetheless, a straight up bonanza) but retained the pristine guy/girl/girl harmonies. Listen to it yourself and let me know your thoughts.
Sleepyhands – ‘Smoke People’
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If you’re not already familiar with them, Pepper Rabbit are the LA based duo of Xander Singh and Luc Laurent. They released Beauregard in 2010 to internet acclaim. Whether or not that’s translated into commercial success is another matter, and probably something that’s beside the point. In what I think is probably an attempt to garner a little extra attention before the release of their next record Red Velvet Snowball in August, they’ve opted to give Beauregard away for a cheeky zero dollars. Trundle over to Noise Trade to cop a free download of the whole record, for free, without paying. Or you can tip them if you’re a better (read wealthier) guy than I. Meantime, here’s a Pepper Rabbit track that’s not even on Beauregard. Edgy.
Pepper Rabbit – ‘Rose Mary Stretch’
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*UPDATE* You can also download a few extra free tracks at CoS. This post has turned out to be rather fruitful indeed.
The same Scottish voice that left western hipsteress feeling tonguetied and loveless in 2009 has once again returned. For the same reason that Ewan McGregor gets more action than The Expendables (which was awful) women will literally eat from the palms of WWPJ frontman Adam Thompson when he opens his mouth. If I had a Scottish accent I guarantee that I’d be a CEO by now. Don’t be misled though, they aren’t simply an accent and a rad name (dreadful when first heard, genius when considered). On their debut record These Four Walls, We Were Promised Jetpacks alluded to the fact that they were a thundering load of awesome throughout their 11 tracks of post-rock build and crescendoing lyrical repetition. Now however, it’s time for the ever harrowing sophomore release (titled In The Pit Of The Stomach) which traditionally sorts the wheat from the chaff and if the first single ‘Act on Impulse’ is anything to go by then we’re looking at another winner. I don’t know any better way to articulate their sound than simply big. Volume up.
We Were Promised Jetpacks – ‘Act On Impulse’
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For posterity’s sake, here’s a track from These Four Walls as well.
We Were Promised Jetpacks – ‘It’s Thunder and It’s Lightning’
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