Monday 19 July 2010

A Deadbeat Summer...

'In summer, the song sings itself.' ~William Carlos Williams


Hola once again! Yet another month or so of shuffling, moving, job searching, homelessness, kerfuffle (and losing my password to access my blogspot) and I am finally back to attempt to blog every other day or so on music and all that such a wondrously vast topic entails.


I will be attempting to bring a few ongoing sections (such as Cover Me Slowly) into constant
renewal on here as well as this weekly update on what to send spiralling down your earholes!

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Seeing as I have had a penchant over the last few posts for some sort of gnarly, lo-fi-esque band, why not kick off again with one more for good measure...

Oh and they are based out of bloomin' Brooklyn (OFF TOPIC I visited recently and MUST live there; on with the music!).

Coasting are two females, Fiona and Madison, with the ability to send their sound hurtling down a grinder of sorts, resulting in the strained sophistication that stumbles out in the likes of the deliberate drubbing titled 'Don't Fight'. But don't, not for one second, think they don't know how to thrash something bone rattling out via a heady drumbeat and a growling grumble of a guitar. Just smack the self-titled 'Coasting' all the way up and feel your fillings fall out.

'Kids' is a standout piece of blurred singalong rock that gets off with its own percussive power. I pray they make it to London around the time I get there.


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I recently had the pleasure of reviewing a record for Middleboop by a man from LA, named Will Wiesenfeld but using the name of Baths for the musical miscellany he musters. Every song on 'Cerulean', the blue-ish title of the album, sounds like a hazy, misty memory not quite recallable yet always on the tip of the proverbial tongue.

'Maximalist' kickpushes its way through a field of samples whilst the strained vocals and beat of 'Lovely Bloodflow' pulsates with a blood-like resonance. The percussion on the record acts as a honed heartbeat, tapping and ricocheting its way amidst an emotional sea of lyrics on love and sound effects recalling birdsong and shoreline rumblings.

The full album review can be found right HERE at Middleboop so go check it out for a little more info on this suprisingly loud chillout album by Baths.


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Folk music is always tricky to get right, with modern attempts treading the fine line between modern technology and production and the archaic, elemental factor in the original folk stylings of the early 20th century. So, it is lovely to hear it done right once in a while.

Dear Winesburg are a foursome who use a host of lush instrumentation (including a wondrous chunk of harmonica) on their debut, self-titled album. Frontman Chris Kreinczes' vocals seep out through a time machine, at times rasping like a young Tom Waits and then suddenly lighting up in full story-telling mode, as if preaching to a full campfire circle. Lyrically, the stories at hand weave and duck through wit and litany, seen wonderfully in the tale told within 'Under The Eaves'.
Violins kick in sporadically to great effect, throwing a Civil War atmosphere into the intoxicating mixture of archaic, melancholy folk music peddled by Dear Winesburg. Well worth a listen and I am deeply regretting my inability to reach their EP release gig, and hope to make it along to another opportunity asap.


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Last Minute Reinforcements....

  • Fol Chen sound like Dirty Projectors with a roomful of instruments, a heap of something illegal and intoxicating and a supercomputer...their second album 'The New December' is simply sublime...
  • Janelle Monae is all over most blogs and reviewers' radar after the release of her debut 'The Archandroid'. One more can't hurt. It is AMAZING. Go Get It....
  • I love Jenny Lewis. Literally LOVE. But her boyfriend, Jonathan Rice is also bloody talented and they are releasing an album together titled 'I'm Having Fun Now'...DAMN HIM!
Albums out over the next week or so that you should probably buy include;
  • 'Archive 2003-2006' by Department Of Eagles [Melodically low key indie pop with a hint of the avant garde and a spot of dreaming drama...]
  • 'Turning Lead Into Gold With The High Confessions' by The High Confessions [Loud, spindly and long with plenty of drums, fuzz and backlash]
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Keep live and kicking for a bunch of different features and sections and whatnots!

Buh Bye!
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