This blog is named after a track from Tom Verlaine's delightful album Dreamtime. Contact me at: marilynroxie@gmail.com with feedback and music submissions! See the A Future in Noise Media Kit for more info on our mission. --- DISCLAIMER: mp3s and ZIPs posted here are with the consent of the artist and/or for evaluation purposes. Please download responsibly!
Another fresh round of up-and-comers, part of our continuing series- be sure to recommend your fav indie artists in the comments! --- Gospel Gossip - Shoegaze / Thrash / Pop - Minnesota, USA I knew fabulous things were to come from Gospel Gossip when I first saw that they were using eLouai dolls to represent their band members over at their MySpace Music page. Their recent album Dreamland has been limited to a run of 500 copies on white vinyl and a limited stock of CDs as well. Dreamland is a delight to listen to, recalling some of the gauziest moments of shoegaze's heyday, with the addition of their unique brand of cinematic instrumental dynamics and Sarah Nienaber's haunting, wispy vocals. "Nashville", the single that preceded the album (and garnered some Pitchfork attention), and the title track "Dreamland" are two big highlights on this lovely release, which you can also stream in part on Last.fm.
Aeroplane Pageant - Indie / Pop / Psychedelic - New York, USA Aeroplane Pageant are a five-piece band formed of childhood friends from Long Island who have just put out their new LP Even the Kids Don't Believe Me. Described as "American-made, barely punk, with some last-minute domestic surrealism", the band waver between the light-hearted and the softly sad, sometimes encompassing both at the same time (as in "Remember I Think"). The narrative-centric video for "Stars Still Pretty" was premiered via Magnet Magazine and The Deli Magazine, which you can check out now on Vimeo!
Elias Iscariot - Post-Punk / Electro / New Wave - Ohio, USA Elias Iscariot, who have opened for and toured with the likes of Mushroomhead, Powerman 5000, and Fischerspooner, have a new release: Untimely Death Like Clockwork, which is available for free streaming and download at Bandcamp (though a $1+ donation is optional), which is as much of an intensely personal portrait as it is an exploration of electro-sounds and just how far the post-punk label can be stretched. "I Want the Beast" and "Westbound" are my fav tracks from the album, which I definitely recommend grabbing in full!
Avante Royale - Surf / Blues / Rock - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil Being a big fan of surf-style guitar music myself (listening to Television's Marquee Moon on repeat for long spells is perhaps the cause of that!), I was quite enthused to be sent the new EP by Brazilian indie rock instrumental four-piece group Avante Royale. It is essential that you download their EP in full as a .ZIP, and in the meantime check out the cool and catchy "La Prima Noche Versus Carmão 1 Pulmão".
Periscope - Indie Pop - Cologne, Germany Periscope are a German indie pop band. Though Phoenix and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's appearance in their top friends on MySpace Music gives a bit of a clue as to their sound, Periscope trek adventurously into uncharted waters that I could only describe as "sunshine art rock", of which "Second Song" and "Above Radars Sun Smies" from their debut EP are prime examples of.
I got to chance to chat with Hakim recently and he answered some of my questions- check out what he had to say below!
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AFIN: What's your musical background? Hakim: I think its funny that when asked about my musical influences I hesitate. Because for me there are so many... but I guess in terms of periods or a music-moment, 80's pop and 90's hip hop hop are my biggest influences. It's what I was completely surrounded by for many years. Punk, Funk and Alternative Rock like Grunge was something that submerged myself into. I was born into the 80s pop scene, literally.
AFIN: Why the decision to enter into production music, specifically? Hakim: Well, for me that language is just a different way to talk about my music. What I mean is that, I make music and I consider myself an artist of sorts, however the music business, particularly the recording industry, has changed so much that artists have been forced to be innovative to sell their music. This is my way to sell my music, my art if you will. If anyone heard my music they probably would not call it "production music". However, the music being synced to major productions, television, film and new media sound more like what is popular these days than what we traditionally think of as "production music".
AFIN: Because production music can encompass a variety of styles and be suited for use in media, just as well? Hakim: Right. So for me, the language is more for the buying market and those in it like music supervisors, content producers, etc.
AFIN:I noticed that you have a Pump Audio link on your page, how do you feel about their model of buying/selling media music? Hakim: It was OK until they recently dropped from a 50/50 split to giving 35% on syncs, a new development- these guys are getting a bad reputation. I've also heard not-so-good things about Rumblefish also.
AFIN: Do you think Creative Commons licensing will have an increasingly important role in music over time? Hakim: Yup- it already has begun. For example, I am going to be remastering and releasing two unreleased albums of mine. These are hip hop and urban contemporary songs that I wrote from 1997 - 2001. Both will be using creative commons licenses.
AFIN: It seems to be an easier way to get one's material distributed, while making rights a bit more clear... Hakim: Easy, yes. I haven't used it for an album of work that could be misused so I cant speak on how clear it is just yet. Here is a sample of something i will be releasing on the first album:
AFIN:What inspired you to start the blog? Hakim: I have been blogging for a while. I actually had a successful blog in a non-music market - which I will not plug here - and I thought I might be able to draw a community around my music in the same way I've done with the other subject.
AFIN:And you're helping to fill a niche, too! Hakim: It's funny. There are very few blogs like mine out there... one blog on licensing I like is the Bank Robber Music blog- it is associated with Hassle House Music. I was on Twitter (@HakimCallier) and Ben Kweller (@BenKweller) and I were tweeting. He told me that he has used Hassle House for many years and that they have been very supportive finding publishing for his songs.
AFIN:What's your opinion on Pitchfork? They get a lot of flak these days. Hakim: Overkill. I think a good music blog should be everything the radio, TV, or mainstream music media is not.
AFIN:Well said! Do you think that music videos will return to the importance they once had any time soon? Hakim: It's hard to say. Honestly, I'm hoping we are are on the brink of something new...that just hasn't been done before. Like, I was talking to my mentor on the bass, NYC punk bassist Brandon Kaaren about the first time we saw rap on MTV! It was completely new and was like, WTF! Then he saw Stetsasonic performing at 14th St Union Sq., with only a mic some kind of combo amp or makeshift PA and their voices (rapping and beat boxing). He told me he hated rap and hates it to this day but that music performance was amazing. That was the early 80s, and I think we are due for something new. Non-technical, I mean artistically new. Technological innovations are cool but seems like we are moving further and further away from art in music. This is why I like Radiohead and Irv Irving (a good friend of mine)...
AFIN: Any other contemporary artists you feel are making innovations? Hakim: Yeah, there is a lot of really great music out there. Some groups I'm listening to right now are: Arctic Monkeys, Daestro, Dirty Projectors, Ra Ra Riot, Ratatat, the Cool Kids, Animal Collective and White Rabbits. Then there are the classics like Morrissey, Seal, the Stranglers, the Stooges, MC5 and the NY Dolls. I guess thats a good snap shot but I could go on. Thank God for the classics because things change so quickly. For instance, I thought Bloc Party was doing a good job of it until...well let me not say anymore. I'll just say i like punk and i really like when punk rocks. AFIN: It's been a long time coming for that! Though their was the garage rock revival in the early 2000s...and post-punk has made a comeback. Hakim: Exactly. I am trying to ride that wave a bit. I stopped doing Hip-Hop since 2001, but I am now working on an album featuring Hip-Hop and RnB stylings with Punk and Electronic-Funk's sounds
AFIN: What productions has your father (Rick Callier) been involved with? Hakim: From what I can remember, he was working with artists from Motown and Polygram in the 80s. The acts I can remember are DeBarge, Commissioned, Fred Hammond, Marvin Sapp, Chico DeBarge and El DeBarge's solo stuff. He worked on lots of gospel records. I was just a kid! Although, I did perform a keyboard part on one of his songs recorded at SuperDisc Recording Studio in Detroit when I was 6. I remember he put blue tape on the keys i had to play and showed me the riff, and i recorded with the big boys!
AFIN: So, of course, he had an influence on the path you took in music... Hakim: Maybe a little. By 7 or 9, I was a wiz on the Roland r5 and Korg SQD.
AFIN:What's your process behind creating a track? Hakim: Bass, bass, bass. For some reason... the bass guitar speaks to me. It speaks in a language that is as comprehend-able for me as English. If I can get the drums and bass to talk to each other, I will begin to work with the song. If I can't get them to speak lovingly or even angrily to each other...I just cut off the equipment and go to bed...just like last night.
AFIN:So, it's all about the rhythm section, then... Hakim: At first. That is the first step. You see my father is a top end guy...a classically trained multi-instrumentalist with emphasis on trumpet and keyboards. So I know that top end people make the music that people notice first on the radio. However, you cannot get top end people to do their best work unless you can get a reaction from them- an emotional reaction that becomes musical through that instrument. That goes for vocalists, stringed, wind and keyboard/piano performers.
AFIN:Absolutely, and I think that is probably especially important for production music, for it to be set to a specific scene. Hakim: Exactly! If you are feeling something, chances are the audience will too. But, if you're not feeling anything, you cannot expect your audience to. AFIN:That's the idea that I had in mind when I first started recording my music I think, especially because i was influenced by video game soundtracks, so i would definitely have specific scenes in mind. Hakim: Now that is a hell of an influence. There is some really powerful music in today's video games. Even in 8 bit video games...I mean who doesn't know the theme from Super Mario Bros.
AFIN: What influences outside of the realm of music would you say have an effect on your own music? Hakim: My family, religion and New York City. It's hard not to be influenced by NYC. But most of all misfortune. Misfortune is great for artistic inspiration and I've had my share.
AFIN: Any advice you would give to someone just getting into making music for productions? Hakim: Yes. Don't sell out. If your music means anything to you, don't sell out. You may be asked to make a song that sounds like this or that. This is just how production people speak, its ok do it. Start out in that ballpark but make the song unmistakably yours. Make it better than the song the production people mentioned. Always be an artist.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LABEL SAMPLER: Or how the sampler album changed the face of British alternative Music, 1978 – 1990
SOME WILL RECALL, before the interweb and mp3s, that music geeks perpetually fuelled their addiction by trading LPs, reading music ‘zines and hanging around grubby 2nd hand record shops. And nothing seemed to shed more light on this dimly-lit and infinitely undiscoverable world than the Label Sampler; records showcasing all of a label’s new hot bands at an affordable price! As a result these albums contain seminal works by many subsequently adored bands alongside a plethora of also-rans who gained a brief moment of wider attention. Indeed, during their 80s heyday one can almost tell the story of the UK’s alternative music scene through the lens of the Sampler…or at least that’s the contrived notion I’ll be exploring in this article.
ORIGINS…
Before the sixties the word ‘sampler’ was usually bandied around by craft enthusiasts to describe knitting patterns and after the 80’s the term came to mean using a bit of someone else’s music to make your own (a bit like the knitting thing really). For a brief couple of decades however, the Sampler was your ticket to music heaven. Gaining popularity in the late sixties, CBS’s The Rock Machine Turns You On, despite being on a major label, clearly targeted the sampler to a countercultural market. Island Records – one of the earliest labels that could rightly be called ‘alternative’ – followed suit in 1969 with You Can All Join In. And everyone duly did. The ensuing 70’s saw a spate of releases, mainly from ‘prog’ labels such as Harvest, Liberty, etc. It was the emergence of the DIY punk and new wave labels that turned the sampler into a staple of the UK’s alternative record business, serving a whole new generation of poverty-stricken youths pining to explore new, obscure and undiscovered sounds.
PUNK AND THE 80S BOOM YEARS Stiff Records, smartly rebranding pub rock as punk & new wave, got in quick with their 1977 offering, A Bunch of Stiffs and thereafter the Sampler appeared to form an integral part of the marketing strategy for small independent labels. Many labels began life with the Sampler, notably Factory’s A Factory Sample Double 7” EP and Some Bizzare’s Some Bizzare Album(featured below). Sampler’s were often lost leaders for labels, sold at the price of a single - an alluring prospect to the penniless young record buyer, especially when, statistically, there should be at a least a couple of likable tracks. The problem for the music fan was having to then fork out your pocket money on all the bands you were suddenly into (just as the evil labels had intended!). The ‘genre sampler’ also began to play an important, for example the British New Wave of Heavy Metal pretty much started with the release of the delightful Metal For Muthas.
DECLINE AND FALL If the eighties were a kind of golden age for the Sampler in Britain – a musical catwalk upon which sprightly new labels could parade their pop hopefuls - then the 90s were more of a geeky trade fair. While small labels continued to proliferate, the bigger labels had regained the control of the charts, pushing indie labels increasingly into ‘genre ghettos’ – and this was reflected in their samplers. Instead of a multi-coloured dolly mixture of sounds you could barely tell one act from another. Although this era still produced some important contributions, particularly within newly evolving genres such as dance and electronica; Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series being a prime example. In the 00s the sampler has further struggled for relevance. The internet now provides such wide access to music and is hardly coy in recommending new artists to you. Fierce Panda, whose founders perhaps grew up on the sampler themselves, have thrashed them out at a rate of knots, returning the emphasis on alternative pop. Other notable examples such as French label Ed Banger’s Ed Rec series also manage to transmit a certain sense of what that label’s all about. Others gave away samplers free – such as Matador’s excellent Draw Me A Riotfrom 2001 – making them closer in spirit to that other cult classic, the magazine freebie. Even the give-away seems a little wasted though, with websites like Last.fm providing music enthusiasts with endless means to hone their recommendations and the opportunity to share music themselves. So the Sampler, rather like the 3D-Viewmaster, doesn’t really cut it in today’s market despite its undeniable charm. I have humbly tried to keep the concept fresh through my involvement with the online-only release Crumby Lovers: A New Weird UK Sampler, although modesty prevents me from mentioning this. Also worth checking out (vis-à-vis my recent Chiptune article) is the Chiptune Alliances’ 2008 Tour Sampler – another example of a sampler put out by an artist collective rather than a label. The Sampler’s future is now in the hands of the listener, able to mix and match their own playlists, display their tastes and share it with everyone or no-one regardless of what label a band is on or indeed whether they are signed at all.
A SAMPLE OF SAMPLER ALBUMS: 1978 - 1990 As a devotee of the Sampler LP during its hey-day I have come to regard these records as more than just label adverts. The examples here, presented in chronological order, all demonstrate links on the evolutionary chain of British indie music from Punk to Britpop, they are more than simply a vehicle for hearing the music, they are statements about what that label represented and a freeze-frame of pop culture history that would be difficult to replicate on a retrospective collection. They also all happen to be records I own and I hope you can share their magic with me.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL: DEDICATED IN HIS ABSENCE TO THE NEFARIOUS CHAMELEON Ostentatious 1978 double sampler LP from Virgin Records awkwardly poised on the cusp of progressive rock and punk. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Piglet in red wellington boots on the cover and glow in the dark vinyl discs (x2). Some nice dub reggae on side 3. As its pretentious sub-title implies, DOA is a sampler album with one foot (or one of its piglet’s trotters) firmly in prog rock, another in punk and (being a 4 legged animal) one in dub reggae and the fourth in esoteric pop. Indeed each of the four glow-in-the-dark-vinyl sides of the record is dedicated to each of these genres. Peculiar. The punx are bound to hate the prog bit and vice versa. There are no outstanding tracks on here really but it says a lot about the times and about Virgin records, who ultimately did triumph in the punk revolution but were clearly still in transition at this point. The scariest thing is how it ever got commissioned - the glossy gatefold sleeve, the hideous cover art, the disgustingly coloured glowing vinyl (which needs to be held up to a light for ages before it will glow, melting the vinyl in the process). It must have cost a fortune and is surely the rock folly of Sampler LPs!
MACHINES 1980 label/genre sampler (from Virgin again) featuring synthy new romantic electro pop, though not just from the Virgin catalogue … DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Cheapo sci-fi cover art so of its time as to make yearn and sigh for lost innocence. Features Fad Gadget’s ‘Ricky’s Hand’ and an alternative mix of OMD’s ‘Messages’. If you’re into this kind of thing then this album is simply a great listen. Apart from the appalling “Making Love To My Wife” by Henry Badowski (author’s opinion!) this is an enjoyable slice of synth-pop with the emphasis on electro. It was this record that introduced me to Fad Gadget’s ‘Ricky’s Hand’ (the second 7” to released on the Mute Label and produced by Mute founder Daniel Miller), a pop song about a man with a power drill for a hand with a hard 4-to-the floor beat and crisp chunky synths – making it sound not dissimilar to stuff coming out nowadays.
METHODS OF DANCE Discothèque friendly Collection of 12” mixes of new wave/new romantic songs from 1981. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: British rock critic and borderline existentialist Paul Morley’s beautiful sleeve notes and the 12” version of Japan’s “The Art of Parties” (the album title is also taken from a Japan song).
“It is so staggering as to be a mystery of existence equal to the establishment of supine political debate, that deliciously yet quite contrary riches as ‘Love Song’, ‘Soul Warfare’, ‘Art of Parties’ and ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ failed to be holy hit singles. Thinking about the failure of these dramatic vibrating structures to nobly charge into the sinning chart brings into me a sensation of anguish, a sort of dizziness…”
Thus continue Paul Morley’s sleeve notes; a sprawling emotional essay on the political and personal import of pop music and its relevance to the era in which he was writing – and all in an impossibly small font rendered illegible against the bright pink background of the cover art. The tracks are all great but I think Mr Morely’s notes are actually the highlight, in themselves reinforcing the cultural significance of the sampler LP. There is also a Vol. II, minus the notes but including an incredible disco interpretation of Bowie’s the ‘Secret Life of Arabia’ by B.E.F. and featuring characteristically over-the-top vocals by The Associates’ Billy Mackenzie. Pretty much the essence of how imagine one of Rusty Egan’s ‘Bowie Nights’ at the Blitz club.
SOME BIZZARE ALBUM The eccentric Stevo Pearce (or Stevø as he is credited on the sleeve) kick started his successful Some Bizzare label with this 1981 sampler. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Introducing the world to Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, The The and Blancmange… Contenders B-Movie and The Fast Set sadly didn’t make the grade. Probing the weirder, darker and generally more unpleasant fringes of the new-romantic scene, it’s quite an achievement that Some Bizarre Album introduced so many subsequently chart-friendly acts, especially given much of the album is almost unlistenable. Depeche Mode’s ‘photographic’ is a dark and austere synth-pop gem but you can hear the basis of the subsequent catchy but samey material that brought them such consistently moderate success (sorry Mode-fans). However, Soft Cell and The The’s tracks are grim, really grim. I guess Soft Cell fans may be au fait with a little subversion but even tracks like ‘Sex Dwarf’ from Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret would not prepare you for ‘The Girl With The Patent Leather Face’. The The’s track – which has no title, just a blank space, is an hideous nightmare-inducing monologue, typifying a lot of the music here – all the way to Blah Blah Blah’s revolting ’Central Park’. However, as the title of this track suggests, there is a New York art-scene influence here, certainly one might think of Suicide but there’s also a hint of the (Eno produced) No New York – a ‘no wave’ genre sampler that perhaps should have been included here! However, a notable forgotten band is B-Movie who’s inclusion ‘Moles’ is enjoyable but who are also worth seeking out for their one minor hit ‘Remembrance Days’. Unlike others on SBA though, the big time eluded them.
PILLOWS & PRAYERS (CHERRY RED 1982 – 1983) Label sampler for Cherry Red Records DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Giving us Felt, The Monochrome Set, Eyeless in Gaza and Everything But The Girl. Five or Six and The Passage deserved more notoriety. Some say that Cherry Red was a label with an identity crises – possibly true, but as a result this album has a wonderful eclecticism and a well deserved cult status. It also has a special place in my heart for introducing me to Felt. Five or Six were an amazing coldwave group who seem to be as disproportionately underrated as Joy Division are overrated (sorry Joy-fans) and The Passage’s caustic and uninhibited synth-pop is how the Human League should have sounded. I will be writing more about this album in another article here at AFIN later this month.
ANGELS IN THE ARCHITECTURE Cultivated Editions EG sampler from 1987 showcasing the label’s backlog of material on the borderline between rock and modern composition. DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Possibly turning people on to Harold Budd and the Penguin Café Orchestra. Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Laraaji are my personal favourites.
“Mozart would probably have understood and might even have enjoyed the music contained in this compilation” – From the sleeve notes
I can’t vouch for Mozart but this album has been incredibly influential to me and the echoes of this tradition of experimental, non-classical modern composition continue to resound through subsequent examples of modern instrumental music from post-rock and ambient to what might be termed 'contemporary chamber music' in the form of Yann Tierson, Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson et al. Familiar names from the (70s) rock world and mostly Island Records cohorts (EG being an offshoot of Island) including Bill Bruford (King Crimson, Yes), Robert Fripp (King Crimson again) Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music) and Brian Eno – demonstrate their more experimental sides, presumably as by this time they’ve been largely eschewed from the pop world. Excepts from Eno’s Ambient series such as Laraaji may now be familiar but for me the lesser known gem is Hans-Joachim Roedelius’ ‘Kleine Blume Irgendwo’ – a naïve chamber trio of piano, mouth organ and electric organ. Fans of this type of thing might also like to check out the wonderful Made to Measure series.
DOING IT FOR THE KIDS “This is a label of love…” Declares Alan McGee on the reverse of his 1988 Creation Records Sampler LP DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: An introduction for many to House of Love, Primal Scream, Felt (again) and My Bloody Valentine. Talent kind of speaks for itself here, the soon-to-be-big names providing the best sounds. This “LP for the price of a 7” single” encapsulates the transition from jangly-twee-shoegazing-indie to baggy-stoner-proto-grunge-neo-psyche that kind of happened around then. Simultaneously harking back to the sixties while embracing modern influences including dance and US experimental rock such as Pixies and Sonic Youth, you can sense the climate that would ultimately produce archetypal albums like Screamadelica and Loveless. The aforementioned Felt moved to Creation in the mid eighties and went on to achieve some of their best work, although sadly no greater recognition. Best track on here in my opinion is MBV’s ‘Cigarette in my Bed’ which, In-keeping with the transitional tone of the album, illustrates their own metamorphosis from jangle-pop to the soul coaxing and illusory world of liquid noise that would earn them their current status.
SHADOW FACTORY 1988 twee-pop sampler from Sarah Records DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Characteristically indistinguishable. Includes tracks by The Orchids and The Field Mice and other wonderfully named bands, if you can tell them apart.
“so when one dismal morning a new song turns up at our door, full of wrong notes and wrong chords but crammed with right Everything Elses, and my typical daydreamy swirl has their name at once scuffed out with reverence on each rain-splattered sandcastled beach from Chepstow to Bridgwater Bay ...” – From the sleeve notes
Sarah Records, based in my native Bristol UK epitomised the sound that was, for a time, the very definition of ‘indie’ - soft, jangly, fey and indistinct music characterised by layered guitars, indecipherable vocals (seemingly without consonants) and an almost total absence of bass. The contrast-free monochrome picture on the cover sums up the sound. Sarah released a number of these compilations spanning ’88 – ‘95 of which this is probably the best, all named after local landmarks in and around Bristol that probably only us yokels would be familiar with (in this case, fact fans, the Bristol Aeroplane Company’s wartime factory) and reminds me of a city I was vaguely aware of during my childhood before it went all cool and trip-hop… It’s just a pity the music, whilst possessing a kind of pastoral psyche-pop charm, was just so (deliberately?) bland. You can hear the influence today in bands like The Clientele and I guess certain people, including myself, will always be drawn to this scene’s weirdly fascinating aesthetic… but after a while you may be itching to get yr freak on to some booty-bass.
HOME Obscure 1990 sampler for the largely forgotten Manchester, UK based Sheer Joy label DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Providing a taster of the emerging ‘Madchester’ scene. World of Twist’s ‘The Storm’ is the highlight. An odd album encompassing a kind of baggy, dancey indie sound indicative of the so called ‘Madchester’ scene which would ultimately be partly responsible for Britpop. Opening the record Swirl’s monosyllabic band name is instantly indicative the forthcoming era dominated by Pulp, Blur etc. There is a notable inclusion here from Mark E. Smith (not credited as The Fall) on a track called “Theme From ERROR-ORRORI” (now available on the expanded reissue of Extricate). My personal favourite is World of Twist’s “The Storm”, a luscious dancefloor friendly track shamelessly lifting the riff from Iggy and the Stooges’ ‘Penetration’ to perfect effect. Perhaps the nod to Iggy typifies pop’s eternal struggle between crude decadence and knowing restraint (illustrated later that decade by the Blur/Oasis rivalry) that is seemingly a pre-requisite in allowing music culture to evolve; each new scene erupting in a deliberately vulgar decrying of their predecessors lofty ideals until, after making some pious refinements of their own, they too succumb to the perpetual upsurge of youthful, primal rock and roll - thus creating the feedback loop that has brought us to our current cultural melange. Or something like that.
Movie are a band from New York made up of Austin Barney (guitars, vocals, synths), Jacob Brunner (drums, synths), and Stu Watson (bass, guitar, synths vocals) set to release their new album White Whales on Shatter Your Leaves Records on 7/7.
Branded as "New Wave / Grunge / Experimental" on their MySpace Music page, Movie do indeed take inspiration from the 80s post-punk and late 80s/early 90s shoegaze movement, and bring a new twist by combining those sounds with a highly melodic tunefulness and crisp audio production. Opener "Loomings" is a soft introduction to the band's sound- the listener will find that the whole album gradually eases into the full Movie sound, much like a slowly rolling wave building up into one crashing against the shore. It makes sense, then, the theme of the sea that is ever-present on White Wales. "Island" (see video below) is suitably accompanied by beach imagery, sounding a bit like New Order's "Ceremony", Part II. "The Tunnel" channels a Jesus and Mary Chain-esque vibe in the instrumentation and song structure, cool and catchy, while "Bulkington" and "Ships and Vehicles" drop down the tempo with a somber, isolated feel throughout.
"Inside" (which was the track we'd featured here in our Independent Music Discoveries post including Movie a few months back) is a quintessential neo-post-punk track and would make for a brilliant single. "Clouds and Fish and Sea" turns the spotlight to coldwave, recalling Siglo XX and Crispy Ambulance. "Regret" is a bit sunnier of a track, and awash in some particularly lovely guitar work. "Sound" and "Waves" retain the isolation of earlier tracks, but with a bigger splash of hopefulness. The three part end-suite "Chase" comprises a fuller picture of the textures that are possible in Movie's sound, ending the album strong, with the open avenue of promise for future material.
Along with independent bands like The Watermarks and Burnt Fur, Movie are responsible for bringing modern aesthetics to new wave and electronic elements of the past, acting as a homage to legendary acts like those listed in their influences (Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine) while still innovative.
La Roux (french for "the red-haired one") are a Scottish electro-pop duo made up of Elly Jackson (vocals, synth) and Ben Langmaid (co-songwriter, co-producer). Their debut LP was preceded by much music media fervor, with La Roux being featured in The Guardian's 'Best New Acts of 2009' and with "In For the Kill" hitting #2 on the UK singles charts in March, and new single "Bulletproof" debuting at #1 on 6/28. While some may take their sound as a homage to 80s synth-pop and new wave, and though "the Human League, Heaven 17, Blancmange, and Simple Minds" are acknowledged as influences, Elly Jackson said to the Quietus that "It's just pop music! Eurythmics were never seen as electropop, it was just pop music. Neither were Depeche Mode, it's just pop music."
My introduction to La Roux was hearing Rachel Furner's beautiful cover of "In For the Kill", which brings in soft sentimentality in a degree not heard in the original, which is spirited and often rough-edged, like much of La Roux, which this song opens and typifies well. Up next is "Tigerlily", a fierce tune with a haunting spoken word piece from Jackson's father, a highlight and my top pick from the album. "Quicksand", La Roux's first single release in 2008 on Kitsuné Music, is as catchy as it is biting, and a sharp indicator that "the record is based around a rocky love affair".
"Bulletproof" (see video below) has a peppier, rounded feel in the music, but the sting remains in Jackson's vocals. "Colourless Colour" is softer still, leading into "I'm Not Your Toy", with video-gamey synths (appearing again on "If Not By Magic") and the chorus: "It's all false love and affection / You don't want me, you just like the attention". "Cover My Eyes" (featuring the London Community Gospel Choir) provides the most touching moment on the album.
"Fascination" and "Reflections Are Protection" pump up the tempo again, with "Armour Love" leading the album to a light close and bonus track "Growing Pains" reminding the listener that, for as much personal anguish La Roux represents, they are certainly capable of making fun, bubbly music, too. This album can sit comfortably next to Lady Gaga's The Fame and Little Boot's Hands in sonic similarities, though La Roux has emotional depths that neither of those artists have yet plundered. La Roux - Official Site | on MySpace Music
The latest installment from our continuing series...:
Wheat - Rock / Folk Rock / Indie - Massachusetts, USA Wheat are a group of guys that may very well have the "quirky indie rock" thing down pat (Rolling Stone thinks so, and they're Pitchfork-approved), though there is certainly more to them than that. Listening to "H.O.T.T." (which stands for 'half of the time'), the opening track from their upcoming album White Ink, Blck Ink due July 21st, reveals Wheat's exceptional knack for catchiness, positive vibes and the strong urge to sing along manifesting in the listener without fail. Golau Glau - Indie / Electronica / Folk - Wales, UK 'Ethereal' is a word thrown around quite a bit in music journalism, but Golau Glau are truly deserving of the adjective. This music seems to exist somewhere between a tropical island and the heavens above ("Soft Silver Young"), feathery, drifting, and altgoether lovely ("La Dame Blanche"). Their beautiful new release Arianna, which I would strongly recommend grabbing, is available for free streaming and download at Last.fm.
Static Brigade - Indie / Electro / Pop - England, UK / Maryland / Washington D.C., USA Static Brigade are fast becoming appreciated on the East Coast for their blend of all the best elements of electro-pop, past and present, as well as the fact that they've played gigs with the likes of Natalie Portman's Shaved Head and The Ting Tings. Check out "Destroy Something Else" and "White Noise", from their upcoming July EP, and get ready to dance!
Malbec - Indie / Rock / Hip-Hop - California, USA Malbec, a five piece Los Angeles band, recently released a string of EPs, one per month, called The Answering Machine EPs, all of which are available to download at their official site. Their summery, though melancholic, sound is best exemplified in "The Answering Machine". You can check out a host of music videos and artwork related to The Answering Machine EPs over at their Vimeo group. (thanks to Eugenia for the recommendation!)
93MillionMilesFromTheSun - Shoegaze / Indie / Electronica - Doncaster, UK Shoegaze-esque music appears to be in high gear in 2009, but how much of it should be pared down to copyists and the true champions of the genre? 93MillionMilesFromTheSun, without doubt, belong in the second category, as they are interested in pushing the genre forward, and meeting more than enough expectation for guitar-fuzz dramatics in a dreamworld of sound. Have a listen to "Darke Star" from their debut release. (thanks to Marcel for the recommendation!)
Two iconic artists passed away today: Sky Saxon (frontman of early 1960s garage band The Seeds) and Michael Jackson.
Sky Saxon had been hospitalized on Monday, reported in Spinner as "suffering from an undisclosed illness". He played his last gig on Saturday night at Antone's in Austin, Texas. Along with groups like The Sonics and The Monks, The Seeds, formed in Los Angeles 1965, were a crucial part of the first wave of garage rock. Their '65 single "Can't Seem to Make You Mine" (later covered by artists like Johnny Thunders, Garbage, and Yo La Tengo) and 1966 single "Pushin' Too Hard", later included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, were particular hits in southern California. Their 1966 releases The Seeds (pictured above) and A Web of Sound exemplify the early garage/freakbeat sound, with 1967 album Future leaning towards their psych-rock side, after which the Seeds disbanded and A Spoonful of Seedy Blues was released by the Sky Saxon Blues Band. Through the years, Saxon had released a number of solo albums and performed with assorted incarnations of the Seeds, and according to Jargon Records, he had recently recorded an album of new material due out this year.
Michael Jackson, as reported at E! Online, "suffered a heart attack...and never recovered" (details are still unfolding as I write this). Originally debuting in The Jackson 5 soul/R&B group, formed in 1966, with his siblings on 1969 album Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, Michael Jackson went on to an impressive, successful solo career, later being referred to as "The King of Pop", with albums like Off the Wall (1979; pictured above), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987), and became an integral part of 1980s MTV music video rotation and transforming the music video as a medium into an art form. Amidst legal woes and assorted press maladies, he had announced a comeback tour and new album in the works at a press conference in March, though dates had been postponed amidst rumors of poor health.
We at A Future in Noise encourage our readers to celebrate these artists' incredible legacy of music, today and for all-time.
Musicians On Call, formed in 1999, is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing live music performances and recorded music (in the form of 'CD Pharmacies') "to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities...[using] music to promote and complement the healing process for patients, families and caregivers." As 2009 marks their 10th anniversary, their goal is to raise $10,000 in 10 weeks- you can donate as little as $10 (which brings one live bedside performance to a patient) to help them in their mission by visiting Musicians on Call - $10,000 in 10 Weeks, and you can check out their informational video below to find out more.
It may surprise you to learn that the hit BBC nature show Planet Earth has a lot of useful information about indie music success, but it's true (promise). The geniuses who created Planet Earth (whether intentionally or not) have revealed the perfect business model for the independent internet musician.
Specifically, we should take a look at their episode on the Jungle. In this episode we learn that the jungles of the earth are VERY crowded because there is an abundance of nutrients and water and just generally very hospitable conditions for life. Because of this, animals and plants of all bizarre shapes and sizes have made the jungle their home. Since there are SO MANY organisms in one place it actually makes the jungle an extremely competitive place! EVEN THOUGH it's such a fertile place to be. (Sound familiar?)
The Internet is, I think many of you would agree, a jungle. It is a technological jungle that people have created to share information, make friends, or do whatever else they please. It seems there is just NO END AT ALL to what is available for a web surfer to do. Enormous amounts of people are online.
Ok, so you're a musician and would like to make a living from your art. That is certainly a respectable goal- but HOW is the question that everyone keeps asking.
While there isn't one specific answer, the organisms that inhabit the jungle can give us a clue as to how WE (independent music hopefuls) can also survive in the highly competitive music business.
If you look closely you'll see that there isn't any one animal that completely dominates the ENTIRE jungle. You'll find that each plant or bug inhabits its own tiny, individual niche. For example, some frogs NEVER leave the tree they were born in, they live there for their entire lives. But here's the thing- that's ok!
In order to survive as a musician, you must target your own specific niche. YOUR OWN particular audience that wants to hear what you have to say. It doesn't matter if the whole world hears your music, it only matters if the people who like your music hear you (the people who matter).
This means you have to find out who EXACTLY are the people who would like your music then GO to them. What kind of music do your (potential) fans like? What do they wear? What do they eat? Be as SPECIFIC as you can, it'll help you know where to promote yourself and your music.
With some research, perseverance, persistence, and maybe a little luck you'll be on your way to a successful and happy career as an independent musician. Cheers.
YACHT is a band, originally begun by Jona Bechtolt (former member of The Blow) and as of last year including new member Claire L. Evans (also a writer on science / science fiction and an artist), as well as a "belief system and business", according to their Mission Statement. They also have an affinity for triangles and a variety of religions, as evidenced in their Tumblr. As much shtick as their nearly spiritual/paranormal presentation may appear at first glance, it certainly is a part of See Mystery Lights, the forthcoming Yacht release, due out July 28th on DFA Records.
The title See Mystery Lights was named after the curious Marfa light phenomenon that occurs in Marfa, Texas, where they were writing and recording tracks. While the album kicks off with two belief statements, "Ring the Bell" (with lyrics like "I grew up with fear in my heart" and "Will we go to heaven or will we go to hell? It's my understanding that neither are real") and "The Afterlife" ("Death is not the end of this song..."), oddly enough, their sentiments merge with the music and aren't overbearing.
With this being almost a concept album and with a tighter framework to cast the material in, this is easily the best project Bechtolt has been involved with; his quirky, tuneful arrangement and beat-making abilities have even more to be said for them than in his previous release I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real, and are particularly distinct from his work in the Blow, and Evans' vocals are a welcome, natural-sounding accompaniment. "I'm in Love With a Ripper" strikes the ears like a neo-Art of Noise track, with some oddball vocal effects and some Auto-Tune-ish activity going on. "It's Boring/You Can Live Anywhere You Want" is nearly 9 minutes long, with two songs unnecessarily tied together that would have worked better unhinged.
"Psychic City" is a reworking of "Voodoo City", a track by Rich Jensen from 1987 cassette release Two Million Years (you can read more on the song's background here), from an avant-garde obscurity to a summery, though still odd, prime single choice. And speaking of summer..."Summer Song"(see video below) is up next, which preceded the album last year as a sort of tribute single to LCD Soundsystem, who they had toured with previously- this prompted DFA to put out the Summer Song EP in 2008 and sign Yacht for an album release!
"We Have All We Ever Wanted" returns to the art-pop aesthetics hinted at earlier on, and could be taken as simultaneously anti-Internet and pro-Internet, with lines like "Protect your eyes / Be careful with the downloading" and "Protect yourself from digital decay" on the one hand, and anthemic chants about how everything is now available at once because of technology on the other. "Don't Fight the Darkness" breezes by with shuffling beats and the repeated refrain "Don't fight the darkness / Bring the light / And darkness (Will disappear)", also referenced on their Muxtape page. The party mix of "I'm in Love With a Ripper" dilutes some of the original's quality, but serves its purpose for clubiness. The version of "Psychic City" that closes the album is more closely approximated to Rich Jensen's original, lo-fi and with "HOOAH"s!
See Mystery Lights is as interesting as it is enjoyable, as their press release sums up perfectly: "The true beauty...is that one can choose to dive down YACHT's rabbit hole and search for answers -- or just as easily ignore their cryptic motifs and enjoy See Mystery Lights for the adventurous and innovative avant-pop album that it is."
Gospel Gossip - Shoegaze / Thrash / Pop - Minnesota, USA
Aeroplane Pageant - Indie / Pop / Psychedelic - New York, USA
Elias Iscariot - Post-Punk / Electro / New Wave - Ohio, USA
Avante Royale - Surf / Blues / Rock - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Periscope - Indie Pop - Cologne, Germany
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