Dana Buoy (aka Dana Janssen, percussionist for Akron/Family) is set to release his debut LP (Summer Bodies) on May 8, courtesy Lefse Records. “Call To Be” is the first tune to be released from the album and it’s an interesting pop song, upbeat in a tropical Pacific Northwest meets NYC sort of way. (I know, huh!?) It’s dreamy, hypnotic, but most intriguing of all, it has a sci-fi beach sound to it
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Dana Buoy: Call To Be
White Fence: Swagger Vets and Double Moon
White Fence is the project of Tim Presley (Darker My Love), and it rocks. Presley joins fuzzy psychedelic sounds with hazy garage pop on “Swagger Vets and Double Moon”. It’s similar in its pop sensibilities to the track “Lillian (Won’t You Play Drums)” off Is Growing Faith, but it’s even catchier thanks to the psychedelic aspects Presley employs. “Swagger Vets and Double Moon” is easily my curr
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Fense’s Radio Show: February 10, 2012
I got pulled over tonight. Nothing big, just a bad taillight. The cop may have thought I was trying to evade him, pulling into the dark, always vacant Skagit Valley College parking lot late on a Friday night. As soon as I rounded the corner, his lights went on. He was really nice, just wanted to give me a heads up that the light was off. Made sure my license was valid, I had insurance, and the
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Conduits: Top of the Hill
One of my favorite elements of shoegaze is its tendency to combine monumental, spacey guitar riffs with dreamy, oft wispy vocals. Conduits excel at this pairing on their new track “Top of the Hill”. Likewise, the typical shoegaze darkness persists, all encompassing but not entirely overwhelming. There’s energy here, but it’s not the torment so often found in post-rock. Oddly enough, the voice i
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Sharon Van Etten: Serpent
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“Serpents” is a complete departure from Sharon Van Etten‘s early work. Admittedly, I missed her sophomore release, Epic from 2010, but was fully entranced by her debut, 2009′s Because I Was In Love. Here, she shatters the quietude of the stripped-down acoustic guitar of that earliest album with a folk-rock piece that is utterly haunting. Musically, “Serpent” may fit the title of her sophomore re
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Black Marble: Pretender
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Black Marble is Ty Kube and Chris Stewart, who produce somewhat minimalist synth music. With a synth drum beat, a synth melody, and deep, dark vocals, “Pretender” is a song that is one part Joy Division, one part Craft Spells, and one part its own thing. The song can be found on the band’s new EP via Hardly Art. It’s called Weight Against The Door and it’s out digitally now and on vinyl Valenti
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Fense’s Radio Show: February 3, 2012
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After a week away, it was nice to be back in the studio. This week I played several folk-related tunes, a few garage-based ones, and a small handful of indie pop tracks. With the amount of indie-folk I’ve played of late, I’m thinking we’re in store for another dreamy mix and maybe even a garage rock mix in the near future. Andi and I have been on a DIY kick of late and a recent project has been h
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The Horde And The Harem: Feature
I’m no stranger to discovering new music already in my collection. One such band is The Horde And The Harem, who’s song “Gold Rush” has been an obsession of mine since I unearthed it a few weeks ago. “Gold Rush” was released on their Harvest EP way back in 2010. So after a quick Google of the band yesterday evening, I discovered they have a brand new LP out (day of, nonetheless!) called A Long M
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This Will Destroy You: Black Dunes
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“Black Dunes” by This Will Destroy You is a song entirely dark and ghostly. Beginning with subtle sounds, this post-rock meets shoegaze band out of Texas does a great job creating a haunting melody, and their new video for “Black Dunes” capitalizes on their ability to create an eerie song. Malcolm Elijah overlaps black and white footage with surreal results.A typical song is about three and a half
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Flying Spiders: Live at Zola [01.21.12]
Long gone are the days when hip hop music was simply about how flashy your car is or how great blood diamonds look around your neck. Nowadays it is more important to have a good head on your shoulders, a great rhythm, and maybe even a live full 8 piece live band? And here in the heartland of the Northwest, there happens to be a fabulous group who has all of these elements and so much more. The
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Capybara (Feature)
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I sometimes find the diversity of my own musical tastes a bit bizarre. Just as apt to toss a classic jazz album like Kind of Blue onto the record player, I too have no qualms listening to the loudest of garage rock then switching over to something a bit folky. Especially if it’s fringe folk; artists that pack their folk-pop with instruments, take on an old-timey sound, or even head down an art-fo
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Y La Bamba: Squawk
Portland’s Y La Bamba returns Februar 28 with a new record called Court The Storm on Tender Loving Empire. The band has just released “Squawk”, the album’s opening track, and we hear a similar South American-influenced art folk we received on their debut full-length Lupon from 2010. “Squawk” features harmony vocals, hand claps, and wild melodies. Check out the song below and keep an eye out for t
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Guy Capecelatro III: Like Anything
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Guy Capecelatro III’s last name may be hard to pronounce, but the list of people he’s opened for are anything but. This list includes the venerable Elliott Smith, Bill Callahan’s SMOG, and the late Vic Chesnutt. Furthermore, he’s a frequent collaborator in a current favorite: Brown Bird. Excited yet? I am. “Like Anything” is the opening track of Capecelatro III’s new LP, North For The Winter, o
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Isidore: Song Of The City (MP3 Premiere)
Isidore, if you’re unaware, is Jeffrey Cain (formerly of Remy Zero) and Steve Kilbey (The Church), with the former on instrumentals and the latter lending vocal expertise. The collaboration came as a surprise, after Cain passed along an instrumental album to Kilbey only to receive it back later with vocals added in. The duo is now poised to release Life Somewhere Else on Valentine’s Day. On the
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Fense’s Radio Show: January 20, 2012
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I wasn’t originally planning on doing a show this evening, but decided to take my normal spot behind the microphone anyway. So the playlist didn’t begin coming together until the evening of. There was no theme, it was all variety; folk to electronic to noise rock. If you missed it, here’s the list:“The Crystal Cat” by Dan Deacon by Spiderman Of The Rings“A Dark God Heart” by Sleep Party People o
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Sleep Party People: A Dark God Heart (NSFW Video)
Sleep Party People is a band that knows how to dominate your emotions, blending elements of post-rock, bedroom pop and shoegaze for a sound both terrifying and beautiful. The video for their song “A Dark God Heart” documents the fragility of life and the sorrow in death. The saying is Innocence is bliss, but I disagree. This video shows there is beauty is loss and tragedy, and as cliche sayings
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Damon Moon and The Whispering Drifters
There’s something dark and eerie about the opening tracks of Damon Moon’s new LP, Lungs, Dirt & Dreams. The title track flirts with dreamy guitars, but not in the sense of the pleasant atmospheric; rather they echo through the darkness, seemingly coming from every direction. And then there’s Moon’s soft vocals somewhere between a mystery and a (surprise, surprise) whisper. This continues through
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Eux Autres: Right Again
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I always get excited when something new by Eux Autres comes across my desk. The ex-Portland, now San Francisco brother-sister duo plus third member Yoshi Nakamoto (The Aislers Set, Still Flyin’) will release a new EP called Sun Is Sunk via Bons Mots Records on February 28. Recorded by Jason Quever (Papercuts), expect Sun Is Sunk to push the boundaries of what you know about Eux Autres. The Larim
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Jack Wilson: Jack Wilson
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Seattle and Austin are both towns with very distinct personalities, both as cities and through the musicians that reside within. Yet here is one man — Jack Wilson — that flirts with geography, calling both locations home and melding together the two sounds for a style of folk-based americana rock that is entirely captivating. On his self-titled LP, Jack Wilson bares his innermost self that evokes
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N8′s Top Albums of 2011
I love it when N8 submits his year-end lists. They are unpretentious, span a vast repertoire of genres, and typically include several albums I have yet to hear. N8′s 2011 list fits the mold: in fact, I have yet to listen to any of the ones that made the list this year. Now this is not by lack of want or know — I’m familiar with many of the albums, just haven’t gotten around to them. Dig in and
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