KEXP has announced details behind their 7th Annual Yule Benefit, happening this year on Saturday, December 12 at Neumos in Seattle. Showcasing select favorites from the Northwest, concert-goers will not only be treated to excellent performances by the likes of The Thermals, The Cave Singers, The Builders And The Butchers, and Grand Hallway, they’ll also be supporting KEXP. For those of you not
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Of all the holidays, none seem to generate more creative musicianship than that of Halloween. This year’s epic spook band is The Marshmallow Ghosts, a super-group of sorts featuring artists from Black Moth Super Rainbow, Appleseed Cast, Casket Girls, and Dreamend. Shrieks is the title of this holiday 7″ on a swirling picture disc and limited print glow-in-the-dark sleeve. Part story, part c
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The Man can do no wrong. Capital M: He deserves it. Thom Yorke’s latest project finds him slipping further into experimentation; the avant garde. As if we haven’t seen this coming since 2000’s Kid A, easily one of the most prolific albums of the decade. “Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses” and b-side “The Hollow Earth” are a play on the hypnotic. Both leave the listener with a true
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Photographer Tim Lytvinenko joined and documented Megafaun as they toured across the states in support of their latest release, Gather, Form & Fly, out now on Hometapes. The result is a collection of experiences from the road in what they dub “part-documentary, part-sense memory.” No surprise, Lytvinenko puts this collection of shots to the music of Megafaun’s epic almost instrumental trac
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To think back over a career of an artist like Built To Spill is, to an extent, the same as doing it for Radiohead or Death Cab For Cutie. Albums come and go, and they’re all pretty damn great; they all hold their own, unique special place in your heart. Revisiting the old albums bring back memories of where you first heard it, or experiences you had while it blasted over your speakers. Sure,.
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I’ve decided to create an installment in which I do a recap of my favorite albums of the past ten years now that we’re coming up on the turn-of-decade – yes, 2010 is upon us. They key: I do them one at a time. I figure contemplating the weight of albums that have been instituted in my library for the better part (or even just half) of a decade would warrant a skewed opinion when comparing
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With a heavy vocal echo and reverb cranked to eleven, Yarn Owl presents seven tracks of undulated upbeat pop. “Yarn Blues” kick things off; it’s a track we’ve heard before, but Yarn Owl gives it a revisit by speeding things up a bit and treating it with the reverb jangle heavy throughout Tiny Dots. One thing is for sure: this isn’t likely what you were expecting, coming from a cassette
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Philadelphia’s Golden Ages dub themselves as creators of psychedelic pop, and that would be an adequate description. But it would also be incomplete. Their songs certainly possess elements of the psychedelic; however, there’s a lot going on in each tune that also pulls in everything from electronics to experimentation. Take, for example, the closing track of their new EP Sitting Softly In Th
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In a recent conversation, a friend noted they didn’t quite understand the hype behind Girls. After all, there are a dozen bands that write similar, edgy songs and can carry a complimentary weight. I agreed, but only somewhat. Revisiting songs like Album’s opener “Lust For Life”, I hear a unique vocal styling and that damn garage-pop I seem so fond of these days (along with everyone else
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San Francisco garage-noise-pop outfit Railcars dropped their new record yesterday, a mystical collective of ferocious bouts of electro noise dubbed Cathedral With No Eyes. You may remember Railcards from our debut/premiere of “Passion Of St. Edmund (Rebirth)”, or maybe even our premature review of Cathedral With No Eyes from a month and a half ago. Frontman Aria Jalali takes noise and throws
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Warpaint combines hypnotic, surreal vocals with a backing sound somewhere between psychedelic and shoegaze. It would be calming were it not for the anxious tension in the instrumentation, continually pressing forward. They use it well, beginning “Stars” with a simple minimalistic guitar. Warpaint pairs this dreamy sound with a video muddled in darkness, yet at the same time lucid. Not until
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Fanfarlo has three key influences, in my opinion. First, the blaring trumpet and deep lead vocals on tracks like “The Walls Are Coming Down” reminisce of early Beirut (circa The Gulag Orkestar). Then, there’s the anthemic qualities in songs like “Luna”, which conjure artists such as Arcade Fire. And, finally, the theatrics of greats like The Decemberists. Still, I feel safe saying th
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Backed by a few synths and a light guitar strum, Electric Owls‘ Andy Herod has pieced together a surreal soundscape for Ain’t Too Bright opener “Magic Show”. It’s an energetic tune that is true to the pop sensibilities Herod’s previous group, The Comas, never seemed to quite reach. Where The Comas pumped out one rock tune after another, Herod now seems more than comfortable writing p
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Such a confounding name, Total Babe; after all, the band is all-out indie pop. Then again, when you were a teenager, a name like Total Babe would have been perfect for your acoustic-garage-pop. But it’s highly unlikely your pop songs would have been as… well, freaking amazing as Total Babe’s. Heatwave is packed with pop greatness. With airy female vocals, hefty acoustic guitar strums, an
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Starting November 5 in Iowa, Grant Hart (of legendary 80s act Hüsker Dü) will hit the road in support of his new album, Hot Wax. What’s perhaps most intriguing about this album is the inclusion of accompanying artists inlcuding Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Silver Mt. Zion. When the epic nature of the classical-meets-post-rock meets a powerful 80s alt-guru like Hart, greatness is sure to e
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Longtime FensePost favorites, Eux Autres release their new EP today. Strangled Days finds the brother/sister pop duo straying slightly from their French roots, but it’s still the same great pop we always loved from these guys. Heather and Nicholas Larimer have since expanded to a trio, having added Yoshi Nakamoto (Aislers Set & Still Flyin’) on drums in 2008. Strangled Days was recorded by
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Boy do I love fun pop, and Calling You Out by Netherfriends fits the description perfectly. You can tell just by looking at the album art, among my favorites of the year. There’s a lot more going on here than just pop, though, as the eclectic percussion on tracks like “Nunya” and “Oh-Hi-Oh”, along with the supreme guitar accompaniment and tribal-esque vocals, are on par with groups li
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Some of the best music videos assault the norm with demented and disturbing scenarios. Take that UNKLE song from a few years back with Thom Yorke at the vocal helm, “Rabbit In Your Headlights”. That was downright phenomenal. And “Silent Shout” from The Knife was pretty amazing as well. The latest to pair insanity with audio greatness is Little Girls, whose video for “Youth Tunes” i
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In a man’s life, there is always one certainty that can confuse him, impress him, and make him cry for many reasons. Big Sur knows this to certainly be the female gender. Ladies. X Chromosomes. In other words – Women. God we sure do love them in all their complexity and beauty; they just exude happiness in the best of times. And what better topic for a country folk band of Bellingham gyp
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UK punk meets indie-pop band Los Campesinos! has announced their new album, Romance Is Boring. With an extensively packed tracklist, the band boasts it is their first foray into experimenting with more orchestration with an emphasis on brass. Recorded over the summer here in Seattle, as well as in Connecticut and Monmouthshire (my guess, somewhere in the UK), Los Campesinos! gives us a sneak ...
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