posted by Loren on May 6, 2012
LA-based Francisco the Man has been trying to break through the proverbial wall into mass appeal. Just ask lead singer Scotty Cantino. On the band’s tumblr, via an interview with the music blog yvynyl, Cantino says the band went through a guitarist quitting, touring, graduating, and a variety of life’s travails, all in the last 5 years. But when life threw them lemons, FTM made guitar riffs. Exploding through the underground indie scene in L.A, Francisco the Man has established themselves among hipsters and the anti-rock-god following with their folk-meets-garage songs. The city has a knack for fusion; it’s a staple in the most paradoxical and confused sort of artistries. It is music transcribing heavy influences of psychedelic rock alongside hints of post-punk, manifesting a gauntlet of wavering sing-alongs and power chords. They whisper their pain as not to awaken yours, too.
Copy and paste the cornerstones of Lower Dens guitar tabs; now cut and paste doses of Beach Fossil and Rogue Wave influences. Understanding songs like ‘Rain Drops’ and ‘Broken Arrows’ requires conjuring the images of these rock-pieces and then quickly rinsing your mind with any type of sativa. The shreds of amped-up guitars and willowing lyrical fantasies embody the addicting ballads of a very fledgling discography. Much as the source in which the band name derives (Marquez’s novel 100 Years of Solitude), the lessons in both the band and the novel are about transcending generations. Much as the music spilling from their EP evokes, lay back and allow the time travel. Listen in and tune it up, you’ll like it.
“Broken Arrows,” released in April 2011, is the band’s latest release. The song of the same name (below) is one of my favorites.
Francisco The Man – Broken Arrows (Downloaded 103 times)
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(7 votes)
Loading ...posted by Loren on April 17, 2012
Swimming in gold searching for the shore. The delicate, breezy tunes of Swiss four-piece Labrador City remind you of the treading satisfaction that comes with dissolving the wintertime. Spring brings crashing waves of music, like the lo-fi rock Labrador City creates. Hailing from Berne, the nation’s capital, the band jumps among the current swell of smooth Scandinavian rock with the likes of Kings of Convenience and Whitest Boy Alive (who are pretty much one and the same), all groups that never fail to captivate the same genre and audience of easy listening.
Although surf rock would be misrepresenting the band, the jams of Labrador City bring together images of bubbly vacations and underwater scrapbook moments. I love that the band decided to release their latest EP Volcano on their own label, titled Oh Sister Records, created in 2010. I can’t name a piece of music that manifests the beachy summertime as well as these tracks. If you like it, every release on Volcano is full of the same.
Labrador City – Feathers (Downloaded 141 times)
Labrador City – French Garden (Downloaded 119 times)
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(9 votes) Loading ...posted by Loren on April 8, 2012
The music of our parents and our parents’ parents is back in full force. From the swing-pop of Kitty, Daisy, and Lewis as well as the southern rock n’roll of the Black Keys, sounds from another time and another landscape are creeping back into our recognition. What I like about Hanni El Khatib is he combines most of what is so good (doo-wop, swing, garage rock) and cooks them into his own contemporary, sex appealed records. Like any artist, you find it hard to name a single genre that covers El Khatib’s sound except for the way he describes them himself: “These songs are written for anyone who’s ever been shot or hit by a train.” Well then, welcome to trainwreck rock.
You would think that Hanni El Khatib is whipping chains and sharpening knives with the amount of classic guitar and amp present in his music, especially the track ‘You Rascal You.’ I first heard this song, like many I’ve discovered, while watching the final scene of a series called Californication. The inclusion is fitting seeing that El Khatib is from Los Angeles; his moshpit rock divvies between the jukebox swing and speakeasy classic rock n’roll that is emerging as one of the premier and popular sounds of the city. Garage has definitely found its haven in Los Angeles and Hanni El Khatib is a major figure in this scene. Give him the room to lay his foundation for simplistic yet pulsing shreds of guitar and drum, and soon enough he’ll be a household name.
If you are a local native of Los Angeles, Khatib just began his Highwayman Tour along with the Tijuana Panthers. He returns to the city of angels in May and like me, I hope you can make it out to a show.
Hanni El Khatib – Dead Wrong (Downloaded 175 times)
Hanni El Khatib – You Rascal You (Downloaded 165 times)
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(12 votes) Loading ...posted by Loren on March 31, 2012
At the drop of a name, I can become a memory. A scent or a touch away from leaping the boundaries of time and settling among its past. What if the same was true of our futures and what we will become? Oregon Bike Trails deservedly occupies this space among time as the thing willing to extract life’s finest moments or simply create it for you. Zach Yudin is a singular, one-man one-show act that transplants 60’s influenced, sample based, reverb drowned products into your eardrums and nestles the love for the cycle of life within your hands. Trends die and reappear just as the sound of Zach Yudin inspires the mind to think of 60’s soothing life jams and balanced attacks of acoustic with percussion sung for concert halls and old Fords. Happiness is not a dying fad, but a lost aspiration.
The basis of the music is catchy, pop-influenced rock that makes the sour turn sweet. The folk-pop acoustics, cymbals, and everything nice compliment the woo’s and vocal nonsense far too well. Shifting sounds and tethered effects increase your desire for more until your song is over and your finger is retreating to press play. Although I appreciate the average collective of band members working at a sound it is hard to ignore the brilliant allure in the funneled, reverbed imperfections of Oregon Bike Trails.
In an interview with the blog YouAin’tNoPicasso, Zach explains the origins of the band’s somewhat obscure name and the goal of the album: to recreate Summer trips with his family to Oregon through stories that, though 3 to 4 minutes long, are pregnant with deeper metaphors. Drenched in a drifting mix of lo-fi nostalgia and rhythmic guitar riffs and samples, OBT holds your hand and walks you through the sunshine. OBT makes beachy, surf pop-rock with serious subtext. Give it a listen and think of your beach days if you can remember. Or just access yourself and create new time capsules alongside Zach Yudin.
Oregon Bike Trails – Cayucas (Downloaded 140 times)
Oregon Bike Trails – High School Lover (Downloaded 139 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Lo-Fi • Male vocal • Poppy
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April 18th, 2012 at 8:35 am
This is Great.