posted by Lewi on October 25, 2010
If any band has managed to grab my attention, but from more than one angle, and especially recently – it’s The Winchell Riots. Hailing from my hometown and the beautiful city of Oxford, The Winchell Riots are the Phoenix from the ashes of former group Fell City Girl, hence with a new member or two. The art that TWR have mastered is keeping that strong indie vibe that their former group possessed, but moving more of the instrumental side along to an almost ambient area, and could perhaps in this aspect be compared to Sigur Ros, Massive Attack and Bjork – and quite frankly, TWR deserve these comparisons.
In my opinion, the delicateness of the instruments played in certain areas, never sounds out of place with lead singer Phil McMinn’s vocals, who can soar angelically through an impressive scale of notes. This feat is demonstrated on their track “Glasgow Spaceflight”, taken from their EP The Red Square. The ambient references are strong, particularly at the beginning of this song, and then continue to play comfortably in the background, holding the hand of the other instruments and complimenting all five minutes and 13 seconds of the track perfectly. “Kandahar Road” walks along a similar path, with a soaring guitar solo to meet McMinn’s impressive vocals. I also particularly liked the content of the lyrics, and whilst getting absorbed with the majesty that The Winchell Riots had written, I was never distracted from anything else this track was offering me.
You can purchase The Winchell Riots’ The Red Square EP for a pocket money price from the iTunes store. For more information and more music from this band, check out their Myspace page and official site below.
The Winchell Riots – Glasgow Spaceflight (Downloaded 397 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Ambient • Big Sound • Male vocal
(16 votes)
Loading ...posted by Leigh on October 13, 2010
In New York, any indie music fan is on the edge of his or her seat in anticipation for the almost-here CMJ music marathon, which runs from October 19th – 23rd, in various venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Many Indieball-covered bands are playing this year; highlights include Angus and Julia Stone, Asobi Seksu, Beach Fossils, Cults, DeVotchKa, DOM, Hey Champ, Neon Indian, Paul and the Patients, Plushgun (my very first Indieball post), Surfer Blood, Sydney Wayser, The Drums, The Mynabirds, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and UNKLE. Be sure to check out their music here if your ear needs a little bit of refreshing.
While I am far from having a plan of attack, I do have my eye on several bands whom I-Will-Make-Every-Effort-To-See-Live next week. Wild Nothing, from Virginia, sound a lot like a former favorite of mine, the now defunct (but probably reincarnated) London band, Trembling Blue Stars. “O Lilac” is included here. Hailing from Montreal, Braids have an Animal Collective-y vibe to them, with a tinge of a little Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Check out “Lemonade” below. Brooklyn’s +/- {plus/minus} swirl blips and bleeps around distinct vocals, with “Snowblind” seeming like a well mixed glass of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Death Cab for Cutie. Finally, Silver Lake’s Pepper Rabbit made me hit play because any band with the name Pepper Rabbit deserves an expedited listen. Awesome name aside, I loved their slightly Band of Horse-ish sound, as witnessed on “Red Wine”.
More to come on the other great artists playing CMJ. In the meantime, be sure to check out the full schedule and list of bands at CMJ2010.
Wild Nothing – O Lilac (Downloaded 519 times)
Braids – Lemonade (Downloaded 756 times)
+/- {plus/minus} – Snowblind (Downloaded 392 times)
Pepper Rabbit – Red Wine (Downloaded 440 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Ambient • Big Sound • Catchy • Clever Lyrics • Driven • Female vocal • Fuzzy • Male vocal • Poppy • With Bleeps & Blips
(5 votes) Loading ...awesome write up Leigh…can’t wait for Surfer Blood next week and to hear about many more.
The Streets On Fire play Friday at Kenny’s Castaways 11pm.
That’s a mold-breaker. Great thinking!
posted by Leigh on January 29, 2010
Do you ever wish that you had the perfect soundtrack for those long skips that you like to take through the effervescent forest, your feet lightly bouncing off each patch of candy-striped path as you bury yourself deeper and deeper into the anthropomorphic trees, whose sinuous branches seem to individually caress you as you pass them by? Look no further, Dance Mother, from Brooklyn’s Telepathe, is here for just that occasion. Well technically, Dance Mother was here in early 2009, so your forest romp could have been that much better for months and months and months, in the event that you had you not listened to them already. Minor details.
Onward. The voices that emanate from this two-piece girl band are pleasing, like the elevating sounds you would expect to rise from little elves dressed in colorful parkas who wave at you as you run through that psychedelic forest. Start or repeat your synthesized and experimental dream here, with “In Your Line” and “Can’t Stand It”. Blips and bleeps never sounded so good (again).
Telepathe – In Your Line (Downloaded 812 times)
Telepathe – Cant Stand It (Downloaded 875 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Ambient • Experimental • Female vocal • With Bleeps & Blips
(16 votes) Loading ...posted by Leigh on January 8, 2010
Atlas Sound’s second full-length album, Logos, has been on constant rotation in my musical library since its release last year. (Yes Folks, it is the New Year already). Atlas Sound is Deerhunter frontman Bradford James Cox. Atlas Sound is ambient and experimental surrounded by a halo of seamless effects. Its meditative repetition and crisp harmonies capture you, and you don’t even try to flee. You ask for the chains to be bound tighter.
It was painstakingly difficult to choose two tracks to share with you here, as there is not one mediocre track on the album. Nevertheless, sometimes we must choose: “Walkabout” (with Noah Lennox, AKA Panda Bear) and “Quick Canal” (with Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier). You will enjoy, and will want to hear the rest of Logos.
Atlas Sound – Walkabout (Downloaded 681 times)
Atlas Sound – Quick Canal (Downloaded 715 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Ambient • Lo-Fi • With Bleeps & Blips
(15 votes) Loading ...
July 1st, 2011 at 11:53 am
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