posted by Patrick on May 9, 2012
{photo courtesy of chromewaves.net}
South By Southwest is a treasure-hunter’s dream: 2000+ bands, spread over a hundred stages and venues, with nothing more than a handbook in six-point type to guide you through the maze of obscure names and faces. At its best, the festival is an opportunity to watch terrific new bands before the masses overwhelm them. One of those hidden gems was an all-female band from Norway named Razika. Razika caught my attention while slogging through a sampler of tracks from 1,400 bands expected at SXSW. Most of those were mediocre or worse, but Razika’s sound really stood out. It starts with an upbeat, jangly, poppy rhythm that took a while to identify: it was ska, something you never hear anymore. Razika isn’t really a ska band, but ska influences most of their tracks. Razika is also unique in that they sing in both English and Norwegian. Somehow it doesn’t seem to matter which language they choose; their lyrics are more like an instrument than a means of communication. Most importantly, Razika was pure fun. On stage they harmonized, smiled shyly, and powered through a set of brisk, infectious tracks. There were tighter acts, with more serious sounds, but for one hour on one night, Razika was a guiltless pleasure. If they ever escape Norway again and tour near you, definitely give them a shot. Treasure abounds.
Razika – Nytt Pa Nytt (Downloaded 59 times)
Razika – Eg Vetsje (Downloaded 54 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Catchy • Female vocal • Happy • Poppy • SXSW2012 • Upbeat
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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 141 times)
Oregon Bike Trails – High School Lover (Downloaded 142 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Lo-Fi • Male vocal • Poppy
(9 votes) Loading ...posted by Leigh on March 4, 2012
Blair at Glasslands in Brooklyn, NY, February 2012. Photo by Leigh Celent.
There is something refreshingly pleasing about musicians who are just themselves, no gimmicks necessary, allowing the music and their talents to speak for themselves. Blair, the musical project of Brooklyn-based singer / songwriter Blair Gimma, falls endlessly into this category. No overachieving sadly gobbled up images here. I caught a recent show at Glasslands in Brooklyn, and her performance mirrored what I had already heard in her music: helplessly charming modesty, understated presence and a romantic genuineness that amplified her music’s overall appeal. Blair is none of the falsehood; experience her music for what it is, as what it is is quite lovely.
Blair released her first full-length album, Die Young, in 2010. “Hello Halo” exemplifies that airiness, that ephemeral element of her vocals no matter what the subject matter (listen closely) … “Got a radio in my head, and it tells me what to say, and it makes me talk this way … “ “I don’t know what I’m saying,” but it all sounds like a motto for many a cultural generation. “Wake Up Shake Up” brings her New Orleans roots to the forefront, a bit of a modern pop take on the city’s jazzy appeal. And, one can’t help but smile as a curse or two are discerned in her satin-like, angelic vocals.
If you like what you hear, check out all of Die Young, and be prepared for what 2012 has in store: an EP, to be followed by another full-length, both as charming as Die Young, I’m sure.
Blair – Hello Halo (Downloaded 202 times)
Blair – Wake Up Shake Up (Downloaded 241 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Dark • Female vocal • Fuzzy • Poppy • Sugar
(6 votes) Loading ...posted by Loren on March 1, 2012
Outsiders view Los Angeles as a place where personality is cultivated differently, stunted mainly; where inflated egos outnumber the innocents who are few and far between. PAPA, a duo of Darren Weiss and Daniel Presant, summon these underwater portraits of the chase and the fall between man and woman, an all too true ambivalence called love that is attained but so easily drowned in the idea that people aren’t really who they say they are. ‘Halloween to Me’ beach balls through dancing bass picks and funnels 50’s-like tough influences into a garage reverbed sound that is compelling and misleading. Amidst an upbeat melody are proclamations of “Baby, I’m fine,” insisting that despite the trough of leaving and hurting there is an upward shout of salvation in walking out the door. Everything turns around.
‘I Am the Lion King’ is a suggestive tune that resembles more of the aforementioned concept of a fledgling love and suffocating friend zones. “It’s not a means to an end” is the plea of a man attracted to beauty and willing to pursue every ounce of its majestic features. The guitar picks speed the rhythm among a pop-filled drum set that dares PAPA’s woman to take the bait. Tisks and ricocheting vocals bite and tear at the inner workings of the excitement in being at the heels of what you want. Reminiscent of Bibio’s translucent “Lover’s Carvings,” PAPA creates a pop sensible, glowing tune that bleeds for attention. You can catch the sunlight and appeal of PAPA at SXSW this year or opening for Temper Trap or Ra Ra Riot elsewhere. Their newest EP, A Good Woman Is Hard To Find, is out now.
PAPA – I Am The Lion King (Downloaded 239 times)
PAPA – Halloween To Me (Downloaded 205 times)
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» Meaningless labels: Catchy • Male vocal • Poppy • SXSW2012
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