posted by Leigh on March 9, 2012
Floating Furies … Cowboys on Clouds … A Lonely Sea … These are only some of the psychedelia you will experience if you turn your ears to the imagery-rich tracks on the very first release from Slings and Arrows, aptly named, The Furies. The Furies is a time-is-a-bending sojourn into the mind(s) of “this fun music project,” child-of-sorts of Brooklyn-based musician Mike Story, of former Izzy’s fame.
The Furies puts a lasso around my neck with “I Saw the Furies Floating By.” I didn’t take it off. I just let it pull me around the just plain catchy chorus, and lift me upward, inward, onward through the magnetism of the vocal harmonies. For anyone who likes a good slow jam (yes, that word is coming back, in a possibly all too evolved glory … start the revolution), “We Sail on Cowboy Clouds” is like an adult lullaby (the kind you don’t fall asleep to, but the kind that puts you in a chill state, ready to control your fate in the lucid dreams that come next … ). The harmonies are delicate, balanced, sweet, faintly Beach-Boys-esque; the track urges me to make a new dance and call it something fancy and slowly dance it to this ditty like I’ve never quite danced before. Good news I would imagine, since Slings and Arrows’ self-reported goal is “to have fun and to make people sing and dance.” Good job, guys.
And now, it’s time for Mythology 101: The Furies were female divinities, punishing crimes at the victim’s instigation. Do you want to see one float by? Come out tomorrow, Saturday March 10th, to the Listening Party from 3 – 6 pm at Union Pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It might be the only way.
Slings and Arrows – I Saw the Furies Floating By (Downloaded 162 times)
Slings and Arrows – We Sail on Cowboy Clouds (Downloaded 151 times)
» To download, right-click title & “save as”
» Love/Like/Hate it? Please rate it.
» Meaningless labels: Harmonic • Male vocal • Psychedelic • Vintage
(5 votes)
Loading ...posted by Patrick on February 19, 2012
Washington, D.C. was once a hotbed of indie music. Fugazi, Dismemberment Plan, Shudder To Think, and Jawbox are from the District. Henry Rollins and Dave Grohl grew up here, and Dischord Records is still chugging away. But as yuppification marched through D.C. like Sherman through Atlanta, the city started to price itself out of the indie scene. New bands sought cheaper rents and beer in Baltimore, while the old standard bearers got … old. So although I live here and love it, it’s been slim pickings for District-based music blogs.
Here’s hoping Pree is the start of something new. Formed by May Tabol, previously of D.C.’s Le Loup, Pree defies obvious labels. The band’s most recent E.P., “Folly,” includes lyrical, catchy folk like ‘Lemon Tree,’ and the more dischordant and psychedelic ‘Songs of Promise.’ A third track, ‘Fresh Paint’ is slowed-down bluegrass with a ghostly, warbling chorus in the background. Most of the band’s music combines high-register vocals with darker lyrics and weird sound effects. It’s an odd mix, but it works. Listen closely to the lyrics of ‘Lemon Tree’ and you’ll see how a band can subvert expectations, layering dark-dream ideas over sing-song sounds. Pree’s music is addictive and strangely fascinating, not unlike their hometown. As I said, here’s hoping for more of the same.
Pree – Lemon Tree (Downloaded 261 times)
» To download, right-click title & “save as”
» Love/Like/Hate it? Please rate it.
» Meaningless labels: Americana • Beautiful Lyrics • Catchy • Clever Lyrics • Female vocal • Folk • Psychedelic • Twee
(12 votes) Loading ...posted by Leigh on September 21, 2011
We only had to wait four years for Hysterical. Upon the first few listens, I wasn’t immediately drawn into the album like I was with the self-titled debut or Some Loud Thunder. For me, there was no immediately unforgettable refrain like “Satan Said Dance,” no stream of consciousness rambling instantly adhering to your psyche as in “Is This Love?” But, after about the fourth or fifth play of Hysterical, something grander steps out of the shadows, a slower compatibility and connection emerges and you see the forest, made up of all those individual trees, for the first time. I was irreversibly bonded with the music, with the lyrics, with the forest, in a way that was quite different from before.
Brooklyn’s Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has been with me since the beginning, forming part of the soundtrack of my life for the last six years. Not having seen them live since probably soon after 2007’s Some Loud Thunder, I was ecstatic to be able to hear them again at the Bowery Ballroom show in New York just last night, fresh off the release of Hysterical. They played the perfect mix of old and new, and didn’t just reproduce the songs as they were recorded, but, rather, made each song a novel auditory experience for the listener, while never losing the comfortability of a favorite sweater.
It was difficult to decide which tracks from Hysterical to share below. “Siesta (For Snake)” and “Maniac” show off the fast and the slow, while both making it impossible to overlook the beauty and effect of Alec Ounsworth’s vocals, the given lyrical ingenuity and the unfaltering and driven musicianship. Try the whole album out for size. Let it grow on you like moss, and look down from time to time to appreciate the beauty of this soft green plant that is now a part of you forever.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Siesta (Downloaded 375 times)
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Maniac (Downloaded 295 times)
» To download, right-click title & “save as”
» Love/Like/Hate it? Please rate it.
» Meaningless labels: Amazing Voice • Beautiful Lyrics • Clever Lyrics • Driven • Male vocal • Psychedelic
(12 votes) Loading ...posted by Michael on August 15, 2011
You close your eyes. Like roaring sirens on the horizon, a melancholy synth swells up through the darkness. The air is thick with anticipation. You feel a cold bead of sweat break past your ear. Drums crash through the neon tainted wind, ushering in a storm of throbbing beats and grinding synths. Windows shatter, and glass like rain invades the asphalt. The city surrenders under such immensity of sound. The clock strikes midnight; you awake. I imagine a similar scenario might have compelled Anthony Gonzalez, leader and founder of French band M83, to write “Midnight City.”
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming (out October 18th) is M83’s sixth record to date, marking an ambitious return after nearly two years of absence. “Midnight City” is stuck between a daydream and a nightmare, mixing delicate vocals and jarring electronics, alternatively haunting and catchy. The track opens with a deceivingly simplistic melody; two fluctuating synths soon merge to form a chorus. The drums then intervene, building to an infectious crescendo that evolves throughout the song, growing to mimic the very beat of a thriving urban jungle. The vocals glide effortlessly above the instrumentation, with lyrics presenting a dreamlike description of a common night out. The saxophone finale is a climactic moment of pure magic, adding a distinctive retro touch to an otherwise flawless modern classic.
M83 – Midnight City (Downloaded 1233 times)
» To download, right-click title & “save as”
» Love/Like/Hate it? Please rate it.
» Meaningless labels: Catchy • Dischordant • Electro • Psychedelic • Synth • With Bleeps & Blips
(24 votes) Loading ...
November 30th, 2011 at 5:12 am
http://unumusic.bandcamp.com/track/sevilla
If you like them, you’d like this guy!