Best Coast - Crazy For You
Best Coast - Crazy For You (Mexican Summer) [upcoming shows] [audio]
Bethany Cosentino debuted Best Coast last year with a pleasant-enough single called "When I'm With You." Now, Best Coast is full-blown thing. There's a trend right now among young bands that focuses on summer and warmth and waves, and it's stretched year-round. Best Coast embodies all these things, but mashes them into pop nuggets that hearken back to a less complicated time. Crazy For You might be the best indie pop album from 1993 you never heard until now.
- sam
The Harvey Girls - I've Been Watching a Lot of Horror Movies Lately
The Harvey Girls - I've Been Watching a Lot of Horror Movies Lately (Circle Into Square) [upcoming shows]
[audio]
The Harvey Girls are a husband & wife duo based out of Portland, Oregon that use a combination of analog sources, including chanting and hand claps with the studio experimentation of cascading synths, radio waves, sound effects and theremin to create sonically organic pop. "A Letter to the Bees" perfectly meshes Eric's Trip-like indie pop with the space lounge of Stereolab and the seven minute "Caerse Muerto" repeats guitar scales while slowly integrating sound effects and climaxing with flourishes of trumpets.
- mark
The High Seas - Threads EP
The High Seas - Threads EP (Kicking In) [upcoming shows] [audio]
Captain Beefheart used to run around his band, showing them different paintings. Play this! This is similar to how I imagine these songs are composed. Trains going offtrack, now you're in a duckboat at Rocky Point. Humpty Dumpty ripping apart scores by Archers of Loaf, US Maple, The Fall, and Television, and putting them back together with silly putty. Multiple sung and screamed vocals, herky jerky grooves, sodimized guitars, this has it all.
- eric b
Last One Out - Whammy EP
Last One Out - Whammy EP (self released) [upcoming shows] [audio]
If Adam Duritz of Counting Crows started a rock band, it would be Last One Out. This piano centered pop/rock band attempts to find their sound on Whammy. From the catchy, sing-along pop, "Last One Out" to the rough rock "Pierce the Crust" which is dripping with sexual references, Last One Out is a new, promising band experimenting with lyrics, rhythmic lines, and piano melodies.
- kelly
Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade
Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade (Pias America) [upcoming shows] [audio]
Morcheeba has morphed from trip-hop to a sound that can't be put in any single category. From airy folk on "I Am the Spring" to full-out techno on "Cut to the Chase," it's amazing how many different styles Morcheeba can pull off. Sky Edwards will send chills down your spine with her vocals, which can border on downright creepy, and the Godfrey brothers will blow your mind with their mastery of sound. Morcheeba has fully matured, and an incredible album stands as proof.
- ashton
La Otracina - Woven Wanderers EP
La Otracina - Woven Wanderers EP (Colour Sounds) [upcoming shows] [audio]
Strap on your seat belts, put on your helmets and prepare to be blasted into space. The album starts like Ummagumma-era Pink Floyd, strummed acoustics,congas, whispers, and delays on everything. This is spiritual music; Joseph Campbell has this piped in his coffin. Quiet for a long time, things get scary and resemble The Shining soundtrack. Heavy drums and guitars come in to end the album in a heavy psych manner. Beautiful, terrifying and trippy.
- eric b
We Are Scientists - Barbara
We Are Scientists - Barbara (Masterswan Recordings) [upcoming shows]
[audio]
We Are Scientists continue to refine their sound in this solid release. It is a sound, however, that can take some warming up to. The drums are very forward in the mix, and the sound is very layered and synth-heavy, especially in the first few songs. As the album develops, song by song, Barbara reveals itself to be a surprisingly diverse work. With some genius hooks and great lyrics, this record is a certain road trip hit.
- ashton
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