Considerably brightening my day today is the NPR 'First Listen' selection from a few weeks ago, which is Givers' life-loving, effervescent debut album, "In Light." I first heard the impossibly cheerful single "Up Up Up" on a mix made for me by my musically attuned pal Chris Cook a few months ago. It was all the more of a stand-out because he'd cleverly nestled it amidst a mix otherwise dominated by a bunch of lo-fi drone pop, and noisy non-chorus-sporting tone poems, so when the good folks of Givers wound up with an "Ohhhhhhhh we up up up up above love. Yeah we down down here on the ground" I gave the old Scooby Doo double take at my speakers.
No secret here that I often like my music cheerful and sing-along-able, sunny, and sort of guileless, so I'm pretty happy to report that the rest of the album, in my opinion, is even better than the kettle-drum tropical shine of the single. Songs become layered with harmony and shimmering guitar riffs, and are devoid of the fuzz and reverb that is drenching and obscuring so much of their peers' music nowadays. Givers aren't afraid to sing it loud and proud.
Listen to the whole album here at NPR while you still can. "In Light" will be available for purchase tomorrow.
As a vinyl nerd, suffice it to say that the annual Record Store Day spate of limited releases is much better than Christmas morning for me. Honestly, who can really compare slicing the shrinkwrap off gleaming discs of aural licorice and smelling the press of the ink on the sleeve to unwrapping yet another gift of socks and Old Navy gift cards while watching my nephew get all the good stuff? Yeah, sure, Christmas is about giving, not getting, but Record Store Day is about both - GETTING myself a bunch of records and GIVING them to my turntable. Magnifique.
This year, as always, I have compiled a list far longer than my wallet can support of things that get my heart ticking. Here are a few items that top the list:
1. Cults: Abducted/Go Outside (remix) 7" I recently saw Cults at a very sweaty outdoor day show at SXSW, and they lived up to and surpassed all I'd hoped to see from them based on the limited songs they have thus far released. "Go Outside" has been a mix CD staple for me for more than a year now, so it's nice to be able to snag it in some version on vinyl finally (because I don't feel like paying 6 of my fingers and an eyeball for the way out of print original version 7").
2. Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues 12" I'm not gonna lie to you, the harmony break in the middle of this song ("If I had an orchard, I'd work till I'm sore...") gives me a lump in my throat every time. It could be, as Stereogum readers seem to assert, that Fleet Foxes isn't "cool." But, personally, I am totally that person that always seeks out that whitebread American vocal harmony in my record collection (Simon & Garfunkel, CSNY) when I've had a little too much to drink and am feeling sentimental for old road trips. So, really, I think this needs to take its place in the queue.
3.Go! Team: Rolling Remixes 12" If you have read much of this blog, you probably know that I don't really love remixes. But in this case, it seems that the Go! Team is ripe for some fun ones. If I can already convince myself to do just 10 more minutes on the elliptical at the gym so I can keep listening to Rolling Blackouts I figure the remixes might get me going for another 15.
4. Growlers: Gay Thoughts 7" Now here's a fun little band that I've recently gotten wind of. I don't know much about them, but I'm game.
5. Javelin: Canyon Candy 10" Javelin crafted this EP as a tribute to a road trip across the Western USA, and all the songs have this amazing cowboy twang meets electro beat that I'm really feeling right now. I love some old time front porch music, and Javelin's spin on it is fresh and fun.
6. Joy Formidable: Whirring/Chwyrlio 7" Whirring, from what I've heard of Joy Formidable's repertoire thus far is the most sing-along-able, poppiest offering by a long shot. It has that big soaring chorus that just makes your ribs ache. I could slay dragons to this song.
7. Shuggie Otis: Inspiration Information - World Psych Classics 2 LP I've long had the cd version of this release from Luaka Bop, and the smooth soul tracks are reminiscent of Curtis Mayfield at his most laconic. Sunday afternoon music for sure, and worth the whole price of admission just for Shuggie's definitive version of "Strawberry Letter 23" made more popular by the Brothers Johnson.
8. Wild Flag: Future Crimes b/w Glass Tambourine 7" Since I missed this quasi super group (Carrie Brownstean of Sleater Kinney collaborates with Mary Timony of Helium) at SXSW, I still have no real notion of what they sound like, and full disclosure - I sort of missed the boat on the Sleater-Kinney/Carrie Brownstein fandom, but the inclusion of one of my 90s ultra-faves Mary Timony will get my money any day. I can't imagine how the relatively straightforward power-chords of Brownstein will meld with the creatively tuned string-bending of Timony, but we'll see.
9. The return of Wake to public consciousness. Since I'm being honest, I'll admit that I'd never heard of this band prior to seeking them out based on the RSD list. Wake is a female-fronted post punk band along the lines of Josef K or Orange Juice, contemporaries of that time period in the UK. Record Store Day via Captured Tracks Records is offering up a 7" combo pack that has three records and and some buttons - featured are the singles "On Our Honeymoon" and "Crush the Flowers." But that's not all - Captured Tracks is also releasing a split 7" of Wake covers by the label's prime movers, Wild Nothing and Beach Fossils.
Here's a track by Wake to whet your appetite:
So, on April 16, I'll be in Vegas seeking out the best independent record store I can find to cull some of these treasures from the shelves. Where ever you are, don't forget to support your independent record stores every day of the year.
I'm choosing a band that's been around for more than a minute for today's Daily Bomb, because their recently released third album "Rolling Blackouts" continues to evolve their incredibly unique sound into better and better sonic territory.
I first saw The Go! Team play live at South By Southwest 2006, just a few months after their first album, "Thunder, Lightning, Strike!" was released. I'd heard a few tracks from the album before I caught their live show at the Spin Magazine party, and had mixed feelings. I wasn't initially sure that I quite got their music. It felt like what could best be described as high-energy hip hop chanted by a squad of cheerleaders on a sugar high. Only after I saw the translation of that music to a mind-reelingly aerobic live show did I get just what an interesting and singular fusion this music really was. There were classic soul samples (Shirley Ellis seemed to be a favorite to borrow from on this album) mixed in with horns, beats, singing, chanting, rapping...and it all came together in a way that probably inspired a lot of people to rethink their aversion to running for exercise. I'm seriously not kidding. As someone who generally asserts that she is saving all her running for when the zombies start chasing her, I dusted off my trainers, put in my earbuds and attempted (and failed) to run around the block. Probably, there were fist pumps and impromptu jumping jacks involved.
Second album "Proof of Youth" increased the thickness of production, proving that the band was anything but a one-minute-man. There was a more indie-slant, with more sing-songy numbers that nonetheless never sacrificed any of the super-soul-party edginess of the first album. There's a lot to be said for a band that understands inherently all the qualities that makes them one-of-a-kind, valid and unique, and evolves around them rather than away from them.
With the release of "Rolling Blackouts" today, they do more of the same type of evolution, and this time they invite a couple of guests along for the ride. Adding elements of 60s West Coast twang, and throwback AM gold to the mix, the first song previewed a month or so ago was an offering called "Buy Nothing Day" which featured Bethany Cosentino from Best Coast on vocal duty. "Secretary Song," a slanted little popster, features Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof. The other songs alternate between lush,pastoral instrumentals and floorshaking sing-alongs that combine the chant-worthy choruses of classic Go! Team cuts with a surprisingly rich, layered vocal harmony.
Below is the video for "Secretary Song." The band promises a new video each day this week. Most excellent!
Vivian Girls sideprojects seem to be ruling the net nowadays - you can't type "w" three times without hitting one. Vivian Girls...hm...let's talk about this, shall we? The band forms in 2007 to the raves of college music fans all across Brooklyn and some of the other places where lesser humans receive transmissions in "hipster." Two albums and one drummer later, we must assume that the Vivian Girls' creative output is simply not enough for these overacheiving ladies, because that creativity springs a ship-capsizing leak into other bands last year. Original drummer, Frankie Rose, pokes her head out of the scene like an ethereal bang-coiffed groundhog, and casts a jangly springtime shadow in the form of new band Frankie Rose and the Outs. Meanwhile, replacement drummer, Ali Koehler leaves for the pacific pastures of Best Coast. Not to be outdone, however, still-active members Cassie Ramone and Katy Goodman use their free time to record offerings by bands called The Babies and today's Daily Bomb, La Sera, respectively. All this while awaiting the release of Vivian Girls' third hotly anticipated album.
Honestly, Vivian Girls I can take or leave. I feel like they have a solid place at the forefront of lo-fi girl-group-loving return to simple pop that has been trucking along for the last couple of years, but I never really felt terribly connected to their musical output. On the other hand, I feel that these spin-off bands are pushing a few more buttons and expanding the style of the individual members of the band. As such, I'm curious about how this will effect the upcoming Vivian Girls release. Positively, I have to imagine.
But, the nucleus of these side projects aside, both The Babies and La Sera have released some really pleasing singles in 2010 and early 2011. Of the two, La Sera seems to have kept a little more of the bricks and mortar of the Vivian Girls structure, but somehow come off softer, cleaner, and sweeter. The fuzz of the Vivian Girls has cleared away like a fog to reveal something altogether prettier, yet more solid at the same time.
Next week, La Sera's single "Devils Hearts Grow Gold" will be released on Hardly Art in a limited 7"in advance of a full length that will ship in February. Both "Devils..." and the previous single, "Never Come Around" bode well for what's to come from Ms. Katy and crew.
