Max Hammer – Page 16 – INDIE ROCK CAFE

5 Bands That Rock, Vol. VIII – Lions for Real, Tijuana Bullfight, One High Five, BRUCE! and Atlas Complex

Posted on 01/29/201407/22/2021 by Max Hammer

The Bands That Rock profile and playlist series has been one of the most popular playlist series on Indie Rock Cafe over the past couple of years. This new edition of Bands That Rock features mostly DIY bands, but they all do one thing the same – they rock out with the kind of raw rock power we love. But most of these bands are practically unknown and under the radar. Not anymore. With so many electronics, samples, synths, drum machines, and so on in so much music these days (and plenty of it that is terrific and featured on IRC regularly), it is more important than ever for hard-working, talented, and original rock bands – that pay tribute to the roots of hard rock – to get the notice they deserve.

Lions For Real – Nashville, Tennessee

For the past couple of years, Lions for Real, a gritty, high energy rock band based in Nashville, have been making in-roads within the emerging alternative rock scene of a city long associated with country music. As the band members worked hard at honing their sound and paying their dues, Lions For Real was booked as the opening band for shows from popular bands like Cage the Elephant, Little Big Town, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gov’t Mule, and Brother Cane. The members of Lions For Real include among their top influences artists such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Ramones, Bob Dylan, and Jimi Hendrix.

Lions For Real’s raw, melodic, and excitingly original sound, apparent on songs like “It’s On” and “The Movement.” In the two years since their formation, the band has been gaining attention from industry insiders from New York City to Los Angeles – including Hollywood-based record label, Werewolf Heart Records (Ryan Gosling’s Dead Man’s Bones, Ima Robot), who signed Lions For Real briefly in 2012. When that partnership fell apart, Lions for Real decided they preferred to go at it DIY-style, and subsequently released their debut EP, Heathens, in July of 2013.

Lions For Real on Facebook

You can stream, uninterrupted, the rest of the songs on this page with this little helper:

[zbplayer]

Tijuana Bullfight – Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles hard rock band, Tijuana Bullfight, known in the LA music scene as the band to popularize what is referred to as the “SoCal Sludge sound,” will release their sophomore album, aptly titled Southern California, in February. TBF’s latest album demonstrates the significant experience and contributions of core band members Anthony Binikos and Mark Atienza to the southern California ‘sludge’ sound with clever fusions of southern California rock, punk, metal and indie.

“With so many clubs and promoters in LA mashing different styles of music,” Atienza told IRC, “we had to cater to a different audience at every show; it evolved from there. LA is a big mash pot of different styles of fashion, music, art and lifestyle, kinda [sic] like one big ‘sludge.'” Recently the band put out a cover version of the Psychedelic Furs’ track, “Heaven.”

The band’s ability to answer the demand for a mashed, multi-genre hard rock sound, and to do so in a completely original way, with their famously raw, dynamic and powerful sound, have made Tijuana Bullfight popular and influential within LA’s booming rock scene, and led to bookings with bands like Ween, The Cramps, Ratt, Palo Alto, Cage 9, The Dollrots, Kittie, Revolver, Skinnie, and One Size Zero.

It wasn’t until the release of the band’s 2012 double-single, “Fat Baby/Red Head,” that we were introduced to the band. Even though they formed in 2003, Southern California is only the band’s second album. But like their debut, it’s busting out with rip-curling energy and gusto. Among the band’s top musical influences include artists like Bad Brains, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Failure, Beatles, Rolling Stones, QOTSA, Foo Fighters, Oasis, and Mastadon. Fans of those bands will likely dig TBF’s sounds.

“Desire” – Tijuana Bullfight from Southern California

“Fat Baby” – Tijuana Bullfight from 7″

“Red Head” – Tijuana Bullfight from 7″

Tijuana Bullfight Official Website

Tijuana Bullfight on Facebook

One High Five – Long Beach, California

One High Five is a DIY rock and pop punk band from Long Beach,, California. After the band received airplay on Los Angeles’s 106.7 KROQ‘s Locals Only program, they were invited to play their first show at the famous Viper Room, where High Voltage Magazine tweeted: “There’s a party on the stage, and it’s called ‘One High Five!'”

Since then, singer/songwriter David Sauer has taken the party across the United States, overseas to China, and into the ears of rock ‘n rollers on three continents. The music blog, Muse’s Muse, called them a “force to be reckoned with” and Hear Me Out wrote that One High Five “stand out above the rest.”

One High Five’s sound is based in layers of guitars, orchestration and harmonies that combine to create a genre-blending musical adventure, that pay tribute to Sauer’s influences including Green Day, The Beach Boys, NOFX, Superdrag, Electric Light Orchestra and CAKE. His lyrics reflect personal experiences and encourage listeners to challenge themselves and push through battles of hopelessness and despair. The band has opened for artists like Green Jelly, The Wellingtons (Australia), Red Bacteria Vacuum (Japan), and The Steelwells.

Songs are written in Sauer’s head and flushed out with plenty of repetitive thoughts and manic pacing; he records demos at his studio and collaborates with a rotating crew of friends and strangers for the band’s live shows. The fuel that rockets One High Five is Sauer’s value of hard work, passion and resolve. The impact can definitely be felt on their eclectic and energetic debut album, Here, Hear!

“Fully Operational” – One High Five from Here, Hear! – Feb. 19th

“Tear Down the Wall” – One High Five from Here, Hear!

One High Five Official Site
One High Five’s Facebook Page

BRUCE! – Wollongong, Australia

Loud blazing guitars, brash rhythms, growling bass lines, aggressive drumming and passionate driving vocals are the pillars of BRUCE, a gritty heavy metal indie rock band from Wollongong, Australia comprised of Michael Curley (vocals /guitar); Mick Brady (vocals /guitar), Luke Armstrong (vocals/ bass) and Elwyn Brindle-Jones (vocals/drums). The band major music influences include Queens of the Stone Age, Turbonegro, The Bronx, Ted Nugent, Regurgitator, and The Misfits.

This four headed beast was born from the ashes of rock trio Hytest (which toured Europe with Nick Oliveri in Mondo Generator back in 2010), and have been honing their craft ever since, resulting in the production of 13 songs recorded with Jonboy Rock at Megaphon Studios in Sydney, which became the band’s self-titled debut album.

“Money And Go” – BRUCE! from BRUCE! – May 2nd

“Someday” – BRUCE! from BRUCE!

BRUCE on Bandcamp

Atlas Complex – Miami, Florida

Miami DIY band Atlas Complex was formed by Phillip Bower in 2009. and had a lot of musicians going in and out, until June 2012, when the current line up got together and started weekly jams and writing original material.

In January of 2013, after a couple of local gigs, the quartet decided to record live in the warehouse where they practice, and the first six original tracks were completed and released two weeks later on Atlas Complex’s debut EP, Moon Within. As a totally DIY band, their artwork and website were developed by the band vocalist, Chryz, and the recording, mixing and mastering of the EP was produced by guitarist Phillip Bower. Currently Atlas Complex is working on recording a full LP, and booking more local gigs to continue to grow. The band’s major influences include Nirvana, Tool, Radiohead, NIN, Satriani, and A Perfect Circle.

“Attack” – Atlas Complex from Moon Within – Jan. 12th

“Seattle” – Atlas Complex from Moon Within

Atlas Complex Official Website
Atlas Complex on Facebook

5 DIY Bands to Watch, Vol. IX – Twin Peaks, Royal Forest, Thundercat, Drift Wood Miracle, Sensual Harassment

Posted on 01/26/201412/18/2019 by Max Hammer

We’ve heard some say that there were not as many breakout indie artists and bands in 2013 compared to previous years. That’s simply not true. And that’s because, as many of you know, we cover bands that most of the ‘copy-cat’ indie blogs (those that recycle the same bands and songs featured on other blogs) don’t.

We certainly don’t follow, or cover, the trendy artists and bands simply because it’s considered hip. Nevertheless, the five breakout bands of 2013 featured in this special feature varied from getting some coverage on popular music blogs and websites, while others (like Thundercat, Drift Wood Miracle, and Sensual Harassment), for the most part, were largely overlooked and under the radar considering their talent. In fact, each of them struck a chord with many people when we originally featured them last year. Of course, by being breakout bands, they are also bands to watch in 2014The scores of unsigned, obscure artists and bands featured on IRC in the past year, along with the more popular blogger buzz bands, include Twin Peaks, Royal Forest, Thundercat, Drift Wood Miracle, and Sensual Harassment

Twin Peaks – Chicago

Lovers of scuzzy, energetic lo-fi garage pop take notice. The young (all five members are 19 years old) Chicago band Twin Peaks‘ popularity has been growing throughout 2013 thanks in large part to the release of their fine debut LP, and a steady string of shows and tours beyond the borders of the Windy City and outwards across the nation.

Some of their songs, like the lead single, “Stand in the Sand,” from their 2013 debut album, Sunken, are fast-driving, lo-fi, surf pop meets glam-rock, raging with the vigor and energy one would expect from five 19-year-old guys in a rock band that is pumping out impressive tracks, and videos, and who show great promise into, and a growing fan base, in 2014.

“Stand in the Sand” is about as aggressive as you can get within the boundaries of indie garage pop; the song emotes an unmistakable glam-meets-surf-rock attitude. There are other moments on Sunken; in fact, quite a few people recently have jumped on the Twin Peaks bandwagon, including our friend Liz, who also admits to finding some of the guys in the band “hot.”

Altogether, Twin Peaks is getting attention – in Chicago, they are a buzz band and for all of the obvious reasons, are often compared to their neighbors, Smith Westerns, who themselves have been a fixture on the larger national indie scene for the past few years. If this is your kind of jam, and more and more people listen to and buy their music, go to their shows and urge their friends hooked if it’s your kind jam , which of course is nothing like the emotive capabilities of garage rock or punk when it comes to just out of high school guys adult men, that fits nicely with a celebrate summer playlist, you’re

As is the case with many bands that take a common name, there are also other bands with the same name, which, for a number of reasons, bands are discouraged to do, especially in the age of Google. Based on this page from Lastfm, there are at least four other “known” bands that go by the name Twin Peaks. The band performed at the Outside Lands Festival after show in San Francisco on August 10th at Brick & Mortar with The Men and King Tuff.

“Stand in the Sand” – Twin Peaks from Sunken on Autumn Tone Records

Listen to Sunken in your Spotify player

Royal Forest – Austin, Texas

Austin experimental DIY band Royal Forest have gained some notoriety in the city’s highly competitive music scene for their unusual experimentation that “manifests itself in field recordings.” Examples include, according to their Soundcloud page, recording “in a single-prop airplane above the Texas hill country, inside a WWII submarine in Galveston, and in a lightning storm among the Monahans’ sand dunes.” The band members of Royal Forest do not wish to be categorized as either a “studio band or live act,” but rather as a band that “pushes the limits of composition, using whim and on-the-fly audio manipulation as songwriting tools. Experimentation is their evolutionary engine,” which is clearly evident on their exciting album, Spillway, released by their own DIY label, King Electric Record Company.

“Everyone Who Knows You” – Royal Forest from Spillway on King Electric Record Company

Thundercat – Los Angeles, California

If you haven’t heard of the rising Los Angeles artist Thundercat yet, now is not a bad time to check him out. Last summer, Thundercat released the CD and LP versions of his sophomore album, Apocalypse. Thundercat’s label mate on Brain Feeder Records, the often praised artist Flying Lotus, wore the producer’s hat for the making of the album, and the results speak for themselves in the music. But if they actually did speak, they’d say: “This is awesome.”

It’s no wonder that Thundercat gained so much traction and captivated indie music fans with Apocalypse. “Oh Shiet It’s X” is the standout single from the album where Thundercat and Flying Lotus really shine and demonstrate with crystal clarity in sound just why they continue to work and perform live together. Not long ago they put out the solid R&B jam “Heartbreaks + Setbacks,” which was also a crowd-pleaser during their 11-city North American engagement last May, drawing audiences from Montreal to Minneapolis, Boston to Oakland.

“Oh Shiet It’s X” – Thundercat from Apocalypse

“Heartbreaks + Setbacks” – Thundercat from Apocalypse

Drift Wood Miracle – Durham, North Carolina

If you dig the late 60’s classic guitar rock with its blues and psychedelic energy, then the band Drift Wood Miracle from Durham, North Carolina should be on your radar. We first learned of the band – as we do so many that are featured on IRC – after they submitted some songs for review. Right away we were dazzled by their excellent craftmanship and thrilling classic rock interpretations molded to the modern era, and because they’re DIY, without any pressure from anyone else. Drift Wood is brand new band, only formed in mid-2013 by Bryan Diver, the band’s songwriter, singer and pianist.

Drift Wood Miracle started when four highschool friends, two of which wrote songs, realized each others musical interests, humor, and over all love of life were in common. So, they got together one weekend in December with a producer and recorded thier first LP, The 21st, as they were working out the final kinks in the songs. Upon reflection of the album, they were able to look forward with anticipation for their high energy live shows. Now incorperating the grooves of funk, the heavy riffs of grunge, and the sponaneous music turns associated with only jazz musicians, Drift Wood Miracle is playing show after show with none alike. DWM is now in the studio working on their sophomoric LP with as many as 24 much loved songs to chose from.

“Juggernaught” – Drift Wood Miracle from The 21st

“Solum” – Drift Wood Miracle from The 21st

Sensual Harassment – Brooklyn, New York

Sensual Harassment is a two-piece, new wave/psych-pop/disco band from Williamsburg in the New York borough of Brooklyn, that formed in 2009. They started making waves back in 2011, but didn’t really break out until the past year, and especially with recent singles, and their new album, Escape From Alpha Draconis . They have been influenced by groups like New Order, The Cars, The Clash, Beach Boys, Steely Dan and Daft Punk and have opened for bands like Future Islands and Das Racist.

“Capri Suntan” – Sensual Harassment from Escape From Alpha Draconis

“Make Me Human Again” – Sensual Harassment from Escape From Alpha Draconis

“NYC Beast” – Sensual Harassment from Escape From Alpha Draconis

Artist of the Week: Grace Basement, aka, Kevin Buckley

Posted on 01/20/201412/18/2019 by Max Hammer

Grace Basement is the moniker of St. Louis songwriter, singer and musician Kevin Buckley. His acoustic folk songs are heartfelt and introspective, comprised of dreamy melodies, pleasant harmonies, soft instrumentation and Buckley’s soothing vocals, that have a remarkable likeness to Paul Simon, especially, but not exclusively, on Buckley’s cover of Simon’s classic acoustic single, “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War,” from the must-have music collectors’ compilation, Hearts and Bones.

There’s no question, in listening to Grace Basement’s newest album, Wheel Within A Wheel, released last August, that Buckley is an artist who has been largely overlooked. Wheel Within A Wheel is one of the best overlooked albums of 2013. Grace Basement released its debut, No Sense, in 2007.

Even after listening to the album, and his other recordings, again and again, we’re still moved each time we hear Buckley’s music. His impressive talents as a songwriter, vocalist and musician are too great not to be known to more music lovers. It’s bewildering how an artist with Buckley’s music has remained pretty much under wraps until now.

“Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

Buckley’s songs are masterfully composed and brilliant, especially considering that he tracked all of the instruments – acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, bass, drum – himself, as well as mixed and mastered them, making him eligible for the One-Man Band classification as well. Aside from his amazing covers, Buckley’s original compositions, and performances, are magnificent, as songs like “The Way To Be” and ‘Water Flowing Over a Mountain” so clearly demonstrate. The latter track is filled with upbeat acoustic melodies, world-sounding drum beats and the rising harmonies of Buckley’s exceptional vocals. Although all of the songs on the album are wonderful, “Water Flowing Over a Mountain,” is absolutely a stand out, and one of the more energetic songs on the LP.

“Water Flowing Over a Mountain” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

Although he is under the radar for the most part, Buckley is not as obscure as most other low visibility artists we feature in a given year (don’t miss past Artist of the Week profiles). Signed to the small label, Avonmore, Buckley has previously opened for big artists like the Counting Crows, The Jayhawks and Blue Mountain. That’s great and all, but he should be headlining his own shows, making TV appearances and be a feature artist at SXSW.

One of the marks of a great artist is not only how well they can write, compose and perform original music, but also how well they cover other musician’s music. As previously noted, Buckley’s cover of “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War” is one of the best Paul Simon covers we’ve ever heard from another artist, and so is Buckley’s cover of Bob Dylan‘s “It’s All Over Now (Baby Blue).” Buckley doesn’t try to sound like Dylan, and doesn’t even play the song in the same time signature, yet he pays the song, and Dylan, the required respect, and still manages to make the song, for a few minutes, his own. It works; in fact, it works really well.

“It’s All Over Now (Baby Blue)” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

There is not one song from Wheel Within A Wheel that is a ‘throw-away’ – they are all, in our view, keeper songs. This is the kind of album that we’ll listen to for years, and part of the cafe’s permanent in-house music collection – as well as being permanently featured in the archives of IRC. Here’s another song we love from the album, “We’re Gonna Rock This Town,” which is much more mellow than it’s title suggests.

“We’re Gonna Rock This Town” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

Artists like Buckley give us much inspiration to keep digging through the submissions and listening to everything we can get our hands on, and to remember that there are simply too many immensely talented artists – that do not get the coverage they deserve – for us to give up on putting in all of the work required to sift through and listen to, research, listen to again, and then write up and schedule for publishing.

All we can hope is that sharing this music with the IRC community – as has happened with so many artists and bands we’ve featured over the years – gives Buckley a springboard to reach more music lovers. He’s destine for greatness. Contributing members include David Anderson, Jill Aboussie, Greg Lamb, Ian Walsh, Kaleb Kirby, Maureen Sullivan, and Jesse Irwin.

“The Way to Be” – Grace Basement from Wheel Within A Wheel

For more info, view Grace Basement’s official website

Listen to more on Grace Basement’s Soundcloud page

Best Songs of 2013, Vol. II – Local Natives, Yo La Tengo, Wooden Hand, Pere Ubu, Gliss, Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, Lost Animal

Posted on 01/19/201407/22/2021 by Max Hammer

by Devin William Daniels

There were so many terrific songs in 2013 that no one could blame you for still listening to them every chance you can get. Plus, 2013 is still fresh for many people. Devin William Daniels, a musician who records under the name of The Negative Sound, has written some more reviews of his favorite songs from the Top 10 Songs playlists. Volume One included tracks from artists like Kurt Vile, Sigur Ros, Phoenix, Wild Nothing, The National, Daft Punk and many others. The following reviews and playlist of the Best Songs of 2013 includes more fantastic songs from artists and bands like Local Natives, Yo La Tengo, Wooden Hand, Pere Ubu, Gliss, Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, and Lost Animal.

The opening track Yo La Tengo’s 2013 album, Fade, has the seminal indie rock group looking back as it moves forward. A chanting jangle pop number slowly drifts into hazy, vaguely-Eastern psychedelia. The voices intone: “…nothing ever stays the same/ Nothing’s explained/ The higher we go, the longer we fly,” a sermon of the ancient order of Anglo-American rock spiritualism. Yo La Tengo envisions pop music’s future expanding in height and duration, but the revelations aren’t new ones.

“Ohm” – Yo La Tengo from Fade

Local Natives explore the sonic landscape in this excellent single. After a totally danceable intro, I expect four minutes of fairly clean, glassy afro pop, and instead I’m treated to a melancholic wall-of-sound that’s almost anthemic, then contemplative downstrokes over which we lay witness to the passage of time, “…watching/ The color drain from my ice.” The different elements reflect the different responses and impulses music elicits: the urge to forget, to transcend, and to dwell.

“Breakers” – Local Natives from Hummingbird

The legendary art-rockers, Pere Ubu, kick the year off with their surreal brand of pop music. Repetition, lyrical minimalism and synthesizers combine in unfamiliar ways to create this perplexing, eerie track. At times it feels melody-driven, at times rhythm-driven, while sometimes seeming to have no melody or rhythm at all. David Thomas’ seemingly innocuous refrain, “It’s a wonderful world/ It’s a beautiful thing” never sounded so disturbing an assertion.

“Free White” – Pere Ubu from Lady from Shanghai

James Jackson Toth, the man behind the Wooden Wand moniker, avoids the stylistic pitfalls of contemporary indie folk in this intense number. Instead of using clichéd instrumentation and forced depression-era imagery to evoke bygone folk heroes, Toth finds the tragedy in a modern – and thus infinitely more relatable – context: the 2011 crime spree of the so-called Dougherty Gang. The arrangement – juxtaposing a cutting, precise rhythm guitar with ghostly ancillary parts – evokes desperation, defeat and transcendence.

“Southern Colorado Song” – Wooden Wand from Blood Oaths of the New Blues

With their most obvious generic elements, you think you know what to expect from Gliss, but it’s not the usual 80s callbacks of electronic music or the songless goo of so much current shoegaze. Instead, “Weight of Love” recalls the heyday of 90s alternative rock in its structure: I hear Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and even 90’s Red Hot Chili Peppers lurking, as well as Victoria Cecilia’s ethereal vocals recall the music from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Yet it’s all packaged in silvery sheen and set to the backdrop of some sort of hyper-futuristic Los Angeles.

“Weight of Love” – Gliss from Langsom Dans

The prolific Ty Segall collaborates with Mikal Cronin on this great track. You know what to expect from Segall at this point, but it’s always welcome since it’s so hard to find elsewhere: great riffs, neck-bending hooks, and an unwavering commitment to volume. The title, “I Wear Black,” is appropriate, as in an era of slight singers and meek songwriters, Segall has become a sort of moustache-twirling sonic villain by comparison, which makes him the beloved antihero of those who think rock music is supposed to rock.

“I Wear Black” – Ty Segall & Mikal Cronin from Reverse Shark Attack

Jarrod Quarrell’s keyboard pop offering lacks in melody and direction, at times feeling like its wandered into the mid-tempo wilderness, but the appeal to this track comes in its carefully constructed texture and Quarrell’s meticulous, spoken-word-poet delivery.

“Say No to Thugs” – Lost Animal from Ex Tropical

Devin William Daniels is a writer and musician from Pennsylvania currently teaching English in the Republic of South Korea. Follow him on Twitter or listen to his recordings on Soundcloud. Read more of Mr. Daniels’ posts and reviews via IRC’s archives.

Best Songs of 2013, Vol. I – Surfer Blood, Sigur Ros, Deerhunter, Phoenix, Kurt Vile, Wild Nothing, The National, Daft Punk, Big Deal

Posted on 01/13/201407/22/2021 by Max Hammer

by Devin William Daniels

As you’ve probably noticed over the past few weeks, IRC has posted playlists of the Best Songs of 2013. Musician and IRC contributor, Devin William Daniels, has picked dozens of his favorite songs from the Top 10 Songs playlists of 2013 and written a series of reviews about the songs. There was no shortage of indie and alternative rock singles from 2013. Many of the singles in this post, and throughout the series, are from the Best Albums of 2013.

Listen to all four volumes of the Best Indie Rock Songs of 2013

This is the first of a series of the Best Songs of 2013 based on the Top 10 Songs playlist; there have been, and will be, other posts and playlists highlighting the other top songs of 2013, including those that did not make it on the Top 10, as well as many amazing DIY songs of the year that you probably won’t hear anywhere else. Stream any playlist uninterrupted by clicking the exfm play button in the bottom right of the page or the first song on the page.

“Demon Dance” – Surfer Blood

The lead single from Surfer Blood‘s solid LP, Pythons, allows John Paul Pitts to flex his guitar muscles a little bit, albeit more tonally than technically. I wish he let loose a little more, as he does in Surfer Blood’s excellent live show, but the restraint gives us a piece of well-crafted, pristine guitar pop. JPP’s guitar kicks things off with a nice clean riff that’s soon interrupted by the sound of airplanes dying or robots screaming, before we’re treated to a tasteful verse, bridge and chorus. The imagery is extremely biblical: the first line recalls the first line, “A word has weight,” is a snarky reflection of the slightly more famous first line of the Book of Genesis, and we also hear talk of apples, snakes, a Pentecostal choir and the hounds of hell. Is the narrator’s offer that he or she “can suck the venom out of [our] bones” an offer of salvation of a temptation to damnation? I’m not sure, but Surfer Blood set this dilemma to three parts that are so well constructed from a pop perspective (when most pop can’t manage two legitimate sections), you’ll mostly just be waiting for the next hook.

“Demon Dance” – Surfer Blood from Pythons

“Dream Machines” – Big Deal

Big Deal embrace dream pop a bit too literally with the aptly titled “Dream Machines,” but the styling serves them well. What could be a sing-songy folk pop number transforms into a textured, slightly obscured single. The drums echo to a bombastic degree, and the guitar plays a memorable, carnival-esque melody before a fuzzy, anthemic power chords briefly explode before fading behind the twin vocalists, who dually confess, “I’ve been dreaming of dropping out/ Will it matter if I’m around?” The boy/girl dynamic of the voices is the highlight here, and while that’s often paired with acoustic guitars and not much else, here the dreamy, drugged backdrop serves as the perfect accompaniment.

“Dream Machines” – Big Deal from June Gloom

“Monomania” – Deerhunter

Done with the dreaminess of past efforts, Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox seems desperate for anything tangible. Oddly, his chosen route to achieve this is prayer, as he sings, “Come on God, hear my sick prayer/ If you can’t send me an angel/ If you can’t send me an angel/ Send me something else instead.” The idea of “something else” seems key in this caustic title track, in which the narrator can’t convince his or her boy to “leave his lady,” pushing the issue as he sings, “let me tell you that/ If you wanna be with me/ I can be your home away.” Cox’s delivery has a jarring, confused quality that’s part tough guy and part seductress combined into some sort of pulp cartoon figure. Perhaps its these conflicting sides of himself, not two characters, he is addressing when he sings, “There is a man/ There is a mystery whore/ And in my dying days/ I can never be sure.” In spite all of the duality and the urge for “something else” – whatever it may be – the song devolves into white noise and the endlessly repeated mantra of “mono, monomania.” It’s an obsession with the “one” – or perhaps the idea that he his multiple sides are supposed to neatly combine into one – that ultimately does Cox and Deerhunter in.

“Monomania” – Deerhunter from Monomania

“Entertainment” – Phoenix

The title recalls the all-time classic hit, “Entertainment!,” by Gang of Four, and while Phoenix aren’t tackling commodification, Great Man theory and the avant-garde with the same intensity and intellectualism as the seminal post-punk group, there’s certainly a deal of meditation on the double-edged nature of artistic success in this track, particularly the parallels between the struggles of fame and the struggles of romantic relationships. Lyrics like “Entertainment/ Show them what you do with me/ When everyone here knows better” could be directed as a significant other as easily as a massive festival crowd. One imagines that Phoenix, late bloomers who achieved sudden success after years and albums had passed by, would find their fame more absurd and arbitrary than artists who’ve been on top from the beginning, and they seem to conclude it isn’t worth it with the chorus’s last line: “I’d rather be alone.” Of course, this confession is set amidst the pop-minded, synth-laden music that brought on that fame, so perhaps Phoenix want the festival gigs to keep coming.

“Entertainment” – Phoenix from Bankrupt!

“Walkin’ on a Pretty Day” – Kurt Vile

Kurt Vile‘s chill tempo and tastefully strung out guitars are almost hypnotizing, so you might miss the pretty enlightened thoughts he mumbles with the voice of a just woken Lou Reed. “Wakin on a Pretty Day” espouses a philosophy of loneliness, championing an existence without connection, present but distant from the concerns of the surrounding world. It’s appropriate then that the song’s main prop is the narrator’s cell phone, which Vile notes is, “ringing off the shelf/ I guess it wanted to kill himself.” The cell phone is both the symbol of and the primary source of our intense, persistent connection to the world and its demands and expectations, so Vile can appreciate the suicidal tendencies a phone might suffer, channeling all that pressure. He encourages detachment, singing: “Don’t worry ’bout a thing/ It’s only dying” and “Floating in place, no need saying nothing.” In fact, the song itself almost escapes the Earth’s grip and float off into space after the last notes of a guitar solo, before gravity pulls it back down with a drum roll and a short instrumental lead-in to deliver the final verse. What follows that verse is several minutes of music accompanied by few words but a series of “yeahs” – there’s no need for language in the world of embraced loneliness.

“Walkin on a Pretty Day” – Kurt Vile from Waking on a Pretty Daze

“A Dancing Shell” – Wild Nothing

Wild Nothing‘s “A Dancing Shell” tells the story of someone who doesn’t know how to love and destroys himself to earn it. The narrator’s fatal flaw is viewing love as a one-way street – he will do nothing – selling himself, being a monkey – “if it makes you love me,” with no concern for the effect on his own soul. His one-sided commitment to the object of his supposed affection destroys himself (“I am not a human/ I’m just a body/ Just a dancing shell here to make you happy“) and as a result he cannot even tell if he is indeed experiencing love. With this reduction to the nothingness of his moniker, Wild Nothing leaves us with nothing but doubts – “Is that the way? I never knew/ Is that the way?” — and the final resignation: “I was a waste.”

“A Dancing Shell” – Wild Nothing from Empty Estate

“Brennisteinn” – Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós recall the classic material of ( ) while forging into new, darker territory. At their best, Sigur Rós often sound like a soundtrack to some cosmic, heavenly plane, or at least a gorgeous, Icelandic mountain view somewhere. The excellent “Brennisteinn” twists our expectations and offers a soundtrack to hell, not in the typical usage of that phrase as someone might apply to a really intense metal song or some other brand of supposedly “tough” music. “Brennisteinn” goes far beyond the earthly concerns of such music, providing us a sound that is just as cosmic as their best recordings but inverted, portraying the darker forces as just as powerful and beyond comprehension as the greater forces, but with an added element of terror.

Again, not the terror of horror movies and cheap scares, but the terror of the incomprehensible, brought on by otherworldly tones and voices. Then, things go quiet, the last guttural tone cuts out, and we’re treated to a brief moment of silence before the opposing force cries out in an ethereal lament over cinematic percussion and long, droning tones. The language here is lofty, but Sigur Rós are a band that, when they’re on their game, should be evoking grandiose prose, and it’s good to have them delivering.

“Brennisteinn” – Sigur Rós from Kveikur

“Get Lucky” – Daft Punk

With the album that came to dominate the summer of 2013, Daft Punk sought to recapture a bygone era and did so with enough success to make this record as divisive as the actual disco material that inspired it. At first glance it seems like either a critique or a misguided tribute, with the conclusion that “we’re up all night to get lucky” a fairly base encapsulation of the disco era. However, the song simultaneously asserts that “we’ve come too far to give up who we are,” which seems to me to suggest that there’s something in this time that, for Daft Punk, is worth fighting for. The idea of “get[ting] lucky” seems thus to be about more than just sex, but about dreams of becoming someone, of witnessing the future. To capture that feeling, Daft Punk goes into the past. Musically, Pharrell Williams provides the hookiest melody of the year, but my favorite part is when he drops out and the vocoding comes in, giving us a more robotic but less seamless transmission of the song’s message.

“Get Lucky” – Daft Punk from Random Access Memories

“Sea of Love” – The National

One of the few contemporary bands approaching “legends in their own time” status, The National‘s sixth LP was yet another excellent entry in what is becoming a colossus of a discography. Evolving from moody post-punk songs to romantic piano pieces to orchestral, operatic alt-anthems, the National offer something more raw with “Sea of Love,” but it is still just as epic and affecting as their High Violet material. Masters of dynamics, the National provide a frenetic verse for the pacing questions of his narrator, cutting loose for a line you can’t ignore if you’ve read the album’s cover sleeve: “If I stay here, trouble will find me.” This is the sad belief of a reluctant nomad, but it reflects the practices that have made the National so great: constant movement forward, no staying behind to enjoy one’s previous successes, to stop moving is to die.

Some things are constant however, such as Matt Berninger‘s penchant for telling highly specific stories (see his use of particular names and places, “Jo” and “Harvard” in this song) in a universal way, without coming off as cheap “Jack and Diane”-esque pandering. The song’s repeated line “Hey Jo, sorry I hurt you, but/ They say ‘love is a virtue,’ don’t they?” never really comes off as romantic, but on examination is a terrifying justification in a song of drowning rationalizations, set to beautiful music. Like drowning – alternatively peaceful and horrifying – the clash of moods of “Sea of Love” is what makes it, and the National’s music in general, interesting and reflective of the often counterintuitive, incongruous nature of human experience. Be sure to check out the excellent music video, a tribute to the equally great Russian post-punk band Zvuki Mu.

“Sea of Love” – The National from Trouble Will Find Me

Best Songs of 2013 – Kurt Vile, Grizzly Bear, Destroyer, Wooden Shjips, Arcade Fire, Cut Copy, Shearwater, White Denim

Posted on 01/05/201407/22/2021 by Max Hammer

The 2013 Year in Indie Music reviews continue with 38 of the top singles from noteworthy albums released in November. While releases for November were slim – and even more so for December, which is typical at the end of the year – there were still new albums not to miss from bands like Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, Kurt Vile, Bright Eyes, Grizzly Bear, Thee Oh Sees, Destroyer, Beachwood Sparks, Wooden Shjips, The KVB, Shearwater, The Warlocks, Los Campesinos, Moonface, White Denim, and many others.

The first week of November releases also included a re-issue of Bright Eyes‘ fantastic Christmas Album, which is a great album not only if you’re a Bright Eyes’ fan, but also if you like Christmas music with modern interpretations that even your parents might appreciate.

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” – Bright Eyes from Christmas Album

“Back To The Land” – Wooden Shjips from Back To Land

“Ambiguity” – Shearwater from Fellow Travelers

“Subtle” (Featuring Mikky Ekko) – Active Child from Rapor EP

“The Place I Live” – Mount Eerie from Pre-Human Ideas
Check out the fan video for “The Place I Live” via YouTube

“Drop The Game” – Flume & Chet Faker from Lockjaw EP on Future Classic
View the official “Drop The Game” music video via YouTube

Arcade Fire’s Fourth Album, Reflektor, Wins With Critics

Even though many of the songs from the album were leaked – some by the band – throughout 2013, Arcade Fire finally officially released Reflektor, their fourth album, at the end of October (so we featured it with November’s releases). According to the aggregate web resource, Metacritic, the user score for each album since Funeral (which received a 9.4) has been a rating of 8.8 out of 10. Critics have been almost as complimentary of AR, but of course, as the band achieved super stardom status, they inevitably became targets for criticism and greater scrutiny.

While there were certainly some reviewers and music fans critical of the new album, the overwhelming consensus has been that Arcade Fire hit another home run, this time with the release of only their fourth album, nearly a decade (wow it really has been that long?) after they took the world by storm, and transcended the indie rock realm into a worldwide sensation, with the release of their debut Funeral (2004) – which is still considered their best album – and their follow-up albums, Neon Bible (2007); The Suburbs (2010), and now Reflektor. That’s one album every three years since 2004.

A big part of the reason that Arcade Fire has had three year spans in between album releases is the result of nearly endless touring around the world the band has done over the past decade, making them one of the biggest money-making live indie bands of the 2000s.

Still, all in all, Arcade Fire have proven time and again that they can put out a great album that will stand the test of time and of the overly cynical critics (even though, again, most critics give them high praise) and of a certain number of music lovers who simply don’t like when bands, even those they love, get too popular, and Arcade Fire is hands-down one of the most popular rock, not just ‘indie rock,’ bands of the past decade. Listen to Reflektor, because it’s damn good, especially if you play it the way it is meant to be played, which is from the first song to the last. Granted, many people don’t really listen to albums the way they’re intended to since the Internet changed everything about the music experience, but we strongly recommend to do so, particularly if you’re really a fan of a particular artist or band because then you’re really hearing it the way the artist hopes people will, which is again, from the first song to the last.

And even better is to listen to an album you care about on vinyl, or the very least, CD. No matter how well they market their services, Spotify and Pandora, and other such music services, simply cannot provide the music quality you get from a physical copy of an album, most especially from vinyl. It’s a completely different, and radically better, listening experience – bar none, hands down, without a doubt, that’s all, folks, and no question about it. While Reflektor was not literally released in November, but instead on Oct. 29, it qualifies more as a November release the way that we look at it – even though large parts of it have been leaked, or purposely released, throughout the summer and early fall of 2013.

“Reflektor” – Arcade Fire from Reflektor

Giant Releases from Los Campenos, Moonface, White Denim, Best Coast and Russian Circles

Other big releases in November included fresh drops from bands like Los Campesinos, Moonface, White Denim, and Russian Circles. Just in case you missed our October releases’ playlist, check out the Best Releases of October 2013, Volume I & Volume II. There’s some 70 free MP3s in just those two playlists – surely, you’re bound to find at least 10 that you want to download to your MP3 player.

“What Death Leaves Behind” – Los Campesinos! from No Blues

“julia With The Blue Dress On” – Moonface from Julia with Blue Jeans On

“Burial” – Russian Circles from Memorial

“Pretty Green” – White Denim from Corsicana Lemonade

“This Lonely Morning” – Best Coast from Far Away EP

“Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine” – Bille Joe Armstrong & Norah Jones from Foreverly

Kurt Vile Releases Two EPs and Clash Cover For A Prolific Q4

Kurt Vile had a productive last quarter of 2013. He dropped two new EPs within a couple of weeks – one with his band The Violators, and the other with the musician Sore Eros, who IRC did an extensive profile of in 2010. While the Jamaica Plain EP did not receive the high praise that It’s a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared) EP with The Violators received.

“Serum” – Kurt Vile and Sore Eros from Jamaica Plain EP

“Feel My Pain” – Kurt Vile & the Violators from It’s a Big World Out There (And I Am Scared) EP

Vile, along with The Violators, found time to cover and release a version of The Clash‘s track, “Guns of Brixton,” back in September. As big fans of The Clash, it was a special treat, even a surprise, that The Violators covered The Clash as well as they did.

“Guns of Brixton” (The Clash) – Kurt Vile & The VIolators from Uncovered Sessions (Watch the video)

In September, a special tribute to The Clash was put together by Google Play to celebrate Google’s release of a new documentary about The Clash, titled Audio Ammunition, which you can watch via YouTube. The tribute includes covers of Clash’s songs from artists like Thao and The Get Down Stay Down, Surfer Blood and Corey Taylor of Slipknot.

November’s Top DIY Releases: The Melvins, Midlake, Cut Copy, Throwing Muses, and Hammock

Also, listen to singles from top releases from The Melvins, Midlake, Cut Copy, Midlake, Throwing Muses and Blood Orange whose video for the track “Chamakay” received over half of a million views in just a couple of months. Don’t miss the MP3 track and accompanying video for the track “Dead Generation” from The Warlocks, a band to watch in 2014. At the conclusion of this section of the November singles playlist is the ambient track “I Could Hear The Water At The Edge of All Things” from dreamweaver Hammock.

On one Soundcloud page, the comments of praise from music lovers for Hammock’s composition were numerous – 77 in all as of 12/31/13 – and there were 556 Hearts and a total of 11,933 streams. It continues to fascinate us just how many young (under 35) music lovers are enthusiastic fans of ambient music. We see it time and time again where ambient songs featured on IRC, and on SoundCloud or YouTube, are popular with people. To that end, we’ll continue to post terrific ambient songs like “I Could Hear The Water At The Edge of All Things.”

There are so many great songs in this playlist – featuring November’s contribution to the Best Indie Songs of 2013 – and such little time to review them all so that we can instead focus on pumping out as many Best Indie of 2013 – from songs, to DIY artists, breakout bands and debut releases – as well as working hard to find the best new indie and DIY releases for the start of 2014, as well as publishing a whole series of posts that have been in the works for some time, featuring amazing music from bands and artists that most of you have probably never heard before, but may be very glad once you have.

“Dr. Mule” – The Melvins from Tres Cabrones

“Antiphon” – Midlake from Antiphon

“Holy Branches” – Radical Face

“Blood Like Cream” – Red Fang from Whales and Leeches

“Free Your Mind” – Cut Copy from Free Your Mind

“Chamakay” – Blood Orange from Cupid Deluxe

“Smoky Hands” – Throwing Muses from Purgatory/Paradise

“Nun” – Teengirl Fantasy from Nun EP

“Dead Generation” – The Warlocks from Skull Worship

“I Could Hear The Water At The Edge of All Things” – Hammock from Oblivion Hymns via Hammock Music

“Gimmie Your Love” – Morcheeba from Head Up High

“Chain My Name” – Polica from Shulamith

Solo Moniker Artists Destroyer and Gap Dream Drop New Grooves

Vancouver musician Dan Bejar, a.k.a. Destroyer, has repeatedly surprised his fans with switch-ups in style, so his decision to record the compelling Five Spanish Songs shouldn’t come as a huge shock. It’s a superb release as the songs “El Rito” and “Bye Bye” (video below). Bejar is one of the most talented solo indie artists to have emerged over the past few years as Five Spanish Songs.

The sophomore album from Cleveland-grown, SoCal-transplanted, musician Gabriel Fulvimar, better known as Gap Dream, is a superb achievement of warm and fuzzy psych-influenced synth rock compositions, with mesmerizing melodies and drum machine rhythms as the lead single “Fantastic Sam” demonstrates.

“El Rito” – Destroyer from Five Spanish Songs

“Fantastic Sam” – Gap Dream from Shine your Light on Burger Records

Compilations, Remasters, Covers/Remixes and Live Releases from Beachwood Sparks, Alt-J, The Killers, British Sea Power, Nick Cave and Grizzly Bear

There were a number of releases in November from talented artists we’ve covered over the years that were not official album releases featuring new material. Among these were albums from Los Angeles psych-pop band Beachwood Sparks of older material from the band originally written, and sometimes recorded (but not necessarily released), in the 1980s, and The Killers‘ greatest hits collection, Direct Hits, featuring the video below, “When We Were Young.” And then of course is the compilation by Alt-J who put together their favorite remixes of their songs by others on the Summer EP, including Jim James Apple C‘s remix of “Fitzpleasure.”

Next, the UK indie rock band, British Sea Power, composed and recorded all of the songs for the official soundtrack of the British television series, From the Sea to the Land Beyond, about the British coastal lands and history. Also fans of the folk rock band, Grizzly Bear, will want the releases their B-Sides album, featuring a collection of terrific songs that were, for example, the ‘other’ song from a 7″ single release. and Thee Oh Sees release Volume 3 of the band’s Singles collection. For Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds‘ fans, or even those who have never heard of the band before, their new release, Live From KCRW, is absolutely a big thumbs up, as the live album’s 8.3 user rating on Metacritic demonstrates. Also, don’t miss the raucous live version of “To Find Out” from The Gories‘ new release, Live in Detroit 5/27/88 on Third Man Records, the small, but heavy-hitting, Nashville label founded and run by Jack White.

“Make It Together” – Beachwood Sparks from Desert Skies

“Fitzpleasure” ( Jim James Apple C Remix) – Alt-J from Summer

“The Land Beyond” – British Sea Power from From the Sea to the Land Beyond OST

“When We Were Young” – The Killers from Direct Hits

“Lupine Dominus” – Thee Oh Sees from Singles Collection, Vol. 3

“Listen and Wait” – Grizzly Bear from Shields: B-Sides

“Higgs Boson Blues” – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds from Live From KCRW

“To Find Out” – The Gories from Live in Detroit 5/27/88 on Third Man Records

Swedish Producer/Songwriter, Chris Lauridsen, aka, I Don’t Speak French

Formed in 2010, I Don’t Speak French is the moniker of producer and songwriter Chris Lauridsen from Växjö, Sweden. Lauridsen began I Don’t Speak French as an artistic outlet.

“It slowly grew into something much more with help from fellow musicians and close friends,” Lauridsen told IRC. “The music in its essence is simple, and could be labeled as indie pop, but strives to grow, and develop into something bigger than the box that it has [emerged] from…only time and effort will tell the end to this story of a young hopeless romantic.” We absolutely agree, and think he’s off to a great start.

“We Are The People” – I Don’t Speak French from 100 Songs – Nov. 1st
Also check out the “We Are The People” official YouTube video

Song of the Day: U2’s “New Year’s Day”

Posted on 12/31/201312/18/2019 by Max Hammer

New Year’s songs. This time of year always gets people talking about ‘New Year’s songs,’ and other songs with titles or stories that are about starting fresh, new beginnings, making changes, setting resolutions, and hopes, plans, wishes and dreams of better things to come in the new year.

Yesterday we posted a playlist featuring a selection of excellent New Year’s Day songs from The Walkmen, The Stills, The Kinks, The Hush Now, Regina Spektor, Trembling Bells and Bonnie Prince Billy, Death Cab For Cutie and many others.

Today, the focus turns to easily one of the best – if not, the best – alternative rock New Year’s songs ever recorded. That is, “New Year’s Day” from U2‘s 1983 album, War, the band’s third album, and the one that catapulted U2’s breakthrough success in the United States and around the world, and set the stage for the band to go on to become of the biggest bands of the 1980’s and one of the most popular in the history of rock.

The hit single, “New Year’s Day,” is also included on many Best Songs of All Time lists, and among U2’s most politically charged songs of their entire discography. For thirty years, it’s been an alternative song played on rock radio stations to honor the beginning of a new year.

“New Year’s Day” – U2 from War (1983)

But it’s mainly a song about the Polish union workers movement, while “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” the biggest hit from War, is a protest song against the British massacre (known as ‘Bloody Sunday’) of Irish civilians in U2’s home country of Ireland. The album also contains another rather significant single, “Two Hearts Beat As One.”

The video above, shot in 1983, was not widely seen by most U2 fans until it appeared online some 12 or so years ago. The other video version of the song is the one most people are familiar with and which played on MTV regularly for months on end, at a time when the new music channel was just starting out, and coincidentally which bands like U2 helped popularize, and vice versa.

The famous album cover for War, featuring the anguished face of a boy with big, intense blue eyes, is one of the most recognized album covers of the post classic rock (1980 and on) era. The album cover for the “New Year’s Day” single release (back when vinyl 45″ singles were still mass produced) also featured the same kid.

Don’t miss our Best Indie Rock Songs playlist from yesterday, with songs from The Walkmen, Beach House, Camera Obscura, Death Cab For Cutie, The Stills, Trembling Bells with Bonnie Prince Billy, The Kinks, Regina Spektor, First Aid Kit and Stars in both MP3 and Spotify playlists.

Best Indie Rock of October, Vol. II – CAVE, Polica, Best Coast, Active Child, Cults

Posted on 12/26/201303/28/2021 by Max Hammer

Seems kind of strange to be publishing a playlist review of the top singles and albums of the second half of October releases now. That’s completely understandable, but we’ve been so busy with preparing the Best of 2013 coverage (to be published throughout the month of January) as well as sifting through hundreds of DIY submissions, listening to many hundreds of singles and albums, and selecting the most talented and promising artists and bands to profile, many of who break-through partly, and sometimes mainly, due to their exposure on IRC.

The first two weeks of October offered a selection of new and impressive singles and albums from Yuck, Teen Daze, Polvo, Fuzz (with Ty Segall), Dr. Dog, DARKSIDE, The Fratellis and HAIM, among others. But the third week of October is one of the most significant, if not the most significant, week of the fall for new releases from a knock-out line-up of established, well-known artists and bands, as well as under-the-radar, new and buzzworthy signed (and a few unsigned) bands and artists.

The third week of October, covering October 15th to October 21st, was a blockbuster week for releases, featuring terrific albums, along with nearly two dozens singles from those releases, from The Avett Brothers, Crystal Antlers, Cults, The Dismemberment Plan, Cave, The Chills, D33J, Heavenly Beat, Luke Temple, Cass McCombs, School of Night, Jonathan Wilson, Dean Wareham, Lucius, Gary Numan, and Pearl Jam.

As is evident by the playlist below, the sheer quantity and quality of the singles from new albums by well-known and accomplished artists and bands, as well from talented, under-the-radar bands, including newly emerging talented artists, is mind-blowing for just one week’s (Oct. 15th to 21st) drop. And that’s not even counting the fourth week of October releases.

Note: Because a new week of album releases starts on Oct. 29th (including releases from Arcade Fire), and runs through November 3rd, we are including that week’s releases in the November coverage.

Top New Singles from Albums by The Avett Brothers and Cults

Firstly, The Avett Brothers don’t seem capable of disappointing fans as their new single (“Another Is Waiting”), and the album (Magpie and the Dandelion) which it’s from, are simply amazing. Next, Cults returns with more of their splendid indie sounds from their sophomore album, Static.

“Another Is Waiting” – The Avett Brothers from Magpie and the Dandelion on American
View video for “Another Is Waiting”

“You Know What I Mean” – Cults from Static on Columbia Records
Watch video for “High Road”

Fusion Rock from CAVE, Plus Raw and Gritty from Crystal Antlers, The Chills and More

CAVE‘s new album, Threace, offers up the somewhat funky, somewhat fusion jazz, somewhat R&B, psychedelic jam rock instrumental, “Shikaakwa” accompanied by a music video that takes its cues from late 60s acid parties where abstract images, colors and effects were blended together and splashed on big screens, even walls, apparently to reflect, and enhance, the music and the overall social tripping experience. This technique was popularized in large part by Andy Warhol and the parties that he and his inner circle of bohemian/hippie/freak cohorts, and even celebrity guests, held regularly in Warhol’s grand apartment in New York‘s Upper West Side from 1968 to 1972.

Another top single for the third week of October was “Rattlesnake,” by Crystal Antlers. The track, as you’d expect from the title, is gritty, raw garage rock with blazing, fuzzy guitar licks and aggressive bass playing and drumming. Rock is just so good when it’s allowed to be free, gut-level and not all dressed up and tweaked by engineers until it ends up not sounding like rock and roll, but overly polished crap-o-la.

“Shikaakwa” – CAVE from Threace on Drag City
Official video of “Shikaakwa”

“Rattlesnake” – Crystal Antlers from Nothing Is Real on Innovative Leisure

“Night Of Chill Blue” – The Chills from Somewhere Beautiful on Fire Records

E3 Releases: New Electro, Experimental and Eclectic Spins from D33J, Kwes, and Heavenly Beats

If you’re a fan of the Big E3 – electro, experimental and eclectic sounds – this section is for you. Considering a large number of releases during the third week of October, it was important to compartmentalize the top picks to formulate order out of what would otherwise be chaos. Tracks include those from D33J and kwes. Also, while we have heard of Heavenly Beat before, the band’s new album really caught our attention, and the single from it, “Complete,” is a grooving, blissful electro-pop dance gem, with shimmering, wavy synths, faded, dreamy vocals, and funky bass lines.

“Slow” – D33J featuring Kreyola from Gravel EP on Anticon

“36” – kwes from ilp on Warp Records

“Complete” – Heavenly Beat from Prominence on Captured Tracks

Singles from Luke Temple and the State of Music Playlists

Slick melodies, terrific beats and sweet harmonies, together with excellent bass, guitar and lead vocals, make up the new track, “Florida,” from the band Luke Temple. The track is one of the geographically-focused songs that we’ve added to our State of Music in-house master playlists, which we plan to publish more posts from in 2014. The purpose of the series is to put together playlists of great songs that just so happen to be about a place, city or a state, and a relevant matching song title to go with it, from a wide range of artists, bands, genres and time periods – meaning it is not restricted to new music or necessarily to indie rock.

If you’re interested, you’ll definitely want to check out previous installments of State of Music series and which most, if not all, of the songs are still accessible to stream and download. The whole idea kind of is related to Sufjan Stevens’ abandoned “states project.” Now we can add Luke Temple’s “Florida” to the mix.

“Florida” – Luke Temple from Good Mood Fool on Secretly Canadian

Fine Mellow Tracks from Cass McCombs, School of Night, Dean Wareham, and Jonathan Wilson

Cass McCombs has put out consistently good albums for years, and his latest LP, Big Wheel And Others, is another success and fine example for a talented songwriter, vocalist and musician, as the cool, mellow single, “There Can Be Only One,” with its sweet melodic bass line and gentle hand drums in the forefront. McCombs vocals are superb and the subtle electric guitar riffs add yet another dimension to a fantastic song, of the best of the week, and that’s saying a great deal, all things considered. See what others think in the comments section on SoundCloud.

In keeping with the mellow theme for a minute, the band School of Night deliver the synth-heavy, semi-crooning single, “Lying,” that has a bit of an 80s mash of new wave and pop to it. The next mellow single, “Love Is Colder Than Death” is a slow, brooding, and slightly twisted love song, with beautiful and wonderfully melodic, even melancholic, instrumentation and vocals from the new-to-us artist Dean Wareham. It’s ironic, considering the subject matter, that the song has a warm, cozy feel from the first note to the closing verse. And closing out the “mellow” set of new singles for the third week is the sweet song, “Dear Friend” by Jonathan Wilson, and his band, and the accompanying music video that has received over 35,000 views on YouTube alone.

“There Can Be Only One” – Cass McCombs from Big Wheel And Others on Domino Record Co.

“Lying” – School of Night from School of Night EP on Minus Green Records

“Love Is Colder Than Death” – Dean Wareham from Emancipated Hearts on Double Feature

“Dear Friend” – Jonathan Wilson from Fanfare on Downtown Records
“Dear Friend” YouTube video

The Sounds of Tim Hecker and Lucius

If you’re a fan of experimental ambient sounds, chances are you might enjoy listening to Tom Hecker’s Virgins. The composition moves through a myriad of phases with minimalistic and repetitious aspects of what sounds like dulcimers, and dreamy, drifting synth notes that pick up in tempo and number of keys as the composition progresses.

The new song from Lucius, “Turn It Around,” is an upbeat pop track with a finely produced groove and excellent female vocalists, leaning more towards a commercial song in sound, but we can see how some people might dig it a lot, and be curious to check out the album, Wildewoman.

“Virginal ll” – Tim Hecker from Virgins on Kranky

“Turn It Around” – Lucius from Wildewoman on Mom + Pop

Paul McCartney’s New Track, “Queenie,” Plus Gary Numan

Probably all the great and wonderful things there are to say about an artist have been used up in describing Paul McCartney over the past half of a century. And yet, now in his 70’s, McCartney is still writing and recording some fine music as his latest album, New, shows. It’s probably about the 40th album or so that he’s released in his long career from The Beatles, to his solo work, to The Wings, and back to his solo work and various monikers in recent years. A rock and roll icon for at least 35 years, Gary Numan returns with a new album, featuring the dark, semi-goth/new wave style single, “I Am Dust.”

“Queenie Eye” – Paul McCartney from New
Watch “Queenie Eye” YouTube video

“I Am Dust” – Gary Numan from Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind) on Mortal Records
Watch the “I Am Dust” Official Video

Has Pearl Jam Sold Out or Simply Embraced Capitalism?

During the World Series, in which long-time Boston Red Sox fans, like ourselves, got to see (in our, and many other generations, lifetime), the team finally win a world championship at the sacred Fenway Park, Fox Sports was promoting the new Pearl Jam album in between breaks. That was a bummer to us – Eddie Vedder had really sold out, which does dent the band’s grunge/atlernative rock legitimacy, but especially since Vedder, who seemed over the years to be a guy opposed to “the machine,” actually become part of it. Eventually, young, idealistic passionate artists, not all, but many, when presented the opportunity, become older guys who feel otherwise entitled to cash in as big as they can.

That said, their new single, “Mind Your Manners,” is good stuff, but it does not have the same feel to it that the early Pearl Jam work had – in the years before they went headfirst into the commercial, big-time money. Hey, it’s America. Yeah fine, but as a “rock icon,” you still lose credibility every time you cash in, and especially team up with Fox Sports, which if we recall, Vedder criticized during the 2000’s as a propaganda machine for the Bush administration’s greatest evils.

So, Sr. Vedder, just sing, because you can’t preach (and cash in) anymore with any credibility about how you’re some salt of the earth guy railing against the machine, because you’re not that guy (and Pearl Jam is not that band); teaming up with the Fox Network after rightfully criticizing them for years is simply the height of hypocrisy, and a slap in the face to your most loyal fans.

Aside from that obvious, and distasteful, fact, we’ll still listen to, and feature (if the music stands up), Pearl Jam, but there will always be this issue tarnishing our respect for Vedder and the band. We are careful not to accuse bands of ‘selling out,’ because they need to make a living, but in this case, Vedder, and the band (if they willingly went along), really did sell out.

Teaming up with the network they used to rail against is not needing to put the food on the table – it’s simply the worst kind of hypocrisy and greed. We know people will strongly disagree with that viewpoint, but it’s quite simply a fact.

“Mind Your Manners” – Pearl Jam from Lightning Bolt on Monkeywrench

Other singles from new albums worth noting include the shoe-gaze/psychedelic girl rock of Mirror Travel; the beats of pop mistress Morcheeba; the hard/metal rock of the band Red Fang; self released song from DIY band Breathe Owl Breathe that sounds like The National mixed with chilled out Lou Reed.

“I Want You To Know” – Mirror Travel from Mexico on Modern Outsider Records

“Gimme Your Love” – Morcheeba from Head Up High on [PIAS] America

“Blood Like Cream” – Red Fang from Whales and Leeches on Relapse Records

“Silent Movie Reel” – Breathe Owl Breathe from Passage of Pegasus (self-released)

Top Singles from New Albums by Best Coast, Active Child, Polica, Modern Kin, Gringo Star, Black Hearted Brother

In order to focus our energy on putting together profiles and songs of more talented, promising DIY artists and bands, we’re not really going to write much about the last week of October’s releases (Oct. 22nd to Oct. 28th). The final week of new releases for October was thin compared to the previous week (above), but there were still some major drops from artists like Best Coast, Active Child, Polica, Modern Kin, Gringo Star, Black Hearted Brother, Federico Aubele, Radical Face, and others.

For those of you who have asked, we’re also catching up with the Top 10 Songs playlists for final months of 2013 as well. You could spend days streaming the Top 10 Songs playlists and discover the best indie and DIY music of 2013 on one page, with the October and November Top 10 Songs playlists coming up shortly.

As this post and playlist clearly demonstrates, there was an absolute flood of quality album releases in the second half of October that took a considerable amount of time to review, organize and write about. In fact, this post and playlist by itself includes just as much, or more, coverage of new releases than some other popular indie blogs publish during an entire month; those of you who browse indie and alternative rock music blogs regularly probably know exactly what we’re referring to.

IRC is one of the few popular indie and alt rock websites and blogs that provides free MP3s that you can stream or download (and which we know leads to more support for the artists and bands) at any time, even months, sometimes years, after we publish a post with music in it. In order to do this, we have to support a huge server load and usage, but we are committed to chronologically documenting the best of both the popular and obscure indie music of the times, and providing a permanent record of over 10,000 songs available at anytime to anyone in the world. As far as we know, from our own research, there is no other indie music resource on the web today (that is not a file-sharing or torrent site) that offers as many active and free MP3 songs dating back to 2007 as IRC does.

“This Lonely Morning” – Best Coast from Fade Away EP on Jewel City

“Subtle” – Active Child featuring Mikky Ekko from Rapor EP on Vagrant Records

“Find a Love” – Gringo Star from Floating Out To Sea on My Anxious Mouth Inc.
Check out the cool video for “Find a Love”

“Abandon” – Modern Kin from Modern Kin on Amigo/Amiga Recordings

“(I Don’t Mean To) Wonder” – Black Hearted Brother from Stars Are Our Home on Slumberland Records

“Broken Toy” – Veronica Falls from Broken Toy 7″ on Slumberland

“Holy Branches” – Radical Face from The Family Tree: The Branches on Nettwerk

“Stay, Don’t Say” – Dead Gaze from Brain Holiday on FatCat / Palmist

“Chain My Name” – Poliça from Shulamith EP on Mom + Pop

“Laberinto del Ayer” – Federico Aubele from 5 on Records-Ingrooves/Fontana

Top 25 Best Indie & Alt. Rock Christmas Songs of All Time

Posted on 12/25/201312/14/2020 by Max Hammer

IRC’s long-running indie and alternative rock Christmas songs playlists collection, dating back to 2007, has been having a hugely successful run, topping the numbers of visits, streams, downloads, links, mentions, Likes and Tweets the collection received last year.

With each holiday season for a solid decade now, the popularity of the collection continues to grow as people look for alternative to the old-fashioned, stale (but still many beautiful) Christmas playlists of our parents and grandparents. [zbplayer]

Best Indie & Alternative Rock Christmas Songs series remains the largest, most comprehensive, yearly-updated alternative Christmas playlists collection on the web. There are also dozens of indie and alt. rock songs about Hanukkah, winter, and the holidays in general, intermixed with the Christmas songs.

This Top 25 playlist reflects listeners’ 25 most streamed and downloaded alternative and indie rock Christmas songs from our collection over the past decade. Enjoy and please share on your socials!

It’s on Spotify too along with many more of our popular playlists.

“Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time)“– Pearl Jam

“Jinglebell Rock“ – Arcade Fire

“Sleigh Ride” – The Late Greats

“In This Home on Ice“– Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

“Christmas Baby Please Come Home“ – >Death Cab For Cutie

“Dont Shoot Me Santa“ – The Killers

“Father Christmas“ – The Kinks

“Candy Cane Children” – The White Stripes

”Blue Christmas” – Bright Eyes

“I Wish It Was Christmas Today” – Julian Casablancas

“Christmas on the Beach” – Irene

“The Friendly Beasts“ – Sufjan Stevens

“Donde Esta Santa Claus“ – Guster

“God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” – Bright Eyes

“Holiday” – The Hopefuls

“A Marshmallow World” – Los Straightjackets

“Merry Christmas I Dont Want To Fight Tonight“ – The Ramones

“Anorak Christmas” (Club Mix) – Sally Shapiro

“Thanks For Christmas“ – XTC

“The Christmas Song“– The Raveonettes

“Last Christmas“ – Jimmy Eat World

“Santa Stole My Baby“ – Mistreaters

“Christmas Party” – The Walkmen

“All I Want For Christmas is You“ – Countdown

“9 Flowers in December“ – Mazzy Star

DIY Artist Mild Mannered Rebel’s Stunning Debut, ‘Ear to the Sky,’ Dazzles The Senses

Posted on 12/21/201307/22/2021 by Max Hammer

Mavrothi Kontanis, along with musicians who've worked with Bowie, Talking Heads, Yo Yo Ma, among others, collaborated on one of 2013's best underrated DIY debut albums.

by Devin William Daniels

The value of a given record isn’t hidden somewhere in the grooves; it emerges somewhere between the listener’s ear and the brain. It’s not a direct path. Any sound entering that space is necessarily filtered through our expectations, proclivities, and principles.

But we are not judging the record itself, only the remains that survived filtration. (Note: Stream all of MMR’s featured songs with this player)

[zbplayer]

The record itself theoretically exists, but we have no access to it. We are forced to listen in time, and, in time, we have good days and bad days, and things we arbitrarily like and things we arbitrarily don’t like. Bands get lumped together, genres are segregated over a couple dozen BPM, and the musicians themselves play to the expectations.

We judge countless albums without ever actually listening to them because the band name, the album title, or the cover evoke a certain sound or genre that maybe we aren’t interested in or have heard enough of.

Often we’re right in our assumptions because the artists are utilizing the same vocabularies as critics, fans, and promoters. Even when we do listen, the conventions are distorting the sound.

Mild Mannered Rebel has a special sound that is almost unmatched with any other unique style that we’ve heard from any other DIY artist or band in 2013. The first song that caught our attention, with its Middle Eastern and Baltic influences, is “The Climb.”

“The Climb” – Mild Mannered Rebel from Ear to the Sky

Mavrothi Kontanis, a highly skilled player of the oud (an instrument visually similar to a lute, associated with Arabic, Greek and many other cultures’ music), is the man behind Mild Mannered Rebel, a New York City DIY band. Kontanis is an American musician, born and bred in the United States, but his biography describes his roots in Halkidiki, Greece, as well as his associations with several of the greatest oud players in the world. His experiences have led him to composing film soundtracks and performing throughout the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. It’s a unique resume for an indie musician that leads to a unique approach.

He might blow a hole through your brain so that you might transcend the trappings of Anglo-American pop music, but with the excellent Mild Mannered Rebel debut, Ear to the Sky, he certainly provides a record that doesn’t fit into the typical trappings. It’s indie rock sensibility and English-language lyrics resist the label of “world music,” an oft-ignored and patently absurd genre, but its Eastern elements – which prove to be far more than window dressing – make it unlike almost anything out of the usual alternative music streams.

The reasons for the uniqueness of Ear to the Sky stretch far beyond its so-called “world music” elements, and one of its most striking quality as an indie record is the virtuosity and professionalism of its performances and overall execution. Indie rock is a genre that, like punk rock and the many alternative genres that descend from it, often trumpets the inherent value of amateurism, particularly as it relates to singing ability and technical skill at instruments.

So much has changed as punk rock gave way to post-punk and new wave and shoegaze and grunge, but one of the few constants of alternative music has been the fact that technical skill has never been a prerequisite, or even necessarily desirable. Various exceptions come to mind (J. Mascis, Stephen Malkmus, etc.), but those players are the exceptions that prove the rule, as their proficiency makes them stand out when in other genres (metal, jazz, etc.) it would be taken as a given.

The New York Music Daily wrote, Ear to the Sky is “raw, smoldering Middle Eastern rock …one of the most hard-hitting, fearlessly intense albums of the year.”

Mild Mannered Rebel, however, is chock full of extremely talented musicians with impressive resumes – not just Kontanis himself. Megan Gould provides violin and viola parts that engage in stunning conversation with Kontanis’ oud and guitars. Like many of the musicians, Gould has a varied and impressive background, with amble experience with Western popular music, Middle Eastern, and Greek styles. She has a long list of artists she’s recorded or performed with, including two giants of the indie world, David Byrne and Lou Reed, in addition to artists like Metallica, Philip Glass, and Fabian Almazan.

“A Heart of Gold” – Mild Mannered Rebel from Ear to the Sky

Drums and percussion are provided by Shane Shanahan, whose performances are integral to the record. Shanahan is versed in jazz, rock, and Western art music in addition to the styles of various other cultures. He is a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s musical group Silk Road Ensemble and has toured and recorded with the group throughout its existence.

A lot of what makes pop sound like pop (and jazz sound like jazz, etc.) is the rhythm, and in Anglo-American pop music the same rhythmic approach has become ubiquitous and often limiting to the sounds artists are able or willing to produce. Shanahan’s familiarity with the drumming techniques of different cultures, genres, and traditions enables him to step in and out of these different rhythmic paradigms. In turn, the album’s generic identity shifts in ways that can’t be done with only melody and harmony.

Rounding out the main performance group (which is augmented by guest vocalist Eva Salina Primack) is bassist Brian Holtz, who performs both electric and upright basses on this record. Holtz has performed a variety of festivals including South By Southwest and the North Sea Jazz Festival, and has performed around the world.

His bass lines show a clear jazz influence and a proficiency not often heard from the instrument on indie recordings. The strong jazz elements combine nicely with other prominent sounds (Greek, Middle Eastern, indie rock, classical, drone, etc.) to form a potent cocktail.

With such musicians on display, the album drips with professionalism, to the point where this might be seen as a negative by some. Indie’s love of amateurism comes from an aesthetics that places value on the inherent core of a song – the basic, inspired idea that could pop into anyone’s head and can’t be practiced or taught. The accoutrements are given little credit if they aren’t outright discouraged due to the “elitism” of the proficiency they require.

It’s no coincidence most of the great heroes and voices of alternative music – Kurt Cobain, Kevin Shields, the dearly departed Lou Reed – obsessed over song craft while lacking the technical skill of many teenagers in Guitar Center. That isn’t a bad thing, but it’s created a lot of inherent assumptions that can make an album like Ear to the Sky, with its technical flourishes, seem all about the bells and whistles. However, a closer examination reveals the bells and whistles are far more than that, and the core songs are far less typical than we might assume.

Appropriately, the album opener “Flight of Ikaros” starts with a lone oud, soon joined by a bass in jazzy interplay. For these beginning moments, the record is operating completely outside the vocabulary of indie music. The closest reference point for many listeners who’ve grown up with the Anglo-American pop/rock model is probably Beirut, or perhaps even video game music. The result is a sound that’s somewhat defamiliarizing, forcing the listener to actively examine what they’re hearing.

“Flight of Ikaros” – Mild Mannered Rebel from Ear to the Sky

The melody and general direction of “Flight of Ikaros” (like other melodies throughout the album) can’t be easily predicted, as the hackneyed structures of many modern indie tunes can be. Instead of setting a trajectory and merely following the song’s momentum, Mild Mannered Rebel frequently grab hold of the reigns and steer the songs into new directions. The following is a video of Kontanis performing the counter song, “Fall of Ikaros,” in November of 2013 for a documentary film.

Fall of Ikaros by Mavrothi Kontanis from Interior Mars Films .

The moments of virtuosic instrumentation – a preview of what we’ll be treated to throughout – are not just there for kicks, like some traditional Greek version of a speed metal solo. They are fully realized elements of the compositions. The flourishes interrupt Kontanis’s pristine vocals and lend the song a distinct rhythm that inherently differentiates it from most popular music.

One of the most striking qualities of the album is the wonderful interplay of different string instruments, producing harmonies not often heard by rock and pop listeners. On this track, I’m reminded of “God Bless Our Dead Marines” by the great post-rock group (and off-shoot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor) Silver Mt. Zion, and I think it’s fair to question if Ear to the Sky should be called a post-rock album.

Taking the genre’s name literally, Mild Mannered Rebel certainly move beyond rock music more than most with their cohabitation of distorted, droning guitars with stringed instruments most rock fans have never heard of.

Mild Mannered Rebel certainly move beyond rock music more than most with their cohabitation of distorted, droning guitars with stringed instruments most rock fans have never heard of.

The album’s tempo is often frantic, emphasizing the skill of the musicians. One imagines ornate and theatrical dance numbers set to the songs in one’s head, though ironically not on “Dancing in My Dreams.” This track oozes out fuzz like a festering wound, even evoking doom metal. The lyrics consist of a mere two lines: “You lead me through dark days and nights/ I wake with you dancing in my dreams,” delivered without hurry by Kontanis, who seems to dance with the words themselves, slowly, lingering on each syllable, not wanting the dance to end.

“Dancing in My Dreams” – Mild Mannered Rebel from Ear to the Sky

Another highlight is “Byzantine Eyes,” which follows “Dancing in My Dreams” and treats the listener to expertly ‘dueling’ (they’re really quite cooperative) strings whose intricacy and ultimate surrender to a raked guitar chord recalls the art punk of Television, another band of alternative outliers whose technical proficiency in the New York punk scene proved as notable as their more traditionally “alternative” proclivities.

The vocalized sections of “Byzantine Eyes” hold a completely different character though, and with slight aesthetic tweaks could be found on an album from Arcade Fire, Neutral Milk Hotel, or even a classic rock group like Pink Floyd. They then give way to the instruments once again, and we’re treated to a solo that’s nothing short of awesome. The resulting juxtaposition makes this track one of the album’s strongest.

“Byzantine Eyes” – Mild Mannered Rebel from Ear to the Sky

Lyrically, the album is not as interesting as it is musically. The songs tell fairly standard first-person narratives of pain and love, paired with indistinct cosmic and natural imagery. While this had no serious effect on my enjoyment of the record, it would be nice in the future to see Mild Mannered Rebel’s decidedly unique musical approach paired with a lyrical style that had more of an individual voice.

That said, there are certainly themes to unpack here, particularly as it relates to the band’s musical message. The Icarus myth runs throughout the entire record such that it could be labeled a concept album if you like that term (I don’t). References to the sky, clearly placed within the Icarus story, are frequent, such as “I look to the sky and there’s the sun,” and “You gave me wings to fly/ I just refused to learn.”

This fixation on the firmament is paired with a disinterest in the ground. Earthly images – be they a physical metal like gold (on “A Heart of Gold”) or a gravity-restricted setting (“So many times we’ve walked this/ road but now the trail’s gone cold”) – are largely negative, reflecting Icarus’s lust for the heavens.

There are clear parallels to draw between what Kontanis is doing and what Icarus did: venturing into new territory with people wondering why he wouldn’t stick to the safe ground (i.e. straight indie rock or even completely traditional Greek music) with its firm foundation and pre-installed (and predisposed) audiences.

Instead, he is attempting to create something new, just as Icarus tried to reach higher than anyone might dare. But Icarus’s fault, the way this album seems to see it, was not pride, but a complete disenchantment with the earthly world. In that way, he is a hero of the self-sacrificing artist who forsakes safe rewards gained via earthbound (i.e. clichéd) music, who risks everything to achieve his vision. I’m not sure how self-sacrificial Kontanis and Mild Mannered Rebel are being, but I certainly can understand why they would empathize with Icarus and look to him as an inspiring, not merely tragic, figure.

“[Kontanis] is a hero of the self-sacrificing artist who forsakes safe rewards gained via earthbound (i.e. clichéd) music, who risks everything to achieve his vision.”

Icarus’s story relates to Kontanis’ ambitions but certainly not his downfall, as this album remains airborne. The question on future releases will be whether Kontanis has flown close enough to the sun and, knowing the fate of his inspiration, will retreat to more oft-trodden heights, or if he will disregard the traditional lesson of his own adopted narrative and continue upwards, whether motivated by arrogance or stupidity. I personally hope he does continue, but is rather motivated by ambivalence, not towards the music, but towards the boxes music is put in, towards what might go wrong. A few moments in the sun, with the trajectory of a god, are worth the inevitable crash.

Purchase a copy of Ear to the Sky

Top Debut Albums of 2013 – Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown

Posted on 12/11/201312/21/2019 by Max Hammer

At only 21 years old, Tyler Bryant has already shared the stage with rock legends like Aerosmith, Jeff Beck, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pat Benetar, REO Speedwagon and Heart. Bryant is also featured in the award-winning film, Rock Prophecies. Bryant, a student of blues rock, joined up with talented musicians like Caleb Crosby (drums), Noah Denney (bass) and guitarist Graham Whitford (son of Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford), the ‘Shakedown’ pushes the limits of music and performance, and has captured the attention of fans across the U.S. with their spectacular talent, blazing guitar rock and roaring drums, and boundless energy on stage, as the videos in this profile demonstrate.

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, based in Nashville, formed in 2009, and released their debut EP, From The Sandcastle, in September 2011. In this video, you can see why the band has been building a following and creating a buzz.

With rollicking SXSW performances under their belts, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown have been compared to talented blues rock bands from the thriving Nashville scene like Cage The Elephant and The Black Keys.

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown made their late night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2012. The band’s riveting debut album, Wild Child, was released on January 22 via Carved Records, featuring amazing songs like “Last One Leaving,” “You Got Me Baby,” and “Say A Prayer.”

The band’s top musical influences include Elvis Presley, Tom Petty, Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson.

“Last One Leaving” – Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown from Wild Child

“You Got Me Baby” – Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown from Wild Child

The following is the official black and white (which works really well with the music and the band dynamics) music video for the track, “Say A Prayer.”

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown Official website
Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown on Facebook

5 DIY Bands to Watch, Vol. VIII – Hospital, Get Inuit, Mary Goes Wild, The Unassisted and Rascal Experience

Posted on 12/02/201308/20/2024 by Max Hammer

All year, we’ve been profiling talented DIY, small label or under-the-radar artists and bands in popular features and playlists like this newest installment of DIY Bands to Watch; 7 Bands You’ve Gotta Hear; In Dee Mail; Artist of the Week, among others.

The stacks of music submissions – the life blood of IRC’s original, often exclusive scoops on hot new bands (and why we are so different from any other blog) – from all across the United States, U.K. and Canada mostly, grow and grow each week. For months we have been sorting through them and processing as many as possible; it’s a tremendous amount of work – not saying that to gain any sympathy or anything like that, but just to demonstrate how seriously we take the process of reviewing submissions and breaking them into smaller and smaller groups of our favorites who we then write a profile for and publish to the site.

This special installment of new overseas DIY bands to watch that most of you have never heard before is the seventh in the series. These are five amazing bands that we think our readers are really going to enjoy (some songs are definitely grower tracks – trust us). The unsigned, non-U.S. bands are Hospital; Get Inuit; Mary Goes Wild; The Unassisted and Rascal Experience.

Just click the first song on the playlist and let it stream automatically while you read the band profiles and do other things. A ton of work goes into putting together this special features, so if you like what you hear, please let us know by Liking, Tweeting, Google +1’ing and spreading this around to as many people as you can.

Note: In an effort to publish faster posts focused on one band, song, video or other singular subject, we’re adding a blog in the tradition of the original type of blog, which will serve as a supplement to the main IRC website that you’re on right now.

Hospital – Moscow, Russia

While IRC receives hundreds of submissions a month from all over the world, you’d think there would be more than about a dozen submissions a year from one of the biggest countries in the world, especially considering that it’s been almost 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall that brought sweeping changes that spurred a historic, relatively bloodless, revolution of freedom and democracy, and ushered in a near-complete dismantling of the once powerful communist empire, which unraveled and imploded after decades of squandering the country’s wealth in an epic arms race with the United States.

And yet, nearly a quarter of a century after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, the Russian government under President Vladimir Putin has been gradually reverting to old Soviet-style restrictions on speech, which includes music, the Internet and other forms of entertainment, art and media.
That aside, there is a genuine curiosity and anticipation whenever we come across a submission from a band in Russia. Recently, a Moscow band named Hospital, not to be confused with the Houston techno house outfit of the same name, caught the attention of our ears, and those of cafe patrons, which was exciting because this ‘new’ band from the former USSR sounds great, and turns out to be one of IRC’s Breakout Bands of 2013.

The quartet’s energetic, 80’s-style rock mixed with threads of dream pop and hints of folk is strangely, yet wonderfully, caught between embracing the post punk revivalist trend of the time, and toying with new wave (that was later labeled ‘indie electro pop’).

It’s not hard to imagine (at least it wasn’t for our group) after you listen to the songs below, Hospital breaking out in a big way in the U.S. We won’t be surprised at all if there is a strong reaction to this profile of the band in the coming weeks, as often happens for under-the-radar artists and bands that are featured on IRC, but who’ve received surprisingly little coverage elsewhere online.

The four members – Yegor Berdnikov (vocals, guitar); Aleksey Shorin (bass); Andrej Tsvetkov (guitar), and Vladimir Balovnev (drums) – formed Hospital in the autumn of 2011, but didn’t release their first 7″ single, a mini-classic by Russian indie rock standards, “Time Will Tell” (with the B-side, “Falling”), until December 2012.

A month later, in January of 2013, Hospital’s debut album, When The Trees Were Higher, was released, gaining exposure in Russia, Europe and the UK. When The Trees Were Higher has quickly become one of our favorite overseas debut LPs of 2013. It’s energetic, well-produced, provocative, unabashed, terrifically crafted, wonderfully catchy and thoroughly enjoyable, coming darn close to rivaling other top DIY debut albums of 2013 from talented overseas bands.

Plus, even though their debut single, “Time Will Tell,” was technically released in December of 2012, it was officially released as the lead single of their January debut LP, and therefore qualifies, in our book, as one of the best DIY songs of 2013. Nearly a year since their official debut release, it’s time for the band to get more exposure in the western hemisphere, especially with the release of Tailspin, Hospital’s debut EP dropped in August.

“Time Will Tell” – Hospital from When The Trees Were Higher – Jan. 13th

The five-track Tailspin EP contains only one original new track, the title track, and it’s a stellar song by all measures. It combines elements of electro pop and rock, with sprinklings of funk and R&B, creating a retro edge that is surprisingly, and yes, ironically, modern. The band members all contribute their particular skills masterfully, which is one of the reasons they sound so tight and create such catchy, memorable, melodic, and energetic songs.

There is also a remix of “Tailspin” by Halcyon Drive, is truly fantastic. In the past few weeks, we’ve listened to When The Trees Were Higher‘s seven songs at least a half dozen times, probably more. And it has really grown on us, as well as a few others who we’ve turned on to the band’s music in recent weeks. Another track that people are loving is song “Secret Place,” which we’ve included as a second bonus track in addition to the two lead singles – “Tailspin” and “Time Will Tell.”

In fact, “Secret Place,” is yet another terrific example of Hospital’s talent and knack for writing incredibly catchy songs. Listen to more songs via Hospital’s Soundcloud page.

There’s no question that Hospital is one of the hottest new bands from Russia that we’ve heard in a long time – perhaps years. To add even more credibility to that declaration, consider that Hospital was chosen to open for Lana Del Ray when she performed a sold-out concert in Moscow last July, raising the band’s local profile one hundredfold and and generating a bit of a buzz for the band that started getting them play in the UK and Europe.

In their submission, the band listed their main musical influences as Doves, The Vines, Radiohead, Nick Drake, Coldplay, and The Cure. That’s a diverse and quality selection of artists and bands with the common thread among all of them being that they are uniquely talented artists who are clearly very gifted.

We want to hear what you have to say about the band; please leave Comments in the box below or via Twitter to @IndieRockCafe with the hashtag #hospitalband

“Tailspin” – Hospital from Tailspin – Aug. 26th

“Secret Place” – Hospital from When The Trees Were Higher

Get Inuit – Kent, England

Get Inuit is a newly emerging surf/grunge rock band from Kent, England who recently had a Record of the Week on the BBC radio program, BBC Introducing, for the single, “Cutie Pie, I’m Bloated.” The band specifically referred to their music as, verbatim, “surf/grunge/indie/retro/pop.” And it’s true (they forgot rock and elements of punk).

However, it would not work in a sentence. For example: “Next, Get Intuit is a surf grunge indie rock retro pop punk band from the United Kingdom.” Nonetheless, the results are what matter, and Get Inuit achieves what they set out to do with a mix of genres and 60s pop and rock aesthetics and songwriting with grunge guitar tones and sing-a-long choruses.

The band was literally formed in July and popped out these two tracks, including the B-side to “Cutie Pie, I’m Bloated,” a catchy rocker called “My Oh My.” On their Soundcloud page the band wrote: “We make dirty, surf inspired pop music and we come from Kent. None of us can actually surf.”

The band’s top musical influences are Weezer, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Yuck, and Bleeding Knees Club. Will this new UK band break out big? It’s always hard to say from the get-go, but they’re off to a pretty good start.

Mary Goes Wild – Munich, Germany

Launched in 2012, Mary Goes Wild is a Munich based DIY garage rock, surf and blues duo formed by Danny Wild (guitar, vocals) and Freddy Jones (drums). MGW is one of the more promising overseas DIY rock bands we’ve heard in 2013. The duo’s meticulous performances are marked by an edgy swagger in the delivery of predominantly blues roots rock signature style and sound of riffs and beats squarely places them in the Bands That Rock series.

For die-hard fans of rock, Mary Goes Wild is a roots rock band that draws from garage rock, surf and definitely blues elements. Their sound consists of back-to-the-roots blues with garage rock and surf elements. Mary Goes Wild’s live performances are excessive and extremely noisy, an effect the band strives to achieve with each show by stacking multiple amplifiers to create a modern “wall-of-sound” effect.

From the first couple of notes on the track, “Redheaded Chain,” Mary Goes Wild belts out a wicked rock sound that communicates to the listener right away that they’re not messing around with any synths, drum machines or cookie cutter riffs; their music is organic, raw and untamed. On the track, “Do Anything,” the duo kick it out just right. The band’s top musical influences include The White Stripes, Ty Segall, The Blackbox Revelation, Bass Drum Of Death, Wavves, and The Black Keys.

The Unassisted – Manchester, England

The Unassisted is an unsigned indie/alternative rock band from the U.K. that should be on the cusp of breaking out soon – that is, if the planets are aligned just right, and if DIY music lovers get their friends to listen to the tracks below. The more we listen the the tracks featured here, and the band’s other songs via Soundcloud, the more they grow on us.

Last January, the four-piece scrappy young band from Manchester dropped their debut album, The Yellow Guitar Chronicles, that included the single, “Hands Dance Hands,” a gem of a track that is pure grim rock with an terrific drum beat, gloom mixed with angst style vocal delivery, strange lyrics and a creative pairing of keyboard and guitar that gives the song a sense of creepy urgency – like something really ugly is about to go down at any second.

It’s the kind of tense, but cool, track you could imagine in a Quetin Tarintino movie or in a Breaking Bad episode. “Hands Dance Hands” helped gain the band some important airplay and blogger buzz in the UK, and put their name on the board as a new band to watch in the Manchester underground scene, most especially among fans of gloom rock.

It helps that the band has other tracks worth mentioning, including the raw, lo-fi Joy Division-like track, “Get On The Floor,” with its riveting guitar jams, menacing back beat and rhythm, and edgy, dark vocals. The track is another standout single that lends more credence to a band that is poised to that is a fan favorite at live shows, which is completely understandable.

The band’s top influences are Queens of the Stone Age, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and Beck, which is not hard to imagine after listening to the two tracks here from their recent debut. Also don’t miss the riveting mix of “Hands Dance Hands” by Future Plans. The Unassisted is planning a new release early in 2014 and we’ll certainly be interested to hear it.

unassisted · Hands – Remastered

unassisted · Everything – Remastered

Rascal Experience – Florianopolis, Brazil

The best part about Rascal Experience‘s music is Hedy Gabriel‘s excellent melodic guitar riffs, the lo-fi rawness of the songs in a way that only a DIY band could produce. There is something charmingly authentic and reassuring about band’s that are putting their heart into their music for the sake of making music and not to be popular or to overly polish their songs. In their nakedness, these are good songs; with a great producer they could be fantastic songs.

In September, the DIY band dropped their debut EP, Bad Luck Experience. Gabriel is an interesting and clearly talented indie and alternative rock songwriter, vocalist and musician from Florianopolis, Brazil, and a fan of Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes, the latter of which is easily believable listening to the band’s songs, especially stand-out tracks like “Demon of the Crop.”

One of the things we like about Gabriel’s songs is his mostly flat, yet emotive, vocals, and the fact that we can hear each and every word, which you have to give props to for someone we assume is not a native English speaker. The more we listen to the band, the more we like them. Surely they can be even better with some work and a great producer.

There are songs that fall flat, like “Begger Inside,” but if it was worked on, and if Gabriel could sing in a harder, more aggressive voice, would be such a better song. That’s the thing with DIY bands – their not quite as good as they can be, but the essential elements are there to produce some exceptional music as they mature as musicians and as a band.

Besides The Strokes, and at times, Arctic Monkeys, we also definitely hear influences of Sonic Youth, and would not be surprised if the band members were also fans of Lou Reed, with and without, The Velvet Underground, which songs like “Fake Interests” and “Different Views” make us think of. It’s always exciting to hear DIY artists who you can tell by their playing which bands they admired and listen to the most.

“Fake Interest” – Rascal Experience from Bad Luck Experience

“Different View” – Rascal Experience from Bad Luck Experience