Originally formed in Bloomington, Indieana in 2003, Odawas is a psychedelic and ambient rock band that make infectuous music with an indie folk influences. Their first EP, Vitamin City, was self-released in 2004.
In 2005, Jagjaguwar Records released The Odawas first LP, The Aether Eater, which became an alternative favorite of that year. Their latest release, The Blue Depths, is one of the surprise alternative releases of 2009. Here’s one of the album’s many great songs.
Ice Palace is an indie band from Minneapolis who are touring with Cloud Cult and Say Hi. Ice Palace’s new album, Wonder Subtly Crushing Us, will be released this week on Earthology Records. Their sound is best compared to bands like The Donkeys and The Subjects.
“Thoughts/Facts” – Ice Palace from Wonder Subtly Crushing Us (out May 9) Ice Palace on MySpace
Lima Research Society is a three-piece prog pop band from New Jersey consisting of the mysterious ‘researchers’ Ellen, Michael and Lima (last or real names? No idea).
LRS creates tightly-woven, energetic pop rock nugs that adventure into experimental and indie rock territories with raw talent and fascinating results. According to the band members, their music is “experimental indie pop with some prog moments, like The Flaming Lips listening to too much Queen“.
Their debut album Don’t Give Up, Don’t Get Down was released on the Preemie Unicorns Attack! label in February. Since then it has grown on me. In fact, it is one of the best ‘new comer’ indie albums of 2009.
Although I like just about every song on this album, some of the stand out tracks include the catchy, driving pop song “Our Nature is Relentess”, the Black Sabbath-sounding rocker “Giant Moth – The Beauty of Things” and the jangly track “A Boy and His Genius” – that for some reason I think would be awesome for Conor Oberst to cover.
The song “Rejoice” sounds almostly exactly like an original Flaming Lips’ tune. Anyways, the bottom-line: If you like these two songs, you’re probably going to enjoy the entire album. This band could spark a buzz in the ‘indie scene’ if the right people are listening and spread the word. And that’s why I think they are a band to watch in 2009.
“Our Nature Is Relentless” – Lima Research Society from Don’t Give Up, Don’t Get Down (2009)
“A Boy and His Genius” – Lima Research Society from Don’t Give Up, Don’t Get Down (2009)
A band that sent me their music a couple of months ago makes seductive music that has grown on me during this time. They are called Klum from the Los Angeles area town of Monrovia, California.
Their new release We Carelessly Turned Amazingly Into Nothing is bound to be a big deal if the right people pay attention. Mixing lush layers of horns, keyboards, accordions, guitars, drums, bass and memorable vocals, Klum pumps out masterfully celebratory tunes with clear overtures to bands like Arcade Fire, Beirut and others. But no matter how many comparisons are made, Klum’s musicianship, it still will not do justice to their potential impact on the ‘indie scene.’
How is it possible that Klum isn’t occupying major space on blogs and mainstream music sites? From the first listening to now my tenth or so listening of Carelessly, I and others at the cafe are baffled how these cats slip under the indie radar (for the most part).
Imagine: take all the most amazing sonic experiences you can think of and roll them up into one fat ‘on-repeat’ album. It’s a musical adventure, a tour de musica, a trip of a lifetime. Tune in to these sample tracks from Klum’s fresh release We Carelessly Turned Amazingly Into Nothing. This is good stuff.
As they say in their own profile: “Klum is constantly compared to many indie bands, but there has never been one distinction of who or what they sound like.” Yup.
“Bashing For The Kids” – Klum from We Carelessly Turned Amazingly Into Nothing (2009) “Give Em Something To Die For” – Klum from We Carelessly Turned Amazingly Into Nothing (2009) “NonBeliever” – Klum from We Carelessly Turned Amazingly Into Nothing (2009)
There is an exciting, new two-man indie band from New Orleans named Caddywhompus (which means, basically, ass-backwards, broken and uneven) that officially released their debut “EPs” this week.
My first taste of the band came earlier this month when they sent an email with a couple of songs attached. I was going to write about them weeks ago, but things have been backlogged here at the cafe. Nevertheless, after listening to their music for a few weeks now, Caddywhompus is officially an IRC band to watch in 09.
Caddywhompus’ sound comes at you with in-your-face exuberance of raucous noise pop hipsters. There are rave-like romps, driving drum beats, psychedelic infusions, and fuzzy, dreamy harmonies. Songs like “This is Where We Blaze the Nuggz”‘ and “Fun Times at Whiskey Bay” are perfect examples. Noise pop lovers will probably enjoy these songs and others including the interestingly-named track “Eat Chest” and the “…But Not Before A Show”.
There’s one problem: There is another band that they sound like so much and I cannot think of that band’s name. And yet I know if someone says it, I’ll be like, “Dude! That’s fricking it!” If you know, tell, please, tell. :-p
“This is Where We Blaze the Nuggz” – Caddywhompus from “EPs” “Fun Times at Whiskey Bar” – Caddywhompus from “EPs” “Eat Chest” – Caddywhompus from “EPs”
It was no accident. Back in January, after reading a post on the blog I Guess I’m Floating, we featured Blind Man’s Colour as a band to watch in 2009.
Not long after, Kanye West (yup, that Kanye West) gave a thumbs up to the band (and their art?) on his personal blog and linked back to our post. Needless to say, a nod from Kanye, and kudos from fellow bloggers, was enough to get the attention of various record labels.
The St. Petersburg, Florida musical duo that comprise Blind Man’s Colour is Orhan Chettri and Kyle Wyss. The guys create dreamy, trippy, chorus laden and synthesized electro pop with obvious influences from Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Animal Collective (more about that below).
Last week, and not surprisingly, Chettri and Wyss announced that they had signed with Kanine Records to release their full length debut Season Dreaming this summer. We have been listening to the demos of Season Dreaming from BMC for six weeks now and look forward to the studio release.
While those demos are no longer available on the band’s blog, there are plenty of other songs available for free from the band’s EPs 2006 – 2007 Recordings and Rainbow Faces to unreleased solo work recorded by Wyss under the moniker Chromatic Flights.
Here is a selection of the band’s downloadable songs from the band’s free EPs.
“Waterfall Freedom” – Blind Man’s Colour from The Rainbow Faces EP “Heliocentrics (Tell Me Why I Fall)” – Blind Man’s Colour from 2006-2007 Recordings
The following video is the only known video featuring the band. It was filmed and produced by a fellow high school friend Sean Sekas for his digital film class.
And the beat goes on; the duo also released four cover songs from Animal Collective’s masterpiece Merriweather Post Pavilion. The covers are available as part of compilation produced by a group of independent musicians who met up on an Animal Collective message board. BMC’s covers are quite impressive, as are a few others. Download Collected Animals.
“Brother Sport” (Animal Collective cover) – Blind Man’s Colour from the Collected Animals “Daily Routine” (Animal Collective cover) – Blind Man’s Colour from the Collected Animals
In case you missed the first posting we published on BMC, here is an awesome song – the one that really created the ‘blogger buzz’ about BMC – and a good indication of what their debut LP will sound like.
“Jimmy Dove” – Blind Man’s Colour from the upcoming release Season Dreaming
Telekinesis recorded the songs below on this 1970’s 8-track recorder
IRC is launching a series of showcases featuring bands performing at the annual San Francisco Noise Pop Festival later this month, and South by Southwest in Austin next month.
First up, we want to let you know about this exciting pop band from Seattle called Telekinesis. They are set to play at the Noise Pop Festival on February 27 along with Ra Ra Riot and Cut Off Your Hands.
Telekinesis also has four sets scheduled at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March. After that, the band will tour with fellow Merge Records’ artists Say Hi through the first week in April.
Telekinesis is Michael Benjamin Lerner (drums, guitar & vocals) with Chris Staples (guitar), David Broecker (electric, acoustic & bass guitar), and Jonie Broecker (bass guitar & keyboards) joining him on tour. Walla and Lerner mixed each song to analog tape a day at a time, “with the ambitious goal of never over-thinking or sabotaging the spontaneous enthusiasm of the music.”
Even Ben Gibbard and the other Death Cabbies tagged Telekinesis as a “Band to Watch” in 2009 during a guest appearance on Stereogum. We second that, and for damn good reasons.
“Coast Carolina” – Telekinesis from their upcoming, self-title debut release
“February 5th 2008” – Telekinesis from their upcoming, self-title debut release
Blind Man’s Colour, a duo of college students from St. Petersburg, Florida is officially on the indie radar for 2009 and we hope you’ll agree.
Currently unsigned, and looking for a label to call home, Kyle Wyss and Orha Chettri have a new album, Season Dreaming, which they are hoping to release soon.
Wyss and Chettri have been making and mixing music together since childhood.
“We’ve been playing together since 8th grade,” Wyss told Indie Rock Cafe. We’ve always loved electronic music as well as really out there rock since we’ve met. We’re looking for a record label to release our first album.”
Over the years, the duo have released a number of self-produced mixes of music they’ve recorded, but nothing serious enough that they are comfortable with as an official release. These tracks are available as downloads from their blog.
The guys also have a great taste for music as witnessed in this mix for Olo Radio featuring songs from Evangelics, Of Montreal, Yo La Tengo and The Microphones.
We think the guys have got something good going.
“Jimmy Dove” – Blind Man’s Colour from the album Season Dreaming
I’ve always been a sucker for indie bands that have great web sites, especially those that are built with Flash, despite it’s limitations (such as embedded audio tracks – MP3, please). But The Spinto Band‘s new website is something to behold.
The site has a starry-midnight-moon-glow theme going on, which is somehow with Halloween approaching. Right now, the content is a bit thin, but the band plans to offer new material each Tuesday up to the October 7 release of their new album release, Moonwink.
“Vivian, Don’t” – The Spinto Band “Needlepoint” – The Spinto Band
The site design and navigation in Flash is awesome, so check it out if you a fan, or are curious about the band.
There are no official MP3s from Moonwink available, but there is a Flash stream for some songs on the album including “Summer Grof”.
The band’s new UK label calls the album “11 tracks of bendy indie pop behaviour that very occasionally sounds like ELO being played backwards.” We shall see, fluff masters.
Last week, The Spinto Band signed with Fierce Panda Records after what the label calls “months of intense negotiations.” The band exploded onto the indie rock scene in 2005 after their song “Oh Mandy” became an unexpected hit record.
Soon, the band to watch were opening for established rockers likeThe Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Art Brut and Rilo Kiley.
To up the ante for their latest release, The Spinto Band signed on producer/engineer Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Built To Spill, Billy Bragg, Mates of State) and mixing engineer Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Los Lobos, Cibo Matto, Paul Simon).
Originally formed in Bloomington, Indieana in 2003, Odawas is a psychedelic and ambient rock band that make infectuous music with an indie folk influences. Their first EP, Vitamin City, was self-released in 2004.
