SubPop Releases New Singles from Grand Archives ‘Keep In Mind Frankenstein’ LP

grandarchivesfrankensteinOne of the best indie rock bands to come out of Seattle in recent years is Grand Archives. Now, after what may have seemed like forever in the minds and hearts of die-hard fans, the band has released two brand new songs from their forthcoming SubPop Records sophomore album Keep In Mind Frankenstein.

Thanks mostly to a 2007 Pitchfork feature of the band’s demo tracks, Grand Archives, led by former Band of Horses guitarist Mat Brooke, were picked to open for Modest Mouse on a seven show West Coast tour.

The success of that tour paved the way for signing a record deal with SubPop Records which released Grand Archives’ masterful debut album in 2008. In addition to Brooke, other band members include Curtis Hall, Jeff Montaño and Thomas Wright. Ron Lewis left the band earlier this year to join The Shins.

The new album will drop on September 15th. The band will kick off a month-long North American tour on September 22nd in San Francisco.

“Oslo Novelist”Grand Archives from Keep In Mind Frankenstein (2009)

“Silver Among the Gold”Grand Archives from Keep In Mind Frankenstein (2009)

Grand Archives on MySpace
Grand Archives on SubPop Records

Bands to Watch: Seattle’s The Soft Hills Deliver Lush, Dreamy Folk Pop on New EP

indie folk soft hillsSeattle indie folk pop band The Soft Hills blend dreamy melodies and sublime harmonies wrapped around introspective lyrics and seductive, rich vocals. While not completely obscure within the indie music circles, The Soft Hills’ new EP, Painted World, has somehow slipped by the more popular music sites and blogs.

Painted World features five solid songs that demonstrate the best of the ethereal possibilities of experimental indie folk mixed with pop. The EP is not overly produced or reliant on musical gimmicks – an increasing, and often unfortunate, trend in pop music over the past decade.

The raw talent of The Soft Hills is evident on the opening track, “Apples,” an airy and meandering ballad that takes to heart the power of original songwriting and production. The next song, “Spent,” is smooth and sublime, graced with low-key acoustic guitar and piano, almost absent of extraneous percussion. As the song flows gently along, singer and songwriter Garrett Hobba unveils the somewhat ironic lyric, “you’ve been drifting too far.”

Hobba draws inspiration for his lyrics from 20th century literary artists, Eastern philosophy, and symbolic dreams. Fans of Mark Kozelek, the prolific singer and songwriter of San Francisco indie folk bands Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters take note; the likeness of The Soft Hills’ sound and story-telling is, at times, remarkably similar, whether intentional or not.

The sprawling track “Wandering” features ambient, rich harmonies, and the Belle & Sebastian-esque song “Hills Like White Elephants” is easily the EP’s most up-tempo song. The record’s last song, “Diamond Road,” paints a lush Mojave 3-like sonic experience with hints of the folksy charm of Band of Horses. The only draw-back is that the song is a bit too long, clocking in at just under seven minutes long.

The Soft Hills began their journey in 2007 when Hobba moved to Seattle and met up with drummer Caleb Heinrich. Soon the duo were joined by fellow Seattle musicians Brittan Drake on piano, guitar and bass and Brett Massa on guitar, bass and vocals.

“Apples”The Soft Hills from Painted World

“Hills Like White Elephants”The Soft Hills from Painted World

Official website: http://www.thesofthills.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thesofthills

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Bands to Watch in 2009: The Lonely Forest

The Seattle garage rock-pop band The Lonely Forest is set to release their third album, We Sing The Body Electric!, on April 21 via Burning Building Recordings. In the interest of full disclosure, I was unaware of the band until their latest album came in dee mail.

As I listened to We Sing The Body Electric!, it became apparent that I was hearing one of the best albums so far this year. Song after song reveals rich, raw, sophisticated, emotional, party-ready and wonderfully crafted music; there are no gimmicks or cookie cutter rock here. What worries me about bands that are this good is what can happen to them if they become too popular.

Music producer Jack Endino, who worked with Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden said of The Lonely Forest: “These guys came out of no where…and blew my mind!”

For reals. We Sing The Body Electric! may likely be on some best rock album lists for 2009 by year’s end. Band members include Eric Sturgeon (bass and vocals), John Van Deusen (piano, lead vocals), Braydn Krueger (drums) and Tony Ruland (guitar).

Some of the bands The Lonely Forest have played with include The Velvet Teen, The Thermals, Appleseed Cast, Mates of State, Viva Voce, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Cloud Cult, YACHT, Maritime and many others.

MySpace has become one fairly reliable measure of a band’s popularity. The Lonely Forest opened their page in July 2004 and have since racked up 265,824 profile views and amassed 5,958 friends in the extended (and sometimes over-extended) MySpace network.

“We Sing In Time”The Lonely Forest from We Sing The Body Electric!
“Lessons in Communications II”The Lonely Forest from Nuclear Winter (2007)
The Lonely Forest on MySpace

Both songs are currently available via Burning Buildings Recordings

The gorgeous Pacific Northwest has played a major role in popularizing alternative and indie rock music for nearly two decades now, and The Lonely Forest are clearly one of the big shots in modern Seattle rock.