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Jacco Gardner

Jacco Gardner is a multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire from Hoorn, Netherlands. His incredible debut LP, with Trouble In Mind, Cabinet of Curiosities, hit record stores today. Jacco’s talents shine on this record as he plays all the instruments on the album (including organs, mellotron, flutes, and harpsichords), except the drums, which were handled by Jos van Tol.

Clearly influenced by late 60’s psychedelic bands like The Zombies and The Left Banke, Gardner’s music is a magical ride back in time. Check out the sugar-sweet, harpsichord driven track “The Ballad of Little Jane” below. It’s Beatle-esque melodies and vocal delivery is so addicting, you’ll repeat the song at least 3 times. Also below, is a video of Gardner performing “The Ballad of Little Jane” live. Enjoy.

Jacco Gardner – The Ballad of Little Jane from Cabinet of Curiosities (2013)

Jacco Gardner

Trouble In Mind

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Widowspeak

Widowspeak is a two-piece band comprised of Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas. They recently released their second full length album Almanac, on Captured Tracks earlier this year. Musically they have been compared to Fleetwood Mac, but Molly Hamilton’s haunting vocals make it easy to draw a comparison to Mazzy Star. On “Ballad of the Golden Hour” (below), Hamilton’s inner Sandoval shines alongside the layers of slide and acoustic guitars to make it one of the standout tracks on the album. Enjoy.

Widowspeak – Ballad of the Golden Hour from Almanac (2013)

Stream the entire album

Widowspeak

Captured Tracks

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Foxygen

Foxygen is a breath of fresh nostalgic air. Sounding like they stepped out of a time machine sent to the future from the 60’s, Foxygen shows us 20 and 30-somethings what we missed by being born in the 70’s and 80’s. Jagjaguwar describes Foxgen as “…the raw, de-Wes Andersonization of The Rolling Stones, Kinks, Velvets, Bowie, etc. that a whole mess of young people desperately need.” You can’t listen to “San Francisco” and “Make It Known” (below), and not agree with that description.

Just like Sean’s obsession with Veronica Falls, I am equally obsessed with Foxygen. I can’t, no, I won’t stop listening to their new album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, which just released on Jagjaguwar. You need Foxygen in your life. Download the songs below. Go out and buy their records. Be sure to catch them on tour, which starts up in a couple of days.

Foxygen – San Francisco from We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic (2013)

Foxygen – Make It Known from Take The Kids Off Broadway (2012)

Jagjaguwar

Foxygen

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Veronica Falls

It’s embarrassing to tell you how much I love this band. It’s embarrassing to admit that I listen to this band over and over and over and over again. I admit that I completely give up my critical faculties when I listen to Veronica Falls. Pure bliss! The melodies! The harmonies! The boy/girl vocals! My son, who just got his driver license and with whom I now share a car, had to eject their album out of my CD player’s cold…dead…slot. Speaking of death and coldness, this band has a reputation for being into death and dark and cold, but au contraire! All I can do when I listen to Veronica Falls is dance around, strum my air guitar, and sing my lungs out. Sure, the opening track to their first album is called “Found Love in a Graveyard” and the follow-up track’s refrain is “Take your hands off me,” but graveyards can be cheery places if you’re dancing on someone’s grave to the right soundtrack and you can always ask your dance partner to remove their mitts politely, respectively.

And besides, on their new album they ditched the dour song titles and replaced them with names like “Shooting Star” and “My Heart Beats” so you can tell your parents your new favorite band sings songs about hope and life (just don’t tell them about “Buried Alive”). I love Veronica Falls so much I don’t even miss Velocity Girl and if you know me, that’s saying something. And guess what else? This is the quickest post I’ve ever written because I can’t even think straight when I hear Veronica Falls and this all comes gushing out and I can’t wait for their tour and even though they’re currently in Europe (they’re from the UK) VERONICA FALLS IS COMING!!! [pace Will Farrell as Elf when he hears the news that Santa’s coming to town] and I’m gonna stop typing and go buy my tick—

Veronica Falls – Teenage [MP3 via Boing Boing/Soundcloud]

veronicafalls.com
slumberlandrecords.com

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Five Favorites: Possum Dixon

Possum Dixon is one of the most underrated bands of the 90’s. They were masters of their craft, which was playing infectious 2-4 minute power-pop songs that hooked you from the opening chords. Their first two albums, Possum Dixon and Star Maps, are just as relevant today as they were when the band was still together. Possum Dixon’s existence as a band spanned 10 years, from 1989 to 1999. In that span they released 3 LPs and a few EPs. They had there day in the sun back in ’93 when their single “Watch That Girl Destroy Me”, received a steady flow of airplay on radio and on MTV, the song charted as high as No. 9 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S..

I have taken on the task of choosing my five favorite songs from their catalogue. This was not an easy task, as there are a lot more than five great songs from this band. To those who are not familiar with Possum Dixon, there is never a better time than now to get started. Enjoy.

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Gliss

You won’t find much about Gliss on their site, their label’s or their publicist’s. Their official channels prefer to keep an enigmatic air about the band offering not much more than “Gliss is a Danish/American three-piece.” Notice the distinct lack of a genre, which I don’t fault them or any band for not offering up a genre. It’s not band’s job to pigeonhole themselves. That’s the uninteresting but necessary job of critics, bloggers, and radio programmers to help a lazy public digest music without actually listening to it. Readers of this blog listen to the music first, genres and categories be damned, right? Can I get an amen! Thank you.

I still have to do my job, so here goes. Gliss is, simply put, a pop band. And all I mean by pop in this case is that they keep their vocals up high and clear in the mix. Musically, it’s a different story. If you dig back into their discography you can hear anything from punchy garage tracks, sounding a lot like Japan’s glam rock phase, to Autolux’s laconic, brooding work to The Jesus and Mary Chain’s wall-of-guitars. Judging from these tracks off their forthcoming album Langsom Dans, Gliss seems to have shed the heavier guitar work and replaced it with softer beats and a rich array of electronics and echoing voices. I appreciate bands willing to test new waters, to push themselves and their sounds beyond their origins. It keeps an air of discovery about them for the band itself and for jaded music geeks.

Gliss – Hunting
Gliss – Blur

gliss.tv
modernoutsider.com

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Amor de Dias

Amor de Días was formed by Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele and Lupe Núñez-Fernández of Pipas back in 2009. They released their debut album with Merge in 2011. Their new album, The House At Sea will be released on January 29th, also with Merge. Their sound is super chill, utilizing mostly two Spanish guitars and their voices, with an occasional rhythm section consisting of former members of The Clientele. Check out below “Voice in the Rose”, one of their more laid back songs with Spanish guitars as the focal point, and “Jean’s Waving”, one of the more peppy songs on the album. Both songs are fantastic, and represent the album well. Enjoy the songs, get out and buy this album, you will not be disappointed.

Amor de Días – Voice in the Rose – from The House At Sea (2013)

Amor de Días – Jean’s Waving – from The House At Sea (2013)

Merge Records

Amor de Días – Jean’s Waving from Merge Records on Vimeo.

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Isaac Delusion

Ever so quietly, this Paris trio is beginning to bubble up into the consciousness of American music hounds. But I doubt the noise they’re making will stay quiet long. In a word, Isaac Delusion is delicious. The band conjures a lovely warmth with their gentle rhythms and bright string work. Their synths mimic birdsongs and evoke sunrise on a summer’s day, an image I imagined even before I saw the video which features a bit of playful surfing and young boys breakdancing on the beach. The breathy vocals recall those of Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals and add a certain sultriness to the mix. The EP hits North America around the end of the month via a label yet to be named.

Isaac Delusion – Early Morning [MP3]

Cracki Records

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Cub Scouts

Today’s downloads come from a new EP from an Australian quintet that may find themselves in legal hot water with a certain US-based scouting organization when said organization finishes boiling in its own stew of legal, ethical and PR problems. Cub Scouts formed just over a year ago and have been cobbling together songs on their bandcamp page. “Evie” got lots of spins on Triple J and they’ve been playing around locally, but it may be a while before they hit stateside. That’s OK. They have time to craft another batch of songs while their fellow Aussies in San Cisco test the waters here next year. We’ll see how well Americans take to cute, indie-popsters from down under. I say the more the merrier, especially considering the depth of Cub Scouts’ gems. Did I tell you how great the title track is? I’d hate to tell you I told you so, but I told you so.

Cub Scouts – Told You So
Cub Scouts – Evie

cubscouts.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/CubScoutsMusic

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Dinah Thorpe


I’m gonna open up this next review with a simple comparison, a comparison that’s going to date me something fierce, but it’s just so spot on. And I can’t get it out of my head, so here goes: Laurie Anderson meets The Lilac Time. Old and obscure, unfortunately. Like Anderson, Thorpe’s rich, multi-layered vocals playfully haunt your brain as they weave back and forth between your ears (headphones strongly encouraged) and the banjo and tempo remind me of the upbeat moments of Stephen Duffy’s work with The Lilac Time. Of course my 16-year old thinks this track sounds like Mumford & Sons, but he’s never heard Peggy Honeywell. Thorpe is literate, politically astute, and crafts siren songs around her dreams and visions with everything from a synth to a ukulele. The results will brighten your day as does her album’s sparse, bold cover.