Here’s another post from my friend Tim Ortopan:
Listening to 21 Tandem Repeats is a bit of a schizophrenic experience. Each track has its own sound and feel, from the Yo La Tengo flavored “Heidi Stopover” to the female vocals on “Pebbles”. They have some tracks that sound like The Mountain Goats and others that recall Simon and Garfunkel’s harmonies. Make sure you check out “On Frozen Pond,” a nice tribute to growing up in Canada. Their album No Junk Mail Please has something for everyone, and they can really pull off the changes in tone well. Perhaps the more I think about it the thing which unites all of the tracks is not schizophrenia but rather that they are all crazy good.
Javelins
Here’s a post from my friend Tim Ortopan:
I am not cool and as I write this I realize that it is pretty likely that I have never been cool, but I think I know what it looks like and I know this fact: Matt Rickle is cool. I first met him in the summer of 1998 when we both worked at the same movie theater; he was an usher and I worked behind the concession stand. We talked about music and he once even made me a mix cd; that was it for me — total man crush. Over the years I have seen Matt play drums in a variety of bands, some good, some not as good, but the coolest one was certainly the Javelins, for whom he also sings. They have a low fi talk-sing quality mixed with some pretty traditional indie rock instrumentation. The band might not be great but they’re pretty good and I’ll be damned if they aren’t cool.
Charlene
One of Charlene’s principal players also had his fingers in a sweet little pie called Sugar Free Records back in the ’90s. I credit that label for bringing Beulah to my consciousness, and for that I’ll be a long time grateful. So I had high hopes for this record when it showed up in the mail and I’m pleased to report I’m not disappointed. Their new single is simply thrilling: wailing, shimmering, jangling guitars create a warm wall of sound; vocals, unrushed, take their time sauntering in and out of the airy melody and just as I settle in, wishing the song never ends, it ends. Repeat! Repeat! Repeat! And that’s just the first song. I’m always geeked to file another band between my Galaxie 500, Rain Parade, and Slowdive collections. For those of you in and around Boston, keep your eyes peeled since you’ll probably have the first chance at catching them live. No sign of upcoming shows yet. If Charlene were a tree and it fell in the woods, yes, it would make a sound. A big, beautiful, noisy sound.
Wavves
Young Nathan Williams aka Wavves has been making a lot of…wait for it…no, I’m not going to do that to you…Williams has been making lots of friends (or enemies perhaps) over the weekend as out in Austin, Texas for SXSW as he just wrapped up ELEVEN appearances. He now makes his way out East and then back home to San Diego. Williams’ not-so-stealth appearance into the indie scene largely depends on his DIY ethic, both in production and publicity. He’s a one man bedroom band equipped with a multi-track recorder and enough instruments, harmonies and fuzz to fill said bedroom. I mentioned fuzz right? He’s full of it, but for those of you not trained to do so, be patient and listen deeper into the songs, past the noise, and you’ll be rewarded with this kid’s hooks! He’s full of them too. Plans are in the works to put out a proper studio album, but you’ll want to be able to tell your kids you were listening to Wavves “before he sold out.” It’ll be analogous to the “I was listening to Beck when he was on Bongload” conversations happening 17 years ago. Fat Possum just put out his album, Wavves, last week, but it was live on iTunes months before that. And previously Williams released a slew of cassettes and 7-inch singles on a handful of different labels. Wavves is stirring up a big tsunami in a little pond, jump on board and ride it in before the line-up gets overcrowded.
King Loses Crown
I recall an interview with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins many years ago where he said that in his head the music he wrote sounded like death metal. I get the same sense with King Loses Crown. While this San Francisco duo exercises their love of hooks and synthesizers analog and digital, somewhere in their heads perhaps their music sounds more like death metal than the electronic power-rock of their self-titled debut EP.
Men Without Pants
What can you expect from Dan the Automator and Russell Simins? Everything and more! After shelving the album last year in order to record material and bring it up to their collective high standards, the two are reportedly releasing Naturally next month. Dan’s manning the programming and electronics while Simins is once again ripping apart the drums, guitars and vocals. Of course this dynamic duo knows how to throw a party, so they’ve invited Sean Lennon, Cibo Matto (my best guest as to who’s singing on “My Balloon”), The Mooney Suzuki, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The song title that best represents the sound on this album is “Rock Party,” because, well, that’s exactly what this album is. Overall the album is a gritty, rhythm and blues attack with the Automator’s beats and programming ratcheted up something fierce. Then there’s “My Balloon,” this airy, psychedelic treat in between the sound and fury. The album slowly mellows and concludes with a few reflective indie-rock slow jams. Fans of the Blues Explosion will probably dig this more than the Gorillaz gang, but all y’all should give it a spin!
Awesome Snakes
The Awesome Snakes are Danny and Annie carrying on the legacy on their dear, departed Minneapolis band the Soviettes. Punk rock bass ‘n’ drums that is dirty, obnoxious, in-yer-face insulting, and full of enough attitude to make you feel young again.
Helicopters
Man, recessions suck. It’s all work, work, work. I’ve been woefully ignorant of all of these Internet happenings except perhaps Twitter because, y’know, that’s just quick random thoughts, right? But what we could really use in these lean times are free MP3 downloads. So god bless you for going strong with 3Hive, Sean and Joe and Clay, because there’s so much great music out there and, long hours be damned, we gots to share the sharing! Like Chicago’s Helicopters, a group that got its first major exposure by winning a battle of the bands contest that gave them a slot at Lollapalooza. And they didn’t stuff the ballot box, either. Like the Chicago Man of the Decade, Helicopters offer a complex yet accessible brand of hope that is a sea change from a cynicism that has prevailed for too long. It’s no small feat considering they have three primary songwriters. Such musical trinities can lead to a garbled mess of influences. And while you’ll get a smorgasbord on Sizing Up the Distance, from synthed new wave reduxes to driven guitar anthems to emo wails, there’s a common thread of pop craftsmanship that pulls it all together. These are some finely crafted gems, and at least one of them is free. The Spring thaw is upon us, and hopefully the financial thaw is about to follow – and with Helicopters, my thaw soundtrack is coming together nicely.
New Phoenix Single
I like Phoenix. And they like you. To prove it, they just released their new single “1901” as a free download. Gotta go here to get it. No email or log in necessary. The band will issue their full album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix on May 25th.
Papermoons
It started in October. The holiday season kicked into full swing with Halloween, which might be the most anxiously awaited holiday of the year at my house. I suffered a serious knee injury the week before Halloween, but we had the November elections, Thanksgiving, and Christmas arriving before we knew it, with all the hussle and bussle that go with them. It continued into January with my wife’s birthday and some major issues at work, and then we finally got to February where they continued. It feels like we’ve been running non-stop since October. Prior to this weekend, we’ve been out of town for five weekends in a row. My music choices have been changing as I’ve tried to keep up the pace. Faster, faster, if it didn’t have enough BPM’s or pounding energy, I wasn’t working for me. I found myself listening to a lot of Black Flag, Bad Religion, the Specials, and the Projects on the train ride to/from work.
Don’t get me wrong; it has been good times, a whole lotta fun with family, friends, and great places. But it was all starting to catch up with me. Last week I was on my fourth cold of the season, my knee is in bad shape as I’ve been doing hard rehab in a final attempt to avoid ligament reconstruction surgery, and my body has felt like it’s falling apart. On Saturday, finally at home for the first weekend in six, I downloaded the Houston duo Papermoons’ “Follow the Sun,” a delicate, melodic song of peace and tenderness, fell asleep at 9 pm, and had the best night of sleep I’ve had in months. Coincidence? Maybe. But maybe not.