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Anna Morley

Anna Morley is a classically trained vibraphone player from Australia, now living in Barcelona, and she’s quietly making a stir with her unique compositions. Morley works with London-based produced Alex Foster who adds gentle rhythms and heart-beat sized beats to her instrumentation. Along with the vibraphone, Morley occasionally adds her own vocals to tracks and plays the violin, keyboard, and an array of percussive instruments.

Her EP Character (from where these downloads originate) is a chilled-out ambient work and her debut album Red Balance (out today—stream it below) is equally crisp and clean, while a bit more bubbly, a refreshing soda pop on a summer day. Space-age bachelorette pad music at its finest. Although I think anyone, regardless of their marital status, will enjoy lounging to such a soundtrack.

If you’re fortunate enough to find yourself in Spain in the next couple weeks, be sure to check out her shows.

Es Lo Que Hay from Character (2009)
Today the Heart from Character (2009)

www.annamorley.com

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Fruit Bats

Fruit Bats are releasing their fifth album, Tripper, on August 2, 2011. The song included below is a great indicator of another solid release. Please enjoy.

Fruit Bats – Tangle and Ray from Tripper (2011)

 

Shan’s original post from 01.27.2006

I’ve been meaning to post the Fruit Bats for a while now because, well, because they’re as reassuring as a warm cup of tea. The acoustic guitar has a lovely lilt to it. The slight, overdubbed vocals don’t demand attention but get it anyway. And the alternately peppy and melancholy rhythms float on and on and on. All in all, you get the sense that the Fruit Bats respect their mothers, and a little motherly love in our indie pop could do us all some good.

 

 

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Eleanor Friedberger

Eleanor Friedberger is better known as half of the band The Fiery Furnaces; if that doesn’t perk your ears up, hopefully listening to the song below will.

I am not one who usually puts a song on repeat and plays it until the MP3 skips. I’m afraid I’ll get “burned out” with the song. With “My Mistakes”, the first track from her debut solo album, Last Summer, I have completely gotten over that fear. I have listened to this track more in the past week than most other releases this year. It really is an amazing song, packed with a fuzzy bass line, driving beat, just enough keyboard and even a sneaky saxaphone at the end. If there wasn’t already a video for this song (below), I can picture Eleanor cruising around on a bicycle of some sort, on some small town main street, waving to all the passersby as she quietly sings this song to herself. At least that’s what I want to do when I listen to this song. I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do, it is the song of this summer.

Eleanor Friedberger – My Mistakes from Last Summer (2011)

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=24124179&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=24124179&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00adef&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/24124179">Eleanor Friedberger – My Mistakes</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/mergerecords">Merge Records</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

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Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore

Thurston Moore needs no introduction, being the lead singer for Sonic Youth and releasing solo albums for the past 20+ years. However, in his long musical career, this is the first time that he has collaborated with Beck and the results are quite spectacular. Both songs below (and the entire album) are full of depth, and quite different from his last, more straight-forward indie rock effort. Thanks in part to Beck’s production skills, great use of strings, and of course Thurston’s incredible talent at songwriting and guitar playing. Enjoy.

Thurston Moore – Benediction

Thurston Moore – Circulation

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Ty Segall

Ty Segall is carving out a big notch in the “neo-psych garage” (I wish I came up with that name) genre that’s been brewing in SF for several years now, alongside bands like Thee Oh Sees, and Sic Alps. Segall has played in, and collaborated with quite a few bands out of SF, such as Party Fowl, Epsilons, and Sic Alps to name a few. Segall’s new album, and first full length with Drag City, Goodbye Bread, comes out today and is definitely an album you need to add to your collection. “You make The Sun Fry”, shared below, is a great example of the album as a whole. Full of reverb, fuzz, thick bass lines, and bashing drums, “You Make The Sun Fry” is lo-fi goodness at it’s best and is another great song to add to your summer playlist.

You Make The Sun Fry from Goodbye Bread (2011)

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Socalled

On paper, Socalled’s bio reads like an elaborate art hoax: he’s a producer/ composer/ arranger/ rapper/ singer/ journalist/ photographer/ filmmaker/ magician/ cartoonist/ puppet maker – oh, and Yiddish music enthusiast! – who, for his fourth album, invited 34 collaborators from all ends of the musical spectrum into the studio. As a whole, Sleepover is disjointed – sounding like “Prairie Home Companion” one minute and “106 and Park” the next. There’s a recurring thread of humor and pastiche on many of the tracks, but others stick out as being quite earnest. So it’s difficult to nail a unifying theme. However, taken individually, each song holds its own, and some even stand out. Take these two examples, where the eclectic ingredients come together nicely into a singular concept. The title track is a send-up of ghetto-tech anthems, with none other than Detroit’s own King of Booty, DJ Assault, serving up hypnotic refrains over a frenetic klezmer loop. (The joke wouldn’t be complete without puppets freaking in Socalled’s apartment – so be sure to watch the video.) By contrast, “Work With What You Got” is a positive vibration calypso-hop jam featuring Roxanne Shante and The Mighty Sparrow on vocals that would feel at home on the soundtrack to a feelgood children’s movie.

Socalled || Teaser Sleepover #2 from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

Sleepover (featuring DJ Assault) from Sleepover (2011)
Work With What You Got (featuring Roxanne Shante and The Mighty Sparrow) from Sleepover (2011)

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Miracle Fortress

The sophomore record by Montreal-based Graham Van Pelt (dba Miracle Fortress) is single-handedly satisfying my seasonal synth-pop jones. The single, “Miscalculations”, is an achingly perfect jam that sounds as right today as it would have 25 years ago. It will ease its way into even the hardest of hearts, mark my words. Miracle Fortress is currently touring with Junior Boys, which should make for a double scoop of synth-pop goodness.

Miscalculations from Was I The Wave? (2011)

www.secretcityrecords.com
www.miraclefortress.com

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Capsule

Capsule is a three-piece, post hardcore, punk rock band that I stumbled across the other night while searching for music. They play hard and fast, almost as if each member is trying to out do the other. “Neuralize So Numb”, the opening track, clocks in at a blazing 1:05. The song is angry, aggressive, and very catchy. It ends almost as quickly as it starts, and it will punch you in the face, so you have to pay attention. I really like this song, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Capsule – Neuralize So Numb

http://www.myspace.com/capsulefl

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The Devil Whale

The Devil Whale is a great band out of Salt Lake City. The music they play is a blend of 60’s and 70’s era folk, garage, and pop. They self-released their new full length Teeth at the end of May. It’s an excellent album as you can hear from the taste provided below, it has been on constant rotation since I got it. After enjoying the song we have shared, head on over to their bandcamp page and give the entire album a try, you will not be disappointed.

The Devil Whale – Standing Stones

http://www.thedevilwhale.com/

http://thedevilwhale.bandcamp.com/

 

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Boris

As I mentioned last time I posted Boris tracks, what little I know about modern metal I learned from the Aquarius Records newsletter. I thank their metal-obsessive staff for putting me on to Boris all those years ago. At the same time, classifying Boris as “metal” is like calling Beastie Boys “rap” – while technically accurate for the most part, it’s underselling to a point of deception. So when Boris drops not one but two albums at once, it’s cause to celebrate. Heavy Rocks, not to be confused with their 2002 album of the same name (and cover art, except for the color), evolves the raw sound of its predecessor while nonetheless rocking your face off. Attention Please showcases guitarist Wata’s heavenly voice which until now has taken a backseat to her violent riffs. These two representative singles give you a sense of the results, and of Boris’ vast range: “Hope” is an urgent shoegazer beauty while “Riot Sugar” is as gentle as a charging rhino. Enjoy.

Hope from Attention Please (2011)
Riot Sugar from Heavy Rocks (2011)

http://sargenthouse.com/
www.borisheavyrocks.com
www.myspace.com/borisdronevil