Based solely on material from Best Coast’s debut album Crazy for You, we learned four main things about frontwoman Bethany Cosentino: She likes boys (most specifically, Nathan Williams of Wavves), California, weed, and cats. It was remarkably easy to boil her down to those characteristics, and she spent quite a bit of time touring and doing interviews in an effort to break free from those labels. Delving deeper into her psyche via such interviews and her strikingly entertaining Twitter feed, we’ve learned a bit more about her, and it all sets us up quite nicely for Best Coast’s sophmore record The Only Place. First and foremost, Cosentino has said many times that this second album is more “emo” and “pop-punk” than the band’s debut. If you’ve been keeping a careful eye on what Best Coast has been up to the last couple years, perhaps you saw one of their shows where they covered Blink 182. Such moments give you a pretty good idea where some of the band’s sonic inspiration stems from. They’ve given up the lo-fi grunge of the first album and hired producer Jon Brion to add plenty of polish and space. In some respects a bit of the mystery is lost by removing the instrumental layers of fuzz generated by Bobb Bruno’s excellent guitar work. Such purposeful flaws only heightened Best Coast’s overall aesthetic as a crew of plainspoken slackers that were just like us. With everything on The Only Place coming off as pristine, it creates a new imperative that they have to take themselves much more seriously and professionally. The good news is that the melodies seem to take that thought to heart, as the guitars jangle, the vocals soar, and the hooks grab you by the ears and won’t let go. Their sonic palette has expanded a bit too, at least enough to incorporate light blushes of alt-country. It would have worked even better had they thrown in at least a little slide guitar or fiddle, but songs like “My Life”, “No One Like You” and “Dreaming My Life Away” feel like they’re channeling Neko Case in overall tone anyways. That’s probably Cosentino’s hope, though she’d be even more ecstatic to generate comparisons to her role model and personal hero, Stevie Nicks. She comes strikingly close on “Do You Still Love Me Like You Used To”, particularly on the multi-harmonized chorus, however that song and others are cursed with one major flaw: the lyrics. If you’re going to clean up your sound and strive for something more professional, you’ve got to back away at least a little bit from lines like, “The sun was high/and so was I” or “You say that/we’re just friends/but I want this/til the end”. Cosentino has changed her writing style a bit, moving away from the lackadaisical summer fun themes and towards the more personal and emotional. Most of the songs on The Only Place feel like pages pulled from a diary, but from a girl in her early teens and not her mid-twenties. Remarks such as, “My mom was right/I don’t wanna die/I wanna live my life,” on “My Life” are simple to a fault. The opening title track keeps the never ending cycle of songs about California going, and like a pseudo-cousin to Katy Perry’s “California Girls”, features lines like, “We’ve got the ocean/Got the babes/Got the sun/We’ve got the waves.” Don’t be shocked if you hear that eyeroll-worthy beast in a commercial soon, probably for the State of California Tourism Board. Why Cosentino’s lyrics are so poorly written has less to do with how uncomplicated they are and more to do with sheer predictability. Nine times out of ten you can guess what the line-ending rhyme is going to be, and while it may be easier to sing along as a result, that sort of blandness really isn’t helping anyone. A little more energy or even some experimentation in the songs would have offset the lyrical damage a bit, but unfortunately there’s not a whole lot of that to be found on The Only Place. If Best Coast really is planning to continue to grow into a full-fledged, professional band, they’ve still got some work left to do. The majority of that falls straight on Cosentino, who might want to spend just a little less time messing around on Twitter and a little more time trying to avoid becoming a cliche.
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The last few weeks I’ve been saving this mention for Fridays, but in an effort to get out ahead of it (and because I love today’s set of mp3s) I’ll tell you now. It’s been a short bit since I started the Faronheit Facebook page, and for how much traffic this site does plus my Twitter feed, that Facebook page certainly seems lacking in “Like”s. You certainly don’t have to commit to the site via every social media platform you use, but I do like to try and post a few extras and exclusives in each of this site’s many arms to keep you engaged and engorged with content. So manage your clicks however you want, just know that I’m trying to enhance and educate at every turn. I hope you feel that’s a worthwhile pursuit. For example, today’s Pick Your Poison. There are some great highlights including tracks from Best Practices, Delicate Steve, The Imagineers (who are on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson all week live from Scotland), Letterist, My Great Ghost, The Tallest Man on Earth, Total Warr and Violens. New tracks from HEALTH and The Walkmen make the Soundcloud streaming section worth a look today too.
Best Practices – Future Cougar
Foster the People – Call It What You Want (Ron Flieger Remix)
The Imagineers – The Legend of John the Terror (Notorious)
Kyla La Grange – Vampire Smile (Seasfire Remix)
Of the Opera – Lost in the Ravine
The Tallest Man on Earth – 1904
SOUNDCLOUD
Flight Facilities – With You (ft. Grovesnor)
The progression of Here We Go Magic over the course of their now three albums has been nothing short of fascinating. Luke Temple started the project like many others, with some recording equipment in his bedroom. The band’s 2009 self-titled album resulted directly from those sessions, a supremely lo-fi yet strikingly catchy examination of the freak folk and psychedelic genres. If songs like “Fangela” and “Tunnelvision” didn’t get stuck in your head after a couple spins, there was something wrong with you. Things progressed as you might expect – attracting all sorts of attention, Temple expanded the band out into a full-fledged five piece, though the second HWGM record Pigeons was recorded in a house with only slightly better equipment. The fidelity remained relatively the same as the first album, even as the arrangements were a lot more complicated and busy. The band’s sound changed somewhat too, abandoning the white noise instrumentals and most of the African polyrhythms in favor of something more synth-based and dream pop in nature. Good as that record was, it also made the band seem just a little indecisive about what musical direction they hoped to take for the future. They lacked conviction and a truly unified sound. When you hear the wild mixture of echoing drums that begin HWGM’s third album A Different Ship, there’s a remarkable familiarity to it that raises your spirits for just a minute in the hopes that this might finally be the moment when everything comes together perfectly as part of Temple’s master plan. The initial shock arrives on the second track, once the instrumental intro finishes off. “Hard to Be Close” glides out of its gates with clarity and whimsy that tells you they used an actual studio with an actual producer this time. The dirt and grime of the past two records are gone, and Temple’s vocal sits at the front of the mix. It also feels a lot like puberty arrived since that last full length, as Temple’s voice has dropped a couple octaves from the falsetto he typically uses. Once again this band has gone through more sonic growing pains, still unsettled as to what they want to sound like. They jump genres on a whim and while it’s impressive to hear them reasonably balance everything with some degree of uniformity, you come away with no better idea of where this band is headed than you did at the start of the album. The icy drift of “Alone But Moving” feels like a direct tribute to Radiohead, with Temple breaking out his Thom Yorke-ian falsetto and Nigel Godrich producing it. After delving into some serious yet unremarkable psychedelia for a few tracks, “How Do I Know” suddenly roars to life like it belongs on an entirely different record. The song itself is great and catchy, but it really serves as a red flag by pointing out the flaws with much of the rest of the album. By cleaning up their sound and getting Godrich behind the boards, the curtain behind Here We Go Magic is lifted, and we’re left not with the great and powerful Oz but instead a regular man with a special effects budget. It’d help if there was some semblance of deep emotion or heft to fill in the gaps the lack of instrumentation leave behind, but alas Temple prefers to keep his distance from those things. That leads to something like the sprawling finale “A Different Ship”, which spends most of its 8+ minute running time in some adult contemporary haze that devolves into a largely do-nothing drone. Like so much of the entire record, it feels lost at sea with no real idea where it’s headed. Occasionally land will be spotted and you get a nice spark of fun and inspiration, but it vanishes almost as quickly as it arrives. If this is what it’s like on A Different Ship, perhaps the better idea would be to return to your original one.
Here We Go Magic – How Do I Know
On Tuesdays I like to give you a quick rundown of what artists have new records arriving in stores, just in case you’ve been eagerly awaiting a purchase. This week’s an exceptionally good one, so let’s get started. This week’s new releases include full lengths and EPs from Alexander Tucker, Andre Williams and the Sadies, Apollo Ghosts, Beach House, Best Coast, Birthmark, Cornershop, Craft Spells, The Cribs, Garbage, Guided By Voices, Hot Water Music, Japandroids, Josephine Foster and Victor Herrero, Lee Bains III, Little,Big, Meiko, MV & EE, Parlovr, Plushgun, Richard Hawley, Santana, Simian Mobile Disco, Squarepusher, Tenacious D, Tu Fawning, Violens, White Fence and Willie Nelson. Also, the My Bloody Valentine remastered catalogue is out today too, in case you don’t already own it/want a slightly tweaked and updated copy. In terms of today’s edition of Pick Your Poison, I do have a few recommendations for you. To start, you might enjoy tracks from Azealia Banks, John Butler Trio, Milkman, The Modern Airline, Rainer & Calexico, and XOV. Oh, and lest I forget, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside will be playing at The Hideout in Chicago with Dark Dark Dark one week from today. Listen to a song from them below, and buy a ticket to that show here. In the Soundcloud section I absolutely recommend that you stream tracks from Oneohtrix Point Never and Nigel Godrich’s music project Ultraista. Wavves’ remix of Mr. Little Jeans is pretty solid too.
The Hawthorne Effect – Drunk Mistake
Helium Robots – Lacrimosa (Blamma! Blamma! Remix)
Ian McGlynn – Gold Morning Mend (TEEEL Remix)
John Butler Trio – Mystery Man
La Chansons – Love Dream (Heaven Remix)
The Modern Airline – Accelerated Evolution
Rainer & Calexico – Be Prepared
Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside – Danger
Scribbleface – One Drop Forward
SOUNDCLOUD
Allies For Everyone – Move When I Run
Mr. Little Jeans – Runaway (Wavves Remix)
Louis Blaise – Left Something in My Car
Hey, welcome back to Monday. I hope your Mother’s Day went well and that you either spent some time with or spent some time talking with your mother, assuming she’s still alive/part of your life. My Mother’s Day was spent on vacation in New York this past weekend with my extended family. My parents and grandparents were in search of a cool place to eat dinner that night. Keeping in mind I had zero influence over their decision, we unwittingly wandered into Williamsburg, and stumbled upon this hole in the wall place that I think they chose because of the name or maybe they’d heard of it on some TV show. Either way, the place was hipster central, complete with young people wearing fedoras and floral print dresses, old-timey black and white photos from the 1800s all over the walls, and sunflowers in mason jars. The Postal Service played on the restaurant speakers one minute, and Johnny Cash the next. Keeping in mind I don’t call myself a hipster, nor would I advocate for the term to be used on anyone, I’ll just say this about the unnamed restaurant: the food was great, as was the atmosphere. I fell harder than I’ve ever fallen for New York thanks to that one dining experience. The amusing thing is it was a place I’d go in a heartbeat on my own or with some friends, but I’d never think of taking my parents, let alone grandparents, there. Everyone seemed to like it quite a bit, though none more than me. Thanks NYC, for making another great memory for me. Ironically enough I was only in NYC for that day, the rest of my time was spent in Long Island for a wedding. I’m super happy to be back though, and am doing my best to catch up with the piles of emails and other music submissions I’ve gotten the last few days. Please bear with me as I’m overwhelmed at the moment. The site returns to 100% normal, hopefully with a few album reviews, tomorrow. For now, thanks for reading. Pick Your Poison recommendations today come from 2:54, Chicago’s own Al Scorch, Fergus + Geronimo, Ladyhawke, Onuinu, Plushgun, Pond and Superhumanoids.
Fergus + Geronimo – Roman Tick
IlldotLogic – Gumballs (ft. Picasso Witapen)
Johnny5thWheel&thecowards – Nancy
Jonathan Byerley – I Still Pull the Silver (from the Penny Drawer)
Ladyhawke – Black, White & Blue (Acoustic)
Pond – Tears of a Clown (Smokey Robinson cover)
Superhumanoids – Too Young for Love
SOUNDCLOUD
Beach Pigs – Catch Up In The Sun
Crybaby – When The Lights Go Out
Eugene Francis Jnr – NecronomicoN (i aM pRoViDeNcE)
Sigh. It’s Friday, and another week has wrapped up. I don’t know why, but I’m just not quite in a weekend sort of mood right now. Perhaps it’s because I’m headed out to New York for a few days and won’t have the chance to really enjoy it. It’s not a business trip, but fun, touristy stuff is sort of out of the question. The last time I was in NYC was a few years ago for CMJ, and while I didn’t do any tourist stuff then, at least I was bouncing from concert venue to concert venue around the city seeing great live music. This time I’ll be treated to a wedding, which is a happy occasion, but every other day will be spent with my extended family. That translates to about 20 people, meaning getting around and going anywhere will be a huge hassle. Even eating at a restaurant will likely be a whole affair. Maybe I’ll try to slip away and explore the city a bit under cover of darkness. I’ll let you know how it goes. That aside, I’d like to also remind you as I do weekly that Faronheit has a Facebook page. I’d super appreciate it if you’d click the “Like” button over there. As for your weekend-starting Pick Your Poison, I’ll give a thumbs up to tracks from Frenetics, Night Noise Team, Oberhofer (covering Kanye West), Riverboat Gamblers, Tassels, and White Rabbits (performing their track “I’m Not Me” in Spanish!). The Soundcloud section is great too, with streaming songs from Dana Buoy, Guillemots, and Mister Lies. Have a great weekend!
Erik Gundel – Then I Noticed the Time
Night Noise Team – Picking Up the Pieces
Noah and the MegaFauna – On and On
Oberhofer – Runaway (Kanye West cover)
Psymbionic – Ride With Me (VIP Mix)
Riverboat Gamblers – Comedians
Shadows on Stars – Now You’re Mine
Shadows on Stars – When It Builds
T.T.L. – Deep Shadow (Vocal Version)
SOUNDCLOUD
It’s been a few days, but I’d like to spend this intro talking briefly about Tom Gabel of the punk band Against Me!. I’m assuming you’ve heard already, but in case you haven’t, Gabel announced earlier this week that he is going to be changing genders via hormones and treatments. He’ll also be taking the name Laura Jane Grace. This isn’t a stunt or something done for publicity. Like some people, Gabel suffers from gender dysphoria, in which a person believes he or she should have been born the opposite gender. The age old statement of being a ____ living in a _____’s body. Anyways, there’s a whole article about his transformation in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, so check that out if you’re interested in learning more. I’ve not yet read the full article, but it reportedly also explains what this means for the future of Against Me!. For somebody that has such a masculine voice, it’ll be interesting to see how this gender adjustment changes things. If you’d got some thoughts and would like to weigh in on this, feel free to do so in the comments section. Onto today’s Pick Your Poison. Highlights include tracks from Family Band, Giant Giant Sand, Junk Culture, Old Bricks, Sailor & I and SebastiAn’s remix of Van She. In the Soundcloud section don’t miss streaming songs from Four Tet, Teen Daze and The Walkmen.
I Can Chase Dragons! – Republique
Logan Venderlic – Travelin’ Tooth Operators
Prodigy – Girls (HeavyWeight Bootleg)
Spirit Animal – Crocodile Skins (Big Black Delta Remix)
Stepdad – Must Land Running (Berndsen Remix)
Super Guachin – Se Pixelo el Vinito (Nite Jewel Remix)
Tango in the Attic – Mona Lisa Overdrive
Van She – Idea of Happiness (SebastiAn Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Blue Balloon – The Fractured Lullaby of Holly Jealous
It’s the middle of the week and ever-closer to the middle of May, but my sights are shifting towards summer and fall already. It’ll be music festival season soon enough, and there are some great choices for you out there depending on where you live or are willing to travel. One that’s really worth pointing out any given year but especially this year is the Pygmalion Music Festival. A bit smaller than your Lollapaloozas or your Pitchfork Music Festivals, Pygmalion takes place in Champaign-Urbana, IL, about 3 hours south of Chicago and home to the University of Illinois aka my alma mater. This year’s fest takes place from September 27-29 and is scattered across the many concert venues, art galleries and open spaces in and around Champaign-Urbana. This year’s lineup is about halfway announced and already includes the following artists: Grizzly Bear, Dinosaur Jr., Cloud Nothings, Tennis, Lotus Plaza, Frankie Rose, Willis Earl Beal, Hospitality, Julia Holter, Craft Spells, Oh No Oh My, The Dirty Feathers, New Ruins, Headlights offshoot Psychic Twin, and many more. Great so far, with plenty more greatness to come, including at least one more headlining act. A 3-day pass granting you entry to all shows is currently available for purchase at the low, low price of $75, with the price eventually “skyrocketing” to a ludicrously expensive $85. Trust me, it’s worth it. For more information and a way to buy tickets, simply click this link. Okay, now onwards to today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. I’ll advise you to check out tracks from A Lull, Big Wave Riders, King Tuff, Marissa Nadler, The Olivia Tremor Control, Skatan and State Faults. In the Soundcloud section, don’t miss streaming songs from CocoRosie, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Passion Pit.
Big Wave Riders – Waiting in the Wings
Joe Jackson – I’m Beginning to See the Light
The Olivia Tremor Control – The Game You Play Is In Your Head (Parts 1, 2 and 3)
Seventeen Evergreen – Burn the Fruit (Pegasus)
Shake the Baron – Big Sur
Shake the Baron – Jones
YUZIMA – I Go Out (GLT.82.Remix)
Zebra and Snake – Money in Heaven (Kashii Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
On Tuesdays I like to give you a quick summation of what artists are releasing new material each week, and this week is no different. As usual, please be aware my listing of these artists does not indicate a tacit endorsement of their music or new album/EP, This is me just telling you what’s out there. This week you’ll find new music from Alex Clare, Carina Round, Damon Albarn, Dana Buoy, Dead Mellotron, Greg Laswell, Here We Go Magic, Keane, Led Er Est, Matt Skiba and the Sekrets, OFF!, PS I Love You, Royal Headache, S. Carey, Silversun Pickups, Sleep Party People, Turing Machine and Virals. As far as today’s Pick Your Poison goes, there are a few tracks I can endorse in good confidence. Be sure to download songs from Chew Lips, The Corduroy Road, Eric Copeland, Hounds, Hunx, and Tu Fawning. Grimes’ remix of Cadence Weapon is great too, as is Keep Shelly in Athens’ remix of Leisure. Oh, and if you’re a Dispatch fan (I know many), they’ve got a new track up for download below. In the Soundcloud section, stream good stuff from Lazer Sword and Variety Lights, along with Active Child’s well done remix of Julia Stone.
All Will Be Quiet – The First Day, Pt. 2
Branden Daniel and the Chics – All Things Chic
Cadence Weapon – Conditioning (Grimes Remix)
The Corduroy Road – Love You Can’t Shake
Eric Copeland – Louie, Louie, Louie
Faren & The French Fries – Is It Me? (ft. Fonzy & Slick Y$L)
Jon Vautier – Leave the City Dead
Leisure – Green Light
Leisure – Follow Me (Keep Shelly in Athens Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Julia Stone – It’s All Okay (Active Child remix)
On Friday I made brief mention of the death of Adam Yauch aka MCA from the Beastie Boys. Today I’d like to talk about it for a moment more. My relationship with the Beastie Boys has always been a fascinating one. My admiration for those three guys knows no end, but I’ve also gone through fits where I quite disliked their music. I really didn’t get into them until the late 90’s, around the release of Hello Nasty. The song and video for “Intergalactic” struck me so hard that I memorized the every verse and would often trade lines with my friends just like they do in the track. After about six months of hearing it nonstop on the radio, I grew tired of it and that record. A few years later I’d really dive into their back catalogue and truly discover the magic of those first three albums. This bled into the release of To the 5 Boroughs in 2004, which I wound up liking for about 5 minutes before going back to the early stuff. Eventually like with most artists I moved on to other things and other albums. Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 2 never quite shined the way I hoped it would when it was released last year, and it didn’t help that MCA’s cancer battle had delayed it. Word had come around that he was getting better though, and some even said he was cancer-free after plenty of treatment, though those reports were later corrected. Many, including myself, thought his cancer was either in remission or right close to it, and the Beastie Boys would tour around their latest record. As we know now, the cancer was not in remission and the treatments weren’t quite enough to keep MCA alive for long. I want to wish the Yauch family and close friends my deepest condolences on the loss. The music world has clearly felt it too, and the future of the Beastie Boys appears to be equally as grim. When any group loses a principle member it can be difficult or impossible to carry on. MCA’s voice was essential to the Beastie Boys, and to replace him wouldn’t feel right (at least not now). Perhaps a few years down the road they’ll pull a Snoop & Dre or a TLC and tour with a hologram of their departed friend and bandmate. Such sadness. Let me try and lighten the mood with a little bit of Pick Your Poison. This is an extra large edition for all you mp3 gluttons out there. Please be sure to check out tracks from Arc In Round, Meyhem Lauren, RAC, Superhumanoids, Turbo Fruits and Wizards of Time. In the Soundcloud section, you’ll want to stream songs from Arrange and Wintersleep.
Anderson, McGinty, Webster, Ward, and Fisher – (Might As Well) Trust in Me
Brass Bed with Allison Bohl – He’s Large (Harry Nilsson cover)
Goldroom – Angeles (LA News Mix)
Meyhem Lauren ft. Action Bronson and Heems – Special Effects
Miike Snow – Archipelago (Its Overture Remix)
RAC – Hollywood (ft. Penguin Prison)
Superhumanoids – I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover)
Victor Talking Machine – Sarah Laughs
Wizards of Time – Little’s Jingle
SOUNDCLOUD
The Hairs – I’ve Been Working Out
So much of music today is all flash with not a whole lot of substance to back it up. That’s not meant to reference live shows with towering stage set-ups and blinding strobe lights, though those sorts of things do factor in. No, this has much more to do with the way melodies are constructed, with upbeat energy and massive choruses. As is the case with people and life in general, sometimes the little or quieter moments carry the most meaning. Lower Dens seem to know this and embrace it. Their first album Twin-Hand Movement was a drifting, atmospheric set of music that played largely off progressive and shoegaze influences. Singer Jana Hunter, having established an offbeat solo career prior to forming this band, provided a haunting core to the group. Her voice mixed with the sparse instrumentals often landed the group somewhere between Beach House and The xx in the “recommended if you like” bin. Lower Dens’ second and newest effort Nootropics does what any good sophmore record should do and expands upon what’s already been established. Synths and a light sprinkling of electronica add depth and new wrinkles to the band’s otherwise guitar-focused sound, and they go a long way towards making the album shimmer in just the right light. The last album felt like it wasn’t entirely sure about what it wanted to be, occasionally drifting off the main route and onto side streets to explore uncharted territory. The confidence, poise and focus they’ve now attained enriches the new record in almost every way: the drums are just a little crisper, Hunter’s vocals ache and swirl just a little more, and the overall beauty just has that much more of a devastating impact. This isn’t an album that tells you how to feel with its lyrics, but instead one that carefully guides you with somber melodies that are difficult to ignore. To the rabid pop music fan, some of these nuances and subtleties can be lost or written off as boring. The album’s finale “In the End is the Beginning” hits its stride early on and then sustains itself for more than 12 minutes without quitting. The track “Lion in Winter” comes in two parts, though they effortlessly bleed into one another and play out over nearly eight minutes. Early single “Brains” plays with minimalist psychedelia for five minutes, then releases right into the more propulsive Neu-like groove of “Stem”. It’s through these pairings and slow motion sojourns that we’re supposed to allow the darkness to fully envelop us. There’s anxiety and despair in there too, but in spite of the record’s overall moodiness the beauty bleeds to the surface and makes everything easier to take. It wouldn’t calm your mind as well as it does if the opposite were true. Those qualities are a large part of Beach House’s aesthetic too, and Lower Dens sound more like them than ever on Nootropics. That’s especially true on tracks like “Propogation” and “Nova Anthem”. Where the two bands truly disconnect though is in their presentation. Victoria Legrand is a very present and up-front vocalist, which is evident from Beach House’s albums. She takes charge and lets her voice soar when the melody requires it, and the band’s music is often described as lush or full-bodied as a result. By contrast, Hunter’s presence on the new Lower Dens record is wispy and in many ways detached from the other instruments, as if she’s wary of the outside world and its ability to hurt her. That emotional blockage contributes to the album’s fragility and brings otherwise invisible moments into focus. So while it lacks a certain degree of heart, it more than makes up for that via smart, well-considered craftsmanship. With an album title that references so-called “smart drugs” designed to improve brain function, Lower Dens appear to have taken some before sitting down to make this record. Let’s hope what they learn here sticks with them for the future.
As it is Friday, consider this your weekly reminder that Faronheit has a Facebook page. I keep forgetting to mention it during the week, which I suppose is why the start of the weekend always seems to get that mention. All the posts on the site appear there, along with some extras and exclusives as well. With the passing of the Beastie Boys’ MCA today, which is a genuine tragedy and the loss of a great talent, I posted a link to the “Sabotage” video. Of course, I’m sure thousands of other people posted and watched that very same video today as well. Still, it’s little things like that you won’t get on the day-to-day of this site. So head to Facebook and click the “Like” button. I thank you very much for doing so. There are quite a few good moments in today’s Pick Your Poison, so let’s talk about those right now. Cary Kanno is a Chicago artist whose music has been featured on a number of national and international outlets. His new record Changes looks to be a fascinating one and perhaps his best yet. Check out “Take Me Away” below. Ditt Inre is a great electronica duo from Stockholm, and they’ve got a gorgeous new EP coming out at the end of the month. I’m really loving the track from them featured below. Other notables include songs from Edmund II, Here We Go Magic, Katie Kate, The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library and Tiger High. In the Soundcloud section be sure to stream tracks from 2:54 and The Murder Barn. Have a great weekend!
Beni – Last Night (Waifs & Strays Synthetic Remix)
Butchers & Bakers – Victory March
The Centerfolds – Six Feet Under
Emily Jane White – Requiem Waltz
Here We Go Magic – How Do I Know
Marvellous Macc Mello ft. Metrick – Tyson (Punchlines)
The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library – Faith In Free Part I
Moist – Me and You (ft. Smith & Thell)
SOUNDCLOUD
On occasion I like to give a brief reminder for the uninitiated as to what Pick Your Poison is all about. In a nutshell, the idea behind Pick Your Poison is to provide everyone with the chance to discover their new favorite artists. While I could carefully curate this large list of songs down to about 2-3 each day, who am I to tell you what to like? I listen to everything that gets sent my way, but just because something sounds good to my ears doesn’t mean it’ll sound as good to yours. On the flip side to that, I might hate a song that you love. Different strokes for different folks. So I hope you test and sample these mp3s and audio streams and discover something new and great, whether I recommend it or not. Today’s highlights include tracks from Anna Ternheim, Black Manila, Homelife, Howth, The Sights, Sophie Auster, and The Stanleys. In the Soundcloud section, be sure to stream tracks from Blaqstarr, DIIV (formerly known as DIVE), and Is And Of The.
Anna Ternheim – Walking Aimlessly
Capital Cities – Kangaroo Court (Shook Remix)
D.evolution.Aires – Age in Numbers
Scout – Under Attack/Have I Said Enough Remix
Soso – I Never Thought You’d Come in Summer
SOUNDCLOUD
The Island of Misfit Toys – Beginnings of a Beard
Brent Knopf formed Ramona Falls in early 2009 while recording on Menomena’s third album was delayed. The Ramona Falls debut full length Intuit featured collaborations with 35 different musicians on both U.S. coasts, and was generally well-received. One of the keys to making that record work was an uncanny ability to surprise the listener at every turn. A violin solo would pop up here, a choir there, and genre influences would shift wildly from looped electronica one moment to Eastern European folk the next. It sounds terribly unbalanced, but there was a subtlety and charisma behind it that sucked you in. After touring in support of Menomena’s record Mines was complete at the end of 2010, Knopf announced he was leaving the band to focus on Ramona Falls. Now that this project has his full attention, you’d expect Ramona Falls’ second record to be even denser than the last, continuing the evolution into obscurist pop. Then again, expectations can often be misleading.
The new album Prophet surprises mainly in how it pulls back on the reins of experimentation a little in favor of something that’s rather normal-sounding and pop-friendly. On the surface, it seems that Knopf is in search of some sort of mainstream success. Before he can actually get there though, he’s in dire need of some confidence on one end of his musical spectrum. The arrangements on this album are muscular and bright, but his vocals are almost exactly the opposite. He sings like a hybrid of Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, The Clientele’s Alasdair MacLean, and Sufjan Stevens, which is to say in a lilting, almost whispered fashion. His inability to match the enthusiasm and grandiosity of the busy melodies actually hurts its overall effectiveness. More often than not his singing winds up nearly drowned out by everything going on, and even when it meshes well with the environment it lacks the gravity and emotion required to truly hit home. The lyrics are more personal than anything Knopf has written before, but they suffer because of the straightlaced and flat way they’re sung. Opening track “Bodies of Water” is about the double-edged sword of romantic relationships, how you grow and share as a person but also expose yourself to the potential to get hurt. The complicated arrangement speaks well to the message of the song, but the vocals fall short. “Brevony” is a heavy and ferocious electric guitar cut, and though there are references to wrath and anger, Knopf calmly sings those words and destroys their potential impact. Not everything gets ruined due to some imperfect vocals. First single “Spore” is a slow and bubbling electro build to an energetic release, and Knopf pushes his voice accordingly. Though it feels disturbingly like an early Death Cab for Cutie song, “If I Equals U” maintains a certain degree of calm that makes its execution quite comfortable. Sad break-up song “Proof” might just win the award for album’s best though, with a complex yet delicate arrangement that includes orchestration and some careful plucking.
Perhaps Knopf’s biggest mistake in putting together this new Ramona Falls record was that he made it too energetic and upbeat. Normally such a thing would be encouraged because it tends to make a record more interesting. There is quite a bit about Prophet that is interesting and enjoyable as a direct result of this approach. The songs are far more rock oriented, but pounding pianos or blaring horns always make their presence felt here or there to throw a slight twist on an otherwise pedestrian melody. It’s in that way this record bears similar markings to Intuit. But using that record and his previous work with Menomena as examples, Knopf benefits most from careful and precarious execution; a certain fragility in the composition that matches the fragility in his voice. The greater confidence he attains instrumentally, the louder or more brash he gets, and the easier it is for him to stumble. A fair portion of this album leaves him tripping and trying to catch up with the many ideas spilling out through various instruments. Maybe with some vocal help he can catch up, or maybe he can scale back just enough to put everything back in its right place.
A big congratulations goes out to Jack White. With his new record Blunderbuss, he’s managed to score his first #1 on the Billboard Albums chart. Believe it or not, none of his other projects, including The White Stripes and The Raconteurs, have made it to the top of the pile. Perhaps he’s finally reached the sort of fame where a number one record is within his reach, or perhaps there are a lot of bad records out there nobody wants to buy. If you’d like to read my perspective on the new Jack White effort, you can read my review of it here. In terms of today’s edition of Pick Your Poison, there are a few gems in this stack worth perking your ears up to hear. I’ll give gold star status to tracks from Blues Control, The Go! Team’s remix of Frankie Rose, The Maccabees, Mirror Talk, Royal Headache and VHS or BETA. To avoid any confusion I should probably also say the band Los Angeles has a song called “R. Kelly”, and not vice versa. In the Soundcloud section, enjoy streaming tracks from Bear Driver, Castor & Pollux, and New Young Pony Club, among others.
Averez – Congor (Original Mix)
Daughn Gibson – In the Beginning
Frankie Rose – Apples for the Sun (The Go! Team Remix)
Meiko – Leave the Lights On (The Crystal Method Remix)
Royal Headache – Down the Lane
VHS or BETA – Diamonds and Dub
SOUNDCLOUD
Castor & Pollux – Chasing Giants
