New Wax
My reaction halfway through the first track on Bruce Peninsula's debut album A Mountain Is A Mouth: "Wow, what the hell is this?" It should be infinitely amusing to see what kind of classifications fellow bloggers and music writers conjure up in describing this Toronto band's imaginative hodgepodge of folk, indie rock, blues, soul, and even jam-band. The band's most noticeable and endearing quality has got to be that gospel choir backing lead singer Neil Haverty's throaty vocals. Yeah, you read that right. A freaking gospel choir. The ten-piece collective navigates through A Mountain Is A Mouth with a ragged ferocity that's just as beautiful as it is guttural. Bruce Peninsula's strength is in numbers and the album's vocal diversity is its strongest characteristic. The juxtaposition of Haverty's gravelly voice and those soaring background vocals is overwhelming in its sheer spiritual grandeur while more intimate moments like "Weave Myself A Dress," which features band member Misha Bower as lead vocalist, offer a welcome respite to the album's manic energy. Half the time you'd be hard-pressed to discern whether Haverty is singing a song or performing an exorcism. By the time the last cathartic track on A Mountain Is A Mouth has crackled off into silence, you've done more than just listen to an album. You've experienced it. That's saying something. -- Capt. Obvious
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Let's stick with the female chanteuses today. Hailing from Denton, Texas, Bosque Brown is a songwriting vehicle for singer/songwriter Mara Lee Miller. There is a sort of unhinged energy in Miller's voice, which crackles with a whiskey-soaked authenticity fit for the Texas bars she's most likely gigged at. For the most part, the material on her new album Baby, which is set for a March 3rd release, follows a simple equation: guitar + bare percussion + simple piano + eery keys. While the arrangements seem simplistic enough, what makes the album so intriguing is the otherworldly quality pervading its tracks. For instance, "Texas Sun," while essentially a by-the-books country song, benefits immensely from some interesting production that makes the pedal steel sound like some sort of alien transmission. That's what I love about Baby. Whether Miller is doing melancholic or upbeat, there always seems to be some sort of off-kilter element present. The distant drone of a far-off keyboard or an unexpected echo on Miller's voice makes Baby as eerily psychological as it is fit for the soundtrack of a bloody Western. -- Capt. Obvious
New Wax
Every now and then I turn the television or radio on just to remind myself what sort of drivel passes for "popular" these days. It's the sort of thing that makes me proud to be as disconnected from pop culture as I am. It also makes me feel old at the age of 28. Thankfully there are listeners out there who actually seek some level of musicianship or depth in their music. Thankfully for every auto-tuned pop star, there are actually talented and genuine artists like Alela Diane. While her criminally overlooked 2006 debut album The Pirate's Gospel was filled with lo-fi folk charm, To Be Still is the more polished, accessible album. Don't get me wrong, I often gravitate toward weird and mysterious but Diane pulls her new sound off swimmingly. The album is mixed crisply and in a way that places Diane's voice front and center. The newfound vocal clarity is interesting compared to the more distant vocals of The Pirate's Gospel and the instrumentation on To Be Still is a fuller composition of guitars, banjo, pedal steel, fiddles, and percussion. The album is a bit less freak folk this time around than it is alt. country, but let's cast aside silly attempts at genre classification. Diane's voice is the most important instrument on To Be Still. There is a warmth and stillness there capable of bringing peace to even the most troubled of souls. Highlights include "White As Diamonds" and "Age Old Blue," a stirring duet with outsider folk troubadour Michael Hurley. -- Capt. Obvious
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The Cap has been a lax blogger indeed. I'll make up for it, I promise. Today I bring you Toronto's Timber Timbre. If you're familiar with the band's impressive 2007 album Medicinals, you'll notice more texture on the bands new self-titled release. Lead singer Taylor Kirk's ghostly warble is still ever-present but the spare arrangements of Medicinals have been replaced by more realized tracks filled with unexpected horns, organ, piano, and strings. While the material is more dense, Kirk's new songs still retain the same organic quality of his more stripped-down work. Kirk's words resonate hauntingly whether they are backed by a simple acoustic guitar strum or a chorus of synths and percussion. Where Medicinals was firmly rooted in the confines of folk music, Timber Timbre stretches itself further by expanding its sound and even harkening back to another time. The main riff in "Until The Night Is Over" sounds like it could be from a lost Doors track. Timber Timbre is an impressive revelation from a evolving band worth your undivided attention. -- Capt. Obvious
New Wax
When I interviewed Chris Crisci of The Appleseed Cast here on CO awhile back, he hinted that the band was working on an album that contained very minimal vocals. Sagarmatha was released today, and he wasn't kidding. Over the years, the Kansas band has evolved from the off-key wails of early-90's emo to a band with post-rock leanings. Sagarmatha takes that evolution a step further with its thick ambient textures and almost outright exclusion of vocals, or at least discernable vocals. The decision is a bit bittersweet for me because I like Crisci's voice and their melding of post-rock tendencies with singable verses satiated one of my curiosities: "What would bands like Explosions In The Sky and This Would Destroy You sound like with a singer?" This time around, you'd be hard-pressed to derive any intelligible lyrics from Sagarmatha. Crisci's voice isn't the primary focus. It's tinny and otherworldly and is utilized as merely another instrument in a complex tapestry of sound. While it might be difficult to stomach for some fans, once you accept the band's shift towards epic post-rock, Sagarmatha yields quality in spades. Take the grandeur of "As The Little Things Go," which clocks in at a whopping 8 minutes. The band's reverb-heavy guitar riffs are as infectious as ever. The powerful bass-drums interplay is at its strongest. Unexpected electronic touches and bells (is that xylophone?) add some powerful nuance. There are entrancing lulls, distortion-heavy peaks, and cathartic moments where the bottom drops out. Overall, Sagarmatha is an experience unfit for those with short attention spans but it's quite a ride for those willing to submit to its spell. -- Capt. Obvious
New Wax
After a year in which Andy Cabic and company released two EP's devoted to paying homage to relatively obscure early 70's Americana, Vetiver is back with a new full-length entitled Tight Knit, which marks their debut for Sub Pop Records. It seems that Cabic's delving into others' material made an impact on his own songwriting process. While the band's previous material already had a vintage sheen, Tight Knit most closely resembles a dusty record-bin treasure or some lost AM transmission finding its way through a hazy layer of static. The album's opening track "Rolling Sea," serves as a fitting precursor to the rest of the album. It's a breezy, mid-tempo country-tinged track that harkens back to a simpler, more laid-back musical atmosphere. Tight Knit seems almost effortless in its unhurried charm, but the band leaves no detail spared and every musical decision seems measured in its inclusion. The album provides the kind of shimmering acoustic fare fitting for a calming, top-down drive up the coast. -- Capt. Obvious
New Wax
In a year with its share of notable album releases, Feb. 17 marks yet another particularly momentous day, so I'm going to do my best to delve into a few of them. First on the docket is The Deep Dark Woods' new album Winter Hours. The Saskatchewan alt. country group's third full-length trades in some of their dark grit for a more nostalgic sound. Winter Hours revolves around reminiscence and regret. Take, for instance, the album's gem "All The Money I Had Is Gone" with its road-weary lyrics and pedal steel guitar. Lead singer Ryan Boldt's low drawl sounds fatigued set against the higher-pitched background vocals. While the song's down-and-out vibe pervades Winter Hours, it's never in the vein of woe-is-me. The emotions it stirs seem more akin to an old man on his deathbed slipping away in quiet acceptance. Instrumentally, Winter Hours remains loose and organic throughout, like an outtake from a touring country band's bare-bones midnight session in the back of a beat-up tour bus. Winter Hours is a subtle album sure to reveal layers of subtle genius after each repeat listen. A must-have album for fans of alt. country/Americana fare. -- Capt. Obvious
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New Wax
Signed to Sufjan Stevens' Asthmatic Kitty label based merely off the strength of a few demos, Brooklyn-based DM Stith, who has already cut his teeth by working with Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond), is set to release his first full-length entitled Heavy Ghost on March 10. On first listen, Heavy Ghost, which contains musical contributions from both Sufjan and Worden, is an overwhelming stew of intricacies. Those ghostly layers of orchestral sounds, offbeat percussion, and disembodied voices laid under and beyond Stith's haunted vocals and acoustic guitar pluckings can stun the senses. Like a woozy stroll through a surreal scene in a Terry Gilliam film, Heavy Ghost is staggering in both its breadth and sheer mystery. Vocally, Stith sometimes wails from afar in a way akin to Jeff Buckley's Grace while thematically the songs are steeped in duality and constantly allude to the warring elements of fire and water. On "Fire Of Birds," Stith exclaims with childlike exuberance: "We dance like we're on fire." Heavy Ghost isn't one of those background-music albums you throw on to fold laundry to. It's a dense, staggering album that somehow manages to be both intimate and mystifying. -- Capt. Obvious
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I'm no fortune teller but I'm thinking this band will be huge, which would be okay with me. We need more quality music out there associated with the word "popular." This London three-piece has "Other/Other/Other" under their genre description on their myspace but I've heard them described as "dreamy indie pop." I call bullshit. Sure, melodically the pop label is fitting, but the band provides enough punch and distortion to earn a "noise pop" classification. Every now and then you will hear shades of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, especially on the track "While The Flies," but the resemblance is far from blatant. Capitalizing on lead woman Ritzy Bryan's assured vocals, infectious guitar riffs, and Rhydian Dafydd's driving basslines, The Joy Formidable pulls from several musical avenues to create something new and sonically unbridled. You'll hear elements of distortion-heavy shoegaze (think My Vitriol) bedded under the irresistible vocal interplay that permeates the band's debut album A Balloon Called Moaning. If this doesn't make you move, you might want to check your pulse. I think this music could move the dead. -- Capt. Obvious
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Originally based out of Indiana but now located in Berkeley, California, Odawas consists of members Isaac Edwards and Michael Tapscott and their psychedelic blend of ambience and twang sometimes sounds like My Morning Jacket on hallucinogens, maybe like licking a psychoactive toad and throwing on your favorite Neil Young record (Note: I do not partake in nor endorse such behavior. I'm merely reaching for comparisons). The duo's new album The Blue Depths, which was recorded in Chicago during an especially frigid winter, somehow marries the synths and drum machines of 80's pop with the organic vibe of acoustic music. Take the sweeping ethereal landscapes and reverb away from most of the material and you're left with dreamy folk tunes fitting for their new California address. Luckily, the complex union of Eno meets Neil Young is what makes Odawas so damn intriguing. The Blue Depths is sometimes entrancing, sometimes hazy, but consistent in its mystifying beautiful. Lick the toad. Buy this album when it comes out on Jagjaguwar on 2/17. -- Capt. Obvious
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Here's a band I've been listening to quite regularly over the last few months but have failed to mention. What a bad blogger I am. Mumford & Sons is part of London's recently dubbed new folk revival, which includes the likes of Laura Marling, Noah And The Whale, Jay Jay Pistolet, and Johnny Flynn. Marcus Mumford, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist in Mumford & Sons, has also manned the sticks and provided background vocals for Marling, but thankfully for us all he's found an outlet as a lead vocalist. Backed by bluegrass-tinged indie-folk laced with banjos and mandolins, Mumford's emotive vocals carry the songs on the band's two EP's to new heights. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that Mumford has had some relationship troubles. While the tracks are sometimes deceptively breezy and capable of inducing inadvertent foot-shuffling, Mumford can really bring the emotional heft without ever entering saccharine territory. On the impossibly catchy "Roll Away Your Stone," Mumford's words are actually pretty glum: "Darkness is a harsh term don't you think/ Yet it dominates the things I see." It's an interesting dichotomy that fits the quiet/loud/quiet nature of the band's material. Considering how young the band is, they sound impressively well-formed. They've managed to set the bar pretty high so I'm expecting big things from their new material, which should see the light of day some time this year. -- Capt. Obvious
New Wax
There's not a ton of information about Philadelphia's Evening Magazine and their myspace has pictures that are all very blurry and enigmatic. I like it when a band lets the music do the talking. Evening Magazine was founded by ex-BC Camplight guitarist David Disbrow and recording engineer Kevin Francis and they employ a large collection of musicians. The band's new EP The Ride Across Lake Constance opens with "Apple Eye," a boisterous track that kicks off with horns and is sonically comparable to early Arcade Fire. There's not a weak song on the 5-track EP and they are all instrumentally diverse and filled with catchy hooks. From the hand claps on "18 Wheels" to the strings on "Eddie" to the slide guitar on the hypnotic "Everyone Can Hear You," you'd be hard-pressed to find a bad musical decision on this impressive debut mini-album. The Ride Across Lake Constance is one of the more accomplished introductions to a band I've heard in some time and I'm looking forward to a full-length from this Philadelphia collective. -- Capt. Obvious
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You folks always go batshit crazy for covers, so today I introduce you to The Sarcastic Dharma Society, the moniker for Portland musician Mat Vuksinich, who has just put out an album of covers entitled Other People's Songs: Volume 1. Vuksinich's music would best be desribed as lo-fi bedroom pop, and song choices such as Mount Eerie's "You Swan Go On" and Julie Doiron's "Untitled" lend nicely to his sound. The tracks are mostly stripped down affairs built around acoustic guitar and Magnus chord organ and they were recorded over the course of nine days so they retain a real sense of organic charm. In addition to Mount Eerie and Julie Doiron, Vuksinich tackles a nice variety of artists including Clem Snide, Crosby Stills & Nash, Clem Snide, Bright Eyes, Why?, Pedro The Lion, and The Beatles. It's some quality stuff and the best part of all: it's FREE! You can download the album at The Sarcastic Dharma Society website. Look forward to some original material and another volume of covers in the future. -- Capt. Obvious
