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 | Released on ANTI Records, 6/19/07 The third album, [b]Golden Pollen[/b], by varied producer and musician Guillermo Scott Herren’s side project, Savath and Savalas, sounds little like its predecessors. It is his first attempt at a true solo release, one recorded over a period of months spent in isolation exploring various arrangements, instrumentation, and sonic layering. Herren, better known for his IDM/Glitch-Hop project Prefuse 73, certainly uses [b]Golden Pollen[/b] as an exploration into his own understanding and implementation of music and composition.More |  | Released on Hydra Head, 6/05/07 In the opening lines of “Bliss in Concrete”, the first track off the newest release from Chicago’s instrumental sludge-rockers Pelican, all I can think of is that Nirvana song, “Gallons of Rubbing Alcohol Flow Through the Strip”. You may not know this one as it was originally released as the B-side to their “Heart Shaped Box” single (before you start with your silent judgments and criticisms about how much of a dork I am just know this: it was a gift). “Gallons” is a decent, albeit slightly excessive, standard grunge number that I was surprised to hear the likes of some fourteen years later coming from a progressive post-rock doom-metal band.More |  | Released on 4AD, 4/10/07 I oftentimes wonder how a band can stay fresh in its inevitable maturity, how it can both fight off the repetitive monotony of stylistic transfixion and yet continue to evolve and influence. With the onslaught of industry promotion, our ever-shortening attention spans, and the relatively recent introduction of music piracy sites and file-sharing programs, it’s a wonder bands make it past their introductory album before being buried in another’s media blitz. In the creation of one comes the demise of the creator. Enter Blonde Redhead, a band discovered by Steve Shelley, drummer of Sonic Youth, in 1993.More |  | Released on Beggars Banquet Records, 2/20/07 I can remember the first time I heard Calla. It was pouring and I was at the Fillmore, along with about 800 others, waiting for Interpol to hit the stage. It was 2002, right after they had released [b]Turn on the Bright Lights[/b], and I was anxious to see if the live show was as translatable as the album. Admittedly, it took me around ten minutes to notice a band was even playing. I had wet items to remove, beers to purchase, and land to claim -- I was busy. But ever so slowly the sound began to creep in. So subtle it was.; so succinct. I could think of nothing as atmospheric as the sounds they were creating at that moment.More |  | Released on Relatively Conscious Records, 12/12/06 A stunning debut from San Francisco locals And A Few To Break. This epic, survivalist approach to post hardcore sounds at once like everything and nothing you have ever heard. These fellas have something to fight for and this becomes quickly evident within the first few scream-along seconds of [b]Procession[/b].More |  | Released on Jagjaguwar, 6/6/06 Picture this: a clearing in a lush and slightly dank looking pine forest that is scattered with debris and memorabilia. There are stuffed bears and dolls hanging from the trees, beer cans, and a Pee-Wee Herman doll leans casually against moss covered roots. In the foreground, a model ship sits amid photos, a cassette tape, matches, and fallen branches. A man peeps out from the trees -- his attention fully fixed upon a woman surrounded in a ring of votives wearing nothing but moccasins and a feathered headdress. She has been caught mid-prance.More |  | Released on Blood Shake Records, 2/27/07 Though not necessarily a novel debut from Richmond, Virginia’s The National Lights, [b]The Dead Will Walk, Dear[/b] is a simple and thoughtful reaction from musicians very obviously in love with the neo-folk movement we find ourselves submerged in as of late. So if it is something innovative and new you seek, do not stop here. The National Lights is for those who love the hushed vocals of Sufjan Stevens, the banjo triplets of Iron & Wine, the lap steel of Calexico, the harmonies of early Mountain Goats, and yet do not mind the glaring, unadulterated similarities.More |  | Released on Layered Music, 2/20/07 It is both a risk and an assertion to take on a name such as Cougar, even more so if you are an instrumental, improvisational five-piece from Madison, Wisconsin. Namely there is the fear you will be lost and forgotten on the Noah’s Arc of other animals trying to make it through the entertainment industry flood, but also the fact that it is quite the name to live up to.More |  | Released on Drag City, 11/14 Finally, an album with some meat on its bare bones! The streets are filled with three-and-a-half minute pop songs running scared, gawking at the sheer magnitude of Newsom’s latest release [b]Ys[/b] (pronounced “eees”). It is a mighty album. With five songs clocking an impressive fifty-five minutes, it takes on the attitude of a film score or symphonic overture, but is laced with such moments of sweetness it often times lapses into some kind of childlike fairytale romp. But a word of warning: this album is not for the weak of heart and mind.More |  | Released on Filter US Recordings, 10/17/06 Dustin O’Halloran is one lucky guy. Having begun his musical career as one-half of the Los Angeles pop outfit Devics and touring with the likes of Black Heart Procession and Sea Wolf, he then began to record and release the classical piano opuses he has been writing over the past few years while in Italy. He released these on Devics’ label, home to bands such as Sigur Rós and The Panda Band, Filter US Recordings, which drew the attention of director Sofia Coppola who asked him to score two sections of her latest film [b]Marie Antoinette[/b]. Not bad considering how difficult it is to get recognition for one's mainstream musical projectsMore |
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