love shack, baby

Just because I thought it was Thursday all day yesterday….. Red Hot Rebellion

Tart — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:00:41 +0000

For The Benefit Of Evil mp3 Red Hot Rebellion
Uh yeah, what the hell was yesterday about? It wasn’t until around 10 p.m. that I realized it was only WEDNESDAY! But once I got my ears on this classic-sounding track I began to unwind a bit. See, sometimes it just takes a good guitar solo and some sass to get that WTF out of your system.

Red Hot Rebellion doesn’t have an album out yet. They’re that new. But the music is old-fashioned, garage rock. They call it “the soundtrack to a bar fight” and yeah, I think I’ve been witness to a few of those with this kind of thing playing on the jukebox. You have to frequent the right kind of bars in the right part of town, mind you.

So, that’s all I’ve got today. I’m off to see the Scissor Sisters tonight and then catch some of North Coast Music Festival this weekend! (Don’t ever accuse me of being a music snob, now!) I’ll give ya the lowdown, don’t fret. xoxo

Fisherking: Circles … a confident debut LP from a band to watch

Tart — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:22:54 +0000

http://loveshackbaby.info/0910/islands_fisherking.mp3 (Chrome users, click this player – I can’t get Yahoo Media Player to work on my self-hosted files)

islands mp3 Fisherking (only available here for three days – go sign up for their mailing list after that and get it from them!)

Fisherking hails from Sydney, Australia, a place that has brought many good bands to me over the past two years. I’m not quite sure why my fellow bloggers haven’t tuned into the Aussie music scene very much. An Horse have broke through to US and UK/European audiences, thankfully, as have The Drones and a few other bands. But there are so many more that I feel you all need to hear. And Fisherking really should be welcomed for any fans of indie, blues-roots, music. They add a touch of the whimsy-era Beatles (e.g., Strawberry Fields) as well, I think simply because they can’t help it! This band is a prime representative of their generation of fresh, young, talented groups which gather up striking imagery in their lyrics and match it to stark melodic clarity. Like another favorite of mine, Decibully, their songs tell stories in the first person that apply to us all. But musically, these stories aren’t built on hooks as much as they’re structured on incredibly well-crafted songwriting, overall. Circles (coming November 5) is a lesson in surety. Fisherking know their strengths and they bring them to this record in every single song. This is a delight to listen to, over and over.

I’m struck by how these songs build to a crescendo without exploding. With harmonies wedged into small places, and sound effects rolling in and out (as in “Tidal Wave”) the tension of those opening chords is released in such tiny, pinching ways throughout the song. And the notes climb higher and higher, counter poised by that tom tom (the beat of your heart as you hear “we’re alright, we’re alright, we’re alright…”) And then the tide rolls out again so slowly and the song ends, still on that high note, but comforting nonetheless. Another, less experienced songwriter would have blown that up so big. Fisherking knows the meaning of “less is more.”

Yes, the lyrics are beautiful and emotive and will win over many fans. But these songs are not anchored to them. For a band that’s only putting out it’s second recording, (it’s first LP) Fisherking has created something that many more established groups often spend their whole careers trying to achieve: a collection of different tracks that actually don’t follow a common formula and aren’t afraid to veer off in another direction midway through, just for the fun of it. Writing music that’s tied to a standard chorus, verse, bridge format really hinders what you can do. Fisherking has shown more creativity on Circles than I can grasp with my rudimentary understanding of music, but I know it’s there! “Will I See Your Face Again” takes a long strange trip from a sweet little folk song into a more psychedelic jam, which must have been really fun to record and promises to be incredible to hear live. Sam Stephenson’s vocals lead in many directions. His clipped vowels allow guitars and keyboards plenty of room to maneuver around the words. And when the band changes the pace, or quiets itself, his tenor voice pleads with you to understand his point of view. But just as often, when things are crashing down loud, he’s convincing you of just how right he is about things. And that slightly distorted guitar, as it’s pushed up against the soft edge of his voice is, frankly, perfect.

While there are more than a few songs softly sung, with quietly plucked guitar lines, do not write this music off as some sort of mellow indie-rock. Fisherking are quite certain about the value of nuance. At the end of Circles, I cycle back and turn track one on again, “Into Chicago,” a song with a strong rhythm and a blues-jazz style, and am struck by the variance it produces (no, not contrast, but variance.) “One Golden Year” was such a farewell song, an enforced nostalgic look back, with their voices blending in a Simon and Garfunkel kind of way, which only evokes more nostalgia in us. And then with a drumroll, Fisherking moves forward again to the sounds of today, to a hopeful future and to showing us what they do best – which is write and perform incredibly well-written songs full of creative tension and talent. I can think of 20 bands I’d like to hear Fisherking play with when they tour the US. But more than that I can think of 1000 people I want to hear this album. Make it happen with me. xoxo

Lightning Bolt and Dan Deacon… what the fuck more can you ask for people??

Tart — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:27:03 +0000

Colossus mp3 Lightning Bolt Earthly Delights … buy it!

Get Older mp3 Dan Deacon … buy it!

If you follow my insane twitter feed you saw me go apeshit over Lightning Bolt (and misspell it all day) at Pitchfork Fest last month. They seriously blew my mind with crazy, intense, good base-level noise. There are a few thousand of us women out here that respond to that kind of thing the way you guys do, I’m happy to report. It is just a complete turn on to feel that level of energy from a performer, and from the stacks, and from the crowd. Yeah, I was breathless. No, I didn’t care who noticed.

I have nothing else to say, but be at this show if you’re even the least bit curious.

LIGHTNING BOLT & DAN DEACON ENSEMBLE

THU 10/7 LEXINGTON, KY Busters
SUN 10/10 CHICAGO, IL TBA
MON 10/11 TOLEDO, OH Mickey Finn’s
TUE 10/12 TORONTO, ON Great Hall
WED 10/13 MONTREAL, QC Cabaret Mile End
THU 10/14 ALBANY, NY Northern Lights
FRI 10/15 BROOKLYN, NY Ridgewood Music Hall

DAN DEACON ONLY (SOLO SHOWS)

WED 09/29 BALTIMORE, MD Rams Head Live
SAT 10/23 BROOMFIELD, CO 1st Bank Center
WED 10/29 ASHEVILLE, NC Moog Fest

LIGHTNING BOLT ONLY

FRI 10/8 INDIANAPOLIS, IN ES Jungle

What do you get when you plug a dancing monkey into an electric keyboard? Casiokids!

Mike — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:00:32 +0000

Today I bring you the first, in what I hope will be many guest posts, by a writer new to Chicago, Mike Gutierrez. He writes for QRO, Drowned In Sound, the Ampeater Review, and the Deli Magazine, and we’re very proud to have him dashing around here at the Shack! He’s also great company at a show, we had a blast at the Casiokids gig. They were really just too much fun, and even though I almost knocked down the guy in the monkey suit, I’m pretty sure he forgave me. No one could hold a grudge in that kind of atmosphere. They played all the upbeat songs from their new album, Topp stemning på lokal bar. But the one we danced the hardest, sweatiest and naughtiest to was definitely “Fot I Hose,” (literally translated, “foot in sock.”) Enjoy this really interesting remix by Captain Credible, and go buy the album, it’s gorgeous! Now scroll down and read Mike’s awesome show review.

Casiokids – Fot I Hose (Captain Credible mix) by Captain Credible

A somewhat sleepy Schubas Tavern played host to Norwegian quintet Casiokids on Wednesday night, with the final song wrapping up well before the witching hour. C’mon Chicago. Foreign Policy just named you the 6th most influential city…in the world. Show some swagger. Cinderella stays out later than you. As it was Casiokids had barely hit full stride by the time the set was scheduled to end. Tough luck. Our loss, because the boys sounded great, mixing impeccable synth melodies with percussion that ran the gamut between disco thump and jammy bump.

America must have unrealistically high expectations for Scandinavian bands because the ones that make it over here- the Hives, the Sounds, Peter, Bjorn and John, Mew and Casiokids- are all pretty phenomenal. What makes the Scandinavian scene special is that the musicians feel no guilt about making their sound as sleek and sexy as possible. This is the land that gave us ABBA and Ace of Base. Casiokids continue the same tradition with the very pragmatic point-of-view that you don’t need to be producing shit-fi to count as underground. Sometimes touring partners Of Montreal are a good stateside touchpoint for Casiokids. Elegant sounding sweaty electrofunk that isn’t afraid to come off as the weensiest bit frou frou. They both come from the “don’t be ashamed to look like you’re trying” school of indie music.

That’s another way of saying they’ve got talent and aren’t afraid to show it off. The dark-haired multi-instrumentalist, who began the night centerstage on synth, played with one hand riding the keys while the other anticipated each note with a conductor’s flair. He knew the songs so well that he sang along to the other’s vocal parts….even though he wasn’t miked. The real singing duties were split between the two guys on his wings: one was a big rustic bear of a guy, the other a more effete cosmopolitan type. A nice Town & Country combo that gives the band a wider range of appeal than they might otherwise have.

The real star though is the rhythm section. If it’s not a dance number, it’s not a Casiokids song. Sure, a wall of dance tunes can come across as fairly soulless on record, but a live show is a whole different situation. Disco, New Wave, Electro, Funk; the band went through a lot of iterations by the end of the night, and they were all designed to rock your body. Apparently though Chicago was not in the mood to have its body rocked. A lot of heads bobbed, a few hips swayed. Local openers Light Pollution were brought on stage for some cowbellin’ during what amounted to the finale of an encore-less show. Good stuff, but not even the man in the monkey suit grinding in the audience (hellooooo Flaming Lips) was enough to trigger the dance party atmosphere that is Casiokids’ bread and butter. Better luck next stop: Detroit. Or as I lamely replied to the darkhaired multi-instrumentalist after the show: De-Twah? Never make this lame joke; especially not to a continental European, because you’ll get a mouthful of real French tossed back at you, and will feel like the fool you are.

Polly And The Billets Doux: To Be A Fighter

Tart — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:44:13 +0000

Polly And The Billets Doux brought out their album, Fiction, Half-Truths & Downright Lies last year (I missed it, alas) but you needent! (get it on itunes, it’s the only US distributor I could find, or Amazon has it as an import, ugh) They’re on tour for you lucky folk in the UK, so go see them. And they’re supporting on of my favorite groups, The Miserable Rich, in October in London. Jealous does not do justice to the mood I’m in just looking at that string of tour dates!

Polly And The Billets Doux – To Be A Fighter by laurenrazavi

Tour Dates
19.09 Acoustica Festival, Exeter
07.10 The Luminaire, London (supporting The Miserable Rich)
08.10 Stereo, York
09.10 Night & Day Cafe, Manchester (supporting Alan Pownall)
10.10 Westgarth Social Club, Middlesbrough – FREE ENTRY
17.10 Start The Bus, Bristol – FREE ENTRY
12.11 The Living Room @ CB2, Cambridge
24.11 Caffe Piccalo, Farnham

Casiokids: Topp stemning på lokal bar come to Schubas, Wednesday, August 25 with Light Pollution

Tart — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:14:47 +0000

Fot i hose (fits like a glove) mp3 Casiokids Topp stemning på lokal bar ….. buy it!

Finn bikkjen! (Find the dog!) mp3 Casiokids

Discovered by of Montreal, Casiokids have grown from a group banging out electro melodies on casio keyboards to include guitars and drums that makes electro-pop to make you move. You readers from the UK and Europe might have heard some of these songs already, but for this debut US release, all eight tracks have been re-mastered and are accompanied by a bonus disc of new material (including six remixes and two covers). These sixteen tracks are irresistibly catchy but also are drenched in emotive talent, and even though you won’t understand the lyrics unless you speak Norwegian, it absolutely won’t matter. At times this album is heartbreaking, and a song later you’re swinging your head to the beat, not caring who’s watching. Both moments are right, both are done so well on this record. Their label, Polyvinyl (the source of so many good things) describes their live show as, “ theatrical … incorporating a blend of shadow puppets, video projections and animal costumes… Casiokids generate the kind of unrestrained party mood that inevitably transforms any audience into a joyous, dancing mass.”

Chicago, come witness/participate in this on Wednesday at Schubas!

Monday Melange… more music for you to munch on: Peter Case, Frankie Rose and The Outs, Eagle Winged Palace, Matthew and The Atlas, and Anberlin

Tart — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 08:01:29 +0000

Look Out! mp3 Peter Case Whig! … buy it!
The great Peter Case has belted out a new record, Wig!, and Chicago, he’s bringing himself to FitzGeralds’ in the Side Bar Music Room in Berwyn, on Sept. 18. Recorded in only three days, Whig! features dirty, electric blues, really sassy lyrics, the stuff that younger artists work hard to copy. If you don’t already know who Peter Case is, get out there and do your homework. He’s one of the best songwriters of our time, hugely influential, and still going strong! Check his site for full tour details.

Little Brown Haired Girls mp3 Frankie Rose and The Outs …. pre-order it at Insound

This girl group evokes a kind of nostalgic Phil Spector-like feel and yet I know there’s a whole lot more under the surface. What else would you expect from Frankie Rose (Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls)? I’ve never hid my love for the Jesus and Mary Chain and there’s more than a whiff of that in this track. The tour, as it’s presented so far, ends here in Chicago. And we all know that the last show on a tour is always the best.

Tour Dates
08/27 New York, NY – Cake Shop / Dance Magic Night
09/15 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands # – RECORD RELEASE SHOW
09/20 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Stop ! $
09/21 Oakland, CA – Sugar Mountian ! $
09/22 Santa Barbara, CA – Muddy Waters ! $
09/24 San Diego, CA – Tin Can Ale House !
09/25 Los Angeles, CA – The Smell ! $
09/26 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo – Part Time Punks !
10/18 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 *
10/19 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar *
10/20 Philadelphia, PA – Kungfu Necktie *
10/21 – 10/23 – New York, NY – CMJ
10/24 Cambridge, MA – TT The Bear’s Place *
10/26 Rochester, NY – Bug Jar *
10/27 Cleveland, OH – The Spot at Case Western *
10/28 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle *

! = w/ Hunx and his Punx
$ = w/ Lilac
# = w/ Light Asylum, Minks and Mirror Mirror
* = w/ Woven Bones

Movin’ On To Avalon mp3 Eagle Winged Palace Where We’re Coming From … buy it!

Eagle Winged Palace wrote me, describing themselves as “a weird little folk group” and after listening to their new album, Where We’re Coming From, you might find yourself in agreement. There’s a lot of quavering vocals and shaking, sandy, shimmery beats to this. Aside from the obvious Californian, bohemian exterior there’s a real sub-surface of textured etherealness to what Eagle Winged Palace brings to this album. And that is their strength. Strumming guitars and singing a catchy melody isn’t so difficult. It’s layering that onto this other, more interesting thing that caught my ear, and just might catch yours as well.

Matthew and The Atlas comes to us from the UK with a voice you will not forget and a melody that softens that memory enough to make you not want to. He’s recorded an EP, released last April, on Mumford & Sons’ label, Communion, called To The North. I don’t know how it’s passed me by, but I aim to snatch that up very soon. The only US source I’ve found for it is itunes.
Matthew & The Atlas // Deadwood by Stayloose

And last, but not least, Anberlin gives away a track off their new album, Dark is the Way, Light is a Place, which I previewed here. Go pre-order it now, it’s great! And they’re coming your way, check their site for tour dates. (Chicago, it’s Oct. 23 at the House of Blues)

Can I love this simply because it sounds like playing two songs at once? Cloudland Canyon: Mothlight Part 2

Tart — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 13:07:15 +0000

Yes, I said it. It sounds like when you play a song on your music player of choice and also happen to have opened a MySpace page that autoplays at the same time. Two entirely different songs played over one another, and they go together like peanut butter and chocolate. I love it. Described as ” marrying shoegaze fuzz to krautrock dynamics” Cloudland Canyon will be releasing “Mothlight Part 2″ with a bonus B Side on Bathetic Records August 24th. Look for Fin Eaves, due out September 7.

Cloudland Canyon – Mothlight (Part 2) by batheticrecords

Whoa, time flies! Mark your calendars for Gayngs @ Metro 9/30

Tart — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:55:43 +0000

Gaudy Side of Town mp3 Gayngs Relayted…. buy it!

Faded High mp3

Yeah, September 30th you’ll most likely find me at Metro to hear Gayngs. I’m more than a little fascinated by this supergroup whose album Relayted got its chops busted by the ever-snarky reviewers but enjoyed much praise from bloggers everywhere. I’ll admit, tounge-in-cheek or not, I’ll buy this act. I don’t care if it’s “real” or not, it’s good.

“The Gaudy Side of Town” by Gayngs from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

*it’s been crazybusy over here at Chez Tart… job hunting just doesn’t do itself, ya know xoxo

Women: Public Strain … September 28, pre-order it now! Art Rock, This Heat, and What is Women really about?

Tart — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:38:38 +0000

Eyesore mp3 Women, Public Strain… pre-order here and with both LP and CD pre-orders there will be delivered with a bonus 7” featuring two exclusive non-album tracks – “Grey Skies” and “Service Animal”, not available anywhere else.

Art Rock: a genre title that gets thrown around to describe bands like Women, when in reality people are simply trying to come to grips with the fact that this is music that is to be listened to as an album, and you can’t dance to most of it. You can’t pick a track out and call it a pop single. Well, of course you could, but the project itself makes sense as a whole. Please don’t put one of these songs in a mixtape. I mean, go ahead if that’s the only way I can get you to buy the album, but you’ll be doing yourself a real disservice. Sit down with a pair of quality headphones and soak up this album, as an album. It’s a real treat.

Is it experimental? Maybe. Do parts still sound like “sunny Beach Boys pop was dragged into a dark alley and gleefully mutilated?” as Mary Christa O’Keefe wrote. Yes. And those are the interesting bits of this melange of songs. What’s less interesting is that they seem to end up being quite melodic despite themselves. God knows, we don’t need any more stoner anti-indie rock. The hipster quotient is growing as any of us in urban areas already know. Stoner, anti-hipsters are right around the corner! They seem to be infiltrating every neighborhood these days. I’m even running into their skinny jean-clad selves in Streeterville! Where are they getting that kind of money? Indie has indeed gone mainstream. But experimental music will never make that cut. And Women still have enough of the “we really don’t know what we’re doing” spirit in them to pull this off. Namely, they’re not making hit singles… yet. Whew!

With dispassionate vocals, ears attune naturally to the instrumentation in most of these eleven songs. The sounds of clanging pipes, bells, hypnotizing guitar and bass lines all seemingly belie the fact that the pop music form is central to the songwriting on this album: chorus to verse, to chorus with an extended intro and/or outro. We like that about music. It’s familiar to us and even when faced with new and unexpected sounds, the format comforts us. Women use this to good effect. Songs like “China Steps” which start out on the challenging side of most people’s listening taste, end easily in familiar, melodic territory. Others, “Locust Valley,” “Eyesore,” and “Venice Lockjaw” are just pleasant through and through. Well, if you don’t pay mind to the lyrics (which are difficult to make out anyway but seem to range from dark to depressing to inane.) The stretch from “Narrow From The Hall” to “Penal Colony” and “Bells” is a grim one. Don’t start there, remember this project has a trajectory. By far, my favorite parts of this are the first two tracks and especially the way they segue from one to the next. The swirling of strings in “Can’t You See,” as that bass line is plucked so decisively against the misty vocals is just genius. And as it fades out, it screeches gently like an abandoned playground apparatus until the mellow, clear notes of “Heat Distraction” pick up. This band is often described as being in the vein of a famous band from the late 70′s, This Heat, a band that has influenced perhaps more bands than we can trace. And, aptly titled, it is this song, “Heat Distraction,” that is most like them, with syncopated breaks and a truly disjointed feel. I like to imagine that Women are paying them homage in this. But let the comparisons end there. Let Women evolve into the indie band they will be, and let us remember This Heat for it’s incredible production standards, it’s innovation, and it’s true avant garde, experimental origins. Women have much to offer from this album in a live show, I can’t wait to hear what they do with it.

See Women on tour with Liars this fall. By the way, Liars blew me away at Pitchfork Fest last month, these two bands together is going to be a hell of a show!