Yellow Ostrich at Mercury Lounge in NYC!!
Going for ADDS on 2.21: Yellow Ostrich - ‘Strange Land’ (Barsuk)
GOING FOR TOP 200 ADDS
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Going for ADDS on 1.17: Laura Gibson - ‘La Grande’ (Barsuk)
GOING FOR TOP 200 ADDS
La Grande (pronounced in the way of the American West, without any hint of French inflection – “luh grand”) is a town just east of the Wallowa Valley in northeastern Oregon where native Oregonian Laura Gibson found inspiration while writing the songs that would become her new album of the same name. Gibson describes La Grande as a place that “people usually pass through on their way to somewhere else, but which contains a certain gravity, a curious energy.” She’s done more than her own fair share of traveling, playing over 200 shows in North America, Europe and Asia since the release of 2009’s acclaimed Beasts of Seasons (Hush Records), and La Grande is, in part, an album about journeys and transitions.
The energy of the title track kicks off the record with a battering ram beat, hitting the ground like a herd of galloping horses. With a Tropicalia pulse, dirt-kicking distortion, whimsical woodwinds and heart murmur hooks on “Lion/Lamb,” and rail-jumping rhythms, majestic melodies and beyond-the-grave broadcasting of “The Rushing Dark,” La Grande plays like an imaginary film score. It’s an album about strength and confidence – about the tension between wildness and domesticity and the courage required to embark upon either path, about asserting one’s will rather than submitting – and it’s a significant departure from Beasts of Seasons’ subtle meditations on frailty.
One reason the sound of La Grande is so purposeful is that, for the first time, Gibson remained in the producer’s chair throughout its making, bouncing between home recorded vocal sessions – piling as many as 15 Laura Gibsons on certain tracks – and proper takes at Type Foundry Studios alongside engineer and good friend Adam Selzer (M. Ward, Norfolk and Western) and some great players including Calexico’s Joey Burns, members of The Dodos and The Decemberists, clarinetist Jilly Coykendall, and the drumming duo Rachel Blumberg and Matt Berger. Don’t get the wrong idea, though. While La Grande’s stage is shared with some very special guests, Gibson is at the center of every last note; contributing bits of bass, guitar, piano, pump organ, vibraphone, synthesizer, marimba, even a marching drum. The result is richer and more revealing than any of her previous records.
Gibson’s previous work was praised for its timelessness, for the almost vintage quality of her voice. But of course her art and outlook aren’t solely influenced by the past. “I am someone who loves old things and could easily dwell in nostalgia,” she explains, “but I really felt this needed to be a statement about the future – about moving forward fearlessly – and I think the process of making the record and the finished album reflect that desire.”
Focus Tracks: 1, 2, 4, 7, 8
FCC: Clean
Check out the video for Yellow Ostrich’s “Mary (Alternate)” from their debut album The Mistress out on Barsuk Records NOW!
Going for ADDS on 11.1: Phantogram - “Don’t Move” (Barsuk)
GOING FOR MODERN ROCK SPECIALTY ADDS
Electronic rock duo Phantogram came out of nowhere in early 2010 with the release of their debut album Eyelid Movies (Barsuk), which was widely lauded by press from Pitchfork to Alternative Press, Spin to NPR.
Founders Josh Carter (vocals, guitar, samples) and Sarah Barthel (vocals, keys, samples), having replaced their previous day jobs with new careers touring the world and living on the road, have had to find ways to work steadily on new music while constantly in motion. After finally clearing some space to finish and master a batch of new songs — just in time to go back out on a year-capping headline run next month — the band is supremely excited to release Nightlife, a new mini-LP that will be available at digital and physical retailers on November 1st.
Nightlife’s arresting lead single “Don’t Move” premiered on Pitchfork with a Best New Track tag!
“Nightlife is kind of an extension of the whole process of making and touring behind Eyelid Movies, and it feels in a lot of ways like the completion of what we were doing with the songs on that album,” says Carter, adding that “the two [records] really go together in our minds. Nightlife couldn’t have been written anywhere other than in clubs and hotel rooms during this experience we’ve been having for the last year or two.”
Although the lyrical and sonic themes of the new recordings are in keeping with those of the previous album, Barthel notes “It’s just amazing how much our lives have changed in such a short period of time, and how all that change has made us able to focus in on what we want to be doing musically. We’re really excited about these new songs — especially playing them live — and Nightlife has definitely pushed the energy of the band back into that great feeling of working on making something new.”
In the whirlwind year and a half following the release of Eyelid Movies, Phantogram (along with touring drummer Tim Oakley) have been on the road almost constantly, building a well-deserved reputation as a tremendous live band. They’ve grown from supporting diverse tours with early supporters like The xx, The Antlers, and Minus the Bear to playing nearly every major North American festival (Coachella, Outside Lands, Sasquatch, Treasure Island, Lollapallooza, Bumbershoot, and others) to regularly headlining sold-out shows on their own. Along the way, they’ve stopped for appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and drawn praise from audiences, critics, and fellow musicians from ?uestlove to Fitz and the Tantrums, from Kings of Leon to Big Boi.
Focus Tracks: 1, 2 (clean edit)
FCC: 1 (clean edit included in download package)
Going for ADDS on 10.25: Phantogram - ‘Nightlife’ (Barsuk)
GOING FOR TOP 200 ADDS
Electronic rock duo Phantogram came out of nowhere in early 2010 with the release of their debut album Eyelid Movies (Barsuk), which was widely lauded by press from Pitchfork to Alternative Press, Spin to NPR.
Founders Josh Carter (vocals, guitar, samples) and Sarah Barthel (vocals, keys, samples), having replaced their previous day jobs with new careers touring the world and living on the road, have had to find ways to work steadily on new music while constantly in motion. After finally clearing some space to finish and master a batch of new songs — just in time to go back out on a year-capping headline run next month — the band is supremely excited to release Nightlife, a new mini-LP that will be available at digital and physical retailers on November 1st.
Nightlife’s arresting lead single “Don’t Move” premiered on Pitchfork with a Best New Track tag!
“Nightlife is kind of an extension of the whole process of making and touring behind Eyelid Movies, and it feels in a lot of ways like the completion of what we were doing with the songs on that album,” says Carter, adding that “the two [records] really go together in our minds. Nightlife couldn’t have been written anywhere other than in clubs and hotel rooms during this experience we’ve been having for the last year or two.”
Although the lyrical and sonic themes of the new recordings are in keeping with those of the previous album, Barthel notes “It’s just amazing how much our lives have changed in such a short period of time, and how all that change has made us able to focus in on what we want to be doing musically. We’re really excited about these new songs — especially playing them live — and Nightlife has definitely pushed the energy of the band back into that great feeling of working on making something new.”
In the whirlwind year and a half following the release of Eyelid Movies, Phantogram (along with touring drummer Tim Oakley) have been on the road almost constantly, building a well-deserved reputation as a tremendous live band. They’ve grown from supporting diverse tours with early supporters like The xx, The Antlers, and Minus the Bear to playing nearly every major North American festival (Coachella, Outside Lands, Sasquatch, Treasure Island, Lollapallooza, Bumbershoot, and others) to regularly headlining sold-out shows on their own. Along the way, they’ve stopped for appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! and drawn praise from audiences, critics, and fellow musicians from ?uestlove to Fitz and the Tantrums, from Kings of Leon to Big Boi.
Focus Tracks: 1, 2 (clean edit), 4
FCC: 2 (clean edit available)
Going for ADDS on 8.23: Cymbals Eat Guitars - ‘Lenses Alien’ (Barsuk)
GOING FOR TOP 200 ADDS
Cymbals Eat Guitars released their debut album Why There Are Mountains in 2009, receiving a response that far exceeded the band’s expectations. Two years have gone by since that early hype cycle began, and a lot has changed. Half of the musicians that played on Why There Are Mountains came and went before major touring began, replaced by Brian Hamilton on keys and Matthew Whipple on bass. Hamilton and Whipple joined singer/songwriter/guitarist Joseph D’Agostino and drummer Matt Miller to take the show on the road, finally solidifying the lineup.
After signing to Barsuk Records in early 2011, the band settled down in Whipple’s basement in New Jersey to finish writing that follow-up. Rehearsing and recording demos in a suburban home allowed for a lot of freedom the band hadn’t enjoyed in the past. Decamping to the suburbs meant fewer distractions and more time to explore the outer reaches of song structure and melody, and to edit, reign in, and refine those same elements. That refinement and clarity of purpose came in no small part with the guidance of producer John Agnello, and together they set out to craft an album that re-contextualized the band’s favored sounds and highlighted underexplored strengths.
Lenses Alien, the result of these collaborative explorations, is a stunning example of a band growing into itself – learning to collaborate, becoming more confident. Why There Are Mountains was a record that Joseph D’Agostino made largely on his own, with help from Matt Miller and some other friends and acquaintances that came and went. Lenses Alien is a record that D’Agostino, Hamilton, Miller, and Whipple made as a band.
At its core, Lenses Alien is a marriage of classic pop forms and ambient haze that makes for a stark, dusky psychedelia. D’Agostino’s vocals, now with support from Hamilton and Whipple, sit daringly at the forefront, and his lyrics are dark, strange, and affecting as ever. Miller and Whipple move the songs as a singular, powerful unit while ornate guitars and Hamilton’s celestial organ and chiming pianos whirl across the sonic landscape. Songs like “Definite Darkness” and “Keep Me Waiting” move with the frenetic urgency of romance that seemingly begins and ends all at once, and “Secret Family” and “Wavelengths” combine Motown-esque turns with impressionistic visions of lost youth and the struggle to retain it. A relentlessly complex listen, Lenses Alien strikes a balance between the archaic and the inviting and is as much a document of doubts and contradictions as of irreverent joy. It’s a varied collection of songs that feels handmade – built from the ground up – and it’s precisely the album Cymbals Eat Guitars was built to make.
Focus Tracks: 2, 5, 8, 9
FCC: 3, 4
New, awesome video for Menomena’s “TAOS”!!
Wes from Ra Ra Riot sings the National Anthem for the New Jersey Devils!
