Jargun

This fella posted on the blog comments while I was away, and I checked him out. Pretty rad, unique stuff. Experimental hip-hop from Connecticut, akin to early cLOUDDEAD. very ambient and strange, but very impressive. Bandcamp says he is only 17, and made this a year or so ago. This cat's on the right track, and I hope to hear some more from him. Jargun, if you stop back by, drop a line and keep us updated!

From his bandcamp:

Jargun is the ambitious debut by the (now) 17 year old musician and self-producer of the same name.

After painstaking development for 5 straight months, Jargun is an ambivalent, bi-polar, questioning result of plain wonder. It's a collage: schizophrenic, doubtful, and resisting to explain itself. It's an anxious, regretful mess of half-confident ideas and leftover mantras finally being able to breath; An extremely lo-fi, bedroom agenda tasked with nothing else but to become self-evident and to leave a footprint for an unknown audience.

It's hesitant and self-conscious, and unable to see itself for what the future may consist of. Presented here is nothing concrete or total of what visions Jargun is trying to conspire; they're merely suggestions. It is only a sample laid by distress, uncertainty, and desperation.



But it doesn't stop here.





The album can either be downloaded here or here:
www.mediafire.com?hbvs4qz4spwcd3d

S / S / S - Beak and Claw

So, while I was hiding under a rock somewhere, apparently some shit had went down. Anticon released this 4 song EP from S/S/S, a 'supergroup' comprised of songwriter Sufjan Stevens, and Anticon's Seregeti and Son Lux. The result is outer space. Serengeti's clever wordplay and sweet rhymes, Sufjan's sweet croon and harmonies, and Son Lux with the ambient pads and head-noddic beats... and there may or may not be some autotune. Appearances by Doseone and My Brightest Diamond. I don't even need to write much more about this. If you like Anticon, you'll like this. If you have heard of any of these 3 dudes before, check this out. Here's the link and a sample:

S/S/S - Beak and Claw

Give

Give plays super powerful, melodic post-hardcore. Rites of Spring meets Swiz. I came across these dudes blog-walking one day and download the Boots of Faith 7" on a whim. Hardcore band with a daisy flower as their logo? I couldn't resist. And as I hoped, the daisy flower logo and the name Give are very telling elements to this bands sound. The tone and feel for most of there songs tends to be very positive and progressive, a unique quality in hardcore and post-hardcore. This band deserves some recognition, because they are doing something truly interesting and fresh with their sound. Highly recommended if you're into genre-blurring bands or melodic hardcore. The download below contains:

Boots of Faith 7"
Heaven is Waiting 7"
Self Titled LP

Give - 3 records (DOWNLOAD!)

Best Coast

My friend Anna inadvertently turned me onto this band a day or two ago, linking the rockin' track below, called "Happy". They remind me of Real Estate a bit, mostly because it's fun, summery sounding reverb worship, only with female vocals and generally being a little more upbeat than most Real Estate.  I'll skip a strained description and just post the jam that got me hooked. Hope you dig.
EDIT: JUST REALIZED IT'S ONE OF THE GIRLS FROM POCAHAUNTED!!! (Pocahaunted is a really neat noise/soundscape band)

Best Coast - Best Coast

Real Estate

Reverb-drenched, psychedelic surf pop from New Jersey. If you consider yourself an indie snob and don't know about these dudes, just grab this record and I won't tell anyone. It also features the guitarist from Ducktails, who makes some excellent guitar soundscapes and surf pop. Perfect summer music if I lived on a beach, instead of muggy, humid western Tennessee. These guys have a pretty neat sound, sometimes sounding poppy, but seemingly more often, sounding spacey and gloomy. Overall, a very cool band, so this comes highly suggested if you have never heard of these guys.

Real Estate - Real Estate

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Alt-Country awesomeness. I ain't even gonna attempt to write anything profound. Just know that Ryan Adams has put out lots and lots of music, and if your into the whole singer-songwriter / alt-country / whiskey music thing, you'll dig this.

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

American Gods - Chariot The Ghost

American Gods are some really good dudes, originally out of Memphis, TN, who play a rad style of shoegaze, heavy and hazy. Considerably more imaginative than your standard My Bloody Valentine clone, American Gods take it to a higher level, creating a sonic barrage of 3 guitars, blending perfectly, never treading each others territory, and driving, inventive drumming. These guys are a definite standout, holding dear all things that came before them and refracting those influences through their own unique lens. Check 'em out. Dig it. Buy their shit.


American Gods - Chariot The Ghost

Kylesa - Spiral Shadow

I gave that bitch some Kylesa. Bitches LOVE Kylesa.

La Cacahouette - French for Peanut

Pronounced La Kah-Koo-Wet, and as the record name implies, it is French for 'peanut'.

Had the pleasure of playing a few shows with these guys a couple years ago, and they are not only awesome dudes, but their music is really unique. A true embodiment of the power trio, they make use of the standard guitar, bass and drums, but also fill up sonic space using keyboards, theremin and lots of reverb, delay, phasers, and fuzz on all of the above. Taking cues from bands such as Swervedriver and My Bloody Valentine, La Cacahouette lays down a thick, psychedelic layer of spacey shoegaze, slathered in loud and fuzzy indie rock, topped with beautiful male and female vocals, and highlighted immensely by the intense and creative drumming of Blake Ellman (who I've seen wearing Tragedy shirts, and believe it or not, the hardcore and metal influences shine quite brightly in his drumming for this band. Also, La Cacahouette's myspace used to rock an excellent photoshopped promo photo of them with King Diamond in the band!) If you ever see these guys in a town near you, go check them out. They are a great band, and some truly down dudes.

La Cacahouette - French For Peanut

Cave In

I catch a lot of shit for it, but I really dig Cave In. They aren't afraid to do what THEY wanna do, and sound the way THEY wanna sound. They are a very dynamic band, early Cave In invoking comparisons to a slightly toned down Botch, while the later material sees them hone in on a much more fence-striding outlook. With the members coming from a really broad background of influences, Cave In creates a progressive style seamlessly melding Converge, Torche, and the Foo Fighters. Their embrace of the catchy and poppy,  mixed with their background in hardcore and doom (sharing members intermittently with Converge, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra and others) makes them a unique stand out in the music world. If you are easily put off by vocals, you probably won't enjoy the clean vocals of this band (though there are lots of screams and heavy vocals too). But the music is fuckin' amazing, and the vocals don't bug me. So if you've never heard them, check them out, and if you haven't heard the newest EP, Planets of Old, you should really check it out, as I think it really incorporates everything awesome about this band, giving you a fairly accurate cross section of the ground these dudes tread.

This is all the full lengths, and 2 of their EPs. They have quite a few more EP's out, but this stuff should get ya started. Hope you enjoy.

Until Your Heart Stops (1998)
Creative Eclipses EP (1999)
Jupiter (2000)
Antenna (2003)
Perfect Pitch Black (2005)
Planets of Old EP (2009) <~~~~~ At very least get this!!!
White Silence (2011)

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy

Bearded singer, songwriter, actor Will Oldham. He's put out music under several monikers: Palace, Palace Brothers, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, and probably a few more. If you like indie, folk, or americana music, I'd be surprised if you didn't already know about him. If you don't know anything about Will Oldham then his "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" records are a great place to start. Here are a few of my favorite picks from the Bonnie 'Prince' Billy catalog, including a collaboration record he did with jazz/post-rock mainstays Tortoise.

Ease Down The Road (2001)
Master and Everyone (2003)
Superwolf - Matt Sweeney and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2005)
The Brave and the Bold - Tortoise and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2006)

Year of No Light - Nord

Truly beautiful, genre-transcending music from France. It'd be unfair to call them a metal band, because many of their songs aren't metal at all. It'd be unfair to say they aren't heavy, because some of the jams are heavy as God's balls. These guys refuse to be pigeon-holed and it'd be a disservice to their art to continue blathering half accurate statements about their music. If you're into heavy music, you'll dig the shit outta this band. If you AREN'T into heavy music, I seriously suggest you give this record a few listens, as it might just be the perfect gateway to expanding your horizons. Just get it, and turn it up.

Damn the French and their amazing music!!! <~~~~ clicky

Why? - Alopecia

Deciding which Why? album to post was a tough choice, but I'm gonna go with Alopecia. The reason it's such a tough call is that Why? has a slightly different sound on every record, and who the fuck knows which one you'd like. As one of the base members of the Anticon collective, Yoni Wolf (formerly known as Why?) has been involved in the avant-garde hip hop scene since 1998. He was one third of art-rap group cLOUDDEAD and later went on to produce solo material, first as a solo act and now teamed up with a band (now collectively known as Why?). The music they make is a very odd mix of indie, pop, and hip hop. Yoni's lyrics are often very personal, expounding on topics such as his fear of death, lost love, gay men fucking at a basketball court in Berlin, faking syphilis for pity, and plenty of other lyrics that will only ever make sense to him. The instrumentation in his band is also pretty interesting, his brother playing drums and xylophones/marimbas, Yoni vocalizing and playing auxillary percussion (extra toms, snare, tamborine, cymbals), and the other two gents playing a rotation of piano, guitar, bass, and any other noisemakers they can get on hand. The music isn't for everyone, but Alopecia is probably the best gateway as it catches them between the more hip hop influenced indie tunes from the previous album, Elephant Eyelash, and Alopecia's follow-up, Eskimo Snow, which seems to be a little more straight forward indie pop. Here is a little sample. If you dig it, get this record!




WHY? haven't you clicked this yet?

Slow Club - Yeah So

Melding folk, punk, and indie, Slow Club has carved their own niche in the music scene. Lots of fun auxiliary percussion like tambourines, bells, and drumming on wooden chairs,  as well as male/female vocal harmonies, which I am a true sucker for. Sometimes serious, sometimes poppy and dancy, this record pretty much rules from start to finish. A really really fun album to dance and sing along to.

GET IT!