Field Mouse

I’ve happened into a few lovely tracks in the last few days and chief among them is “You Guys Are Gonna Wake Up My Mom” from the Brooklyn band, Field Mouse. Check out this dream-pop delight in this post.

Field Mouse – “You Guys Are Gonna Wake Up My Mom”

Field Mouse centers around singer/guitarist Rachel Browne and co-song-writer/guitarist Andrew Futral with bassist Allison Weiss and drummer Geoff Lewit recently joining the band. They will be releasing a 7″ on Small Plates records in 2012 and are also planning to tour in support of the release.

Ancient History

A decade ago, I stumbled across a little-known Atlanta band whose record I was absolutely obsessed with for several years. That band was Fairline Parkway. This morning, I’ve been listening to a band who reminds me of Fairline Parkway – not in sound as much as in the lo-fo, ambient landscapes the band creates.

This is Ancient History, a Brooklyn-based band whose album, TRACKS, was engineered by Jim Smith (The National, Au Revoir Simone, Wilco). It’s the project of singer/songwriter Donald Ducote.

Below are two tracks from the album that I happen to fancy:

Hands Are For Holding Drinks by ancienthistory

Four-Leafed by ancienthistory

You can download the entire album for free at the bands BandCamp page: here. Or stream/download it below.

The District Attorneys - Waiting on the Calm Down: The Basement Sessions EP

I’m a sucker a band like The District Attorneys. A rock band that knows how to write and perform, tight, catchy songs tinged with grungy folk from time-to-time. The Atlanta/Athens-based band has put out an EP via BandCamp called, Waiting on the Calm Down: The Basement Sessions EP which I think you should check out below.

If you lived through the early ’90′s and liked acts like Matthew Sweet, Billy Pilgram and For Squirrels, you’ll dig this band. If you have never heard of any of those acts because you were born in the early ’90′s, listen to “California Fire” and “Worry About Your Health” and I bet you’ll dig this band. They also do a nice job covering Gillian Welch’s “Wrecking Ball”.

You can follow the band – Chris Wilson, Drew Beskin, Frank Keith IV, TJ Mimbs and Walker Beard – on Facebook or Twitter.

Run Dan Run (Photo by Megan Elger)

Did someone put something in the water of Charleston, SC? In the last few years the city has served as home – if even for a while – of both Toro Y Moi and Washed Out, the first bros of Chillwave.

This from a state whose exports of Hootie and the Blowfish and Edwin McCain were more typical of type music (non-country edition) that the state of South Carolina produced.

Now another act is producing music that you’d never expect out of the palmetto state: Run Dan Run.

The three-piece band of Dan McCurry, Ash Hopkins and Nick Jenkins has been together since 2006 and just released the album, Normal, earlier this month. It’s a smooth blend of dreampop and post-modern.

Steam the album (or buy it via BandCamp) below. I’d recommend checking out “Gestures & Patterns” and “Box-Type Love” if time only allows for listening to a couple of tracks.

I’ll be honest, I lucked into listening to the album, but I liked it so much that I wanted to share it with you.

Alabama Shakes

A while back I posted a piece on the need for music sites/blogs to reverse the trend of their lessening relevancy by coming together and pushing an act that is worthy of gaining more attention and notoriety than they have. It’s a fine-line between covering music and marketing it, I know. But when you run across a band (or artist) whose talent calls for special attention, I (and we) would be doing a disservice by not making the general, music-listening public aware of such an act.

Here is such an act: Alabama Shakes

Formed in Athens, AL, the Alabama Shakes (formerly just The Shakes) are making music that reaches a listener on a soulful, emotional level as much as anything else. Combing modern rock/folk with lead-singer Brittany Howard’s Janis Joplin-esque vocals, its hard to not watch any of the their live videos and not see the raw passion behind their songs.

In the past few weeks it’s been interesting to see other music sites also be drawn to the band. In a time when it seems like everyone is trying to copy each other’s sound, it’s nice to hear a band creating a sound unique to this time-and-place of music.

The Alabama Shakes aren’t some experimental group of musicians trying to out lo-fi someone else. What they are doing is building on Northwest Alabama’s long-standing musical tradition.

Since the 1960′s artists of all kinds have flocked to the area known as the Quad Cities (Sheffield, Muscle Shoals, Florence and Tuscumbia) – one county over from Athens – to record. That includes legends like Aretha Franklin, Rod Stewart and Wilson Pickett to modern-era artists like Band of Horses and The Black Keys.

Furthermore, there is a litany of current artists from the region who have drawn much critical acclaim including the Drive-by Truckers, Jason Isbell, The Pine Hill Haints and The Civil Wars, among others.

I think you’ll find, once you listen to Alabama Shakes, that they have nicely blended the sounds of the artists listed above – and that makes sense. While its an are rich in musical heritage, it’s a semi-rural, blue collar area where many of the most talented of every generation strive only to escape the are for opportunities that bigger cities like Nashville, Birmingham and Atlanta have to offer.

Frankly, I pull for a band like this. They aren’t a bunch of rich-kid Ivy Leaguers who moved to Brookyln to out obscure each other. They are just regular kids, blessed to be talented enough to make some of the most enjoyable roots music I have heard in a while.

So yeah, maybe a post like this is more editorial than straight journalist, but who cares. Just enjoy the music.

Editor’s note: Special thanks to Live from the Shoals for posting these fantastic live videos to YouTube.

Balto - October's Road

Balto is the project of Daniel Sheron, who began the project when he left Moscow, Russia to venture to Siberia alone. His writing was influenced by the people and places he saw.

He, along with band members Andrew Sheron, Charlie Freundlich , John Glouchevitch, Philippe Bronchtein and Sam Budish, recorded their debut album, October’s Road, in Brooklyn in one night on December 15, 2010.

Aptly dubbed “TransSiberian Americana” by the band, their album is a hidden gem of 2011 with its rustic, yet lush, folk approach.

Stream the album below.

Range Rover - There's Nothing For Me Here

A new track by Range Rover came across my desk last night. I played it a few times and enjoyed it thoroughly. The day after, I realized I’d be remiss by not sharing this fantastic track:

Range Rover – “There’s Nothing For Me Here”

or

This San Diego-based band of teenagers created pure, multi-layered musical joy with “There’s Nothing For Me Here”. Last night I think I described it as making me instantly happy and sad. The band used guitar loops, 8-tracks, synths and iPad apps in recording the track.

Chalk and Numbers

Chalk and Numbers have a six-song EP, He Knew, that has been the staple of my time in front of my computer this past weekend. They have a dash of ’60′s pop in them, but to me, I keep hearing a lot of The Carpenters in their music. Enjoy.

Sweet Lights

I really haven’t done the “Heard First” thing in a while. Despite that fact, Sweet Lights is the exact reason I started the segment a couple of years ago.

I was sitting here on a Tuesday night totally exhausted. It’d been a long week already. I got in. Ate. Showered. Meandered upstairs and checked my email for the first time since 7AM. I felt completely overwhelmed by the volume of emails waiting for me. As I’m scanning the emails that I hadn’t been able to get to I run across an email from Sweet Lights.

It was a nice, quick but personal email from Shai, the man behind the band. I decide to click on the link and give the album a listen … Then. Wow.

Heard First: Sweet Lights

Philadelphia’s wave of new artists is amazing. With bands like Free Energy and Reading Rainbow producing such quality work, the city’s on top of its game. Now throw Sweet Light’s self-titled album onto any list of great, new releases.

Sweet Lights is a one-man band although the album was co-produced with Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs). The album is a fantastic combination of post-modern; early alt-rock (think Julian Cope); ’70′s rock-opera (elements of Pink Floyd); crisp, melodic fantasy and yet manages to not only seem current but doesn’t have the stench of overproduction.

I’ve never been the best at breaking down an album, but take my word for it – listen to this damn album. If you get past “Message on the Wire” and “We Are Going To Work It Out” and aren’t hooked, then we can not be friends.

The balance of the album toggles between genres yet doesn’t feel disjointed. Better yet, it borders on stupefying. You know those times when you are left dumbfounded in wonderment because of how good something is?

This is that something.

Sweet Lights – Are We Gonna Work it Out from Sweet Lights on Vimeo.

Brett Gleason

Trying to make a musical comparison to Brett Gleason is a bit of a challenging. Trying to find the appropriate genre to classify his music is even more difficult. So here’s my shot:

Vocal-electronic-dark-wave-Broadway musical-piano rock.

At his best, he channels the vocal stylings of Dave Gahan mixed with Jamie Cullum. Toss in equal parts of dark, multi-layered electronic beats/noise with crisp piano and you end up with the feeling that Gleason was writing a rock opera whether he realized it or not.

His debut EP, The Dissonance, is out now. Off the album, the featured track “I Am Not” (video above) combines the distinctive nature of Gleason’s work perfectly. While other tracks on the album are a bit more melodic, it’s easy to understand that you’re listening to an artist with something more on his mind than trendiness.

Oryx + Crake

I still get excited about new music – not as much as I once did – but it still happens. More times than not these days a song, more than an artist, strike the love-at-first-heard chord. So when I find a band that gets me excited, I feel like a love-struck teenager …

Let me introduce you to my newest crush: Oryx + Crake

Oryx + Crake by oryxandcrake

The nine-piece collective is based out of Atlanta and is fronted by the husband and wife due of Ryan Peoples and Rebekah Goode-Peoples. Due to the size of the band, and the multi-layered tracks, many people will immediately made comparisons to Broken Social Scene, The Decemberists or the Arcade Fire. To me, they remind me much more of Midlake, for whom my love is well noted.

But Oryx + Crake don’t really sound like any of those bands – which is the great thing about them. With well written lyrics with some strings, an occasional banjo, a few synth bleeps, varied percussion usage and well-placed harmony the band creates a symphony of sound.

If you want to find out more about the band, visit their Web site: http://www.oryxandcrakeband.com/.

And don’t be surprised if you hear more about this band sooner than later.

Shawn Fogel (photo by Alicia J. Rose)

Neutral Uke Hotel has been on my radar for the last year or so. It’s a great concept, really. The band, which is Shawn Fogel with accompaniment from members of Golden Bloom and The Motion Sick, performs Neutral Uke Hotel’s Aeroplane Over the Sea live with Fogal singing and playing the ukulele.

Neutral Uke Hotel – “King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1”

“Part of our goal,” Fogel said of Neutral Uke Hotel, “is to break down the performer/audience boundary a bit. Singing along, clapping along, any audience participation is an important part of the experience.”

If you feel as strongly about Aeroplane Over the Sea as many – including myself – take the time to check out Neutral Uke Hotel. You’ll be glad you did.

Our Orthodox

DeadJournalist’s ‘Heard First’ segment is back with Los Angeles singer-songwriter Neal Harris, who performs as Our Orthodox. He released a seven-song eponymous debut album earlier this month. The album is a simple but well put together collection of songs that hearken back to pre-Indie musical times.

Of the songs on Our Orthodox, “No Idea” and “O Brother” bookend Harris’ vocal and musical spectrum. Although his voice is close to that of Bright Eyes, the last song on the album, “Postcard” sounds like a long-lost, west coast cousin of songs from Jack Logan’s legendary 1994 album Bulk.

For more information on Our Orthodox, visit the Web site: Click Here

The Chord And The Fawn

Do you like Dent May? Do you like CoCoRosie? If so, we present The Chord And The Fawn for your listening pleasure. The duo, consisting of cousins Dani and Angie, make pop music using instruments such as the ukulele, melodica, kilimba, piano, flute, concertina and bells.

“MP3 – The Chord And The Fawn – “Love, Sex and Rock-n-Roll””

The duo is featured on A Cure For The Broken Hearted, a compilation being released in May 2010 by Edible Onion, a Philadelphia-based collective that releases small run, hand-packaged records.

The track “Love, Sex and Rock-n-Roll” can be found of this compilation as well as their debut LP, M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I, which was released in December 2009.

Everything Is Made In China

One of the best things about running the site is that sometimes I run face-first into an amazing band thanks to a submission by a band member of manager. Such is the case with Everything Is Made In China.

This isn’t totally a Heard First because the Moscow-based band Everything Is Made In China has released two albums, one in 2007, and most recently, Automatic Movements in 2009. Both albums were recorded at Toronto’s Chemical Sound studio.

Below are the tracks “Sleepwalking” (Video of the Week for next week, FYI) and “Dance Pianist”. I recommend giving them both a listen. You’ll be glad you did.

“Sleepwalking”
Sleepwalking by eimic

“Dance Pianist”
Dance Pianist by eimic

If you don’t get excited by these two tracks you might need to check your pulse.

For more on the band, visit their Web site: www.eimicmusic.com