Another set of great blog posts

Earlier this year I linked to some posts on other blogs that contained music I loved. And now I'm doing that again. Here goes

Everything Fudge related on Willfully Obscure (1, 2, 3, 4) - I might have mentioned Fudge before but I didn't put up any music. Before seeing these posts on Willfully Obscure I had only heard Girl Wish from a compilation. Having liked that song and knowing the band was from my home city I wanted to hear more. Spavid has put up downloads of the band's singles, first album, and even two v/a releases containing tracks by two bands with member of Fudge. I recommend Drive and Girl Wish from the singles and Waterfall from Peppermint Stick Parade.

Birdsongs, Beesongs Compilation by Eardrums - Since last year Eardrums has been putting out seasonal compilations for free. These compilations feature a wealth of recent indie pop bands and always contain a few gems. Check out the newest compilation called Birdsongs, Beesongs. Ony volumes A and B are out right now but two more should follow in the future.

Remember Fun/Emily Flexi at I Wish I Was A Flexidisc - Every post at this blog is great, but I particularly like the Emily song. I'll try to remember to post some Emily stuff later on.

Cold Cave - Love Comes Close

Cold Cave opened for Crystal Stilts and Comet Gain at the Black Cat last week. I had never listened to them before and didn't know what to expect beyond the genre tag of darkwave which I admittedly know little about. I just knew there would be synths (and there were a few). For sure this band was the low point of the night since the other two bands put on great performances (peaking at the Stilts' performance of their new single Love is a Wave which may be their best song yet). Still, I liked this song enough to look Cold Cave up and find it and download the mp3 from MySpace.

Love Comes Close is great because it isn't entirely synth and has a nice but minimal guitar riff. The singer obviously takes inspiration from Ian Curtis in both vocals and writing and this track reminds me of early New Order. Cold Cave has a few singles out but this track is unreleased. Check them out on MySpace.

Love Comes Close mp3

Red House Painters - Rollercoaster

Red House Painters isn't a band you want to listen to when sad. It leads to nowhere. Kozelek's songs are too depressingly beautiful to ever drag you out of a ditch.

Nor should you listen to Red House Painters when happy, because it will make you unhappy.

I guess you just have to be content in staying low. I need to stop listening to Rollercoaster but I can't.

I thought you'd come over
But for some reason you didn't
Glass on the pavement under my shoe
Without you is all my life amounts to

Katy Song mp3
Strawberry Hill mp3
Rollercoaster Part 1, part 2

Amesoeurs - Amesoeurs

I read about the debut album from this band being a mix of black metal and indie pop. That's a good description, but only if it is also mentioned that the two genres mix between songs rather than within them. The songs where the female sings are great and do a better job of mimicking post-punk than a great deal of the more popular revival bands. The good songs flow from poppy guitar work with Joy Division-ish bass lines to shoegazey walls of sound and its all overlain by sweet female vocals.

I can't stand metal so I have to skip a few tracks from the album. I really hope the band goes on to focus on the poppier sound. I read that the girl singer has a solo project so maybe that will be worth looking up.

The good tracks are Les Ruches Malades, Faux Semblants, Video Girl, Le Reine Trayeuse, and Amesoeurs.

Preorder from Tower (best price I've seen)

Faux Semblants mp3
Download album

As a side note I have been spending way too much time playing Broken Picture Telephone. It's basically an online version of the telephone game but instead of whispering a phrase around a circle you try to convey a consistent message while alternating between pictures and words. Try it out!

The Vandelles - S/T EP

Recently I have gotten into surf music so I thought I would follow up on a previous post by uploading The Vandelles' self titled EP. This isn't surf but the influence can be clearly heard throughout the EP. The 60s girl group influence is also obvious with the -elles suffix. I'd call the music surf-y noise pop and it is great! Fizzbombs are a good comparison and I wonder if The Vandelles have listened to them.

So this EP. Noise pop is "in" right now, with Wavves and The Pains coming out as best new music on Pitchfork, but The Vandelles have escaped attention. They certainly deserve some recognition for this EP. Swell to Heaven sounds you're submerged in the surf with half of your ears peeking above the crackling foam. Lovely Weather is another great song, with a loud guitar starting things off noisy real quick.

This self titled is a great debut and I can't wait for the album that is supposedly coming this year. The surf approach is great and I'm on the prowl for more of this sound. So if anyone reading knows some send me a message!

Visit The Vandelles on MySpace. I don't know if you can still buy the CD, but it's being rereleased by SVC records soon.

Swell to Heaven mp3
Lovely Weather mp3
Download EP

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Primary Phase

I read the HHGttG series in middle school and they immediately became my favorite series of books. Douglas Adams' writing is hilarious and the Hitchhiker's series beats any other science fiction novel in terms of comedy.

Before the books were written the HHGttG was a radio show written by Adams for the BBC. The story has actually been retold multiple times but Adams always made sure to vary things between the radio show, TV show, and novels so no one is a copy of the other. Recently I have been listening to the radio show and must say that it is great.

The radio show takes the form of 30 minute episodes. There are twelve in the original series which includes the Primary and Secondary phases produced in the 70s. In 2003 the series was picked up again by the BBC and an additional three phases were created. The show is incredibly well done and worth listening to even if you have already read the books.

The files are too large for Mediafire so I had to make a split archive. Download all four parts then extract "Primary Phase.zip.001"
Download Primary Phase (1)(2)(3)(4)

The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa - Pigment

This EP is the first (and my favorite) release by the Czech shoegaze band The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. Pigment and the following album, Sussurate, both washed in with the wave of shoegaze in the early 90s. After Sussurate the band began to play electronica so I have not given any later albums a listen. But the first two releases, in particular the album, follow the MBV/Cocteau Twins sound.

There are four tracks on the EP and to me 1& 3 stand above the others. Maybe it has something to do with both titles containing apostrophes, but more likely the reason is that What's and Who's are poppier than Square Wave and Honeyrain. Still, the two lesser songs take notes from Loveless and are not bad at all. So listen to 1 & 3 if you like Isn't Anything and 2 & 4 if you like Loveless. Hopefully you, like me, love both and listen to the whole EP!

What's mp3
Who's mp3
Download EP