Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Lonely London Lad - Marketing Direct Via MySpace

Buy Your Music! Support the Artists! Respect Yourself!


Lonely London Lad is a rock trio formed in 07'. The project is the brainchild of American Robert Savage. Robert began to work with fellow Yank, Erik Haddad and later ran into Brit, Johnny rK who joined in on the fun. After working on several early compositions which yeilded the most widely known track 'Buffalo Jump', Nine months were spent putting together the first self titled album. It is a double disk containing a total of 25 tracks. They wasted no time in getting their sophomore effort out six months later, titled 'Foaming At The Mouth' which contains 13 tracks.
 Both albums are hypnotic and trippy. Hypnotic electronica infused with Shakespearian era inspired lyric. There is heavy prog rock influences. Sixties psychedelia is mixed with 80's tinged layered synth. The overall effect is brash and original. There is a grtty throbbing bass on tracks such as 'Dark Gardens' & 'The Love'. Mesmerizing jangly metronomic guitar riffs swirl around flowing synth melodies. Tracks such as 'Another Planet' are Spacey and epic.
 LLL is a self financed, self produced, self directed project which is marketed solely through the bands MySpace page. They work at sourcing the fans and selling to them directly. They do this with a highly principled approach that could serve as a framework for all independent artists trying to market themselves similarly in the environment that is todays music industry. This alone makes them worth the effort. Their druggy graphics are available in the form of posters, sticker and t-shirts along with the music on their website. I recommend a trip to see them and adding the CD's to your collection.

There is no sign of live shows at this time but if this changes it will be announced here.


Saturday, February 13, 2010

Scout Niblett - The Calcination of Scout Niblett

Buy Your Music from an Independent Record Store. They care and deserve your support.


The title defines Scout and her music well. Calcination are the ashes left over after burning metal. Here the guitar work is stark and harrowing. The vocals are stark and harrowing. The lyrics are stark and harrowing and...honest in a most stripped down, most exposed raw soul baring possible. It is gripping and searing. Scout working with Steve Albini for the second time here raises her art to a new height. Albini has stripped her minimalism down to its most minimal and in the process has raised the emotional impact of the work to a new level. Cherry Cheek Bomb, track fives sonic ragged guitar intro brings you into slow burn of the bomb wick. Stark and dark. Track two, The Calcination of Scout Niblett is soul baring torture. Scout lays her soul bare. Her personal agony on display. Her guitar jangling undertone with harsh drumbeat. Brilliant and scorching. Faint of heart need not enter. Niblett hailing from Nottingham England has conjured up a drum, guitar and vocal spell giving you an honest intimacy with her darkest of thoughts and emotions. This work is being met with wide acclaim and is worth the effort.


The Calcination of Scout Niblett was released on January 2th, 2010 on the Drag City label.


Heres where you can catch her live in the next while:

16 Mar 2010 Casa del Popolo Montreal, Quebec

17 Mar 2010 Horseshoe Tavern w/ Picastro Toronto, Ontario

18 Mar 2010 larger house Detroit, Michigan

19 Mar 2010 Schubas Tavern w/ Picastro Chicago, Illinois

20 Mar 2010 frequency Madison, Wisconsin

21 Mar 2010 turf club St. Paul, Minnesota

23 Mar 2010 hi dive club Denver, Colorado

24 Mar 2010 urban lounge Salt Lake City, Utah

25 Mar 2010 Neurolux w/ Xiu Xiu Boise, Idaho

26 Mar 2010 Berbatis Pan w/ Holy Sons Portland, Oregon

27 Mar 2010 Sunset Tavern w/ Holy Sons Seattle, Washington

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Phantogram - Eyelid Movies

Buy Your Music from Independent Record shops & support artists and hard working retailers who care about and love the music as much as you do! Big Boxes SUCK!


A phantogram is an offset two dimensional image viewed at a specific angle or filter to give the illusion of 3 dimensional depth. Phantogram the band does not have to give the illusion of depth. There is depth here on their debut full length album. Phantogram (the band) is the electronic duo of Rilo Kiley and Sarah Barthel, from Saratoga Springs, N.Y.


 There is some synergy here, in that the last blog posting was for the Yeasayers. Fellow N.Y. indie artists whose great new release was reviewed here yesterday. Phantogram has opened for Yeasayers. Let me start by saying this album is stuplendous! The debut of Eyelid Movies is being met with wide acclaim and rightly so. Barthel's vocals are dreamy, surreal, disembodied, enchanting and compelling at different times. Their duo vocal approach led by Sarah, combined with her psychedelic electro, haunting keyboard work & Kiley's resonating echoey guitar work makes for brilliant indie sound art. It is thoroughly modern and brilliant.
 The album's best track is 'As Far As I Can See'. This is almost equlled by '10,000 Claps' & 'Running From the Cops'. There is not a weak entry on the whole album and this is so far my favourite indie debut release this year. Phantogram's description of their sound is 'streetbeat, psych pop'.

Eyelid Movies was released on Feb. 9th on the Barsuk label.







Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Yeasayer - Odd Blood

Support The Artists. BUY YOUR MUSIC! Pirates SUCK!


Yeasayer's debut 'All Hour Cymbals' was received with wide acclaim and their sophomore release 'Odd Blood' will be no different. This is a worthy followup to the first effort. The African inspired rhythms are here with 80's styled synths layered on top. This is a deeply layered journey across the many faces and moods of world music. This combined with 80's synth hooks lifted from the likes of New Order mixed into echoey distored gleeful ditties. Uplifting lyrically at times with auditory imagery, skilful masterstrokes, this is seriously crafted fare for all fans. Ambling Alp, Madder Red & Mondegreen are key tracks. O.N.E. is glorious latin tinged rubadub, a fave track for sure. These Brooklynites have upped the ante for their peers from Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear & MGMT.
 Officially released February 9th on Secretly Canadian Records. Yeasayer is currently touring Europe and will be back to tour the U.S. & Canada in April/May.

Website; http://yeasayer.net/

Lineup: Anand Wilder, Chris Keating & Ira Wolf Tuton

Upcoming shows:
MARCH -

16 at APOLO 2 in BARCELONA, SPAIN
17 at MOBY DICK in MADRID, SPAIN
19 at POINT FMR in PARIS, FRANCE
20 at PARADISO in AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

APRIL -

3 at 9:30 CLUB in WASHINGTON DC
4 at CATS CRADLE in CHAPEL HILL, NC
5 at ORANGE PEEL in ASHEVILLE, NC
6 at MASQUERADE in ATLANTA, GA
7 at HI-TONE CAFE in MEMPHIS, TN
8 at GRANADA THEATER in DALLAS, TX
9 at HOUSE OF BLUES HOUSTON in HOUSTON, TX
10 at THE PARISH in AUSTIN, TX
11 at THE PARISH in AUSTIN, TX
14 at CLUB CONGRESS in TUCSON, AZ
15 at RHYTHM ROOM in PHOENIX, AZ
17 at THE FILLMORE AUDITORIUM in SAN FRANCISCO, CA
19 at WONDER BALLROOM in PORTLAND, OR
20 at NEUMOS in SEATTLE, WA
21 at COMMODORE BALLROOM in VANCOUVER, BC
23 at IN THE VENUE in SALT LAKE CITY, UT
24 at BLUEBIRD THEATER in DENVER, CO
25 at WAITING ROOM in OMAHA, NE
26 at GARGOYLE CLUB in SAINT LOUIS, MO
27 at 1st AVENUE in MINNEAPOLIS, MN
28 at MAJESTIC THEATRE in MADISON, WI
29 at METRO in CHICAGO, IL
30 at GROG SHOP in CLEVELAND, OH

 MAY - 

1 at LEES PALACE in TORONTO, ON
2 at LA SALA ROSSA in MONTREAL, QUEBEC
3 at PARADISE in BOSTON, MA
4 at WEBSTER HALL in NEW YORK, NY
5 at THE TROCODERO in PHILADELPHIA, PA

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Priestess - Prior To The Fire

Support the artists. BUY YOUR MUSIC!


 After much delay, Montreal's Metal heroes Priestess have finally gotten their sophomore effort released. After being dropped by RCA and releasing the album independently last fall in Canada, this followup to their debut disc 'Hello Master' has been unleashed onto the U.S., U.K. and Europe. The album is garnering excellent reviews, which bodes well for the Hard Rock group. Hopefully this will allow them to put the frustrations of the last 3+ years behind them and launch them to the next level.
  Working with producer/engineer David Schiffman who's portfolio includes NIN & The Mars Volta (engineer/Frances The Mute), Priestess has escaped any sophomore curses and has made the wait worthwhile. This is a raucous, hard rocking album. These guys know how to kick hard rock ass. 'The Firebird' & 'Sideways Attack' were my favourite tracks. 'The Gem' which tracks at almost 8 minutes long is an epic rocker with some complex changes and some beautiful melody thrown into the mix.
 Signed to the Indica Records' label the band have a deal with Teepee records for International distribution. The band is currently on tour in Europe with Bigelf in support of the new release. They have a very good rep for live performance. Their shows have been described in various reviews as 'Spectacle', 'mesmerizing' and 'rowdy'. They have toured with some heavy names such as 'GWAR', 'Mastadon', 'Megadeath' & 'Motorhead' to name a few. Steeped in the traditions of early hard rock, any good rock fan will find a listen to these guys worthwhile. Influences such as AC/DC, Black Sabbath & led Zeppelin can be heard in their sound. A big boost for the band came when the track 'Lay Down' from the first album was featured in Guitar Hero. Hopefully 'Prior To the Fire' will have a contribution to the video games next release.


Lineup: Mikey Heppner - Lead Vocals & Guitar, Mike Dyball - Bass, Vince Nudo - Vocals & Drums,
Dan Watchorn - Vocals & Guitar