SOME WICKED: Dashiell Brown's Blog

Only available digitally right now, try Alphapup, this album should make quite a stir for fans of Bibio, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Tobacco, Caribou and other artists who are taking electronic music to another level. If it doesn’t, then I don’t know music. (I don’t really, I mean whoever says music can be known just doesn’t get it, right?) But there’s clearly a diverse and exciting electronic movement going on in LA right now as can be seen from the vid below, and Jogger’s brilliant song “Gorilla Meat” seamlessly blends electronic beats with Beach Boys/Fleet Foxes-like harmonies and was made the top tune at KCRW. And it gets lots of play on my show The New Spin as well, of course. But “Gorilla Meat” only scratches the surface of the sonic secrets this album gradually reveals, ranging from grimy drum n’ bass to screamo to 60’s folk and Yo La Tengo lo-fi indie rock sensibilities to techno, all sewed together by an electronic thread for the entire course of the album, much like The Flaming Lips with their sonic exploration on Embryonic. It forces anyone to reconsider the obsolete/tired belief that electronic and computer music is just about four-on-the-floor beats.

Anyone that’s been paying attention knows electronic music can serve as a magical window into exploring unlimited musical possibilities, not a trap at all. Jonathan Larroquette and Amir Yaghmai that is Jogger clearly respect this world by not abusing the freedom, rather they let the sounds breathe and take their space, allowing the sounds to take hold of us and then let go. Quite brilliant stuff, if at times a bit abrasive with the screamo in “Nephecide”, but the compositions are layered and complex, with lots to discover.

Daedelus, no stranger to innovative approaches to electronic music as he plays with it much like jazz musicians explore their modes, (check out his brilliant album Invention) does have a hand in the production of this album (I think), which is the first release on his new label Magical Properties. Based on this album, the future of Magical Properties looks rosy, indeed. Here’s that vid mentioned earlier.

Listen to Jogger on myspace. This is Some Wicked Essential for sure.

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For an average Gen-X guy like me who grew up in the 80’s listening to The Cure, The Thompson Twins, Joy Division and New Order, Bauhaus, Gene Loves Jezebel and other MTV-like Euro New Wave/Post punk acts, Cell Phone Camera, the new album from the Canadian outfit Rep by Pop instantly grabbed my attention and gets regular play on my show The New Spin. Though the album’s punchier first half is stronger than the more U2-like rockin’ second half, Cell Phone Camera is all very fun and upbeat, fusing together everything I loved about the 80’s and then some. For you youg’uns, I’d put them in the Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, Cut Copy, Of Montreal, and The Rapture family.

Timothy Kingston’s voice has an uncanny ability to drift from sounding like Robert Smith to Bono to that lead singer dude of Gene Loves Jezebel in “Spray Paint.” A few songs sound like early U2 backed by the early Cure, and “Bisbifren”, “Comfort Me and Comfort You” and “Cell Phone Camera” have immediate hooks with the latter having a wicked wah-wah/flanging guitar patch I salivate over every time I hear it. I love “Unknown” with its transcendent, uplifting quality.

This band has the potential to blow up huge and “sell out,” though that’s near-impossible to do these days, and as any new spinner might know by now, I don’t like bands that stick to formulas, but nonetheless I wish great success for this band. Though Rep by Pop is clearly inspired by the 80’s sound, thankfully they aren’t trying to copy it so much as use the sounds of the 80s like an artist does with a palette of colors. The challenge for them, for any band really, is to push their familiar sound rather than be swallowed by it. Needless to say, Cell Phone Camera stands out in all the right ways. Here’s a vid:

Read other reviews here.

Join The New Spin on Facebook.

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Exciting new Canadian electronica act, hellothisisalex has released their new album, the accidentals, using a blend of 8-bit video game music (think Commodore 64 or the Atari 2600) and moog patches, or chipcore, as their inspiration, similar to other bands using this sonic footprint such as Crystal Castles, Tobacco, and Black Moth Super Rainbow. I’d count Plone in there as well, recently made famous by none other than that Reese’s Peanut Buttercup commercial that ran all summer, taking us back to the days when patches on a keyboard were literally patched together by cables, not a button you could just push to change the “patch.”

Entirely instrumental, with smatterings of vocal samples and other creative digitalis, the album ranges from downtempo and chill to upbeat and fun to downright avant-garde. One listen isn’t nearly enough to catch all of the varied nuances this thrilling piece of electronica has to offer. Some tracks may stand out more than others, but the accidentals needs to be listened to with all the senses, like appreciating a fine wine or exotic cheese. You can’t get all the flavors in one bite. It goes deeper, and all the songs work together like an elaborately patched quilt (pun intended.)

A word of warning: it’s not a four-on-the-floor party starter, but I can imagine today’s DJs remixing their tunes for the club.

This video, inspired by their visit here in Newfoundland of all places says it all. Lobster Cove Head is in Gros Morne National Park and served as their inspiration for their new song, which also appears on the new album.

To learn more and to get your hands on the album, check out their website. You can also listen to cuts from the accidentals on my new show on electronic music, Other Frequencies, Tuesdays at 10PM on CHMR-FM, 8:30 Eastern.

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Like folk songs about vegetables, desserts and animal fables? Varied instrumentation like accordions, banjos and fiddles, tubas and trumpets? Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum’s scratchy warble? Then you’ll love Philadelphia’s mewithoutYou’s new album, it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright just released on Tooth and Nail Records. I am crazy for this album, easily one of the best under-the-radar albums of the year so far.

NPR has just posted their list of their listeners’ best music so far, and I’m clearly whistling to another dixie as any listener of The New Spin might attest to. Yes, a lot of the artists on the list are great, there’s no question, but it’s clear that the stars of the indie world are launching further into the limelight of what we call mainstream, and the indie label/sound starts to get obfuscated in a quagmire of pleasing-to-the-ear melody and harmony that speaks so loudly to a common denominator that I have to dig even deeper to root for the “best music you’ve never heard,” which is the mission I have set for myself for The New Spin.

This album is so great, you’ll just have to see this video to get a sense of what it has in store for you. For fans of the “ballads” of Neutral Milk Hotel, Okkervil River, The Mountain Goats, and The Decemberists.

Listen to another track from this album tonight on The New Spin, tonight at 9-11 PM, 7:30 Eastern, 4:30 Pacific. Streams tonight online here.

And now a few unique details about the album…

Aaron Weiss’s lyrics are somewhat inspired by the Sufi mystic, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen

Their tour van often runs on vegetable oil.

The Weiss brothers are currently doing a little tour in August, but it’s not a mewithoutYou tour. Important to know. It’s called The Weiss Family Tour. They’re actually playing at The Cat’s Cradle in Chapel Hill, my stomping grounds at one point when going to UNC-CH.

They made Paste Magazine’s Band of the Week. Just the week?

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Of course this film will only be shown in select theatres in major cities, but who knows. Word of mouth will hopefully spread quickly. A film like this has been long overdue. Here are the credits to the film.

Heard about this film on last night’s Colbert Report. Tip of the hat to Colbert for having Eric Schlosser on the show, wag of the finger for cutting him off when he dropped the “S” word, but Schlosser is right. America doesn’t seem to be paying attention as to what’s going on. Maybe this film can shed some light for real honest change. Can’t wait to see this film. (Schlosser’s comment about Socialist America must have seriously flipped Colbert’s wig. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting it.)

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thank god for the internet. thank god Americans are starting to wake up and fight.

hmmm, funny, i can’t find any mention of mass protests across the country anywhere in the NY Times, or much of anywhere else for that matter. the only way I know it really happened is because of taxdayteaparty.com. i really hope everyone shrugs, especially where the mainstream media is concerned. i wonder what Adbusters thinks of all of this…

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make a video for 99 bucks, like this one here, directed by Jack Ferry, using rotoscoping, a camera, and a calculator, keeping the costs down, which is important in today’s economy! the song’s not bad, either. then submit your video to this site. interesting concept, let’s stay tuned to see what happens with this. question: why not just do this yourself and submit it on youtube? why do you need this site?

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 I just finished my new folktronica album, Of A Time. Influenced by Eastern European sounds, folk music, blues, indie rock, and electronica.

There’s a little interview from The Scope below.

You can listen to the album here.

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     Last night in St. John’s was the latest best show you never saw, unless you were there, and it was packed. I knew it would be a good show after I interviewed Geoff Berner ‘cause he’s quite a character. (Here’s my podcast of our conversation. Here’s my article in Current Magazine, pg 5.) And an incredible performer. Here’s a guy who knows how to interact with his audience, get ‘em dancing, get ‘em drunk (not that locals here have a problem doing that, they never need encouragement) and get ‘em talkin’. That’s what I’m sure lots of people are doing today: talking about last night. Talking about Berner’s dynamism, Davies’ insane fiddle playing, Adams’ smile that was plastered over his face for the whole show, man they had fun and so did we. But why it was a seminal show is because the audience was psyched, excited, chomping at the bit for more. Shit like this doesn’t drift into town too often, and everyone that was there knew it. The highlight was when Allison Corbett and Leila Qashu got up on stage, and the women had a threesome! (of fiddlers, that is.)

     The only reason I even saw the show was because his new release, Klezmer Mongrels, was sitting on the shelf there at CHMR, and I put it in for a new spin, I couldn’t resist the cover with the breastfeeding dog and the tentacles. When I heard the “dirty” klezmer pouring out of the speakers, I was hooked. This guy is one of the most original artists out there, and one of the most fun. I’m also a big fan of Klezmer, which I saw tons of bands while living in New York City and going to the Knitting Factory. I took my date (now my wife) to the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, but I was into Klezmer way before I went to New York. I was a folk dancer for about 20 years in Solvang, the Danish capital of America, getting in the garb with the tassels on the knee-high pants, the lederhosen during Oktoberfest. (Solvang is about 45 min North of Santa Barbara, CA. See the movie Sideways and Solvang is a few minutes from Sideway’s Los Olivos and Santa Ynez Valley, home of the Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch (I went to high school there.) Want to see Solvang? Check out Ethan Turpin’s Youtube channel, Bright Eye Cinema; he was also a member of the Solvang Village Folk Dancers, still in operation today run by my dad. One of the dancers would always bring his accordion to our house and play tunes.) I also played clarinet in high school, so that might be another reason I was attracted to the sound. The majority of the music I danced to as a kid came straight out of Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and of course Scandinavia, where Berner is apparently going to visit now that his tour his over. And if you want to hear some great music, check out Scandinavian bands like Garmarna, Hedningarna, and anything else on the Nordic Roots Sampler. The most wicked thing about some of this music is the prominent sound of the nyckelharpa,

put it together with techno and you have some of Garmarna’s best tunes. It’s off the hook. Garmarna is the band that inspired me to do my own blend of electronic folk. (See Circuit Tree.) But since I’ve been dancing in the streets as seen in Turpin’s vids, it’s clear to see why I was so attracted to the Swedish sound, it’s velvet on your tongue. We actually have our own version here in St. John’s called The Dardanelles who are clearly inspired by Scandinavian music. Also, when the throat singers perform here at the Storytelling Festivals, very similar origins, being way up North, there’s some throat singing on the Nordic Roots Sampler by a band called Wimme. Read the book Out of Tuva for more about throat singing and just search it on Amazon. Also check out Sainkho, who’s Tuvan and does some crazy improv throat singing. See? You start writing about Klezmer and you get to Tuva. The joy of writing…it’s the process, not the product. I think that’s why blogs have taken off the way they have. Every single one of us is a writer.

oh, wanna see some crazy stuff, a bunch of women playing tons of accordions and banjos? check out the bonus features on the latest Jazz Singer DVD. there’s all these crazy vaudeville acts, you get to see what people did when there wasn’t the media onslaught of today. for fun, people actually got off their asses and went outside.

and have you heard Bruce Peninsula yet? Arcade Fire meets Nick Cave. check it.

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album cover of Short Momentum

hot out of the long-ago hardened molten lava of the seattle music scene, perhaps signifying a pheonix out of the ashes rebirth, the Origami Ghosts have a new album that i’ve been playing on The New Spin since we received it in November, and i still haven’t heard much about it. It’s called Short Momentum, but we’ll see whether it’s short or not. This will be for fans of Modest Mouse and Built to Spill et. al, but also for fans who like cellos in their music as you can see from their latest video, which shows them doing their thing at their lo-fi-iest, which, if you might have read from my post on indie music, is what indie music was all about as it gained a long, gradual momentum in the 80’s as featured in Michael Azzerad’s great book, Our Band Could Be Your Life, one of the lyrics in a Minutemen song.

Speaking of lyrics, the lyrics on Short Momentum are nice surreal musings, such as here in “Story” where John Scesniak ponders, “Where do thoughts go when you forget them?” I don’t know, but George Bowling in Orwell’s Coming Up for Air would respond, “The past is a curious thing. It’s with you all the time.” (I found this quote in Andy Miller’s book about The Kinks, if you were wondering.)  

Here’s that video. Yes, Seattle is still live and kicking, clearly, and Sub Pop for some reason didn’t pick this outfit up. Maybe there’s a “story” behind that.

Origami Ghosts at Plea for Peace Stockton

Other favorite tracks of mine are “Endless Corridors,” “Rearranging Furniture,” and “Conditional.” They are a band to watch out for in 2009 for sure.

Related Posts on Indie Music:

Intermission…A short history of indie Music

Why I don’t Play Coldplay on The New Spin

Old-school Garage punk

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