Video still from Unknown Mortal Orchestra / “Thought Ballune”

Words and picks by Brendan

Today we’re featuring videos from Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Woods, The Twilight Sad, La Sera, Cloud Nothings, The Luyas, and Swedish vocal trio Erato covering Robyn. Yeah, that’s right. Dig in!

Unknown Mortal Orchestra / “Thought Ballune” / Unknown Mortal Orchestra [Fat Possum, 2011] / Co-dir. with Ryan Knowles

Holy fuck, is this video creepy. You realize it’s creepy at first, with the ugly faces staring at you at a bland family party. Then, it gets kinda silly when everyone’s heads are floating off in balloons (or are they ballunes?). But then, it gets super weird again … Damn catchy song, I’ll give them that, but I’m gonna think twice before reaching for the next cupcake someone offers me.

Woods / “Any Other Day” / Sun & Shade [Woodsist, 2011] / dir. EyeBodega

This poppy psych-folk album came out early last year, but this video surfaced relatively recently. It has drawings by Woods‘ singer/guitarist Jeremy Earl. They swirl and twist and turn through the frames in wild colors, showing flowers and leaves and lungs and peace signs and eyes and some other crazy stuff. It’s almost awkwardly amateurish (almost!), but it really works with this song.

The Twilight Sad / “Another Bed” / No One Can Ever Know [FatCat, 2012] / dir. Craig Murray

Why did I pick two super creepy videos this time? Aaauuugh! This one takes some seriously dark imagination to create and realize, but it is absolutely astounding in its creativity and production. Check out this story on NPR for an interview with both the director and the band’s singer and read some fascinating background ideas on the video. This album comes out next week, too, so check that out.

La Sera / “Please Be My Third Eye” / Sees The Light [Hardly Art, 2012] / dir. Vice Cooler

This album from the solo project of Vivian Girls‘ Katy Goodman won’t be out until March, but this video is a great preview of the beautiful, poppy sounds it will contain. Bike riding in the sun, pretty faces, longing looks, hoping for love … it’s pure optimism. I think. What does it mean to be her “third eye”, exactly?

Cloud Nothings / “No Future, No Past” / Attack On Memory [Carpark, 2012] / dir. John Ryan Manning

This song slowly burns at first—rumbling bass, patient drums, guitar strums—and then everything builds until the fury is unleashed. Meanwhile, an aging man is pulled along the ground, across various landscapes, and up into a tree. Not too much unlike life, no? That’s for you to decide.

The Luyas / “Moodslayer” / Too Beautiful To Work [Dead Oceans, 2011] / dir. Derrick Belcham

I’m pretty much unfamiliar with the psych pop of The Luyas and have forgotten how I stumbled into this recent video, but who even cares about that. This is great stuff! The video was made by band member Jessie Stein and Derrick Belcham’s (of La Blogothèque) collaboration project, Schtuff, and shows only cardboard apertures spinning on turntables and focusing/projecting light displays. With such simple ingredients, they’ve produced a remarkable visual display that perfectly matches this tune’s tone.

Erato / “Call Your Girlfriend” [Robyn cover]

Clearly homemade in someone’s kitchen, all in one take, with heavenly vocal harmonies and perfectly synchronized clapping and cup-banging-on-table percussion. Need we say more? Just watch this and be wowed.

There ya have it, our video picks for this week. Any thoughts? Dig the tunes? Love the cinematography? Think you could do better? Leave some comments and we’ll chat it up.

Pink Floyd is pretty hallowed ground, as far as my rock history fandom is concerned, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lia Ices. Her hauntingly pretty, mellow dreampop debut, Grown Unknown, made an impression on me last year, but I’ve lost touch with it. After this, though, I’ll be revisiting it, for sure. This is far more than a re-singing of the lyrics, a re-playing of the melodies. Her voice lilts and impassions the words and layers over itself. (Check out that moment where she sings “…for a lead role in a cage” over herself, and then the song bursts open like that moment in “Great Gig In The Sky”. Yeah, fucking awesome.) Meanwhile, the piano and cascading guitar lines create a weirdly discomforting atmosphere for such a yearning love song. It almost creates a kind of musical cognitive dissonance, but that ghostly fadeout somehow works and ties everything together. I’m strangely drawn to it all. I’m hooked.

—Cheers, Brendan

This song is the A-side from a forthcoming vinyl/digital single. You can stream it here, and surf over to The Fader to download it.

[Song diary is a random but reoccurring segment where we highlight specific songs that have been living inside our heads while staying away from all the album and band specifics. Sometimes they're ours, sometimes other peoples. Email us if you want to do one! Think of it like a virtual mix tape that's always being updated. Click the tab up top to open a new window so you can listen to all the songs on one music player]

Words by Jim

I’m on a Bandcamp kick lately. I’ve had some good look. Earlier in the week I brought you the awesome band The White Album from Denmark and today I’ve got The Oh Hello’s (and it actually worked backwards. I got The White Album based on the recommendation of The Oh Hello’s. Mind blowing.). I’m not sure I 100% agree with their apostrophe use, but their EP is so good that I’m not going to start any grammatical fights. I’ll warn you now, they only have one EP available, so this’ll be a New to Us in the form of a quick review of their awesome four tunes. I guess that’s the worst part about Bandcamp – it’s ability to be a huge music tease. Read on for more!

There’s nothing better than music making siblings. For realz. More often than not you’re guaranteed some magical moments where everyone is just on the same musical wavelength (e.g. The Dessner brothers of The National) or shit is just going to get crazy between them and it’ll be reflected in the music (e.g. early Oasis, when they were worth listening to). Whatever. So it’s no surprise that the music of The Oh Hello’s benefits immensely from the bond of brother and sister.

Maggie and Tyler Heath’s share the innate ability to produce wonderfully catchy folk pop tunes that just resonate from the heart, literally. The songs on their debut self-titled EP deal with love lost and the aching, yet exciting feeling of freedom. On the beautifully composed opening track “Hello My Old Heart”, Heath sings “Hello my old heart / How have you been / Are you still there inside my chest / I’ve been so worried / You’ve been so still / Barely beating at all”. The lyrics are pretty blunt and the message is clear, but Brother and Sister Heath present these age-old feelings in a gorgeously structured, dynamically shifting four minute folk pop song. I’m ok with that any day of the week. It also doesn’t hurt that Maggie and Tyler’s vocals are outstanding and pair beautifully with one another.

The Oh Hello’s pack a lot of material into four songs. “Lay Me Down” stomps through “fire and brimstone” raining down as Maggie Heath takes care of lead vocals with her lilting, wavering voice. This song specifically highlights their self-proclaimed love for folky bluegrass boys Mumford and Songs, which is a good thing. Immediately after they shake off the dirt and rust with the previous tune, they strip themselves bare on “Cold Is The Night”. Trading lead vocals, the Heath siblings breathtakingly ask for help with the lyrics “Steady is the hand that’s come to terms / With the lessons that it’s had to learn / I’ve see the things that I must do / Lord, this road is meant for two / So I am waiting here for you / So take my hand and set me free / Take my burdens and bury them deep / Take this burden away from me / Bury it, before it buries me”. Christ.

The EP ends on the optimistic “Trees”, but unfortunately, that’s all there is right now. It’s such a terrific introduction to The Oh Hello’s, but it depresses me that 14 minutes of music can please me so much, but I can’t have any more. I WANT MORE! Goddamn it! But hey, never fear, more is on the way, or so their Facebook wall says. Funny enough, there’s a bunch of people leaving posts saying how they love the songs and need more and I think Maggie and Tyler Heath are definitely listening. Be sure to check out their Facebook page and download their debut EP on Bandcamp page and keep your years peeled for more folk pop awesomeness.

The Oh Hello’s on the Web
Facebook
Bandcamp
Twitter

This is the second part of our first entry in The Lookahead series. We brought you some notewrothy upcoming Pittsburgh events and releases earlier today, and now we have a list of the national indie rock acts from whom we’re anticipating an album this month. Look at that fucking grammar, would ya? Read on for more stellar English and musical awesome-itude. Aw shit, there goes the English …

We didn’t quite expect new songs from SVE so soon, but we are absolutely grateful for them. This record promises to be just as haunting and powerful as Epic, and maybe even a bit more rock ‘n roll. With The National‘s Aaron Dessner playing and recording, too, this just has awesomeness written all over it.

Sharon Van Etten / Jagjaguwar pre-order / Insound pre-order

Kevin Barnes and company (well, Kevin, certainly) have taken some strange journeys over the years as of Montreal, with records roaming from psych pop to synthy dance numbers to Prince-ian funk. After giving this one a few spins already (grab the mp3s immediately from Polvinyl Records with an album pre-order!), I can say it’s hitting me better than the last few records, and it’s bound to get better with closer listening.

of Montreal / Polyvinyl pre-order / Insound pre-order

You can never get enough guitar pop. Trust us. Dr. Dog have a knack for snappy numbers with just the right twists. Don’t miss their show at Mr. Small’s on March 1, either!

Dr. Dog / “That Old Black Hole”

Dr. Dog / Band pre-order / Insound pre-order

If you haven’t yet heard the dark, brooding rock tunes of Scotland’s The Twilight Sad, you’re missing out. They have two stellar albums to their name, and this new one shows them exploring their sound a bit, bringin in some interesting synth sounds with a vintage instrument they acquired before recording. Intriguing, eh? Check out a full album stream here while we all bite our nails waiting for this one to drop.

The Twilight Sad / Band pre-order / Insound pre-order

It’s silly to describe any Shearwater release as “stripped-down”, but compared to the lush orchestration of Jonathan Meiburg’s previous work, Animal Joy promises to be a direct engagement with the listener, tugging at your ears and heartstrings. Stream and download a single below in preparation and be sure to order the album at Sub Pop, where $2 of your order will go to the Audubon Society on behalf of the band.

Shearwater / Sub Pop pre-order / Insound pre-order

“Creative” is just the perfect word for Nick Thorburn’s approach to music. From The Unicorns to Islands, you just never know what to expect from this guy, except for great rock songs. Word on the street is this one was recorded almost totally live, giving a more open feeling to the tunes and lyrics.

Islands / Band pre-order / Insound pre-order

We’re kind of morbidly anticipating this one, to be honest, fearing that the album title might ring too true. Treats was just crazy and interesting enough to catch our attention, but not really keep it, so we’ll see what this new batch of songs can do. This promo video is certainly fucked up enough to pique our curiosity …

Sleigh Bells / label / Insound pre-order

After releasing a handful of catchy, hidden-gem, lo-fi pop albums as Frankie Rose + The Outs while playing in the likes of Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls, Frankie is branching out solo. We’re expecting some catchy tunes mixing garage rock, 80s pop, and some singer/songwriter vibes. It’s bound to be interesting! Stream a few tracks below.

Frankie Rose – Interstellar sampler by Slumberland Records

Frankie Rose / Slumberland pre-order / Insound pre-order

This is just incredible pop music. Talented musicians, these folks are, blending traditional instruments with some brass and strings to craft outstanding tunes. This is the kind of music that makes you want to be a musician but reminds you that you’ll never be this good (unless you will be, of course, don’t let us get you down.) This new album is supposed to be more electric, more synthesized, more of everything, and we are eagerly awaiting it. Fanfarlo is revealing a series of videos for these new songs on their website every Tuesday until the release, and they’ll be swinging by Mr. Small’s in March, too!

Fanfarlo / Band pre-order / Insound pre-order

There are so many great albums coming out soon. These are just the ones that caught our eyes and ears. Have any thoughts on these upcoming records? Know of any others that we missed? Leave some comments and we’ll hash it out!

This is our first entry in The Lookahead series. We have some Pittsburgh concerts and album releases to feature in this post. Stay tuned for a post on national album releases later in the day. And let us know what you think about everything. Feedback is always welcome. Now get out there and enjoy the Pittsburgh scene!

Boca Chica / Marlene
Jenny Owen Youngs / Led to the Sea
Blind Pilot / One Red Thread
Pet Clinic / Stop Wasting My Precious Time
Dazzletine / Plumage
Eureka Birds / That Mountain Is A Volcano
Boom Chick / Cryin Rooster

Here are some upcoming concerts/shows/musical events we’re psyched about, in chronological order. Some local bands, some national acts, some rock, some folk, some of this, some of that. You’ll probably find soemthing new and interesting here, and you’ll probably find one of us at these shows. Check our concert calendar for other listings, and leave us some comments about the shows you’re looking forward to, as well. We wanna know about ‘em!

Two of our favorite local bands. Meeting of Important People and their leg-kickin’, dancin’ shoesy, garage-poppy fun, plus Boca Chica and their pretty, occasionally gritty, but always perfect folk rockin’ tunes. Not to be missed, especially with some new MOIP songs in the mix (see here for more on that) and BC playing from their recent stellar album.

Tix: $5 / MOIP / Boca Chica

We love JOY. Her voice is amazing, she’s a guitar whiz, and she’s super friendly, but we’ll be darned if her songs aren’t aching with heartbreak and emotion. A fun and powerful live show, and this is the official date of the release of her new album, An Unwavering Band of Light Huzzah! Pop band New Empire are in from Australia to support her tour, too.

Tix: $12 / Jenny Owen Youngs / New Empire

The rich and heartfelt tunes of 6-piece Blind Pilot will sound awesome bouncing of the echoey walls of Mr. Small’s. We can’t think of a better place than an old church for this band to play. Maybe you won our giveaway for this show, or maybe not. Either way, don’t miss it, especially with The Barr Brothers opening. Folksy night FTW!

Tix: $13.50 / Blind Pilot / The Barr Brothers /

Scott Simons (that’s him on the right) is a singer/songwriter/keyboardist who lives in LA but is signed by Pittsburgh-based label Rostrum Records (as is Donora, by the way). And you know Dani, drummer-of-all-trades from Big Hurry and Big Snow Big Thaw, right? (That’s her on the left, if you don’t.) Well, put ‘em together and you get TeamMate. (That’s them above, if you’re keeping score correctly.) Tack on local pop stars Donora and NYC rockers The Low Hand, and you got a solid show.

Tix: $7 / Scott Simons / Donora / The Low Hand

Photo by Rebecca Chiapelli

Pet Clinic songs have some strong strains of punk and rock, no doubt about it, but they have a serious ear for melody, catchiness, and intricate rhythms, and it makes these guys stand out from the multitude of downright-too-loud bands you might find elsewhere. Their first proper release, The Dust That Made The Fire That Made The Light, is a powerful 6-song EP and you can pick up a vinyl copy at this special show! Local folk rock standouts Harlan Twins are playing a set, TM Eye is DJing, and there will even be audio/visuals from artist Charles Doomany.

Tix: $7 (flyer) / Pet Clinic / Harlan Twins

Photo by Ohad Codji

A solid local lineup here: Dazzletine put out a pretty crazy good EP last year full of energetic glam rock, Legs Like Tree Trunks‘ folky mathy rocky goodness is awesome and wholly unique in this city, and Ursa Major‘s blend of folk and rock and somethin’ soulful is downright cool. Ursa Major will also have copies of a really limited pressing of their new vinyl LP, Never Worried About a Thing in My Life, availble. Dig it!

Tix: $5 / Dazzletine / Legs Like Tree Trunks / Ursa Major

Every month, the Third Thursday series brings a local band play to the WYEP studios to play live for visitors, for free, with free snacks and beer from Penn Brewery. How about that?! This month, it’s indie pop/rock band The Color Fleet (more info on WYEP’s site). If you miss this, you can catch the band at Howlers on February 25, too!

FREE / The Color Fleet / WYEP

Yes, of course we are excited about this one! We’re bringing in indie pop band Eureka Birds from Baltimore. They’re great. We’ll have Horse or Cycle there to thrash and rock. Awesome. And Roger Harvey is bringing some lovely and powerful new tunes as Bluebird Midwest. Outstanding. Come hang with us and catch some great music!

Tix: $6 (flyer) / Eureka Birds / Horse or Cycle / Bluebird Midwest

Tix: $5ish? / Boom Chick

Okay, yeah, this is in March. Fine. But this will almost certainly sell out before then, so we’re warning you early. Dr. Dog are indie rock stars, with so many great albums to their name and one more, Be The Void, set for release next week! Fellow Philly rockers Purling Hiss are joining them, along with the aforementioned Harlan Twins. Hell yeah!

Tix: $22 / Dr. Dog / Purling Hiss / Harlan Twins

Every day, Pittsburgh musicians are pouring their hearts and souls into their work and art, and we respect them for it. We try to keep up to speed on some upcoming new music, but most often we just don’t know about it until it’s out there. So here we have a smattering of local albums and EPs and singles, all of them newish, but some of them newer than others. If you know of something great coming out soon, let us know!

We mentioned this album up above for the vinyl release show, but it’s worth repeating. These tunes are heavy but not too heavy, you know what we mean? You may dig Dave Bubenheim’s nasal snarl, or not, that’s your prerogative, but we beseech thee to listen through and get caught up in the guitar interplay and electronic sonic tweaking and pounding percussion. It’s perfectly recorded, too, an all around excellent EP.

Pet Clinic / Stop Wasting My Precious Time

Website / Facebook / iTunes

We actually just reviewed this record yesterday, but it’s totally worth bringing up again and pointing you to it. These relative newcomers to the scene already have a bunch of great songs under their belt, and we’re expecting plenty more greatness from them.

Bandcamp / Facebook

This pretty lil’ lady has the heart and voice and sweetness of a country singer. Channeling the feminine side of fellow local singer Chet Vincent, as her site proclaims, these tunes (penned by Vincent) showcase Molly’s voice and charm. Check out this cute video for the lovely “Let’s Make Love With The Lights On”, filmed all around Lawrenceville, too.

Website / Facebook / Bandcamp

This lo-fi, psychedelic punk band just found its way to our inboxes in the last couple of weeks. One Man Houses was apparently recorded in a basement in Lawrenceville and, in a very loving way, that definitely shows. The band’s main man, Dylan, moved away to Brooklyn, but here’s hoping he’ll make a Pgh appearance again soon enough.

Bandcamp / Facebook

Well, yeah, while We Are Talking about Spirit Night, the former members of that band that stayed in town formed Good Sport and put out this great EP. It’s tough to categorize, in a way—it’s part Animal Collective, part M83, part Flaming Lips, part Pavement—but it’s highly listenable, no matter what your musical inclinations are.

Bandcamp / Facebook / Blog

Yeah, this is one song we’re repping here, but ohmygod is it a great one. Roger used to play solo tunes as Dandelion Snow when he wasn’t off gallivanting with punksters White Wives, but this year he’s embarked on a new personal venture as Bluebird Midwest. The emotive vibes and patient, acoustic guitar melodies are as strong as ever, but it’s the lyrics that will really hook you, we think. Head over to his Facebook page to download this new tune. Seriously, do it now.

Facebook / Website / Twitter

There ya have it. February in a nutshell of sorts. We wanna see all these shows, we wanna see all these bands, we wanna buy all these records. But of course we’ve missed stuff, and that’s where you come in! Leave some comments and tell us about everything else, what you’re excited about, and all that good stuff.

Words by Jim

My inbox gets annihilated by emails on a daily basis. I almost feel bad for it. PR people from around the globe send us the most random stuff. Seriously, I’m not saying that we are super important and we have PR agents banging our door down, because that’s definitely not the case. It’s just the power of Google and Twitter search, I guess. If we feature a band from the UK, you can bet that two days later we’ll have emails about the newest dub step grunge trip hop artist from England that I absolutely don’t care about in the slightest. With so much flux, it’s easy to miss the good stuff so it’s awesome when we receive a humble email from someone saying “Hey guys, I think you’d like this. Enjoy”. It’s even better when that person is a fellow Pittsburgher giving us a heads up on great local music. This is exactly how Young Brokaw’s Rabbit Dancer found me and I’m so glad it did.

I’d never heard of Young Brokaw before this mysterious email showed up, but I immediately thought “Wow. That’s a great band name”. Just something about it, right? Anywho, not knowing anything about the band, never seeing them live, never hearing anyone talk about them, I was a tabula rasa, ready to formulate an unadulterated opinion. It didn’t take long for me to make the call that yes, this was indeed, fucking awesome. I’ve already stated in a recent Song Diary entry how I immediately loved opening track “Catalpa” (check it out here).

Those opening guitar lines and caterwauling vocals were enough to seal the deal for me on that song, but what about the others? Luckily, the opening track is a perfect introduction to the remainder of the whole. Rabbit Dancer is a tremendous collection of three minute indie rock pop songs that are upbeat and full of life. Singer/guitarist Matt Dull breathes energy through all ten songs in the form of jagged, jarring vocals. He shouts through the letters of “Catalpa”, harmonizes with himself on “Angela” (and many others), and reels it all back in for a straight ahead performance on “Cellar Shoes” before joining himself three times over. Dull has such an interesting voice and style that it’s exciting to hear. It excites me! His lower register is plaintive and straightforward, his upper register is edgy and anxious, and the songs on Rabbit Dancer artfully combine the two every chance they get. “Magnetic North” features Dull just wailing away over frantically strummed power chords and pounding percussion and it’s awesome.

The music behind Dull’s wicked vocals is good and serves it’s purpose, which in my opinion, is to propel the vocal’s forward. Chord progressions are simple without being generic, the percussion keeps the music moving, and the bass or synth holds it all together. Honestly, the music is a vehicle for Dull’s vocals and lyrics, but I’m definitely not stating the music sub par by any means. The guitars and more remind me of early Modest Mouse and definitely has that mid-’90s Pavement-y feel to it. It all works so well together. Everything is just a bit rough around the edges and I think that’s how Young Brokaw wanted it.

With ten songs clocking in a hair over 30 minutes, there’s definitely no filler on Rabbit Dancer. Each song is different in composition or subject matter, maintaining fluidity through instrumentation and keeping the listener happy with terrific hooks. I find myself singing, humming, or whistling along to the infectious melodies on pretty much every song. It’s hard not to when each tune is just so fun. Interestingly enough, my favorite track is the reserved “Mythology”, taking the cake as the track most unlike the others. Gently strummed acoustic guitar and light percussion hold up Dull’s most reverent vocals, with lyrics like “Comes on a breeze called pity / Moving through light troops occupying uptown / Some people gone crazy / Like a day turns night now an owl comes down / We are mythology / We are on the wire.” Gentle trumpet fades in an out around Dull’s trilling double tracked, harmonized lines, calling to mind parts of Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over the Sea. I could listen to this track over and over.

Young Brokaw are new kids on the block (formed about a year ago) and are already off to a terrific start (pick it up on Bandcamp). Two thirds of the band are seasoned musicians, playing in different groups around town over the years (West Hollywood Cheerleaders, Part Man, Shade, The Seeing Eyeballs), but seem to have found a project unique to their tastes and strenghts. I have a feeling you’ll be hearing more and more of this trio throughout 2012. They just officially released Rabbit Dancer last weekend a Gooski’s and have had a few shows around town. With such a strong debut release, I hope to see them bringing their jagged, retro indie rock to more and more ears of the PGH music scene. I promise I won’t be surprised when I start hearing indie kids spelling out the word “C-A-T-A-L-P-A” at Brillobox. Naturally, I’ll be yelling it right along with them.

Young Brokaw on the Web
Bandcamp
Facebook
Twitter

Words by Jim

Oh man. I really hope that the name of this post hasn’t confused you. Yes. You read that correctly. The name of this band is The White Album. And get this, the name of their release is called The Album and it’s more the length of an EP. Wait, what? Yes. Well, now that we’ve gotten past that little hiccup, let’s get down to business: this band is tremendous (and Danish).

It’s always a crapshoot perusing the crowded halls of Bandcamp. There’s just so much to look through and so much of it is either not my taste or unfortunately, not that good. That’s part of the charm of Bandcamp, though and I know that going into it. Anyone can upload their music for consumption and I think that’s a terrific thing. So when I found The White Album, I was blown away. I’d never heard of the band before and it actually popped up on a recommendation from another album I downloaded (I like how that works, Bandcamp. Nice job.). I went out on a limb and gave a listen to this strangely named band and generally named release with a nondescript wintery house cover shot. I won’t say that I didn’t close my eyes and hope for the best.

Goddamn, was I impressed. Turns out that The White Album is a threesome from Copenhagen, Denmark that’s in the business of producing wintery folk pop that’s both familiar and refreshing. The Album is a quick 19 minutes of sweetly arranged folk that plays on the individual strengths of the three members of the band. I’m not sure who does what, but it’s clear that Claus Arvad, Frederik Vedersø, Jakob Eilsø share their lead vocals in turn throughout the six songs. The album moves and shifts as each individual and distinctly different voice carries the melody (and I’m assuming the guy who is singing is the guy who wrote the song. I could be wrong). With changing voices, it could be difficult to maintain any type of fluidity, but The White Album do a great job of keeping the songs grounded through the instrumentation. It’s pretty much all acoustic guitars, light percussion, and a little banjo backing up beautiful harmonies and I’m definitely ok with that.

There isn’t much information about The White Album online anywhere, which is kind of a bummer. Their Facebook page serves as the only source of information from me on this one and the best part of their little bio is this gem: “The White Album is a danish band from Copenhagen consisting of 3 very good friends with big beards and very big hearts.”. Fucking right. The last line of their bio rings especially true though: “Just as the original white album, there’s no right or wrong. Just ideas. Mostly wonderful ones.”. Spot on. The album is a collection of beautiful songs from three individual songwriters working together and it’s wonderful. “Guns and Ammunition” has Junip-like guitar work that’s just lovely while “December” has a Deep Dark Woods flavor about it thanks to the rough smokey vocals of, well, one of those guys. “Fall at Will” is a beautifully arranged display of The White Album‘s full band potential with a very Bon Iver like composition of vocal harmonies. Basically, each song has something about it that makes it really special.

It almost feels like The Album was a labor of love more for them and less for the public to hear and it’s kind of gotten away from them (in the best kind of way). They have a pretty significant following on Facebook and from the awesomely humble and thankful email I got back after downloading the album, it seems like they are getting some great feedback and a lot of attention. There are promises of a full length album later this year and they are booking several shows in the UK. Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing them in the States anytime soon, but you can bet I’ll be spending some time with The Album waiting for more material to find it’s way across the ocean (maybe it’ll be The Album II or The Second Album. Ok bad joke, sorry). For now, enjoy the tunes, give the band a nice donation, and watch the video below.

The White Album on the web:
Facebook
Bandcamp

Hung On You from New Shouts on Vimeo.

We are super psyched to premiere this new music video from Pittsburgh’s best retro soul-rockers, New Shouts! Their fantastic debut EP, Sing New Shouts, was one of our local faves of last year, and we’ve caught some stripped-down versions of their tunes on tape for their Echo Chamber session, as well. This rockin’ tune, “Hung On You”, is track 3 on that EP and gets your dancin’ shoes movin’ right off the bat with that New Shouts sound. The video, directed by Adam Steinsdoerfer, tells the tale of a lovely young lady—”the crush of all the dudes”, as it were—and stars all four band members. Keep your eyes peeled for the Pittsburgh sights where they filmed as you watch the video above, and download an mp3 of the song below, too. Then head to their Bandcamp page to pick up the whole EP and some digital singles. Rock on!

New Shouts / Hung On You

Words by Vicki

Something that’s always thrilled me about music is its ability to transcend words, and yet still convey the meaning they hold. Sure, I may never know what Jonsi of Sigur Rós is saying, but that’s not stopping him and his band from making powerful, moving music. The same is true of any talented musician singing in a foreign tongue. Take Mexican singer-songwriter Ximena Sariñana. Though she’s often singing in Spanish, her meaning is not lost on me. How? Why does this work? Let’s chalk it up to another reason music is amazing and wonderful, and learn a little bit more about Ms. Sariñana while we’re at it.

Ximena Sariñana / Mediocre
Ximena Sariñana / Shine Down

Ximena Sariñana hails from Guadalajara, Mexico, where she’s actually quite famous. The daughter of a movie producer and screenwriter, she began acting in telenovelas at age 11. But she was also interested in music, and began writing her own songs. In 2008, when she was 23, she released her first album, Mediocre, an all-Spanish album that feels very personal and heartfelt. While I don’t know for sure what her songs are about, I’m gonna take a wild stab and guess love. She sounds so hurt on the title track that I’m thinking it’s probably unrequited love, or a relationship that didn’t last. She also sounds angry. Maybe she’s singing angrily at an ex, or maybe she’s angry at herself for falling for a dope. I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter, because I do know how the song makes me feel. It’s wonderfully cathartic, satisfyingly sad, and just perfectly beautiful.

Mediocre was so successful in Mexico that Ximena’s record label asked her if she’d be interested in recording a “crossover” album, one recorded entirely in English. Ximena took the challenge and in 2011 released the self-titled Ximena Sariñana. This album is more straightforward pop than her previous effort, but there’s a few interesting twists, including the ever-popular looping, which she uses to great effect on several of the tracks. The album’s subject matter is, well, still love, but Ximena also sings about her frustrations trying to express herself in a non-native language. On “Different,” she sings, “Failing to communicate / Will it seem like I’m in half-hearted?”

Ximena went on tour to promote this newest album, and stopped at our own Club Café in Pittsburgh. Can you imaging going from being a Spanish music darling to playing a half-crowded room on a freezing cold night on the South Side? But if she felt out of place, she hid it admirably well onstage. Ximena played an equal mix of songs from both of her albums, meaning about half the set was in English, half in Spanish. Songs from both languages went over equally well. She charmed the audience by talking about how she was such a drama queen as a teenager, being obsessed with this boy or that boy, writing overly emotional love songs. She seemed a little embarrassed in retrospect, but still able to look back on her younger self and laugh at her naïveté.

After the show, my friends and I were able to chat with Ximena for a bit. We complimented the show and sympathized with her apparent lack of cold-weather gear for a northeastern tour in December. Then my friend Abby commented, “You know how you said you were kind of overly dramatic? You should really keep doing that,” meaning, of course, that Ximena’s soul-baring love songs were beautiful and moving. Maybe a bit of added drama is a good thing, especially when trying to communicate your meaning in another language.

Ximena laughed, thanked us and asked which Steelers jersey to buy for her brother back home in Mexico. (Polamalu, of course.)

Ximena Sariñana on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter / iTunes

Bind Pilot & The Barr Brothers / Mr. Smalls / 2.10.2012 / Doors 7:00 / $13.50

Words by Jim

It’s always fun to catch a band around town and see them return a few years later, a few years older, and a few fans stronger. Case in point: Blind Pilot. I caught them back in 2009 when they played with (the seriously awesome) Laura Veirs at Club Cafe. Fast forward three years later, the band has a new album and they’re playing at Mr. Small’s. It’s really exciting to see a small indie band from Portland working hard and making it, but it’s just as exciting that we’re giving away TWO FREE TICKETS for this show. Yeah, yeah yeah. Do it!

Blind Pilot / One Red Thread
Blind Pilot / Half Moon

We’re big fans of Blind Pilot’s debut album. 3 Rounds and a Sound was a perfect blend of indie folk pop. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones, as the debut album reached number 13 on the Billboard Top Digital Album charts (I think that’s really good, right?). The band originally formed around lead singer/songwriter Israel Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski sometime around 2006. What started as a duo recording a collection of songs and biking across part of the country to play their songs turned into a full fledged six piece ensemble reproducing the sound of their debut and catching the ear of blogs, critics, and music lovers everywhere.

Nebeker’s plaintive, familiar vocals are the centerpiece of the band, and it doesn’t hurt his tone and timbre are the vehicle for introspective and interesting lyrics. On “One Red Thread” he carries us along with words like “I can remember the age that I was / But not the story that pumped in my blood / When you were the savior and I was the taker of”. The tone and lyrics continue on their late 2011 release We Are The Tide, but we find the band with a lush, full sound and tremendous production value. Guitar and banjo melodies bubble up from below as rich backing vocals wrap around Nebeker’s pop melodies. Opening album tune “Half Moon” picks up where 3 Round and a Sound left off, but man, these arrangements are gorgeous and the hooks are even bigger than before.

As I said up top, it’s awesome to see them playing Pittsburgh again in a venue three times the size as before. They did a pretty great job of packing the room at Clube Cafe with fans singing along, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. I remember that show vividly. I had just moved back to Pittsburgh a little over a month before and was taking full advantage of my favorite concert spots. I’d never seen either band live before, and was blown away by both. Laura Veirs, especially, made a tremendous impression on me as she blasted through all the best songs from her outstanding July Flame release. I recall vividly how humble Nebeker and company were that the room was packed and Laura Veirs was opening for them. Nebeker almost seemed incredulous and starry eyed as they played through the majority of their debut. Good stuff.

It sure doesn’t hurt that supporting Blind Pilot that night is the Montreal-based americana folk quartet The Barr Brothers. They seem to be getting a lot of recent press, even appearing on David Letterman (which you can watch below) doing some crazy stuff (is that dental floss?). Definitely going to be a great opener for Blind Pilot (and check out that monster harp! Rad!).

Blind Pilot :: ‘New York’ via @liveset from Blind Pilot on Vimeo.

You don’t want to miss Blind Pilot’s return to PGH. We want you to go! Here’s how you can enter to win 2 free tickets: leave a note on our Facebook wall (like us first or it won’t count!), @ us on Twitter (with the hashtag #BlindPilotPGH, and follow us first!), or send me an email to enter the contest! Just say “3 round and a freakin’ sound, gimme those Blind Pilot Tickets!” or “I’m a beggar in the morning and I don’t care. I want those tickets!” or the like. It really doesn’t matter. We’ll pick a winner (at random) next Friday and let you know who the lucky guy/gal is! You’ll be able to pick up your tickets at the box office on the day of the show. Best of luck and see yinz there!

Buy tickets for this show: Online / Call 412.821.4447 / Opus One Productions

Blind Pilot on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter
The Barr Brothers on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter