polyphonic imagery

Marnie Herald

2009-05-19T00:39:00.000-07:00

I'm instantly hooked by her voice. It's nothing grand nor the simplest kind, it's just beautiful. Sometimes frail sometimes haunting sometimes slow and substantially deep at another time, hinting on daydream repose, her songs are the perfect complements to her voice.
Listen to Stumbling, Nightwalker, and Rosemary.
myspace

Entertainment for the Braindead

2009-05-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine told me to check this one out, and thank God I did. Entertainment for the Braindead is the multi-instrumentalist Julia Kotowsky from Germany, and she is an incredible, if not mistaken, string magician! As I listened with growing intense, charming guitar tracks, soft-spoken words, she is loved. Listen to Then it Started Speaking to Me.Luminous, luminous!
myspace

mp3 Colours

Metric - Help I'm Alive

2009-05-05T01:23:00.000-07:00

Io Echo - I Want You (She's So Heavy) Beatles Cover

2009-05-05T01:17:00.000-07:00

io echo

2009-05-01T01:31:00.000-07:00

I did my homework on io. I read that she was ripping off every Karen O. Although io echo's music is MUCH BETTER than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (never in my life I take a slight interest in those people, especially Karen O, and I spent most of my time listening to female artists). There's a comment I like best. It is said that both of them, Karen O and io, rip off Siouxsie Sioux. Haha. Way to go girl. Siouxsie rules!

Io is an L.A-based artist. She writes songs in a late hour locked in a bedroom situation. She plays guitar and keyboards. Io's songs are produced by Leopold Ross. Io Echo was formed in 2005 by a collective of artists, hoping to experiment with sound and electronics. Playing art shows and occasional club dates throughout the US and Europe, io echo is a sonic exploration into improvisational instrumental avant guarde electronica. Listen to Beware, Addicted, I'm on Fire.
myspace

mp3 Beware
mp3 Addicted
mp3 I'm on Fire
mp3 Pixies
(uploaded)

Pieta Brown

2009-04-29T18:59:00.000-07:00

She is just so beautiful. Pieta Brown is an Iowa-based singer/songwriter. She plays guitar, wurlitzer, and piano. She has released several EP's to date, Pieta Brown (2002), In the Cool (2005), Remember the Sun (2007), and Flight Time (2008).

Pieta was exposed to traditional and rural folk music through her father, Greg Brown, the now beloved Midwestern folk singer. Later, while living with her mother in Alabama during her formative years, Pieta drew on and expanded these influences and began writing poetry and composing instrumental songs on piano.

By the time she left home at 18, Pieta had lived in at least 17 different houses and apartments between Iowa and Alabama. Staying true to the disjointed lifestyle of her childhood she wandered from the West Coast to the East. Each locale left its mark on her, accounting for an artist who brings together the unvarnished humility of Loretta Lynn, the honest modern rock punch of P.J. Harvey, the hipster swagger and poetry of Cat Power, and the airy sophistication of Feist. And - coloring it all - a deep abiding saturation in folk and blues that’s beyond her years. All of this, yet she has her own distinctive style, lyrical substance, and voice. She is unmistakably “a songwriter of great depth,” as Indie911.com recently noted.

On the sublime ‘Remember The Sun’ (One Little Indian Records), Pieta Brown continued to ride the upward arc begun with her eponymous debut in 2002 and extended by 2005’s critically acclaimed ‘In the Cool’. 'Remember The Sun' landed at 2 on music critic Michael Ross’ list for the Village Voice’s 35th Annual Critic’s Poll, and the Wall Street Journal included it in their list of the best of 2007.

This enigmatic Midwesterner has also recently released a new EP, entitled "Flight Time", which seemingly arrived out of the blue and has already landed on critic’s lists as well (No Depression Individual Critic’s Picks of 2008). It's a seven-song collection of gems that Pieta recorded lo-fi in Iowa; an intense collection of songs that are beyond what one expects from a young artist - but exactly what you might wish for from an old soul.

Today, Pieta Brown stays focused on her original intention: “Long before I ever put a recording out there for somebody else to hear, my aim was to be a great artist, and that’s what I’ll always be going after. All my life, I’ve been close to writing and music and all kinds of art and that closeness continues to drive me.”
myspace

mp3 In My Mind I Was Talking to Loretta
mp3 Wish Me Luck
mp3 I Never Told
mp3 Are You Free
(uploaded)

Roma di Luna

2009-04-28T21:32:00.000-07:00

Roma di Luna are Channy Moon Casselle (lead vox,violin), Alexei Moon Casselle (lead vox, guitar), Ryan Lovan (drums), Ben Durrant (electric guitar), JG Everest (bass), Jessi Prusha (backing vox), Michael Rossetto (banjo). It's actually a duo of wife and husband Channy and Alexei Moon Chaselle. Heartfelt songs, pedal steel guitar blues, and Channy's velvety voice, Americana and alt country can never sound this good.

As husband and wife, Alexei and Channy Casselle co-write songs that are plaintive, sometimes dark yet “hauntingly soothing” noted for “simple instrumentation along with piercing, emotively beautiful vocals.” The songs are presented in a stark manner, keeping them true to the influence of Americana roots. Lyrics soaked with confessions and hard truths pay homage to the storytellers and spiritual revelations of the folk and gospel tradition. Alexei Moon Casselle is better known in the underground hip-hop scene as an MC under the alias Crescent Moon as a former member of Oddjobs, and current member of Kill the Vultures, occasionally touring with Atmosphere as Slug’s hype-man. Channy Moon Casselle is a classically trained violinist who has played with various bluegrass groups and has already blossomed into a talented singer/songwriter. Roma di Luna first emerged on the scene through weekly busking performances at the downtown Minneapolis farmer’s market beginning in 2004. They played traditional numbers from Alan Lomax songbooks on a corner next to meat vendors and vegetable farmers, eventually working more of their original songs into their spirited sets.

Listen to Pearls for Pigs, These Tears Ain't Mine, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and Plenty.
myspace

mp3 Ghost Dance
mp3 I'm Gone
mp3 The Romance of Wolves
(uploaded)

Now, Now Every Children - Everyone We Know

2009-04-28T21:12:00.001-07:00

Now, Now Every Children

2009-04-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

I fell in love with the voice. Murky and heartbreaking, like a strong blow to the head. And the rest was history. At first I was skeptical, I thought it was a Paramore-esque band or something. It's the hair. Thank God it's not.
Somewhere between lo-fi recording, angular riffs, sad chords, and Cacie Dalager, the band adequately possess a distinctive sharp taste on music.

Now, Now Every Children are Cacie Dalager (vocals, guitar), Brad Hale (drum, vocals), Britty Hale (keyboard). It began with Cacie Dalager and Brad Hale in a marching band practice in Blaine, Minn, where they started writing songs together. Their first work of art well-wished a graduating friend from high school, but their musical queues were much more than greeting card salutations. Dalager and Hale began recording demos in their suburban basements, posting them on MySpace and gaining fans before they even played a show.

After signing to Afternoon Records in 2007, Now, Now Every Children released two EPs to critical acclaim: “Not One, But Two” and “In the City” of which they earned a spot as “Band of the Month” on Paramorefans.com.

“Cars” Now, Now Every Children’s first full-length album is all about life on the highway. Rerecording 3 of the singles off their first two EPs plus 7 more brand new tracks are a series of poignant moments written by Dalager and Hale, mostly over the last year.
Listen to Cars, Not One But Two, Everyone You Know.
myspace

mp3 Everyone We Know
mp3 Friends with My Sister
mp3 Cars
mp3 Not One, But Two
(uploaded)

Maudegone - Love Love Love

2009-04-27T20:21:00.002-07:00

Maudegone - A Ballet

2009-04-27T20:21:00.001-07:00

Maudegone - The Wall Dance

2009-04-27T20:19:00.001-07:00

ss/maudegone

2009-04-27T20:08:00.000-07:00

Maudegone is Shannyn Sossamon's project of music and videos with fellow musicians and artists. She directs short movies and she composes some of the music, and has released a series of dance movies as part of a concept project/film titled Edit Pedestrian which is a series of feeling-based dance sequences. Santa Ballet WallDance + LoveLoveLove are just 4 of them. Total eleven.

She will release Edit Pedestrian on DVD along with the SS music when they are all complete.
myspace

Lucy Langlas

2009-04-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

If you were once into The Sundays and Amanda Kravat, you might find this one interesting. Lucy Langlas is a singer/songwriter originally from Montana but now calls Los Angeles home. Since the start of her music career Langlas has been building an audience playing everywhere she can from art galleries and coffeehouses to top L.A. venues.

Flag is her debut full-length release. The album is filled with ten songs driven by Langas’ pure vocals that are filled with soulful, soothing and relaxing tones.

Laglas’ plays a very stripped down, minimalists style of music, often with only her vocals and guitar playing topped off with occasional harmonica notes.

Lyrically the songs have a poetic flow to them as each of them tells their particular story. Stylistically the songs for the most part are melodic mid-tempo tracks that have a nice steady flow found on them.

The only real negative I have to say about this release is I wish that it would have had one or two up-tempo song to help add a little bit of variety. Songs like, “Counter Attack,” and “Tear Us Into Pieces,” do try by adding some change of pace with their lively harmonica parts.

Track-5, “Speed” from the album will be spotlighted in the upcoming feature film Nightfur.

Broken spring of luminous vocals, one time bitter, the other time sweet, she resides in the heart of folk acoustic and early 90's vein. Listen to Speed, Tear Us into Pieces, Overloaded, and Counter Attack.
myspace

mostly from cwsplace.wordpress.com

FiT - Hymn

2009-04-27T06:06:00.001-07:00

FiT

2009-04-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

FiT is Emily Kokal. Two things: Sorrowful guitar and frail voices. In her myspace it is said Trance Trance Trance but I say Sorrow sorrow sorrow. Her songs will make you melt. Emily Kokal was born in October 1980 in the hippie town of Eugene, Oregon (US). In 2001, still in Oregon, she made a record with a band called Little Two’s. In March 2007 she formed a new band called Warpaint.

In between she was living in LA working as a vocalist. In July 2008 Emily decided to go public with her solo music. She started giving small concerts around LA and created a musicpage to upload songs and gather fans, using the name FiT.

Listen to Hymn, Generous Palmstroke, and Dark Flowers.
myspace

Warpaint - Elephants

2009-04-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

Warpaint

2009-04-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

Warpaint is a sleepy yet raw alternative band (although they prefer to render their music as psychedelic/ghettotech) from United States fronted by Emily Kokal (vocals/guitar). Other members are: Theresa Becker-Wayman (guitar/vocals/keys), Jennifer Lee Lindberg (bass/vocals/Shannyn Sossamon's sister), and David Michael Orlando (drums). The frail-voiced Emily Kokal integrates her melancholy (mainly done with acoustic guitar and electric guitar-drone) in a different level of energy, resulted in.. a band. Her songs now are accompanied with backing vocals that are charmingly done by two other girls. Listen to Elephants, Billie Holiday, and Stars.

Review by la-underground.net:
“Fucking gorgeous”. That was overheard while Warpaint opened with a bold and utterly beautiful set of post-rock ethereality. Physically, yes, but that’s too obvious. Musically, however, it’s a bit unexpected. While probably well-studied in the art of Blonde Redhead, Jawbox, and Sonic Youth these ladies have a rhythmic feel and style all their own. And although the band may get some heat for the celebrity factor surrounding them (which we’ll avoid mentioning), we can safely say they don’t sound like a “Hollywood” band at all. Thank goodness.
myspace

mp3 Billie Holiday
mp3 Stars
mp3 Elephants
mp3 Burgundy
(uploaded)

Duran Duran's Femme Fatale

2009-04-27T02:50:00.000-07:00

First verse sounds like 'Imagine' (??). Here's Nico's

Lia Ices

2009-04-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

Lia Ices, pianist and singer, grew up in Connecticut. Since the age of 5, when she first started playing piano, Lia has been defining and refining her creative voice and it’s outlet. While at NYU’s Tisch School in the Experimental Theatre Wing, she was inspired to turn her stagecraft inward. She was encouraged to use her voice as a vehicle for emotion and as a source of expression, and to release a bit from all the classical training. Lia’s re-connection with her inner and outer voice — matched with her long love of prose, literature, and letter writing — launched her into songwriting. NECIMA marks Lia’s first full length album.

Taken from her official site:

Lia is no shapeshifter. She simply lives from time to time with wild animals and acts as their spokesperson. Visualizing her slender fingers next, they tap piano keys with a natural confidence because, retracing her mystical roots, she sprouted out of the ground next to a baby grand and started playing it the second her bristly skin fell away. Her piano style—a theatrical pounding out of big chord progressions spattered with delicate single notes—belies her affinity for sonic symmetry, structure taming melodic tornadoes. I see Baroque rosettes formed out of an early adoration of Rowlf the Dog, that blues-stricken Muppet. Ices’ fingertips function best while hammering out patterns. Lia Ices may be an expert in Morse code.
myspace

mp3 Many Moons

Woodstock

2009-04-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

How do you stop Woodstock from reappearing?

Get a life.

Curiouser and curiouser: Aleks and the Drummer, Hecuba, and Apache Beat

2009-04-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

Aleks and the Drummer

You know which part I fear most when I read about or listen to music nowadays? That there are so many things to name your music with. Surf/breakbeat/grime, what the hell? And there are so many crazy people out there making music. I'm not a fan of Happy Rhodes, never was, never will. So this is kind of spooky for me. I want straight answers, since I could never understand this kind of music (I want to). Is this, by any chance, considered as THE good music to you? People now are into primordial, primitive, tribal pop mixed with folktronica, nintendo harp (I made this up, since it was so frantically playing), or whichever coolness they want to get across to. A number of bands are claiming to dig bongos or afro-beat or neu beat, or whatever beat that's left to exploit, those quizzical terms of music, poetic phrases.
Aleks and the Drummer are Chicago based artists, Aleks Andra Tomaszewska (she sings, she plays haunting keys, Happy Rhodes, please stop reappearing) and Deric Criss (percussions). How do they sound? In their myspace profile they say something about: crazed beats born of diseased hearts, viscous opalescence, victorious and sad dance music, nintendo adrenaline, tearful resolutions, middle-eastern candy, operatic desperation for the useless, obsessive nature of complex paper cut-outs, and meandering melodies among ancient trees. thank you for visiting and enjoy us please.
myspace

mp3 I Want to Melt His Eyes
mp3 Fade Away and Radiate

Hecvba

It spells Hecuba. Hecuba are Los Angeles based artists Isabelle Albuquerque and Jon Beasley.

One never knows what to expect from Hecuba. Dancers, Japanese Koto harp, computers, beat machines, trombones and soul singers have all been a part. L. A. Record says they have “real and weird and unexpected soul.”, while Paper Thin Walls writes, “Hecuba’s dubbed-out drone-moan is the L.A. version of New York bands like Excepter or Gang Gang Dance: sexier, cleaner, not as gnarled, more open spaces, more vocals, less concerned about their record collection, would rather dance to hip-hop than talk about it… not afraid.” L. A. Weekly says, “I was shocked. And in this day and age it is damn hard to be shocked. They are performers in a true sense.”
myspace

mp3 Miles Away

Apache Beat

Apache Beat are New York based band with eccentric Australian singer Ilirjana Alushaj. They claim their music to be in the vein of Neu's minimalist, post Neu, post punk, tags are getting longer. With songs like Your Powers are Magic and Tropics, they are ready to channel your thirst on 'Neu' good music.
myspace

mp3 Your Powers are Magic
mp3 Tropics

Hintergedanken

2009-04-24T01:20:00.000-07:00

Hintergedanken in Germany means ulterior motives, the thought behind thoughts, the space between spaces.
Hintergedanken is the manifestation of preternatural entities enthralling Karen Eliot and Clay Ruby (with invaluable assistance of Dan Woodman, Tony Endless, Michelle Kunz, Nico Kain, Azrael, Nic State, Billy Lee, Theresa Behnen, db Peterson, Jeremy Evans). Their message for the faithless faithful takes the form of an infinitely cosmic psych/prog beast, much in the vein of 60's private press killers such as Yahowa 13 and Frolk Haven. Hintergedanken spews non-local quantum froth from the far realms of Zothyria, which blows over the quivering cadavers of their sacred zombie prostitutes used in eerie twilight rituals of the forbidden bongload.

cdbaby.com

To me, the instrumental group sound pleasantly wicked.
myspace

Mrs. Hyde

2009-04-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Although the picture picked could alter the true image of her--she seems like an ordinary pop-country artist with boots and jackets, fitted tops and oversized earings, which she really is not--the missus exceeds expectation. Mrs Hyde is a project revolving around Esther Lybeert, also known from Flat Earth Society, An Pierlé & White Velvet, Hong Kong Dollar and Tom Wolf. In the most basic setting she is only accompanied by guitarist Maarten Flamand (Cloon/Hong Kong Dollar) to play a variety of songs, which can be both intimate and very energetic only brief moments apart. A more elaborate lineup includes percussionist and backing vocalist Eva Schampaert (Gabriel Rios/Moiano/An Pierlé & White Velvet), bass player Maarten Standaert (Gabriel Rios/Moiano) and drummer Karel De Backer (Franco Saint De Bakker/Gabriel Rios/Flip Kowlier). When she was 16, Esther Lybeert was the first singer of Belgian band Hooverphonic.

The music of Mrs Hyde has many faces, most of the time the songs are gentle, intimate even, but at once they can turn around and become a lot more vivid, preternatural minor-major interval. Longer instrumental passages add to the easygoing atmosphere. More recently, the sound evolved into more powerful territories, without losing its elegance and complexity.

Mrs Hyde released a demo titled “Spare Key”, containing four songs:
-Alone
-Easier to conceal
-Satchel
-The Virgins

An earlier version of this demo features:
-Satchel (alt. version)
-French Fries
-Spare Key
-Sorry

Listen to minor-driven Hunter, Does Anybody Care, quite melancholy Easier to Conceal and No Colours No Shapes, and optimistic sorrow The Virgins.
myspace

An Pierle - How Does it Feel

2009-04-18T23:55:00.000-07:00