Girl About Town

The Shout Out Louds - Optica (Merge) 2013

Girl About Town — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:54:09 -0400

See The Shout Out Louds live in Philadelphia this week:
Wednesday, May 8th, 2013 @ Union Transfer

The Shout Out Louds with Haerts
Tickets: http://www.utphilly.com/event/189043-shout-out-louds-philadelphia

Swedish group The Shout Out Louds have always pushed the envelope where their music was concerned. All the way from the early guitar crunch of 2003's Howl Howl Gaff Gaff (rereleased with a different tracklisting in '05), to the gentle synth shimmer of 2007's Our Ill Wills, and the nearly three year break that brought us the lovely songs from 2010's "Work" LP and one of its most memorable tracks, "Fall Hard"; the band has lifted up their ideas to match their swift progression from album to album surprising even their most ardent fans with the full breadth of their abilities over the years.

The group's brand new album Optica (released on Merge this year), takes their songs in another new direction altogether with a melancholy that harkens back to the softness and danceability of "Our Ill Wills," but with the strong songwriting and artillary of their album "Work" behind them. As with the band's previous albums, Optica has enough material here to keep the casual listener or fan easily excited and happy, but its complexities definitely make it a darker album (moreso) over previous works.

There are quite a few standout tracks on Optica to consider; whether it's sang loudly in the upbeat sunshine refrains of "Walking In Your Footsteps", or compared to the more quietly intense (and we swear we can hear lead singer Adam Olenius channeling Matt Berninger(s) (The National) but maybe we've been listening to too much of both) vocals on "Blue Ice" and its more dancier and brilliant counterpart in "14th of July".

If you were worried about missing the vocals of Bebban Stenborg, have no fear; she has another of the album's greatest tracks in "Hermila" which also has a fantastic bass line, is featured on the beginnings and pre-chorus of the sure summer-felt track in "Chasing The Sinking Sun", as well as standing out in the lovely backing harmonies on the track "Illusions" to highlight just a few of her stronger moments.

"When my heart stops / I'm letting you go / There'll be another one / To follow you home...."
(Hermila, Optica, The Shout Out Louds)

Out of all the tracks on the new album; "Blue Ice", "14th of July", "Hermila", the driving piano/synth of "Glasgow", "Where You Come In", the quiet in "Burn", and the album closer "Destroy" boast the band's most distinctive writing that we've heard yet. They really do deserve congratulations on Optica; it's by far and wide one of their most complex and interesting albums to date and should fit proudly and easily among The Shout Out Louds' already burgeoning discography.

The Shout Out Louds - band site / merge / facebook

Time to Get Rad! Making Time with LITTLE BOOTS, Beach Fossils, Tiger & Woods @ Voyeur on May 4th, 2013

Girl About Town — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:00:06 -0400

Exciting to hear that U.K.'s Little Boots has a new album dropping this month (Nocturnes) and that she will headline Voyeur tomorrow night at Making Time! Double your pleasure by catching what will also surely be fantastic performances from Beach Fossils (always so fun to see live) along with openers Tiger & Woods. It's a pre-Cinco de Mayo show, but we know that you'll all be celebrating like it's Cinco de '85, crushing those dance moves and waving at the DJ to play that song you love (and if we're being honest probably crying that you regret it in the morning but then loving it again in the afternoon)!

The Philly stop on Little Boots tour will pre-empt her brand new album Nocturnes which is set to be released May 7th, 2013 on Victoria Hesketh's [a.k.a. Little Boots] very own independent label imprint On Repeat Records.

"The album was produced by DFA Records co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, with other key contributions from Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford and Hercules and Love Affair's Andy Butler. Nocturnes is a powerful record of irresistible hooks and stunning songwriting that celebrates 90s house, seventies disco and futuristic electronics while maintaining the magic of classic pop."

More on Little Boots latest album, and choosing to release it independently, below:

"Hesketh says that her Little Boots debut on On Repeat Records will be helped by external funding, marketing, and distribution assistance from Kobalt Label Services and Little Boots' management team at This Is Music Ltd.

"I remember what Robyn did," says Hesketh. "(She) left her label, set up her own one, and it worked out pretty well for her… in the U.K., it doesn't feel like there's a credible pop label, an interesting pop label outside the mainstream." The singer is also open to releasing other artists' albums through On Repeat, which is currently setting up a proper website so demos can be submitted." - (Billboard.com, Chris Payne, 3/8/2013)

There's a contest happening over at the Making Time Facebook page if you haven't already picked up your tickets: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Making-Time-is-Rad and Little Boots also recently released a brand remix to highlight "Broken Record" from the new album (we've included it below). It must be true that all great events always happen on weekends further into late spring....making these longer days feel as though the nights will never end; and this is about to be one of those!

Little Boots - band site / facebook

The Sky Drops - Let It Sound (new song)

Girl About Town — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:34:34 -0400

"Every single second / I need another weapon / to keep it from coming down", Delaware's The Sky Drops have been crafting and recording new material in their spare time to follow up on their previous album full-length, "Bourgeois Beat" (2009) and "Making Mountains" EP, released in 2011. "Let It Sound" is a great song intensely framed by drummer Monika's strong beats and Rob's guitar work which twists from a high level growl to a low scream that churns into a fever pace with the duo's trademark harmonised vocal echo answers. A great first teaser for the band who have said they may be releasing more tracks in the months to come. Make sure you check out the duo's previous albums and singles for purchase at their bandcamp page, and hopefully further into the summer and early fall there will be more song news and material to to relay to those (including us) who are always hungry for more from this talented duo!

The Sky Drops - band site / facebook