MP3: “Higher Than Five” from A Party In Motion

San Francisco’s Still Flyin’ have been spreading the word of the almighty HAMMJAMM since 2004, demolishing minds, souls, and any notion of personal space with equal abandon. Combining the kinetic energy of 60’s era rock steady with the catchy hooks and DIY aesthetic of today’s best indie-pop, Still Flyin’ are an event rarely paralleled in music. Still Flyin’ make music about the things most important to their lives, like getting seriously high fives, jamming music, jamming brews, jamming pizza, and “following the itinerary”.

Plunging head first into what is quickly becoming a new era of San Franciscan consciousness, Still Flyin’ is on the forefront a new musical movement, Where much of today’s music can be caught up in categories and labelling, the band have developed a term used to not only describe their sound, but also as a way to get outside the confines of genre definitions. HAMMJAMM is not to be confused with the “Jam Band Sound”, it is in fact fairly concise songs played with such veracity that they can only be called JAMMS, while the HAMM aspect represents a willingness not to be traditionally categorized.

On their much-loved debut album, Never Gonna Touch The Ground, group leader Sean Rawls and his fifteen (or more) like-minded music travelers proved themselves equally adept at the penetrating slo-jams, high-energy thunder jams, and insanely catchy well-toked world/reggae party pop (see: The Hott Chord Is Struck). 2010 finds Still Flyin’ re-inventing their whimsical pop incorporating romantic synth vibes, motorik grooves, and the occasional smooth sax. Earlier this year, they released the Runaway Train II/All Lips Touch 7″ hinting at a more catchier, more refined version of their earlier party jams. Their upcoming EP A Party In Motion takes the transformation a step further doing away with the island grooves of their previous work and instead let the hypnotic rhythms of krautrock lay the foundation for stretching out, with some songs even reaching the 8 minutes mark.

A Message from Still Flyin’:

Hello to you. We are so excited about the chances of 2010. 2010 is all about chances. A chance to invent an invention. A chance to patent that invention. A chance to patent what you’ve always dreamt of inventing. You could invent a world without hangovers. Below are Still Flyin’s chances in this new year. To paraphrase an inspiring call to arms: give us a chance, and we will no doubt take it from you.

“Shout-outs to Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” and Lipps Inc.’s “Funky Town” jostle elbows with nods to Swedish pop and show-tune punk, and it’s all channeled through a North American indie sensibility.” Pitchfork Media

“Still Flyin’ are a jaw-dropping live act that pack even more excitement into their show than you’d expect from a band of more than a dozen members. Everyone on stage was throwing themselves into the performance – especially the really tall guy who only seemed to enthusiastically dance behind the lead singer. I love the idea that a nationally touring band would bring along a guy just to dance.” You Ain’t No Picasso

“Fun is the new not-fun, and Still Flyin’ exemplifies that ethos…Still Flyin’ is a sweet-ass band.” SF Weekly

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Terrorbird Media & Hippies Are Dead Records Present…

Grand Lake Vinyl Release Party featuring:

Grand Lake
(HAD Records)

It’s For Free Grace
(aka Ted Nesseth of Heavenly States)

Sean Smith & The Present Moment
(Berkeley Guitars & Citay)

Djs: James & Evander

Tuesday, August 24th
@ Cafe Du Nord
2174 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94114
www.cafedunord.com

MP3: “Louise” from Blood Sea Dream

MP3: “Spark” from Blood Sea Dream via SF Weekly

“A standout among the many Oakland/East Bay alt-rock bands who love tempo changes and reverb, Grand Lake is a (sonically) ambitious outfit worth noting.” – SF Weekly

Grand Lake’s debut full-length offering, Blood Sea Dream, is the culmination of a decade and a half of friendship and musical camaraderie. Led by Port O’Brien founding member Caleb Nichols along with guitarist Jameson Swanagon and Danae Swanagon on keyboards, the band is anchored in the youthful, exuberant drumming of John Pomeroy (Nichols’ boyfriend). The vinyl edition of the album drops 8/10 in stores.

The band celebrates the vinyl release of the album on Hippies Are Dead Records with a record release show in San Francisco at Cafe Du Nord on Tuesday, August 24th. Also on the bill are It’s For Free Grace (aka Ted Nesseth of Heavenly States), Sean Smith & the Present Moment (Berkeley Guitars & Citay), and DJ Sets by James & Evander. The show is $10 and doors are at 8:30pm. The band is also giving away the track “Louise (I Live In a Fantasy)” while pairing it with the video for the track as well.

Blood Sea Dream twists and turns sonically and topically – winding its way from the angst-filled art-rock of “Louise (I Live In A Fantasy)”, the anthemic “Spark,” to the gently lumbering, orchestral waltz that is “Our Divorce.” Through two sides and twelve tracks, the musical and lyrical juxtapositions of Grand Lake’s ‘Blood Sea Dream’ weave in and out of each other to tell a story familiar to all – the facing-down of demons on the long drive home.

Grand Lake – Louise (I Live In A Fantasy) from Ryan Pierce on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. Grand Lake Sets Sail with Vinyl Release Date, Premiere New Single

This could be you!

Terrorbird seeks interns for its Brooklyn office in both our radio & PR departments. We are looking to fill positions ASAP, but will consider all applicants. Please send your resume to matthew@terrorbird.com and we will be in touch!

Perks include: industry experience, free music, show guestlists and college credit (if you’re into that sort of thing)
Cons include: none

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A Town Called Obsolete (Mount Kimbie Remix (Preview Edit))

Lost Where I Belong (Flying Lotus Remix (Preview Edit))

An experimental and self taught singer and songwriter originally hailing from South East London, Andreya Triana grew up submerged in a multicultural atmosphere. A unique vocalist, Andreya begun singing at the tender age of 7 taking influence from the sights and sounds of inner city London. Her early love and passion for music would see her locked in her bedroom for hours on end writing poetry, making homemade mix tapes and recording tracks – utilizing two battered cassette decks to record harmonies. Her early love of improvisation would warp and change over the years, hugely influencing her ‘Freeflo Sessions’ – a hypnotic one woman show using a sampler to loop vocals, percussive sounds and beats live. To date she has taken her Freeflo Sessions worldwide, dazzling audiences far and wide with her cutting edge and soulful performances.

2006 saw her selected from thousands to take part in the Red Bull Music Academy in Australia where she further developed her style for improvisation and secured links with some of the best producers and musicians on the music scene. Multiple collaborations ensued daily at the Academy, “Tea Leaf Dancers” a collaboration with glitchy hip hop producer Flying Lotus (released on Warp Records) was a product of this and has been her most successful musical venture to date. It was hailed as a classic while getting rave reviews from Benji B and Gilles Peterson while getting airplay on Annie Mac’s Radio One show. The track that also caught the attention of Ninja Tune stalwart Bonobo. 2010 has been an eventful year for Miss Triana, touring America and Canada with the Bonobo live band, playing on the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury showcasing new material and signing a three album deal with Ninja Tune Records.

2010 will also see the release of her album Lost Where I Belong, produced by jazzy beat master Bonobo. Fellow Ninja Tune Records singer and superstar songwriter Fink also stepped up to co-write two tracks for the album. Lost Where I Belong is a beautifully honest album combining soul, folk, jazz and Bonobo’s cinematic magic for a highly anticipated and hotly tipped debut, being released on September 7th, 2010.

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1. Up-and-coming Boulder Producer Alex B Preps “Moments” LP For Elm&Oak
2. Daedelus Preps Righteous Fists of Harmony EP for Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder Label

There is only so long we can ignore your letters and electronic mail. Despite six volumes worth of life-soundtrack, you needed more. There is, you wrote, so much life to live, and not enough soundtrack to fill it. We have listened and, in graciousness, responded. We are now two volumes closer to providing the perfect score to your entire existence.

With you in mind, we are pleased to announce volumes 7 and 8 of the Library Catalog Music Series. These are versatile pieces and it will be up to you to fully discover their various applications but rest assured that we are providing our standard, industry-famous 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. You will not be disappointed. Our two new composer recruits, Richard Swift’s Instruments of Science and Technology and Kristin Miltner, have crafted music that will unfold in new ways with each subsequent listen.

Advertising executives! Don’t bother with backward-masking your corporate sloganeering. Seventy-two-percent of Soundologists say that music from the Library Catalog Music Series will adequately stimulate the consumption cortex in shopper’s brains. These two new volumes will be the only hook you need to start reeling in the Benjamins.

Instruments of Science & Technology’s Richard Swift (born Ricardo Sigilfredo Olivarez Swift-Ochoa, 1977) is an artist who lives in the Northwest region on the United States of America. He’s made lots of different music. He normally sings, but doesn’t at all on this recording. Music for Paradise Armor was made on varying recording mediums, such as a Tascam 4-track cassette player/recorder, an Otari 50/50 – 8-track half-inch recorder, a 16-track 2-inch machine constructed by Studer, and a computer made by Macintosh. There are a lot of what Swift calls “modern clickity-clacks” and “zzzoops s s s”, as well as the occasional “bleep bleep blaaaaap” found on this disc. These sounds apparently reflect our tech-centric lifestyle in the West. We have magnet trains, remote control car door locks, and affordable robotic limbs, yet we still flush our toilets with drinking water. Guard yourself.

Kristin Miltner is a composer, video and installation artist, and sound designer living in Oakland, California. She most often performs music live with versions of her custom software. She has designed this to scan sound files and live input, allowing her to instantly restructure the sounds into sequenced arrays of units of varying lengths. This scanning idea is like imagining a giant octopus in a long thin hallway with continuous windows on each side. One can touch both sides of the hallway with one’s fingertips (if one is an octopus). The length of the hallway is infinite. So the octopus runs up and down the hallway opening and closing windows, letting a little bit of water in here and there, but never stops moving back and forth, and some windows stay open for longer than others. But there’s a rhythm to it; it’s an efficient octopus. The ocean is the sound source, the hallway and octopus are the scanners, the windows determine what gets in, and the octopus’s rhythm is the sequencing mechanism.

Kristin has performed at Noise Pancakes, 964 Natoma, the San Francisco Tape Music Festival (SFTMF), 21 Grand, and the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival (SFEMF). She is the sound designer for many well-known games and toys, including Leapfrog’s Leapster and Didj, Electronic Arts’ Sims 3 and Sim Animals, Mattel’s Xtractaurs, and a number of Facebook and iPhone games. She is the production manager of the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, and an active member of the festival’s steering committee. Her debut solo recording, Grains, can be found at www.praemedia.com.

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Manimal Vinyl sets Sept. 14th release date for We Were So Turned On, a tribute to David Bowie
Proceeds benefit War Child UK

A project that began in early 2008 will at last see the light of day and grace itself upon the shelves of record shops across the world. What began as a vague idea of fresh and seasoned artists paying homage to the man who invented the art of reinvention, David Bowie. War Child is a charity that simply helps children affected by war across the globe no matter what border they inhabit. A charity that Bowie makes no secret about supporting. Within a few months Devendra Banhart (Megapuss), Vivian Girls and Carla Bruni all came on board to contribute tracks.

By the summer of 2009, the record had began to take shape when the addition of UK pop legends Duran Duran, ex-Slits Viv Albertine and legendary avant-garde bassist/musician Mick Karn were added to the roster. Manimal friends and alumni Warpaint, Chairlift and Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros came on board by that autumn. With a final tracklisting that is as diverse as it is chameleon-like, just like the thin-white duke himself, We Were So Turned On has something for every Bowie lover.

All proceeds will go to War Child.

DISC ONE:
EXITMUSIC “SPACE ODDITY”/ DURAN DURAN “BOYS KEEP SWINGING”/ MEGAPUSS “SOUND +VISION”/ WARPAINT “ASHES TO ASHES”/ CORRIDOR “BE MY WIFE”/ CHAIRLIFT “ALWAYS CRASHING
IN THE SAME CAR”/ VIVIAN GIRLS “JOHN, I’M ONLY DANCING”/ ALL LEATHER “FAME”/ WE ARE THE WORLD “AFRAID OF AMERICANS”/ A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS “SUFFRAGETTE CITY”/ TEARIST “REPETITION”/ HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM “LOOK BACK IN ANGER”/ AFGHAN RAIDERS “FASHION”/ POLYAMOROUS AFFAIR “THEME FROM CAT PEOPLE”/ SWAHILI BLONDE “RED MONEY”/ JESSICA 6 “I’M DERANGED”/ ASKA + BOBBY EVANS (feat. MOON & MOON)
“AFRICAN NIGHT FLIGHT”/ XU XU FANG “CHINA GIRL”

DISC TWO:
VOICESVOICES “HEROES”/ CARLA BRUNI “ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS”/ PAPERCRANES “BLUE JEAN”/KEREN ANN “LIFE ON MARS?”/ LEWIS & CLARKE “CHANGES”/ ZAZA “IT AINT EASY”/ GENUFLEX “SOUL LOVE”/ SISTER CRAYON “BEWLAY BROTHERS”/ MARCO BENEVENTO “ART DECADE”/ MICK KARN “ASHES TO ASHES”/ LIGHTS (NYC) “WORLD FALLS DOWN”/ AQUASERGE “THE SUPERMEN”/ CAROLINE WEEKS “STARMAN”/ RAINBOW ARABIA “QUICKSAND”/ MECHANICAL BRIDE “SOUND + VISION”/ EDWARD SHARPE & THE MAGNETIC ZEROS “MEMORY OF A FREE FESTIVAL”

BONUS TRACKS (iTunes Only):
VIV ALBERTINE “LETTER TO HERMOINE”/ ARIANA DELAWARI “ZIGGY STARDUST”/ GANGI “OH YOU PRETTY THINGS”/ AMANDA JO WILLIAMS “THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD”/ LACO$TE “WITHIN YOU”/ UNIVERSE “HEATHEN”/ ST. CLAIR BOARD “SECRET LIFE OF ARABIA” / PIZZA! “MODERN LOVE”

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MP3: Spark via SF Weekly

Grand Lake – Spark from Ryan Pierce on Vimeo.

Caleb Nichols and Jameson Swanagon, the musical force that along with drummer John Pomeroy is Oakland’s Grand Lake, began their musical collaboration in their friendship. Over the next 15 years, the pair parted ways and reunited more than once – working together at a bookstore in their early twenties, they compared notes on their mutual love of the Pixies, the Flaming Lips, Ernest Hemingway and Dave Eggers. Later, they would form a band called The Bloody Heads which would last for less than a year before the duo was again separated by circumstance – Nichols went on to join Oakland indie band Port O’Brien, and Swanagon moved with his soon-to-be wife, Danae, to Boston where he studied improvisation with the likes of Anthony Coleman and Joe Morris. Two years later, Nichols and Swanagon found themselves together again – on opposite sides of the San Francisco Bay – and formed Grand Lake. Shortly after recording their debut EP for 500 Records, they played their first show, with Man/Miracle at ABCo Art Space in West Oakland.

Grand Lake’s debut full-length offering, Blood Sea Dream, is the culmination of a decade and a half of friendship and musical camaraderie. Anchored in the youthful, exuberant drumming of John Pomeroy (Nichols’ boyfriend), the album twists and turns sonically and topically – winding its way from the angst-filled art-rock of “Louise (I Live In A Fantasy)”, the anthemic “Spark,” to the gently lumbering, orchestral waltz that is “Our Divorce.” Through two sides and twelve tracks, the musical and lyrical juxtapositions of Grand Lake’s Blood Sea Dream weave in and out of each other to tell a story familiar to all – the facing-down of demons on the long drive home.

Grand Lake has played shows on the west coast with the likes of Starfucker, Maus Haus, Man/Miracle, Thao With The Get Down Stay Down, The Thermals, Alec Ounsworth (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah), The Donkeys, Cryptacize, Turbo Fruits, Greg Ashley, The Blank Tapes, and more.

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1. Man/Miracle To Release Debut LP In February; Begin West Coast Jaunt Today
2. The Splinters’ Debut Full-Length “Kick” Set For March Release On Double Negative

Runaway by Gemma Ray

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Praised at the 2010 Sundance Film Fest, The Kids Are All Right, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo, is in theaters July 9th and boasts a fantastic soundtrack!

Deerhoof’s “Blue Cash” and “Milk Man” can be heard in the film and are featured on the soundtrack alongside MGMT, Tame Impala, Fever Ray, CSS, David Bowie and more!

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MP3: “Hall” via Pitchfork
MP3: “Hall (One AM Radio Remix ft. Los Feliz Ladies Choir” & “Maximalist” via Stereogum

For mercurial L.A. music-maker Will Wiesenfeld, Baths has been a long time coming. The 21-year-old has spent the better part of his days living amidst “pleasant” and “unremarkable” in the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley, so perhaps it’s due to a general lack of local inspiration that Wiesenfeld’s own work has never fit into a prefab box of its own. Over the last six years, under the handle of [Post-Foetus], Wiesenfeld has gainfully explored the intersections and outer reaches of both electronic and acoustic music. With Baths, his eclecticism finds its greatest focus yet, in a hail of lush melodies, ghostly choirs, playful instrumentation and stuttering beats.

Wiesenfeld’s trip began at age 4, when he willed his parents into enrolling him in piano lessons. (The family upright, purchased that same year, sits in his bedroom today.) By 13, he’d begun recording his own music using Digital Performer and a MIDI keyboard – a brief, ill-advised foray into Eurobeat that was set right when Wiesenfeld heard Björk for the first time. Mind blown, he quickly boned up on viola, contrabass, and guitar and took the name [Post-Foetus], stringing together countless live configurations to execute his increasingly inimitable compositions. [Post-Foetus]‘ fourth album – a Dntel-ish, song-based mélange dubbed The Fabric – was released on Mü-Nest in January.

Though Baths represents the next evolution in Wiesenfeld’s oeuvre – which also includes the excellent ambient project Geotic – it came together under nigh-opposite circumstances. Last September, [Post-Foetus] was invited by L.A. electronicist Daedelus to share a bill with a handful of local Beat Music luminaries. Witnessing a burgeoning movement firsthand sparked something in Wiesenfeld that the ‘burbs never could. In a fit of inspiration, Baths was born, though not into a preexisting scene. As is to be expected, this music goes its own way: fueled by spontaneity, tempered by Wiesenfeld’s background in classic songwriting. Those two influences collide in glorious ways on Cerulean, Baths’ stunning debut.

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1. OUT TODAY: Son Lux “Weapons” EP on Anticon

Stream it all week long at AOL Spinner

“L.A.’s best new band? Probably. Fol Chen’s beguiling, witty synth-pop with guitar, funky keyboards and West Coastian harmonies.” LA Weekly

“[Fol Chen] has already garnered online buzz with the first single, “Cable TV.” The wildly infectious dance tune begins with a dash of sitar before digital blips and drum machine hand claps jump in, with smooth female vocals. “Won’t you come away with me?” she asks…The result is a record that balances light and dark, and is fresh enough to hold listeners captive.” NPR

“Eclectic enigmas devise eerie pop conundrums.” SPIN

For its second album, Highland Park sextet Fol Chen presents Part II: The New December, songs of malaise and miscommunication set to dark pop and glitch-riddled chamber funk. Since the band’s inception, Fol Chen has remained a mysterious entity – its membership disguised by masks and aliases, its lyrics appearing as transmissions from a fictional world. But just as the on-album narrative has congealed in bits and pieces, the group’s real-life story has grown in tangible ways.

Fol Chen’s wildly eclectic 2009 debut, Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune’s Made, spawned some healthy praise (from NPR, no less), a remix album (featuring No Kids and Junior Vasquez, among others), a BBC session, and a video collaboration with the Laker Girls. It also paved the way for a pair of uniquely inspired covers: Prince’s “The Beautiful Ones” (recorded for Spin) and Pink Floyd’s “In The Flesh” (for Mojo). Fol Chen’s bent, blackened takes on the pop eccentrics of yore provided fresh context for its own kaleidoscopic songs, and The New December shores up the group’s slippery identity further still. This is Fol Chen’s most focused work – as consistent as it is consuming, as enjoyable as it is unusual.

The plot, steeped in a Bowie-esque sense of puckish melodrama, picks up with the malevolent John Shade vanquished. Unfortunately, the struggle alluded to in Part I has left Fol Chen’s world frayed – covered in ash, plagued by acid rain – and its population dazed. The members of Fol Chen, once a ragtag team of insurgents, are now bureaucrats forced to sit back and watch as the cipher they relied upon to defeat Shade mutates into a virus that eats words indiscriminately. Things unravel as The New December progresses, with Fol Chen enlisting a handful of familiar voices – Angus and Aaron of Liars, L.A. chanteuse Kárin Tatoyan, singer-songwriter Simone White – to help tell the tale.

Tatoyan takes lead on “In Ruins” – whose playful escapism recalls Fol Chen’s earlier hit, “Cable TV” – as an Eastern melody rings out from a vintage Madonna-ish mélange of cut-up funk, fuzz bass and tinkling ivories.

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MP3: “Get Around Town”

Ambroise Willaume (vocals, guitar, piano), Christophe Musset (vocals, guitar) and Jérémie Arcache (vocals, cello) formed Revolver in late 2006. Willaume and Arcache met when they were six years old, at the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris, the renowned music school for choristers and aspiring classical musicians. Willaume and Musset met in high school, where the latter taught the former guitar in exchange for being taught how to sing. In early 2007 the trio, named Revolver after a poster of the iconic Beatles album that hung in Willaume’s bedroom, began gigging around Paris: small shows in friends’ apartments, in front of 20, 30 people. As Willaume describes it, playing in these intimate environments was like music “in the olden days, chamber music – pop de chambre.” By the summer of that year, Delabel/EMI had contacted the young band via their myspace. They were quickly signed, and released a critically acclaimed EP, Pop De Chambre, in France and the US. “It was training for our album,” notes Musset.

Music For A While was recorded in Paris’s Studio Pigalle. Producer Julien Delfaud (Phoenix, Herman Dune), helped Revolver focus but also widen their ideas. The studio environment also helped the band pull together their fantastically eclectic and century-skipping ideas, as well as gave the band the ability to recall the sunshine harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel and the Beach Boys, both of whom the band has always loved. Revolver’s melodies can be traced to the likes of Henry Purcell, 17th century British Baroque composer and visionary, and John Dowland, the 16th century songwriter whose melancholy songs would, four centuries later, influence Benjamin Britten – another Revolver touchstone. Each of these composers and artists defined the popular melodic and harmonic structures of their respective generations, and Revolver offers us a modern take blending each of these pop histories.

Are you ready to be heartbroken? And then, heart-mended?

Revolver – Get Around Town (official video) from Karakoid on Vimeo.

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MP3: “Crimes” via Letters From A Tapehead

“The genre-less solo artist may be one of the best thing this bedroom movement can offer…” – IMPOSE

When Paul A. Rosales isn’t busy with college, he’s helping produce tracks for bands like LA lo-fi female duo Pearl Harbor (Mexican Summer), performing in his hometown of Los Angeles, and coming to the East Coast to collaborate with the father of home & tape recording, R Stevie Moore. In addition to all that, Rosales is also writing songs as Wonder Wheel, his most recent and widely known moniker which has given this, his first, commercial release via London/NY’s Care In the Community Recordings its title.

In a 2008 recording manifesto, Rosales notes influences from Schoenberg to Eno, however it’s the electronic pop of 50s British producer Joe Meek that is most recognizable in the hurried pop gems of Wonder Wheel I. It may seem oxymoronic to speak of lo-fi music being progressive, but there’s a continual inventiveness beneath the heavy echo and distortion of the 12 very different songs on Wonder Wheel I that either exemplify genres when Rosales works within them, or that otherwise begin to carve out what can only be described as new ones. But underscoring this unique sound is a strong pop sensibility that brings a familiarity and warmth that perhaps marks Rosales out from the burgeoning scene from which he’s emerged.

Although barely in his 20s Rosales is already a seasoned and charismatic performer and has recently moved from a performance that put his solo vocals and tape effects front and center, to a slightly more expansive performance establishing a band for a fuller live effect. He is making his first solo trip to the UK this June as apart of an Upset the Rhythm night also featuring Ganglians in order to promote his 7″ single, the loose high-tempo synth groove-driven “Crimes” which is an excellent introduction to the Rosales cosmology. That track also kicks off the journey that is Wonder Wheel I.

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Stream the entire album via AOL Spinner

Melissa Rodenbeek and Hiram Lucke of The Harvey Girls are a brilliantly eccentric husband-and-wife psych-pop band from Portland, Oregon. Their latest album I’ve Been Watching a Lot of Horror Movies Lately from Portland-based label Circle Into Square introduces songs created by live looping analog instruments (guitar, floor tom, keyboard, theremin) in real-time with the aid of a Boss RC-20 pedal. This intuitive, organic process of layer-on-layer creation results in a familiar but singular sound.

Recorded by Hiram at the couple’s house over a 6 month period of painstaking effort, the album is a stunningly eclectic mix of songs typical of the band’s off-kilter writing style. From the opening track “The Body Without Any Eyes” upbeat gospel sound to the epic and surreal closing track “Alpha Invasion on Delta Waves (Lullabye of Brueghel)” the songs incorporate alternately-tuned folk guitars, real and programmed drums, field recordings, intricate vocal harmonies, metal pipes, and cheap synths–sometimes in stark contrast and sometimes as a wash of sound. Musically, imagine Jandek crossed with Miley Cyrus chanting “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” while awaiting the arrival of the Old Ones. This has nothing to do with The Harvey Girls’ album–we just want you to visualize it. The sound of I’ve Been Watching a Lot of Horror Movies Lately is actually akin to the works of groups like The Flaming Lips, Roger Waters-era Pink Floyd, the West African band Tinariwen, and too many gospel compilations to list.

Imagery from classic and modern horror movies informs lyrics starring the specter that right wing shitheads fear most: the recent immigrant. These are songs that sound like a sunny day with lyrics written by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson, or Neil Gaiman.

The Harvey Girls think that if you used to read Fangoria and Tiger Beat, you will like this album.

Puss from the harvey girls on Vimeo.

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1. Free Music From cars & trains: Listen To “The Roots, The Remix”

Tune into WFMU tonight at midnight to hear a live in-studio performance by Eric Lindley of Careful. Drawing from the likes of Elliott Smith & The Kings Of Convenience, Oh, Light swiftly blows through sporadic electronic touches with delicate guitar work. Oh, Light is out at radio now and forthcoming from Sounds Super Recordings.

For more information visit WFMU.

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Stream To Travels & Trunks now at AOL Spinner

MP3: “From A Terrace” via HeyMarseilles.com

“The band’s sound evokes both worldliness and innocence; its orchestral instrumentation is woven together with melodies both melancholy and buoyant.” NPR

“With an orchestra’s worth of instruments at their disposal, the septet comes off like a contemporary pop group inspired by French cabaret classics from the ’20s.” Seattle Weekly

Hey Marseilles’ debut record, To Travels & Trunks grabs your attention with its unique combination of pop, rock, and classical folk elements, and its passionate devotion to instruments (including accordion, viola, cello and trumpet) commonly used in musical idioms outside those typically purveyed by Seattle rock bands. It is this compelling, and often daring, musical mix that enables the band to express the wonder and pleasure of experimenting with art forms from other cultures. One can get a sense of the cultural pilgrimages this band has undertaken in order to satisfy their musical wanderlust. “The album is a reflection of what we’ve tried on musically,” says lead singer and guitar player Matthew Bishop. “It’s about how we’ve come to understand what each individual can bring to the table, and where we want to go from here. Oddly, that parallels what some of what my lyrics are about-travel, discovery, engaging new mediums and new places.”

Despite the exotic origins and youth, To Travels & Trunks can-and should-also be counted as a singular, standout pop album in 2010, with all the requisite addictive melodies and catchy choruses. It’s a story not uncommon: guys who play instruments hang out with other guys who play instruments and music is made. Bishop, guitarist/songwriter Nick Ward, and accordionist Philip Kobernik all met while at the University of Washington right around the time when each began immersing themselves in their own musical exploration. As the trio continued to write and record with each other, they brought in members Sam Anderson on cello, his brother Jacob on viola, Patrick Brannon on trumpet, and Colin Richey on drums.

Lyrically, Bishop says his words don’t necessarily offer answers to the big questions in life, but the questions, when asked the right way, can be just as compelling. “The song are pretty personal,” he says. “There’s a lot about love, struggles with belief, and sense of self. My songs don’t necessarily come to any particular conclusions on the above topics; they mostly open them up for further exploration.” “Cannonballs” uses a specific romantic relationship to explore the need to stand for something and make life worthwhile. “It’s about trying to understand how that’s accomplished in the context of growing up, falling in love, and managing relationships.” Sung almost as a lullaby, lulling the ear with it’s gorgeous melody, the track explodes into a raucous interplay of guitar, strings, and trumpet, as the lyrics celebrate the beautiful sadness that loss can bring. Exuberant single, “Rio” and the mournful “You Will Do For Now” were inspired by the same relationship, one in which the relief of being free from romantic ties is tempered by nagging feelings of loss. But on “Someone to Love,” the tables are turned, as the song’s protagonist deals with being the one left behind. Accompanied only by acoustic guitar and cello, Bishop’s vocals echoes the sentiments voiced in the title track-”All I want is love eternally”–yet this time, the desire is less cosmic than it is personal: “All I want is someone to love/And you were pretty good to love.”

The band sees regular airplay on taste-maker station KEXP and has performed at Bumbershoot, Doe Bay, CMJ, SXSW, The Capitol Hill Block Party and the MusicFest Northwest festival. They’ve also been selected for Starbucks’ nationally distributed compilation entitled Sweethearts Vol. 2. As musical wayfarers, the band enjoys being on the road, exposing people to new combinations of sounds, broadening the definition of what a rock band can achieve. And they’ll spend much of 2010 away from their Pacific Northwest home, exploring the US on their first national tour– so here’s To Travels & Trunks, to venturing out and returning with a heavier load enlightened with discovery.

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MP3: Saanko Jaada Yoksi? via AOL Spinner

“Although they may sing completely in Finnish, as on single “Saanko Jäädä Yöksi?” each song on Regina’s American debut ‘Puutarhatrilogia’ is instantly relatable and emotionally translatable.” Venus

“She sings, the guy to her right hits percussion and the chap on the left mucks about with a keyboard and laptop. Uniquely, her electro dance pop is delivered in Finnish. A jazzy, less tribal cousin to Lykke Li, she easily wins the audience over.” Mojo

If you live in the western hemisphere, chances are you won’t understand a single word Regina sings, and that’s okay. The Helsinki-based three-piece band sing in their native language of Finnish, lending a surreal, otherworldy quality to their distinguished blend of electronic beats, folk and world music, wild percussion, and slightly-hazy melodies. Puutarhatrilogia ["Garden Trilogy"], the band’s first album to be released in the states, is a delightfully trippy and subtly sexy record even if song titles like “Terveiset päiväntasaajalta” (only the first word capitalized, as is the Finnish convention) might sound strange to English speakers. Put simply, singer Iisa Pykäri’s voice would be beautiful in any language, and Regina’s music possesses a similarly universal appeal.

Regina formed in 2005 when Iisa and Mikko Pykäri started making early demos in their living room in Tampere, a largely industrial town that is often called “the Manchester of Finland” due to the disproportionate number of rock bands it has produced. Once Mikko Rissanen joined on drums and the group solidified as a trio, they moved to Helsinki and quickly started receiving -universal accolades in their home country, including a nomination for the Emma award (the Finnish equivalent of the Grammy award) and rave reviews from nearly every magazine in the country. The band recorded and produced Puutarhatrilogia – a loosely-structured allegory using the garden as a metaphor for the human mind – entirely in their home studio, digging deep into their love of both modern pop music and a wealth of lesser-known ethnic musical traditions to create a sound that possesses an element of magical realism and sometimes even extends its reach into pure fantasy.

“Saanko jäädä yöksi?” is the album’s centerpiece, anchored by a skittish piano line and sampled snippets of Iisa’s falsetto vocals, before turning into a full-on club banger that wouldn’t be out of place on a dance floor. Elsewhere the album becomes dreamier, stranger, and more languid, with the chromatic piano of “Tapaa minut aamulla” and the plaintive shuffle of “Olen häviöllä, Pauli” evoking the alien soundscapes of Fever Ray and the sultriness of Charlotte Gainsbourg. The band even dips into tango with the lovely “Tango merellä”. By the time the tribal chants of “Musta musta puutarha” are over, you will have fallen for this truly magical band, regardless of what language you may speak.

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Beat Stew Vol. 2 Mixtape via Proximal Records

Proximal Records is a Los Angeles based independent record label with a mission of supporting and promoting vibrant new voices in the local electronic music community. The brain-child of L.A. natives Carl Madison Burgin, better known as Sahy Uhns, and composer/ producer Jeff Elmassian, Proximal provides a home for local artists to connect and collaborate. Check out the latest volume of their free mixtape series, Beat Stew, and check back for new releases from Proximal in the coming months!

More information on Proximal Records artists:
Within the laboratory of his Los Angeles studio, Sahy Uhns (pronounced Science) has been producing hip-hop and electronic music since his early teenage years, creating concoctions that could only be attributed to a scientist who has simply gone mad. Born Carl Madison Burgin, the LA native draws inspiration from west coast hip-hop culture and channels his musical energy into generating new and unique sounds – recording everywhere he goes.

Jeff Elmassian is a Grammy Award winning composer, orchestrator, conductor and musician known for his work cross genres. An LA native, he made his orchestral debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of twelve. Throughout his career, Elmassian has worked with such seminal artists as Afrika Bambaataa,?uestlove and David Bowie.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Benedek is a multifaceted musician who is inspired by genres including funk, hip-hop, soul, progressive rock, jazz fusion, and house music. Along his musical quest he discovered that the older artists he was listening to had a lot in common with the classic, melodic video game music and hip-hop samples he had always loved.

BearClaw is drummer and electronic music composer/arranger, Peter Gonzales. Hailing from the Big Apple, has only recently started to formulate a sound that combines instrumental performance with his disorienting and chopped sound design. With a heavy influence on “found sounds” from his extensive record collection, BearClaw’s music is filled with tape-saturated nostalgia, extra-terrestrial waveforms and hand-held Tascam recorded adventures.

Matthew Michael Ahern Hettich is Wake. Wake draws his influences from flamingos, pink and purple, Roland Tr-808 drum machines, and late night handholding sessions on the beach. Having spent his early years in Miami, Florida, Wake is a product of suntans, booty shorts, and of a lifetime of obsessing over I.D.M., hip-hop, and 1980’s electro music.

Lawrence Grey mixes sharp production and moving harmony to make bold, electronic compositions. Grey’s orchestra is comprised of synthesizers, samplers and custom software, all working together to make people dance hard and listen closely. A romantic to the core, you can feel Grey’s feverish enthusiasm in his tracks.

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Man/Miracle

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

Baths

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

The Splinters

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

Sister Crayon

credit Mathew Wenthe

credit Mathew Wenthe

Thanks for coming!

credit Epicsauce.com

credit Epicsauce.com

credit Epicsauce.com

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2. Terrorbird Over Austin: SXSW Invasion Imminent

“Social Studies make twee sound brawny. Who else does that? “Holler Boys,” layers background bleeps, twiddling guitar, soft percussion and radiant female vocals into a shape-shifter-there is no pure verse chorus verse, and each swell breaks in a new direction.” RCRD LBL

“Wind Up Wooden Heart lights up with singer Natalia Rogovin’s saccharin-sweet melodies.” Time Out Chicago

With their finger on the pulse on the Bay Area’s inspiring, burgeoning music scene, Antenna Farm Records (Papercuts, The Dry Spells, Sugar & Gold) is proud to welcome Social Studies into the family. Interested in exploring fresh approaches to pop songwriting, Social Studies manages to stray far away from traditional structures yet still engages listeners with plenty of sugary hooks and surprising twists throughout each song of their debut album Wind Up Wooden Heart.

Social Studies crafts intricate songs that combine angular indie rock and classic twee-pop. What distingishes the San Francsico-based group is their eclectic, complex song writing: unusual structures and mathy beats are tempered by soft edges and danceable casio hooks. Moody, defiant and hopeful, the lyrics celebrate duality through themes of discontent, violence, innocence, renewal, nostalgia, regret and joy. All these elements take shape in unpredictable, catchy songs that burrow into your consciousness and demand repeat listening and a critical reading between the lines. Combine this imaginative songwriting with a consistently high energy live show, and it is no surprise that Social Studies has generated a loyal fanbase and strong buzz in the SF Bay Area and beyond.

At the core of Social Studies are Natalia Rogovin on keyboards and vocals, and Michael Jirkovsky on drums. Natalia spent her youth on a commune in rural Oregon and trained to be a classical pianist, while Michael grew up in Chicago and cut his teeth on the Chicago punk scene. The two met in college in Santa Cruz and assembled Social Studies upon graduating and moving to the SF Bay Area a couple of years later.

Social Studies has built their local following while serving as an incubator for talented San Francisco musicians. Members of bands like Maus Haus, Tempo No Tempo, and the Lovely Public have passed through their ranks. In mid-2009, the band recruited Jesse Hudson (formerly of Dealership and the product of a musical family whose father played with the likes of Joan Baez and Jorma Kaukonen) on bass. He was quickly followed by a former bandmate of Michael’s, Tom Smith, guitarist from Chicago pop sensations Office and Mazes.

With several US tours and a self-released EP under their belts, Social Studies has shared the stage with the likes of The Pipettes, the Long Blondes and Handsome Furs. Between shows, the band spent much of 2009 recording and producing a full-length debut album that pushed their songwriting skills to new heights.

The result, “Wind Up Wooden Heart” tempers the experimental lines of the Deerhoof with a love of unadulterated pop songwriting, and heightens the arching melodies of Beach House with dramatic twists and turns. With consistently catchy melodies, Natalia’s enchanting voice, masterful engineering by Jay Pellicci (Deerhoof, Subtle, Erase Errata), and special guest appearances by members of Bright Eyes and Thee More Shallows, Social Studies have crafted an album that’s equally infectious and innovative.

In ten tracks, the band offers us a glimpse into a prophetic future that, upon closer look, is crumbling with nostalgia and regret. The songs mirror the contradictory themes that run through the album with a balance between danceable melodies and unique structures that break out of the “verse/chorus/verse” boundaries. Wind Up Wooden Heart is pop music fully realized for a modern era, and it’s a debut LP that begs to be talked about, sung along to, and played on repeat. It announces Social Studies as a band ready to break out into the national consciousness.

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