Pitstop: J Fernandez

Yesterday I featured Chicago experimental pop quintet Thin Hymns and apparently they're a band that just keeps on giving. After following the tip from Caleb from Lands & Peoples that led to my newfound love of Thin Hymns, he followed up with something equally as good. Turns out Justin Fernandez, Thin Hymns' guitarist/keyboardist has a solo project appropriately named J Fernandez.

Have you ever heard old school Fleet Foxes EP era Fleet Foxes? Songs like "Textbook Love" and "In the Hot, Hot Rays" with their sunkissed psychedelic rock slant are precisely what you can look forward to in J Fernandez's music (most notably "Wasting the New Year"). But instead of jangly guitars, Fernandez's music doesn't prominently feature them. Relying more on a whatever's clever form of musical composition. 

"No Luck" is a harmony-laden sprawl that which gradually gains complexity as it saunters forth, adding brass along its plodding drums and Fernandez' croon while "Jewelry Watches Gold" and "Fading Out" are Real Estate-esque soft rock jams. 

For a bedroom project, J Fernandez's music has a surprisingly wide scope. From the sparse "Olympic Village People" to the the 70's reminiscent rock of "Wasting The Year" on the same release, to the simplicity of "No Luck" to the complex, layered beast that is "Real Flowers", J Fernandez's music output is dynamic and unpredictable while nevertheless remaining unequivocably good. Here's hoping there's scores and scores of new music to come from Fernandez.     

J Fernandez currently has two cassettes (No Luck and Olympic Village)  out and his music is enough to make me change my whole anti-cassette stance. Luckily if cassettes aren't your thing, J Fernandez is releasing them as a double EP via Morning Ritual. Fans of good music rejoice as J Fernandez's No Luck/Olympic Village double EP will be out October 29th 

Pitstop: Brazos

When Todd Goldstein of ARMS first told me of Austin trio Brazos with whom they shared a name (albeit in Spanish), I'm not exactly sure what I expected. Maybe rock pop a la ARMS with a foreign air that would keep comparisons of the two bands to a minimum? Perhaps a bit too on the nose. It's hard to say what I thought I'd hear exactly. I only know that whatever I expected when I saw Brazos this past Friday night a long with Port St. Willow and ARMS, I had all of them exceeded; blown out of the water. I was utterly floored.

 Brazos - Kid by guyandacat

Based around singer/songwriter Martin Crane, Brazos is the certainly the kind of band you want opening up your show. Energetic with a plethora of toe-tapping jams that had everyone in Union Pool moving and grooving along, Brazos plays with a simplicity that recalls the cool, easy listening vibe of Real Estate without being a carbon copy. They play an enjoyable brand of folk-affected sun-speckled rock that's similar but not congruent. Not to mention Martin Crane's ace in the hole: poetic lyricism that no doubt must come from band's folk influence. 2009's debut LP Phosphorescent Blues is more or less framed around an actual poem - "The Observer" by Adrienne Rich, which Crane sets to a winding, groovy fingerstyle sprawl.

And that's what you find in Brazos' music - an artful blending of poppy musicianship with lyrics that are more than your standard placeholding fare. Crane's spins interesting narratives - they're not epics but they don't need to be. They have the attention to detail required in properly captivating storytelling while not being overbearing literary. They're not even notably attention-grabbing and that is what is great about. You can like Brazos music without pouring over them with magnifying glass but doing so has it own rewards.  

Brazos are currently at work at their follow up record and I'm certainly thrilled to be able to get my hands on it. Because it's bound to be a good one. That and it means they Austin trio might make their way back to New York for another night of fantastic tunes. Here's hoping it's soon. 

Have a taste of Brazos' Martin Crane playing a solo set of songs for Hooves on the Turf in a Bushwick bedroom:

You can listen to Brazos' debut album Phosphorescent Blues on Spotify.

Watch: Real Estate - "Easy"

It usually doesn't get much better than dogs but in a completely unexpected move, Real Estate have one-upped their adorably awesome video for "It's Real", with a humorous new video for "Easy" released on Funny or Die. The video, directed by Tom Sharpling, shows a group of zealous street teamers that go through incredible lengths to get people to share their love of Real Estate and get the band's name out there. My favorite is when they grab a random guy on the street and force him to listen to Days via clunky headphones but there's a lot of good ones. Also, there's this delightful spiral where a radio host won't play Real Estate and thus ends up getting himself kidnapped and taken into the woods to get disposed of. It sounds pretty dark but the humor is surprisingly light and there's a nice little twist at the end.

Check out the video for Real Estate's "Easy":

Real Estate - "Easy" from Tom Scharpling      

(Via Under the Radar)

Real Estate - Days (2011)

It took me a criminally long time to get into Real Estate, let alone listen to their latest album Days. Last year when I was still using Last.fm to find new music, it suggested Real Estate and I listened to a couple tunes and for some reason never went back. Although it made enough of an impression for me to buy their debut self-titled album. And yesterday, a moment of late night clarity revealed that I had yet to listen to the new Real Estate.

Days is an instant rush of summer, plain and simple. With it's undulating jangly guitar riffs and beach imagery, that much is a given. And yet, Real Estate take what a bunch of bands have done in service to that surf rock vibe and make it their own. Real Estate are impressively precise considering their nature to slip into jam band-esque repetitive phrases that they somehow find a way to keep interesting. Real Estate are by rights and definition a soft rock band. Rarely do they get higher than a mezzo-forte but what they lack in decibels they more than account for in solid playing and lovely, sprawling melodies.

Days is a surefire winner filled with track after solid track that does what a good album should strive for. Each track leads more or less seamlessly into the other without any sort of jarring awareness or feeling out of place. So while it may have taken me a year to get into Real Estate, Days has made a true believer out of me. Let it do the same for you.

Get a taste of Real Estate with the video for "It's Real" off Days: