Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lenses Alien (2011)

It’s clear from first glance and listen that Cymbals Eat Guitars follow up to 2009’s Why There Are Mountain is different. Sure it’s the same band and the lead tracks are similarly lengthy but whereas the debut was filled with musically meandering moments, Lenses Alien has a rapid-fire take no prisoners vibe. Joseph D’Agostino punk-y vocals bring to life the novel-esque verbosity into eloquent, sincere turns of phrase. Album opener “Rifle Eyesight (Proper Name)” with its mammoth 8 minutes serves as the mediator between Why There Are Mountains CEG and Lenses Alien CEG. It’s sprawlingly grandiose but far more direct and gritty than any song on the debut (even its parallel “…And the Hazy Sea”).

Many of Lenses Alien’s strongest tracks are those that we have been introduced to before like “Plainclothes”, “Another Tunguska”, “Definite Darkness”, and “Wavelengths”. That’s not to say that any of the never been released songs aren’t good. In fact “Gary Condit” is an early favorite of mine. It’s that they’ve had the longest time to gestate, for the band to premiere them, get feedback, and change or present in different context. As an album, Lenses Aliens is far stronger than Cymbals’ debut. The band is tighter, fused together from years of playing together and touring. There’s only one moment on the whole album that I feel the band fumbles in any regard: “Shore Lines”. Though it’s full of some rather delightful musical moments (vocal harmonies, numerous tempo switch ups, the lyrics come off a bit contrived. It’s almost too poetic, actually. Fragmented and convoluted, even after multiple listens the song’s point manages to elude me.

On Lenses Alien, Cymbals Eat Guitars are concise and rightfully so. This album sees the band tapping more into the potential they were practically oozing on Mountains. Everything is much more mature: the playing more intense, the songwriting more descriptive and rich. Here’s hoping there’s more to come from Cymbals Eat Guitars if they continue to make music this good.

You can stream the whole album at Spin here.

Givers - Meantime" video

Earlier today, Louisiana pop outfit Givers released a brand new video for their track "Meantime" off recently release debut album In Light.

I'll be honest with you. I have no idea what the plot is for this video. One minute the band is entering an abandoned house in true Scooby-Doo fashion, then they revert to their childhood forms with blanket forts and the like, followed by a crazy confetti-laden house party with the band as the musical guests. That's it. Sure there's random colorful silhouette visuals and enough flashing lights to send you into an epileptic seizure but really that's it. And yet I liked it enough to watch it again. Maybe it was just for the opportunity to hear the song again in new context or just the group's infectious energy but I strangely enjoyed the almost plot-less video.

Watch the video for "Meantime":

Blind Pilot offer up final album preview and stream new album

With only two weeks to go until the release of their sophomore record, Portland band Blind Pilot offer up their third and final album teaser. This last trailer features album track "New York" and continues the trend of showing the band at work in the studio and also a kind of intimate live performance. Watch the trailer below:

Blind Pilot: We Are The Tide - Album Preview 3 from Blind Pilot on Vimeo.

And along with releasing their final album preview, Blind Pilot's whole album is now available for streaming at part of NPR's First Listen here.

Wet Paint - Woe

One of my first experiences on interactive radio-player Turntable.fm introduced me to Wet Paint. I heard one song (which I'll admit, I have forgotten) and immediately went bought the album. That might seem a tad bit impulsive but the track in question was rather good. There's not a whole lot I can tell you about the band itself aside from Wet Paint is a four piece from London, due to the band having an almost un-Google-able bandname (a la Cults) but what they lack in information they more than make up for in musical ability.

It's hard to explain why I like Wet Paint so much. Maybe it's the Pavement-esque sound - of good old-fashioned 90's garage rock but with a twist. A midst the messy nostalgic jangle, frontman Babak Ganjei drawls in a style reminiscent of Hot Club de Paris' Paul Rafferty especially in "Distant Memory". And yet Wet Paint are much more than a tribute band to the sounds of 90's garage rock and other British bands. "Aim Low" and "Lynchstrumental" serves as the album's two major emotional sounding boards. Thinly accompanied, they're the moments when Ganjei's lyrics are most readily heard and stripped away from their livelier dressings.

Woe, with it's themes of powerlessness and age, is much more than the sob-story it's title might suggest. On Woe, Wet Paint with their bold guitar licks and intense energy rebel kicking and screaming against unassailable circumstance. So while the band might wear it's influences on its sleeve, it uses them aptly to drive home their points, themes, and create an album that enjoyable to listen to again and again.

Listen to Wet Paint with Pavement-esque track "Gone So Long":

ARMS reveals release date for Summer Skills

After what seems like ages and lots of hinting, Brooklyn quartet ARMS have finally announced the release date for their sci-fi/fantasy epic and concept album Summer Skills. Along with that we have album art and a tracklist. If you're not excited, get ready to be. One of my most anticipated album of the year, Summer Skills is stacked with great songs that combine intricate instrumentation with rich, intelligent lyricism with no lack of emotional content.



- Emily Sue, Cont'd
- Fleeced
- Dog Days
- High Heels
- Heat & Hot Water
- Sore
- Three Mile Island
- Face-Gravity
- Glass Harmonica
- Curtains

With such a good album on the horizon, November 8th can't seem to get here quick enough. Until then, I'll continue to bond with their free 5 song EP.

In case you missed it, here's their first album trailer featuring "Fleeced":

ARMS: Summer Skills Trailer, Pt. 1 from ARMSvideos on Vimeo.

St. Vincent premieres new song and video "Cruel"

With only two and a half weeks until the release of her new album Strange Mercy, St. Vincent gives us a further glance into the new album and her psyche with the video for "Cruel". In it, St. Vincent is just a regular gas station customer who encounters a little girl in a wheelchair. Any "aw"-inspiring cuteness is destroyed when you realize it's all just a ploy to distract Annie Clark so she can be abducted. A sack thrown over her head, Clark is brought to a random house and forced to be their mother figure. However, in true St. Vincent fashion all is not sunshine and daisies. Clark is forced to suffer indignation after indignation as the kids torment her in a variety of ways (the most jarring of which is holding her head underwater while she bathes) and proves to be quite the bad homemaker. Deciding to cut it's loses, the family then buries Clark alive and goes about its business.

Annie Clark's videos have always been artfully cinematic and kind of dark but this one takes it to a new level. Add in Clark's little wink-wink nudge-nudge moment of comic relief as she plays the guitar in the trunk of the car while tied up with a sack over her head and you have a very enjoyable video. The track itself, with it's jazzy saxophone and it's big drum beats is swaggeringly sexy despite lyrics about desertion and abandonment after use.



Strange Mercy is out September 13th.

Pitstop: Of Monsters and Men

Iceland is home to many talented musicians: Sigur Rós (and Jónsi by proxy), Björk, and cousins Ólöf and Ólafur Arnalds to name a few. Well now, a new Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men seems poised to take up the mantle of delightful Nordic exports.

Though known mostly outside Iceland for their song "Little Talks", Winners of the 2010 nationwide battle of the bands competition Músiktilraunir and playing all sorts of festivals and gigs all over Iceland, the sextet prove that they're no one hit wonders. And with their debut full length set for release this September, the world will get to share in their distinct brand of folk pop. The second I heard the accordion, I knew I was hooked- and then I fell victim to Of Monsters and Men's rousing clustered choruses and deep-cutting emotionally evocative lyrics.


Get a taste of Iceland's latest up-and-comers Of Monsters and Men with a live video of "Little Talks" for KEXP filmed in Iceland: