Watch: Young Dreams - "First Days of Something"

For their second team up with director Kristoffer Borgli Norwegian orchestral pop rockers Young Dreams provide less of a music video and more of a short film. The video for "First Days of Something" begins very much like the one for "Fog of War" with the protagonist narrating a crucial point of drama through which the rest of the videos plot tries to extrapolate upon. In this instance, the narrator has just broken up with his girlfriend and debates moving away to go back to Australia with his family.

After settling on his major life decision, there rest of the scenes are a hodge-podge of listlessness; of scenes almost aimlessly without direction, seemingly random with nothing of real import happening in them. He visits his hangouts but has no real fun at them, parties with friends but doesn't appear to really enjoy being there. One of the main and most relatable instances is where he narrates how he wants to listen to one song as much as he can so that he can connect that song with how he is feeling at that very instant. It's why he plugs his iPhone into the turntable at a party, why he listens to it on his snowy rambles, or why it's on pretty much every single one of his electronic devices. It's responsible for one of the the few times we see him smile.

Borgli's piece is interesting in that Young Dreams' "First Days of Something" never plays all the way through. Various parts of it are played at different points and repeated almost ad naseaum before something happens to make the songs start again. Eventually the whole thing is heard but in bits and pieces, never occurring in a single continuous line. It's an interest concept for a music video - to have the song featured but not exactly highlighted. It becomes much more about the story than it is the music accompanying it. Seemingly content with his newfound singledom, the events soon spiral into a series of anger-soaked idylls as it's revealed he's much unhappier than he appears, his only solace "First Days of Something" which he repeats incessantly.

Young Dreams - First Days of Something from Kristoffer Borgli on Vimeo.

Young Dreams' debut full length Between Places is out March 5th in the US on Modular Records.

Watch: Little Tybee - "Boxcar Fair"

Georgia folk collective Little Tybee continue their recent onslaught of simple, one-shot videos from For Distant Viewing by revisiting "Boxcar Fair". For those unaware, around the release of Humorous to Bees, the band also raised money via Kickstarter to put on a puppet show by the name of Boxcar Fair, the work of Little Tybee frontman Brock Scott and artist Tom Hanley and though an official video was released for the "Boxcar Fair" single, Little Tybee felt it only apt to  give the single another look see.

Some elements from the original video remain in the new venture - namely the puppets built for the show. They sit front and center in this new video, slowly moving while the TV visualizer that'll tie all these videos together thrums along to the track. There's also a  cameo from Tom Hanley, way in the back hard at work who only looks up at the end when all the puppets have stopped moving. It's very Toy Story-esque and a reminder of just how awesome the single was the first time around for those that forgot or for the uninitiated.

Cast your peepers on the new video for Little Tybee's "Boxcar Fair":


Little Tybee's upcoming full length For Distant Viewing is out April 9th on Paper Garden Records. You can pre-order it here.

Watch: Brazos - "How the Ranks Was Won"

Since my discovery of Brazos last year at a My Heart Is A Spade sponsored show featuring them, ARMS, and Port St. Willow I've logged a pretty decent amount of alone time with the 2009 debut Phosphorescent Blues. Enough to be completely thrilled with the prospect of new music but not enough to be in any particular rush for it. And it's a good thing too because after Martin Crane and crew wrapped up production in October, everything's been pretty mum about the album's release date. Until now. In addition to premiering the new single via a self-directed, self-filmed video, Brazos also released some album details. The sophomore record Saltwater will be out on May 28th on Dead Oceans.

While that seems like ages upon ages away, the single "How the Ranks Was Won" certainly makes the wait at least a little more bearable. It's slinkier and looser than any of the Phosphorescent Blues cuts without seeing too out of left field. The track is laid back, the band relaxed, the video quirky and fun. The concept a modern retelling of the subject of Crane's song: A tale of an old ship discovered by one of the descendants of its inaugural passengers.



You can read more about Crane's concept here.

(via Spin)

Watch: Tall Tall Trees - BreakThruRadio LiveSession

Sometime after meeting him at a Kishi Bashi concert last year, I stumbled upon the amazing music of Mike Savino better known as Tall Tall Trees. Last year he and band released the excellent follow up album moment and for some reason or another I never made it out to a show. Since our meeting and his record release show (which I missed because I am a bad, bad fan), Savino's been on the road with some rather impressive friends: most notably the dynamic powerhouses of Lucius and loop pedal maestro Kishi Bashi on his most latest headlining tour, lending a hand as a member of K.'s band.

That's sort of what's so wildly exciting about Savino's BreakThruRadio session. Getting to see several of the techniques he used to create a more lush and boisterous live sound with Kishi Bashi employed on his lonesome. On "Nothingless", Savino creates a beat by hitting the body of his banjo and looping it before accompanying himself by not by strumming his trusty banjo but by bowing it. It's the sort of endearingly simple but genius innovation that made me a fan of Tall Tall Trees in the first place. It's also the reason I'm kicking myself for not seeing the man either solo or with a band since my initial discovery. To think I've been missing out on awesome of this magnitude is more than a little depressing. In the session there's also little excerpts of two newer songs "How Did It Get Dark So Fast?" and "The Seagull and the Eagle" that sound absolutely incredible.



Don't be like me. If you have the opportunity to see Tall Tall Trees live, do it. I'm looking at you West Coast. As Savino has a couple dates over there opening for Kishi Bashi. Don't sleep on this. Do it, do it, do it!

And if you haven't, check out Tall Tall Trees' Bandcamp which features two excellent and remarkably different albums for your perusal.

Listen: The Cave Singers - "It's a Crime"

Yesterday when I wrote about the Cave Singers' new track "Easy Way", I hinted that there was certainly more than that track to be on the lookout for. It seems the Seattle folk rockers are getting a little antsy as they wait not only for their new album to street in about a week's time but also for their supporting tour to begin and are pretty much just throwing track after track into the void that is the fathomless trenches of the internet.

"It's a Crime" marks a noticeable change of pace in the direction of Naomi we've been subjected to. While "Have to Pretend" and "Easy Way" are light, jovial idylls, "It's a Crime" sees the mood darkening a bit, calling back to No Witch's occasional outlaw rock feel. It's rougher, tougher, and most assuredly more badass than the Naomi tracks we've heard thus far which adds a whole new dimension to what sounded like it was going to be a more light-hearted endeavor. An exciting development that continues to build on album release anticipation while also giving fairly no idea what to expect in terms of the overall mood and feel of the album.



If you don't feel like waiting for the official release date of the Cave Singers' fourth full length record on March 5th, you get an instantaneously download with any pre-order.

Listen: The Cave Singers - "Easy Way"

If you haven't been paying close attention to the Cave Singers since the initial album announcement chances are you've missed a couple things. One of the more important things being the Seattle folk rockers dropping tracks left and right (this is but a slight exaggeration). One of the tracks they sent out into the ether was "Easy Way".

"Easy Way", follows in the ramshackle, rambling ways of many of the Cave Singers other songs and even pairs pretty well with the first single from their upcoming fourth album Naomi "Have to Pretend". It's bright and somewhat summer-invoking without surrendering completely to beach pop tendencies. Unlike "Have to Pretend" which changes gears several times through, "Easy Way" is a straight shot of Cave Singers' brand of hang-out rock.



The Cave Singers' upcoming record Naomi is out March 5th on Jagjaguwar. If you pre-order it, you can download it instantaneously so do that.

Watch: Little Tybee - "The Boldest Lines"

And suddenly the flood gates are open. After the release of what might very well be the most perfect tour video for "For Distant Viewing", Atlanta chamber folk outfit Little Tybee are keeping the momentum going with another video for new track "The Boldest Lines".

Unlike "For Distant Viewing" which featuring sprawling fields and gorgeously shot nature footage as well as the band being their charming selves, "The Boldest Lines" is a remarkably different change of pace featuring the wacky dance stylings of a man known only as Cousin Dan. Despite it's rather simplistic one-shot there's actually a lot going on. Well, that's not entirely true. There's two things going on: There's a tv whose visualization is tied directly to the song and then there's so very much going on with Cousin Dan as he rises in his Batcave, disrobes, and suits up in what I can only assume/hope are his trademark digs.

Did I mention the starring track is amazing? I didn't? Well, it is. What seems to be the theme of the For Distant Viewing tracks is Little Tybee taking these expansive musical interludes that are really just highly enjoyable. That's not to say the tangents are more entertaining than the song proper, it's just nice to have this purely musical moments where they could be easily cut out for a more radio-friendly appeal. It's also another opportunity to showcase the amazing musicians Little Tybee have within their ranks. They're astounding together and band together to create this remarkable pop-tastic moments but it's nice that they're given moments to shine without having to worry about distracting from Brock Scott's lyricism.



Oh Little Tybee, I am smitten. Their third album For Distant Viewing is out April 9th on Paper Garden Records.