Watch: Here We Go Magic - "How Do I Know"

Less than  a week ago, I was introduced to Here We Go Magic and the bright infectious pop of "How Do I Know" and now, there's a fancy video. Directed by Sean Pecknold (who directs videos for people besides Fleet Foxes, who knew!), the the video pretty much establishes the central conflict right at the beginning. A man  must choose between his hot wheelchair bound wife or a dancing robot that fills the void his wife can't. This results in the man dragging the sleep mode robot into the desert and activating her as he watches her boogie all day long. When the man gets his fill and busts a couple of his own moves, he takes her back to the dancing robot plant. It's tragic really and if I were in his shoes, I probably would've chosen the rambunctious dance-bot but that's just me.

Watch Here We Go Magic's video for "How Do I Know":


Here We Go Magic's A Different Ship on May 8th.

(via Stereogum)

Daughn Gibson - All Hell (2012)

The past couple days I've been let down when I come home from work and expect to have missed something monumentally epic - musically speaking. It's possible that I'm just not looking in the right places or maybe music  news has really been that slow lately. And yet tonight I came home to find a stray tweet from ARMS' Todd Goldstein stating he'd be opening up for Daughn Gibson in May. After about a two month live show drought that was news to my ears. But who was Daughn Gibson? I certainly was intrigued but I could tell I wasn't going to dig, there were, to me, more pressing matters to attend to. And then I saw that Jeff of Secret Moutains praised the album today as well. Schedule cleared, Daughn Gibson was my first and only priority.

Daughn Gibson is from Carlisle, Pennsylvania and very well may still reside there. I honestly have no clue. There's not too much I can tell you about Gibson and maybe that's for the best. What I can tell you is that his debut record All Hell is unlike anything I've heard before. You may hear that time and time again when someone's trying to sell you new release after new release of virtual unknowns but believe me when I tell you this: All Hell is new. All Hell is distinct, creative, and original. Beginning with "Bad Guys", it's not hard to see why Gibson has adopted country as his genre labeling of choice, simple bent note guitar riffs and a languorous drawl. The most unexpected thing about Gibson is deepness of his voice which becomes less of shock as you listen on. With "In the Beginning" you start to really get a taste at the turn the record will soon take - it's a lot poppier than the lead track, building on simplistic hymn-friendly piano chords before the entrance of funky beat makes it clear it's not going in that direction.   

Daughn Gibson has the sort of genre-blurring interplay that bands like Megafaun have more or less made a career of. There's a single genre label for the sake of ease but Gibson tests the very limits of it as mean of categorization. All Hell becomes bigger than genre. It's a series of songs with twists and turns you don't see coming even as you become more comfortable with the album. On All Hell, Gibson proves himself not only a skilled multi-instrumentalist (trading off on guitar and piano whenever he sees fit) but as a skilled manipulator - bending boundaries, foundations, and arranging samples in just the right way to keep you on your toes. And regardless of the textural soundscapes, Gibson's voice is clear as a bell, deep and reverberating and ultimately grounding. Even with the multitude of things going on around it, it is always the focus, the one point your ears have no trouble finding.  All Hell is astoundingly different, the result of a clearly  talented man with a host of ideas with enough sense to know how to properly use them. Gibson never overwhelms, instead allowing you to appreciate each moment as much as you like as his croons draw you toward where you need you to go.   

Get a taste of Daughn Gibson's rather eclectic style with some tracks from the album: 

 Daughn Gibson - In the Beginning by Mistletone 

 Daughn Gibson - Tiffany Lou by wearehitsville 

 Daughn Gibson - Lookin Back on '99 by brooklynvegan 

Daughn Gibson's All Hell is out now on White Denim with a limited edition run of vinyl which you can order here. You can stream the album on Spotify. 

Here We Go Magic - "How Do I Know"/"Make Up Your Mind"

I've heard Brooklyn indie-pop quartet Here We Go Magic's name around for quite awhile but it was a stray tweet from ARMS' Todd Goldstein and a night with nothing to do that got me to finally listen to their music. The result was the fast-paced brand of pop rock I didn't know I was a looking for in the two new singles "How Do I Know" and "Make Up Your Mind" from the quartet's upcoming album A Different Ship.

"How Do I Know" starts simply enough, with undulating waves of sound before Luke Temple enters and ushers in the forward momentum-pushing drums. Layers and layers of instruments billow and sweep in all the while maintaining the songs simplicity.

 i-D Online: How Do I Know, Here We Go Magic by i-D online

"Make Up Your Mind" isn't all sunshine and bright playful instrumental interplay like "How Do I Know", there's a sort of rebellious rock swagger and tension as the track plods along - Temple's "make up your mind" ring out like shouts unpredictably, both soothing and inflaming the track's underlying tension.

 Here We Go Magic - "Make Up Your Mind" by Secretly Canadian


You can download both these new tracks from Here We Go Magic's upcoming album A Different Ship (out May 8th) by liking Secretly Canadian on Facebook here. You can also preorder the album here.

ETHEL - Heavy (2012)

You’re eyes are not deceiving you – NYC based string quartet /band ETHEL have indeed released a new album. Heavy, their first major release since 2006’s Light (apart from a couple composer-centric albums), is a tribute to New York City and also the last album to feature recently departed member Mary Rowell.

ETHEL bridges the gap between releases with Don Byron’s “Four Thoughts on Marvin Gaye” (of which #3 was on Light). Inspired less by the actual music of Marvin Gaye and more on the man’s tumultuous life, ETHEL lead right out of the gate with a fearless white knuckled tutti before embarking on a stunning display of techniques – harmonics, glissandos, col legno, if you can name it, it most likely makes an appearance of #1 if not one of the subsequent movements. And yet what’s truly impressive is while having this multitude of what could easily turn into blatant displays of instrumental prowess – ETHEL keep it about the music. And though inspired by Marvin Gaye, it’s hard not to see how Byron’s work fits into ETHEL homage to the city – soulful, endlessly busy but not oppressively so – any movement could be the soundtrack to the city at night (with #3 emphasizing the hint of danger that lurks around ).

Julia Wolfe’s “Early That Summer” is a mammoth of a piece that can best be described as series of stacked moments continuously attempting to up the ante. There’s no rest, no break, instead it’s eleven straight minutes of nail-biting end-of-your-seat pyrotechnics. Each moment from its’ gun-shot like intro goes bigger than you thought possible with nary a thought given to the threat of everything toppling over.  When the piece comes to a stop with a series of thick, clustered chords, you can hardly believe it.

Raz Menisai’s “La Citadelle” is fair and above the most groove-centric piece on the album, taking the place of Light’s “Chai” building upon a series of earth-trembling deep ostinatos as the piece plods on minimalistically altering its grooves with a Middle Eastern air. There’s slides and glissandos reminiscent of sirens that manage to ground the fantastical sounding piece into a sort of briefly accepted reality before launching once again on its rhythmic melismatic voyage of grooves.

ETHEL’s decision to close out the album with frequent collaborator Marcelo Zarvos’ “Rounds” gives the album a feeling of splendid closure – the piece is vibrantly melodic with skyward reaching moments. Heavy’s theme of busy-ness returns here but without any of the pseudo-claustrophobic feel, instead offering an added dynamic to Zarvos’ colorful sprawl.  If Byron’s “Four Thoughts on Marvin Gaye” portrayed a city at night, Zarvos’ “Rounds” provides its parallel as a work of boundless freedom with smile-inducing brightness; a work of endearing calm despite its variety of rapidly moving parts.  

Heavy is an album that certainly lives up to its name. Full of intense moments of clamor and balls-to-the-wall frenetic energy, ETHEL also balances it with bold musical statements, truly unexpected twists and turns, and a pristine clarity in ideas. Each piece manages to establish itself not only as an album highlight but as a distinctive part of ETHEL musical tapestry – their homage takes many forms, mostly in an almost breakneck bustle with a moment of relief offered almost exclusively in the form of short interlude-esque “Wed” by David Lang. But at no point is the pacing overwhelming highlighting one of most notable aspects of the city the foursome so clearly love: its relentless hustle. Heavy is an album that achieves absolute balance with just enough going on to keep you on your toes while simultaneously keeping your total and undivided attention.  Proving that with ETHEL, the wait is almost definitely worth it. 

You can listen to Heavy on Spotify or stream it on their website here.

Watch: AU - "OJ"

Holy unexpected visual treat, Batman! If you were think of a song worthy of the video treatment from Portland duo AU's recent release Both Lights what song would you pick? "Epic"? "Get Alive"? "Solid Gold"? Well, none of those were the choice of frequent collaborator Takafumi Tsuhiya. He's taken his colorful visual style and paired it up with "OJ" the dance-y less-extreme track of Both Lights. And not a bad choice considering the album is virtually stacked with great songs equally all deserving of a video.

If you've seen the video for "Ida Walked Away" you might have some idea of what to expect for the "OJ" video by Takafumi and yet, it's still quite the visual spectacle. Capitalizing on it's dance-y nature, the video features a dance in a sea of potential epileptic seizure inducing colors ranging on full on explosive bursts to subtler changes and brief respites being offered during the track's percussive breaks. It's a video you're sure not to forget as it's scorches it way into your very retinas.

Johnny Flynn - "Flowers in My Garden"

Why does it seem like it's been so long since we've heard from British folky Johnny Flynn? Perhaps because since the release of his sophomore effort Been Listening back in 2010, the man's been insanely busy - acting in pretty successful plays (of which Richard Bean's dramedy 'The Heretic" I can personally vouch for) and about to start a run of Shakespeare classics 'Richard III' and 'Twelfth Night' this summer/fall at the Globe Theatre. And yet, somehow in between all of this the man found time to compose a film score. "A Bag Of Hammers"  is an upcoming indie comedy which features a pretty impressive batch of actors: Jason Ritter, Jake Sandvig (most notable for Easy A), Amanda Seyfriend, and tons more - the brief flashes of Johnny Flynn's compositions are enough to make me want to see much less it actually looking to be pretty great in a feel good movie of the year kind of way.

Yesterday, Johnny Flynn made one of the album's tracks "Flowers in My Garden" available for download - it's a sort of old timey British traditionals that could very well have been sung by Feste in 'Twelfth Night' which Flynn updates by throwing in a some more modern instruments like the banjo and violin. The track is kind of what you might expect from Flynn but much appreciated and very very good featuring some pretty out of this world arrangements. It's new while still sounding very much like the Johnny Flynn you have come to know.

Give "Flowers in My Garden" a listen:
 Johnny Flynn - Flowers In My Garden by All Around Sound Blog


Take a gander at the trailer for "A Bag of Hammers":


There's a limited edition run of the "A Bag of Hammers" soundtrack on vinyl that many a luck Brit will be able to pick up on Record Store Day.

Feist - "Black Tongue" (Mastodon Cover)

This year there's been a bunch of let's say questionable collaborations happening that seemed to occur without rhyme or reason. They've all been more or less hit or miss (mostly miss) but one of the most unexpected ones to roll out between Canadian indie songstress Feist and Atlanta, Georgia metalheads Mastodon is actually excellent. I can't say surprisingly because Feist has a way of imbuing everything she touches with a kind of special awesomeness but there seemed to be so much that could've gone wrong with this and yet, it's utterly perfect.

For their split 7" to be released on Record Store Day (that's this Saturday!), the two decided to take a crack at each other's songs. Mastodon took "A Commotion" from Feist's latest release Metals which makes sense as it's kind of the noisiest, most angry track in Feist's repetoire and Feist took on "Black Tongue", the opening track from Mastodon's most recent release The Hunter. The results are pretty spectacular - namely Feist's portion. Turns out Feist utterly thrives in darker, heavier settings. She doesn't go full metal opting instead for some sort of middle ground that plays to her punky roots while also emphasizing exactly what you love about her: She's ridiculous adaptable - settling for sultry instead of ethereal with her higher notes having just the right amount of wail. It's a surprising enough turn that it makes me hope she lounges around in darker sounds a little longer. Here's to hoping.

Get a taste of Feist's contribution to the 'Feistodon' split 7" - out in just two days!



(via Listen Before You Buy)