Zillionaire - The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down

(2008 - New Granada)

An album like The Street Lights Have Been Turned Down probably won't grab you on first listen and that's okay. It doesn't really want to. The band responsible, Tampa based indie quartet Zillionaire, doesn't deal in hooks and riffs anyway. Instead the emphasis is on nuance and sophistication. Zillionaire is also a band which bears the distinction of carrying on a tradition as opposed to revelling in a trend.
Zillionaire's sound combines the deliberation and intertwined guitars of mid-90's slowcore with elements of the more restrained indie acts of the same era (think Bedhead or Versus). The guitars are, for the most part, free of distortion with deep tones and clean chords that are permitted ro ring free.
One of the halmarks of a truly great album is that the strongest run of songs, the ones most distinctive of the band's identity, come in the middle. Though each of the tracks on Street Lights... have their individual merits, there is a sizeable chunk of the album from around "The Incident of the Water Heater" through "Turn It On" in which it becomes more apparent that the musicians have put a considerable amount of time and thought into these arrangements. These songs are something of a cornerstone for the album with gorgeous vocal couplings and entrancingly simple guitar lines that gracefully compliment eachother while building to a satisfactory release in the occasional noisy sections.
Zillionaire's overall mood may seem dour and gloomy but at times there is the spark of a wry sense of humor. I mean come on the lyrics to "No Contest" are almost entirely comprised of titles from Versus songs. Possibly a statement that they're aware of the occasions in which they put their 90's influences front and center? Zillionaire needn't feel self-conscious of sounding derivative, especially when they're picking up a torch that's been mostly cast aside for quite some time.

Utah Carol - Rodeo Queen

Utah Carol - Rodeo Queen
(2007, Stomping Ground)

It's apparent from the opening bars of "Rodeo Queen" that Chicago Husband/Wife duo Utah Carol know a thing or two about writing music that billows with a lonely loveliness and just a hint of twang. The knowledge that Grant Birkenbeul and Jija Davis have released a mere three albums in their 12 years of musical collaboration should clue you in on the laid-back pace that their songs follow. Having been satisfied up until this point with a local following in Chicago and a larger fandom in Europe, "Rodeo Queen" has the potential to finally bring these two to the attention of the U.S. indie community.
Let's get this straight right now, we are not talking about the dour downbeat drudgery that has invaded indie rock in the last few years. Utah Carol is way too sappy, and I mean that in a good way, to be completely lumped into the Americana genre. Their style falls somewhere between Iron & Wine and The Starlight Vocal Band mixed with a bit of Ida or Mojave 3. Nearly the entire album is sung in unison by both Birkenbeul and Davis with a smooth, breathy sweetness. While varying in both style and substance, the songs of "Rodeo Queen" are all draped with the same blanket of low-key dreaminess conjured by the lovers' dual warbling.
Despite Utah Carol's propensity for starry-eyed sentimentality, the lovey dovey schmaltz so rampant in some other couple bands is actually kept to a relative minimum. Don't get me wrong, that element IS present but most of the songs paint overly romanticized pictures of the love that got away and all the accompanying notions of regret, heartache, obsession and self-sabotage. With soft guitars and sweet melodies Birkenbeul and Davis often seem to be telling personal stories of other people's lives which is all well and good as long as they keep doing it with such a bleary-eyed, twinkling, coffee house kind of panache.

For your Idfest consideration

I know there's going to be alot to choose from this weekend in regards to aural pleasure in the Asheville area. One band in particular may elude you Idfest-going eye but is worthy of your precious attention.

Through the Sparks hail from Birmingham, Alabama. They play a paticularly easy going yet thoughtfully paced and structured brand of psych-pop. They're on the same page with bands like Big Star.
On May 1 they'll release "Lazarus Beach". It's an impressive enough collections of songs made all the more impressive with the knowledge that it's their first long player. With an other worldly musical camaraderie and tasteful sensibilities they maintain a perfect balance of grim playfulness, subtle depth and engrossing melody.

Through the Sparks will play the Wedge Gallery at 10:30 on Saturday April 28th as part of Idfest.

If you require more convincing then please feel free to peruse their Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/throughthesparks

The Asteroid #4 - An Amazing Dream

The Asteroid #4 - An Amazing Dream
(2007 - Rainbow Quartz)

On these frosty overcast days of mid-winter I usually seek out the familiarity of simple melodies heavily blanketed in swirling reverb. Something airy yet grounded, melancholy but not self-indulgent and, most of all, something that can be at once expansive and sparse. These sounds are my aural comfort food. On their fourth album, An Amazing Dream, Philadelphia's The Asteroid #4 have delivered such an album.
Having never heard of The Asteroid #4 I'm thankfully spared the bias some critics have from the band's apparently awful preceding effort. All I know is that I love An Amazing Dream's billowing...um, dreaminess. Most of the songs are build around a strumming acoustic rhythm guitar peppered with the shimmering jangle of an ultra-effected electric. The ethereal airiness is kept firmly cemented by a grounded yet unassuming rhythm section. The drums and bass work together as an inseparable unit, keeping the momentum brisk and oak solid.
The album only has two real missteps. One is "Into the Meadow", a dismally white bread murder ballad that is very repetitive, very boring and very long. The other is tacked onto the end of the "Belong", the epic closing track. A few minutes after the song ends there is a two and a half minute session of pretentious ramblings about Alan Ginsberg, and yes it is as lame as it sounds.
The Asteroid #4 owes much of their sound and fashion to bands like The Trash Can Sinatras, The Ocean Blue and The Church. In fact An Amazing Dream contains a faithful rendition of The Church's "In Your Eyes". If this were released 17 years ago you'd probably Dave Kendall introducing a video for "Ask Me About Pittsburgh" or "Go Ahead" on 120 Minutes. And with that last reference I betray my age and will now take my leave, thank you and good night.

The British Army ... on LSD

Barton Carroll - Love & War

Barton Carroll - Love & War
(2006, Skybucket Records)

The first thing one hears on Love & War is Barton Carroll's mournful mountain warble as he vocalizes a traditional Appalachian lament. In the song a young man says goodbye to his lover as he must leave home. Although the reason for their separation is never stated outright, we can easily assume that there is a war and the boy must go into battle. Why? Well, there is the album's title for one. There is also the fact that the running theme of Love & War is the effect that battle has on the lives of civilians.

Carroll has one of those voices that pours emotion with a weary but steadfast honesty. His delivery may seem frail at times but Carroll's vocals are always front and center, breathing life into the otherwise sparse arrangements. The accompaniment doesn't disappoint either, this is after all the guy who played a truckload of various instruments for Crooked Fingers. The instrumentation, be it a bassoon, piano, violin, or the more traditional guitar/bass/drums combination, is gorgeously arranged but remains minimal, allowing the words to resonate with much more loneliness. Stylistically Carroll switches things up a bit, staying rooted in Appalachian/roots territory most of the time but manages to kick out a couple Tobin Sprout-style indie rock jams as well.

Most musicians, when taking on the subject of war, choose the political outrage/moral high ground road. Carroll would rather chronicle the situations of the individuals who have no choice. His lyricss are not about the politics of war but more about the basic humanity and inhumanity that happens in its midst. The fact that Love & War was recorded way back in August 2001, just before our current situations began, somehow adds to the timelessness of these songs.

So Many Dynamos - Flashlights

So Many Dynamos - Flashlights
(2006, Skroki Records)

Wow, what a difference a year and a half makes. When we first heard from So Many Dynamos they were a brimming pot full of potential. They were already a good band with a confident, well-defined sound. However they were also mired in hero worship for The Dismemberment Plan, a fact that hindered almost as much as it helped. Now they're back with Flashlights, an album that shows a band that's growing up in all the right ways while still retaining that essential spark of new-band energy.

The first album, When I Explode, had a tense precision about the proceedings. The songs themselves felt tightwound, almost suffocatingly so. A common byproduct of a new band over scrutinizing every detail with a need to impress right out of the gate. On Flashlights the band employ the same tight performances but with more of an openness that comes with virtuosity. They've always sounded confident but now they sound comfortable being confident.

Without pressure to immediately grab attention and "make a name" the songs can open up more, allowing for things like horns and vocal choirs. The guitars still snap with jarring dissonance or by contrast, interplay with mathy tenderness. Clayton Kunstel's drumming, while still precise, is more alive this time out, taking some jazzier excursions to find more of the rhythm between the accents.

It's clear that So Many Dynamos have no intention of divorcing themselves from their influences. It's also clear that they're not about to let their sound stagnate as a rehash of over traversed territory.

Ho-Ag - The News From Pluto

Ho-Ag - The News From Pluto
(2006, Hello Sir Records)

There are a few things we've come to expect from bands brought to us by Hello Sir Records. These include, but are not limited to, a blitz of guitar driven energy, time signatures that change on a dime, ass kicking riff/melodies and quite a bit of screamin' and yellin'. All of these elements are present and accounted for on The Word From Pluto, the new collection of recorded music from Boston's Ho-Ag.

Their sound lies somewhere in the badlands between the heavy riffage of NoMeansNo and the mathy kookiness of Devo. Drums pound and drive. Guitars nimbly rock the hell out. The occasianally obnoxious synthesizer is for the most part tastefully used and is rarely at the musics forefront.

Ho-Ag play with a vicious precision that rides the line between control and spastic entropy. The music continually threatens to collapse under the weight of its own energy but flashes off into a new direction before that happens. A tasteful dollop of melody and ear for off-kilter hooks distinguishes Ho-Ag from the other wannabe, art-punk mathnicks.

My new favorite web celebrity

This picture really makes me laugh....alot.

Go to Harvest Records to see people play music

Don't know much about The New Sound of Numbers but I must say that their show does look like a promising way to spend an evening.

The music happens tonight, October 29, 2006 at Harvest Records in Asheville

Here's their myspace page if you wanna know more http://myspace.com/thenewsoundofnumbers

The Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side

The Theater Fire - Everybody Has A Dark Side
(2006, Undeniable Records)

Hey look everybody, my choice for best new label of 2005 is back with a third release. Oh what fun! And yes this one is just as strong and memorable as the first two. Coolness!
The Theater Fire have been kicking around North Texas in some form or another since 2000. On their second album Everybody Has a Dark Side they've blossomed into a laid-back, unassumingly sublime outfit that is quite comfortable in its musical skin. As the thirteen presented tracks ramble through forty odd minutes of playing time, we hear yarns spun about lovers, loners, brothers, dusty strangers and guilt ridden survivors. These stories are set to music that consistently changes things around while avoiding most of the formulaic trappings of americana or roots music.
Things open up with "Kicking Up A Darkness", an account of an approaching stranger that could have been a transplant from a Lambchop or Leonard Coen album. It's the most formally arranged and studio polished song you'll hear. Things don't exactly go lo-fi, they just become sort of... let's say informal. "Fiddleback Weaver" throws in some mariachi horns resulting in a darkly festive border town drinking song. From there the styles jump from front porch sing-a-longs to love lorn soldier ballads to campfire stories to rollicking road tunes to... you get the picture.
Entirely recorded at home with analog technology, the songs on Everybody Has A Dark Side breathe with the laid back, organic energy of a sunny southwestern afternoon. They have the unguarded, casual intimacy of hanging out with old friends and playing songs you've known for years. Mostly sentimental, sometimes mournful and occasionally droll, Everybody... is a refreshingly unambitious late summer treat. It's not perfect, but then again good music should never have that as an aim in the first place.

All this time...

... and still, the number one search topic that leads people to this blog is "Amish Girls".

Black Fiction - Ghost Ride

Black Fiction - Ghost Ride
(2006 - Howells Transmitter)

More than anything, Black Fiction wants to be an old, beat-up cassette onto which your best friend has copied his or her eccentricly amateurish bedroom recording project. Every song on Ghost Ride goes out of it's way to be different from the last. The crazy thing is that it kind of works. The problem with Ghost Ride is that it spends too much time trying to convince you that it has been created by amateurs when it is obvious that the opposite is true. For the most part the songs are genuinely creative and well written like the stunning title track, there are however a few time wasters like the band's namesake.
This may be the next step into the SUPER-disaffected-self-aware arena of indie rock where artists go out of their way to include as many elements and genres as possible and at the same time go out of their way to sound like they are very bored and not trying very hard. The result is that Black Fiction is a good album when in fact it could've been a fantastic one. The experimental nature of pushing your limits in order to find your feet is the reason that many a band's first album is it's most memorable. But with Black Fiction it's hard to tell how much of that is genuine and how much is engineered to be odd and hip.
The songs are good enough, employing creative home recording techniques, incongruous instrumentation and darkly misanthropic lyrics. The vocals however are presented with a disaffected, hipster staleness that either attempts to emulate someone else's style or, when delving into more personal lyrical content, refuses any emotion or personality at all.
All gripes aside, Ghost Harvest is different from anything else I've heard this year and, as this shoegazer-packed summer finally winds down, different is what I desperately need right now.

7 more weeks of free busses in Asheville

Hey Asheville folks, don't forget to take advantage of the free busses whenever you can. The more people ride during the free fare experiment, the more money the city will throw into the transportation system next year.

New Songs + Jukebox = Good Times

Hey folks, we've updated the jukebox on the website's music page. There's some Conner songs as well as goodness from The Bleachers and Venice is Sinking and some revelry from The World/Inferno Friendship Society.

Enjoy

Iron Hero - Safe As Houses

Iron Hero - Safe As Houses
(2006, Self Released)

Yet another head-turning band from Athens, Ga that shows enormous potential. For a band with six members Iron Hero is surprisingly taut. This is due to the guidance of an amazing rhythm section.
Thomas Wilcox (drums) and Ben Simpson (bass) keep things steady and under control with tense precision allowing the other players to cover everything is a thick blanket of post-rock atmosphere. The guitars interplay with simple, serpentine phrases which are occasionally washed in reverberated fuzz. The vocals are nice and melodic but don't seem as confident and distinctive as Iron Hero's other elements.
There are gobs of little intricacies on Safe As Houses for future discovery. Thanks to the immaculate production (provided by Josh McKay of Macha) everything shows up in the mix.
Drawing inspiration from the likes of American Football, Tristeza, The Church and Echo & The Bunnymen, I'm glad that the remnants of the post-rock movement has landed in such capable hands.

The Scourge of the Sea - Make Me Armored

The Scourge of the Sea - Make Me Armored
(2006, Alias Records)

Do my eyes deceive me? Is the label that disappeared after signing every band in Chapel Hill in the early 90's really back? It's true, the label that brought you The Archers of Loaf has returned and they've picked an oddly unmemorable album to do it with.
Don't get me wrong, this debut from Lexington, KY's The Scourge of the Sea is for the most part a perfectly serviceable college pop album. In fact they remind me of early Connells or a less ambitiously literary version of The Trash Can Sinatras. Solidly arranged, mid-tempo ditties sung wispily by heartbroken young men resigning in the face of unrequited love seem to rule the day.
There is, in fact, alot to love on Make Me Armored. The album shows great potential with songs like "Out of the Trash" and "Smitten Kitten" which may have been time-warped from my college radio station from fifteen years ago. Many a melody from this disk has popped into my head long after the spinning is done. However, despite a few saccharine sweet melody lines, Make Me Armored leaves no real lasting impression.
Unfortunately the last few tracks sail along rather lifelessly suffering from frequently trite lyrics. "The Birds of a Feather" in particular suffers from the most distracting case of every-two-lines-absolutely-MUST-rhyme syndrome in recent memory.

Snowlgobe - Oxytocin

Snowglobe - Oxytocin
(2006, Makeshift Music)

I'm honestly rather unfamiliar with Memphis, Tennessee's Snowglobe, a band that has previously put out two apparently fantastic albums that I've never heard. All I know is that Oxytocin is the first in a series of five albums, each of which will be a "solo-directed project" by a different member of the band. This one here was written and conducted by Mr. Brad Postlethwaite. Incidentally, Oxytocin is a hormone that is released during orgasm, ejaculation and birth.
The musical styles are all over the map. There's some bouncy pop, some gigantic, blown out arrangements ala The Flaming Lips and more than a little attention to detail and orchestration. Most of the songs seem to be built around Postlethwaite's promonent vocal melodies, showcasing some formidable songwriting abilities which although catchy and memorable are for the most part downright uncheerful.
Call it unfocused. Call it diverse to a fault. You can even call it the second coming of Elephant Six if you like. The thing you can't call Oxytocin is uninteresting. Unlike most songwriters Postlethwaite doesn't force his lyrics onto every second of every song. He knows when to let the music breathe. With stacks upon piles of instruments always in the mix there are plenty of rewards for the attentive listener.

The Never - Antarctica

The Never - Antarctica
(2006 - Trekky Records)

The Never may just be North Carolina's most ambitious indie-rock outfit. Their second album, Antarctica, is half of a multimedia project which includes a fully illustrated storybook featuring 50 original paintings by bandmember Noah Smith. Inspired by the storybook records of our childhoods, Antarctica tells the story of a country boy who is on a quest to return a nuclear bomb to the city. There are also witches and minions and some sort of love story and changing seasons. My details are hazy as I don't actually have the storybook with my promo.
As is necessary in telling a story of youthful innocence combating the ways of the world, The Never's music is unapologetically sentimental and self-important. It's also damn impressive for a sophmore release. Delicate indie ballads, catchy power-pop, riffs, reprisals, interludes and quite a bit of anthemic arrangement all have a hand in telling Antarctica's story. At times I'm reminded of Queen at their most Beatlesque along with a dose of Death Cab For Cutie before they were boring. It's refreshing to hear such layered and dense music coming from people naive enough to sing lines like, "I will find my heart in Antarctica." with sincerity and in four-part harmony.