Omori is a former member of the Smith Westerns, the teen Chicago glam-garage wunderkinds who briefly blew up a few years back. On his debut solo album, New Misery (out March 18th on Sub Pop Records), he takes an clever stylistic turn that spikes Cure-indebted synth pop with streaks of glitter-caked psychedelia.
Sam Beam aka Iron & Wine, is releasing an album of duets with Jesca Hoop. Love Letter for Fire is out April 15th on Sub Pop Records. They’re also taking the record on tour across North America, starting in May. Above, listen to first single “Every Songbird Says”; scroll down for the dates and Sam Beam’s album cover photo.
The album features contributions from Wilco’s Glenn Kotche (drums, percussion), Robert Burger (keys), Eyvind Kang (violin, viola), Sebastian Steinberg (bass), and Edward Rankin-Parker (cello). Tucker Martine produced, recorded, and mixed the record. Richard Dodd mastered it.
Last week, Beam debuted two new songs “Kicking the Old Rain” and “Thomas County Law.” Those are from a forthcoming release, not Love Letter for Fire.
Long before the sincerity trends, the legions of bearded lumbersexuals and the tear-stained folk band explosion…there was Sam Beam. Armed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and an occasional female accompaniment, Iron & Wine reignited our culture’s reverance for the wayward folk artist. The project has grown and evolved for well over a decade now and still going strong, but 2016 sees Beam carving a new path with fellow singer/songwriter Jesca Hoop.
Hoop, who has already collaborated with the Iron and Wine project before, adds the perfect amount of harmony and vibrato to Beam’s hushed vocal delivery. First single Every Songbird Says is as easy on the ears as the crackle of a campfire or the wind blowing through trees overhead. Violins and pianos join the two in a sweeping 3 /12 minutes of chamber pop suitable for any Nick Drake b-side. If this ain’t an insta-buy, I don’t know what is.
“Every Songbird Says” from the 4/15/16 Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop album Love Letter for Fire , Jesca Hoop and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) announce a new album of duets – ‘Love Letter For Fire’ out April 15 on Sub Pop Records / Black Cricket Recording Co.
Listen to the first track “Every Songbird Says”
When June arrived, the Helio Sequence gathered their 26 finished songs and sent them to 31 friends, fans and family members. They asked each person to rank their 10 favorite tracks. By summer’s end, they had arrived at the brisk 10 tracks that shape the breathless and magnetic The Helio Sequence—a record so named because it’s a kind of clean restart for the longtime pair, a revamp of their process and a revitalization of their results.
The Helio Sequence is a renewed push forward for the band: From the cool wallop of “Deuces,” where guitars snarl and harmonies soar, to the stuttering anxiety of “Upward Mobility”, where pianos pound and drums race, this collection depends upon an effortless kinetic energy. Lyrically, “Stoic Resemblance” is a study of existential anxiety, but musically, it’s a beguiling burst of pop, Summers’ vocals rising over and sliding off of Weikel’s big, irrepressible beat. The bittersweet “Leave or Be Yours” evokes the easy twinkle of romance and the smoldering sadness of losing it. Crisscrossing vocals and cross-talking guitars and drums map a broad swirl of emotions.
With its easy acoustic jangle, “Inconsequential Ties” might be one of the most surprising, light moments within the bombastic Helio Sequence catalog. But considered within the band’s history, it points to the pop that’s bound Summers and Weikel for so long. Indeed, there’s a delightful candor to The Helio Sequence, an openness that is a rare and special feat for a band about to enter its third decade.
Just a couple of years ago, it would’ve seemed — well, maybe not unthinkable, but certainly a little unexpected for Merchandise and Dum Dum Girls to show up on a song together. But hey, here we are, and isn’t this a nice place to be? Last year’s magnificent After The End was both Merchandise’s big pop move and their best work yet, an album that took the dark new-romantic heart they’d only hinted at on previous releases and pumped it full of enough John Hughes soundtracks to make it beat, to turn them from Ally Sheedy at the beginning of The Breakfast Club to Ally Sheedy at the end of The Breakfast Club (except without all of the #problematic baggage that that entails). Dum Dum Girls don’t necessarily mine the same set of influences, but they rely on a similarly retro goth-pop glamor. And yes, now the two have combined forces on a new 7″ single, the a-side to which is “Red Sun,” a moody track that rests on a pulsing, sinister synth line and arid guitar. Dee Dee handles the verses, playing some sort of man-eating desert siren, while Carson Cox jumps in on the chorus.
4AD records group Merchandise and NYC’s Dum Dum Girls have combined their forces to great a subtle poppy masterpiece. The 7“ includes the new songs “Echo“ and “Red Sun“.
The latter is spiced up with synth driven beats and Merchandise signature reverbed guitars. This solid instrumental is the backbone for the continuously evolving obsessive duet between singer Dee Dee and Carson Cox. The red sun is glamorous and shimmery. Of course this romance is doomed to fail and to fade out into fatal silence. We are left alone with just the hazy memory of a lost love.
The record is out November 27th. Pre-order available @ Sub Pop Records
From the new Low album “Ones and Sixes” due September 2015, Low have been making warm, harmonic music since the early ’90s. Their songs are often inspired by their personal lives, as the band told us in a profile anticipating their upcoming album Ones And Sixes. We’ve already shared “What Part Of Me” and “No Comprende,” the first two singles taken from the album. And now they’ve shared a further track “Lies,” which finds Alan Sparkhawk and Mimi Parker composing sonically beautiful symmetry. The dim tone is enveloped in a cloak of hazy vibration, topped off with Sparkhawk and Parker’s soothing vocals. It’s the kind of song that you can play over and over when you just need to be by yourself and recharge. Listen and absorb the melancholy.
Rose Windows self-titled album released 4th May 2015, now listen to Rose Windows “Strip Mall Babylon, a new offering from the group’s forthcoming, self-titled and final album, due out May 4th on Sub Pop.
““Strip Mall Babylon” suggests the album is well worth hearing (we can attest to this suggestion). The song starts deceptively with a slinky groove, before Qazi’s Joplin-esque roar explodes over thick, fuzzy guitars and searing organs. It’s a victorious sign-off for a band with a brief but impressive run.
Preorders for Rose Windows are available now from Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. All customers who pre-order the LP version of the album from megamart.subpop.com will receive the “Loser Edition” on red & black marbled vinyl, and a limited edition 7” which features the songs “Never Did Me Wrong” and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “The Wanton Song” (while supplies last). Additionally, there will be a new T-shirt design available in two colors, both individually and as part of a bundle with purchases of the new record.
Rose Windows recently shared the news of their dissolution through their Facebook page (read more here) and have cancelled all scheduled live dates. With that said, we are very proud to have released two albums with Rose Windows, and wish them well in their future pursuits, both musically and otherwise.
In a world where instant gratification is the norm, patience has become a rare commodity. But for Zoe Randell and Steve Hassett, who make up indie-folk duo Luluc (pronounced Loo-LUKE), letting things unfold in due time not only defines their career trajectory, it also works as a pretty good description of their approach to making music. Music that Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman describes as “bracing, subtle, tender and magnificent”.
So while it may seem like Randell and Hassett’s history is littered with all kinds of good luck-from their initial meeting to their relationship with The National’s Aaron Dessner, to their deal with Sub Pop, to grabbing the attention of Nick Drake’s producer-being in the right place at the right time isn’t just about fate. It’s about knowing when something feels right and having the confidence that people will respond when they’re ready.
There’s no question that everything these Australians (who split their time between Melbourne and their adopted hometown of Brooklyn) have done in their lives has been leading up to this summer’s “Passerby”, their second album overall and first available worldwide. Co-produced by the band and Dessner, “Passerby” shows off all of Luluc‘s best qualities, retaining the gentle beauty of the duo’s debut, Dear Hamlyn, while adding extra textures built with the assistance of a cadre of impressive players. It’s the trophy celebrating Luluc’s airtight case that good things-no, make that great things-really do come to those who wait.
From the album ‘Do to the Beast’, out now on Sub Pop Records, Reunion albums suck. And reunion albums with only two original members plus hired hands and special guests really suck, right? Not always. Do To The Beast is the first Afghan Whigs album in 16 years, and features just singer Greg Dulli and bassist John Curley from their ’90s lineup. But it’s as vital as Congregation, Gentlemen or anything else from the halcyon days. The bruising guitar riffs of “Parked Outside,” “Matamoros” and “Royal Cream” prove the band’s swagger is seemingly inexhaustible. Beast is also an eclectic work, reflecting Dulli’s love for all things cinematic. “It Kills” and “Lost In The Woods” are darkly dramatic piano ballads. “Algiers” heads into spaghetti-Western territory. Throughout, Dulli finds new angles for his pet themes of obsessive love, Catholic guilt and deadly crimes. (“If my desire for your company/Made this motherfucker point his gun at me” is a pretty typical lyric.) The band subtly blends in its soul and hip-hop influences through the assertive strut of the rhythms and the alpha-male vulnerability in Dulli’s voice.
U.S. goth rockers, Dum Dum Girls have been around since 2008, starting life as the bedroom recording project of front woman and songwriter Dee Dee Penny. The four-piece released its third studio album, “Too True”, in January on Sub Pop with songs inspired by 19th century French poetry and 80’s synth music. The album embraces a bigger, rockier sound with guitars to the fore and much set in mid tempo. Having given time for her vocal cords to heal from the effects of excessive touring, Penny is in fine voice here on “Lost Boys & Girls Club,” as well as looking luscious in latex in a curious H&M meets S&M post-Garden of Eden set.
King Tuff, and the album: “Black Moon Spell” available on Sub Pop Records. Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, subscribes to a simple philosophy while recording: “Make something you can listen to over and over again,” he said, before rocking Fernwood in 2012. “It’s got to be exciting the whole time, like a little adventure or a little journey from each song to the next.” King Tuff’s self-titled rager was one of my favorites of 2012, and this follow-up delivers just as lavishly, with fiery guitar-centric bliss
Dedicated to all jangly indie/guitar/jangle-pop
Show a little faith there's magic in the night
Horror, Science Fiction, Comic Books and More
IN MEMORY EVERYTHING SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO MUSIC - Tennessee Williams
A Celebration of Thrillers, Noire and Black Comedy by Pamela Lowe Saldana
Join me as I listen to every single #1 single!
Two Guys In Search of Great Music
Hoping to make the world more beautiful
hear ye, hear ye!
Celebrating music craftsmanship
Favorite song lists, reviews, featured indie artists, and music commentary.
A Blog About Music, Vinyl, More Music and (Sometimes) Music...
Eclectic reviews of ambient, psychedelic, post-rock, folk and progressive rock ... etc.!
A transparent attempt to promote a writing career
Quality articles about the golden age of music
Slow molasses drip under a tipped-up crescent moon.
Click Header to Return Home
to Rock, Country, Blues & Jazz
A Glasgow view of Americana and related music and writings.
Rewind the Review
A stroll down memory lane through my music collection
the best music of yesterday today and the tomorrow, every era every genre
The Fat Angel Sings 