Indie rock band Fang Island is returning with sophomore album Major. This will be the first release from the band since their self-titled album released in 2010. The band is described by guitarist Jason Bartell as “everyone high-fiving everyone”. Major is set to release on Sargent House this July 24th. Check out the quick trailer for the new album and their music video for “Daisy” from their 2010 release.
Massachusetts electro-pop band Passion Pit has returned with their new single “Take A Walk” and it is good to hear them back. “Take A Walk” is the first single released from their new album Gossamer coming out July 24th. This has been the first release of the band since their 2009 album Manners. You can check out the new song on their website here and a recent interview with band singer Michael Angelakos here on Pitchfork.
Jack White - Blunderbuss
Jack White is a rock star. He led the rock revival band The White Stripes, he owns his own record label, has been in other bands such as The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, and has worked with the likes of actor John C. Riley and singer Tom Jones. Ever since The White Stripes broke up we haven’t heard much of White, he has been busy making music with others instead of himself. But he has returned with Blunderbuss. Without these bands backing him does White lose his musical talent? Not at all.
Going into this album, it is hard to not expect it to sound like his earlier work such as The White Stripes. While there is a few song there to feed that feeling like Sixteen Saltines, there is some nice surprises in this album. The first track on the album Missing Pieces starts with an organ lead. This song builds to sounding like a Jack White song. But it is a sound not similar to what has been heard in his past. Being a solo album, this feels like White’s most personal album. With the different sounds White pushes out it sounds more like Jack White and not a band. Sixteen Saltines is the second track on the album and it kicks a lot of ass. White’s guitar are heavy and sound like the amp is about catch on fire. Loud and heavy is how I would describe it. Through out the album there is a lot of different sounds coming out of White. Songs such as Love Interruption and Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy show the lighter side of White. I completely fell in love with Love Interruption with its quiet sound and White’s dueling vocals with one of the three back up vocals featured. But this lighter sound does not always work well in White’s favor. Blunderbuss didn’t do much for me with it’s country influence. Another sound we heard in this album is piano driven rock such like the dramatic Weep Themselves to Sleep and southern influenced Trash Tongue Talker. At some points, the piano sounds like it was taken out of a old time saloon and put in White’s studio. A breath of fresh air in the middle of the album was I’m Shakin’. This best shows off White’s gospel-like back up singers in a rock atmosphere. Majority of the album is a lot more laid-back compared to White’s earlier work. Vocally White delivers for what ever sound he needs. He is loud and screaming in Sixteen Saltines and more reserved in others like On and On and On. The last track Take Me With You When You Go is like a testament to the whole album. It features almost all the sound we have heard through Blunderbuss. It starts being heavy on the piano and vocal harmonies. But at the one point, White’s blaring guitar busts into the song to take it for a ride. White’s vocal return and the song seems a little more heavy. The song returns to its quieter state and ends beautifully.
Blunderbuss shows exactly where White is at the time. He is not the complete heavy rocker he was in the past. But he seems a little more reserved showing more personal songs while still having his loud side. Either way, Blunderbuss is a nice return for Jack White to the forefront of rock and we hope never leaves.
I had a pretty exciting weekend. At Norman Music Festival I got to see Deerpeople and meet Wayne Coyne. Wayne is like the nicest dude ever I got to have a 15 minute conversation with him. Then I got to see my favorite punk band Peelander-Z. Yellow brought me up on stage and I got to play his guitar then stage dive for the first time. The next day I went down to Tulsa to see the Arctic Monkeys and The Black Keys live. I had an amazing weekend. I will review all shows once some photos circulate.
Look who I met.
(Source: youngmaxwell)
Bear In Heaven’s new album I Love You, It’s Cool came out recently and I just got around to listening to it so here are some thoughts!
Bear In Heaven is a Brooklyn, New York based Indie Rock band. I first checked out Bear In Heaven with their 2010 album Beast Rest Forth Mouth. I thought it was an impressive album but not something I could fall in love with, I felt a lot of the same way with their most recent release. With I Love You, It’s Cool they take what is great about their first album and continue with it. Expect a lot of synth driven songs layered with an experimental sound and some dance influences. Jon Philpot continues the same kind of distant sounding vocals but I seemed to enjoy it more with It’s Cool. My favorite song off it has to be “Kiss Me Crazy”. It starts quiet but builds beautifully through out the song. The last song on the album “Sweetness & Sickness” is a nice change and end. It stays quiet and calm compared to other songs on this album. But other than that I can’t really find myself enjoying the other song enough to mention them. I think my problem with this album is that I’m not a huge fan of the sound Bear In Heaven produces. Either way it is an enjoyable album if you are a fan of experimental/indie rock similar to some work from Atlas Sound or Twin Shadow. Who knows, maybe I will return to this album later in my life and enjoy it more in a different way. Either way I’m going to give it a few more tries before I say good bye. But what did you think about I Love You, It’s Cool? Love it? Hate It?
I picked up Discovery’s LP yesterday.
Discovery is a side project of Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot. The great thing about this album is it sounds nothing like you would expect if these two came together. The album is full of drum machines and synthesizers with Wes Miles pop vocals. It is surprising to hear this out of them but it is a great surprise. Some songs are stronger than others as I don’t really enjoy some songs like “Orange Shirt” and “Can You Discover?” which is a re-imaging of Ra Ra Riot song “Can You Tell?”. A few friends of the band show up like Angel Deradoorian on “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” and lead man of Vampire Weekend Ezra Koeing on “Carby”. My two favorite songs of this album have to be Osaka Loop Line and So Insane. So Insane feels inspired by some early new wave. Osaka Loop Line’s sporadic lead synth caught be by surprise and reminded me of some chiptune. Another surprise on this album was a cover of Jackson 5’s song “I Want You Back” full of orchestra hits and a great fading-in intro. While I am not a huge fan of Ra Ra Riot, I thought Miles’ voice with his and Batmanglij’s instrumentals made a great synth pop album.
Also it came with a rad poster.
I forgot to show this but I got Jack White’s new single on vinyl awhile back. It has Sixteen Saltines and Love Is Blindness on it. Sixteen Saltines is exactly what you would expect from White. It is loud, heavy, and full of rock. I enjoy Love Is Blindness more though. It’s a sad kind of song with a lot emotion and soul. But it still rocks. Check out both of the songs online if you haven’t already.
Today on The Morning Benders Facebook and Twitter they made the post saying, ”This will be the last post/tweet from The Morning Benders. Thank you all very much.” Though this doesn’t confirm they are sure breaking up but it sounds like the end of The Morning Benders is coming soon. Are the Morning Benders breaking up? Or are they just leaving social media for good?
UPDATE: Well it looks like The Morning Benders are gone. But their actually just changing their name to POP ETC. Check out the new mixtape on their website here.
I was lucky enough to get to spend my Thursday in beautiful Austin, Texas. Many bands I wanted to see were playing such as Peelander-Z, Jack White, and a lot more. But I was lucky enough to go see west coasts own Best Coast, well kinda. There was a long line waiting outside of the Urban Outfitters they were playing behind. Best Coast were having this show to advertise Bethany Cosentino’s new clothing line being sold there. Well the show hit max capacity before us so we ran to the back of the show to try to watch. It being an outside show we could hear it perfectly but not see them play. There was a lot of people with us behind the show, so we walked up the stairs of a parking garage across the street and listened up there. Best Coast’s show was pretty good actually. I am a fan of them even though my main problem with their songs is all of it sounds really similar. But Bethany’s catchy and relatable songwriting is what gets. Either way Best Coast played wonderfully. They had Cosentino on guitar and vocals, other recurring member Bobb Bruno on guitar, and two new live members. This was one of the first few times they have played with four people live. This made their sound a lot fuller and less empty. What I was most excited to hear was the new songs off their sophomore album The Only Place coming out later this May. I heard at least three new songs at the show. They were not a big change for Best Coast musically but they sounded different. The new songs were called “Last Year“ and “Mean Girls”. The main difference with these songs were that they were sadder sounding. You can defiantly tell that Cosentino is growing up as a song writer. Other than those songs Best Coast played favorites of their first album Crazy For You like “Boyfriend” and “When I’m With You”. It was good to hear a four piece Best Coast now because it feels a lot less empty. The new songs feel like they could not be played with three people like they were touring with in the past. My main problem with their set is that it felt a little short but I can’t complain to much with it being a free show. I would have loved to hear them play more though. Either way it was a pretty great show. The new songs make me super excited for The Only Place and if I got the opportunity again I would see them again.
