In the comments to this post ”shredder” gives us a juicy rumor: Singer will put out a record on Drag City this coming March. Singer’s MySpace page does indeed show Drag City as the label, and while I haven’t seen any other confirmation of the March release date, this is great news indeed! Can’t wait to both see those guys live and hear their debut album.
Shrinking Islands (MySpace, ISR) provide the soundtrack to a skate video:
BreakThru Radio has a great review of Shrinking Islands “In the Black Carpet” album, with a nice mention of Inman Street Records and the 3-song EP they have up here towards the end.
I’m a bit late on this one, but in September Mike over at Pocket Full of Chump Change posted his thoughts on “Mosquito Nets”, the debut album by Reports. The review is here, and you can download “Mosquito Nets” in its entirety.
Thanks to both these sites for helping get the word out. (Have you written about stuff that’s released on this site? Be sure to let me know.)
It’s worth noting that Martin from Reports is the one helping to keep this site entertaining, with a bunch of posts under his belt. Not only is he a talented singer and songwriter, but he can put pen to paper (ahem) too!
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2007/10/16/before_radiohead_there_was/
Thanks so much to Linda Laban for writing a great article, and to the Globe for printing it.
Note that the picture of Reports that accompanied the story was taken by Patrick Piasecki.
Globe readers - welcome! Take a look around, there’s lots of great music on the site for you to listen to and download.
Songs:
1. In the Frozen Sun
2. 45’s
3. Sometimes I Wish I Had A Gun
Download the entire release as a ZIP file.
Click here for more information about contributing, or click the button below to do it.
Tulsa have a digital only “Hunting With Cats” EP currently available, and their newest EP “I Was Submerged” is coming on October 9th 2007; you can purchase both online from Park the Van Records. For those in the Boston area, Tulsa is playing a CD release show on Tuesday September 25th, 2007, at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA, with Helms and Hats and Glasses.
These songs from Tulsa don’t sound like Tulsa. Yet Tulsa wrote them. Go figure. “I wish I had a Gun” was first heard on a john waters cd compilation. It was sung by Mink Stole. Two thirds of the band is from baltimore so it triggered warm feelings of the homeland.
The band bashed these songs out live without much sleep in their bones. “Fill their holes with angel eyes” comes in between the ep the band completed recently and the record they will begin to record in the fall.
Songs:
1. What Comes After You
2. Grey Ghost
3. The Slow-Moving Aftermath
Download the entire release as a ZIP file.
Click here for more information about contributing, or click the button below to do it.
Shrinking Islands website, and Shrinking Islands on Myspace. You can also purchase the their debut album “In The Black Carpet” in various formats from Sort of Records.These songs were recorded at Pine St. Laundry by Shrinking Islands, May-July 2007. Mixed from 4-track cassette to digital files at Pipeline! Studio, July 2007. The cycle, sometimes referred to as The Mellancamp Trilogy, was written as it was recorded onto the 4-track and tested out at shows.Following the In The Black Carpet album, these songs satisfied an impulse, possibly initiated at a GBV tribute night, to play succinct rockers with some more Feelies motorik action - or heartland chug if you will. The cloak and dagger lyrics heard on In the Black Carpet are now dappled with Kiwi sunshine and generous fuzz and tremolo supplements, as they ride The Bats’ daddy’s highway straight onto the J. Cougar Farm-Aid stage, replete with above-the-head claps. Please listen to this with the windows open, or down, but preferably with the aid of boombox placed in a windowsill overlooking a sizzlin’ grill.
Just a quick update for everyone out there. Things have been a little quiet around here as summer has come and (almost) gone, but I’ve been doing some work on the site, including a recent switch to a new server. Hopefully you’ll notice that pages load MUCH faster now. I’m also hoping to have two new releases out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
…and kicked it a few blocks down the road.
That’s a very, very good thing.
This past Wednesday at the Paradise in Boston, Singer and Battles were on the bill. Singer, a brand-new band featuring members of US Maple (among others), kicked off the evening.
Now, it’d be hard to overstate how much I loved and respected the music of US Maple. They stood on the shoulders of giants such as Beefheart, and then took that music to the nth degree; they were unrepentantly difficult and unique. Any follow-on project has to bear the expectations implied by those words, and I was afraid Singer would disappoint.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at all. Singer came onstage sporting a 2 guitars/bass/drums lineup, and from the word go they reminded me of US Maple v2. The meandering, abstract guitar lines were there, if a bit bluesier than before, while the rhythm section held things down in a more concrete way. The biggest change was the vocals: all four sang at times, and there was no clear lead vocalist as they all took a turn at the mic, with two or even three of them singing lead at the same time.
The last song was the most different. It started with Todd Rittman switching to a small drum kit, with both him and regular drummer Adam Vida playing a drum roll on their snares. Bassist Rob Lowe switched over to a mini-organ and played deep, droney bass notes while singing occasionally, and guitarist Ben Vida played a repeating line that sounded like a cross between shattering glass and a crackling campfire. Over the next 8 or so minutes the piece evolved, sounding at times like a Neu-style Krautrock workout. It was an excellent piece, and I definitely hope they do more like it in conjunction with their more conventional songs as they go forward.
They proceeded through a solid set of about 40 minutes, pretty impressive considering they’re a brand-new band with less than 10 shows under their belt.
Complaints? I thought some of the songs lent themselves to a more abstract style of drumming, similar to Kevin Shea in Storm and Stress, instead of Adam Vida’s more straight-ahead work. Especially with the bass holding down the fort, there was room in the music for it. To be fair, it’s a minor nitpick; Mr. Vida is certainly more than capable behind the kit.
Overall? Two big thumbs up. I can’t wait to hear more, and hopefully they return to Boston before too long.
As for Battles, they were simply awesome. I gotta disagree with Will Spitz’s review of their set as “emotionally unaffecting”; from the minute Dave Konopka came out to start their set they had my attention, and they just killed it. It was my first time seeing them live - I missed all of their earlier Boston shows, for various reasons - but I was really into it, and judging from the crowd’s reaction I wasn’t the only one. Yes, the last third of their set dragged a bit, and I think they’d do well to add more vocals to their songs, but it certainly wasn’t “surgical”; they rocked, pure and simple.
It’s been quiet on the site for the past couple weeks as we roll into summer. BUT we have a pair of new releases coming out in the next few weeks, so stay tuned!
My post on Singer has been getting some notice, with a commenter named Mike mentioning that they now have a MySpace page up. No music or any other info besides tourdates, and it’s hard to read, but it’s a start.
I’m seeing them next week with Battles here in Boston, so expect a full report afterwards.
Here’s video number 2 from the live set that Tulsa played on Pipeline!, on WMBR 88.1fm.
For more info on these videos click over here for the first post in this series.