Whiling away winter hours

Here's a new song that I etched onto a grain of rice. The winter here is in the deep freeze stage. When the wind blows, my garage/house shakes...like my confidence, daily. Making music in the afternoon up in my bedroom. I need to get up and wash my face. Can you guess where the sample came from? Yes. Yes you can.

AdairStar(ting Something)

Taking literal song-titling to its figurative highest, ADAIRSTAR (caps added) has followed up his initial four-song EP Pairs with his most ambitious single yet. About Three Very Different People begins with Adairstar revisiting the disorienting piano riff-age of his early work for the theater. While our narrator detachedly observes the facial features of what can only be assumed is the first of the three very different people, the creeping melody robotically warbles over glitchy electronic drums. "This is the last place I should be," he sings as though ready to escape and, lo, the gothic Philip Glass piano gives way to warm synths, blissed-out strings and driving kick drum. Like a sickly, detuned version of the soundtrack to a film about a championship long-distance runner, the second section of the About Three Very Different People is half triumphant Sufjan Stevens piano and half Penderecki string-and-horn madness. The vocals are a little lost amongst the busy, complicated overlapping of chords, forever obscuring the details of the final two people (not to be confused with the first, nor the second with third). It hardly matters as the music speaks volumes. As much as the listener might want the track to settle, for the tonality to pick major or minor, for the song decide: happy? sad? About Three Very Different People refuses to admit anything that clearly. Adairstar keeps everything in flux, ebbing and flowing amongst degrees of emotions, not all of them pleasant. Regardless, its worth staying with the track through the tough spots because when everything comes together, it all feels worthwhile. Huh. Sort of like relationships.

IC TNV interview

Ok, I swear this is my last Columbus, OH-related post for a while. I guess I was just sort of hot-iron-striking, there. The nice thing about typing out an interview, as opposed to the actual audio, is that I can delete all of the awkward stuttering and aimless rambling...from the interviewer, I mean.

Down and dirty with 'no-fi' - Arts & Life

Psychedelic Horseshit

This is another Columbus, OH band. Good friends with Times New Viking, Psychedelic Horseshit have a similar love for pop, hooks, noise and mess. I'm not sure why I posted this silly fan video in lieu of just the track itself, but...hey, what the hell, right? If it does a better job of delivering a few minutes of entertainment, why not? Their debut album is out on Times New Viking's old label, Siltbreeze. If you're lucky enough to be going to SXSW, you can see both bands at the Siltbreeze showcase. Also, keep your eyes peeled for an interview in the Independent Collegian with Times New Viking.

Bowerbirds.

All I know about this band is that they're on the same label as the band whose ex-bassist is one post down. Purely coincidental, honest injun! Very nice, though. Coming to Bloomington, IN soon (...ah, memories) and NYC even sooner...it's all right here.

We don't get many references in song...

Here's the bassist (ex-bassist, or something) from the Dirty Projectors, Nat Baldwin. His upcoming album will be produced by Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear (the blonde multi-instrumentalist guy). If that doesn't garner an awesome roar of Internet indie buzz...I'll walk out my door, down to the shore and drink a galloon of water from the lake that gave this song its title and more!

Sweden is the country where pop lives

Here's a tune from Lykke Li. Like all of my favorite pop music, they're from Sweden AND fronted by a woman! talk about a match made in heaven! (see Taken By Trees review)

The Mae Shi

i'm in winter park, CO right now. the only thing thinner than the air is the women...they flock instinctively like the salmon of Capistrano and, yes, this is also more or less the place where the beer flows like wine. if you can tell me the movie, i'll send you a can of Coors. here's a tune.

Tickley Feather

This is Annie Sachs from Philadelphia, a.k.a. Tickley Feather a.k.a the newest artist on Animal Collective's Paw Tracks label. more here later.

Cat Power on Jools Holland 200th Episode Party

I've never actually seen an entire episode of Jools' show. If you've spent any time looking desperately for every clip of your favorite musician playing live then you've certainly stumbled across his show and the great live performances he hosts (and way before getting desperate enough to watch the cell phone snippets, too).
For the 200th episode, he had...like...EVERYONE on the show. Radiohead, Feist, Mary J. Blige and, yep, Cat Power (everyone?)
I'm so in love with her it's stupid. Since the first few clips came out of her nervously playing through the material on "The Greatest," she has toured extensively, been hired by Karl Lagerfield, contributed a track to the "I'm Not There" OST (see my review in the archives) and just recently released her second covers album "Jukebox." The point is: she's done a bit and it shows on this clip! She looks completely at ease and sounds as good as i've ever heard her.

DNA in Me Cover Project Fever

Not wanting to miss out on the back-rubbing circle-jerk that is this snowballing cover project (the traditional meaning of snowballing, mind you), ADAIRSTAR (caps added) has submitted his version entitled: 3 Glasses of Chocolate Milk (the DNA in Me). If "smoking all the cigarettes you bring" was chalked up to genetic fatalism in the original, Adairstar's jonesing is of a considerably more kindergarten kind. However, in true Adairstar form, this version of the song is dark, glamorous and sleazy combination of spoken dialogue, children cheering, pounding 808 drum machines and plenty of the eyebrow-raising production techniques that many of us have come to love. If a scant 3 glasses of chocolate milk had anything to do with his mind-state during the creation of this song, then we had better reevaluate our elementary school diet guidelines...the kids are almost certainly not all right.

Times New Viking IC Review

In lieu of the silly post further down about them, here's my newspaper review of Times New Viking. Which is also silly, but just in a different and more complicated way.

Saying 'yes' to 'no-fi' - Arts & Life