May
STREAM: Arrange | “Caves”
Operating under his Arrange moniker, Portland-based artist Malcolm Lacy has displayed a knack for wistful, introspective balladry over the course of his young career. For a mere 19 years, his songs are remarkably polished — displaying a lyrical and compositional maturity that recalls a young Matt Berninger or Peter Silberman. That said, his latest LP, New Memory, will mark his sixth album in two years, so his development as a songwriter has obviously been accelerated in comparison to other young talents. Driven by its devastating piano hook and morose soundscapes, “Caves” is a dimly lit mood-piece, sure, but in a weird way it’s also an instantly memorable singalong — like an anthem that doesn’t want to be. But ultimately, it’s the sound of Lacy coming into his own as a songwriter, offering a glimpse of the future for this burgeoning young talent.
From New Memory; out July 10th via Arranged Recordings.
May
STREAM: DIIV | “Doused”
By Zach Hale
Zachary Cole Smith has a lot on his plate. When not doubling as guitarist/mastermind for the Brooklyn surf-pop group Beach Fossils, Smith is busy with side projects, prepping new albums and apparently undergoing name changes. Formerly known as Dive, the project’s name has been altered to what I assume is a phonetically similar but typographically different moniker: DIIV. This was apparently done out of reverence to the original Dive — an instrumental band from Belgium formed in 1990 — but like Smith says, “A name is nothing. I don’t really give a fuck what the band is called. I originated this project in a bedroom with no internet and didn’t know it would ever leave.”
So there you have it. To commemorate this event, DIIV have released a new single from their upcoming full-length — and I, too, do not give a fuck what the band is called if they keep pumping out epic jams like “Doused”. Have a listen to the manic, swirling new track below, and be sure to update your “Artist” tags in iTunes accordingly.
From Oshin; out June 26th via Captured Tracks.
May
VIDEO: Lower Dens | “Propagation”
By Zach Hale
Hot off the press: thanks to Dallas promotion agency Parade of Flesh, Baltimore scuzz-rock quintet Lower Dens will be making their triumphant return to Big D. It’s been almost two years since the band played a rather intimate show at the now defunct Lochrann’s Pub in Frisco, so those who missed it the first time around can be sure to rectify that this June. As if that wasn’t enough, their sprawling, deftly constructed new album also comes out today courtesy of Ribbon Music. Still not enough? Fine — here’s the new video for “Propagation”. Happy Lower Dens day!
Directed by Sebastian Mlynarski.
From Nootropics; out now via Ribbon Music.
Lower Dens are playing June 24th at Club Dada in Dallas. Buy tickets here.
Apr
STREAM: JRG | “Just Because”
By Zach Hale
JRG is the moniker of one Julien Rossow-Greenberg, a Philadelphia-based bedroom pop artist with an affinity for languid, ethereal soundscapes. With only a couple releases and little to no press to his name, his story is more or less insoluble. But what we do know, and perhaps all we need to know, is that his candidly expressive songs are steeped heavily in the divine — pensive yet cavernous, gaunt yet colorful. And in an era when the bedroom artist is as transparent and procurable as ever, JRG has the compositional makeup necessary to ascend and hover above his contemporaries.
From The Dreamers’ EP; out now via Treetop Sorbet.
Apr
VIDEO: Here We Go Magic | “How Do I Know”
By Zach Hale
If you follow me on Last.fm, you’ve probably noticed my affinity for Here We Go Magic. Their new record, the Nigel Godrich-produced A Different Ship, is a quantum leap forward for a band with an already impressive catalog. Luke Temple’s songwriting is more refined, more focused, and the melodies more memorable. Exhibit A: “How Do I Know”. Held together by a driving krautrock rhythm (courtesy of percussionist Peter Hale — no relation), the song’s progressively lush nature is emblematic of what these guys do best. Appropriately, one of the best songs of the year gets one of the most enjoyable videos of the year — an amiable portrait of fun-loving adventurists who, like Temple himself, seem to be growing more comfortable in their own skin.
Directed by Sean Pecknold.
From A Different Ship; out May 8th via Secretly Canadian.
Here We Go Magic are playing June 18th at Sons of Hermann Hall in Dallas. Buy tickets here.
Apr
VIDEO: Tennis | “My Better Self”
By Zach Hale
Tennis, everyone’s favorite ’60s nostalgists, have released the video for the endearingly simple and infectious ballad “My Better Self”. It features the trio in all-out nostalgia mode, as well as some nifty choreography from Alaina Moore and her backup singers. Watch the video below.
Directed by Chris Osborn and Matthew Shorr.
From Young & Old; out now via Fat Possum.
Tennis are playing May 9th at Club Dada in Dallas. Buy tickets here.
Apr
STREAM: Sigur Rós | “Varúð”
By Zach Hale
BBC 6 premiered a new song from Sigur Rós — and boy, is it pretty. Really, though, who does “pretty” better than Sigur Rós? Our second glimpse of the Icelandic post-rockers forthcoming LP Valtari, ”Varúð” is a delicate, crescendo-driven sprawler, and stacks up well with some of the band’s most affecting material. Have a listen below, via the Dutch blog Over Muziek.
From Valtari; out May 29th via XL.
Apr
STREAM: Echo Lake | “Even the Blind”
By Zach Hale
The line between melody and dissonance is frequently blurred nowadays, but few do it better, or with more grandeur than Echo Lake. The emerging London five-piece have, at least to these ears, a remarkably refined and polished sound for a band with only an EP and a seven-inch single to their name. It’s polished in the sense that they’ve carved a niche within the realm of guitar-centric noise pop and feel right at home doing it; yet their sound is still rough enough around the edges to offer a glimpse of just how high their ceiling truly is.
“Even the Blind”, Echo Lake’s first stab at fulfilling the potential of their early releases, wisely plays to the band’s strengths – first establishing an affable sense of euphony, courtesy of some pristine guitar twinkles and Linda Jarvis’s silky smooth vocals, and eventually culminating in a boisterous explosion of color. It’s loud, yes, but never once compromises beauty for clatter – employing a heightened decibel level to intensify a preexisting melody rather than distort it. And when the melodies are this strong, both the band and its fans are all better off because of it.
From Wild Peace; out June 26th via Slumberland.
Apr
MP3: Hundred Waters | “Boreal”
By Zach Hale
For whatever reason, I’m often attracted to bands that have a certain mystery about them. I could just be a sucker for things that sound “mysterious”, but there’s something to be said about artists who are hard to pin down; those who have a uniqueness that draws you in, piques your curiosity and rewards you with repeatability. Gainesville, Florida’s Hundred Waters reside somewhere under this tenebrous umbrella. Their self-titled debut holds certain commonalities with other nascent psych-pop bands like Yeasayer and Braids, but their confluence of sounds is all over the map – ranging from free jazz and murky electronica to baroque bedroom folk. And despite their capricious tendencies they’ve managed to capture a sound that’s wholly their own.
“Boreal” is perhaps their most logical point of entry, with its shimmering synths and buoyant pacing that are playful yet elusive. Nicole Miglis’s velutinous vocals skirt along the song’s surface with bubbling amiability, but her words carry with them a graceful and resolute sense of poetry, detailing “a pleasant port where a boy fixed his course”. She uses words like “barren” and “woebegone” as she narrates in a way not all that dissimilar from Joanna Newsom, wrapping things up with a simple yet applicable anecdote: “And so his journey goes, though his story’s old / But a tale is not trite if it’s still being told”.
From Hundred Waters; out now via Elestial Sound. Stream the album in its entirety at the Hundred Waters website.
Apr
PLUGGED IN: Chromatics | Kill for Love
By Zach Hale
Back in February of this year, Chromatics released a cover of Neil Young’s seminal rock anthem “Into the Black”. It was a peculiar song choice for a band that, along with others on the Italians Do It Better imprint, played such a pivotal role in the ascension of Italo-disco. But the Portland four-piece nailed it – retaining, of course, the song’s infamous guitar lick yet completely altering its glow. Aided by a somber piano hook and Ruth Radelet’s bleary-eyed vocals, their rendition consciously employed the lush, reverb-heavy sounds that have come to define 2000s-era dream pop. Yet for a band that already wore its influences on its sleeve, it was a familiar, but fresh style of homage, and a change of direction far more telling than originally thought.
Plugged In
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