Indie Dispatches: CHL’s year-end accolades & a peak at what’s to come in 2012
Ryan Adam's 'Ashes & Fire' among 2011's musical highlights
From the melodic pop of Real Estate to the undeniably retro fuzz of Yuck, the distorted dreamy noise of I Break Horses and the lo- fi meandering of Youth Lagoon, 2011 has been an excellent year for music. Ryan Adams, in a distinct return to form, made a bare confessional acoustic album – his best in years. WILD FLAG made girl rock cool again. Both The Kills & Hanni El Khatib showed that you can surely make a lot of noise (and be uber-sexy) with just two people on stage. Cass McCombs released two albums, and in particular one single that was both haunting and staggeringly brilliant. And the Beach Boys issued a record almost 25 years after its intended release date… For sure, a stack of blog and media end-of-year ratings have had more than a few head scratchers on them, and there have been some much touted records on people’s lists that are just plain bad, but it seems despite all that, whatever your taste, there was music to be excited about in 2011. And to our ears, here are 10 of the best. No need for any lengthy explanations. Just fire up that Spotify player and listen:
Real Estate – Days (Domino)
WILD FLAG – s/t (Merge)
Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire (PaxAm/Capitol)
Caitlin Rose – Own Side Now (Theory 8)
The Kills – Blood Pressure (Domino)
Yuck – Yuck (Fat Possum)
I Break Horses – Hearts (Cooperative Music)
Bright Eyes – The People’s Key (Saddle Creek)
Hanni El Khatib – Will the Guns Come Out (Innovative Leisure)
Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation (Fat Possum)
Beach Boys – Smile (2xLP vinyl set) (Capitol)
And pipped at the post, but still highly notable and worth a moment or two of your time were full-lengths by Middle Brother, Cass McCombs and War on Drugs. Reissue of the year (can you call it that since it was never originally out?) was the Beach Boys Smile album (on vinyl of course!!). And when you are talking single of the year – Cass McCombs “County Line” qualifies for top honors, followed close behind by Real Estate “It’s Real” and Pageants “Edible Rust”. A tip of the hat also goes to FIDLAR for their DIYDUI EP on White Iris, and “Georgia” by Yuck (which strictly speaking came out in the dying days of 2010 but who’s counting with a song this catchy)
Indie label of the year honors… it looks from the ratings above, that would go to Domino, with Merge running a close second.
Live? Ryan Adams played a couple of low-key album release shows, including one in the small mausoleum room at Hollywood Forever Cemetery that was just sublime. And watching the ongoing march to success of Fitz and the Tantrums as they spent the year conquering ever greater rooms across the country was a source of joy. The Kills? They brought the rock every time.
And while there was much worthy of a thumbs-up this year, the list of things to look forward to in 2012 is already appearing expansive. There’s that new Mark Lanegan release, maybe another record from Local Natives (?), the US screenings of the film Lawrence of Belgravia, LP2 from Best Coast, a highly anticipated new release from Sharon van Etten, a possible return by Mazzy Star and albums from Band of Skulls (who somewhere along the line signed to Vagrant), Sleigh Bells, Imperial Teen, Damien Jurado, and more from Spiritualized… Phew! Roll on January 1!
- Cool Hand Luke
11.18.11Indie Dispatches: Real Estate’s ‘Days’ evokes the best of bygone indie era
Real Estate 'Days' (Domino Records) heading for 'best of' lists for 2011
There seem to be two words coming out of a lot of people’s lips in the latter part of 2011, usually with some sort of glowing acclaim attached, with those words being, Real Estate. We are of course talking about the New Jersey indie rock band, not the housing market (whose fortunes are nowhere near as buoyant in comparison). And justifiably so, as the band’s second album, Days, their first for Domino who beat out some stiff competition from other notable indies such as Sub Pop to sign them, is definitely one of the year’s best. The record is a true jangle-fest, steeped in the 90’s (particularly the Creation Records sound of the era, and bands such as Primal Scream and Felt), and receiving deserving praise both from fans (old and new) and a large swathe of the media, where it looks it will rate very highly in many of the top 10 lists for the year.
Speaking of Felt, there have been great reviews coming in from the UK regards the debut screening of Lawrence of Belgravia – a new documentary on the band’s enigmatic and eccentric frontman, and the first release on Heavenly Films (an offshoot of the record label). It looks like the US debut for the film could be in March next year, during the SXSW Film Festival. And on the topic of Creation Records – can it be true that My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless celebrates the 20th anniversary of its release this month? Amazingly, even two decades on, the album still stands as a unique and vital piece of music, and staggeringly influential. No word still on the mythical and long-anticipated follow up full length release from the band.
One 90’s group that did send the internet abuzz with news of a recent re-emergence, is Mazzy Star. The duo of Hope Sandoval and David Roback released a new single “Common Burn”, news of which appeared seemingly out of the blue, with an album rumored early next year. And yet another influential 90’s act that resurfaced recently, with information about a new release, are orchestral pop pioneers Cardinal. The band – Eric Matthews and Richard Davies – made one highly rated self-titled album, and served as the inspiration for everyone from The Polyphonic Spree to Vetiver and beyond, before imploding. Cardinal just announced the impending release of a new full-length, Hymns, in January, a mere a mere eighteen (!!) years after their storied debut, through UK-based Fire Records.
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: Recent Signings & the Who’s Who of What’s Next
New Jersey's Real Estate
The post-music conference landscape has always been a game of snakes and ladders – who is getting signed, who bombed out, whose star is on the ascent, and whose isn’t – and this year is no exception in the weeks after CMJ. Though in fact the last six months or so has been a busy one for the independent label sector.
CMJ or not, possibly top of the heap in terms of allure for indies, is New Jersey band Real Estate. Coming off the back of a highly rated 7″ single via everyone’s favorite hipster label, True Panther Sounds, the band has a veritable who’s who of top shelf indies in the hunt. You name it, they’re probably there. And also garnering a lot of buzz is JEFF the Brotherhood. The Nashville combo of course feature former members of buzz band Be Your Own Pet, which only heightens the interest. There may even be some major labels sniffing around.
Much beloved Scottish noisemongers Mogwai recently announced a switch from one premiere indie to another – departing their long-time home at Matador Records for Sub Pop, oddly enough, a full twelve years or so after the Seattle label first approached the band about signing them. But Mogwai are another in the list of what seems like 320 new bands that Sub Pop has signed recently, which also includes Northwest hip hop crew Shabazz Palaces – a baffling move considering the label’s lack of success when it comes to anything outside their traditional indie rock fare. And supposedly, after remaining aloof for a long period of time, word on the street is that Sub Pop may have entered the fray surrounding buzzy Seattle six piece The Head and the Heart. And even their sub-label Hardly Art seems to be busy, signing San Francisco’s Hunx and his Punx and possibly sniffing around Australia’s Circle Pit.
Though pundits will be aghast if hilariously awful LA group Teen, Inc sign with XL, as has been rumored, the list of bands newly inked to indies continues… LA’s Pepper Rabbit joined the roster at Kanine Records (of course original home of Surfer Blood and Chairlift), with the band releasing its debut album Beauregard in October. Meanwhile old skool punk rockers OFF! (with a line-up including Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks, Steve McDonald of Redd Kross and Dimitri Coats of the Burning Brides) inked with Vice, Pittsburgh’s 1,2,3 made French Kiss Records their home after doing a 45 for UK’s tastemaker Chess Club label and husband and wife duo Tennis joined the ever expanding (and diversifying) list of bands on Fat Possum. And totally flying under the radar, balladeer Sean Rowe reportedly signed with Epitaph’s Anti imprint.
One free agent though, who should be on the top of everyone’s shopping list, is LA combo White Sea (featuring sometime M83 member Morgan Kibby). If the debut EP (which can be found for free here) is any indication, maybe it wont be too long before they become another addition to the ‘newly inked’ column.
- Cool Hand Luke
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Tuesday Bits & Pieces: More Google Music, Eminem’s Recovery, Gulf Relief Benefit & more…
Google's Music Plans
Google is headed for the cloud, or so it would seem with further reporting on the search giant’s forthcoming moves into the music space. No concrete details yet, but a download store could launch as early as this year, with a cloud-based service slated for 2011. Should the Apple rival be careful not to move too quickly…? Interscope cleared the release decks this week to make way for the new Eminem album Recovery. The question from many is whether or not the highly-anticipated release that dropped yesterday will live up to its name after the industry’s recent extremely sluggish sales-weeks… Leading up to the Northside Festival in Brooklyn this weekend, Sirius XMU is featuring special artist-hosts starting today including Real Estate, Woods, Au Revoir Simone and Wavves… Jes Hudak is the Los Angeles winner of the Ourstage 2010 Lilith Fair talent search; she will perform at the July 10th festival stop… And tonight at El Cid a Gulf Coast Relief benefit concert for Global Green will feature acoustic performances from local artists Voxhaul Broadcast, Trevor Hall, Heavy Young Heathens and others…
** Today only head HERE to get a %20 discount on badges for Northside Festival with promo code “LMAG”
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Indie Dispatches: Wavves, Woodsist Festival & Vaselines Reunite
Nathan Williams, the central figure in San Diego lo-fi noise combo WAAVES, has seen the bottom, one could argue the very bottom. He played what seemed to be a set of uniformly derided shows at SXSW 2009, was embroiled in an ongoing spat with the Black Lips, where the two camps peppered away online like kids in a schoolyard (before ending up in a physical confrontation in Brooklyn) and then there was the much publicized meltdown on stage at the Primavera Sound Festival in Spain. But just to show there is only one way to go from the bottom, WAVVES released a new track online this past week that has been getting quite good reviews. The single, “Post Acid,” was released for free via Green Label Sound, and is 2 minutes and 9 seconds of great west coast fuzz pop. The track is a sample from the band’s album King of the Beach, due out on Fat Possum August 3rd.
After the success of Waved Out earlier this year, the Echoplex/Echo park complex once again plays festival host this week with the NY Woodsist label (who first released Wavves debut album) bringing their Woodsist Festival to Los Angeles. Featuring the cream of the label’s roster, Woods and Real Estate, as well with Kurt Vile, locals Abe Vigoda and others, the festival will hit the Echo Park venues today (June 15th). Word has it that the much blogged about Real Estate are currently free agents, and on the hunt for a new label.
And in the legends-of-the-Grunge-era-reform-to-release-new-album-in-2010 stakes, the Stone Temple Pilots have just been ousted from the top spot by UK favorites The Vaselines. After reforming to play a series of shows to support their retrospective Enter the Vaselines on Sub Pop, the duo of Frances McKee and Eugene Kelly, of course notable in counting Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain as a major fan, entered the studio to record a new album, Sex with an X. The full-length doesn’t come out until September 14th , but in the interim head to the band’s website to download an early free teaser, “I Hate the 80’s”. Look forward to a live tour in the fall – the last set of dates were a riot, with the onstage banter between Kelly & McKee worthy of a finalist slot on Last Comic Standing.
- Cool Hand Luke
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Take Notice: Northside Festival
The Northside Festival in Brooklyn, New York is returning this month for its second year in a row, and in doing so is continuing its theme of celebrating and shining a light on a local community currently teeming with independent artists. 2009 saw the festival’s inaugural run with 30 NYC-based record labels, blogs, independent show promoters, radio stations and other industry professionals curating showcases of their own, bringing together 250 bands to the Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhoods during a four-day span. Last year’s lineup included artists such as The Hold Steady, Sunset Rubdown, Free Energy and the Dodos… Presented by L Magazine, this year’s festival will again bring together a multitude of emerging artists including Liars, High Places, Titus Andronicus, Twin Sister, Real Estate and many others – a FilmFest has also been added this year.
The Northside Festival will take place June 24 – 27th… For more info check out the festival’s website, and you can also enter to win free badges and an iPad here…
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