Alright, so I was sent a sweet slab of vinyl: Black Rabbit by The Hague. My first impression of this band came with the song “Everyone”, which is somewhat reminiscent of early stuff by one of my favorite bands, Seattle’s sloppy pop band BOAT (minus the slop). Then there’s the angular guitars that hint of an early Minus the Bear. In its truest form, The Hague can be classified as a pop-rock band, but they add a surprising layer of strings throughout Black Rabbit that gives it a unique edge that goes well beyond the oversought dual-genre. (more…)
“Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys” is not a song you’d expect Black Lips to cover, but alas here it is, on the A side of this year’s Record Store Day split 7″ single from Saddle Creek with Icky Blossoms. And it works very well. Originally by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, the song is remade slightly here with what I can only describe as a slightly drunk swagger. Black Lips propel the song along nicely with a little slide guitar and a southern drawl. It’s not the typical Black Lips, but there’s plenty here to like. (more…)
To be honest, I’m somewhat over Record Store Day. It has become over hyped, massively attended, and, frankly, I’m not much one for crowds. It is the Black Friday for music nerds. So I forewent shlepping it up to Bellingham and took a 25 mile bike ride instead. This left me plenty of time to make it to Anacortes and The Business for their 11am opening. (more…)
Post-rock, perhaps more than most genres, has an inherent ability to lump together artists so diverse they seemingly should not fit in even close to similar categorical sub-genres, yet alone within the exact same sub-genre. Post-rock, then, features artists as wide-ranging as folk-centric epic-masterpiece purveyors Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, the soft-loud-soft instrumental rock-ists Explosions in the Sky, and this band – Tartufi – who blend lovely melodies with dreamy vocals against intense face-melting rock. (more…)
My introduction to Bored Nothing came last year on a little compilation put together by Bleeding Knees Club. “Snacks” was the third track on the comp, featuring Bleeding Knees Club and several of their musician friends. That track appears on Bored Nothing’s new self-titled LP. (more…)
Low, the husband and wife duo of Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker, have been making beautiful music together for 20 years, and on The Invisible Way, their 10th full-length studio album, the lovely, haunting harmonies and melodies that highlight their distinctive sound are once again in strong evidence.
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Last year everyone seemed to rave about The Men‘s third LP, Open Your Heart. Makes sense. It’s a damn fine record. And, following the likes of Ty Segall, they’ve returned almost instantly with a follow-up. It’s called New Moon, and it’s absolutely beautiful. (more…)
Along the Oregon coast protrudes a giant, monolith called Haystack Rock. Standing 235-feet tall, it is the easily the most defining item in Cannon Beach, giving the seaside town a short drive south from Astoria its fame. I know the Cannon Beach (and surrounding) area quite well from my childhood, having spent several week-long summer vacations along the northern Oregon coast in the late ’80s. (more…)
Oh February is the latest by Portland multi-lingual folk band Y La Bamba; it’s a six-song EP filled with harmonic female-fronted, male-backed vocals. Intricate as usual, Oh February has high influence from front-woman Luz Elena Mendoza’s Latin heritage paired with she and her bandmates’ indie-folk background. (more…)
Australia’s Lost Animal is a conundrum. It’s a conundrum because I find it very difficult to describe. Preface: I’ve been enjoying the sounds of Ex Tropical since November. Far enough back that I attempted to put the album on my Top 50 LPs of 2012 list, despite noting its release date in my coverage of their superb video for “Say No To Thugs”. (more…)