Kristian Svensson crafts some pretty chill pop music, encompassing a space between the drone-heavy, space-friendly reverb and the upbeat-yet-emotional electronic. His latest work as And Oh, So Slowly He Turned is By Some Godforsaken Lake Up North. Packed with lovable lo-fi pop songs (easily recognizable as Swedish) and containing light hints of experimentation, the album opens with a light guitar riff and full-bodied (but mixed down) percussion in “Demensia”. The vocals, like the percussion, are eerie and soft — they fit in the background while the instrumentation takes a more dominating presence.

The themes within And Oh, So Slowly He Turned seem to be melody and consistency. The songs have a special harmony fit for orchestral pop, while the steady percussion lays down a hypnotic array of beats, thumps and clangs. “Heartache Oh Carlisle” is a prime example. As the album continues, synths become more and more prevalent; instrumentation in “Hello Jules” is based around the keys, and they mesh perfectly with Svensson’s deep vocals. Electronic drums rule in the instrumental “Red Roses Red Wine”, while “For Just As Long As It Takes” sees the band reverting back to the spaced-out guitars.

No matter what genre Svensson combines with pop — electronic, drone, experimental, lounge — it always comes across precise and skilled. And in that, By Some Godforsaken Lake Up North is an interesting blend of pop music, worldly and lo-fi like so many of the releases on Series Two Records. It’s what many familiar with the label have come to expect; and it’s an expectation that never lets down. And Oh, So Slowly He Turned is merely the latest in a long list of bands gracing our presence thanks to a little CD-R label in Nebraska.

And Oh, So Slowly He Turned: Dreamin’ [mp3]

And Oh, So Slowly He Turned: Demensia [mp3]

Series Two Records [CD, 2009]

1. Demensia
2. Heartache Oh Carlisle
3. Motorhuv
4. I’m One Of Those Few
5. Hello Jules
6. Red Roses Red Wine
7. For Just As Long As It Takes
8. Dreamin’
9. The Poo-Ping Palace
10. Beach Junkie
11. Bombs Away

Stepping off the band bandwagon, Holly Miranda has decided to go solo. And with a recent 7″ (Forest Green), an EP (Sleep On Fire) and now a forthcoming LP due out late this month on XL Recordings (The Magician’s Private Library), her new project is set to take off.

She’s been on the road, touring the states and then some with a few of last year’s favorites: The Antlers, The XX, AA Bondy — not a list at which to scoff. So as things wind down she stepped into Viva Radio’s Me+You studio in NYC for a jaw session and some musical tinkerings with host Ted Shumaker. Here’s the word:

We hit a solid #70 with Holly Miranda on this edition of Me + You! Soild fursure, in that it has all of the essential ingredients of a classic M+Y: charismatic musician, sense of humor intact, run-through of abridged life story, and 90’s alt-rock cover song included in the set. Hecque, it even has a Michigan connection for Ted to latch onto!

For those who don’t already know, Holly is a solo singer/songwriter who up until recently was frontwoman of prominent indie group The Jealous Girlfriends. While the JGF’s were definitely a force to be reckoned with, apparently Holly was ready to pick up where her Sidewalk Cafe open-mic’in’, 16-yr old dreamin’ self left off.

Tune to Viva Radio at noon for Holly’s session with Me+You, and visit the Viva Radio blog later for the inside scoop. Here’s a track from the session, Miranda doing a cover of Tool’s “Ænima”. Please do not re-host this track, but feel free to link to this page or the Viva Radio site.

Holly Miranda: Ænima (Tool Cover) [mp3]

Thunder Power seems content to just dish out EPs, having given us quite a few since they debuted in 2008 with Love Yourself. A split between Thunder Power and The 1959 Hat Company, Hearts Intersect is their fourth proper EP, and it hits in early March via Slumber Party Records.

Honestly, “Heartifact” is Thunder Power’s strongest tune since “Take A Hike” and “Casanova” off Love Yourself. Their second and third EPs, Friend Ships and And Everything After… respectively, were solid in their own right, but they failed to capture that powerful got-your-attention tune. The song finds the band’s male vocal counterpart taking the lead (for those unfamiliar with this band, Thunder Power often switches between male- and female-fronted vocals). With him in front and her taking back-up, Thunder Power crafts delicate, lovable central US folk-pop.

For all I care, Thunder Power never has to release a full-length as long as they keep dishing out power singles like “Heartifact” and EPs like Love Yourself and Heart Intersect.

Thunder Power: Heartifact [mp3]

Thunder Power also hits the road in March. Check out the dates below, and visit their MySpace page as more SXSW dates will be announced soon.

03.07: O’Leaver’s Pub in Omaha, NE
03.12: The Replay Lounge in Lawrence, KS
03.13: NX35 Music Conferette in Denton, TX
03.14: NX35 Music Conferette in Denton, TX
03.16: The Parlor in Austin, TX

It’s been a while since a real intelligent art punk band has emerged from the sewers of the dying underground. With the up-and-coming return of pop punk hitting the mainstream (knocking cry baby bullshit emo bands out of the tear-filled water), it’s almost hard to understand why any artist in their right mind would want to try and handle such a quickly burning torch. Enter Castevet and their debut album Summer Fences. Now we’re talking. Break out the acoustic guitars, PBR, and lack of self respect. It’s time for a good scream.

With an undeniably refreshing and original blend of every genre you can think of, Castevet rips through non-descriptive typecasts and impulsive hatred many listeners have for art punk rockers. With their lo-fi brand of chaos, Summer Fences plays out like a raging lion roaring over a batch of Soul Asylum instrumentals. It’s unlike anything you would even look for in a band if you are too afraid of the unfamiliar. They take you just outside of your limits, but not far enough to scare you back onto the subway of normalcy. Not right away, at least.

There are a good number of calm and folky instrumental sections within Summer Fences. There are also a shit load of screaming bloody murder before your step dad busts your door down with his bare hands if you don’t turn down that god damn music moments. Castevet is one of those groups that your friend from the coffee shop can tell you about in full detail and, before you know it, you’ll find yourself at one of their shows (very likely to be in a basement or apartment complex parking lot). Their originality is their most obvious appeal. But their subtle ways of destroying everything that is conventional in the world of punk rock is what sets them apart, and ablaze, from their competition.

Castevet: Plays One On TV [mp3]

Count Your Lucky Stars Records [CD, 2009]

1. Between Berwyn And Bryn Mawr
2. Beating High Schoolers At Arcade Games
3. Plays One On TV
4. I Know What A Lion Is
5. Stranger You Know
6. Space Jam (The Return)
7. Evil Robot With Swords For Hands
8. When A Movie Is Made In France It’s Called Cinemas

You’re nuts if you pass up a chance to see Microphones perform live. After all, they’re typically billed as Mount Eerie these days. Essentially, they’re the same band and the music they make is, for lack of a better term, eerily similar. For the final performance Department of Safety would ever have, Microphones were the obvious choice of performer to conclude it all.

Lo-fi as all hell, perfect for DoS’s garage-site venue, and playing what Phil Elverum dubbed as a set filled with (if my memory serves me well) “songs about death, ghosts and mourning.” I think he slipped in one about morning as well.

The set was primarily acoustic, never quite slipping into that epic electric noise guitar that made Wind’s Poem (Mount Eerie’s 2009 LP) a favorite from last year. Still, it couldn’t have been a better farewell to a long-time Anacortes landmark for the music fan.

I would love to re-experience those four minutes during which I listened for the first time to “Albatross”, the new Besnard Lakes single. Filled with dreamy layers of vocals and lush, guitar-backed chorales, Olga Groreas sings to the very moment of disappearing love amidst a background of sound that evokes anything but sadness.

And I scream for you..
There goes my man

As these lines refrain in swelling synths and euphoric chords, it isn’t despair you hear in her voice. It is, in fact, a certain sound of triumph, of determination, as if now, finally, all the world’s possibilities are spread out endlessly past the edge of sight. It is the sound of hope in the face of loss and determined triumph over the pain of a breaking heart.

The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night comes out on Jagjaguwar Records in March.

The Besnard Lakes: Albatross [mp3]

The boys of Westfold have outdone themselves yet again, this time on their third EP. In Westfold, the band takes the raw elements from their first release, No Frills Catalyst, and smash it against the proverbial high tower of obscurity that was their second release, Morning Commute. Portland’s rising stars had no reason to take unnecessary risks; instead they merely master their craft and up production value a bit on what can only be considered their finest work to date.

All four tracks on this glorious album play together like an indie rock opera. “While The House Is Burning” kicks off the underground portrayal of the verbally submissive Hamlet with a 4-minute intro leading into a sporadic display of lyrical madness. The operatic aspect hits it’s peak, and finale, on the closing and almost 8-minute track “Our Sun Our Enemy Steady State”. When the final track closes out, you will know you just experienced something completely different and unique from the seemingly departed and treacherous world that is modern rock.

Portland, OR has obviously become a safe haven for independent artists to flourish. But after a few months hanging outside Voodoo Donuts and lounging at The Tonic, you might come to find that you are hearing the same bullshit day in and day out. There can be exceptions of course — with ten thousand plus musicians in such a small radius, there are bound to be a few that rock your world. And without a double-breasted, tweed-jacketed shadow of a doubt, Westfold is that group you want to hear. Their energy and exuberance is a perfect example of what it means to be artistically hungry in a world filled with starved listeners and online music critics. These guys are the hold-steady when it comes to precarious displays of raw and unadulterated talent.

Above photo by Alanna L. Hylton.

Westfold: While The House Is Burning [mp3]

[CDEP, 2010]

1. While The House Is Burning
2. Pandemic
3. Cardiotoxin
4. Our Sun; Our Enemy; Steady State

P:ano’s Nick Krgovich (No Kids) has been a busy man of late, what with his recent project Gigi with producer Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Destroyer). Yet he managed to swing by Department of Safety for a brief performance as his older, much earlier moniker P:ano. Solo, Krgovich stood with a white Casio keyboard and mumbled melodically into microphone. It was minimal, quiet, yet beautiful all at once.

While many would find more praise with his recent work – the R&B-pop nature of No Kids or the 60s do-wop pop of Gigi – P:ano was a return to a simpler time, one less concerned with the pretension of modern indie. It made the performance honest, giving the event a very current presence. Minimal music can do that.

All photos by Andrew Fenstermaker.

Nick Krgovich gave an intimate solo performance last weekend in Anacortes not as Gigi, his latest project with producer Colin Stewart and a slew of who’s-whos in underground pop, but as P:ano. It seems only fitting to talk about this new project on the same day I post that P:ano live review. Even more so being that Gigi’s debut album, Maintenant, hits next week via Tomlab.

Gigi’s sounds blend modern underground pop with a Specter-influenced early 60s pop influence. Krgovich has demonstrated a unique versatility in his previous groups P:ano and No Kids; his appetite for bringing forth eras of another time into the modern world while simultaneously toying with them for truly amazing affects is insatiable. And it shows in everything he touches.

With Gigi, Krgovich and Stewart invite a few friends along for the ride, from some fellow No Kids and P:ano members to Joey Cook of Pomegranates, the infamous Rose Melberg, and Mirah. The list continues… Karl Blau, Zac Pennington, Katy Davidson, Owen Pallett, Duffy Driediger and Ryan Peters… and more.

Gigi: No, My Heart Will Go On [mp3]

Gigi: Strolling Past The Old Graveyard [mp3]

In the grunge music of the 90s we saw the mass standardization of the head-bang. For you young ones, that’s when you take your nasty, long, greasy, unwashed hair and whip it from back to front and front to back in rapid motions. The result, obviously, is brain damage. That’s what rock-n-roll will do for ya. Pop, on the other hand, takes that motion and reduces it to a quick nod. The good news is that you have more brain cells to kill with vices such as alcohol. The music of Keith John Adams may draw heavily from rock influences, but his music is so filled with pop that the music and your favorite local Stout or Lager will go hand-in-hand like two brand new teenage lovers.

When I had the pleasure of seeing Keith John Adams perform live at CMJ in 2007, his performance was stripped down primarily to just him, though Jason of Casper And The Cookies accompanied him on percussion for a few tracks. In translating the performance to, Unclever, the music is (not surprisingly) slightly fuller than Adams’ live show. He adds a second guitar from time to time and includes fairly consistent percussion. Other than those two elements, it’s pretty much just good ol’ KJA.

But that doesn’t mean he’s a folk artist like Jose Gonzalez—his songs are instead infused with 70s British garage-y pop/rock. Despite his undeniable pop melodies, Adams is a true rocker. He seems to push songs like opening tracks “Bed” and “Other Side Of The Road” forward, subtly forcing an extra few beats per minute and giving the songs that extra rock-like umph. Then he hits us with “Sorry I Love You Badly”, a softer and slower track that isn’t without its internally sardonic humor: Cocking it up / The life that we share / Cocking it up / When we’re half way there…

Humor is something Adams always seems to toss into his songs. It fits his tipsy barroom persona—or is it flat out tanked persona? In the poppy “Lie”, his simple lyrics run through countless people he’ll lie to with one exception: you. He’ll tell you the truth, but he never quite gets around to what exactly he’s lying or telling the truth about. “Looking Around The Planet” continues with simple lyrics and poppy, rock-tinted guitar riffs.

One of the biggest highlights is “Elizabeth Hodgkinson Warzone” for its Ba-ba-bas and interesting vocal melodies. The tune has a light guitar-driven swagger and you can imagine a barroom crowd joining in on some of those Ba-ba-bas. “Nobody Loves Me” should almost have the parenthetical “(Like You)” attached to it. The title is deceiving—at first glance it looks like it might be a self-deprecating tune, but one listen and it’s apparent that the song is all about the good side of love. Even the guitar riffs expunge love through the sound waves.

It’s as if, in Unclever, Adams has created a new genre encompassing the best of barroom sounds without actually talking about alcohol. His songs may be bare and simplistic, but they’re also clear and catchy and memorable. They’re songs you sing when drunkenly stumbling home with friends from the local pub. And even if you don’t drink, the songs are enjoyable as hook-filled pop songs that will keep your head nodding at a rapid pace without the loss of your trusty ol’ brain cells.

This review was originally published December 13, 2007 on the old version of FensePost.

Keith John Adams: Other Side Of The Road [mp3]

HHBTM Records [CD, 2007]

1. Bed
2. On The Other Side Of The Road
3. Sorry That I Love You Badly
4. Lie
5. Looking Around The Planet
6. Elizabeth Hodgkinson Warzone
7. Yesterday Morning
8. Easy
9. Now That I Found You
10. Nobody Loves Me
11. Crying In The Sunshine

You may know Arrington de Dionyso from his other alter ego as the front-man of Old Time Relijun. When I saw the band open for HEALTH at SXSW back in 2007, it was one of those special moments – the kind you never forget. Shows like this, ones with wild stage antics, are the best to photograph and the best to watch. Grabbing a bass clarinet, an instrument whose presence is odd in virtually all forms of music with exception to classical, de Dionyso crafts breathtaking chaos.

As he recently pointed out in a comment, the band’s full name is Arrington de Dionyso’s Malaikat dan Singa, and the folks from LAKE that performed with him (Andrew Dorsett and Mark Morrison) are actually in the band, among a few others.

With a growl and rants sung in Bahasa Indonesia, songs don’t typically come much stranger. But backed with consistency in percussive tribal beats and an occasional concussive epic guitar melody, they’re also quite captivating. Summing it all together, it’s trance punk. In a live performance, the music allows one to transcend reality into a seemingly alternate universe, one personable to the David Lynch’s of the world. You’ll leave a changed individual.

All photos by Andrew Fenstermaker.

Arrington de Dionyso: Tak Terbatas [mp3]

Arrington de Dionyso: Mani Malaikat [mp3]

Before we launch into the rest of the photos, here’s a video of “Mani Malaikat”:

With upwards of 50 emails that arrive in my inbox per day, it becomes quite difficult to amass the sheer quantities of music at my doorstep at any particular moment in time. There are moments when finding the correct gem is mere happenstance; at other times, something draws my attention. Robot Science fit into the latter category with an email title that quite accurately and entertainingly described the music contained within: the subject line read Free beepy boopy music for your blog! Needless to say, I was intrigued.

Robot Science is Charlie Yin of San Jose, and his electronic music is instrumental, upbeat and filled with enough of beepy boopy sounds to draw forth a sizable smile while simultaneously putting all who listen into a dreamy colorful calm. It’s easy to fall in love with songs like “The Notion Of Backwards Motion” and “Swimming Through Waves”; they’re filled with an undeniable emotive joy. Both songs are off Yin’s new album, Square, which is available for free download on his bandcamp site. But you should do Charlie a favor and donate a little dough with your download. Robot Science certainly warrants it.

Robot Science: Swimming Through Waves [mp3]

Robot Science: The Notion Of Backwards Motion [mp3]

If you looking for a great album that can help you lose all sense of reality for a short period of time, then look no further than Good Weather For An Airstrike’s Signals EP. There is more obscurity packed into a mere 25 minutes than one might be able to physically handle. The sounds are dubious, sort of haunting, and have almost magical stream-like effects. It’s like watching a Disney movie while you overdose on Robitussin.

Each track on this EP sounds like the soundtrack to some sort of spectacular occurrence. “We Fall Back Into The Ocean” is a great example. The classical piano (most likely keyboard) samples move in a Phantom of the Opera-like discovery of utter misery, that moment when all is lost and there is absolutely nothing you can do to get it back. This also applies to us with both sides of our face fully intact. The entire album plays in a similar misdirected direction until your eyes bleed from uncertain trance-like seizures.

Good Weather For An Airstrike is an experimental project with a medium magnitude. The music is “out there”, but not so far. The music of Signals speaks for itself and it speaks nothing at the same time. It is whatever you decide it should be. The chance to dream is put out there in a 6 song format; it’s up to you to chase it down and learn what it means to really feel.

Good Weather For An Airstrike: We Fall Into The Ocean [mp3]

[CDEP, 2009]

1. Hand In Hand Into The Ocean Blue
2. We Fall Back Into The Ocean
3. Beside Me Today
4. A Last Farewell And We Shall Run
5. Signals
6. We Fall Back Into The Ocean (Reprise)

Toward the end of his set, Karl Blau announced that there was a questionable stench stemming from his attire, which had been stashed in his shed for an unknown quantity of years. A local Anacortes favorite, Blau’s bizarre folk absolutely warrants the preceding freak – a term that common folk might attach to a musician performing while dressed as a fireman. Though, with LAKE as his backup, it sounded (and looked) almost too natural.

True to the evening, even with full instrumentation accompanying Blau, his music radiated a minimalism far below the swanky beats of his recent LP, Zebra. Gone were the horns, the disco beats, the woodwind instruments; but added were some excellent synth lines and choppy percussion. And also true to the evening, all were welcome to sing along.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. Here’s “Dark Sedan” from Zebra (K Records) for some audible accompaniment.

All photos by Andrew Fenstermaker.

Karl Blau: Dark Sedan [mp3]

Here’s a video Ola Hungerford (Dandelion Gold, Cock & Swan) took of Blau’s performance:

Karl Blau with LAKE 01/30/10 from Ola (Dandelion Gold) on Vimeo.

With select bands, especially in the arena of indie pop, you always know what you’re going to get. And with these bands, you know that what you get will be good. They’re trustworthy in that manner – you see it with artists that have longevity on their side; ten, possibly even fifteen years. The Bats beat them all out, spanning close to three decades.

Their latest single closes in on EP status, fitting a full four songs onto 7 glorious inches of wax. Don’t You Rise, out now on Slumberland Records, concludes with “Face Inside The Sun” and that song alone is proof that this New Zealand band hasn’t lost a hair of ability. They’ve been around – that over the course of 28 years, in which they’ve given us 7 albums and completed 4 world tours, this band retains all its original members is an insurmountable feat.

“Face Inside The Sun” will make fans want to dig deep into their collection for oldies by this band, and new fans swing by their local record store for a history lesson on one of the world’s premier pop bands.

The Bats: Face Inside The Sun [mp3]

Folk rock comes in many forms, and Redbird Fever blends the indie version with one slightly more contemporary. Their songs are packed with strong rock guitar riffs, yet have the fiddle backing much more common in the folk genre. Hailing from Olympia and Hoquiam, Redbird Fever’s latest EP Come Away From Your Home spans the gamut, with select songs siding more on folk and others with heavier rock leanings.

The EP opens with “Is That Alright” which features male/female vocals and a melodica. “Modern Satellites” and “It’s A Metaphor, Dear!” both feature the violin, while “Aspirin” capitalizes on rock riffs and emotive half-shouted vocals. And before you know it you’re on “Sometimes Things Get Broken”, the final song.

After dwelling on some of the more folk-centric tracks like “It’s A Metaphor, Dear!” and “Sometimes Things Get Broken”, both of which are among the EP’s favorites, it’s apparent that there’s a viable third: “Aspirin”. The song is truly the only rock song on the EP, and it fits in well with the others, but it has that gritty late 90s artsy rock sound common to bands like Automaton Adventure Series and maybe even a little Kickball.

Come Away From Your Home is easy proof that Redbird Fever possesses great promise.

Redbird Fever: Sometimes Things Get Broken [mp3]

[CDEP, 2009]

1. Is That Alright
2. Modern Satellites
3. It’s A Metaphor, Dear!
4. Aspirin
5. Sometimes Things Get Broken

LAKE may only have played about 5 or 6 songs, but over that brief period of time they entranced the audience. Blending a lo-fi garage sound with psychedelic pop, the Olympia band was the first to perform at Department of Safety’s farewell show. With various synths and the clash of male/female vocals, LAKE demonstrated versatility in performance with members frequently exchanging instruments.

In all honesty, this was my introduction to LAKE. I had heard of them, but I hadn’t heard them. Live, their sound emphasized the lo-fi nature, a signature Olympia sound; and it fit Anacortes and Department Of Safety perfectly.

Throughout the evening, the band would return to accompany the other musicians. Not only did the band show great ability in their own songs and the genre in which they were most comfortable, they also gave a few phenomenal performances with artists as diverse as the eccentric Karl Blau and the eclectic free-improvising Arrington de Dionyso.

LAKE recently released a new album on K Records called Let’s Build A Roof. “Sing 99 & 90″ is from that album.

Photos by Andrew Fenstermaker.

Lake: Sing 99 & 90 [mp3]

Artists like Archetecture in Helsinki, Mates of State and The Brunettes have always walked a thin line between amazing melodies and silly songs. It’s true. With sweet twee-worthy tunes and borderline wince-inducing lyrics, a new album could easily dissuade a listener if not crafted properly. You saw that with that quite sad remix album AiH gave us a few years back. Well, The Brunettes return with their first album on Lil’ Chief Records and with songs like “Red Rollerskates”, it’s clear that this over-the-top upbeat duo is again walking that tightrope.

Thankfully, The Brunettes aren’t amateurs when it comes to such things, nor are they afraid of heights metaphorically speaking. “Red Rollerskates” proves that this band can craft a damn good song, one that is as equally electro-pop as it is twee. What makes a song like this cool is that The Brunettes aren’t trying to be cool. They’re just having fun, and that’s the distinction between success and failure in this genre. And there’s no question as to which side The Brunettes are on. Success without a doubt.

Paper Dolls by The Brunettes comes out tomorrow in all its moog pop meets drum machine glory.

The Brunettes: Red Rollerskates [mp3]