Living amidst the wheat fields in eastern WA has reminded me lately of how well small towns can be suited to particular things. Locally grown food, irresistible coffee shops, and most importantly the glory of house-shows. The independent music spectrum lends itself well to the intimacy of a house-show performance.

Though the size and sound of the band are a huge factor in the quality of a house-show, the more artists I see play in this kind of setting the more I prefer hearing live music in such a way. Just this week I was fortunate enough to see Eternal Summers play a house-show, quite honestly one of the best shows I’ve been to in a long time.

There is something irreverently celebratory about the music Eternal Summers creates. Crawling with lo-fi goodness the Virginia based band’s sound explodes with spirit and intrigue. They’ve taken the best of beach-rock melodies and supercharged them with the dirtiest (& most delicious) of dream- punk frivolity. Their songs will make you want to dance.

Check out their blog for more sights and sounds, order their music on vinyl (I promise you will not regret it) and do anything you can to hear them play live.

Listen: “Pogo” by Eternal Summers

Pepper Rabbit broke through last year with a few pretty stellar EPs. Xander Singh and Luc Laurent, the force behind this exceptional band, are back with something new. It’s called “Older Brother” and it can be found on their LP, Beauregard, released recently courtesy Kanine Records. “Older Brother”, like many of the songs off the duo’s EPs from last year, is light and playful with great indie pop hooks and harmony vocals in the vein of Michael Nau (Page France, Cotton Jones).

Check out “Older Brother” below and head over to Kanine Records for a copy of Beauregard.

Download: “Older Brother” by Pepper Rabbit

Colorful and as epileptic-inducing as a Dan Deacon video is “Bead”, the latest by Dinowalrus and director Matthew Caron. This video is not for the fainthearted: those susceptible to epilepsy, vertigo and possibly even claustrophobia might want to turn away, or at least close their eyes. Dinowalrus is a Brooklyn-based drum and drone group that flirts with electronica and psychedelia.

Village Voice called it ecstasy-noize, and the description fits perfectly. It’s trippy, experimental, packs in plenty of true avant garde, and has the power to send you into a deeply crazed, drug-induced stupor. Stereogum debuted the video yesterday and it’s from there we get the embed.

“BEAD” comes from the new Dinowalrus record, %, out in January 2010 on Kanine Records. Twenty-ten… what a concept.

Dinowalrus: BEAD [mp3]

Dinowalrus: Nuke Duke ‘Em [mp3]

Your typical singer that possesses the airy whispery vocal styling tends to take a back seat to the instrumentation that accompanies it, but that is not the case with modern shoegazers Zaza. These mystical, dreamy vocals hold just as much weight as the swirl of sound that gives Zaza’s music the shoegaze name. Their upcoming EP Cameo, out next month on Kanine Records, features six tracks of exalting audible pleasure.

While the EP’s power wanes slightly in the middle, songs like “Arms Length” and the subtle “Repetition” do maintain a viable stance in their quest for epic greatness. But it’s the first two tracks, “The Call” and “Sooner or Later” respectively, and closer “Faith In The Faithless” that find Zaza filled with anthemic grandeur. Not only do these songs call upon the shoegaze gods to rain down mountainous doom in the form of melodic noise, they do so in a way that is so aesthetically pleasing it’s enough to bring even the strongest of men to tears.

Zaza is a drug — a beautiful, mind-numbing, addictive drug. This type of hypnosis should be illegal. Thankfully, for the trustworthy listener, it’s not.

Zaza: Sooner Or Later [mp3]

Kanine Records [CDEP, 2009]

1. The Call
2. Sooner Or Later
3. Always On
4. Arms Length
5. Repetition
6. Faith In The Faithless

It’s hard to capture the imagery behind a band like Chairlift. It’s always just out of sight, both the glimpse of meaning and the meaning behind the words. There are so many little message, tiny metaphors, hidden meanings and cute phrases. But it’s all a wash; Chairlift’s music is uplifting and fun, and it’s injected with a cool — even hip — dose of pop.

Their key-heavy vibes and typically female-fronted vocals are perfect for their laid back, oft mellow tunes. Songs like “Bruises” and “Evident Utensil” may have a carefree pop swagger, but they’re filled with highly infectious hooks. “Bruises” even features Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear.

Athens Soundies recently filmed Chairlift performing a porch-front acoustic version of “Bruises”. Athens Soundies base their one-take music videos off the famed “Take Away Shows” by La Blogotheque.

Chairlift: Bruises [mp3]

Chairlift: Evident Utensil [mp3]

It hasn’t been all that long since reviewing Jean On Jean‘s self-titled release. Despite a mass of great songs, there was still a clear winner: “Tonight”. The ex-Out Hud cellist now has a video for the single; it’s fitting, filled with leaves and colors masterfully added to compliment her sometimes folky style of soft, soothing pop.

The great thing about independent music is this: the videos don’t tend to be your general run-of-the-mill, over produced and underthought crapshoot. This is a perfect example. It’s artsy, but not overly so. It’s creative – the use of color and clever cinematography demonstrates that. And it’s got pizazz. It also has three parts…

1. The intro filled with the aforementioned leaves and colors.
2. The beach, where Molly dances around and plays with sheets blowing in the wind.
3. The conclusion, featuring Molly and sparklers.

Director Elizabeth Seklir-Pugh is an artist creating a unique piece to accompany the work of another artist, Molly Schnick. What more could you want in a music video? I’ve got the answer: nothing.

Jean On Jean: Tonight [mp3]

Indie-pop tends to be static and homogenous, but Jean On Jean utilizes the genre’s core traits in such unique ways that it becomes quite fresh. Lead by Molly Schnick (Out Hud), Jean On Jean is an excellent recipe of indie-pop sub-genres, from minimal to experimental, and bedroom to orchestral.

Molly’s vocals at first may sound slightly European, but while they soon shed some of those elements, the music continues to have a more European pop sound. As the album continues, one can hear a trace of her Brooklyn hometown. The lyrics themselves are emotive — not necessarily emotional, but hint at various emotions.

As a whole, each song in Jean On Jean is very well-crafted — from a production standpoint, it is near perfection; when the strings vibrate in “Change” amidst Molly’s simple vocals compiling atop each other toward the end, the effect is mesmerizing with a tearful, near exotic beauty.

There are very few flaws overall. “Cold Horse” and “Summer” are minimal in a slightly forgettable way — they simply do not hold the power of some of the more experimental tracks on the album. Similarly closer, “Finally” takes a while to catch on, but the string breakdown is easily the song’s turning point.

Despite the aforementioned flaws, there are more than enough noteworthy items to make Jean On Jean well worth the money; there’s the instrumental breakdown in “Circle”, the pop-awkwardness in “Grown”, and catchy yet occasionally eerie opener “Tonight”. And the minimal, string opening to “Hawaii”.

Either way, Jean On Jean is an outstanding pop album filled with fresh sounds based on tradition and bordering on groundbreaking.

Jean On Jean: Tonight [mp3]

Kanine Records [CD, 2008]

1. Tonight
2. Grown
3. Change
4. Cold Horse
5. Summer
6. Circle
7. You And I
8. Hawaii
9. Finally

Written by Fense

Chairlift (MySpace) is an 80s-influenced synth-pop trio from Brooklyn and their eerily dark pop will surely take the states by storm when they release Does You Inspire You, their debut LP, on Kanine Records this fall.

The album is slated to hit October 28, but, for those who want to get an early Chairlift ride can pick up the Evident Utensil 7″ Single. This feature has been in my backlog for some time and it’s a good thing I didn’t post it before now, as there’s some fresh news: the new iPod Nano ad features Chairlift’s “Bruises”. For those curious what the iPod looks like, I’ve embedded the ad below. Cute. Fun. Catchy.

“Evident Utensil” is an odd name for a song; Chairlift creates haunted soundscapes in the song with hook-filled synth riffs. Equally odd are the vocals, opening the song with: The most evident utensil / Is none other than a pencil…

The synth lines are fit for a haunted house, much like those Belaire used on last year’s Exploding, Impacting. But, all oddities aside, the song is super catchy and damn well worth your time. Listen. I dare you.

Chairlift: Evident Utensil [mp3]