I played Exitmusic‘s “The Sea” on my KSVR radio show a few weeks back. I found the music to be somewhere between the haunting melodies of Beach House and the hushed whispers of Still Corners. The band consists of New York duo Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church. And if Palladino looks familiar, it’s because she also plays a character in HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

“The Sea” was given video treatment and it comes off just as eerie as the music this band creates. The footage is a mishmash of old and new video clips, pieced together artfully and chillingly. The song can be found on the band’s new EP From Silence, out now on Secretly Canadian.

Download: “The Sea” by Exitmusic

The Sea from EXITMUSIC on Vimeo.

Gardens & Villa has a new video for “Black Hills” off their recently released self-titled LP and, in a way, it reminds me a bit of E.T. You have the young kid on a bike with a foreign object in the basket. He’s being chased by the enemy, which in this case is a few crazy blokes in a pick-up truck. But unlike the Spielberg flick, this one is much more artsy. Typical, of course, for a music video; the concept is anything but and definitely worth a view or two.

Gardens & Villa’s music is a great blend of dreamy and psychedelic. “Black Hills” is somewhere in between artists like Suuns, whose heavy beats are dominating, and Here We Go Magic, whose music is soft and subtle. “Black Hills” is off Gardens & Villa’s new self-titled LP, out now on Secretly Canadian.

Download: “Black Hills” by Gardens & Villa

Black Hills by Gardens & Villa from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Night Falls Over Kortedala was one of my favorite releases of 2007, topped only by Fishboy’s release that year. It’s hard to believe that it’s been four years since that album, and that it’s taken so long for Lekman to follow it with new material. Wait no longer; Lekman is back with a new EP dubbed An Argument With Myself and we have been given the title track to enjoy as a little taste of what’s to come.

Take the sound of the most recent Lekman album and filter it through a little extra production work. Punch up the happiness and replace the heavy orchestral elements with the rapid Brazilian/Western African/Cuban influenced percussion featured in The People’s Record by Club 8, and you’ll have “And Argument With Myself”.

Of course, this style was employed to an extent on “Sipping On The Sweet Nectar” from Night Falls. Thoroughly enjoyable.

The above photo was taken by Fense at a Jens Lekman show in Seattle back in 2007 or thereabouts.

Download: “An Argument With Myself” by Jens Lekman

For a song so dreamy and seemingly pleasant, it’s hard to realize without seeing the video for “Casual” by Here We Go Magic that the song is actually quite disturbing. In a makeshift hospital room, the band waits. The singer has a nasty gash on his arm and in obvious pain sweats and winces. A woman sits with blood on her neck. A man has a neck brace and a second woman sits gowned in a chair.

At first the viewer will think the video is about death; after all, the man in the bed appears to be approaching his last few minutes. But the end has a bit of a surprise which will ultimately lead to shocked expression on your face and the possible utterance of WTF!?!?

“Casual” is off Pigeons by Here We Go Magic, out now on Secretly Canadian.

Download: “Casual” by Here We Go Magic

Casual by Here We Go Magic from Secretly Jag on Vimeo.

Songs like “Young Sensualists” and “Yucatan Gold” off Throw Me The Statue‘s debut LP Moonbeams were, in my opinion, far greater in depth and personality than the song that initially garnered them fame: “Lolita”. Thus is often the curse of the first single; luckily their sophomore follow-up to Moonbeams debuts with “Ancestors”, a song that has just as much character as the aforementioned greats off Moonbeams. The new release is dubbed Creaturesque and will find a comfortable home yet again on Secretly Canadian.

“Ancestors” has notably more hooks then pretty much every song off Moonbeams, which is saying a lot — the album had it’s share of great tunes, head-bobbling guitar and synth riffs, and fun lyrical quips. Sure, “Lolita” included. And if “Ancestors” is any telltale sign of what’s to come, Creaturesque may very well be one of the best releases by a Seattle band in ’09.

Creaturesque won’t hit stores until August 4, but for you Seattle folks out there, you can hear the entire LP, along with a preview of the new upcoming release by U.S.E. (L O V E W O R L D) during a listening party at Solo Bar in Seattle. The event is free for all 21 and over. It all goes down at 9PM on Thursday, June 18. Check it out!

Throw Me The Statue: Ancestors [mp3]

It’s hard to believe that my first live show of 2009 didn’t happen until mid-April. Then again, with the extent of travel over the past six or so months, maybe it isn’t. Add to that the fact that I’m getting older, and that it’s getting harder and harder for me to stay up late. Still, it was fitting that the first show took place at The Crocodile, recently remodeled and reopened with new decor and fancy marble-sinked bathrooms.

The show featured the amazing Richard Swift, whose recent release, The Atlantic Ocean, can be found on Secretly Canadian. His library though this label is six strong, which wasn’t that surprising when he began belting out his unique signature vocals.

The music is pretty amazing as well. When I first heard Swift, I thought he sounded a bit like Stereolab (with whom he’s shared the stage) fronted by Prince. But it extends beyond that; his songs are fresh yet emotive, and tunes like The Atlantic Ocean‘s “A Song For Milton Feher” and “Lady Luck” brought down the house (at least in my opinion). Besides, only a few tracks have the French pop sound.

Songs like “Lady Luck” and “A Song For Milton Feher” were fantastic with their high energy. Others were soft and slow, while select tunes even found Swift and his band dancing around on stage. Where Swift was at his best, however, was in those few songs that concluded in wild climactic breakdowns, experimental and chaotic in nature. His state-side tour with Vetiver is just about up, but with The Atlantic Ocean released earlier this month, he’ll be back here soon enough. For a full list of dates, check out Swift’s MySpace page.

Above photo also by Fense. For more shots from the show, log into Facebook and click here.

Richard Swift: Lady Luck [mp3]

Written by Fense

There’s something profound about a nude album cover. I guess this isn’t necessarily a ground-breaking statement, but it catches the eye. You’re seeing something you’re not supposed to, and that’s naughty and exciting and… yeah, maybe a little weird. To be honest, I like nude covers. And I don’t mean that in a creepy sexual way.

I’ve got that LP only album featuring a barely visible nude by The Magnolia Electric Co. I’ve got TMTS’s Moonbeams on vinyl. And I’ve got a pair of sexy Fausto Papetti LPs I’ve never listened to (I don’t know if I can muster the strength to listen to Evergreen No. 3). I wouldn’t mind picking up that Roxy Music album either.

Despite the prior paragraph, I don’t care what anyone says — as a song, I like “Yucatan Gold” quite a bit more than “Lolita”. Sure, the latter is super catchy and filled with more than enough hooks to warrant the top song on the album moniker. But “Yucatan Gold” has a little something extra. And you can totally see it in the video. Both “Yucatan Gold” and “Lolita” are off Moonbeams, available now on Secretly Canadian.

Throw Me The Statue: Lolita [mp3]

After Antony Heggarty’s involvement in the phenomenal Hercules And Love Affair release from earlier this year, one might expect his more personal project to perhaps alter course. But Another World, for the most part, continues down the same path as earlier works, like I Am A Bird Now and the groups self-titled release. And that commonality is the stripped-down Heggarty on vocals with a melodramatic backing piano and string accompaniment.

As a whole, Another World is solid and short. It is more an EP than anything else. Androgynous as ever, Heggarty’s voice is about as unique as it gets; it can be a difficult one to appreciate, especially in a near a cappella track like “Shake That Devil”.

Yet it is here that Heggarty’s backing instrumentation takes a different and refreshing twist–it’s experimental and drone-y in the first half before a prominent, almost jazzy drum kicks in at the midpoint (the soulful sax and backup vocalists simply emphasize this point). On second thought, title track “Another World” also has a hint of drone, but it’s minimal. “Sing For Me” returns to the signature piano and strings.

Overall, the album is soothing. Were it not for the midpoint in “Shake That Devil” and the prominent though minimal drones in “Another World”, it wouldn’t be much of a feat. But those two songs make Another World interesting, if not intriguing.

Antony And The Johnsons: Another World [mp3]

Secretly Canadian [12" LP, 2008]

1. Another World
2. Crackagen
3. Shake That Devil
4. Sing For Me
5. Hope Mountain

Written by bob_vinyl

Just because an artist has done all that can be expected of him and has earned the right to rest on his laurels, doesn’t mean the work he started is done. So it is with Bob Dylan, and The War on Drugs (MySpace) has picked up the cause and put their own spin on it with Wagonwheel Blues.

The album doesn’t always sound just like Dylan (though the vocals always stick to Dylan’s crazy, can’t-sing-but-I-can-still-pull-it-off-better-than-anybody style). At times the band sounds like the meeting of the Jayhawks and the Velvet Underground. At others, they lean toward the Smiths (fronted by Dylan and not so mopey) or space rock (also fronted by Dylan). They get big and bombastic like Springsteen (if he had Dylan’s voice) at one point. They even deal in noisy guitar pop at times. But whether they’re being laid-back and folky or echoey and noisy, the Dylan in them rings true.

It’s tempting to assume that it’s just Adam Granduciel’s voice that draws those comparisons, but the reality is that goes beyond that. The cadence of his voice with the music is off-kilter and the words forced to break the meter and rhyme which really serves to emphasize the lyrics that are rich with imagery and clear pictures of places I’ve never been, but feel like I now know. Of course, Dylan did that too. Around each corner, the album offers some subtle or not-so-subtle angle, staying both interesting and true to itself. Again, that’s Dylan.

It’s interesting, because a Dylan rip-off would just be annoying, but that’s not what we have here. Wagonwheel Blues is just picking up the unfinished work of a great artist and forging ahead in its own direction with that artist’s spirit and with a good bit of his creativity as well.

The War On Drugs: Taking The Farm [mp3]

Secretly Canadian [CD, 2008]

1. Arms Like Boulders
2. Taking The Farm
3. Coast Reprise
4. Buenos Aires Beach
5. There Is No Urgency
6. A Needle In Your Eye #16
7. Reverse The Charges
8. Show Me The Coast
9. Barrel of Batteries

Do you want to know something I completely object to? Of course you do—if you’re a regular reader you probably long for me to go off on a rant about something negative. So… listen up: I strongly believe that those who say Oh, nothing good has been released this year have a vastly distorted vision of reality. Their folly is that they don’t expose themselves to that which is new. Take, for example, A Certain Feeling by Bodies Of Water (MySpace)—this album is absolutely brilliant!!!

Now, let me explain why. Bodies Of Water pull the best from a very eclectic array of great modern artists, from Tilly And The Wall (listen to the horns in opener “Gold, Tan, Peach, And Grey”, and the plethora of harmony male/female vocals often shouted in pop-like manner), Celebration (they toss in a hefty dose of experimental pop melodies), The Besnard Lakes (though a bit more subtle than the other references, Bodies Of Water share a desire to indulge in elements of post-rock and, as common in several experimental groups, the more avant garde side of shoegaze), and The Arcade Fire (they pack many of their songs with the anthemic rock AF has helped champion in the past few years).

If it’s not apparent from the onset, there are very few—if any—missteps on A Certain Feeling. So few, in fact, that it’ll take me several listens to pinpoint them. And while I’ll pound through this album many times in the coming week, I simply don’t have the heart to be critical in that fashion; it’s simply not worth tarnishing the album’s greatness.

I mean, why would I want to disgrace the experimental beauty in tracks like “Under The Pines” and “Water Here”—the latter has a breathtaking horn intro that leads straight into a swaggering guitar riff and vocal choir that will instantly draw out tears of joy. Their sound is so rich and melodic, whether it’s the jazz-influenced guitar riffs, the fanciful horn section, or the multiple vocalists compiling their harmonies toward epic perfection.

“Water Here” flows nicely into “Keep Me On”, the pointed repetition in lyrics driving straight into a more relaxed vocal harmony backed by a mysterious organ. I could go on all day about the importance of transitions in track listings, and how, on this album, song A fits mercilessly next to track B and carries flawlessly on into song C; I almost feel like doing so but you’d likely feign boredom and move along to something else. Besides, this review is turning out to be quite lengthy as-is.

So, running down the list of bands I’ve familiarized myself with this year, the number is astonishingly large. While a great deal of them can be discarded as lacking notoriety (in that they’re simply not good, bland, or flat-out terrible), a significant number are phenomenal. Bodies Of Water is one of the latter and A Certain Feeling will certainly go down as one of the best albums of the year!

Bodies Of Water: Under The Pines [mp3]

Secretly Canadian [12" LP, 2008]

1. Gold, Tan, Peach, And Grey
2. Under The Pines
3. Only You
4. Water Here
5. Keep Me On
6. Darling, Be Here
7. Even In A Cave
8. If I Were A Bell
9. The Mud Gapes Open