July 2010 Archives

Best Coast - Crazy For You (Mexican Summer) [upcoming shows] [audio]

Bethany Cosentino debuted Best Coast last year with a pleasant-enough single called "When I'm With You." Now, Best Coast is full-blown thing. There's a trend right now among young bands that focuses on summer and warmth and waves, and it's stretched year-round. Best Coast embodies all these things, but mashes them into pop nuggets that hearken back to a less complicated time. Crazy For You might be the best indie pop album from 1993 you never heard until now.

The Harvey Girls - I've Been Watching a Lot of Horror Movies Lately (Circle Into Square) [upcoming shows] [audio]

The Harvey Girls are a husband & wife duo based out of Portland, Oregon that use a combination of analog sources, including chanting and hand claps with the studio experimentation of cascading synths, radio waves, sound effects and theremin to create sonically organic pop. "A Letter to the Bees" perfectly meshes Eric's Trip-like indie pop with the space lounge of Stereolab and the seven minute "Caerse Muerto" repeats guitar scales while slowly integrating sound effects and climaxing with flourishes of trumpets.

The High Seas - Threads EP (Kicking In) [upcoming shows] [audio]

Captain Beefheart used to run around his band, showing them different paintings. Play this! This is similar to how I imagine these songs are composed. Trains going offtrack, now you're in a duckboat at Rocky Point. Humpty Dumpty ripping apart scores by Archers of Loaf, US Maple, The Fall, and Television, and putting them back together with silly putty. Multiple sung and screamed vocals, herky jerky grooves, sodimized guitars, this has it all.

Last One Out - Whammy EP (self released) [upcoming shows] [audio]

If Adam Duritz of Counting Crows started a rock band, it would be Last One Out. This piano centered pop/rock band attempts to find their sound on Whammy. From the catchy, sing-along pop, "Last One Out" to the rough rock "Pierce the Crust" which is dripping with sexual references, Last One Out is a new, promising band experimenting with lyrics, rhythmic lines, and piano melodies.

Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade (Pias America) [upcoming shows] [audio]

Morcheeba has morphed from trip-hop to a sound that can't be put in any single category. From airy folk on "I Am the Spring" to full-out techno on "Cut to the Chase," it's amazing how many different styles Morcheeba can pull off. Sky Edwards will send chills down your spine with her vocals, which can border on downright creepy, and the Godfrey brothers will blow your mind with their mastery of sound. Morcheeba has fully matured, and an incredible album stands as proof.