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Album Review: Future Islands – In Evening Air (Thrill Jockey)

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MP3: Future Islands – Tin Man

This album is one of the most anticipated releases from a local artist in 2010. The anticipation is partly because, ever since their transplant here from North Carolina, Future Islands‘ rapturous live shows have caught on like wildfire, and partly because it serves as their debut on Baltimore fetishist label Thrill Jockey (who I hear may have signed yet another prominent Baltimore musician’s solo efforts). I am a bit ashamed to admit that I underestimated Future Islands. Frankly, I couldn’t have imagined they would deliver this strongly on an album. Until hearing their TJ 12″ EP and LP releases, I was convinced that Future Islands’ music was a gem that shone most brilliantly live, and lost the majority of its lustre in the studio.

Wave Like Home, put out on UK label Upset! the Rhythm, was characterized by a fair bit of mania, yet also (paradoxically) a uniformity of approach and tone. The parallels and comparisons to more prominent Wham City affiliates abounded. Synths were riding high and dominant in the mix, bass rumbled along turned to 11 (most often functioning as rhythmic propulsion), and Herring’s voice was unflinchingly raw and big. Though they surely traveled through many moods, they felt fleeting and devoid of any true weight. To my ears, their vision on that record was relatively less ambitious, aiming more to catalyze a dance party than anything else. In doing so I think that release was as close as Future Islands will get to channeling the electricity of their live shows onto a recording. However, with their closing track, they provided the best hint of future directions, delivering a standout ballad in “Little Dreamer.”

With In Evening Air, Future Islands seem to have had an epiphany. Read the rest…

Album Review: Double Dagger – Masks EP (Thrill Jockey)

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MP3: Double Dagger – Pillow Talk

Double Dagger continues to strain my objectivity. My experiences, both live and recorded, are steadily forming a mountain of good will that probably abolishes what little critical credibility I have in the first place, leaving only awe-struck fawning. Still, I can’t resist saying a few words about their latest (highly enjoyable) EP.

Three of Masks‘ five tracks were recorded along with the rest of 2009′s More at the Current Gallery in early 2009, and it certainly feels like More v2.0 in some ways. They’ve clearly taken their sound by the reins by springboarding off their maturation with More, and seem to be settling into their ideal balance of acerbic and soothing elements. However, they’ve taken a step back to more spartan, lo-fi production and song structures here. The result is an EP that hits less like a masterful and adventurous recording (More) and more like their off-the-rails live show, which isn’t a bad thing.

Read the rest…

Live Audio: Jason Urick @ the Hexagon (2009.10.16)

jasonurick-husbands

Jason Urick
The Hexagon
Baltimore, MD
October 16, 2009

Source: Peluso CEMC6/ck4(card)>PS-2>AD-20>NJB3
Transfer: NJB3>PC>SF-7>Wav>FLAC
Taper: Jeff Mewbourn (jm292@yahoo.com)

Download the entire set as: FLAC or MP3

Stream or download individual MP3s below:

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1. Boleo
2. The Eternal Return
3. Light Moves
4. Fussing & Fighting

Notes:
Lineup:Zomes>Dustin Wong>Vows>Jason Urick
Album Release show for Jason Urick’s Husbands
Sound: Josh Atkins
SUPPORT LOCAL MUSIC

Album Review: Pontiak – Maker (Thrill Jockey)

pontiak-maker

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MP3: Pontiak – Wax Worship

Drenched in reverb, as though recorded in some distant wooded canyon, ex-Baltimoreans Pontiak follow up their hard-rocking psychedelic debut with another strong offering of much of the same. Which is problematic, because somehow this band sounds both all too familiar and equally difficult to describe. Stoner metal riffs that could have come off a Kyuss album are buried between, and sometimes subconsciously emerge from, more eerie and vaguely defined, druggy soundscapes. Luckily Ponitak pack enough twists and turns into a three-minute jam to keep you on your toes, never dragging their heels or resting their laurels on a single riff or sound (a habit some stoner rockers too easily settle into).

Read the rest…

Album Review / Contest: Double Dagger – More (Thrill Jockey)

more_coverGiveaway: we have 3 copies (CD) of the new album, paired with posters, to give to 3 lucky winners, courtesy of the fine folks at Thrill Jockey Records.  Just comment, leaving a contact email to join our kind-of monthly email list, and you could be randomly drawn on Friday!

Winners!

Katie

James

Petrnotail

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MP3: Double Dagger – The Lie/The Truth

Double Dagger are undoubtedly one of our fair city’s most brilliant and potent gems.  Combining the best parts of the music and arts scenes from around town, the talented trio bridge the oft-chasmic valleys separating the social circles of indie, hipsterism, art and hardcore punk roots in the town.  Their broad appeal is a testament to their talent and magnetism.  And with this latest album, they assert themselves as a constantly progressing entity that can be so much more than the tongue-in-cheek amalgamated genre they wittingly (and back-handedly) coined “graphic design-core” so many years ago, and have been straddled with ever since by the lazy music writers of the world. Read the rest…

Sound Off!: Extra Golden

they look really cold

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MP3: Extra Golden – Anyango

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MP3: Extra Golden – Thank You Very Quickly

Extra Golden is a band who probably needs some introduction.  Formed by Ian Eagleson and Otieno Jagwasi while Eagleson was studying Benga music in Kenya for his doctoral thesis (a solid choice; there’s a void of information about Benga music on the internet).  Eagleson had formerly played in the Oberlin OH rock band Golden, and Jagwasi (who has since passed away from liver failure) was formerly a member of Orchestra Extra Solar Africa–hence the name Extra Golden.  After recruiting former bandmates Onyango Wuod Omari and Alex Minoff, the group set to recording debut album Ok-Oyot System.

I’ll admit that when I first read their biography, I expected this band would be the most egregious exploitation of “passport rock” yet, and there are certainly those who would say this band consists of two privileged white boys who traveled to Africa and brought back some local flavor.  Before condemning them outright, it’s important to note that Jagwasi and Omari were both successful musicians when Eagleson met them, so it’s not like he plucked some amateurs who would’ve been farming otherwise.  Furthermore, I hadn’t investigated Benga music prior to hearing Extra Golden, maybe never would have, so at the very least, before even hearing one note of music, I’ve learned something valuable from the band.

Thankfully, Extra Golden’s records don’t become the kind of comparative study common to “world music” (itself a vapid term), usually only interesting to ethnomusicologists.   Read the rest…

Album Review: Arbouretum – Song of the Pearl (Thrill Jockey)

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MP3: Arbouretum – False Spring

Don’t miss Arbouretum’s CD release party at the Talking Head this Tues Mar 3!

I don’t think I cast any illusions about the fact that I consider myself a writer, particularly of fiction (though if you weighed my recent output, you’d be hard-pressed to divine that). It comes as no surprise then, that I am particularly fond of music, and albums, that seem to spawn from a writer’s mind. While musical cohesion obviously takes precedence above any other aspect of an album’s content, lyrical richness that approaches that of prose, elevates any musician to another plane of artistry.

Dave Heumann, the creative impulse behind Arbouretum, exemplifies this combination of traits. In my writings on Arbouretum, I’ve cast Heumann as a gifted storyteller and I’m comfortable in venturing to say he is a writer at heart (I think there’s some support for this standpoint in our interview with him last year). But I’d say that Heumann has finally resolved his musical vision, coalescing it with his lyrical ability into a document that may represent a new apex for the project.

Read the rest…

Double Dagger finds more Thrills.

IMG_2359

Photo credit: Greg Szeto

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MP3: Double Dagger – Catalogs from the Bored Meeting 7″ (2008)

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MP3: Double Dagger – No Allies performed live @ the Ottobar (2008.10.20), recorded by Jeff the Taper

Congratulations seem in order for Nolen, Bruce and Denny. The fine boys of Post Typography (2/3) have signed to Thrill Jockey as Double Dagger.  Chicago’s TJ is home to a bevy of beastly artists including Arbouretum, Pontiak, the Fiery Furnaces, Human Bell, Daniel Higgs, Thank You and Tortoise.

It also seems Post Typography has a new textbook coming out.  Double kudos.

via Pitchfork