As if you needed another reason to sell your Yeah Yeah Yeahs records. Sky Larkin’s ass-kicking Kaleide, featuring this song-of-the-year contender, is out now; the band’s 2009 debut, The Golden Spike, doesn’t have anything quite this face-melting but might be the better overall collection.
Previously: Sky Larkin at In The City 2010
“The tide comes in, the tide goes out,” singer Matt Lamkin laments on The Soft Pack’s “Tides of Time.” While the Strokes’ Julian Casablancas turned his ennui toward urban life (read: amount of sex had or not had on any given evening) on his band’s debut, Lamkin’s otherwise like-minded act seems drawn closer to more serious matters. “You gotta answer to yourself,” he sings in, of course, “Answer To Yourself,” and throughout, this is music about that rarest of rock subjects: responsibility. Or at least appreciation of one’s time on Earth: the tide comes in, the tide goes out and no chill wave lasts forever. Limited as their lives may be, the Soft Pack’s music, a seven-grain answer to the Strokes’ sourdough sound, is built to last, paced at the speed of punk and as indebted to Mission of Burma as it is (on songs such as “More or Less”) to the Church. “Gimme indie rock!” 2010 shamefully thinks to itself, and lo, the Soft Pack provides.
The Soft Pack – “C’mon”: mp3
(The Soft Pack is out now on Kemado Records)
Seapony – Dreaming from Double Denim Records on Vimeo.
Here’s Seattle twee act Seapony’s Gorilla Vs. Bear-approved video for lead track “Dreaming,” as mentioned in last week’s Critical Backlash column. You can download the band’s debut EP for free.
Seapony – “Dreaming”: mp3
Levek’s “Look on the Bright Side,” in its elusive three minutes, shimmers through chamber-pop and What’s Going On-era Marvin Gaye turned lonely (and oddly modern) by the distance of lo-fi. Take note, chill wavers: time to learn some more instruments. The emerging musician’s other recordings range from tape-hiss folk weirdness to spooky crate-digging; where he goes from here is anyone’s guess, but the future looks bright.
Levek – “Look on the Bright Side”: mp3
(Levek’s new 7″ is out this week on Father/Daughter Records)
Fresh off the release of sterling debut album Without Why [review], the tireless Rose Elinor Dougall is heading straight for LP2: she’ll be recording it in December. “Hanging Around,” above, filmed at a just-released Groupee session back in March, is expected to be on it; as long as Dougall’s voice sounds as great as it does here, she can count on prominent back-to-back Rawkblog album of the year list positioning. (Wonder if “Leave” will make the cut as well?) See the rest of the session, including three Without Why jams, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Say what you will about Kanye West — chances are you already have. The iconoclastic musician has become the most polarizing figure in music, mainstream or otherwise. Especially now, when Glee headlines show up on Pitchfork and Twitter and Facebook make it harder and harder to retreat into the niche safety of our favorite corners of the Internet, it is all but impossible not to have an opinion on Mr. West, first, and his music, second. We could talk about his Twitter account, his Roman Empire hedonism, his ongoing soap opera with former presidents and popular young country singers and how all of that makes people — you — feel. Annoyed, probably. So can we separate the man from the music? Or should we even try? Read the rest of this entry »
Sondre Lerche – “Private Caller” (live, 11.13.10) from David Greenwald on Vimeo.
Here’s my footage of “Private Caller,” one of two excellent new songs from Sondre Lerche’s next album (due spring 2011) that the charming singer played (debuted?) solo at the Mondrian SkyBar last night. He promised to come back in the spring — can’t wait.
