It’s not quite time for sweater weather yet, but psych-folk trio Pepper Rabbit is nevertheless touring America. It might get a li’l heated under all that wool, especially depending how long you gaze on indie rock babe/drummer Luc Laurent. (There’s a related Tumblr post to link to about this but I couldn’t find it. Use your imaginations. Update: It’s here!) So, uh, wear cut-offs? Dates — and the band’s incredible cover of fellow Rawkblog favorite ARMS’ “Heat and Hot Water” — after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Here’s “Sore,” a gorgeous new one from ARMS played live on a pink couch and a likely candidate from the band’s forthcoming sophomore effort. I believe they played this one when I caught ‘em at SXSW, an afternoon as crisp as fresh lettuce and equally good for you. The band’s reverb-soaked self-titled EP is out now, for free; keep an eye out for a remixed companion set.
After Harlem Shakes split last year, it was heartening to hear that guitarist Todd Goldstein would be soldiering on by resuming his dormant ARMS solo project – and more heartening to finally hear him play the new songs at SXSW. Along with ARMS’ Austin dates, the band released a free, five-track EP that week which offers a taster of sounds of the full-length to come.
The EP (titled, simply, EP) is a grimy, reverb-splattered collection – less direct and straightforwardly beautiful than the songs sounded live. What they lose in brightness, though, the songs gain in hypnotic draw. Harlem Shakes were a spastic, unmedicated and ADD-suffering indie-pop band, but ARMS’ stuff is more introverted, full of luminous guitar arpeggios and mournful vocals. Which is not to say the band shows no muscle – Goldstein allows himself enough guitar breakdowns to keep the songs as sweaty as they are self-aware. Body and mind after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
After Ben Gibbard’s cuddly set, I walked across town in the surprising Austin chill to the Kung Fu Saloon for Piano’s day party and ARMS, the revived solo project of Harlem Shakes’ Todd Goldstein. With his old band, creators of one of last year’s best pure indie rock records, no longer shoo-soo-shakin’ (Ed. note: Sorry. That said, miss you so bad, Rooney!), Goldstein’s new trio is touring on the strength of a new, free EP and the rumblings of an album on the way. It would be hard for the guitarist-turned-singer to top Harlem Shakes’ exuberance, and at ARMS’ patio show, he didn’t try—instead, the band’s new material was as downcast as the weather, driven by guitar arpeggios and Goldstein’s crisp falsetto and punctuated by bursts of noise that he managed to summon from his axe, numb fingers and all. (Via my CMG review.) More after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
After Harlem Shakes split last year, it was heartening to hear that guitarist Todd Goldstein would be soldiering on by resuming his dormant ARMS solo project – and more heartening to finally hear him play the new songs at SXSW. Along with ARMS’ Austin dates, the band released a free, five-track EP that week which offers a taster of sounds of the full-length to come.
