Portland, Oregon’s Typhoon are certainly rapidly becoming one of the most talked about new bands on the web and elsewhere. They have released a new song, Dreams of Cannibalism, from their upcoming album White Lighter, for free download.
We wondered what all the fuss was about – now we know. Orchestral, vibrant, energetic, emotional, flamboyant, melodic – describe it how you like, but the hype is more than justified for once!
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Drawing on the ramshackle melodies of the Lemonheads, the lo-fi drawl of Pavement and some of the self-deprecating humour of Art Brut, throw in some Velvet’s chug and Stooges sonics and you have a reasonable approximation of Scott & Charlene’s Wedding.
We’ve known about the band for a while, but it has been since the relocation to New York from Melbourne and the reissue of the sublime Gammy Leg from the outstanding Two Weeks EP that they have really caught our attention.
Next up will be their first new recordings for more than two years with the release of a new single, Fakin’ NYC, which in turn is taken from forthcoming new long player Any Port In A Storm (out July 22nd via Fire Records). The single is a typically ragged anthem of wry observation as frontman Craig Dermody reflects on adjusting to life in a new city, job-hunting, and feeling totally out of place as a security guard for a trendy wine bar. Sex in the City it ain’t.
Download it here, and check their first ever UK tour dates below.
And in case you missed it…
Those tour dates:
June 29 – Glastonbury @ Glastonbury Festival
June 30 – London @ The Garage
July 1 – Brighton @ The Haunt
July 2 – London @ Green Door Store
July 4 – Cardiff @ Undertone Bar
July 5 – Southsea @ Registry
July 6 – London @ The Victoria
July 13 – London @ East End Festival
August 7 – Liverpool @ Shipping Forecast
August 8 – Newcastle @ Heart Attack & Vine
August 10 – York @ Rook & Gaskill
August 12 – Hull @ Adelphi
August 13 – Leeds @ Wharf Chambers
August 14 – Colchester @ Arts Center
August 15 – Derby @ Hungry Dog
August 16 – London @ Yes Way Festival
Having first been been fascinated by the seven minute melancholic churn and burn of Blank Realm’s Cleaning Up My Mess, then charmed by the scuzzy guitars and 90s slacker indie of second track (and album title) Go Easy, we have now been left grinning like maniacs after listening to the utterly seductive, completely irresistible, and totally infectious Working On Love.
It pairs an increasingly frantic and frazzled chorus with an inspired rock’n'roll stomp that has been dragged from a 1950s diner, turned upside down and shaken until all its secrets have fallen out its pockets. Unstable, slightly bonkers even, but so very, very good!
Download it below and order yourself one of the albums of the year so far from Fire Records here.
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Videos today follow a bit of a natural history theme. We have a mesmerising film for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Mosquito and feathers fly in Oracle O.’s video for excellent single Rosy Princess. We have Youth Blood, the exuberant indie single from As Elephants Are, and finally we have the sepia toned film for The Callen Sisters Light Bringer, an excursion into baroque pop and traditional folk.
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Here is another collection of fifteen top tunes lovingly collected and filtered for your listening pleasure. So gather round and invest some time in these – a veritable aural treasure trove of tracks.
First up is another track of swaggering blues rock and roll in the shape of New York Avenue from the Delta Routine’s recently released album, Cigarettes And Caffeine Nightmares.
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In a similar vein, the bravely named Velvets from down under, have a big, sleazy blues sound going on with their free download of Shoot You Down.
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Darren Hayman has shortened his Long Parliament and returns with a new album of seventeenth century folk songs called Bugbears, which is due out on Fika Recordings in July. A companion piece to previous release, the very well received The Violence, have a listen to Seven Months Married.
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Graham MacRae has shared a new single from his album Dundrearies and by the sound of Game Changer, those Bill Fay and Bill Callahan comparisons seem pretty much on the money.
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Granite City is the lysergic new single from Aussie psych indie-rockers Deep Sea Arcade.
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London’s Low Moon Low are set to release their first official single with Calm Now, sweetly melodic indie-folk that errs on the side of dreamy.
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The wonderfully skewed world view of Justin Farren featured on MM back in March last year and he is back with a new album Another Bluebird Day from which we have Mostly In My Mind. This time he plays it a little straighter on the back of an upbeat folky strum and some scalpel sharp lyrics. Great stuff.
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Spectrals have given us another track from new album Sob Story. Inspired by Dave Edmunds, A Heartbeat Behind has a great riff and is full of rockabilly twang and heartbreak lyrics. No longer are the brothers low key, lo-fi merchants and it bodes very well for the album indeed.
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Two Inch Astronaut have given up Blood From A Loyal Hound for download, a convulsive rocker propelled by a muscular power-pop melody.
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Quilt hail from the eastern shores of Massachussets, where the band formed out of a tight-knit art collective in the winter months of 2009. They combine traditional folk vocal harmonies, reverb-drenched fingerpicking and meditative drum repetition in a patchwork of eclectic psych-folk ideally suited to their name. Open Eyes comes from a recent split single with MMOSS.
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Carmen Villain, aka London-based Carmen Hillestad, recently released her fiery debut album, Sleeper. Introduce yourself to the darker and more psych-oriented side of the album via Made A Shell.
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Half The Time, the A-side of recent 7″ single by Nick Ferrio & His Feelings is a psychological thriller, exploring one man’s realization that his love is unrequited and only exists within the confines of his fallible mind.
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Like the excellent Allah-Lahs, The Young Sinclairs mix folk rock and garage rock with plenty of jangle in the style of The Byrds or Rain Parade and their most recent single Hurt My Pride is a top-notch example of what they are capable of.
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Though we were late to it, we are loving the gorgeous Hymnal by In The Valley Below, a duo from Echo Park in LA who are a new musical pairing, delivering hushed swirls of male and female vocals forged with dark stories of brooding riddles and romance.
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And lastly (for now) we have a taste from Robert Pollard’s (of Guided By Voices fame) new album Honey Locust Honky Tonk. The song, I Killed A Man Who Looks Like You is already one of our favourite titles of the year so far and thankfully the tune itself more than lives up to its title.
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We have to confess that on Cuscutta the lead track from their new digital single Public House, Landmarks managed to catch us by surprise. The track is a lovely, unhurried, slice of woozy psych-pop in the grand traditions of Spiritualized or Mercury Rev, and unlike so many others, they manage to do it without ever bring derivative or mere copycats.
So an entirely pleasant surprise, as guitars gently chime and hazy vocals float like gossamer strands on the breeze. It is an inventive and fresh take in a usually tired genre, and comes to you highly recommended.
Grab both tracks from the single below – it is a pay-what-you-want deal, but paying something would be the right thing to do!
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Our video selection today includes JAN’s brilliantly creepy video for her excellent single Work For The City, which takes being leered at and pawed over to a whole new level, and David Ramirez’s monochrome view of the long drives and late nights of a touring musician in The Bad Days. We have Shellshag’s model village excursion for Driving Song (another top tune too) and Lake Isle’s energetic film for indie rocker Steel Rails.
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Download Lake Isle – Steel Rails mp3 (from Winter Lights)
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Better late than never, here is our monthly round-up of the best of our April downloads together with a handful of brand new tracks. More than twenty songs especially prepared for you to put together an eclectic and appealing mix to impress all your friends and bore your boring work colleagues.
Enjoy!
Wild Wild Wets – Criminal Blue
Tripped out, freaked out, psych pop.
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Hey Anna – Tiny Kiss
Intimate vocal harmonies perched atop poppy folkish melodies that meet soaring, atmospheric alt-rock.
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The Lost Souls Club – Son, You Look Like You Need Jesus
Taking its cue from the darker end of the psych-blues spectrum, this track gleefully careers off the road into the verge, happily making a home in the margins of mainstream rock’n’roll and spitting sly malevolence at anyone who comes too close.
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Owls Of The Swamp – Hypnotist
A masterpiece of elegiac fingerpicked folk, softly spun melody, and ghostly backing vocals.
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Young Hunting – Baby’s First Steps
Lush, woozy and seductive evoking a sense of back porch bonhomie and marijuana enhanced well being.
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Belle Mare – The Boat Of The Fragile Mind
Dreamspace of acoustic and synth textures, weaving folk with dream pop.
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Sunjacket – Alligator
Indie rock with a laconic, hazy chug and sweet falsetto chorus.
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Download Brass Bed – Please Don’t Go mp3 (from The Secret Will Keep You)
Three minutes of infectious indie-rock perfection with a soupçon of garage rock attitude.
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Amanda Jo Williams – 2000Hell
Idiosyncratic mix of twangy rockabilly and weird Americana
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The Baptist Generals – Broken Glass
Haunted, claustrophobic take on drunken folk.
Click through for free download.
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Torches – When You Gonna?
Opens with a tasty riff and settles into a nice, easy-going melodic groove that calls to mind The Shins or Spoon.
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Georgia’s Horse – Ginger
Dusty Americana shot through with a melancholy and sadness that is almost real enough to touch.
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Paperhaus – Helicopters
Perfectly judged psych-pop.
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Shawn Mrazek Lives! – Man In The Grass
A tale of self-discovery and freedom that snaps, snarls and sparkles in equal measure.
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Download Shannon and the Clams – Into a Dream mp3 (from Dreams in the Rat House)
Slow-dance-ready instrumental with darkly bucolic lyrics.
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The Builders & The Butchers – Dirt In The Ground
Sonically heavier perhaps, but just as distinctive dark-hearted folk as always. Wonderful.
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And new tracks to dive into from Morningbell’s experimental psych-tinged art rock to Honeymilk’s infectious indie, and two tracks of gorgeous stripped back folk from Dark For Dark. Finally, try the simplicity and honesty from Young Readers indie-folk, shot through with a dreamy, imaginary quality that (whisper it) calls to mind Sparklehorse or Jason Molina.
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Despite living in just a small, really small, town on the edge of the Cotswolds in Oxfordshire, it is a town that brims over with talent of all kinds.
None more so than artist and photographer Jon Mackay who over the past couple of years has built an ever increasing reputation for his band posters promoting gigs, tours and releases including work for The Vaccines, the Cribs, Howler, Piney Gir and many more.
He currently has an exhibition on at Oxford’s excellent Truck Store (until 12th May) and should you be in the area we would highly recommend a visit. Alternatively you can visit his Facebook page here or blogsite here.
And by way of a contrived link…here is a song!
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New Communion Records signings Catfish And The Bottlemen are a guitar band from North Wales, whose debut single Homesick is out on the 17th June. It’s impressive stuff – particularly given that they’re none of them a day over 19 years old….
The single starts off gently enough, but soon ignites like petrol on a barbecue, turning into a cacophony of infectious guitar thrash and helter skelter rock and roll. It is thrilling stuff, joyful and explosive, and Homesick looks like it might be kicking off some big things for the band.
Have a listen.
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