Author Archives: David

About David

email me at david (at) indiemuse (dot) (com)

Scott Avett covers Bombadil

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Bombadil is a favorite over at IndieMuse–their album Tarpits and Canyonlands was on my Top 10 list last year. Simply put, they are a band worthy of everyone’s ears. It’s criminal that more people haven’t heard their music.

Instead of listening to a nobody like me though–consider this! Avett brother, Scott, recently did a video cover of Bombadil’s song “Marriage.”  Last time I checked, The Avett Brovers don’t cover just anybody.

I still can’t decide what I like more: the band’s music or their photos. As you can see below, their CD travels the world asking friendly strangers to capture his adventures. Everytime it comes home to the band they share the photos with the world to see.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eew-NyU-H3Y[/youtube]

(mp3) Bombadil – Honeymoon

(mp3) Bombadil – Marriage

Site | Store | iTunes | Myspace

see more photos on Bombadil’s Facebook fan page.

Lost in the Trees start US tour!

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Just wanted to share an update to let you guys know that Lost in The Trees just started their US tour. We featured the folk-orchestration band back in December and are big fans. They actually just signed to Anti- Records, who will be releasing a new and enhanced version of All Alone In An Empty House on August 10th, 2010 (originally released on the awesome Trekky Records). Check out the tour dates and video below to see what’s in store.

5/18/2010 DENVER, CO Larimer Lounge* w/ Plants and Animals
5/19/2010 SLC, UT Kilby Court * w/ Plants and Animals
5/20/2010 BOISE, ID Neurolux * w/ Plants and Animals
5/21/2010 PORTLAND, OR Mississippi Studios * w/ Plants and Animals
5/22/2010 SEATTLE, WA Crocodile Café * w/ Plants and Animals & Frog Eyes
5/25/2010 SAN FRANCISCO, CA The Independent * w/ Plants and Animals
5/26/2010 VISALIA, CA Cellar Door * w/ Plants and Animals
5/27/2010 LA, CA Troubadour * w/ Plants and Animals
5/29/2010 TUCSON, AZ Plush * w/ Plants and Animals
5/31/2010 DENTON, TX Hailey’s * w/ Plants and Animals
6/1/2010 AUSTIN, TX Emo’s  * w/ Plants and Animals
6/2/2010 NEW ORLEANS, LA One Eyed Jacks * w/ Plants and Animals
6/3/2010 DURHAM, NC Carrboro Arts Center
6/5/2010 ATLANTA, GA The Earl * w/ Plants and Animals
6/6/2010 ASHEVILLE, NC Grey Eagle * w/ Plants and Animals
6/7/2010 WASHINGTON, DC The Rock and Roll Hotel * w/ Plants and Animals
6/8/2010 PHILLY, PA Johnny Brenda’s * w/ Plants and Animals
6/9/2010 NY, NY Bowery Ballroom * w/ Plants and Animals
6/12/2010 CAMBRIDGE, MA TT the Bear’s * w/ Plants and Animals
6/13/2010 Montreal, Canada Divan Orange
6/15/2010 Toronto, Canada at El Mocambo
6/19/2010 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern

All Alone In An Empty House (2010):

(mp3) Lost in the Trees –  All Alone in An Empty House

site | myspace

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsHOvhNs6bs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Isbells – S/T (2009)

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If you’re like me, you are in love with Bon Iver (Justin Vernon), and want to ask him “Hey IVER–yeah you– when’s your next album coming out?!” Truthfully, it makes complete sense why it’s taking so long to get a sophomore album released. Similar to Sufjan Stevens, Vernon quickly became an icon for indie music, and now has a ton of pressure riding on his flannel-covered-shoulders.  It must be weird going from writing a reflective album, in complete solitude, to knowing that your next album will be critiqued by 100,000+ people (not to mention the wrath of a Pitchfork) just because your pseudonym is attached.

In the meantime, if you need your Bon Iver fix, you should check out Isbells. Instead of Justin Vernon, we have Gaëtan Vandewoude, and instead of an old cabin in Wisconsin, Vandewoude wrote the songs in an old stable in Belgium. Not to say that Isbells is a Bon Iver poser, as he’s certainly got his own thing going on. I’m just really enjoying his self-titled debut, and it immediately grabbed my attention, similar to the first time I heard For Emma For Ever Ago.

Isbells is based out of Leuven, Belgium. In addition to Vandewoude, band members include Naima Joris, Bart Borremans and Gianni Marzo.

S/T (2009):

Isbells – Reunite

Isbells – Without a Doubt

iTunes | Myspace | Zealrecords

Pale Young Gentlemen – Black Forest (Tra La La)

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I’m embarrassed I haven’t featured Pale Young Gentlemen on IndieMuse yet. They are one of the best bands making music today, and an absolute must check out if you are an Andrew Bird or Arcade Fire fan (listen to one song and you’ll see the Bird reference).

Their 2008 release Black Forest (Tra La La) is a true gem. There are too many great tracks on the album to list them all here, but some of my favorites are “Coal/Ivory,””I Wasn’t Worried,” and “Kettle Drum (I Left A Note).”

Pale Young Gentlemen is based out of Madison, WI, and band members include Mike Reisenauer, Matt Reisenauer , Brett Randall, Beth Morgan, and Gwendolyn Miller. As a side note, I was reading The Red Alert’s interview with Pale Young Gentlemen’s frontman, Mike Reisenauer, and he was asked if geography has helped or hurt the band:

“I think it mostly helps us. Writers seem to think it’s interesting backstory.  For some reason, it’s weird to them that Madison, WI exists and that people play music there.”

As a midwesterner, I really appreciated that answer.  The band is currently working on their third album–I’ll keep you posted!

Black Forest (Tra La La):

(mp3) Pale Young Gentlemen – I Wasn’t Worried

(mp3) Pale Young Gentlemen – Kettle Drum (I Left A Note)

Extra:

(mp3) Pale Young Gentlemen – Paper Planes (awesome M.I.A. cover)

Site | Science of Sound (label) | MF (buy)

Congratulations – Juice and Syrup

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One of my friends recently introduced me to the Portland band, Congratulations. If you like Boy Least Likely To than you should check them out. They incorporate everything in their music that I dream to incorporate in my imaginary band one day: horns, xylophone, hamornies, hand claps… it doesn’t get much better than that.

Congratulations is made up of members from the former band, Eskimo and Sons. I’m still a little hazy on the details, but it sounds like the band decided to refocus their music and, therefore, changed band names. They were starting to attract a pretty loyal fan base as Eskimo and Sons, so it’s cool that they stayed true to their music and went with their hearts. Congratulations doesn’t have much music to their name yet, but their song “Juice and Syrup” and work in Eskimo and Sons has definitely made me excited for their debut. I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks to Hallie for the rec. You should buy one of her hats on Etsy, they are awesome!

(mp3) Congratulations  – Juice and Syrup

(mp3) Eskimo and Sons – The Blizzard

Myspace | Brave Records

Levi Fuller – Colossal

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photo credit: Hayley Young

If you’re a fan of Red House Painters, Modest Mouse, or Neutral Milk Hotel, check out Levi Fuller’s album Colossal. The Seattle-based musician has a unique approach to making music, especially when it comes to lyrics. Many of his songs are from the perspective of various animals (his last album, This Murder Is a Peaceful Gathering, is themed around crows). On Colossal, his song “Mouse on Fire” is from a mouse’s point of view when he runs into an inviting house. I kinda have a little thing for not liking rodents, so I am going to keep this song close at hand to help me get through it. Mice are people too, after all.

Two tracks in particular that have been on heavy rotation for me are “The Mall of America” and the instrumental “Wheels within Wheels.” Listen to those two songs and you’ll likely see why I referenced those other great musicians as influences.

Levi is extremely active in the Seattle community. In addition to this solo project, he has another solo project, Passenger Pigeon, and plays bass in the band Luna Moth (all while maintaining a full-time job). He is also the founder and editor of the Ball of Wax Audio Quarterly, which are compilations that feature local musicians. It’s DIY musicians like Levi who bring culture to music.

Colossal:

(mp3) Levi Fuller – The Mall of America

(mp3) Levi Fuller – Wheels Within Wheels

site | myspace | mf (buy)


Broadcast 2000 – S/T (2010)

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A few years ago I featured Broadcast 2000’s EP Building Blocks on the site.  Thought I’d give you an update that he just released his self-titled debut on Gronland records. It’s some of the catchiest folk music out there, and it’s definitely worth your time to check out.  There are a ton of great songs on here, including “Get Up and Go,” “Rouse Your Bones,” “Don’t Weigh Me Down,””I Hold My Breath,” too many to list…

Broadcast 2000 is based out of London and is a bedroom project of Joe Steer. He classifies his music as “folk-influenced indie acoustic pop,” which I would say is a surprisingly accurate description. Also, I just read an interview with him on Spinner, and he was asked about his craziest tour experience . He said that at one of his shows he met somebody who legally changed his name to a number! His name was 1069. And people called him 1-0 for short., I don’t really have any reason for sharing that tidbit… I just thought it was awesome. It makes me wonder if I can officially change my name to  “exclamation.” I guess I would just go by “ex” and then spell my name “!”.

Anyway… check out Broadcast 2000.

Broadcast 2000 – S/T (2010):

(MP3) Broadcast 2000 – Get up and Go

(MP3) Broadcast 2000 – I Hold My Breath

site | itunes | myspace | twitter

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/4587393[/vimeo]

Hezekiah Jones – Come to Our Pool Party

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I’ve spent quite a bit of time as of recent listening to Hezekiah Jones. For whatever reason I had never checked out their music, assuming they were an Israeli ska rap group or something of that nature (which is what I often default to when I don’t know a band). But turns out they actually make really great folk music!

I highly recommend Hezekiah Jones’ 2007 release, Come to Our Pool Party.  It contains super catchy folk melodies, including my personal favorites “Cupcakes for the Army,””Knives of Summertime,” and “Rain-stars.”  There’s a lot of personality coming through Herekiah Jones’ music, which is one of the reasons why I really like them. The poetic lyrics are cleverly written and clearly the band isn’t afraid to experiment and have a little fun. Their debut, Hezekiah Says You’re A-Ok, is really solid as well.

Hezekiah Jones is based out of Philadelphia and is the brainchild of Raphael Cutrufello. He writes the songs and plays piano, guitar, rhodes piano, harmonica, melodica, slide whistle, vocals, pots and pans!, kazoo, xylophone, and accordion. Raphael is backed by a rotating group of friends, and if you look at it Myspace, you’ll see he has more bandmates than perhaps any artist in the history of music.

Come to Our Pool Party (2007):

(mp3) Hezekiah Jones – Cupcakes for the Army

(mp3) Hezekiah Jones – Knives of Summertime

site | CD Baby | Myspace

Ben Cooper is awesome

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On Friday night, Ben Cooper (Radical Face/Electric President), played a house show in Washington DC.

It’s the start of a new “project” where instead of playing clubs, he just connects with his loyal fanbase and plays in cool places. While donations are accepted, he doesn’t charge a cover.

I probably get more mushy over this stuff than most people do, but things like this make me really, really happy. I’m not anti-capitalism,  but I think it’s telling that most of my fondest memories are things that I didn’t have to pay a luxury price for. Whether it’s just talking with a friend, taking a stroll through a park, or making an elaborate dinner (I don’t cook), these are the experiences that I really remember the next day. And I think most people feel the same way.  Sure, I’ve been to great shows before where I’ve paid a lot to get in, but I just think it’s awesome when the artist plays music for no other reason than for the love of sharing his/her music.

Of course, it’s not very sustainable for a musician to play free shows (Cooper told me that the van he had to rent just to get from Florida to DC ended up costing a ton of money… there is no way he broke even). But over the upcoming years, I really hope that with the expansion of technology, the independent community can organize and make things like this happen more frequently. In the meantime, keep up to date with Cooper’s site, as he’ll be adding more tour dates soon.

(mp3) Electric President – Science of Sound

(mp3) Radical Face – Welcome Home, Son

Site | Patients (another cool side project of Cooper’s) | MF (download the Patients album for free)