About Nick

"Don’t ask me why I obsessively look to rock n’ roll bands for some kind of model for a better society. I guess it’s just that I glimpsed something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for prophecy have been seeking it’s fulfillment ever since. And perhaps that nothing else in the world ever seemed to hold even this much promise" - Lester Bangs 1977 That about sums up why I write about music. I go to school at Boston University with Akhil, one of the other indiemusers, and we share similar views on music. I just want people to hear stuff. Sometimes I wish I were more eloquent. I also write for Performer Magazine, and play in the band You Can Be A Wesley. And that's me!

Nick’s Pre-SXSW Playlist

I’m leaving for Austin in a few days to cover South by Southwest for the Boston Phoenix. Before I leave, here is a playlist of ten or so bands I’m really keen to see. (All these bands are playing more times than listed.)

Japandroids

Japandroids are responsible for the best show I’ve ever seen in Boston. Four-chord grunge anthems about drinking too much, falling in love and forgetting about it all the next day inspired the entirety of great Scott to crowd surf and stage dive. I wish drinking actually felt like Japandroids.

(mp3) Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire

3/17 @ Emo’s

3/18 @ Yard Dog Gallery

DD/MM/YYYY

When I saw DD/MM/YYYY, it was like the Blood Brothers vocals fronting Animal Collective’s rhythm. Shit was epic, totally insane and undeniably compelling. Dueling drum sets beat out schizophrenic rhythms deep within whirlwinds of guitar and bass. It had me reeling for days. I’m not sure whats real anymore.

3/17 – Verge FM Radio Session

3/18 Magic Jewels Party

(mp3) DD/MM/YYYY – Bronzage

The Black Angels

The Black Angels play droney, psyched-out acid rock that sometimes sounds like the Velvet Underground blown through a shit-ton of post-production distortion, sometimes like the smooth descent into a one-way coma. All drenched in reverb, all slightly reminiscent of a punch in the face. But in a good way.

(mp3) The Black Angels – Black Grease

3/17 @ Emo’s

3/18 @ Mohawk

Beach Fossils

I was recently introduced to Beach Fossils at the Butcher Shoppe in Allston. Their song “Vacation” follows sparkling arpeggios along waves of reverb, above choppy, syncopated drums and a tremolo’d vocal melody. Sounds like a vinyl left undiscovered in your parents collection for the last thirty years. Sounds like something recorded in your kitchen yesterday.

(mp3) Beach Fossils – Vacation

3/17 @ Red 7

3/18 @ 2908 Cole Street

Sleigh Bells

Like the Stooges Raw Power, the production behind Sleigh Bells is intended to destroy any and all sound systems it touches. The guitar fuzz on single “Crown on the ground” had me thinking I’d blown my speakers. I was pissed, until the smooth M.I.A. style vocals dropped, rounding out this part club-banger, part basement thrasher.

(mp3) Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground

3/17 @ Parish

3/18 Mexican American Cultural Center

Bear in Heaven

Bear in Heaven sound like the reasons why people like the Knife, only way better.  Their most recent release, “Beast Rest Forth Mouth,” is underscored by chugging, minimalist keyboards that somehow evolve into soaring I-want-to-be-drunk-and-seventeen-style choruses. With a fat, drony low-end, and a shrill tenor lead vocal, Bear in Heaven are sure to kill live.

(mp3) Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers

3/17 @ Emo’s

3/19 @ Red House Pizzaria

Magic Magic

Magic Magic are at the point locally where I’m out of things to say. Smooth, surf-guitar leads, crooning chamber-pop vocals a-la Grizzly Bear/Beach House blah blah blah. They’re sweet, they’re local, they’ll own SX.

(mp3) Magic Magic – Sleepy Lion

3/17 @ Spill Bar

Local Natives

I wanted to not like Local Natives. They play a type of sincerely melodramatic alt-country akin to Okervil River or even Death Vessel and sing choruses like “I want you back” and “I promise not to lose her again“ and “Omg, like so in love.” Ok, so that last one was just me being bitter. Still.

(mp3) Local Natives – Sun Hands

3/18 @ Parish

3/19 @ Emo’s

No Age

By now everyone knows No Age, since they pretty much did for noise rock now what the Strokes did for garage rock in the 2000s. Still, these guys are pretty rock and roll. From their album Nouns, “Eraser” feels like a summer’s day, all swaying guitars under the sun and “Teen Creeps” is a punk epic, distorted vocals over a handful of disgusting, swirling chords. Easy listening recorded at the outskirts of a hurricane.

(mp3) No Age – Eraser

3/20 @ Barberella

School of Seven Bells

Since shoegaze became cool again, School of Seven Bells is the band that most effectively captures the My Bloody Valentine sound without sounding like a total knockoff. Their album “Alpinisms” has all the shoegaze staples: droning guitars, harmonies swirling in the ether, and a female lead to fall in love with.  The songs feel effortless, yet could easily score a John Huges film in that same self-indulgent way as M83’s “Saturdays=Youth.”

(mp3) School of Seven Bells – Half Asleep

3/19 @ La Zone Rosa

3/20 @ Stubbs

_______________________

I’ll be tweeting from @musicfloss (IndieMuse’s Twitter!) and from the phoenix’s blog (thephoenix.com/sxsw). Interviews with most of the above mentioned to come.

Old Hannah – When I Die

Old Hannah are a folk-duo out of Boston. Their songs create memories of debatable origin. They elicit a nostalgia not entirely based in reality, more like some vague swirling sensation of times past.  Like a montage of youth shot through corroding, color-beaten film. Specifically their song “When I Die,” which, like most things I obsess over, keeps me up at night

Old Hannah is guitarist Tyler Bussey and singer A.K. Bussey plays guitar with the craftsmanship and melodic sensibility of Elliot Smith, embedding slight, lilting melodies into palm-muted chords while A.K. sings with the conviction of one who understands Grace as both abstraction and fact of life. In “When I Die,” a song as profound as it is simple, Bussey’s guitar playing acts as an understated guide to A.K.’s melody as she details post-mortal wanderings and laments, traipsing through golden gates and floating above the world, images that mirror the ambitions of her vocals. And when they touch the chorus, a nearly ethereal portion of the song existing only as a riff and a line, Bussey reaches an infectious slide which propels A.K.’s lament to the heavens: “And when I die, I’ll sing you songs.”

I first saw Old Hannah at a folk show where most people played covers. Given the power of  “When I Die,” I assumed it to be a song handed down through the generations and was astounded to find it was theirs.

Get into it.

From Old Hannah’s Bright World EP:

Old Hannah – When I Die

MySpace | BUY IT! |

Ramona Falls – Intuit

ramona-falls-i-say-fever1

Ramona Falls is Brent Knopf, programmer, general Renaissance man and one third of the superb Menomena. The band takes its name from an idyllic waterfall somewhere in Oregon, which seems a fitting reflection of Inuits effortless, nearly organic beauty.  I have passing cycles of musical ADD, fleeting affairs with different albums from week to week. This is the first album to stick in a while. For anyone familiar with Menomena, it bears Knopf’s signatures: fluid but hesitant piano leads, jagged guitar harmonics, a casual tenor delivery.  The production is immaculate, encompassing an army of instrumentation, but never anything toward the superfluous. Every percussive blast, every guitar strum, every ethereal harmony and horn flare is precise.  In this way Intuit touches on and expands the great parts of Menomena’s Friend and Foe, hitting a solid pop sensibility with a flair for the insane. From moment to moment I’m hearing the harsher parts of Mount Eerie records, the more lofty parts of Flaming Lips records and something undeniably unique swirling in the ether.

The minute mark on opener “Melectric” hits with a melodramatic surge in instrumentation: mandolin backed by sparse piano, brutal kick hits propelling the visceral tug of Knopfs vocals: “Please, don’t give me false hope/you’re free to go.” At this point Intuit could go straight for the forlorn love epic and remain engaging,  but it decides to go straigh rock n’ roll with the following track “I Say Fever.”

“I Say Fever” exemplifies Knopf’s mind for structure and pacing. It strikes humble beginnings on a post-apocalyptic western guitar groove, peppered again with fragile piano leads and a hesitant vocal delivery. It’s almost like he’s scared of what happens next: a neck-bending guitar breakdown, soaring vocals and fractured harmonies. I defy you not to throw your hands in reverence toward the sky when the chorus in “I Say Fever” hits. Reverence of what? I don’t know. Just shit in general, I guess.

As epic as the aforementioned gets, “Bellyfulla” is the song keeping me up at night.  Intuit finds it’s most intimate moments in Bellyfulla’s sweeping harmonies, in the scattered yet gentle pacing of the acoustic guitar. Knopf drops metaphors speaking to a vague restlessness, while the strings fasten an ephemeral existence as they sweep to and from existence. It’s the defining moment many records hint toward but never hit, a type of resolution that people strive for but can’t find. After the darkness of “I Say Fever” and “Going Once, Going Twice” (where he laments “I’m desperate just to find a respite for my mind”) Knopf has found something in “more happiness than a body can hold.” Hell, I want that. And hell, I nearly find it in those harmonies.

From Intuit:

Ramona Falls – I Say Fever

Ramona Falls – Bellyfulla

MySpace | Barsuk | Amazon

Pretty & Nice Homework Assignment

I talk about Pretty & Nice a lot. (Like Here and Here.) It’s getting bad. But I’ve taken my obsession to something of a more dignified level. Recently, my friend Addison Post and I produced a video for the Boston Phoenix to showcase a new Pretty & Nice song. They wrote it for a new montly segment called “Homework” where the Phoenix tasks a Boston bands with writing and recording a song under unreasonable deadlines with a bunch of zany critieria. Check out the video here and stream the song below.

From the Boston Phoenix’s Homework Assignment:

Pretty & Nice – Massive U.

Next month we grade Hallejuah the Hills.

MySpace | Get Young |

The Dodos Album Stream

I’m a little late in posting this, but hell. I love the Dodos.

Earlier this week their new album, Time to Die, leaked to the internetz! In an effort to combat piracy, or something, Frenchkiss is streaming the entire album on TimeToDie.net. I’ve only listened once, but it seems to be a slightly more subdued affair than Visiter, maybe a cleaner, more touched-up return to Beware of the Maniacs. So far, “Longform” is killing it for me. It builds with the same optimism of “Fools,” falling into psyched-out guitar rants and a spastic finger-picking interlude. And of course, the percussion sections are huge and panning.

Check the full album stream of Time To Die here.

Here is the single from Time to Die, for your downloading pleasure:

The Dodos – Fables

Official Site | MySpace | Preorder Time To Die

Deerhunter: A review, of sorts

Over the past few months, Deerhunter have creeped their way from casual divergence to mindless obsession. Cryptograms was daunting in its expanse, building sonic landscapes from pulsing bass and shimmering guitar. And the moments it coalesced – when it dredged solid melodies from the swirling masses below – hinted at the brilliance to come with Microcastle.

Microcastle gave Cryptograms the context I needed. The My Bloody Valentine guitar textures met sweeping pop arpeggios; Deerhunter formed sculptures from the malleable skeletons of Cryptograms. And with the temporally titled Rainwater Cassette Exchange, their recently released five-song EP, Deerhunter furthers their sound with tighter, more-buoyant pop constructions.

The title track opens with a waltzing pop reminiscent of songs half-forgotten, hailing from a time long ago when chocolate milkshakes and school dances were the epitome of social grace. But the buoyant exterior belies it’s intent, as singer Bradford Cox croons through a palpable haze: “Capture my heart and destroy me/destroy my mind and my body/invade me like a disease and conquer me.” His macabre desire for an all-enveloping, entirely devastating love is echoed through time, but novel in this setting: he wants what he’s had but not as he’s had it. And reflected in the music: they’ve borrowed a tune, but made it their own.  (See: Neil Young, Joanna Newsom. Both have lots to say on this subject.) More after the jump.

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Modest Mouse – Custom Concern [SotD]

This song is neither new nor any type of obscure, but today it’s my (sad, sappy) jam. I woke up, just about noon, with the melody stuck in my head. “Custom Concern” always resonated on some basic level, outlying a creative pitfall that every one hits every so often. The song is universal in its defeat, but comforting in that someone as brilliant as Isaac Brock can get down on his art. And then put it into one of the better songs Modest Mouse ever wrote. So if these past few rainy days have anyone else dragging their feet, throw This is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About on for a spin and relax.

From This is a Long Drive For Someone With Nothing to Think About:

Modest Mouse – Custom Concern

And the buoyant, upbeat instrumental version, a bonus on The Moon and Antarctica:

Modest Mouse – Custom Concern (instrumental)

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

Yellow House never really did it for me. The first three songs, ending with “Knife,” were beautiful and accessible. They drew me in and built a graceful momentum. But the remainder of the album, the other 8 songs, broke off, choosing to meander through sometimes aimless soundscapes with no discernible resolution. It was Department of Eagles, Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen’s side project, that restored, or initially placed, my faith in Grizzly Bear. I had a bunch to say about that here. Anyway, like the good lil’ music blogger that I am, on to Veckatimest.

Veckatimest finds Grizzly Bear at a point of self-realization. They have power – magic maybe – and they’ve chosen to wield it. With “Two Weeks,” a hook-fraught, stand-up chamber pop epic, Ed Droste finds a Frank Sinatara-swagger to his vocals. He waltzes across a staccato keyboard and through disembodied harmonies; he finds his stance and sets hold, confident, charming, nearly ebullient with pop-righteousness. But the power of Veckatimest is in it’s adaptability and emotive range. “Two Weeks” descends into “All We Ask”, a brooding, reverb-soaked ballad marked by Rossen’s trademark stomping baritone guitar. Instantly all that serotonin has vanished. The verse swells into the chorus, which wavers behind Rossen’s bop before gently eroding to the underlying current. The boys harmonize in a near whisper: “I can’t get out of what I’m into with you.” If  “Two Weeks” is a sunny summer’s day on a hillside, then “All We Ask” is the corresponding insomnia at two A.M. (Oh, is that what time it is? huh.)

After the first serveal listens my memory of the album felt like a sin graph; it peaked with certain hooks every few songs and descended into oblivion with others. The sequencing speaks to a calculated foresight, where each of their most accesible songs is spaced by several more brooding ones. It nearly follows the High Fidelity rules for making a mixtape. “Cheerleader” bumps between reverbed guitars and marching-beat drums while Droste ghosts over everything. “While You Wait For the Others”, basically a Department of Eagles song, follows Rossen’s heartbreak, reinforced by the most prominent harmonies on the album. I’ve fallen in love with the expanse of Veckatimest, the overwhelming density of sound, the swelling harmonies, the way each track tends to morph several times before resolving in a definite form. I Guess I’m Floating compared the Veckatimest anticipation to Srgt. Peppers. Then I thought it was hype, now I can only agree. This might be an album for the ages.

Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader

Grizzly Bear – While You Wait For the Others

And here is the video for “Two Weeks”:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjecYugTbIQ[/youtube]

MySpace | Label

The Pixies and Boston Bands

IndieMuse loves the pixies. So does our wonderful friend Liz Pelly from PellyTwins. She wrote an even more wonderful article, published below, about the Pixies and their overarching influence on Boston bands. (Full Disclosure: I’m interviewed in this article. Ha)

Pixies fans with hundreds of dollars to spend will surely be reminded of the band’s relevance and significance as the most influential band to ever come out of Boston on June 15, when the band is set to reissue all of their studio albums in a fancy box set.

Titled Minotaur, the package will be offered in both a Deluxe Edition and a Limited Edition.  The Deluxe Edition includes the Pixies’ five studio albums– Come on Pilgrim EP (1987), Surfer Rosa (1988), Doolittle (1989), Bossanova (1990) and Trompe Le Monde (1991), plus a DVD of every Pixies’ music video and their 1991 performance at London’s Brixton Academy (a year before they broke up), a 54-page picture book, and redesigned album covers by the Pixies original designer Vaughan Oliver, all in a slipcase.  The Limited Edition version includes the entire deluxe package, plus each album on 180-gram vinyl, a Giclee print of Oliver’s artwork, and a 72-page hardcover book, all in a custom clamshell. The Deluxe Edition is $175 and the Limited Edition is $450.

While these re-designed packages are one way to remember the impact of this influential band, there are certainly other ways to hear and appreciate the Pixies’ legacy.  Boston University visiting professor of American history reminds us that while listening to the Pixies’ albums can re-affirm their significance in American culture, their legacy can be appreciated just as much by listening to their influence on other bands.

“They’re the kind of band whose legacy continues to increase as years pass,” said Schmitz.  “Their significance is about influence more so than their album sales.”

So rather than shell out hundreds of dollars for box sets, perhaps try reminding yourself of the Pixies’ legacy by checking out these Boston bands who all cite the Pixies as a major influence, after the jump:

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Sky Larkin – The Golden Spike

I first heard Sky Larkin in New York late last summer. They just signed to Witchita and their lead singer Katie Harkin, nervous that she’d break a string at her first New York show, asked us if she could borrow a guitar as backup. Since then, they’ve toured the UK with Conor Oberst, released their stellar debut The Golden Spike and toured the US with friends Los Campesinos! Somehow, they’ve still managed to escape major notice stateside.

The Golden Spike opens in triumph: Harkin’s melody is propelled skyward by a choir of disembodied harmonies, laced with piercing guitar work and a pounding rhythm section reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr‘s Barlow and Murph. To further the Dino Jr comparison (and sustaining my rabid Dino Jr. obsession), Harkin plays in the vein of J. Mascis, channeling his sparkle/sludge dynamic but with more emphasis on chords rather than ear-shattering guitar solos. Not that she can’t have those; the lead in “Antibodies” is graceful in it’s calculated dissonance and the hook in “Molten” is a reach-for-the-sky’s piece of guitar work (which would have fit quite nicely on You’re Living All Over Me).

Like the Walkmen, Sky Larkin make me want to believe in things. Not so much in fantastical creatures (although I do have great faith in their eventual emergence/hidden existence) but more so in ideals, or just ideas. Love, life, hope, honor. You know, all that romantic bullshit. Listen to Sky Larkin and go sprinting through the streets. Clothing optional.

I did an interview with Katie last fall. Read it here.

Sky Larkin – Molten

Sky Larkin – Antibodies

Sky Larkin have three videos out right now, here’s my favorite:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70eYJAworoc&feature=PlayList&p=CCE2CBFB75C69840&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=55[/youtube]