Grizzly Bear - Ready, Able (Video)
What We're Bumping in the Santa Cruz Mountains
What We're Bumping in the Santa Cruz Mountains Vol. 2
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The Dutchess and the Duke - Let It Die
My sister - who has great music taste by the way - tried to run this duo by me a while back, but their slight similarity to The Rolling Stones bugged me at first. Just never been huge on the Stones honestly. But then Sunset/Sunrise came out and the guy/girl duets and twangy guitars kinda punched through me with an uppercut of awesome. Of course this pretty hip blogger I know already got the early scoop out on Her Dutchness and His Dukeness, but here’s my two cents about the music anyway. It’s from the past, but you love how it’s adapted for our time - sort of like organic farming (a.k.a. old farming techniques we forgot don’t come with side effects). This nostalgic album is full of both tragic and sweet songs coated in rustic harmonies. Every track carries a simple aesthetic which includes much attention to a traditional song structure. In fact nothing feels out of place the first time you listen to this record. And that’s why it’s superb! Every part of the music is right there. Right where you hope it will be.
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Devendra Banhart - Baby
Ladies and gents we have a hot song on our hands today. It’s off Devendra Banhart’s brand new album What Will We Be - a true fall highlight if I may say so. Banhart’s special recipe of folk is back again and it’s sounding brilliant. “Baby” is a ridiculously instantly like-able tune, much more of the pop/rock variety. Tell me you don’t want to soundtrack this next time you walk down a sunny path by the beach rocking some hip shades and a wide smile. This song has a very warm, upbeat rhythm - the kind that makes fans want to clap along at concerts. Also worth mentioning are the guitar riffs in this song, which are so perfect they excuse the whole campy oldies thing. As for the rest of the album, expect a great variety of instruments and Banhart’s typically stellar songwriting to blow you away. Other tracks not to miss are “Can’t Help But Smiling” and “Goin Back.” Yet another fine album before 2009 closes out!
Sleepy Sun - New Age (Video)
Funny seeing these guys in an official music video - but it’s a damn fine achievement for the crew. On a sidenote: These guys were mind-blowing like usual on Friday night at the Independent. Can’t wait until they release their next album, because the new songs they performed kick ass!
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Beehive - Breathing The Bad Smoke
Beehive is the work of Zach Hinkle, a former member of the Athens, Georgia music scene who recently relocated to New York City. His new album Sun & Scream is a complex collage of experimental tunes solo-produced in his own apartment. Each piece is simple and repetitive as a whole, but you can certainly appreciate the assembly. “Breathing The Bad Smoke,” for instance, features a very flat, slow drum beat to play off a gracious guitar riff that sounds like it’s coming from across the room. The instrumentals are soaked in a grainy noise and bass tone that increasingly reverberates in your skull until a sharp piano part kicks in at just the right moment to pierce the pressure. Buried within the haze are Hinkle’s very distant and deep vocals. If you like what you hear, look for this new album out at the end of the month!
