Jen Gloeckner – Mouth of Mars

Singer-songwriter Jen Gloeckner self-released her debut album Miles Away in 2004 and her new follow-up album, Mouth of Mars, was released in March and recorded at Jen’s own Hazy Sky Studio in Iowa.  She co-produced the album with record producer Brian McTeer (Danielson, Woven Hand).  A handful of guest artists collaborate on the album including Helena Espvall of Espers, Amy Morrissey of Bitter Bitter Weeks, Joseph Arthur, and Joel Zifkin.  The songs on Mouth of Mars are eclectic and diverse but are held together by Jen’s dusky, down-to-earth, mid-range, layered vocals and the instrumentation of strummed guitar, piano notes, drawn strings, and light electronics.

Songs range from the devilish hoedown and Jen’s sinister tone on “Die” (featuring Helena Espvall on cello), to the alt-folk “Haunt You” with acoustic guitar and haunting cello lines giving it a back porch-in-twilight feel, to the dark imagery and lyrics of “Trip” where Jen deplores “Forever trapped in your heart / Always alone in the dark.”, to the lighter “Come in My Garden” with airy cymbal shimmer, slow drumbeat, scattered piano notes, and a sighing vocal backdrop, to the added clinks and clangs and electric violin, courtesy of Joel Zifkin, on “Peace Among the Chaos”.

The album’s mood and style comes into sharp relief on the standout track “Sleep to Dream”, where Jen’s resigned, matter-of-fact vocals on the verses take flight on the chorus and she breaks free from her calm, unhurried, sing-talking tone and pushes her vocals out and upwards with more emotion.  On this contemplative song, Jen delves into the divide between dreams and reality, intoning “I dreamed of lying in your bed… / I wish this to be my beginning of no end / but soon reality comes creepin’ in…” amid wavering cello lines, fluidly picked guitar lines, softly brushed cymbals, and a measured beat.  The verses build up to a full, slowly swirling chorus of bittersweet strings, guitar, drums, and several vocal layers that include Joseph Arthur and Amy Morrissey in the background, as an expressive Jen longs for the time when “…everything I could ever dream / was right there around me / and I sleep to dream.”

http://jengloeckner.com/

Francis International Airport – Monsters 7″ Single

Francis International Airport‘s new 7″ single hits like gangbusters in its seven minute run time. “Monsters” is a dense, lush guitar rock song that focuses on atmosphere and a flourishing melody. Frontman Markus Zahradnicek paces throughout the verses before unleashing a thunderous hook to drive the song home. “Monsters” cools down for the final two minutes as the band opens the song up and lets the denseness rush out. The terrific outro to the song is a baroque slow-jam that serves a great capper for a gem of a tune.

“Feet of Clay” borrows many of the same elements; the atmosphere and density. A harmonized chorus showcases a wonderful hook, while electronics gently dance in the background. “Feet of Clay” stays status quo, not going into a breakdown, but the musical break serves a similar role as the breakdown in “Monsters.” On one hand, it’s just a single so it seems to carry a lot less weight than an LP, but on the other hand, it’s only seven minutes of your time to hear two awesome songs. I vote the latter.

“Rock Yourself To Sleep” at Philadelphia’s Trocadero Theatre

On July 23rd the “Rock Yourself To Sleep” tour played Philadelphia’s legendary Trocadero Theatre. I’d never heard of any of the bands playing before, but there certainly were a lot of people waiting with me who were fans. The line was full of teenage girls (and a few guys and parents) wearing the newest punk pop T-shirts and flaunting their rainbow colored leggings (a trend I never understood). Had I not been there as a journalist, I would’ve felt quite out of place (being an adult male). The show was a success for its target audience but failed as a performance of unique, important music.

I was lucky enough to score a seat on the balcony because, unlike most of the audience, I’m over 21 years old. Without any warning, an opening band played (who weren’t even named on the bill). I heard they won a contest and I don’t remember them even saying who they were (if someone reading this knows, feel free to comment and correct me). The audience cheered of course and the band had a great energy. Their singer sang highly and confidently, but the music was too distorted to comprehend any level of melody. It just sounded generic guitar crunching. The band and the audience joined in collective clapping though.

Soon after they finished at 7:30 PM, There For Tomorrow walked out in all their sexually suggestive glory. Singer Maika Maile fooled around on his beautiful golden Les Paul (I must admit I was a bit jealous) with a nice wawa pedal before beginning the songs. As soon as the lights dimmed, the crowed cheered more as flashing lights complemented the band’s presence. To their credit, they really did look like rock stars. Maika knelt down and sang to the girls with his shirt unbuttoned, feeding into their fantasies like this generation’s Robert Plant or Roger Daltrey (don’t get me wrong though, this comparison isn’t about talent). Their songs were distinctive enough to not get repetitive, with “Wish You Away” and some ballads getting the best feedback. Maika and lead guitarist Christian Climer shared some interesting vocals and the band’s dynamics got a bit more interesting near the end of their set. Drummer Chris Kamrada did some impressive fills too and bassist Jay Enriquez kept it all together nicely.

Going into almost the total opposite direction, The Secret Handshake brought a squeaky clean and wholesome vibe that any mother in the 1950s would adore. They set up as an instrumental version of “Pure Imagination” from the 1970s Willy Wonka film played. Luis Dubuc announced that his band is all about remembering “a time when music was fun,” and he proudly acknowledged the Jackson 5 and the Temptations as influences. I admit it was refreshing to see a band pay homage to such unexpected pioneers (I don’t think many people my age listen to the Motown era, although they should). They had the left to right dancing down and they were certainly having fun sort of wiping away the suggestiveness of There For Tomorrow with music and an attitude appropriate for the Disney Channel. While good intentions and a tinge of uniqueness are commendable, simply put, their songwriting was extremely basic and boring, and their lyrics were laughably clichéd and unimaginative. I’m sorry guys, but it’s true.

Next up was Sing It Loud, a rock/emo band that definitely appealed to the skaters in the audience. Singer Pat Brown instantly ignited the hearts of the teen girls (and other body parts I’m sure), and they cheered a lot, but he’s got nothing on Mr. TFT. In essence, Sing It Loud brought a similar sound of Something Corporate, except focused on guitars instead of keyboards. Oh yeah, and SoCo had much better vocals, arrangement and songwriting. They had a frantic energy and volume, which sublimated any musical skills. They’re set was totally forgettable and their sound has been done better by other artists.

The headlining band, Every Avenue, took the longest to appear on stage (which is expected since they needed to build anticipation). Again, more generic rock/pop was belted out through the speakers of the Trocadero, and more cheering and clapping along was had. They put on quite a show and provided a very exciting finale for their fans. I think overall the concert was a fantastic night out for its audience and the bands succeeded in captivating their ears, hearts and…well, other anatomy.

Now for my broader take. I am clearly not a sixteen year old girl whose musical frame of reference dates back only as far as my age does. I have experienced and studied music dating back decades and I have heard the greatest songwriters of our time. I have seen fads come and go while true innovators stick around through the years. None of the bands on this tour have staying power. Their songwriting is totally generic and ordinary. They know a few guitar chords and how to structure their lyrics well enough so it sounds like a memorable melody, but it’s really not. These acts exist to look good for the barely pubescent girls that like them.

Sexual innuendo abounds here because I know exactly why these bands exist and why their audience adores them. Being a teenager sucks. I remember what it was like and I know that the kids at the show want a band who screams their frustration while appeasing their blossoming hormones at the same time. For now, these bands satisfy that need, but unfortunately if they don’t step up their songwriting and individuality, they’ll fade away as their audience fades into adulthood.

If you want a similar sound with much better songwriting, playing and singing, check out the short lived Something Corporate (whose second release, North, is outstanding). If you want more complexity and adventurousness, listen to Coheed & Cambria. Both bands (and many more I’m sure) are better than what the “Rock Yourself To Sleep” tour presents.

Second Single from Sankt Otten

Hidden Shoal Recordings today announced the release of the second freely downloadable single from the latest album by German cinematic pop duo Sankt Otten. Download the single and bonus track here and read on for more info.

‘Mein Freund aus Köln’ soars slowly and elegantly across the night sky like a neon bird. The listener is carried along by hypnotic drum patterns, while majestic synth refrains and guitar drones sing sadly and beautifully. As with so much of Sankt Otten’s work there is something brooding underneath the surface of ‘Mein Freund aus Köln’, something always just out of reach. The single is accompanied by the gorgeous previously unreleased track ‘Melancholie fur Millionen’ which rounds out this wonderful package in true style, proving that everything Sankt Otten touch turns to gold.

‘Mein Freund aus Köln’ is taken from Sankt Otten’s fourth album Morgen wieder lustig which is out now through Hidden Shoal Recordings.

New 7″ from FUR

FUR Announces New Digital 7″ and hit the road
“Polybreak” link: http://waagarecords.com/tracks/FUR-Polybreak7.zip

Check out the new trippy jams from FUR on this digital 7″. Polybreak features the new member of FUR Gray St. Germain Gideon (previously of Ghosthustler). The 7″ also features a Letherette remix of FUR’s “Friends.

FUR on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/bryceisbell

Tour Dates

7/29 – Sacramento, CA – Sol Collective
7/30 – San Francisco, CA – Amnesia

Salli Lunn – Heresy And Rite

“The Frame Of Reference” opens with as rattle of synthetic and a purposeful drumbeat. Over this, plucked bass strings and distant keyboards back some convoluted lyricism: ‘a sketch and a drawing / pronouncing the problem to be redefined’. The bass slows and the song paradoxically takes flight, its mood simultaneously maudlin, neurotic, mildly aggressive and strangely triumphal: Salli Lunn, everybody.

Halfway into the first track on Heresy And Rite and screeching feedback and suddenly more strident rhythms alter the song practically beyond all recognition and this, as the following seven songs will reveal, is where the real skill at the heart of both the album and its creators is found. The second part of “The Frame Of Reference” bears little if any resemblance to the song the track began as, a doom-laden stomp transfigured into a display of hissing pyrotechnics and at nearly seven minutes in length it’s some testimony to the bands abilities as both songwriters and improvisers that the entire number is sustained without loss of either structure or focus, and make comparison with the lengthy epics of Godspeed and Mogwai if you will, but Salli Lunn are attempting to reconfigure the entire notion of instrumental post rock, as with a practised air of compositional innovation they strenuously avoid repetition, taking every opportunity their songs present to expand on their musicianship, and (put this down to experience) keeping these instrumentals relatively brief ie: under ten minutes. A tightly disciplined and oft times draining approach and for the most part, it succeeds.

“Parachutes Forever” utilises a vocal fade-in: when did I last hear one of those? and again a powerful intro gives way to a carefully constructed ballad, one whose vibrophonic chorus lifts its admittedly dark sentiments well beyond mere angst. Joy Division are an audible influence here, but Salli Lunn are very far removed from the school of Curtis Copyists and the double timed drumming and wall-of-noise improv more closely resembles Ride and Fugazi, although by the time ‘Parachutes Forever’ thrashes its last it seems merely lazy journalism to make obvious comparisons. There is a lot going on here, with Salli Lunn doing everything they can to twist their material beyond its original forms, and while this can mean shedding the actual song at a point where a lot of bands would add another verse and two choruses, it also leads into studio jamming of near stroboscopic intensities. Predictable it isn’t, and while it might seem that the band threaten to overstretch their abilities when turning their songs inside out and adding cataclysmic waves of effects generated powerchords and thunderous rhythmic arpeggios, the quartet are sufficiently adept to avoid repeating themsleves at any point.

“Mirror Girl” is a funk riff stretched past its limits but when it seems ready to break the pace slackens to allow the tune to take the weight of the bass and drumming, and it’s also the song that has the band playing at their most accomplished, avoiding weighting the track too heavily with percussion as the guitars interweave in a multitude of directions and time signatures, and while shorter tracks such as ‘Belongings’ and Birthmark’ are every bit as inventive and structurally complex as the other longer pieces, Salli Lunn do sound more at ease when they take things over the five minute mark as they do with album closer “The First Course” which, while it drifts haphazardly between math rock and dreampop is slowly built into a frenetic mass of powerchords that defy any attempt at categorization, and the fade out only sounds like the lead into another, non existent tenth track.

Salli Lunn have gone well out of their way to produce a record that has both the noticeable hallmarks of their influences and still manages to sound an entirely original work, and in this they’ve more than achieved their aim. Anyone wanting to hear a purposeful and imaginative rock album will find very little fault with Heresy And Rite, which while it openly references any number of influential and well known bands of the last three decades also has the defining qualities of an album very much of the present moment. And it’s loud, very loud indeed.

Hidden Shoal Recordings

Bambara – Dog Ear Days EP

Like a sonic assault reminiscent of A Place To Bury Strangers, Bambara‘s new release Dog Ear Days nevertheless manages to shape sound into more than just blunt-force trauma for the ears. The band knows how to craft melodies, wrap them in barbed wire, and drop them in acid. The band hits on many touchpoints of post-punk and shoegaze but never sounds exactly like either because it gets to the red on both at once.

There’s something dark and claustrophobic about “Feed the Pigs,” whose first half has what sounds like a swarm of electronic bees looping in the background. And what of the song’s second half? It’s ambient and spare, contrasting with the tribal-then-surging first part. The odd vocal harmonies only add to the disquiet. “Repeat After Me” just pounds on you with a cross between Bardo Pond’s noise and Bailter Space’s odd knack for submerged tunefulness. There’s a lot of reverb and feedback lumped onto the art-damaged arrangement. The looping of screech guitar works to the band’s advantage. Finally a band is capturing some of what Sea Scouts did so well before being abandoned to history without its due.

“Chiromancy” is the soundtrack to your nightmare while it’s warming up, again with the looped screeches. When the song gets going, it’s Scratch Acid manic and noisy. One of the band’s effective techniques is to have the vocals stretched out with long-held notes to provide a contrast with the fury underneath. As was once said of Big Black, some of this music will peel the paint off the walls. Even the quieter numbers “Swim With Trees” and “Drag Hesitation” manage to work in a couple of unsettling sounds and textures.

It’s a shame that this release has only six songs. The band has a prior album that’s probably worth looking into if this EP is any indication of the band’s earlier material. A nice find.

New sophomore Album from Cabinessence

PORTLAND, OREGON-BASED SPACE-HIPPIE-COUNTRY ACT CABINESSENCE CELEBRATE RELEASE OF “NAKED FRIENDS,” ON SEATTLE-BASED INDIE SPARK & SHINE RECORDS

Portland, Oregon-based Cabinessence are celebrating the release of their sophomore album, “Naked Friends,” their debut for Seattle-based indie Spark & Shine Records.  Led by Nathan Maricle and Jacob Arnold (formerly of NW buzz band Marigold), the two are joined by multi-instrumentalist David Pulliam (sometimes seen with fellow Portlanders Celilo), bassist Tim Coulter, and drummer Mike Ronne (ex-Touchforce, Hot for Chocolate).

Borne of the patchouli-soaked rainforest of Oregon¹s Willamette Valley, Cabinessence peppers its space-hippie country with sultry, Bolan-esque glam rock and bizarro flashes of ass-shaking motor-city funk. The ghosts of Brian Wilson and Phil Spector haunt these walls‹or would, if either of them were dead.

“Naked Friends” is the band¹s second long-player. Their debut, “Comes Back to You,” landed them as one of Magnet Magazine’s Bands to Watch, with Magnet writing: “…spun-sugar vocals and shuffling drums… pure Elliott Smith… California canyon rock… and Exile-era Stones by way of Supergrass… Cabinessence is less of a jukebox and more of an Americana mood machine.”

http://www.myspace.com/cabinessence

everyBoy releases new Single and Album

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At 17, everyBoy (aka Bruce Nathan) entered Brown University with the goal of learning Japanese before graduation. Four years later, he was fluent enough to find himself working in Japan, studying classical Japanese literature, haiku poetry, and Buddhism. He remembers the delicious irony of riding in the back of a stretch Mercedes with his mentor — an old Zen monk named Shin. Several wealthy laypeople who wanted to lunch with Shin provided the car. everyBoy loved how Shin-sensei relished the luxury, yet remained extremely humble to the experience. This is a lesson that has served everyBoy well and informs his debut album, The Last Lala’s.

everyBoy is a New York based songwriter crafting catchy folk-pop tunes not unlike George Harrison in style and certainly similar in message. Clearly a disciple of the Dylan school and follower of that Harrison way, everyBoy’s debut welcomes you on a spiritual journey addressing life, love and our place in the universe. In addition to attracting new fans to his sound — everyBoy recently performed to a full house at the El Ray in Los Angeles as a featured act on the David Lynch Foundation’s tribute to Donovan — everyBoy is also working with top notch talent in the studio.

http://www.everyboy.net/

Guest Review: Mark Lesseraux Reviews Kyle Bobby Dunn’s A Young Person’s Guide to Kyle Bobby Dunn

Kyle Bobby Dunn is a 24 year old Canadian born minimalist, ambient-classical composer who lives in Brooklyn, NY. Over the past ten years (since he was 14 or 15 it seems) he has been presenting his compositions in live settings, including exclusive outdoor and site specific environments, throughout North America. Having reviewed his catalog, it is this writer’s opinion that young Mr. Dunn is as fine a composer as anyone working in the minimalist-instrumental genre today.

His latest release A Young Person’s Guide To Kyle Bobby Dunn is a sprawling, near masterpiece of a collection which he recorded, arranged and “processed” between 2005-2009. The double CD features a little over an hour and a half’s worth of primarily drone-based, impressionistic soundscapes. What i find most striking about the record is how it simultaneously immerses the listener in both seemingly unknown and yet somehow familiar, even nostalgic landscapes. Dunn draws from a fairly wide palette of influences. The austere, tempered tonal shifts featured in many of his compositions subtly echo the work of minimalist forerunners like Morton Feldman and LaMonte Young. At the same time Dunn occasionally intersperses quaint, almost chamberal touches which evoke more traditionally classical sources. For the most part though A Young Person’s Guide To Kyle Bobby Dunn is a forward looking affair which utilizes modern (though never ostentatiously so) acoustic and electronic elements. It is precisely this rich, deft mix of traditional and innovative components which elevates A Young Person’s Guide To Kyle Bobby Dunn to at times transcendental heights.

Tracks like “The Tributary (For Voices Lost)” and “There Is No End To Your Beauty” on Disc One, feature undulating synthesizer swaths which ebb and flow in slow nocturnal drifts, evoking ominously vast, yet deeply peaceful spatial expanses. On the second half of the double CD, more concise offerings like “Last Minute Jest” and “Sets Of Four (Its Meaning Is Deeper Than Its Title Implies)” utilize repeating piano figures set in mid to large size acoustic spaces. The album’s haunting closing number “The Nightjar” situates what appear to be echo-laden guitar swells against a backdrop of progressively burgeoning patches of feedback. This interplay develops into a sort of pregnant super-slow-motion teetering, which finally dissipates, giving way to the interjection of a tape recorded argument between two young men. The argument ends with a loop of one of the young men inquisitively repeating: “Just looking at yourself?”, “Just looking at yourself?”, “Just looking at yourself?”. Which is ultimately the whole point of KBD’s compositions: to show us previously unseen aspects not of foreign, but rather of our own inner, under-explored realms.

Low Point

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