I heard Hafdis Huld for the first time on Aurgasm quite some time ago, which means it’s high time that I wrote about her on here. She’s Icelandic, which made me assume that her music would at least be inside the realm of “weird,” and indeed, it is. It’s not as odd as Bjork, though, which is to say that I actually derive enjoyment from Hafdis Huld’s music. She has a very calming voice which suits her slow songs well. It is the charm she displays on songs like Ice Cream Is Nice that makes me a fan.

Sadly, these songs are only 64 kbps, which I realize is pretty crappy! Hopefully they’ll be enough to get you interested enough in her music to check it out further.

From Dirty Paper Cup
Ski Jumper – (MP3, 1.5 MB)
Tomoko – (MP3, 1.5 MB)

Orion Rigel Dommisse is my favorite musician on Greg Weeks’ label Language Of Stone. She isn’t as psychedelic as most of the artists on that label, though her music has too wide a variety of instrumentation to be considered traditional folk. It’s not so much instrumentation that it overwhelms you, but more than enough to keep you wholly interested. She had quite a folk all-star line-up on her album as well: Greg Weeks on synths and guitar, Margie Wienk of Fern Knight on cello, and Jesse Sparhawk on the harp. You don’t get such people playing on your album unless you’re pretty damn talented, which Orion is. She has a slightly odd voice, though one that’s still very pleasant. Her lyrics are considerably darker than most you’ll find in folk music these days, which is a delight for the more morbid among us.

While three of the songs on her album What I Want From You Is Sweet have “death” in their titles and one has “suicide” in its title, the songs are generally far from depressing. They are certainly downbeat, but not depressing. Her song Drink Yourself (To Death) has an amazing chorus in “Drink yourself to death so I don’t have / have to see you again / I know, my love, it sounds cruel / but I’m not the one killing you.” Alright, that’s a little depressing, but it’s sung so beautifully that I barely notice. Her song Fake Yer Death is almost amusing as it goes into detail about, well, you know. To end on a more positive note, she’s writing songs for her next album which I suspect will be just as great as her first.

From What I Want From You Is Sweet
Fake Yer Death – (MP3, 4.7 MB)

I thought I had already made a post about this band, to which I was quite ready to link within this very post. Turns out, my slackerness is even greater than I thought, as that post was basically in my ‘todo’ queue, and did not technically even exist. Nevertheless, this CD came out in the interim, so here we go.

Someone described this band as “world-punk”, and I can’t really disagree, though the concept of “world” music seems to bring to mind bamboo flutes and whale songs – not exactly the most thrilling fare, generally. This record is a collaboration with Tamir Muskat, so it’s got a crazy Middle Eastern bent to it, which seems immediately reminiscent of Balkan Beat Box. They’ve never shied away from unconventional rhythms and instruments, leaving surprises on each disc, but on The Golden Hour, it feels like even more of a reinvention.

This isn’t particularly surprising, given how frontman Tod A recently “took a protracted leave of absence from an idiot-run America, the cut-throat music business, and the Western world in general,” visiting Thailand, India, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia. His odyssey was certainly productive, and I hope they continue in their current direction.

From The Golden Hour
Borneo – (MP3, 5.0 MB)
Hey Clown – (MP3, 5.0 MB)
Electric City – (MP3, 6.5 MB)
Already Gone – (MP3, 5.6 MB)

From Ponzi Scheme
So Long, Superman – (MP3, 3.5 MB)
Another Perfect Catastrophe – (MP3, 4.0 MB)

From Psychopharmacology
Psychopharmacology – (MP3, 3.9 MB)

The first thing I ever heard about New Zealand’s Liam Finn was that he was trying to be the happy version of Elliott Smith. Whenever someone is compared to Mr. Smith, I feel an obligation to check out their music, though it’s always matched by my expectation that it won’t be up to par. However, in Mr. Finn’s case, there is actually some merit to these comparisons. If his voice was more similar to Smith’s, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to pass off the song Second Chance as an obscure Smith b-side. But regardless of comparisons, this is a pretty strong showing for a debut album. With songs like Second Chance, Energy Spent, and Music Moves My Feet, he is certainly one of the more talented songwriters I’ve come across this year.

From I’ll Be Lightning
Second Chance – (MP3, 3.4 MB)
Remember When – (MP3, 2.8 MB)

The band I have for you tonight is one that e-mailed me way back in February, Admiral Twin. Four months later is as good a time as any to write something about them, I think. They’re a great power-pop band out of Oklahoma, which surprises me as much as it does you. They have a few albums under their belts, and while I haven’t heard any of them, it is likely one of the reasons why their music seems so comfortable. They don’t sound like they’re trying too hard, and they’re not playing random music and hoping for the best. Instead, they’re fully in control of their musical destiny and it shines through in their music.

From The Center Of The Universe
In My Veins – (MP3, 3.1 MB)
Renegade Planet – (MP3, 3.5 MB)

The Robot Ate Me is a band I’ve been intending to write about for at least a year or so, so I suppose it’s high time that their number came up. They’ve never been a band that really resonated with me, which is to say that although I like a few of their songs, they’ll never be one of my favorite bands. They play what could loosely be defined as indie soft rock; something like Death Cab for Cutie, but much better. Earning them some extra points is the fact that they’re giving out some free songs on their website, which is something that every music blogger appreciates. First up is the mellow Bad Feelings from my favorite of their albums, Carousel Waltz. After that, you get The Genocide Ball which sounds like a song The Scarring Party might play.

Downloads

From Carousel Waltz
Bad Feelings – (MP3, 2.7 MB)

From On Vacation
The Genocide Ball – (MP3, 2.5 MB)

For those of you not in the know, Emma Pollock was one of the singers for the now-defunct band, The Delgados. While they released quite a few good albums in their time, I think Emma’s solo album, Watch The Fireworks, completely and utterly puts them to shame. This is partly due to my strong preference for her beautiful singing, which I felt was criminally underutilized on many of The Delgados’ albums. She’s not just an incredible singer, though; she writes the most intelligent lyrics you’ll find in modern pop music, and the music itself it outstanding.

If I’d bothered with making a best-of list last year, Watch The Fireworks would almost certainly have topped it. If you’ve yet to hear the album, do yourself a favor and start now with Acid Test.

Downloads

From Watch The Fireworks
Acid Test – (MP3, 2.7 MB)
The Optimist – (MP3, 3.4 MB)
Paper & Glue – (MP3, 2.6 MB)

Ex Reverie is a psych-folk band that you might remember from when I talked about their EP, Phronesis, a while back. They released their full-length debut earlier this year, The Door Into Summer. The song that their label offers up, Dawn Comes For Us All, is easily my favorite song of the year. It’s hard for me to do anything else while listening to it. With its deep bass, excellent lyrics, and perfect singing, it is impossible to not be captivated. While I am not a fan of outros, this song has an excellent one, very much inspired by Greg Weeks. That isn’t too much of a surprise, as he played on the album, which was released on his label, Language Of Stone. You can expect to hear me gushing about more of the artists on that label in the near future.

Downloads

From The Door Into Summer
Dawn Comes For Us All – (MP3, 9.3 MB)

If all the differences in music I’ve been posting lately strikes you as a bit erratic, that’s because it is. I’m having a bot pick bands out of the list of bands I want to write about. Kind of prevents me from going “well I need to write about THIS band” before writing about another band. It’s all random, and I think that will help boost my productivity. As always, send me your music recommendations at eitheror.hugh (at) gmail.com. I’ve got some great stuff in my inbox lately, but there’s always room for more. One of the bands that found its way to my inbox lately is Dream Bitches, and I dig their retro-pop sound. They have the harmonious melodies of retro-pop but their lyrics do not match the flowers and lollipops image that retro-pop generally conjures. That is, their lyrics are quite a bit deeper than that.

Anyway, if that wasn’t enough to entice you to listen to these catchy, perfect-for-summer tunes, perhaps their excellent cover of Belle & Sebastian’s Me And The Major will. And if that doesn’t, well, I tried!

Downloads

From Coke-and-Spiriters
Bad Luck Bill – (MP3, 2.8 MB)
Me And The Major – (MP3, 3.1 MB)
Mother’s Day – (MP3, 3.5 MB)

A few months ago, I got a relatively unassuming e-mail from the band Kingsbury, telling me that I’ve written about some of the bands they like (Calla and Radiohead in particular) and that, perhaps, I would like their tunes as well. As luck would have it, I do. Perhaps this is because they actually let the bands they like influence their music, which is a good thing to do when you have good influences. Corpse is a very Calla-esque song, Desert Inn sounds influenced by both, and The Great Compromise is back to Calla again. Some could take that to mean that since Kingsbury is arguably derivative of these bands that they’re somehow less talented. I, for one, would disagree with that. To make music at the quality necessary to be considered derivative of those bands takes a level of talent that most bands can’t even imagine. Judging by the state of music today, most bands don’t even try. Not only does Kingsbury try, but they clearly succeed.

Downloads

From The Great Compromise
Corpse – (MP3, 3 MB)
Desert Inn – (MP3, 2.4 MB)
The Great Compromise – (MP3, 2.7 MB