I meant to write about Dengue Fever a few years ago, but due to my advanced procrastination skills, that did not happen. Until now! Their music blends Cambodian pop with psychedelic rock for a sound that works surprisingly well. This song is from their semi-recent album, Venus On Earth, one of my favorites of theirs. It’s sung in Cambodian, so gosh knows what the heck she’s saying, but she sings it wonderfully and the music is intricate guitar heaven.
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.
From The Door Into Summer
Dawn Comes For Us All – (MP3, 9.3 MB)
Perhaps I shouldn’t be quite so much of a slacker when it comes to posting music, and reading about it. Then I’d have heard of Yeasayer a few months ago, as opposed to a few weeks ago after seeing them on Conan. At least I’ve heard of them at all, I suppose. Either way, what struck me while watching them was how much singer Chris Keating was wrapped around the microphone stand; it seemed like he was trying to channel Thom Yorke‘s almost-patented weirdness, and it was fairly bizarre overall. Luckily for him, Yeasayer’s music is also fairly bizarre, and so it melded nicely. And luckily for us, their music isn’t bizarre enough to turn listeners off, it’s just bizarre enough to both keep it interesting and avoid passing it off as easy listening. It all makes for an enjoyable musical experience, if not adventure.
From All Hour Cymbals
2080 – (MP3, 7.4 MB)
Sunrise – (MP3, 5.7 MB)
It never ceases to amaze me how I am always slacking when it comes to writing about CDs I get in the mail, since I don’t ask for CDs I don’t like. While it could just be my regular ‘ol laziness, I’m going to go ahead and say it’s because it’s harder to write about an album than it is to write about a single song. And when the CD turns out to be decidedly different than you expected, it makes it even harder. So when I got Over The Hill‘s self-titled debut in the mail, expecting something resembling fairly standard country, I was at least slightly surprised to hear all of its psychedelic influences. The opener of Divorce would make it seem like a regular country song (not to mention the title), and then they throw some psychedelic keyboarding at you and while it’s hardly an expected transition, it still manages to work out fine.
The songwriter’s also got a book out, and if you’ve spent more than a few years on the Internet, you will have no trouble understanding it.
From Over The Hill
Darling What You Want Me To Say – (MP3, 2.1 MB)
Rabid – (MP3, 3.2 MB)
Although there are probably some deluded souls out there who believe that music bloggers are influenced by only their own opinions, they are, again, deluded. either/or’s not an overly popular blog and I’m still competely inundated with music in my inbox. This wouldn’t be a problem if most of this music was good, but… it isn’t. However, once in a while, you will find a band like Bryan Scary in there, and it’ll make it worth it. Misery Loves Company is one of the better songs I’ve heard this year, and definitely the best throwback psych-pop song I’ve heard this year. I don’t like Desdemona’s Leaving Town as much, but as my psychology teacher would say, that’s just the expected regression to the mean.
From The Shredding Tears
Misery Loves Company – (MP3, 4.1 MB)
Desdemona’s Leaving Town – (MP3, 3.7 MB)
Greg Weeks is probably my favorite musician who I’ve yet to even mention on this page, but that’s just because I hadn’t found any free MP3s of his, and it might cause nine simultaneous aneurysms if I were to upload his best songs, due to him having so fucking many. At least, if you like psych-folk as much as I do. The free ones are outtakes from his EP Bleecker Station, and are still quite excellent considering they’re demos. It’s not just his solo work that makes me love him so; he’s also a founding member of Espers (who I will have to write about soon!), and he also utilized his psych-folk wizardry to trick out Marissa Nadler’s new album. I even took the time to add the video for the decidedly creepy adidas commercial featuring his decidedly awesome song, Made. That’s not the entirety of the song, but you can’t expect a commercial to be three minutes long… even if the song in it is awesome.
From Train In Vein: Bleecker-Era Outtakes
Self-Elimination Diet – (MP3, 2.6 MB)
Sewn To A Dying Age – (MP3, 4.3 MB)
Downcast – (MP3, 3.5 MB)
West River Road – (MP3, 3.1 MB)
It is somewhat strange how I believe myself to be a huge fan of psychedelic folk music, and yet it appears that I have never written about such a band. I’m partially remedying this right now by posting the entirety of Ex Reverie’s excellent EP, Phronesis. Orange Flame is somewhat representative of why I love this particular genre, Perennial reminds me of Jefferson Airplane (and so is a better start for the uninitiated), and Thumbtacks starts out haunting and melds into more straight-up psychedelic. I know I’m not the only person out there who’s hippie enough to appreciate this sort of music, so you can expect more of it in the not-too-distant future.
From Phronesis
Orange Flame – (MP3, 8.3 MB)
Perennial – (MP3, 7.1 MB)
Thumbtacks – (MP3, 6.4 MB)
It has been brought to my attention that lately, more than ever, I listen to crazy music. Even just a few months ago, crazy for me just meant some Ween or gypsy punk. Nowadays, it usually means something circus-related. That 1 Guy continues the tradition of crazy music, though more along the styles of Ween and Primus. He plays all his songs with his home-made instrument, “The Magic Pipe.” It is indeed magical, the number of things he is able to do with it, but it’s still the lyrics that stand out more for me. When is the last time you heard a song about weasel potpie (and titled as such!), or one about raining meat? And when is the last time they were actually catchy, and well-sung? And when is the last time they were on an album with such an awesome name as Songs In The Key Of Beotch? The answer is never, until now!
From Songs In The Key Of Beotch
One – (Music video, 4.9 MB)
I got an e-mail last week or so from Kevin of Griddle, asking if he could send me a copy of their new album, Klimty Favela. I accepted, of course, because even if it was bad, a free CD is always a good deal. In the meantime, I read up on the band as I hadn’t heard of them before (they only have 55 listeners on last.fm so I wasn’t too ashamed of this fact). The quote that really piqued my interest is from their own page: “Our songs are strange, but catchy as the flu.” Expectation: strangely catchy songs.
Upon getting the CD, the press kit tucked within classified the music as “psychedelic rock.” Expectation: strangely catchy psych-rock songs.
Inevitably I actually played the CD, where the opening track, City Made Of Teeth, greeted me with guitar chords that reminded me of good power metal (yes, such a thing exists). Then it transformed into something resembling an indie-rock anthem, with one of the catchier choruses I’ve heard in a long while. My favorite track, Dr. Becky Bolanky, reminded me a lot of a John Vanderslice song, but that’s alright, because Griddle’s drummer drummed for his latest album. The only thing I didn’t like about this album was when it got more into psych than into rock, but that’s not the album’s fault; that’s my musically untrained mind’s fault. Regardless, those moments are relatively few and far between, and if you’re into psych, you’ll dig the sound. Since the album’s not released until August the 15th, all I can get you (legally!) from the new album is the video for Dr. Becky Bolanky. It is indeed the equivalent of musical flu.
From Klimty Favela
