Stellastarr*, came out the gate with a roar. Now, almost ten years and three albums later, they are navigating through the realities of the new music world with their first self-released record, Civilized, and a reinvigorated sense of self. As the first few tracks hit iTunes and the band gears up for a summer tour, we talked with Mandy (Amanda) Tannen..
The Black Heart Procession took root in San Diego in 1997, when Pall Jenkins (vocals, guitars, synths, etc.) and Tobias Nathaniel (piano, guitar, organ, etc.) put their previous band, Three Mile Pilot, on an open-ended hiatus. They are the core members of Black Heart, joined by drummer Joe Plummer (Modest Mouse, the Magic Magicians), bassist Jimmy LaValle (The Album Leaf) and violinist Matt Resovich (The Album Leaf).
The Spell is their fifth full-length album. To make it, the band assembled a new recording studio and then traveled between San Diego and Portland, OR to write and rehearse the material. The album was recorded and produced by The Black Heart Procession in their new studio, SDRL, in San Diego.
To understand the balance behind the gravely voiced raps of L.A. native Awol One, listening to the last line of the MC’s new album with Canadian producer Factor is an ideal starting point. On the closing cut of the new LP Owl Hours called “Sunset Sandwich,” he raps, “It’s Awol / Yo, what’s the word? / I’m the school bully and the school nerd.”
Since coming up through the indie hip-hop scene in the late-90s, first working with the oddball Shape Shifters crew and then producers like Daddy Kev and Fat Jack, Awol with his gruff resonance is a voice to remember but one that has never been easy to define. He’s an MC who can get as reflective as some of the best ‘emo’ rappers yet he can turn around and talk more shit on the mic than a relentless stand up comedian.
I suppose it is not uncommon for a band to be a product of their environment, but Shout Out Out Out Out is certainly a group as rich in paradox and contrast as the 780 area code. Edmonton is about as remote man outpost of a major city as you’ll find anywhere in Canada, yet close to a million people choose to live there. Why would anyone choose to live there? Why would anyone choose to base a band there? Maybe it’s because it takes a band like Shout Out Out Out Out to embrace their surroundings and use these harsh realities as motivation to actually do something, and to realize that if you’re going to try to do something in Edmonton, there is no point in doing it halfway.
Building on the success of their first two efforts, the fall of 2008 saw the release of Faunts Remixed, featuring reworked tracks from both High Expectations/Low Results and M4 with contributions from artists working at the forefront of the North American electronic music scene: Cadence Weapon, Mark Templeton, Brightest Feathers (aka Saxon Shore), San Serac, and the Paronomasiac (aka Nik Kozub from Shout Out Out Out Out).
And now Faunts, with the new addition of Scott Gallant on bass, have given us Feel.Love.Thinking.Of., an album that is both more ambitious and sprawling in its conception and tighter and more focused in its execution than anything the band has done before. A more vocal, song-oriented album than its predecessors, Feel.Love.Thinking.Of. contains some truly sublime moments: the electronic pulse of the eponymous title track, the bending synths on “It Hurts Me all the Time” that almost evoke the singing saw, the krautrock-y slow burn of “Alarmed/Lights”, the emotive refrain of album closer “Explain”. With Feel.Love.Thinking.Of., Faunts have outgrown any old comparisons and developed into their own entity, and the results couldn’t be better.
Two years ago, on the East Coast of America, a couple of highly technical production wizards joined forces and created their own genre of strange and creepy techno under the moniker, Voodeux. One from Boston and the other from Philadelphia, Tanner Ross and James Watts first released “The Curse” EP on mothership in 2008 with great success. With DJ support rolling in from everywhere Claude VonStroke soon commissioned them to record a full-length album of this new moody sound.
Voodeux – Just A Spoonful
Ume (pronounced ooo-may) has built a reputation as one of indie rock’s most electrifying bands. With their new critically acclaimed and self-released Sunshower EP and recent breakout performances at SXSW and Fun Fun Fun Fest, Ume has launched into the international spotlight DIY-style. They are set to spend the summer touring, including stops at Toronto’s NXNE Festival, WOXY Lounge, and Athens’ Athfest.
While Brooklyn-based Boogie Boarder don’t demand to be taken seriously themselves, their crunchy, catchy, lo-fi surf rock does. With a unique sound that recalls the the power and technical prowess of your favorite Load Records acts with a more inviting, whimsical pop bent, Boogie Boarder describes their style as “the beast-lord avatar of a two-minute pop song”. The band will be releasing their second album “Pizza Hero” this summer on the Famous Class label/art-collective (Darlings, Snakes Say Hisss!) and they will be touring with their labelmates later this summer, as well as making a stop at Wham City’s Whartscape 2009 Festival.
So far all the information on the band has been cryptic, but here they are in their own words…
A look back at 10 great songs we posted for download in June!
Boy In Static – Young San Francisco - Rickety 1069′s toy pianos dance alongside glossy, 1980′s synthesied drum machines.
Bad Boy Bill – Falling Anthem (Herves – We are a Beautiful Disaster Remix Radio Edit) - Falling Anthem is critically acclaimed and has already been remixed by some of the greats…including Herves.
Moby – Shot in the Back of the Head – Moby has been making music for decades. Shot in the Back of the Head is his next classic.
Sandpeople – Hate Aside - Hate Aside deals with the theme of overcoming the adversity of a hypercompetitive indie hip-hop scene.
A.M. Architect – Next of Kin – “you can always find a part of it to relate to, a part you can put in your pocket.”
Thieves Like Us – I’d Really Like to See You Again - Thieves Like Us newest EP, “Really Like To See You Again “, is a soundtrack of Bowie inspired synth melodies, Iggy Pop drawn rhythms, and Hip Hop laced break beats which would intertwine seamlessly with any Altman shot love scene, bank heist, or car chase.
Polly Scattergood – Please Don’t Touch (The Gold Filter Remix – Dub Remix) – Polly Scattergood writes ethereal pop songs.
Nickodemus – 2 Sips Magic 1 - Inspired by sunny days and good people, Nickodemus mixes positive dance music
The Long Lost – Amiss – The Long Lost take the subject of love away from the cliches and hackneyed wailing of the mainstream
Tortoise – Prepare Your Coffin – Tortoise is a group that resists easy metaphors and analogies, who can be described as sounding like only themselves and no one else.
KID606 is dedicated to bringing his uniquely reckless fucked up and beautiful music to our fucked up and beautiful world. Insipired by the best of electronica, punk, jungle, hip-hop, bass, dancehall and techno, Kid606 Fuses it all together with a love of pop culture that Andy Warhol would approve of. Apart from running the labels Tigerbeat6, Shockout, and Tigerbass, Kid606 has performed all around the world many times over, and released records on highly regarded labels such as Ipecac, Wichita, Mille Plateaux, Fatcat, Souljazz, and Carpark. His highly original productions helped spearhead and define the edgy and confrontational glitch and mashup styles that are now common in modern music production. His album “Down with the scene” (2000) was a landmark release for the burgeoning international electronic music scene, with everything from hardcore ragga jungle and serene ambient to abstract IDM and the dubby soul classic “Secrets 4 Sale” with Mike Patton. Things only got more exciting as Kid606 delved deep into the seedy overworld of mainstream music with critically acclaimed unofficial remixes that many people wanted to hear yet no one else was willing to make. All the while releasing his own original and diverse productions as well as official remixes for Amon Tobin, the Rapture, the Locust, Foetus, Depeche Mode, The Bug, Peaches, Dälek, Ellen Allien, Saul Williams, Super Furry Animals, and countless others.
Kid 606 – Samhain California Leonard de Leonard Remix
Kid 606 -Be Monophobic With Me Dolby Anol Remix
Kid 606 – Be Monophobic With Me Genuine Guy Remix