The hook-laden Sunderland indie rockers Field Music will release their third album soon. It’s their first since 2007’s pretty dang solid Tones of Town. In the interim, frontmen David and Peter Brewis focused on School of Language and The Week That Was, respectively. The new song suite is titled Measure and it’s set to drop February 16th of next year, via Memphis Industries/Revolver.
A melodious string quartet weaves and bobs through a fine lattice of bass and guitar on the title track above. “Measure” is a simple cut for sure, but a nice taste of the chamber indie rock to come. Think of a fey conflation of XTC and early-Talk Talk and you’ll get close to pinpointing the group’s tweaked approach to pop. Field Music will be previewing songs from the new LP on the road very soon.
The country-rock foursome known as Mark Matos & Os Beaches hail from San Francisco. Their intriguing frontman was raised in a largely Portuguese immigrant community in Northern California’s Bay Area and Central Valley. There he studied music first hand under the tutelage of his father and grandfather, who spearheaded a Fado music movement in the Bay Area. After he graduated high school he drifted from state to state and ended up in Tucson, AZ in 2003. There Matos began his first group, Campo Bravo, among kindred musical spirits such as Howe Gelb and longtime co-horts The Golden Boots.
With the eventual disbanding of Campo Bravo, Matos returned to San Francisco, and created a new Southwestern group: Os Beaches. The group’s debut album, Words of the Knife, was recorded at San Francisco’s Closer Studio by Eric Moffat (The Dwarves, Mark Eitzel). Above you an listen to the dusty folk song “Hired Hand.” The lyrics could serve as apt signposts of Matos’ recent journeys and the sun-scorched country rock shamble of the organ and harmonica burn into your soul. Words of the Knife is out November 17th on Porto Franco Records.
The Da Vincis
“50’s Film” MP3
Oct 21, 2009
The Jackson, Mississippi lounge-pop trio The Da Vincis have a debut LP coming out October 27th. The bossa nova and ‘40s jazz aficionados are seniors in high school but know their pop music more than musicians twice their age. On See You Tonight’s debut single, “50’s Film,” the trio set the stage for a love narrative during the holidays with a Kings of Convenience-like shuffle and bassist Peyton Randolph’s plinking kalimba.
Lead singer/keyboardist Andrew Burke may sing about the “beauty in black and white” but those strings near the outro are definitely set off in glorious Technicolor. Throw in some sleigh bells and you’ve got the defintion of an earworm. Speaking of earworms, the young Southern lads recently covered M.I.A.‘s monster indie hit, “Paper Planes.” Download it here. See You Tonight is being released by the allbum’s producer Misha Hercules through his Mississippi-based label, Olympic Records.
Curtis Harvey
“Older Too” MP3
Oct 21, 2009
Curtis Harvey (Rex, Pullman) is a folk singer-songwriter with the heart and mind of a field recording experimentalist. His home-recorded debut album, Box of Stones (out on FatCat November 3rd), exemplifies this threadbare aesthetic. Hist spare folk tracks of acoustic guitar, bouzouki, and banjo are butressed by one-take vocals and found sound/old timey foley percussion.
A press release says the Beacon, New York artist used, “whatever happened to be [around] at the time: bottles, pencils, pots and pans, an old snare and bass drum.” All that was ably mixed in Highland Mills by Jeremy Backofen (Mice Parade, The Felice Brothers).
That same bio connects common folk DNA to Harvey: dusty LPs by country-bluegrass mavens The Carter Family; American Primitivist John Fahey; and contemporary neotraditionalist Gillian Welch; and an aunt and uncle’s bluegrass twosome. All of Harvey’s musical history comes to sharp point on the opening track above. “Older Too” is plaintive Appalachian banjo music for the weary road warrior of yore (Check out the album cover to the right to see what Havey’s going for here.)
On the latest HHBTM 7″ single funky indie-poppers of Montreal contribute a strange track. Yeah, it even makes Skeletal Lamping sound domestic. Download the psycho-sexual goodness above.
Also, below we have a more standard video performance of Kevin Barnes and B.P. Helium playing a new track called “Coquet Coquet.” The Spanish guitar-esque acoustic jam awaits you below. The poppy song is slated to appear on of Montreal’s forthcoming tenth album, False Priest, sometime in 2010.
The mysterious Sincerely Yours Balearic group jj just added some more obscuring layers to their band history. This lazy day clip features three jj tracks from this year’s fantastic jj n° 2. The gauzy collage soundtracks shadowy fire-throwing (album opener “Things Will Never Be the Same Again”); a soccer scrimmage at an ocean park (“Intermezzo”); and a slightly voyeuristic live version of “My Love,” sung from a window. Watch the high-res version here or lo-res above.
Forget ‘World’s Greatest Dad,’ you need a coffee mug that says ‘World’s Greatest Ghosts.’ That’s the name of the Portland, Ore. geek-rock group that revolves around the songwriting core of brothers, Jesse and Casey Laney. WGG started in the brothers’ hometown of Nashville around 2004 but and added Jesse’s college sweetheart, bassist Emily Onstott (now his wife). They quickly added Tuscaloosa, AL native/guitarist Brandon Anderson and recently, Alaskan drummer Eric Ambrosius (who took over for original stick man, John Damiani).
I have on good authority that the capable Northwest unit are “D&D heads,” which isn’t surprising considering the subject matter of their songs. Lyrics range from magical elixirs (“Potions”), weak enchantment spells (“Magick Words”) and Monster Manual-worthy creatures (“Mazes & Monsters). That fantastical inspiration continues on the leadoff track for the band’s debut, No Magic. The Sunset Rubdown-esque cut—entitled “Phantastes”—coils labyrinthine keyboards, synths and a circular guitar riff around a rushing drum kit. Then the fivesome shoots it all skyward with some NES-like bravado.
WGG’s debut album, No Magic, was recorded this past spring and will ably soundtrack your next fight against harpies and sand dragons on November 10th (on Lucky Madison) Roll a d20 and two d10! OK, enough dorky references…
The geeky fivesome’s got two Northwest dates in support of their forhcoming release. Check those out below.
World’s Greatest Tour:
11-04 Portland, OR - Holocene (No Magic Release Party) 12-03 Tacoma, WA - New Frontier Lounge #
The hook-laden Sunderland indie rockers 
The country-rock foursome known as 
The Jackson, Mississippi lounge-pop trio 
Curtis Harvey
On the latest
A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Forget ‘World’s Greatest Dad,’ you need a coffee mug that says ‘
