Across the Pond
We jump from lilly pad to lilly pad to bring you essential UK indie news.
Shotter’s Nation was released to little fan fare this week in the US - but to much surprise in the UK as they wondered, "Where did Ol' Pete find the time between needle pricks and healing crack lips to make another slop rock masterpiece?" Initially, the album cover art was to have featured Doherty ex-lover Kate Moss scantily clad in lingerie, due to a heated split the record company thought to use another model instead. Moss is also credited as co-writer on four songs...
Posted by Joe Roth on Oct 04, 2007 @ 12:00 am
Your Listening Pleasure
The Virgins, Hard-Fi and Devendra Banhart chime in this week.
Devendra Banhart – Samba Vexillographica [MP3] - The unofficial ringleader of the freak-folk movement is back again with a blend of old and new. While "Samba Vexillographica" (roughly translating to "flag design samba") retains his signature fingerpicking guitar style and eccentric crooning, he adds in a bit of influence from the Brazilian Tropicalia-era artists like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil...
Posted by Jason Prechtel on Oct 02, 2007 @ 12:00 am
Windy City Watch
Company of Thieves - stealing away your music loving heart.
You always end up meeting some guy "in a band" when you're in college. But when you attend one of the largest art schools in the United States, you end up meeting about a thousand or so guys who are "in a band." So it's very nice when one of those guys who you passed by in the dorms actually ends up making really great music and actually garners some success.
Enter Read On
Posted by Lisa White on Oct 02, 2007 @ 12:00 am
You're Making a Scene, Boston!
A look into the Boston music scene - we hear it's wicked awesome.
Oh Boston, I’ve called you home for more than three years now, and in that short amount of time you’ve welcomed me into your vibrant scene, and after living in Albany - Boston is a huge improvement. But rather than talk about the “big? Boston bands like The Dropkick Murphys and Aerosmith, or the bands that have recently entered the national arena, like Aberdeen City or Freezepop. No, instead I’m going to share with the world some of my favorite bands that are definitely underrated and surely under the radar...
Posted by Greg Khaikin on Oct 01, 2007 @ 12:00 am
Missed out Music
Sometimes an artist gets overlooked. We try to help.
Before The Hold Steady completely blew up in 2006, Craig Finn and Tad Kubler had already established a sound like the one you here on Almost Killed Me, Seperation Sunday and Boys and Girls in America as early as the mid nineties - as Finn and Kubler had been in Lifter Puller from 1994-2000. There have been rumblings of a reunion/box set – but those seem to have been put on the wayside thanks to the huge success The Hold Steady has achieved.
What you get with Lifter Puller is essentially what you get when listening to The Hold Steady. Finn’s lyrics serve as a narrative for the drugged up lifestyles that we’ve come accustomed to hearing him sing/talk about, and his voice was just as hoarse then as it is now.
The sound Lifter Puller provides won’t be found on Finn’s recent work, however, as Lifter Puller relied heavily on a synthesizer, which sounded just as worn down as Finn and the people he sings about. Sadly, all of Lifter Puller’s albums are out of print; but they do have Fiestas and Fiascos available on Itunes.
“Secret Santa Cruz? tells the story of a girl and her summer vacation – which consisted of clubbing, making out with some guys and watching a “raver kid get murdered.? It’s the Craig Finn we all know and love.
Lifter Puller – Secret Santa Cruz [MP3]
Posted by Wes Soltis on Sep 28, 2007 @ 12:00 am