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FREE SONG DOWNLOAD of "When Perfect Flames Expire" by Sunset (a/k/a Bill Baird) off of the upcoming album The Glowing City, out July 15th, but available early (and reviewed below) on Other Music Digital as an exclusive advance release. Baird was a member of Austin's Sound Team but when that band broke up, he decided to go it alone and as Sunset he creates very accomplished psych/folk/prog/pop; sometimes we hear Bowie, and at others, Flaming Lips. When The Glowing City is at its best, Baird sounds like an entire orchestra.
Exclusive Advance Release! Sunset's Bill Baird is depressed, or maybe he's just been listening to depressing music, or maybe he's watched one too many of Wes Anderson's movies (they're both from Austin, TX); anyhow, this singer/songwriter is channeling something that has led to the creation of the must-hear prog-folk record of the summer. The Glowing City is a smorgasbord of sound that seems to have been crafted in a toy factory with a tape machine and an ethereal piano. By his lonesome, Baird is able to do what the Polyphonic Spree uses upwards of 20 musicians to achieve, which is crafting triumphant harmonies of disharmony in the style of '70s pop by the likes of ELO and Bowie. There are most likely some collaborating musicians, but Sunset is Baird's opus. As Baird alternatively croons and chants deep within a densely layered mix, you can hear his passion seep through instruments as diverse as French horns, tribal drums, Kraftwerk-esque keys, and accordions. This album is apparently the conflation of two separate complete records, yet a narrative arc is undeniable and the overall tone is cohesive to a fault. Bill Baird took some chances recording this music, and you should take a chance listening to it...the effects could be emotional. -Max Gray
Stones Throw have been expanding their sonic palette as of late, with a smattering of new releases from artists who are mining the sounds of digital funk and leftfield soul for inspiration. Their latest signee, Dam Funk, is one of the best new producers of that sound today. Raised on a diet of sunshine, stunna glasses, synth-funk and the electro-soul format of the legendary LA radio station KDAY, his music is electronic funk at its finest. Dam first cut his musical teeth playing sessions on classic g-funk hip-hop recordings for Mac Mall and MC Eiht back in the early nineties, but his focus was always on producing the classic sound of digital funk, pure and uncut. Like labelmate James Pants, Dam is a one-man band who also channels the spirit of the boogie. But where Pants is a bit more experimental and lo-fi, Dam is all Technicolor, combining the buzzy low-end of Roger Troutman with the melodic nuance of classic Prince and the swagger of a J Dilla beat. "Burgundy City" is a pimped out Fantastic Voyage while "Galactic Fun" is an uptempo, hands-in-the-air dancefloor record jammie that the French will be all over I gather...or at least they should be. All in all, a perfect summer record, and a great taste of things to come from an artist who's bringing a fresh, interesting twist on a classic sound that had been ignored for decades. (Check out my interview with Dam Funk a month or so ago for the Other Music blog.) -Duane Harriott
There used to be this guy that I'd see busking at my subway stop, playing the acoustic guitar for the inattentive commuters. It was always too early (pre-coffee) for me to get his name and story, but inevitably his high-warble and skeletal, psychedelic songs would stick in my head for the duration of the ride. After I stopped seeing him at the station, I wondered if he'd finally done good -- maybe even got picked up by a label. When Puddle City Racing Lights landed on my desk, I was convinced that I'd finally found the subway dude, the throaty singer's yearning melodies and unique cadence instantly bringing me back to my morning commute. Well, that was until I read Windmill's bio and discovered that the group is not the nom de plume of some young Brooklyn troubadour, but rather the one-man-band of London's Matthew Thomas Dillon. You'd never guess, however, that an Englishman was behind the very American sounding helium vocals, Dillon's melodies a cross between Wayne Coyne and Daniel Smith (Danielson Family, et al.), his obfuscated musings of fluorescent lights, airports and asthma floating above a mélange of constant piano and swelling strings. Album opener "Tokyo Moon" brings to mind the symphonic psychedelia of the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev, but as Puddle City Racing Lights unfolds, we find his songs are just as intimate as they are soaring, and quite often a see-saw between the two. "Boarding Lounges" is an emotional ebb and flow, its fragile verse fueled by a lone piano and Dillon's resigned inquiry of "If you leave, where will you go?" soon answered by buzzing orchestration and a choir delivering the anthemic chorus of "gates close, escalators climb." Most of the songs seem connected by a surreal sort of wanderlust that is all at once the answer and the curse; Dillon projects life's insecurities onto transportation, travel and the objects that go with it. We find the "plastic pre-flight seats" in an airport terminal being the enabler of his worries, while in "Tilting Trains," it turns out to be the magnets that "have been holding you down." Strange but affecting, Dillon is one of those rare voices who can turn head-scratching, outsider abstraction into a very personal thing that the listener doesn't necessarily need to understand for it to resonate. -Gerald Hammill
Germany's Alter Ego gets the remix treatment. What's Next?! is a compilation of exclusive re-workings from their previous OM-endorsed effort Why Not?! This collection features mixes by the likes of Carl Craig, Joakim, Supermayer, DJ Koze, and more. With re-workings in styles as diverse as dubstep and Afrobeat, What's Next?! should be investigated by those with any inkling of interest in electro. Recommended.
The Chap make their Stateside debut with Mega Breakfast, a record that will certainly appeal to fans of Chromeo and The Go! Team, as well as most seekers of euphoria. The British electro-poppers offer self-referential techno that's equal parts cerebral, visceral, and catchy, as exemplified by track titles like "Fun and Interesting" and "Ethnic Instrument." Your summer soundtrack for good times!
Originally released on Rough Trade in 1981, the wildly influential Television Personalities debut LP is the ultimate iconic DIY pop record. Dan Treacy, with a little help from Ed Ball and Joe Foster (who later went on to work with Alan McGee and Creation Records), wrote amazing, quirky, sad, sardonic, catchy pop songs (and still does), often all at once. While punk rock was fizzling, its ideals were still very much alive; much of the album is a little sloppy and off key, but is all the better for it, but instead of lashing out against the queen and aping the Pistols, Treacy channeled his beloved 60s icons, the Who, the Creation, Oscar Wilde, and pop art into something wholly different. "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives" is a melancholic, slightly cartoon-ish, ode to the missing Pink Floyd madman, "Parties in Chelsea" and "Geoffrey Ingram" are uptempo mod anthems, "Look Back in Anger" and "This Angry Silence" are stark kitchen sink tales of relationship complications (some of Treacy's songs play out like 3-minute Ken Loach films), and my own personal favorite, "A Picture of Dorian Gray," which retells the Oscar Wilde story in the form of the perfect pop song. Essential listening for everyone into punk, mod, powerpop, C86, and indie pop. While you're here, don't forget to check out the TVP's-related, and equally great, the Times and O Level. -Andreas Knutsen
So, you think you've heard the blues? Well, you haven't heard it played quite like this. Throughout his 50-year career, Georgia native and notorious wildman Abner Jay performed a combination of wild electric blues and, often R rated, minstrel show, with his favorite recurring topics: women, VD, the Vietnam war, and drugs. Most of his LPs were released on his own Brandie label and are close to impossible to find today, and if you're fortunate to stumble upon one, it's likely to cost you triple digit cash. One Man Band compiles the best of these releases, and for 55 minutes Abner strums that electric banjo-like thing, wails on the harmonica, pounds the kick drum, and tells the truth straight from the heart. Like if someone plugged Skip James in and sent him on a strange trip, "Bring It When You Come," "Vietnam," "VD," "I Wanna Job," "I'm a Hard Working Man," and a knock out version of "Cocaine," interspersed with his favorite jokes ("What's six inches long with two nuts on the end?"), are just a few of the highlights here, and if more heartfelt music exists, I've yet to hear it. If you dug the Life Is a Problem comp on Mississippi, Reverend Charlie Jackson, or Rev. Louis Overstreet's Arhoolie recordings, this is the perfect complement. Oh yeah, "It's an Almond Joy, silly!" -Andreas Knutsen |
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