24th February 2010

Audio

Hildur Victoria - Diamond Eyes
Herringbone EP (self-released)

When it comes to bands that look like they all met while working as grad students in the UMass philosophy department, I tend not to give much of a shit.  But I think there’s some potential here.  The lead guitar on “Diamond Eyes” has some nice tone to it, and the rest of the four-song EP is pretty solid.  I’d file Hildur Victoria under “keep an eye on it,” so remind me to check back when they put out their full-length in the summer.

Tagged: ur indies!

28th October 2009

Audio with 1 note

The King Khan & BBQ Show - Animal Party
Invisible Girl (In the Red)

Well, I relied too heavily on the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, and I missed an integral connection necessary to get to Northampton in time to catch The King Khan & BBQ Show at the Iron Horse tonight, stranding me at home.  But,  I figured, since I’ve got their new album, Invisible Girl, I might as well give it a review, since it involves several listenings, during which I can pretend to be seeing them as well.

Goddamn, this band is great.  Bare bones lo-fi garage rock; a few chords, that bare-bones 4/4 drum beat, and shoutin’ vox.  The band is just two guitars and a coupla drums - shared between two members, both of whom sing as well.  I’ve seen them both performing in a different band; the guys are great performers, and you can feel it coming through their recordings.

The new record involves more riffy garage rock stompers, and more of their … raunchy … lyrics.  ”Tastebuds,” a particularly rough track, is full of explicit sexual descriptions.  And it’s awesome.  I’ve not listened as closely as I could, but “Anala” is probably about butt-stuff.  What I’m saying is that these are a couple of stand-up guys.

Other highlights of the record are “Invisible Girl,” which has this one bit of harmony right before the chorus that kicks my ass every time, and “Truth or Dare,” on which they sing like the Damned.  The one attached here is “Animal Party,” a scuzzier take on those old novelty rock cuts (think “Stranded in the Jungle,” or maybe a less goofy “Monster Mash”), which I think is really intelligent, and an excellent send-up of the style.

The thang drops November 3rd on In the Red, and it’s well worth a purchase.  Fuckin’ gnarly.

Note: the first time I wrote “BBQ” today, I wrote “BBW.”

Tagged: stuck in thee garageur indies!hipster trash

18th October 2009

Audio with 1 note

Imaad Wasif - Return to You
The Voidist (Tee Pee)

Opening for Raconteurs/Kills supergroup Dead Weather this fall, Imaad Wasif’s pushing his new debut record.  You might know Wasif from the recent Yeah Yeah Yeahs album, or Lou Barlow’s latest solo thang.  The stuff on this record is, I would say, closer to the latter than the former, and also quite reminiscent at times of Chris Goss’ Masters of Reality.

That means sometimes acoustic, sometimes fuzzed out desert rock, and maybe a bit of blues thrown in, but not that much.  Stand out tracks on the record are “Our Skulls,” which starts out softly acoustic, and about halfway through becomes one of those stoner rock riff-machines; “Daughter of Fire,” which, with jangly, pedaling acoustic guitars and reverbed electrics sounds like it could be one of those Led Zeppelin songs about hobbits; and “Her Sorcery,” which, on first listen, lead me to believe it would be the wussy folk song on the record, but actually has some interesting chord progressions, and gets pretty heavy the further on it goes.  Perhaps the weirdest track is “Return to You,” which you can find above.  It’s a darker piece, with cool watery effects on the vocals.

The other cuts on this could use a bit more contrast, I think.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy developed a following, soon.  So I suppose you might want to get in on this now, before everyone else ruins it.

Tagged: ur indies!