San Francisco

Preview: Warbler, She Beards, and Wave Array’s Farewell Show, Saturday at Bottom of the Hill

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If you reach into Warbler’s sonic crayon box, you’ll find a B3 organ, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, a gamut of analog synth sounds, and, in their own words, “bells and whistles.” With that many sounds, you’d expect to feel bombarded, but Warbler manages to retain open space within their Neo-folk masterpieces. 

Warbler’s music is a stylistic roller coaster: plaintive vocals and intricate fingerstyle guitar give way to disco breakdowns, and dark, heavy folk rock suffuses a cosmic soundscape. It’s the music that might materialize if Elliott Smith, The Flaming Lips, and O’death all did lunch. The Oakland four-piece band is ramping up to release a second record this winter. 

Before hitting the studio, catch Warbler with Oakland’s She Beards and Walnut Creek headliners Wave Array on Saturday, Oct. 6 at Bottom of the Hill. Sadly, this will be Wave Array’s last show for an indeterminate amount of time, due to member Storm Lee’s move away from the area. Give the band a bon voyage worth remembering.

–Gracie Gutman

Chicago

Mazes Blazes

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Mazes have released a tremendous new album called Blazes. The album is their second full-length LP, they also released a remix album back in 2010, and the follow-up their 2009 debut. The band has grown both in sound and size since 2009 and worked diligently to complete this album. The 17 tracks are filled with humor, gentle and biting sarcasm, and a playing brand of indie pop. 

Chicago

Santah “Teeth”

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Santah has released a video for their track "Teeth" which comes from their forthcoming EP You’re Still A Lover. The ep will be released on Oct. 16th.

You can catch Santah on Oct 25th at Township and at Burlington on Oct. 26th.

NYC

Album review: Sons of Great Dane – You Can’t Lose It All, All At Once (EP)

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“To A City I Have Known” opens Sons Of Great Dane’s newest release You Can’t Lose It All, All At Once. It begins with an up-tempo drum beat and throbbing guitars that almost instantly drag out my favorite pastime: nostalgia. I’m eighteen again, I’m on a road trip, and all I want to do is drive and let my mind wander. I know already that this album is a soundtrack to those moments.

Brent Windler’s voice enters, “She gave her heart away, Down highways that leave you up north, to a city that dreams with you,” and I start listening closely. He’s describing moments. If they are memories, or maybe drunken and broken flashes, I don’t know, but my thoughts follow him through a wandering narrative.
 
The heartache he is describing and the charming and tragic picture he is painting are defeated, though not entirely, by the exultant explosion of a very catchy and harmony-laden chorus.  I am now singing along. Flattering melodies between Windler and EvanJohn Macintosh’s guitars build and wane, filling the whole room, but never losing pace. The song ends with a chord made to sound like the lasting ring of a bell underwater. There are still three songs I haven’t even listened to yet.
 
“Love, Desire, Failure” lilts and bobs, with the predominant instrument played being everyone’s heartstrings. With a refined bass line from Nolle Bond and a shrug, it works its way into a pretty anthem for a short time and leaves you feeling peaceful and triumphant.
 
“Approximately 18th St” brings back the momentum with panning guitars, always driving but never angry. Eventually it turns on you, into a three feel with daunting melodies and haunting vocals, and then picks back up where it left off, pacing to the finish with some excellent drumming from Brendan Culp.
 
The last song on this album, “For You And Me,” is like an after-dinner mint; relaxing and simple, with a few lovely lyrical moments.
 
Recorded by Paul Malinowski at Massive Sound and released by Sharp County Records, this recording is well-balanced, subtle, and memorable for it.
 
Sons of Great Dane will be performing on a local all-star bill this Saturday at The Brick with The Dead Girls and Radkey. Be sure to check them out.

–Megan Zander

Megan fronts ProgPop band Dream Wolf. Loves her cat, scootering, and dancing. Hates horses.

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L.A.

Superhumanoids play residency at The Echo

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It’s not about creating this century’s musical revolution – only about imagining truly original variations for some of today’s indie scene’s most familiar themes. Once Superhumanoids are done recycling their favourite patterns of the last few decades’ catalogue, what you’re left with is ethereal garage, synthpop with a zest of deep bass, sun-kissed new wave, or for sure the most unexpected cover of The Ramones’ ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’, which, if it weren’t for the lyrics, you definitely would NOT recognise. As many improbablities as they have on their track record, the world in which they blossom is a cotton-coated dreamy bubble, in which any crazy idea lodges itself as comfortably as could do. Not many rules apply here – but one thing’s sure, Superhumanoids are unlikely to be dishing out chaotic nonsense. They know what they’re doing. You can see them every Monday throughout the month of October at The Echo, the next show being on October 8th, with locals Mr Little Jeans and Brooklyn’s Carousel.

Nashville

Those Darlins Premiere “Summer’s Dead”

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It’s time to put away those water wings and cornhole bags because, as expressed by the newest track from Those Darlins, "Summer’s Dead."

According to the press release, the song was inspired by "a gruesome murder and Francis Bacon’s provocative paintings," giving the track an especially disturbing sentiment, just in time for Halloween.

"Summer’s Dead" was premiered over on SPIN, where you can read more about the song’s backstory.

Austin

Album Review- Whale Watch- “Miss You In The Mountains”

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If you ever want to relive what it feels like to finish the first Sonic the Hedgehog game, but you don’t want to go through the humiliation of Metal Sonic curb stomping you, you can circumvent this embarrassment by listening to Whale Watch instead.

The title track Miss You In The Mountains & Indian Style are the strongest tunes on the album. They convey all of Whale Watch’s funky, post rock, and 8-bit influences perfectly. I got the chance to see the group at their cd release party at Cheer Up Charlie’s. I walked in during the heartwarming track Rain Song, in which all of the members save for the cellist had stopped playing. The cellist placed numerous layers of his instrument over a piccicato track. Usually during such songs the drunken crowd members of any bar would stumble out for a cigarette, but the audience was transfixed. Listening to Whale Watch, either live or on record, is an absolute treat. -Taylor Browne

Philadelphia

Free Download: “The Good Life” (Feat. Blueprint) – rjd2

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Here’s a new track from rjd2 featuring Blueprint called “The Good Life” that was produced for the people at Stoli Vodka and is available for free download. You can also view the local producer/DJ/label owner along with other artists in a video clip for ORGNL.TV, which is also another project from Stoli. You can catch him in Philly this Friday at the Mann Center performing for City Bisco. (Photo by Diana Wong)

Nashville

The Kingston Springs Self-Titled Debut Album Available Today

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Released today at a local or technological record store near you, the much-anticipated, self-titled debut from the The Kingston Springs is a truly indie, bass-heavy explosion of stereotype-defying rock music. The Kingston Springs successfully fuses punk and Americana by combining twangy harmonies and blues-y riffs with fuzzy guitars and a drummer who likes to play fast and hard. The lyrics create a sense of angsty romance, accessorized occasionally by a harmonica solo or a soulful guitar riff.

Following a set at the Starry Nights Festival in Bowling Green, Kentucky this weekend, The Kingston Springs have returned to Nashville just in time to see their album released to the masses. In keeping with the band’s typical, hectic cadence, you can hear them play the 615 Show tonight on Lightning 100, you can see them live on Thursday at Live On the Green, and you can (and should) also buy and stream The Kingston Springs over on Bandcamp. – Brianne Turner

NYC

At Sea releases new album at The Bowery Electric on 10.04

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Jason Brody is a man full of contradictions. Born to deaf parents, his music is a melodic landscape as rich as Jeff Buckley’s vocabulary. A Brooklynite for years, his music is frequently mistaken as belonging to the west coast. For someone who staged his own death in order to expand his palette past a strict ‘singer-songwriter’ brand of guitar playing, the man who now fronts this band At Sea explores all these rich complexities throughout his upcoming debut full-length ‘A New Machine.’

Sometimes angry, sometimes full of joy, Brody always reaches his target with a direct earnestness frequently lacking from Brooklyn’s rock. Maybe that’s why he’s often mistaken for an import. Catch him at his album release party this Thursday 10.04 at The Bowery Electric at 8:30 pm. Streaming below, the band’s preview single from the upcoming album.

NYC

Album review: (the)medicine theory – What the Fuck Are You Lookin’ At

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If you haven’t seen (the)medicine theory recently, or at all, here’s a quick primer: for quite some time, this experimental noise-rock band played upon a well-earned reputation for scaring the bejeezus out of unsuspecting audiences with their hyper-aggressive and antagonistic approach to music, daring those in attendance to endure their onslaught (a challenge this reviewer is proud to say he completed on more than one occasion). With the release of their new EP, What The Fuck Are You Lookin At, Jeff Irvine and Tyson Schroeder are still trying to take control of your soul, but their approach has taken a 180-degree turn: they now do so with subtlety rather than sledgehammer blows… vocal distortion rather than primal screams… assimilation rather than terrorization.

WTFAYLA offers music that is industrial, futuristic, and robotic—all of which are highlighted in the opening track, “The Fall": 87 seconds of the sounds of war being waged in the listener’s mind by battle machines of great menace. The next song, “I Killed Amanda,” is the most up-tempo of the EP; this and a brief section toward the end of "Summer" are the only hints at the previous intensity and fury of (the)medicine theory. WTFAYLA contains seven tracks and clocks in at a bit more than twenty minutes, seven-and-a-half of which comprise “Wash," which is a brilliant demonstration of the sinister slow-burn. Area haunted house mainstay The Edge of Hell would be well-advised to license this track and play it on an unending loop.

The album closes with another sub-two-minute experience, “Stair Chase." After lighting a cigarette, Schroeder walks into a stream-of-consciousness monologue which one would picture Professor Stephen Hawking delivering after being fed a steady diet of Bauhaus and Kerouac. The oration of the lyrics and the sound of a piano being played in every non-traditional way you can imagine battle for the attention of the listener until the very end, concluding with the words “and then he tore apart my throat” …

… and (the) silence is deafening.

(the)medicine theory is currently working on Versificator, its new album, and will be taking a short hiatus from playing shows for a bit. For now, check out the current album on Bandcamp.

–Michael Byars

Michael is the host of The Mailbox, a weekly podcast that offers new music, concert info and news about the Kansas City area and more. In his spare time you might find him looking for some good live music, particularly at a certain bar that has lots of records. 

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