If I was making a post-apocalyptic film I would cast Jason Anthony Harris.  I’d put him in a cornfield.  
The leading lady suffers from hallucinations.  She runs through detritus, over shattered neon.  The bottom drops out.  The hallucinations recoil.  She finds herself at the edge of a vast expanse of field.
As she weaves her way through the ghostly husks, poly-rhythmic blurbs pulse in and out.  She follows the sound, the clouds pass over too quickly, Jason Anthony Harris sits amidst rotten cobs, a single soul surgically bound to a fusion of loop station, vocoder, decades of effects pedals welded together, banging his microphone into dry earth and crooning a twilight monologue.  Amplified fuzz settles behind him and retorts, blistering, as a chorus of 100 looped voices swallow time.  She is mesmerized.
He doesn’t see her.  He continues tweaking the corn husks, banging the mic, discovering enhancements to this improvised loop, voice magnificent and morose, lost in a world of single being in performance.  She kneels to catch his gaze, to no avail.  The music grows frantic, the looped chorus relapses into a single, flat-lined tone.  He utters something with his gently immaculate British accent but we can’t make out what he’s saying as the hallucinations have returned, violently raining antique tea cups, pieces of scone, all of it looped and oddly beautiful.  Our leading lady is running, running through the cornfield, Harris’s opus tripping her, heavy, dance-worthy beats and a gritty pool of sonic potential, waiting to be tapped. – Valerie Kuehne

LA/NYC based alt-folk duo Pink and Noseworthy (who placed 64th in our Best of NYC 2010 poll for emerging artists) takes the traditional collaborative dynamic of male/female singer-songwriters and adds a dash of dream-like alternative-pop. Their music has an air of 70s simplicity thanks to Mark Noseworthy’s perfectly balanced instrumentation, serving Shanee Pink’s honest and moving voice. The songs "She" and "Something Better" (amongst our favorites) create a perfect balance of intimacy, tension and melody reminiscent of early Leonard Cohen. "Light Feather" – another highlight – blends twangy guitars, playful piano parts and soft percussions, slowly building, one pretty melody after another, towards a beautiful looping finale. The band has upcoming shows scheduled both in NYC and LA: Sullivan Hall (NYC) at 10pm on Aug 3rd and Hotel Cafe (LA) on September 8th. Highly recommended. – Christina Morelli

"Forever", the debut LP from Austin-based Stefanie Franciotti (out on September 27), is a record of pastoral psychedelia, swirling texture, and unforgettable vocal strains, combining both synth landscapes and pop architecture to create an unfolding sense of yearning. Her voice weaves in and out of brethren synth and guitar timbres, unfolding over time outlined by minimal drum machine pulse, creating tape-saturated pop gems and ominous moments of synth shimmer that recall both dream pop and industrial urgency. Her synth work tends towards the warbly atmospheres – they bend and fuse like crusts of dried REM tears – and the songs have a dusty arc, with stark melodies that recall the spacious melancholia of Julee Cruise. Forever possesses an earthy, melting quality, reflecting Stefanie’s Texan roots in HD – hi-fi meets lo-fi, night meets day.

Austin-based singer-songwriter Lex Land will play Eastside Showroom on August 13 to support her sophomore release, "Were My Sweetheart To Go" (out 8/16). Lex, who has a classically trained, beautiful voice, creates rootsy pop gems reminiscent of a less experimental, more straight forwardly pop version of St. Vincent.

Frontwoman/guitarist Somer Bingham’s Clinical Trials’ follow up EP "Bleed Me" is a dark detour into the fringe regions of rock music – a tense, daring and unpredictable departure from the much more straightforward pop-rock tracks of "In the Wake of the Digital Afterlife" (January 2010) – we like what we hear. As the title may suggest, the tone of the EP is self-assured and challenging, sexual and a bit morbid. The EP release party is at Union Pool on 08.03. Unmastered mixes of the songs are being posted on the band’s SoundCloud page.

NYC uber-poppy collective The Orion Experience just released the video for this Motown sound inspired song "NYC Girl".
 

The energetic and punky stylings of New York/New Jersey’s The Static Jacks are amplified
to even more pressing levels on their newest record and sophomore release, “If You’re Young”
due out August 30. To celebrate the upcoming date, The Static Jacks will be joining the Escape
to New York Festival August 5 in Southhampton. The first preview of the new album,
the second track, “Girl Parts,” is available for public consumption and characterizes “If
You’re Young’s” slamming drums, frantic pace, aggressive and howling vocals, and overall,
consistently boisterous attitude. Other album highlights include a revision of “My Parents Lied,”
drawn from their EP, “Laces,” a gentler tune, “Sonata (Maybe We Can Work It Out?),” and
freewheeling “Blood Pressure.” “If You’re Young” demonstrates The Static Jacks’ growth as
a band and the establishment of a more identifiable and relatable sound. – Meijin Bruttomesso

The illustrious Blue Scholars have announced a new, extensive tour.  It’s their longest headlining extravaganza to date with a whopping 29 dates across the West, Midwest and Northeast.  

09/14 – Vancouver, BC – 560 Nightclub
09/17 – Seattle, WA – Showbox Market
09/20 – Eugene, OR – Wow Hall
09/21 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
09/22 – Olympia, WA – The Royal Lounge
09/23 – Bellingham, WA – Wild Buffalo
09/24 – Belllingham, WA – Wild Buffalo
10/12 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
10/13 – Santa Cruz, CA – Atrium @ Catalyst
10/15 – Los Angeles, CA – Key Club
10/16 – San Diego, CA – Casbah
10/18 – Scottsdale, AZ – Chasers
10/19 – Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
10/20 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theatre
10/21 – Denver, CO – Cervantes
10/22 – Colorado Springs, CO – The Black Sheep
10/23 – Ft. Collins, CO – Aggie Theatre
10/24 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court (early) & Urban Lounge (late)
10/26 – Boise, ID – Reef
10/27 – Missoula, MT – Top Hat
10/28 – Spokane, WA – A Club
11/03 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry
11/04 – Madison, WI – Frequency
11/05 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
11/06 – Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig
11/07 – Toronto, ON – WrongBar
11/08 – Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
11/10 – Boston, MA – Paradise
11/11 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom

Blue Scholars – Lumiere by geeksmakebeats

August 2nd will mark the release of Tripper, the fifth studio album from the Fruit Bats.  Since 2001’s Echolocation, Eric D. Johnson and his ever-changing gang of cronies have continued to make excellent folk rock albums; Tripper should be no different.  This will be the band’s fourth release on Sub Pop.  The guys have some local shows coming up, including an in-store at the Queen Anne Easy Street shop on the album’s relase day, before heading out for a 15 date tour with Sub Pop labelmates Vetiver in September.  Check out the 80’s backlighting and Johnson’s Miami Vice look in the video for "You’re Too Weird" below.  

Fruit Bats – "You’re Too Weird" from Townhall on Vimeo.

Apparently, a much different record is created in North Beijing than say, when you roam around the Catskills for awhile. When Amen Dunes’ first LP DIA surfaced two years back, it got a lot of attention… or as much attention as the blogsphere will allow any artist. Much was said of Damon McMahon’s freak folk trippiness and 180• departure from his former work as part of Inouk. By comparison, this new, made-in-china record makes his debut sound flatter and less ambitious than the dense, reverb-drenched soundscapes he’s putting together now.
For his sophomore effort, Through Donkey Jaw, (Sacred Bones Records) the results are more dreamy, insulated and paired down than I expected. But then… I’ve never been to Beijing. Gone are his once trademark monotone drawl, replaced with chant-like ups and downs from the crazy buildup in "Not a Slave" to the softly lilting ‘Swim Up Behind Me." Give McMahon floor toms, stratocaster and massive echo, and he’ll burrow his way into your sub-conscious like Syd Barrett or Beck circa One Foot in the Grave.
Well, now Amen Dunes is back in Brooklyn, so show our ex-pat some love. Grab the new record on iTunes Aug. 11, and see him live at Shea Stadium for psych folk night with 1129 and MV & EE. – Mike Levine

Up and coming Brooklyn trio Widowspeak has been catching some serious lo-fi waves since last fall if you haven’t noticed. Forming less than a year ago, the band hooked up with Captured Tracks and landed some pretty sweet bills (oh yeah, and a bunch of people fell in love with frontwoman Molly Hamilton’s vocals). We recently exchanged a few questions with the band about Widowspeak’s very promising past, present, and future, and they were more than happy to fill us in on all the great stuff they got going on. Read Popgun Booking’s interview with the band here.