We are hopeless addicts of the bean, and there can be no better way to end your week musically than by getting completely hooked on Sylvan Esso’s new song Coffee.  Sylvan Esso recently signed to Partisan/Trekky Records and is comprised of Amealia Meath (Mountain Man) and Nick Sanborn (Megafaun).  Listen to the duo’s superb electronic sonic and let Meath’s world-weary chorus (“Get up, get down”) hook you hard.  Her vocals remind of the much-missed Jessica Lea Mayfield, but the musical setting sets Sylvan Esso apart in the field.  Too dang good!  And when you can’t listen to Coffee again (after about 100 listens), listen to their previously-released, similarly-catchy track Play It Right.  Wow!  We can’t wait for their impending recordings.  Listen to both tracks below.  The band heads out on tour soon–check the dates, including LA at the Satellite on February 11th, below the tracks.

Tour Dates:

1/28 Washington DC – DC9
1/30 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade NYC
2/10 San Diego – Soda Bar
2/11 Los Angeles, CA – Satellite
2/13 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
2/14 Portland, OR – Bunk Bar
2/15 Seattle, WA – Barboza

We were slow to hold on to The Hold Steady, but when we finally did with their 2010 album, Heaven Is Whenever, we were completely sold.  Leader Craig Finn’s well-crafted lyrics about commoners and regulars and their trials and tribulations, coupled with the band’s and Finn’s resolute and rocking delivery, won us over completely.  It’s now been four years, and the band will finally release their sixth album, Teeth Dreams, on March 25th via Washington Square Records.   To get a feel, the band today released (via Rolling Stone) a new song for listening entitled I Hope This Whole Thing Didn’t Frighten You.  Finn told Rolling Stone:  “We were looking to make a big rock record,” he admits. “Maybe it’s less wild but in some ways that makes it a bigger record.”  We’ll have to see about the new “big rock” sound and its effects on Finn’s compelling mien.  Hmmm.  Just when we got on board, they’re going to mix things up.  On this first blush, the sound hews a little too close to the arena sounds of Foo Fighters and similars for our tastes, but we’re willing to hold steady for the remainder of the album before rushing to judgment.

One of the most influential bands in the history of indie rock, The Pixies, was deep-sixed for what seemed forever, then reunited in2004 for touring purposes, and then finally decided to bless the world with more of their recorded music.  As a part of the process, the band recently lost founding member Kim Deal to retirement and subsequently has worked through replacements for Ms. Deal.  Regardless, the band will at long last soon release its first proper new songs in 20 years when they release new records EP-1 and EP-2.  Watch below as the remaining original members join with new member in CBC’s Studio Q to perform a great new song, Andro Queen. Frank Black’s vocals on the song, while reminding at times of Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, remain quintessential Pixies, especially when coupled with Dave Lovering’s propelling drumming and Joey Santiago’s perfect guitar accompaniment.  She’s a beauty that Andro Queen.

To listen to the full Studio Q interview and another new song, Greens and Blues (sounding even more Pixies-ish), go HERE.  And go buy the new EPs HERE.  The band is out on tour in support and you can see the dates HERE.

It was just about one year ago that we volunteered a mesmerizing video of This Is The Kit in which the band performed at the Music Now Festival in Cincinnati.  At the time, rumors were circulating that the band would finish up a new album by the end of 2013 produced by none other than Aaron Dessner (The National).  Both The National and Dessner-produced Sharon Van Etten had touted This Is The Kit so the rumors of Dessner and the album all made sense.  While the album has yet to be released, This Is The Kit was hand-picked by The National as openers on its European tour, and rumors continue to rumble that This Is The Kit will soon complete the new album.

In support of those rumors, we’ve stumbled upon (courtesy of  The Line of Best Fit) two new songs (presumably from the new album) performed solo by bandleader Kate Stables.  Watch below as Stables performs unreleased songs Spores (on banjo) and All Written Out In Numbers (on guitar). What is it that leaves us so paralytically transfixed by these songs? Is it the spare arrangement, the haunting melodies, Stables’ crystalline voice, the gravity of the lyrics, or all of the above?  Regardless, This Is The Kit has been mired in obscurity for far too long.  Watch and listen below.

Afterwards, watch a video from one year ago in which Aaron Dessner hints at the possibilities of their collaboration with his gritty-guitar coloratura added (at the 3:23 mark and after) to the band’s performance of Two Wooden Spoons.  Transfixed.  Again.

We can’t wait for the new album and hopefully a tour of North America. 

Where to start with the uniquely-talented singer-songwriter Tom Brosseau?  Suffice it to say we’ve been a huge fan of TB’s from the first moment we heard him sing his songs (as a duo with another of our faves, Angela Correa(town) who also joins Brosseau occasionally in Les Shelleys) at the much-missed Buffalo Records in Santa Barbara.  Since then we haven’t missed a performance of the North Dakotan’s within 75 miles of Santa Barbara, and have traveled to his new-homeland LA on multiple occasions to catch him at his Largo hideaway.   We love everything about Brosseau except that he hasn’t received the fame and fortune warranted by his songwriting and live delivery.  His entire discography is amongst our favorites.  He has written many of our favorite songs, and his How To Grow A Woman From The Ground remains at the very top of our (and many others’) list of all-time best songs.  Dark Garage, Broken Ukelele and Portrait of George Washington are other outstanding songs from his rich mine.  In a live setting, Brosseau has one of the keenest senses of stage dynamics.  He always makes the best use of that gift, his lilting vocalese and elegantly spare guitar-playing.  Don’t miss the next opportunity you have to catch him live (see upcoming tour dates at bottom).

In addition to his own work, since 2010 Brosseau has performed with Santa Barbaran Becky Stark and John C. Reilly in John Reilly & Friends, a band devoted to unheralded American folk music.  In 2011, Reilly and Brosseau recorded a 7″ vinyl single entitled John & Tom that was produced by Jack White for Third Man Records.

In the meantime, after five long years, Brosseau has today released a superb new album entitled Grass Punks.  Grass Punks is his seventh studio album, and it was recorded and produced by Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) “in a room in a house near the 101 FWY in Hollywood, California.”  According to Brosseau: “the title of this album is a phrase belonging to a very talented, original San Diego female artist, who would perform her soft, low voiced poetry over cafard melodies on the piano…. Grass Punks at once brought to my mind an earthen smoldering stick, used to light a wick or ward off peskiness, but now it stands for something greater, a sort of heading for everything I believe in when it comes to my brand of folk music and DIY recording.”  And that, we totally get (having lit and listened to a multitude of “Black Cats” in our time).

To get a feel for the new album’s songs, watch the newly-released official video for the tremendous Today Is A Brand New Day, one of the highlights off the new album.  After, listen to two other superb songs off the album, the witty and clever Cradle Your Device and the sweet Tami.  And speaking of Largo, Brosseau will appear tonight at Largo in support of the release of Grass Punks.  And ferheavensake go buy the new album HERE, and support this great artist.

Tour Dates:
01.21.14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Largo at the Coronet: Album Release Party
01.25.14 – San Francisco, CA @ Sketchfest @ Verdi Club
01.26.14 – San Francisco, CA @ Sketchfest @ Marine Memorial Theatre
02.05.14 – Cambridge, MA @ Passim
02.06.14 – New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall
02.07.14 – Philadelphia, PA @ Ortlieb’s
02.08.14 – Hudson, NY @ Half Moon
02.10.14 – Brooklyn, NY @ Pete’s Candy Store
02.12.14 – Brooklyn NY @ The Paper Box
02.25.14 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios *
02.26.14 – Seattle, WA @ Fremont Abbey *
02.27.14 – Cottage Grove, OR @ Axe and Fiddle *
02.28.14 – Davis, CA @ Veteran’s Memorial Theater
* with Shelby Earl
03.01.14 – Sacramento, CA @ TBA*
03.03.14 – Berkeley, CA @ Freight & Salvage*
03.04.14 – Northern CA @ Private Show*
03.06.14 – San Diego, CA @ North Park Vaudeville & Candy Shoppe
03.07.14 – Santa Monica, CA @ The Sanctuary: Presented by The Bluegrass Situation
03.08.14 – Lompoc, CA @ Certain Sparks Dinner & Show: Presented by The Bluegrass Situation
03.11 – 03.15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
* with Shelby Earl

“In Santa Barbara, Hannah cried.“

Last night, while we were watching the powerful Pinback pin the audience to the ceiling at Velvet Jones “in Santa Barbara,” Vampire Weekend performed on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.  We have never been overwhelmed by the band live (trust us, we’ve tried), but we perked up a bit with their spare, dynamic rendition on Kimmel of Hannah Hunt, one of our favorite songs (along with Step) off of our No. 12 Best Album of the Year, Modern Vampires of the City.  After Hannah Hunt watch the band give a more-standard, perfunctory and soulless performance, this time of Unbelievers.  Simply put:  we far prefer to listen to the band’s recordings than throw good money after their live show, which honestly adds nothing to the recordings.

While the latter performance is particularly lackluster, the audience seemed to lap it up, and particularly the ladies.  Who knew Ezra Koenig would become a heart-throb?  Must be the culotte onesie.

The downright awesome Dawes were featured in last night’s Austin City Limits.  Watch below as the be-bearded Brothers Goldsmith and capable cohorts kill on Austin City Limits just as they did last month at the Lobero Theater with Blake Mills.  As it was in Santa Barbara, A Little Bit of Everything is especially powerful.

Skip to the 29:38 mark to avoid the “fun.”

Dawes Set:

From a Window Seat
Time Spent in Los Angeles
When My Time Comes
A Little Bit of Everything

It’s that time of year:  all-hours are being spent watching the Australian Open tennis tournament.  We are hopeless tennis addicts dating back to the days of Stan Smith, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, et. seq.  So after a Major absence following the U.S. Open in August, we’ve sat in abeyance waiting for the Aussie Open and its heat treatment.  And now we’re all good again.

In addition to being Aussie Open addicts, we’ve also been big fans of Australian music starting with The Saints and Radio Birdman, moving into The Go-Betweens and The Church, and (most recently) the (part-)Australian band Allo Darlin’ (which released our Best Album of 2012).  And recently, while properly preparing for the Australian Open, we stumbled across Courtney Barnett and her song Avant Gardener.  The tennis motif in Barnett’s official video for the song (see below) also provided the perfect tie-in with the Open.

Barnett is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter guitarist who last year combined several recordings into the well-received The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas.  That recording’s lead single Avant Gardener tells the story of an anaphylactic panic-attack in the midst of an Australian heatwave (such as happened this week at the Open), with clever lyrics such as “The paramedic thinks I’m clever cos I play guitar, I think she’s clever cos she stops people dying.”  We’re just getting to know Barnett, but it’s clear in Avant Gardener that she shows great promise as a songwriter, lyricist and performer.  We love her deadpan delivery and the instrumental flourishes in the song.  Check it out below (the song’s lyrics follow the video).  We’ll have more about Courtney Barnett in the future.

AVANT GARDENER

“I sleep in late
Another day
Oh what a wonder
Oh what a waste.
It’s a monday
It’s so mundane
What exciting things
Will happen today?
The yard is full of hard rubbish it’s a mess and
I guess the neighbours must think we run a meth lab
We should ammend that
I pull the sheets back
It’s 40 degrees
And i feel like i’m dying.
Life’s getting hard in here
So i do some gardening
Anything to take my mind away from where it’s sposed to be.
The nice lady next door talks of green beds
And all the nice things that she wants to plant in them
I wanna grow tomatoes on the front steps.
Sunflowers, bean sprouts, sweet corn and radishes.
I feel pro-active
I pull out weeds
All of a sudden
I’m having trouble breathing in.

My hands are shaky
My knees are weak
I can’t seem to stand
On my own two feet
I’m breathing but i’m wheezing
Feel like i’m emphysem-in’
My throat feels like a funnel
Filled with weet bix and kerosene and
Oh no, next thing i know
They call up triple o
I’d rather die than owe the hospital
Till I get old
I get adrenalin
Straight to the heart
I feel like Uma Thurman
Post-overdosing kick start
Reminds me of the time
When i was really sick and i
Had too much psuedoefedryn and i
Couldn’t sleep at night
Halfway down high street, andy looks ambivalent
He’s probably wondering what i’m doing getting in an ambulance
The paramedic thinks i’m clever cos i play guitar
I think she’s clever cos she stops people dying
Anaphylactic and super hypocondriactic
Should’ve stayed in bed today
I much prefer the mundane.
I take a hit from
An asthma puffer
I do it wrong
I was never good at smoking bongs.
I’m not that good at breathing in.”

Despite being tipped off early by a very reliable source, we didn’t get wholly-hooked on Bonobo (Simon Green’s work) until late in the year.  Bonobo’s album The North Borders is a mood-master mix of electronica supplemented with soul and sophistication. We think very highly of the songs with vocals on the album, such as those featuring Grey Reverend and Erykah Badu (she’s everywhere these days–must have received a boost from Wayne Coyne-generated sympathy).  But our favorite track by far is the all-instrumental Cirrus.  Green builds and builds on Cirrus’ spare opening platform, adding layers of bass and poly-percussion and ever-burgeoning bells.  Check it out below, first in a shortened edition with the visual aid of their mesmerizing official video.  Afterwards check out our preferred long-form version.

In his various, much-loved incarnations (Shins, Broken Bells, etc.) James Mercer has often hid the emotional ball.  In short his lyrics have done their best to obfuscate the heart in the matter.  But no matter the lyrical artifice, his vocals have frequently laid bare the ghost.  As Mercer’s musical life has evolved, the two (lyric and emotion) have coalesced more often.  The perfect example came today when La Blogotheque featured Broken Bells (Danger Mouse and Mercer) together on the band’s new song The Change of Lights off of their imminent album After The Disco.  Listen as Mercer lays it all out both lyrically and, especially, vocally.  That’s what we like to see–right there.  Afterwards, watch the duo perform October off of their eponymous 2010 debut.  And with that, Broken Bells have offered something both broken and worthy of healing.  We can’t wait for After The Disco.

“My cards are on the table, I am here tonight!”