Gramercy Arms is an ever-changing group of musicians led by songwriter/producer Dave Derby.  To give you a feel for the mutable ensemble, on their new album The Seasons of Love the participants included a who’s-who of indie pop-rock such as Joan Wasser (Joan As Police Woman), Tanya Donelly (Belly, Throwing Muses), Matthew Caws (Nada Surf), Kendall Meade (Sparklehorse), Claudia Gonson (Magnetic Fields), Doug Gillard (Guided By Voices), Erin Moran (A Girl Called Eddy), Renee LoBue (Elk City), Kay Hanley (Letters To Cleo) and others, which may in part explain why the album took five (!) years to finish.

We admit to just now getting to know the power-pop of Gramercy Arms, but if the official video and song Beautiful Disguise below is any indication, we will soon be in a long-term relationship.  It doesn’t hurt that the song/video features one of our favorite singer-songwriters Lloyd Cole, and the talented Joan Wasser.  Check it out below.

We have been fans of Scotland’s King Creosote (Kenny Andersen) since we first heard his heart-rending song Bats In The Attic (one of our Best Songs of 2011).  This discovery was followed closely by our unearthing of King Creosote’s sterling collaborations with electronic maestro Jon Hopkins (including the fantastic official video for their song Bubble).

And then we didn’t hear from King (KC) until we espied the official video below for his beauteous new song Something To Believe In off the film-related album From Scotland With Love, that was released in June (our apologies).  KC created the soundtrack for a film of the same name “about” Scotland that was made for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.  The film explores the history of Scotland, consisting only of archival footage with no commentary or narration, and was broadcast on the BBC in June.

The new album was written by KC and produced by David McAulay, with help from Paul Savage, and recorded with KC’s band–Derek O’Neill (keyboards), Andy Robinson (drums), Pete Mcleod (bass), and Kevin Brolly (clarinet) — as well as an additional string section (arranged by cellist Pete Harvey), and a choir of backing vocalists.

After watching the sumptuous Something To Believe In, check out the official video for the comparatively uptempo For One Night Only, also off of the new album.  Another well-wrought gem.

When you’re done, go over and pick up the album on Domino Records HERE.

Crafty Canadian outfit Bahamas has been notably silent, so we were happy to learn that they have a new album pending entitled Bahamas Is Afie (self-explanatory since the multifaceted Afie Jurvanen is the heart and soul of the “band”) on Brushfire Records.  If you haven’t heard Bahamas, do yourselves a huge favor (particularly all you “boomers”–we guarantee you will love this album or your money back from what you paid to read this). You can currently stream the new album over at Spin HERE.

In conjunction with the new album, Central Coasters  will again have the chance to catch Bahamas in Santa Barbara when they open for label mate Jack Johnson at the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 31st (all you JJ fans–get to the Bowl early and catch this great opener).  We last caught Bahamas at Soho in SB in 2012 where they put on a fantastic show.  While Bahamas shines on record (and the new album is their best yet), where they really excel is live.  Jurvanen is an outstanding guitar-player and singer (vocally somewhere on a spectrum between M. Ward, Ron Sexsmith and the late, great Jesse Winchester, but with Afie’s own inflections and emphases).

To see what we’re talking about, check out their superb performances recently for KCRW below.  And at bottom check out Afie Jurvanen’s superb acoustic lead guitar-play for Exclaim!

To order Bahamas is Afie and see their tour dates, go HERE.

Just three weeks ago, Caribou unveiled the entrancing track Can’t Do Without You.  The “band” (primarily Dan Snaith) has now previewed the title track to their impending new album, Our Love, which will be released on October 7th.  While not as immediately catchy as Can’t Do Without You, Our Love is a tour de electronic-force that ebbs and flows using seemingly the entirety of the modern musical-kitchen sink.   Check it out below (via Pitchfork)

It’s been a busy and rewarding time for Jenny Lewis.  Her new album, The Voyager, has received near-universal critical-acclaim and reached No. 9 on Billboard’s charts.  Last night on Conan, Lewis performed hit single Just One of the Guys.  Check it out below, including Conan’s toast of Lewis at the end with her own The Voyager red wine (which comes with download code).

We were deeply chagrined to miss The Antlers when they played a series of sold-out shows in LA last month in support of their superb new album Familiars.  So we were thrilled to attend the invite-only show presented by Pandora and StubHub Friday night at the legendary Mack Sennett Studios in Los Feliz.

We have been huge fans of The Antlers (Peter Silberman, Darby Cicci and Michael Lerner) since 2009’s devastatingly good Hospice album and catching them enthrall in San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles concerts while out on their tour in support of that album.   Hospice was followed by the brilliant Burst Apart, and then their 2012 EP Undersea.  Familiars is recently released on Anti- Records, and we will have a full (rave) review of it soon.  Suffice it to say that on Familiars The Antlers continue to write beautiful, emotion-laden melodies, and Peter Silberman’s falsetto is set once again in the company of  angels.  But musically Familiars is a hornier album (as in employing more horns, ya guttersnipes) than prior albums, which helps to sell the mood evermore.  And on the album Silberman has newly adopted a two-sides-to-every-story, doppelgänger lyrical narrative that adds even more depth.

On Friday at the Mack Sennett Studios, the band came out and did what they do so well live:  melodically building their songs to intensely atmospheric climaxes, only to (oft-times) resolve in peaceful calm, all of which drives a crowd to emotional oblivion and back.  There were chills and tear-spills all over the set.  On stage, the band is led by Silberman’s scintillating falsetto and guitar-play.  The comparisons of Silberman’s vocals to Jeff Buckley are not inappropriate, though Silberman may have Buckley beat (we know, sacrilege, but we’re sticking to it), and especially live where (unimaginably) he goes beyond the recorded evidence.  While Silberman only briefly exchanged words with the audience, throughout the set his eyes sought out and connected with in-close audience members, adding a personal touch that trite words could not convey.  Charmed, we’re sure.

Their set was naturally dominated by Familiars’ songs, with highlights being Palace, Hotel, Parade, Revisited, Director, Suffering and Refuge (alright, pretty much every song on the album), all of which benefited from their enhanced live delivery.  Familiars songs were interlaced with Hospice’s touchstones Kettering, Sylvia, and Epilogue (one of their best quasi-anthems), and Undersea’s Drift Dive.  The band then closed strongly with reverberating renditions of I Don’t Want Love and Putting the Dog to Sleep off of Burst Apart.  Throughout the set, in keeping with the new album’s hornier sound, the dual horn/keys accompaniment of arranger Darby Cicci and newly added Kelly Pratt lifted the songs to new emotional heights, matched always by the mood-perfect playing of Michael Lerner on drums.  Cicci and Pratt at times took turns on trumpet, at other times harmonized on horns (oft-times while one or both of them also played keyboard with their other hands), while at others Pratt would open songs with his resoundingly evocative French horn.  Throughout the set Pratt added jazz-inflected coloratura to the soaring sounds that would not be out of place on ECM Records (high praise in our book).

Minor quibble:  as much as we loved their set, we share the desires expressed by many fans:  here’s to The Antlers adding additional moods and rhythms to their song palette to draw a broader audience to the deserving band.  But if not, we remain all-in on The Antlers.

And kudos to Pandora and StubHub for the perfectly staged and sound-mixed event, replete with custom commemorative posters screened on-site and complimentary t-shirts, all as set in the historic Mack Sennett Studios.

Check out the photos above and below courtesy of Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty Images for Pandora.

For those that could not attend, you can check out some recent, superb “live” (in studio) videos of this fine band in action by going HERE to see our post on their set at KEXP.

LA’s hip-hop vets Dilated Peoples today released their first album in eight years, Directors of Photography.  We’ve had the single from the album, Show Me the Way, on repeat for an embarrassing amount of time this past week.  On this track DP has smartly combined with Seattle’s Jake One to produce the track and hooked into Aloe Blacc for the hooky-chorus.  We love the above-the-morass verses, piano/horn-blaze and everything about it.  Check it out now (below some excerpted verses below), and go get Directors of Photography HERE.

Inspirational Verses:

“The harder the work well the longer the day
Easy may come but it sure don’t stay
Tryin’ to cope, boy I hope and I pray
Show me the way”

____

“Ride the wave like the world is a beach
Learn more I teach
I was raised by NWA and stayed CA
All day, same story different briefcase”

____

“I’ve been through some pitfalls that knocked me down
Made it through close calls and lost some ground
It’s a hell of a price I pay
Somebody show me the way
Somebody show me the way”

____

“On a planet in regression in a loft at the summit
Air is much clearer, catch me on the high road
Some fight to live, others settle for survival
It’s your world, you can write the line you live your life on
It’s heavy but you’re strong just hold on until that light dawns”

It’s finally happening.  Jenny Lewis is finally receiving the appreciation she’s long been due.  From the four highly-influential Rilo Kiley albums to Jenny & Jonny to her solo albums, Lewis (and her abettors) has built one of the strongest discographies in modern rock.  Not to mention she’s got one of the best voices in the business.  As evidence of her new-found popularity, her valiant new album, The Voyager, debuted at No. 17 on Billboard and has risen to No. 9.  Congrats to the deserving Lewis!   Her music video for Just One of the Guys with Anne Hathaway, Kristen Stewart, and Brie Larson surely has contributed given its 3,000,000+ hits.

To get a good glimpse of Lewis, check out three vignettes below from yesterday’s CBS Saturday Morning show.  Watch first as Lewis and band perform She’s Not Me, her new song that puts a twist or two on Smokey Robinson’s Tears of a Clown.  Afterwards watch as Lewis performs her Ebola-catchy hit single Just One of the Guys.  And finally, listen to the interview with Lewis.

Ya gotta love those glasses, suit and guitar.

We’ve repeatedly voiced our appreciation for East Coast band Woods and their well-wrought and rendered psych-pop.  Their new album, With Light and With Love, continues their qualitative revolution and is a joy to the ears, and made more interesting with its searching lyrical bent from songwriter Jeremy Earl.   But where Woods really shines is live.  Check out the vignettes below from their recent session on KEXP.  With 60s and early-70s sounds clearly ringing in their ears, Woods delivers an outstanding set on KEXP.  In addition to Earl’s great songwriting and vocals, guitarist Jarvis Taveniere really stands out here.

The first song below, Leaves Like Glass, is sweet and soulful, followed by Green’s the Color featuring Taveniere on a Teardrop 12-string electric.  That’s beauty right there.  Next up is Shepherd, with Taveniere once again regaling with sweet and deft slide guitar notes.  And finally, for those that like an extended jam, check out the new album’s title track, With Light and With Love, at bottom.  The finale has it all, but especially superb ensemble interplay.

Woods is out on tour now and playing Outside Lands tomorrow.  Their tour dates and tickets can be had HERE.

Having declared this week Spoon Week, we bring you below performances by the consistently great band from this morning’s Morning Becomes Eclectic session on KCRW.  Watch the band rave through yet another great song, Rainy Taxi, and an electric version of the outstanding Inside Out, both off their much-loved new album They Want My Soul. Check it out below and go HERE to listen to the remainder of their Morning Becomes Eclectic session. Spoon plays the Hollywood Forever Cemetery tomorrow night. Be there.