Indieface Show Review: Ladytron, The Faint, Crocodiles

Down for a bit of a dance party, I headed up to Stubb's Bar-B-Q in Austin, TX yesterday for a hip show. Here's what struck me, what stayed with me, and why I have a greater appreciation for R.E.M..

First up were experimental rock duo, Crocodiles. The San Diegoans threw down a funky mix of jam electronica and lo-fi noise, art pop/rock. For a twosome who have been playing as Crocodiles for only about a year, they did their best to entertain the crowds desperately awaiting the headliners and succeeded in at least my eyes. Check out their album here.

Up next were crowd favorites, The Faint. Straight outta Omaha, NE, these new waving, lo-fi jabbing, indie rock post-punkers thoroughly entertained. Around since 1994 in various forms, The Faint brought a high energy, bouncy set to the outdoor stage of Stubb's. "The Geeks Were Right" and "I Disappear" stood out as highly addictive diddys as much as they do when listening to the songs in your own backyard.

So this brings me to my freak out moment of the night as I waited for Ladytron to appear on stage. I positioned myself closer to the front and in doing so cuddled up with the other patrons. I noticed two seemingly recognizable gentlemen to my immediate left and slightly in front of me, but didn't think twice to investigate. As Ladytron took to the stage, I began to see these aforementioned guys bob and jam out. "Michael Stipe?", I said to myself. One of my friends doubled the inquiry soon after and I found myself distracted for about 10 minutes trying to figure out if indeed Michael Stipe and Mike Mills were partying it up in Austin, TX on a Tuesday night in April. Needlessly to say probably, it wasn't them, but merely a faux R.E.M. duo who could have easily passed for the two Mikes 12-15 years ago. A lack of photographic evidence may decrease the likelihood you may believe my story, but so be it!

Despite the sidetrack, I felt the musical warmth of Liverpool's Ladytron soon after. The ten year old group has been belting out the electronica greatness and turning lovers of early 80's synth pop into believers. Electroclash greats like "Destroy Everything You Touch" and "Ghosts" mixed with indietronica standouts like "Seventeen" and "International Dateline". The crowd was into the performance and the band did not disappoint. Here's some pics from my vantage point.

Chill Beats for Your Shoegazing Soul

School of Seven Bells is an electronic indie three piece who mesh elements of dream pop and shoegaze into their music. The band was formed in 2004 by Benjamin Curtis (Secret Machines) along with identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, formerly of On-Air Library!. According to their info page on Ghostly International (band's label), SVIIB (as those in the know call them) got their name after Alejandra discovered a 3 AM airing of a PBS show about the School of Seven Bells. Apparently, they were a mythical, yet-to-be-disproven South American pickpocket academy that may have existed in the '80s. The thought of "seven minds working as one appealed to her, as did the phrase’s cryptic musicality" and thus, the nucleus of creativity was spawned. (Source:http://ghostly.com/artists/school-of-seven-bells)

The group's full length debut, Alpinisms, explores the heights and depths of electronica. The album was released last October. Curtis overlays the double time, ethereal vocals of the Deheza sisters with multi-layered rhythms and beats as well as undulating guitar riffs. Tracks like "Face to Face on High Places", "Half Asleep" and "Connjur" (my own personal Everything But The Girl-styled jam) have a new rave quality to them and show that dance music need not be bouncy and high octane. After a string of EP's and single releases, SVIIB seem poised to capture the indie music landscape, one raver at a time.

Sweet New Indie Music Three Times Over

Three big albums came out today. First up is Portland punky popsters, The Thermals. "Now We Can See" is the first catchy, but 'more-down-beat-than-earlier-songs' single off the album of the same name (streaming now at their MySpace). "At The Bottom Of The Sea" is an awkward ballad offering from the album sitting at 5 mins, 43 seconds while all other tracks on Now We Can See come in under 3:36, falling in the punk tradition. The rest of the tracks on the album follow in the style The Thermals set forth since 2003-2004, including "You Dissolve". If you like "A Pillar of Salt" off their 2006 release, The Body, The Blood, The Machine, then you might get less than you desire from Now We Can See.

Together since the mid-1980's, The Tragically Hip from Kingston, Ontario, CA have been college radio favorites for a while. They play an aggressive form of R.E.M.- styled rock/alt-country music. The pop rock they produce is more rockin', less poppy. We Are The Same is their eleventh full album release, most of which have come out since 1996; it captures that light rock/alt-country feel in tracks like "Morning Moon", "Coffee Girl", and "The Depression Suite". The band is highly influential and popular in their native Canada, for good reason.

Last, but by no means least on the schedule of albums out today is Two Suns, the second full length album by Bat For Lashes, aka Brighton, England-based singer-songwriter Natasha Khan. Khan has been compared to the likes of Björk, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, and Fiona Apple. The first single, "Daniel", incorporates elements of dream pop, synth pop, and ambient sounds while still producing a danceable beat. The video for the song gives you evidence as to why Bat For Lashes is immensely popular in the indie music scene, especially in the UK, ever since Fur & Gold was released in 2006.

Little bit of everything for ya today. Go out and get all three!!

Blissful 'Blitz!' Clears A New Path for Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Whatever you may read (in just about every kind of publication right now) about the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs' album, It's Blitz!, know this: I have gone out of my way to avoid reading any blog, review, or musical analysis of It's Blitz! as well as hearing any verbalization regarding the new material since it has been leaked earlier this month. I wanted to decipher for myself the surprise I felt when hearing the new songs for the first time. As a result, listening to a legal download of the entire album now allows me to interpret their "sound". So follows my impressions . . .

Karen O, Nick Zinner (r), and Brian Chase (l) are the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but their newest batch of tunes doesn't fall in line with what you may be used to from the garage/dance punk outfit also capable of engaging in expressive lyrical content. The days of Fever to Tell are over . . . at least for now.

The new found direction of the band comes about as a result of the trials and tribulations all musical acts experience when you have creative differences, personal growth, and of course, natural progression of the music and the scene itself. Since moving to L.A. in 2004, Karen O has gotten the much needed "rest, relaxation, and space" she spoke of in a recent interview with Spin. This "space" allowed the band to stay together and what came out of the relocation of one of the band mates across the country was Show Your Bones, a more mellow collection of songs from the no-less energetic trio, released in March 2006. After an EP of songs the YYY's played live, but as yet remained unreleased in Is Is came out in the summer of 2007, what did the band have left to offer? It's Blitz.

"Zero" is the first track off the new album and the first single 'purposely' released for mass consumption. Upon first listen, my heightened anticipation and excitement went from a tense state to total immersion in the sound. It took me exactly four listens on satellite radio over the course of a few days to accept that yes, this was in fact the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and yes, Karen O can still vocalize unabashed sonic sex even if it is primarily over heavy synth and a lack of garage guitars backing her. It's not like we had never heard the YYY's do electronica before [see Is Is]. "Heads Will Roll" takes the electro rock/dance feel even further, but has a darker, new rave appeal to it. Thanks to Kayne West, we were all able to hear this track on the 21st of February before it was meant to be heard, thus forcing the release date of It's Blitz! up by a few weeks to March 31st. As a fan of doing things legally, but appreciating hearing new music whenever I can hear it sooner, I was conflicted over that fact until the digital album became available a couple of weeks ago.

Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"Soft Shock" is a nice blend of the new electro rock style and the melancholy nature of songs like "Dudley" and "Turn Into" off Show Your Bones. "Skeletons" sounds like a passion project piece that doesn't quite hit the mark; although, props are in order for incorporating the Zinner's keyboards prominently and in a way that highlights the haunting vocals of Karen O much in the same vein as Zinner's guitar did on "Maps" off Fever to Tell. "Dull Life" is the perfect number five track for this album of 10 if only that it almost separates It's Blitz! into a synth heavy, bouncy first half from a subdued, introspective second half. "Dull Life" does a good job of bridging the two sounds the Yeah Yeah Yeahs now have established: garage, art punk and electro rock dance - the old and the new.

Soft Shock - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Dull Life - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"Shame and Fortune" is a Zinner guitar influenced, electronic chill groove while "Runaway" is more genteel in nature and features the narrative of a relationship stylings of Karen O, at which she has proven to be so good at. We also get to hear Brian Chase's pacing on drums for one of the first times on the album in this tune. The groovy disco punk jam, "Dragon Queen", comes bopping on by next and makes you wanna clap along to the funkiness.

Dragon Queen - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

"Hysteric" has become a favorite of mine if only because it reminds me of how many times I've listened to Show Your Bones and songs like "Cheated Hearts" and "Way Out". Karen chimes in with another quotable lyric here: "Flow sweetly/Hang heavy/You suddenly complete me". The song makes you take notice once and for all that this band has versatility and cannot be pinned down by a single change in key, or keyboard in this case. Rounding out the album is "Little Shadow". Featuring an acoustic guitar in the lead-in, this track shines as an outro song should: melancholy, reflective, epic, and calming.

Hysteric - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

It's Blitz! does not simply continue the trend of indie rockers turning in their cords for keys. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have come to a place where they want to share the experience of their new found direction with the fans who love all of the previous music released. The best thing about It's Blitz! is that it allows fans of the band to continue hearing the band. If you have seen them live, as I have been privileged to do, you know the tracks on It's Blitz! will satisfy greatly the bouncy, lyric-yelling, Karen O-gawking attendee in you. Listen with prejudice and alleviate that bias with the bliss of It's Blitz! when it is released in physical form on March 31st.

If I Were To Attend, SXSW Must See Bands

If I were lucky enough to have the time and funds to attend this year's South by Southwest Music Festival (just a short drive north), these are just some of the acts/bands I would love be in attendance for [maybe you'll get to go]:

Single Performances Worth Seeing - Wednesday March 18th

dd/mm/yyyy - experimental indie rock with a lot of percussion
SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center (2 pm) OR Emo's Jr (12 am)

Crocodile - quirky indie pop rock with bouncy beats
Wave Rooftop (8 pm)

Starf*cker - synth-heavy indie rock with catchy pop hooks
Radio Room (9 pm)

Winter Gloves - chill groove synth electropop
Habana Calle 6 Patio (10 pm)

Fol Chen - indie pop touching on indietronica sound with mainstream influences
Beauty Bar (10pm)

Port O'Brien - indie rock with a folksy twist
Buffalo Billiards (10pm)

Dan Auerbach - Black Keys guitarist/frontman goes solo
The Parish (10:45 pm)

Miniature Tigers - alternative, poppy indie rock
Spiro's (11pm)

Mother Mother - modernized take on indie pop rock
Habana Calle 6 Patio (1am)

If You Can Only Be One Place:

If you have limited time and money, plan on being at Vice where Cut Off Your Hands, The Von Bondies, Peter, Bjorn, and John, and Glasvegas are playing.

Single Performances Worth Seeing - Thursday March 19th

Arkells - Canadian indie rockers
Cedar Street Courtyard (8:30 pm)

Bishop Allen - rockin' indie pop from the BK
Mohawk Patio (8:50 pm)

The Wet Secrets - unique indie rock with horn section
El Sol y La Luna (9 pm)

Vivian Girls - Brooklyn punk outfit for indie music lovers
Aces Lounge (9 pm)

Dirty Projectors - Brooklyn experimental indietronica
Emo's Annex (9 pm)

Meat Puppets - classic grunge rockers re-up for reunion of band and sound
Stubb's (9 pm)

The Henry Clay Project - L.A. rock quartet much in fashion of The Replacements
The Independent (10 pm)

Crystal Stilts - indie psychedelic rock with punkish influences
Red 7 Patio (10 pm)

The Thermals - Portland, high-energy, alternative indie punk rockers
Red Eyed Fly (10pm)

Two Hours Traffic - alternative feeling indie rock
El Sol y La Luna (11 pm)

Golden Filter - NY based electronica/pop group with a lot of buzz
Beauty Bar (11:45 pm)

Blizten Trapper - Portland, Sub Pop indie rock artist
Radio Room Patio (12 am)

Blind Pilot - Portland, Oregon indie pop
Club de Ville (12 am)

Women - indie rock with a smoother, chill groove feel
Mohawk (12 am)

Army Navy - pop rock with melodic indie incantations
BD Riley's (1 am)

If You Can Only Be One Place:
La Zona Rosa with Dananananaykroyd (8:30 pm), Camara Obscura (9:30 pm), and Glasvegas (11:30 pm)

Single Perfomances Worth Seeing - Friday March 20th

Shiny Toy Guns - indie electro rock band based outta OKC
SXSW Live (The Bat Bar) Austin Convention Center (8 pm)

The Uglysuit - Oklahoma-grown indie rock Flamingo Cantina (9 pm)

Thao With The Get Down Stay Down - unique take on indie pop with banjo & horns

Momo's (9pm)

Datarock - indie rock electronica in fashion of DEVO and Talking Heads
Austin Music Hall (10 pm)

The Cute Lepers - mod styled, modern indie punk with pop tendencies
Red 7 Patio (10:45 pm)

Japanese Motors - beach version of The Strokes' kind of indie rock
Emo's Main Room (11 pm)

Grizzly Bear - experimental/freak indie folk rock
Cedar Street Courtyard (11:45 pm)

St. Vincent - Dallas songstress Annie Clark showing versatile indie rock flair
Antone's (12am)

Laura Marling - British singer-songwriter who delivers distinctive indie folk
Central Presbyterian Church (12 am)

The Bird and The Bee - melodic electropop
Karma Lounge (12 am)

Japanther - high-energy, goofball indie punk
Headhunters (12:05 am)

Asobi Seksu - sweet sounding Brooklyn indie rock popsters with shoegaze feel
Habana Calle 6 Patio (1 am)

Okkervil River - local Austin indie rock with a catchy nature
The Parish (1 am)

Single Performances Worth Seeing - Saturday March 21st

Say Hi - Seattle based rock sound by way of Brooklyn
SESAC Day Stage Cafe Austin Convention Center (1 pm)

Fastball - 90's Austin alt-rockers making noise on scene once again
Auditorium Shores Stage (Lady Bird Lake) (4:50 pm)

White Lies - indie rock that is dark, moody, and dense from London
Stubb's (7:40 pm)

Explosions In The Sky - Austin area post-rock band high on instrumentals
Auditorium Shores Stage (Lady Bird Lake) (8 pm)

Iran - indie noise pop-rock at its best
Club de Ville (8 pm)

Gentleman Reg - indie rock singer-songwriter
Beauty Bar (9 pm)

Harlem - Austin duo with indie rockness in their jamming bodies
Beauty Bar Backyard (9:05 pm)

Hollerado - quirky, catchy, on-the-fly Canadian indie rock
Beauty Bar (10 pm)

The Hours - British post-punk, alternative rockers
Dirty Dog Bar (11 pm)

Voxtrot - Austin indie pop rock
Emo's Jr (11 pm)

The Mae Shi - L.A. experimental, electronic indie rock
Mohawk Patio (11 pm)

Echo and The Bunnymen - Liverpool, England new ravers and rockers
Rusty Spurs (12 am)

Silversun Pickups - L.A. indie rockers who provide melodic tunes
Antone's (12 am)

Ra Ra Riot - Syracuse, NY indie pop featuring cello and violin
The Parish (1 am)

The Spinto Band - Wilmington, DE indie popsters with rock infusions
Room 710 (1 am)

If You Can Only Be One Place:

Maggie Mae's is the place to be on Saturday night. The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, The Little Ones, Anya Marina, The Republic Tigers, Youth Group, Your Vegas appear all in one venue from 8 pm - 1 am!

Music That Is Good Looking and Grrreat!

Pun intended in the title on both fronts, today's new releases need to be on your mind and indieface.

Straight outta Montreal, Handsome Furs represent the indie music mecca that is Sub Pop Records well with their second album, Face Control (out today). Icelandic music journalist and guitarist, Haukur S Magnússon, has ever so delicately given a description to the music one might experience on Face Control, as shown on the band's home page: "The songs on Face Control often cast us as the young lovers in the shadow of the system, plotting their escape, revelling in their freedom as the shackles tighten around them. In the past, freedom may have meant jumping a barbed wire fence, or crossing a treacherous ocean or burning desert. On Face Control Handsome Furs show us that in our modern age escaping these constraints has simultaneously become easier and more complicated. While it once meant hanging on, it now means letting go, and drifting off, refusing to participate in the structure that shapes and dominates so many lives, eschewing traditional values, opting instead to make up their own ways" (Magnússon also interviews the band for The Reykjavik Grapevine).

Pretty deep, huh? If the symbolic nature of the new Handsome Furs music doesn't grab you, simply allow yourself to hear the electro rock sounds they produce on Face Control. "Talking Hotel Arbat Blues" has more of a rockabilly feel to it, almost reminiscent of Eddie and The Cruisers - On The Dark Side. However, this track shys away from the electronic taste of songs like "Legal Tender", "Evangeline", and "White City". These three songs cleanly blend indie rock with darkwave dance beats. The lead single, "I'm Confused", offers up a bouncy, upbeat diddy for your 80's loving self. Indulge in your dancing pleasures with Handsome Furs and pick up Face Control.

On the indie pop front, Brooklyn's own Bishop Allen have a nice sound going for them. They fall somewhere in between a more rockish sounding version of indie pop and melodic strumming alternative rock. On their latest album, Grrr... (also out today), Bishop Allen prove they can live up to the comparisons to The Kinks, Bright Eyes, and Spoon which the major music mags have bestowed upon them. Most of the tracks on Grrr... clock in under three minutes. They are catchy, head-bobbing tunes that feel happy-go-lucky, but are revealed to be much more than they appear. "The Ancient Commonsense of Things" reflects this idea perfectly. Other standouts include "Dimmer" and "Rooftop Brawl". The message behind most of these tunes is often one the listener can relate to. Bishop Allen does a good job of shedding light on common ideas and experiences with a romanticized approach. Check out their MySpace and look for them out on tour now.

Dance Indie-d You Will!

Image courtesy of http://www.flosstradamus.com/

"Big Bills" by Flosstradamus ft. Caroline Polachek.
This synthpop, indietronica groove will get your feet a-tapping. Take it with you before heading out to the club or bang it in your place while cleaning. Either way, you're guaranteed to bounce! It features Polachek who is the lead singer of a band Chairlift you may know from that iPod commercial. Yeah, addicting!