11/30/12

Matthew E. White - Will You Love Me

I found this guy through Stereogum's 40 Best New Bands of 2012 list.  Album's a bit of a grower, but well well worth it.  Pick yourself up a copy here.  Homeboy's on tour right now with The Mountain Goats, who also had a great release this year, Transcendental Youth (check single  Cry For Judas).  

11/29/12

HAIM


Wikipedia calls this nu-folk meets 90s R&B.  Ok.  They're sisters.  So there's probobly a lot for the PR folks to push there.  Its pretty darn pretty stuff.

11/28/12

My Bubba & Mi - Peaches Cover


File under NSFW: My Bubba & Mi perform Peaches' song "Fuck the Pain Away" live at KEXP Hostel in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves '12. Recorded on November 1, 2012. 

11/27/12

new Local Natives on the way



Here's to November not even being over yet, and already looking forward to the new tunes 2013 will bring.  Local Native's 2009 record Gorilla Mannor remains a favorite, with tracks like Airplanes and . . .fuck it the whole record is amazing.  Their follow up Hummingbird will hit stores on 1/29 via Frenchkiss.  The above track "Breakers" is the first single, 1000 copies of which can be ordered on shiny 7" Vinyl, shipping 12/11.  Preorder here.  

11/25/12

Jessica Pratt


“I never wanted to ever start a record label. Ever. But there is something about her voice I couldn't let go of. It's an actual voice. An actual beautiful voice. This ones a classic sounding voice. Not to mention her song writing, recording and guitar playing. JESSICA PRATT’s music feels like I have found a lost LP of an old forgotten mystical folk singer, that feeling of discovering a record all by myself: Without the help of friends or the Internet. Like Stevie Nicks singing over David Crosby demos, with the intimacy of a Sibylle Baier. I am in love with it. So much, that I saved up and threw all my money to get it into this world. I actually care about it, no matter which way the winds blow.”—Tim Presley, White Fence



Purchase Jessica Pratt here

11/2/12

Sinkane - Mars [LP]


Big time love for DFA Records latest release, some afro-psych-disco-funk-trance from Sinkane.  Pour yourself another chai-latte and trance out to this one, friendo.    

AC Newman - I'm Not Talking

This one's been on repeat for a couple weeks now. . . New record is Shut Down The Streets available now on Matador.  

9/7/12

Nels Frahm - Felt


Im super grateful to have been turned on to this record through NPRs All Songs Considered podcast (highly recommend you subscribe to that one).  This is in heavy rotation when I'm in need of ambient tunes. I think what's most gripping about this is all the captured noise that surrounds the notes. It gives it this gentle industrial quality, as if you're hearing what it's like to be inside the instrument, rather than experiencing the sounds coming out of it.  
Sample some shitty youtube uploads: Less Familiar More 
Buy some good sounding copies!: iTunes, Erased Tapes 

Calexico - Algiers


Personal favs Calexico have an album due next Tues, Sept 11th.  You can preview the entire thing over at their facebook page.  So far my personal standout is the intimate number "Fortune Teller", listen here.  

8/17/12

Silver Lake Chorus - From The Snow Tipped Hills


On September 18th, The Silver Lake Chorus, a 25-peice vocal group, will release an EP which features songs written by a slew of big indie names, including Of Montreal, Aimee Mann, Sia, Tegan & Sara, the Bird & The Bee, and the following track, written by Bon Iver and A.C. Newman.  

8/14/12

Groundislava - Suicide Mission ft Baths


Evocative new music from Groundislava, aka so-cal based Jasper Patteron, who has a record due by the end of the month. This one features Baths, whose 2010 record Cerulean remains one of my favorites from that year.  

8/11/12

Hauschka


A few weeks back I caught Sigur Rós at the Prospect Park Bandshell. As we waited for the band to take the stage, I was captivated by the textured music that played through the speakers. Piano based and built on repetition, it was like nothing I had heard before. I struggled and continue to struggle, to define the genre - ambient, neo-classical, avant-piano? Much like Sigur Rós, the music seemed to effortlessly exhume emotion, and transport the listener without them really realizing what had happened. And much like that night's headliner, the music seemed perfectly suited for a film soundtrack, while simultaneously needing no moving picture with which to ground itself. I "shazamed" the track, and the app turned up with an artist called Hauschka, an album called Ferndorf.  

A little research turned up a classically trained German pianist / composer Volker Bertelmann, who is the man behind Hauschka. I have only begun to dig into a catalogue that adds up to 10 albums in 8 years, but I'm finding each one to be an adventure in sound, texture and emotion. 

2005's The Prepared Piano


Washed Out - A Dedication

A little over a year ago Washed Out released Within and Without (my review), a lush record that varied between doped out and triumphant.  It's one of those records that exposed more and more of itself to me with each listen - which is not to say that I had low expectations for it, but there just seemed to be only so much one could do with the chillwave trend of a few summers back.  Washed Out upset that expectation for me, and the album wound up on my top 11 of 2011 list.  Closing track "A Dedication" was recently set to some beautiful imagery that nicely compliment the song's melancholic nostalgia (qualities that landed it on my january mix).  It is a lovely track to end a great record, one that feels as though it rides all the highs and lows of a sticky summer, only to finish with the kind of sigh that comes from wondering where it all went.        

8/7/12

Trampled By Turtles - Walt Whitman




MySundaySweater favorites Trampled By Turtles teamed up with the folks at Squidbillies for this here video.  The track is Walt Whitman, the record is Stars and Satellites.

7/31/12

Sun River


Folk rock from Denmark.  
"Overall the album is saturated by a dreamy, chilled-out atmosphere, with the production emanating a warm and natural glow, allowing the room it was recorded in a prominent place in the mix. One can almost smell the wood of guitars and drums and feel the warmth of glowing amplifier tubes when listening to this album. This is the kind of music that's perfect for summer afternoons, or for driving somewhere, or nowhere, in twilight. These nine compositions invites the listener to join the flow and roll gently towards the sun." - El Paraiso  





7/26/12

Danny Brown - Grown Up

pretty much speaks for itself.

Paul Kalkbrenner - Icke Wieder MegaMix


Here's a really nice minimal techno mix of the best tracks off Paul Kalbrenner's 2011 release Icke Wieder. Grab a pair of headphones and dive deep.  

7/24/12

Beachwood Sparks - Forget The Song


Check out Beachwood Sparks full length and prepare for frequent spins as the summer days get shorter and your beach fire nights grow longer, as we bleed into fall and grasp tightly to that fleeting sun tan induced optimism.  Really perfect throwback americana / classic folk rock, with wicked earthy summer vibes.  Subpop seems to be continuing to double down on their bets on the new-folk sound that they've helped to establish with acts like The Head & The Heart, Fleet Foxes, Fruit Bats, Iron & Wine, Blitzen Trapper and more.  For this, we thank them.  Enjoy the warm nights with this record, let it keep you warm as they grow colder.     I know its still July, but they're coming. 

7/18/12

Rhye - Open

 Just stumbled across this one while checking the similar artist function on Spotify (was listening to a AlunaGeorge, whose 2012 EP You Know You Like It is also worth a listen or 20). "Open", by mystery duo Rhye, is the kind of sultry track that pulls you in with minimal downtempo beats, emotive strings, and the nonchelant bedroom vocals so smooth you'll have to change the sheets. One peak at the NSFW official video for the song, posted below, and its no wonder Victoria Secret tapped the track for a commercial that hit the web last week (watch).
   

6/25/12

Little Thumper + S.E. Rogie + Sun = AWESOME

Some friends and I hit the beach yesterday with Little Thumper, my portable boombox / lovechild, blazing.  Little Thumper is his name, kicking fat beats is his game.  It seems everywhere you take Little Thumper the good times follow.  He has enough battery life to survive a day at the beach, or a night on a rooftop.  He fits in your carry on.  He plays NPR in the kitchen.  He rarely complains, even when you accidentally spill candle wax on him.  Women love him.  You can carry him like a lantern - if instead of light a lantern spread party.  


Here is a picture of little thumper chilling on cooler yesterday.  He's so laid back: 



And here's a picture of Little Thumper DJing a dinner party on top of a mountain in Wyoming last summer.  In this shot he is handling the job of boomboxes 10 times his size with grace and ease:



Yesterday little thumper was approached and propositioned by a number of bikini clad ladies while playing the great Sierra Leonean musician S.E. Rogie.  One described it as "perfect beach music", and I couldn't agree more.  Rogie's style, known as Palm Wine Guitar,is a genre evolved among the Kru people of Sierra Leone and Liberia, who used Portuguese guitars brought by sailors, combining local melodies and rhythms with Trinidadian calypso and soca music (thanks wikipedia!).  Ever since finding this stuff on Aquarium Drunkard last summer it's been my go-to music for fun in the sun.


Two samples, and the Spotify stream bellow.  (Must have spotify installed for that to work) 



6/22/12

Favorite records of the first half of 2012

We're just past the halfway mark of 2012, a chance to stop and take stock of what has already been a fantastic year in music.   It's all down hill from here, as the days get shorter and shorter, leading inevitably to the shortest day of the year, also the final day on the Mayan calendar (ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!), also my 31st birthday.  So we have that to look forward to.  

But for now, the city is hot, hot, hot.  My music taste seems to be seasonal, matching sounds to my surroundings like a waiter pairs wines to food.  It somehow just works better that way for me, allowing my life to feel like a its own personalized music video.  With that said, the records that I've spent the most time with are the ones that represented the rainy spring we had, a strange transition period that, for me, symbolized a time of anxiety as I finished my masters thesis and prepared to face the vast unknown of being overeducated and unemployed.  I like making lists at any milestone point in the calender year.  I know that this list will change, as the optimism and sense of unending possibility that comes with the start of summer infects my listening habits, we'll most likely find this list full of swetty electro jams by the end of August.  

So far 2012 has been a year that has been all about follow up albums.  The year has been less about discovering new acts for me and more about exploring new statements from acts who's catalogues sit firmly in my collection.  Perhaps this is because I no longer have access to the massive promo input I did as a radio music director.  Perhaps it's because, busy and distracted by school, I spent more time with bands I'm familiar with than I did scouring blogs for the hottest new thing.  Either way, for better or worse, these are the five records I like the most in the first half of 2012:

6/7/12

Kindness - World, You Need a Change of Mind

Kindness's debut is silky smooth funky-electro-disco, with enough indie influence to keep things weirdly interesting. This is the soundtrack to your next sexy pool party. You know, the one with the bikinis and the Budweiser, where everyone keeps coming up to you saying "great pool party brad!"  and you just smile and say "i know."  



That it fits so nicely next to the likes of the Cut Copy, The Rapture and Phoenix is no surprise, as "World, You Need a Change of Mind" was co-produced, recorded and mixed with the Grammy Award winning Phillipe Zdar, who shares credits with those bands as well as Kayne.  It's cool, those guys can come to the pool party too.  Buy the record here, you'll be happy, forever.    

It was the first week in June. . .

A little under a year ago, Robert Ellis released this little gem, and it being the first week of June it seems somewhat relevant. "Friends Like Those" is the track, the video is a Dickies live session, the studio cut can be heard here, and downloaded in exchange for an email address below.  



5/22/12

The Walkmen - Heaven



The new Walkmen album hits shelves next Tuesday (May 29th), and started streaming at NPR this week.  It's a little slice of heaven. . . or, it's just like heaven. . . or, insert some heaven related pun here.  (Its heavenly!)  The record is titled (you guessed it) "Heaven", and all jokes aside, it finds the band bringing their understated jangle pop to uplifting places.  


The Walkmen's 2008 record "You & Me" remains in frequent rotation for me, perhaps thanks to my former co-music directors at KHOL who were fully obsessed with the band (If you've never watched a woman stare off into space just muttering the word Hamilton over and over, you've never hung out at a non commercial radio station).  I thank them for their persistence in beating me over the head with that record, reminding me frequently of my stupidity for ever questioning their goddess like taste in music.  Thanks Kelly and Colleen.  Seriously.  Walkmen.  

5/17/12

The Tallest Man On Earth




Beautiful new sounds from a personal favorite, The Tallest Man On Earth, to hit shelves and inboxes June 12th.  Its been such a huge year for some of my go to artists, including M. Ward, Andrew Bird, and Sharon Van Etten.  This record is sounding like it will fit nicely next to those on what is shaping up to be a phenomenal year for music.  Pre order here.   

4/18/12

Howth - Newkirk

Howth is a peninsula north of Dublin. I went walking around it not too long ago, and its pretty darn stunning. It's also the name of indie-folk troupe residing right here in Brooklyn, and they're not too shabby either. "Wind Blows Cold" builds from a pleasant stroll into a storm of guitar noise, juxtaposed by vocal harmonies that float beautifully unaware of the chaos behind them. Its good. Pre order their sophomore release Newkirk, out May 1st, here.

Hiss Golden Messenger


Aquarium Drunkard never fails to turn me on to some of my most obsessed about tunes, and a recent post about Hiss Golden Messenger has got me listening to little else since. Read more about it at AD's site, listen bellow. My personal favorite is "O Little Light", but its hard to choose.  

Doe Paoro - Slow to Love


This one hit my radar last February but only just started to make sense as temperatures have begun to dip into the low 80s.  Tracks like "Born Whole" feel drenched in a drowsy humidity, a slow moving bedroom R&B that should feel right at home by August.  The album varies between minimal electro pop and urban grooves by way of skinny jeans, all with a DIY production style that endears rather than retracts.  Paoro's layered vocals are the star of the show here, cutting through the rough around the edges beats with a raw emotion thats hard to turn away from.  Expect increased spins as spring dips into summer.     

3/27/12

Youth Lagoon / Porcelain Raft

Double header tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg.  Looking forward to seeing how the dreamy sounds translate live.  Porcelain Raft's record has been growing on me, and Youth Lagoon. . . well Youth Lagoon's record might have been my most underestimated of 2011.  Under the guise of late-to-the-party chillwave, Youth Lagoon's The Year of Hibernation manages to achieve this build and release pattern, allowing songs to slowly grow with exdended intros until they burst with sound and emotion.  A far more compelling listen than most to come out of the bedroom-lo-fi-chill-blah pop scene.   




3/26/12

Jamie Isaac




On a recent trip to London I saw Jamie Isaac's name on a bill for a free show.  After hearing about one minute of his music I bookmarked his Bandcamp page, but kind of spaced him after that as I never made it to the gig that night.  I've been really enjoying  minimal and ambient music over the last year or so, most likely because it chills me the fuck out when I'm running between internships, classes, my thesis, and the rest.  Isaac's music is built on the fundamentals of downtempo and post-dubstep, all with a ghostly atmosphere courtesy of morphed vocals and sparse piano.  I can't stop thinking of this perhaps cliche image of a coastal town at dawn, grey and still with a heavy fog waiting to burn off.  With six singles posted on his bandcamp page, it will be interesting to see how Isaac's music evolves with a proper release.  No news on a date on that yet.    

3/20/12

Half Moon Run - Full Circle



Although I took a hiatus from SXSW this year, its been great watching various news feeds and press accounts of all the happenings, who discovered who and so on.  Big thanks to classmate St. Hillair for posting about Half Moon Run late last night.  The Montreal based band has been making a buzz in their home country, and with a sound inline with the likes of Local Natives, Fleet Foxes, and The Head & The Heart, its easy to imagine this going places stateside in 2012.  Their debut record is available for pre-order now at Bandcamp, hitting inboxes and mailboxes March 27th.  

Tiny Victories - Those Of Us Still Alive


The unseasonably warm weather here in NYC has got me thinking about summer jams, and this new EP from the aptly named Tiny Victories is rapidly securing spots on my summer mix tape.  Recommended for fans of all things indie-electro-pop, ala Cut Copy, Miike Snow, Hot Chip, ect.  Pick up the EP for just $5, pop the windows open and dust off your boat shoes, spring is coming early this year.  

3/2/12

BONOBO - Boiler Room Mix

Love this mix.  Bonobo brings his usual downtempo vibes into triumphant realms, delivering a set that reaches unexpected heights (see the 14-15 minute mark).  This is from the Boiler Room in London, where the producer / dj was celebrating the release of Black Sands Remixed.  Hoping to catch a set with a similar mix of organic and electronic vibes when he has his US release party in NYC at the end of the month (March 29th, LPR).    



Check out the Minimix preview of the Black Sands Remixed record, which can be bought physically here and at itunes here.  


Shearwater - Insolence


Walked in late to the Sharon Van Etten / Shearwater double header at Music Hall of Williamsburg last friday night, to hear Shearwater perform a stunning rendition of "Insolence", one of my favorite tracks off their new record Animal Joy.  The track is one of a handful of standouts on their super solid new record, and live it's nothing short of epic.  Catch em if you can, tour dates here.  
   

2/23/12

Like A Fire That Consumes All Before It


This gem of a record has been seeing frequent spins lately, imbedding itself deeper with each listen.  Arcuragi, who founded a genre called "Death Gospel" (click imaginary like button), brings a blend of folk, americana, singer-songwriter, with a dash of pop and dust storm's wallpapering of grit.  Mostly, each time I listen to this record I think how badly i want to see this guy play these songs live, to sway like a drunken sailor and scream these words along with him.  Highlights so far: The Well, Port Song.  

2/20/12

i am MASTER'S THESIS

My usual syrupy slow output on this site will be getting even more random and intermittent, as I am in the process of writing my master's thesis.  The topic: The Secondary Ticket Market.  IE, why buying tickets to concerts sucks ass in 2012.  In honor of this exercise in self torture, here's an aptly titled number from The Weakerthans' singer John K. Samson, from his 2012 record Provincial.

2/11/12

Searching for the perfect beat: Stumbleine



Been sitting here trying for a half hour to write something about Stumbeilne's Rose Tinted EP. Something clever about how it feels airy and weighty at the same time. Something intelligent about how electronics can express nostalgia and sorrow without ever being sad. Something creative about how this is music for a ghost disco, where lost souls collectively gather night after night to move to skittering beats. This is dreamy stuff, a kind of ambient-dubstep ideal for late night listening. Name your price over at the Bristol UK producers bandcamp page.   

2/10/12

The Head & The Heart - Down In The Valley

Self released, only to re-mastered and re-released by the venerable indie label Sub Pop, The Head & The Heart's excellent self titled album just saw its most recent video hit the tubes.  The track "Down In The Valley" has long been the standout on the album for me, and was a key ingredient in my fall mix.  It always makes me nostalgic for the years I spent in Jackson Hole, and this video creates the same vibe for the years of touring I never did.    

2/4/12

Karen Dalton - 1966


In an age where every blogger seems to be in a race to get firsties on posting about a buzz band to be, Aquarium Drunkard places their focus on looking back at great, forgotten, and sometimes rare recordings.  It is through this wonderful website that I discovered Karen Dalton.  

Last weekend in an impulse buy I purchased a new Dalton compilation, and its too good not to share here.  The description below comes from Othermusic.com  
"The posthumous excavation of rare Karen Dalton recordings continues with this latest installment from Delmore Records. I can safely say you shouldn't be worried about diminishing returns here, as this is a supremely intimate tape that captures Dalton and then partner Richard Tucker holed up in a remote cabin in the mountains outside of Boulder, Colorado one evening in 1966. The highlights are undoubtedly her renditions of a number of Tim Hardin tunes that heretofore had been undocumented. "Green Rocky Road" in particular is just stunning, as if you're listening to a cloud slowly unfurl across a landscape, effortlessly floating into infinity. There's also a devastating version of her classic "Katie Cruel" and a practically somnambulant version of folk standard "Cotton-Eyed Joe" that's impossible to not get completely lost in. Anything that expands our understanding of this incredibly enigmatic and troubled singer is a cause for celebration, and here's hoping that the well hasn't run dry yet as all these releases thus far have all been uniformly excellent." Othermusic.com 
Preview this gem using Delmore's bandcamp widget bellow.  


2/3/12

The Lumieers


Chalk this up to another bump from my new co-interns at Red Light Management.  This link came over my IM the other day with a note: "Have you heard of these guys?".  The Lumineers have been creating a buzz with their brand of indie Americana, ala the The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons.  The Denver band put out an EP in 2011 and are set to release their debut self titled record in March, followed by a tour.  Add this to the growing list of reasons 2012 is shaping up to be a damn good year for music.  The following track, taken from their Daytrotter session last October, is a stunner.    


2/1/12

Trampled By Turtles new record on the way

Probably my favorite touring bluegrass band these days, Trampled By Turtles, will release their new record Stars & Satellites on April 10th.  They played a bunch of great new songs at their sold-out Bowery Ballroom show last November.  This show, more than any show I've seen since moving to NYC, was overrun by assholes.  Kind of strange considering that Trampled presents heartfelt bluegrass tunes, and that the band is some of the nicest, most un-broey guys I've met.  It was the audience I'd expect at a Skrillex concert where Foster the People opened, not a bluegrass show.  Regardless, all signs point to Trampled moving up in the world, as their next NYC performance will find them at Webster Hall on April 17th.  There'll certainly be a little more room at this venue to avoid some of the stranger characters in the diverse fanbase these guys are drawing.  Check out the album preview bellow, or head over to Amazon where a few of Trampled's albums are still going for $5 downloads.   



Pre-order Stars and Satellites here.  

a taste from M. Wards forthcoming. . .

We'll see M. Wards new solo record A Wasteland Companion hit the shelves (or iPods, Spotify accounts, or however you take your music these days) April 10th, right in time to usher in the start of spring.  Here's the first video from the album, for the track "The First Time I Ran Away".

1/31/12

Oliver Tank - Dreams

A friend at my new internship turned me on to this today.  An aptly titled ambient pop EP that draws comparisons to James Blake, Boards of Canada, and Mount Kimbie.  Very nice stuff, thinking this might be a new late night go-to.  Listen on the link bellow, and buy it for pay-what-you-want over at his bandcamp page.

1/29/12

Lonesome Prison Blues


Happy Sunday from MySundaySweater headquarters.  This week, a gift for you.  When I was just a strapping young buck of about 17 my Deadhead older cousin passed me this Garcia bootleg from Oregon State Prison, 5/5/82.  At the time I was completely ignorant to the Dead, too small minded to conceptualize their massive catalogue, too intimidated by the wormhole like vortex of fandom that seemed to consume the lives of those who had drank the cool-aid, so to speak.  For me this bootleg was the perfect entry point - 11 tracks of americana that focus on the strength of the songwriting over improvisational prowess.  To this day it remains a staple for Sunday morning chilling, and a recording I love to play for my friends who claim to hate the Dead.  It always seems to turn some heads.  
This post is dead-icated (see what i did there?) to yesterdays brunch at Pies and Thighs, where the waitstaff was blasting the Dead all early afternoon.  

1/23/12

First Aid Kit


One of my highlights from CMJ 2010 was the Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit.  I was floored when they told an entire bar to shut the fuck up so they could step in front of the mics and an do an unplugged version of the song Ghost Town off of their 2010 debut The Big Black and the Blue.  It takes more than guts to silence an NYC crowd - you have to be able to back it up. They held the audience in rapt silence until the basement of The Delancey nearly exploded upon their finishing.  For me, with chills up my spine, it was one of those musical moments that only come along so often, but that I seek in going out night after night to hear bands.  I was grateful to the sisters for it.  

The duo's new record, titled The Lion's Roar, finds them expanding on the harmonic folk of their debut.  Their songwriting has matured, bringing with it a fuller sound that leans deeper into country and Americana territory.  Like its predecessor, the record is solid through and through.  Stream the whole thing over at NPR, or purchase it when it hits stores tomorrow (1/24).

track 2 (personal fav so far):


In the aeroplane over the sea

Two interesting things happened on my flight from Dublin to JFK yesterday.  The first was that when I boarded the plane and began to get settled Real Estate was playing.  Great choice Delta.  Real Estate's understated, mellow, rootsy pop gets better and better with each listen, and their 2011 album Days, which made my top 11 of '11, continues to receive heavy rotations here at MySundaySweater headquarters.  





The second was that Delta was hosting a couple episodes of TED talks on those little TVs on the back of the headrest.  I caught this one in which composer Benjamin Zander discusses music and passion.  I'm always interested in hearing someone's case for why they love a certain kind of music.  There's nothing like going back to a piece that didn't particularly catch your ear the first time, and re-listening to it after a friend has gotten all debate club about it.  Zander's TED talk transports your average uneducated listener and helps them to do more than just understand why the music is important, but to experience being moved by it.  This experience of being moved, this emotional connection to music, this is the thing that keeps us coming back, and by finding an entertaining way to bring people there, Zander is bringing new fans into his world.    

Home Again

After 5 weeks in Ireland, UK and France, I finally made it back to NYC yesterday.  This soulful jam from rapidly rising Michael Kiwanuka is feeling especially relevant to me as I try to make sense of the last 5 weeks, and what it feels like to be back.  Kiwanuka's Home Again EP is available at iTunes, and is worth every penny.  Look for big things from this guy in 2012.  File under: Music I love that my parents will love too.  

1/3/12

I Break Horses

Having had the pleasure of watching a horse whisperer "break" a horse on his ranch in Wyoming this summer, I can tell you that when I saw the band name I Break Horses, computer generated shoegaze drenched synth pop is not what I had in mind.  But as autumn drifted into winter, the grey skies increasingly matching my concrete surroundings, I let go of expectations of the implications of the bands name, and let the sound sink in.  


This music was built for your headphones or a dam loud stereo.  Track's build to plateaus founded by a wall of synths that grow slowly into subtle peaks.  For obvious examples, think My Bloody Valentine meets M83.  On a recent ski trip to some of the largest mountains I have ever seen, I found myself playing these songs in my head as I descended the hill, realizing that the scale of the sounds here, big and dense, matched perfectly the scale of a slowly descending thousands of feet, massive snow covered slopes falling all around.  Big sounds for big places, computerized or not, it somehow fit perfectly into that natural space.   


The Stolkholm duo is billed to open for M83 on his spring US tour, for which the NYC show at Terminal 5 on May 10 sold out instantaneously.  M83's November set at Webster Hall was easily one of the best shows I saw in 2011, and a spring double header with I Break Horses right after Grad School finals end should set up for a celebration of epic scale.