For this week’s bout of exciting new music we turned to the team behind MTV Iggy, who used their distinct global focus to highlight five international acts making noise around the world. See their picks below, and ); return…
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A debut album set in motion by busking from New York to Belgium, many factors play into the soulful joy of Marques Toliver’s Land of CanAan. Chance, talent, a voice and a violin have mingled, coalescing…
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San Francisco-born, LA-based Hanni El Khatib’s new album Head in the Dirt—produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys—is perfect summertime listening. It contains more of that blues and garage-influenced rock that the singer-songwriter is best known for. Less known, perhaps, is El…
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From Frank Ocean to Christine McVie, celebrate the last sultry days with a mix of seasonal tunes
Whether sultry August means partying to the beat of your AC or—better yet—escaping to the beach, the sun is still in full effect and there’s no reason not to celebrate the dog days of summer. Sweat out the remainder of this balmy season with our latest playlist, featuring tracks from Brooklyn shoegazers DIIV, South Africa’s Yo Grapes, the ubiquitous Frank Ocean, London’s bashful producer Kwes, the soon to resurface Run-DMC and more. Stream it live here or online through SoundCloud.
Photo by James Goodrum
Our latest favorite music for avoiding the outdoors
As winter sputters along in New York, we’re finding plenty of reasons to be homebodies —an activity that calls for the appropriate soundtrack. Like Atlas Sounds’ opener “The Shakes,” some of the best music for the season seems engineered for playing on vinyl, a choice that helps conjure warmth on even the coldest, darkest nights. We also included some cheerful songs, perfect for the intimacy of always being indoors, and a few rebellious shouts (“Yella Diamonds” by Ricky Rozay, Waka Flocka and Ludacris on “Rich and Flexin'”) to get you amped for work when you’d rather be snuggling. Remember, you have to be ready to be reborn come spring.
From Ennio Morricone to Cults, our mix of music for getting ready and looking back
Fall is all about motivation, preparing for the season ahead by taking stock of summer’s bounty. While melancholy at times—Bon Iver’s childhood memory “Michicant,” “Harvest Breed by Nick Drake—there’s plenty here to get you going too, from Little Richard’s “Midnight Special” to Kelly Rowland’s seductive “Motivation.”
Beijing’s underground rock powerhouse returns to the States
A standout in Beijing’s underground rock scene (learn more about it from our story on five other bands) returns to the U.S. this month for a few shows in NYC before swinging through the South.
Hedgehog, formed in 2005, is one of the most notorious and popular groups to come out of China in recent years. The country’s indie rock movement gained steam in Beijing in the early part of the last decade, continuing to grow nationally and abroad. Like the birth of punk, raw, energetic tunes primarily make up this now preteen movement.
Represented by Modern Sky, one of China’s only indie labels, Hedgehog’s meteoric rise to the forefront of alternative Chinese music in 2007 came after a slow start on the scene. The bands defacto leader Atom, featured on the cover of the 2009 book Sound Kapital: Beijing’s Music Underground, is stout in stature but fierce on the drums. She brings an enchanting energy to their performances and, while the driving melodies are hypnotic, she’s undeniably the center of attention.
The band’s music is difficult to define because it includes a broad spectrum of sounds. Indie pop with a twist of punk feels like an almost adequate description, but so few words for such a dynamic group seems unfair. Already at the top of the underground game in Beijing, their second trip to America will include the recording of a new album with Russell Simmons (of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion) and Coco Rosie’s John Grew. Touring with Xiu Xiu and Kindest Lines,
catch the badass Beijing youth all along the Eastern Seaboard through September.
Nightmare and the Cat celebrate their EP release with a raucous NYC show
“Drink your shots, pick up your beer and come watch us perform,” Django Stewart commanded the crowd at Mercury Lounge last week. “We’re Nightmare and the Cat,” punctuated his brother and fellow frontman Sam Stewart, kicking off the show to launch their debut EP. Eight songs later, sweating and dazed, the packed house saw the band off the stage with rapturous applause. The music that came between varied from lofty, thoughtful rock to soulful, layered folk. Dramatic, story-driven, catchy and with swoon-inspiring potency that envelops the band itself (as well as their performance and the new album), Nightmare and the Cat exude nothing shy of magic.
The two frontmen, despite their youthful appearances, both were members of since dispersed, but seasoned musical acts before forming the band a little over a year ago in Los Angeles. Sam spent seven years with London band Blondelle, while Django helmed The Midnight Squires.
Together, with multi-instrumentalist and singer Claire Acey, drummer Spike Phillips and bassist Julie Mitchell, the five-piece has performed both coasts, a SXSW showcase with artist Gary Baseman and the United Kingdom. Circumnavigating the Edward Sharp and Local Natives aesthetic, the band’s harmonies, taut instrumentals and atmosphere build, first and foremost, an environment where their stories exist.
The self-titled EP, lush and melodic, feels more than anything like a thrilling teaser for things to come. A melodic through line weaves among the tracks “Sarah Beth,” “The Missing Year” and “Little Poet.” Orchestration and backing vocals play off Django’s dynamic voice—often in dialogue, sometimes in alignment.
Just when you feel the band settling in with a sound, the closing song, “Anybody’s Bride,” punctures it with punkish ferociousness. The whimsicality might feel extravagant, but never disposable, glazing the music with a limitless sense of wonder. There is sentimentality and delicacy to even the more raucous portions of the tracks, knitting everything together as sound storytelling should.
Famed photographer Mick Rock, a supporter of the band and attendee at the Mercury Lounge show, once snapped an iconic photograph of David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, arms draped across one another. There was startling breadth and depth to those three musicians’ work. As If schooled in the language of rock, Nightmare and the Cat draw on these influences, blend their lessons and strengths and craft something all their own.
Top image by Sterling Taylor, performance images by Eli Russell Linnetz.
Voici le premier clip du groupe français indie-rock LA//KVLKD sur le titre “Symptoms”. Un montage et court film, co-produit par Imetrages et réalisé par Etienne Perrin. Le premier EP est prévu pour l’été 2011. A découvrir en vidéo et en images dans la suite de l’article.
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Portland’s influx of musicians is an adored attribute about the city. From the iconic house party to more traditional venues, Portland remains to keep their music scene fresh with an unconventional take on industry standards. Highlighted below are five interesting venues that host some of Portland’s best acts.
Portland’s newest venue is located in a classy up-and-coming southeast neighborhood known as Sellwood. The Woods intends to keep its line-up mostly acoustic and melodic, a suitable genre considering its decorous surroundings and the fact it was formerly a funeral home. Bands can play either in the main chapel area, which is where bodies were shown, or the basement, which was used for embalming and cold storage. While this knowledge could add a creepy air to the proceedings, The Woods is quickly becoming one of the hottest places to play in Portland.
The Artistery‘s all-ages shows are a great way to revisit those bittersweet teen years. Particularly since The Artistery is an actual basement, in an actual house, in southeast Portland. Don’t be fooled by the exterior, their line-up is as talented as any full-blown music hall, including performances by local favorites White Fang and Explode into Colors.
Surely one of the most spectacular venues in one of the most spectacular natural landscapes in the country, The Gorge Amphitheater seats over 25,000 people and overlooks the mighty Columbia River. Such a magnificent setting inspires truly magical performances. The Gorge has seen acts such as Neil Young, Van Halen, Phish and Ben Harper and Pearl Jam’s iconic box set Live at the Gorge was recorded there. Every year The Gorge hosts the Sasquatch Music Festival, which hosts established as well as emerging bands such as Vampire Weekend and Portland’s own Nurses.
The Old Church is a uniquely Portland venue. While it is an actual old church available for all the intended purposes, they also rent out the space for distinctly secular events. The building’s soaring ceilings and stained-glass windows offer a hushed and reverent air to everything from weekly Sunday jazz to local bands.
Portland now bears little resemblance to the rough and tough Wild West town that it used to be, but White Eagle Saloon, located in Portland’s grittier Northeast quadrant, is a great place to lift a pint in nostalgia for those days when drunken sailors were shanghaied onto waiting ships and rouged ladies of the night hollered from upstairs balconies. The saloon features nightly live music of the folk and fiddle variety, as well as a resident ghost that likes to lock unwitting female guests in the ladies restroom.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
