All posts for the day March 6th, 2009

New New Music – Jason Lytle, Beirut, Odawas

After my last post of old new music, here’s some newer music. Hey, finger on the pulse!

Jason Lytle, of the sadly defunct Grandaddy, has started to trickle out some songs from his new album. Grandaddy, in my eyes, were one of the finest bands of the naughties (I hate that word but can’t think of anything better). “Crystal Lake” and “Hewlett’s Daughter” still make me go a bit teary. Once saw them playing to about 20 people in Basel, in Switzerland; whilst it was such a shame that hardly anyone came to the show, they still rocked out and looked ever so happy to be there. They’re one of the few bands to properly describe the modern world in song, in a marvellously delicate and detailed way. So, it’s nice to hear the new tune Flying Thru Canyons on his Myspace site. A delicate, piano-led slowie, a little like “Underneath The Weeping Willow”. Can’t wait for the album.

Rather quickly, I can’t understand why Grandaddy are missing from the Pitchfork 500 list. A bizarre omission which I am sure to return to.

Beirut seems to be on a quest to record albums in a different musical style, going from Balkan-esque on Gulag Orkestar (replete with accordians and Slavonic sardony), to French-esque on The Flying Club Cup (replete with more accordians and berets), and now moving into Mexican-ese with March of the Zapotec. I’ve got to say, he’s a brave man, but his charismatic style and eye for a good tune usually sees him through. This track, La Llorona, is one of the highlights of the new album, available from here.

I love Mariachi horns, me.

Odawas. Now, I can’t say a huge amount about these two chaps as I haven’t really found out much about them; I just stumbled across them somehow (the wonders of the Internet, eh?). They’re from Bloomington, Indiana (well, someone has to be) though they have now resettled in California, where it’s warm. This track, taken from their website, is a charming bit of dream-pop in the vein of finest mid-80’s New Order. And some other people. The new album’s called The Blue Depths.

Lastly, is it wrong to really like this?

Harmless Lovers Discourse by Odawas

La Llorona by Beirut

More New Old Stuff – Wye Oak, Grizzly Bear

In my typical fashion, I heard some great new music the other day, only to discover that they had been around for ages. That’s what you get round here, year old news. Ah well.

Anyway, the two bands I was listening to were Monarch and Wye Oak. Both deal in that dreamy late-80’s, early-90’s British vibe, as perfected by My Bloody Valentine, Lush etc. And sounded oddly similar. Including having the same album title and a couple of tracks the same. So, with a bit more research, and finding a bunch of bands called “Monarch”, I managed to discover from here that Monarch had had the same problem, so renamed themselves to Wye Oak.

And what a lovely name it is, too, being the state tree of Maryland. I love that US thing of having state trees, state animals, and state moods (New Jersey: Angry, Idaho: Gloomy, California: Smug). You could never do that in the UK. The state tree of most of the north would be a “That shrubby bush that some kids have tried to set fire to”.

Anyway, Wye Oak. They are a couple from Baltimore, who sound about as far from the city of The Wire than you could imagine. A bit dreamy, a bit noisy, and really quite good.

In other news, I’ve heard that Veckatimoomoo by Grizzly Bear has been leaked. I am not going to post it as I’ve already had my ass busted once, thank you, and it just doesn’t seem the right thing to do to such a lovely band. Please pre-order it. Though if the band do release any more songs from the record I shall be sure to post it here, hopefully within a month or two. Cough.

Warning by Wye Oak

If Children Were Wishes by Wye Oak