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.
Loft And Lost 