Concert Review - The Tragically Hip/Constantines

Last Wednesday night at New York’s The Fillmore at Irving Plaza (huh?) The Tragically Hip played the second of 2 sold out shows. It was the band’s first trip to New York since releasing their 11th studio album, World Container, earlier this year, and the rapturous audience (presumably filled with many Canadians loyal enough to make the journey south) clung on every note. Singer Gordon Downie, ever the showman, spent the evening screaming, convulsing, and (attempting to) dance while singing the band’s brand of driving hard rock.

Constantines have bravely faced the uphill battle of opening for the Hip on this Northeast stint of the U.S. tour, and easily lived up to the hype I’ve heard on them over the years as a great live band. I say “uphill battle” because, as some overly obnoxious members of the audience proved, Hip fans aren’t always the most patient bunch. Nevertheless, the band was awesome - holy crap - they really rocked. Is that a review worthy phrase? Set opener “Draw Us Lines” was inspired, and the band hardly relented over the next 45 minutes. They played songs from each of their 3 albums, but focused heavily on 2005’s Tournament of Hearts. The biggest response from the crowd was their faithful cover of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”, to which lead singer Bryan Webb quipped “why not?” when the crowd erupted to the opening chords.

MP3 :: Draw Us Lines
(from Tournament of Hearts) Buy from Amazon
MP3 :: Young Lions
(from Shine A Light) Buy from Amazon
MP3 :: Arizona
(from The Constantines) Buy from Amazon

Constantines website, myspace
-------------------------------------------------

The Hip came out and proceeded to plow through a hearty set comprised of both new songs and old. Having seen them 5 times previously, but not since 2000, there were a few surprising additions to the set. “Boots Or Hearts” and “Locked In The Trunk Of A Car” are 2 of my favorite early songs, and both were unexpected and welcome. The band hit many of their most famous songs, including a crisp and compact “New Orleans Is Sinking” (oddly introduced by Downie saying “New Orleans is sinking and I don’t want to help”. Hmm…seems maybe a bit insensitive in this day and age Gord) and a long, drawn out rendition of “At the 100th Meridian”, whose jammy middle section and sped-up ending were somewhat anticlimactic after the song’s blistering first 1/3. These moments were just 2 of the highlights: “Scared” and “Bobcaygeon” were nailed, with Downie adding an acoustic guitar to bring out the folk influence on the tunes. “It’s A Good Life If You Don’t Weaken” and “My Music @ Work” were also noteworthy. Best of all, the new songs from World Container seemed to fit right in with the older material, and may stay around in setlists for a long time to come.

I have to say though that the stage antics of Downie have seemed to grow somewhat tiring over the years. They came off, at least in my eyes, as shticky and overdone at Irving Plaza. The band performed a fierce version of “Grace, Too”, perhaps my favorite song to hear live by any band, that was continuously distracted by shrill screaming from Downie that was entirely unnecessary. I guess the line from “My Music @ Work” proved prophetic - “the dim possibility of showing some restraint” - Gord, sometimes it’s ok to let the music stand on its own. He mellowed out as the set progressed and as he played more acoustic guitar. Unfortunately though, his on-stage persona is also thoroughly insincere - even the end of the night “thank yous” came off as sarcastic instead of heartfelt. Overall though the crowd left happy, the sounds and words of the Tragically Hip’s mini-Canadian national anthems filling the New York streets.

MP3 :: Grace, Too (Live)
MP3 :: Fully Completely (Live)
(from Live Between Us) Buy from Amazon

The Tragically Hip website
---------------------------------------

New Music - Earl Pickens, Singer/Wrong-Righter

Can you think of a better name for a country musician than Earl Pickens? Me neither. Merle Twang comes close. The Reverend Jedediah P. Houston isn’t too shabby either. Both used to play regularly in Earl’s backing band, the infamous Black Mountain Marauders. If you are lucky enough to catch them on their Good Riddance Tour (i.e. - playing one or two reunion shows a year at NY’s Rodeo Bar), then you absolutely should. A true group of showmen in every sense of the word, Earl and the band come on like a down-home E Street Band, mixing raucous drunken country-rock, heartbreaking folk-infused balladry, and a few steadfast covers of the classics with engaging stage antics and humor. Their music is a playful kindred spirit to Wreck Your Life-era Old 97s, at once equally charming and fun.

A few years ago Earl decided to get away from the hustle and bustle of Brooklyn and settled down into the comfortable confines of Central Pennsylvania. He signed on with Brooklyn’s Kill Buffalo Records, dropped the rowdy, semi-ironic country style of his old band, and released 2005’s Country Music Jukebox. The album proved Earl belonged in the upper echelon of singer-songwriters working in the Americana genre, as he received substantial radio-play on New York’s WFUV and Philadelphia’s WXPN. The album is purposefully plaintive, rarely offering more than an acoustic guitar and Pickens’ Lyle Lovett-esque crooning, along with the beautiful harmonizing of Jessie Yamas. When it does add more, as on album opener “Come On Up And Haunt Me Tonight’s” mandolin break, the results are immediate and breathtaking. He followed the album in 2006 with the EP When Earl Was 17 It Was A Very Good Year, which consisted of, you guessed it, newly recorded versions of songs Earl wrote when he was 17. Short and sweet, the EP showed the songwriter had a knack for a good tune even as a young outlaw.

Pickens has recently released the proper follow up to Country Music Jukebox, again coming via Kill Buffalo. Turn On The Radio at once presents the same type of whip-smart, instantly catchy songs of Country Music Jukebox, but this time Earl is augmented by a group of professional session men who add a slicker, more radio-ready sound. The set was recorded deep in the hills of Central Pennsylvania, and was produced by Brett Alexander of The Badlees. The songs are decidedly more lively than his last offering and recall the classic country that very obviously seeps through Earl’s bones, as well as a real knack for pop hooks. “Can I Turn On The Radio?” is the infectious first single, bounding along like an ode to the shining sun, wind in your hair, and blooming trees breathing in reverse. It may be the perfect soundtrack to a long springtime drive - top down, blue skies, holding hands, and singing along.

MP3 :: Can I Turn On the Radio?
(from the Turn On The Radio EP)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Earl’s New York CD release party is going to be at The Fort @ the Sidewalk Café, Friday May 4th from 7:30-9, which really leaves just one question: Can he get a yee-haw?!?!
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Bonus MP3 :: Come On Up And Haunt Me Tonight
(from Country Music Jukebox)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Visit Earl’s website and myspace for much more music
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Purchase Earl’s music here
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Lost Recordings - Whiskeytown, "The Freightwhaler Sessions"

Despite the fact that Ryan Adams seems to release an album every 4 or 5 months, there is still an inordinate amount of material that has never seen an official release. I recently came across an early Whiskeytown recording session called The Freightwhaler Sessions online. Here is what it says about the recordings over at Answering Bell (the headquarters for all unreleased Whiskeytown/Ryan Adams material):

The Freight Whaler stuff was recorded with Wesley Show. We didn't do much to the Freight Whaler stuff. We purposely didn't want to record something that a record company would want to release. That was Wes' logic not ours. We were stoned and drunk, enjoying the songs, in fact on "The Ghost are Out tonight" I believe? Ryan had to pitch a fit to get Wes to record a second vocal track. Wes was cutting ESD a deal on the demos, under the condition that if we signed a deal (as Freight Whaler) he would get to record the album. Shame that didn't happen . . . . Of course Ryan didn't want to sign with ESD. And ESD wasn't interested in Freight Whaler, they wanted Whiskeytown. But we turned it down and went on with life . . . . Also, an interesting fact. During the recording of FreightWhaler demos. Skillet had a broken collarbone. He had taken the trucks off of a skateboard to skate on the snow. He wrecked on the campus of NC State. At the end of "The Ghost are out Tonight", you can hear the band fall apart. Skillet couldn't play anymore. That's why we recorded "I'll Try" aka. "That's hard to do". And Picture of Jesus. They were not in the plans until Skillet couldn't play rock anymore.

In no way are The Freightwhaler Sessions essential listening for the casual fan, but to Adams enthusiasts the recordings provide another early glimpse into the blossoming talent that was early Whiskeytown. The songs are simple and direct, similar in sound to Faithless Street, yet far from Stranger’s Almanac’s diverse array of styles and influences. Ryan’s voice is still a long way from the powerful instrument it would soon become (no less than Steve Earle declared Adams the best male vocalist the alternative country music scene produced). However, the songs do possess that ragged charm that makes so much of this period of their career worth hearing, and “Bar Lights”, which would become a highlight on Pneumonia, appears in an early incarnation.

MP3 :: At The Drive In
MP3 :: Bar Lights
MP3 :: The Ghosts Are Out Tonight
MP3 :: Sometimes That's Hard To Do
MP3 :: Picture Of Jesus On The Dashboard
(from the unreleased The Freightwhaler Sessions)
-----------------------------------

Talkin' New York, Vol. 3: Creaky Boards

One of the great pleasures of starting Pop Headwound is discovering bands such as Brooklyn’s Creaky Boards while exploring the New York music scene for emerging talent. Led by songwriter/pianist Andrew Hoepfner, they’ve made a cozy little home for themselves in the eclectic music scene of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Creaky Boards deftly mixes genres and influences that hardly ever get mentioned at all, let alone in describing the same band. Their music is an expert combination of 50's and early 60’s pop (“Runaround Sue”, “Last Kiss”, “Pretty Little Angel Eyes”), Tom Waits’ more baroque 80’s experiments, and the sounds of New Orleans. Saturated with lavish horns, carnival piano, and soaring melodies, Hoepfner’s songs take these influences and meld them into something extraordinarliy fun and distinctly unique. It’s music that suggests tireless world travel, referencing locales across the U.S. and beyond, but gets home to Brooklyn just in time to crash the party, inventing smiles and sing-alongs all the while.

**

According to their bio: In the summer of 2005, CREAKY BOARDS released their first full-length studio album, "Where's the Sunshine?" an explosion of vaudevillian garage pop for the eternally brokenhearted. Ample bursts of trumpet and accordion give the disc a charmingly unusual instrumentation. Super-long song titles like "I Came to This Town to Get High" and "I'll Kiss You at Every Red Light" reveal the band's ever-present quirkiness. With a rock 'n roll playfulness akin to The Kinks, the Americana twang of Hank Williams, and a Spector-like boom, "Sunshine" vaulted CREAKY BOARDS' status into a little legend at its home base, the Sidewalk Café. At home, Hoepfner is churning out a host of magical new recordings from his apartment bedroom, affirming his continual grasp on grainy, timeless pop. The consistent thread through all of it is Creaky Boards’ triumphant sense of wonder and their audience's steadfast loyalty.

MP3 :: I'll Kiss You At Every Red Light

MP3 :: Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
(from Where’s the Sunshine?)
-----------------------------------------

Creaky Boards website and myspace
-----------------------------------------

The Black Crowes - "Sometimes Salvation"

Long before the super market aisle news of doomed marriages and the ridiculous campaigns that promoted the band as sure-fire future members of the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame (“Lickin’” from 2001’s Lions was all over classic rock radio for a while with just such nonsensical introductions from idiot DJs), The Black Crowes were a tight, young, hungry group of Southern rock wielding potheads, in their prime and fit to deliver a near-classic record. And that they did: The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion was a giant leap from the vastly more popular Shake Your Money Maker, full of the same blues-rock influences but infused with infinitely more personality. The debut showed a band clearly indebted to (and sometimes clearly ripping off) their blues-rock forefathers, whereas the sophomore record took those influences and spoke them in their own musical language.

“Sometimes Salvation” is the highlight, an imposing slab of heavy riffage and throat-wrenching screams crashing against interrupting walls of silence, the band start-stopping on a dime. To call it a “raw” performance wouldn’t do it justice - the thing is still alive and kicking, running around the forest with blood dripping from its razor sharp teeth. Chris Robinson gives the vocal performance of his career, the vices he sings of are desperate and contagious. How could he have known the addiction would hurt this bad? - but faith is ten times harder. What results over the song’s final minute and a half is, quite simply, the sound of a band reaching their full potential, and then some.

MP3 :: Sometimes Salvation
(from The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion)

And check out the video, featuring Sophia Coppola in her post-Godfather Part III, pre-Virgin Suicides awkward phase:


----------------------------------------------------

Purchase The Southern Harmony & Musical Companion, and other Black Crowes releases, from Amazon.
----------------------------------------------------

In Rewind: the National Lights

Holding strong near the top of my favorite albums of 2007 list is the debut from The National Lights. The Dead Will Walk, Dear first came to my attention sometime last year after hearing one of its songs, “Midwest Town”, online. The album was finally released this past February after several delays, and did not disappoint. You can read my full review HERE, but in short, singer-songwriter Jacob Thomas Berns has crafted a haunting and mature song cycle that stands with some of the best pure folk records I’ve heard. The songs revolve around imagery inspired by the American Gothic writing of Flannery O’Connor and the traditional murder ballad, combining the two to create a record both subtle and conceptual. The dark lyrical content is augmented by the beautiful melodies Berns and harmony singer Sonya Maria Cotton create, as well as the comfortable, understated arrangements contributed by producer Chris Kiehne.

Do yourself a favor and check out a few tunes from The Dead Will Walk, Dear:

MP3 :: Buried Treasure
MP3 :: Midwest Town
(from The Dead Will Walk, Dear)

Berns has also sent along word that the band was working steadily on the follow up to The Dead Will Walk, Dear during the time spent waiting for its release. Who The Sea Will Keep is still a work in progress, but in some cases songs are completely finished. No time table has been set up yet for its release, but Berns hopes to have some demos up on the website in the near future.
---------------------------------------------

Check out the interview I conducted with Jacob Thomas Berns earlier this year by clicking HERE.

Visit The National Lights website HERE and their myspace HERE.

Purchase The Dead Will Walk, Dear from Amazon HERE.
---------------------------------------------

Some Tuesday Evening Links...

The guys over at That Truncheon Thing have gone and done it again. My favorite bloggers of classic concerts have released another batch of noteworthy items over the past 2 or 3 weeks (since I last linked them). This week they are featuring the complete Peel Sessions of The Smiths from 1983. It’s a generous 16 song set, featuring the band in its early days and sounding great. Check it out HERE. Last week they featured a Rolling Stones concert from 1973 that is just full of the great songs from the Beggars Banquet - Exile On Main Street phase that some would argue was the greatest period for any band, ever. Check that out HERE. Finally, HERE is a show from Uncle Tupelo that was recorded shortly before the band’s ultimate demise. Guys, TTT 4, PHW 2. This is gonna be fun!

-----------------------

Muzzle of Bees is another of my favorite music blogs (hence the link over there in “Music To My Ears”) and recently featured a great post for fans of The National. Click HERE for the band’s Black Sessions, recorded live for French radio in April 25, 2005, shortly after their new-classic Alligator. Remember, Boxer is due out May 22, and, well, at this point it's a “can’t miss” for one of the year’s best records.

-----------------------
And fans of Wilco should check out Aussie blog Oceans Never Listen for some nice photos of the band and a show review from their Australian tour. Check it out HERE.

-----------------------

Clem Snide Is Dead, Long Live Clem Snide!

For any Clem Snide fan who’s been paying attention, it’s been clear that the band has been becoming more and more of an Eef Barzelay project since 2001’s brilliant, career-defining The Ghost of Fashion. Since that record the other original members have gradually become less involved with the band - both recording wise and live. In the 2+ years since 2005’s End of Love Clem Snide has stayed relatively quiet, with just some rumors here and there about an album in progress, but until recently further details have been slow to surface.

Barzelay spilled the beans on the band, as well as his burgeoning solo career, when he stopped in at Daytrotter for an interview and a 4 song live session. With the recordings, and a first glimpse into some new material, comes the sad news that Clem Snide is all but done as a band. It sounds as if their new album, the as-yet-unreleased Hungry Bird, will most likely be the last using the Clem Snide moniker. Barzelay seems intent on focusing now on a solo career, and will follow up last year’s short and sweet Bitter Honey with a new record slated for release in early 2008. In the Daytrotter interview Barzelay had this to say about the future of the band:

Truthfully, Clem Snide has been hemorrhaging since 2002. For me, Snide was never so much about any particular sound or style as it was a group of old friends playing together and touring. Emotionally, it was more like a surrogate family. But as it became a business, it got complicated and there was never enough money to go around so people moved on or got soured by the whole thing. Since I write all the songs I could keep it going, but for right now I want to just be upon the world as Eef Barzelay. As for the records, the one that will come out first, more than likely in early 2008, is really an “Eef Barzelay” record. I did it very quickly in a mad fit of inspired desperation with some friends here in Nashville and it’s more of a continuation of Bitter Honey, just with a very chewy band backin’ my skinny ass up. The other is the epic and somewhat conceptual Hungry Bird. Clem Snide and I obsessively toiled over this record for roughly two years and in the end it broke up the band. Nevertheless, I am quite proud of it and hope it gets to have a life.
-------------------------------

Here are the results of the Daytrotter session: 2 brand new songs, “Collapse” from End of Love, and “Well” from Bitter Honey.

MP3 :: The Girls Don’t Care
MP3 :: Apocalyptic Friend
MP3 :: Collapse
MP3 :: Well
-------------------------------

Check in at Clem Snide’s website to hopefully hear more about Hungry Bird soon, and their myspace to hear more streaming music.
-------------------------------

Eef Barzelay myspace
-------------------------------

New Music - Parts & Labor

Jagjaguwar band Parts & Labor will release Mapmaker on May 22. The album features 12 new songs and cover art that at once recalls that of the latest self-titled Broken Social Scene album, don’t it? Mapmaker is the follow up to last year’s critically acclaimed Stay Afraid. Here is what the label had to say about the new album:

Mapmaker is the second Jagjaguwar/Brah album from these Brooklyn noisepunks. Expanding on the soaring melodies and cracked electronics of 2006's "Stay Afraid", P&L explores a wider array of berserk, malfunctioning instruments and intricate, pummeling rhythms. These 12 political/personal anthems about ambition and distraction boast bigger choruses, denser drones and shinier hooks. Parts & Labor cites the following bands as influences and is totally cool with you name-checking them: Hüsker Dü, Sonic Youth, Boredoms, Minutemen, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Amps For Christ.

They passed along the vicious first single, “Fractured Skies”, for you to sample. The song lives up to every bit of the description mentioned in the press release. It comes racing out of the gates, all sorts of dissonant sonic squeals, uninhibited drumming, and an industrial strength chorus that sounds like the eye of the hurricane. Better take a deep breath…

MP3 :: Fractured Skies
(from Mapmaker)
-----------------------------------------

Visit Parts & Labor at their website and myspace
-----------------------------------------

And catch Parts & Labor on tour:

04/24/07 Hollywood, CA - Safari Sams w/ ADULT. + Erase Errata
04/25/07 San Francisco, CA - Bottom Of The Hill w/ ADULT. + Erase Errata
04/27/07 Portland, OR - Holocene w/ Erase Errata
04/28/07 Seattle, WA - Chop Suey w/ ADULT. + Erase Errata
04/29/07 Missoula, MT - The Laboratory
05/01/07 Fargo, ND - Aquarium w/ Nudity
05/02/07 Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry w/ ADULT.
05/03/07 Milwaukee, WI - Stonefly Brewery w/ ADULT. + Tussle
05/04/07 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle w/ ADULT. + Tussle
05/05/07 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick w/ ADULT. + Tussle
-------------------------------------------

Wilco - Rare Tracks, Vol. 2

Earlier this week I ran the first part of a feature detailing my favorite “rare” Wilco tracks (check it out HERE). Here’s the rest of the list - my 6 favorite rare Wilco tracks. Thanks to those who left comments and sent along emails! Glad the songs are falling on grateful ears…

6. MP3 :: Promising

“Promising” is an early outtake, either from the A.M. or Being There sessions, or possibly just recorded sometime in between. Too good to be lost to obscurity, it eventually turned up on the Jeff Tweedy-penned soundtrack to the Ethan Hawke-directed Chelsea Walls. Back in the days of Tweedy being able to do little more with his cracked-country drawl than to sound as earnest as possible, the obviously sly twist in the line “I musta known that you were just promising” suggests a true defeat, a heartbreaking loss of confidence in what the word really means.

-----------

5. MP3 :: James Alley Blues (from The Harry Smith Connection)
MP3 :: James Alley Blues (Live) (from Farm Aid, 1998)

This song originated from the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music and was originally performed by Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett, along with Roger McGuinn, on the 1998 compilation The Harry Smith Connection. The live version is the full band from a performance at Farm Aid in 1998, and too good not to include. I wish I knew who introduces the band…..anyone?

-----------

4. MP3 :: Kamera (Demo)

A big part of the process of recording Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was figuring out exactly how each song would be best represented. Songs were practiced in all sorts of different incarnations, often with some pretty remarkable results. This “rock” version of “Kamera” appeared on the YHF Demos CD that circulated shortly after the album’s release. It’s got lots of huge, fuzzed out electric guitars that stand in stark contrast to both the eventual CD version of this song, and the rest of the album as a whole. A different version appeared on the Australian Bonus EP released a few months after YHF.

------------

3. MP3 :: The Thanks I Get (Live)

Somehow this song was left off the soon to be released Sky Blue Sky. That’s a real shame - the song’s silky smooth guitar lines and groovin’ soul feel would fit perfectly with that album’s overall sound. It was performed live by the band during the past year or so, and appeared in a Tweedy solo acoustic version on the Live From The Pacific Northwest DVD from late last year. This version is from a performance on The Conan O’Brien Show.

------------

2. MP3 :: When the Roses Bloom Again

This is an outtake from the Mermaid Avenue sessions with Billy Bragg. Rumor has it it was set for inclusion on the first volume but was removed late in the process because it was unclear if Woody Guthrie had indeed penned the words, or if they were actually traditional. Either way, it was later released on the Chelsea Walls Soundtrack along with the aforementioned “Promising”. This is one of the band’s most understated and beautiful performances.

------------

1. MP3 :: Not For The Season (Demo)

There are a lot of different versions of this song available, so it was hard to choose which one to use for this list. The song was originally intended for inclusion on YHF, but wound up being used instead for the Loose Fur project of Tweedy, Glenn Kotche, and Jim O’Rourke - renamed “Laminated Cat” and in a strikingly different arrangement. This is an early version that again appeared on the YHF Demos. The song would soon take on a life of its own when Wilco started playing it live - slower, longer, and ending with stretched out segments of improvisational guitar- but here it is full of a Springsteen-esque spirit, and some patented rasping vocals.
--------------------------------------------------------

If the outtakes, b-sides, soundtrack contributions, demos, etc. are this good, well, what the hell are you waiting for? - pick up Wilco’s back catalog HERE.
--------------------------------------------------------

The Roadside Graves Featured On Pitchfork!

HA! Looks like someone at Pitchfork has been reading Pop Headwound. Well, maybe, maybe not, but either way - Congrats to The Roadside Graves! There song “Radio” was featured earlier today with a very favorable review in the Forkcast section, with a link to their myspace where the song is streaming. I’ve been a fan of the band since I first heard their actual debut - If Shacking Up Is All You Want To Do - last year. I don’t know if that album is still in print or not, but if you go to see the band this Saturday night in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY, USA, Earth at The Trash Bar maybe you can get a copy. And while you’re doing that get a copy of No One Will Know Where You’ve Been (HERE), the recently released (“debut”) record via Kill Buffalo Records that I reviewed earlier this week (just scroll down a little or click HERE to read it) that features “Radio”, as well as “West Coast” and “Women In Black” (mp3s are with the review!)

Here’s the song that started it all for the Graves:

MP3 :: Song For A Dry State
(from If Shacking Up Is All You Want To Do)

------------------------------------

Check out their website and myspace to hear more streaming music

------------------------------------

And Kill Buffalo Records.

------------------------------------

New Music - Blonde Redhead

Every once in a while I update the “New Stuff” play list on my iPod. Right now it’s full of songs from Handsome Furs, Shapes and Sizes, A.A. Bondy, The National, and Ladyhawk, among others, all of which I have recently posted about. Basically it’s the stuff that’s still a few weeks away from actual release but making its way around the internet like wildfire.

Fitting right in with this group are a few tracks from the new Blonde Redhead album, 23. The title track and “Silently” are admittedly my first exposure to the band, despite their elder-statesmen status on the New York and indie-rock circuit. 23 is their 7th studio album, coming out recently via 4AD records. The sound of these songs, at least to me, are at once reminiscent of Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine, with just a little bit more of a traditional rock beat. The atmospheric guitars and breathy female vocals create the same kind of lushly complex backdrop as their fairly obvious inspiration, while the melody of the vocals blends in with the overall sound - one piece of the whole rather than something obtrusively rising above it.

MP3 :: 23
MP3 :: Silently
(from 23)

-------------------------------

Check out the 2 other songs streaming here, at their website.

-------------------------------

Blonde Redhead will be playing Webster Hall on May 8.
----------------------------------------------

Purchase 23 at Amazon by clicking HERE

----------------------------------------------