New Videos: Okkervil River & Rilo Kiley

The first video from Okkervil River’s The Stage Names is now out there for your viewing pleasure. Actually it’s right here for your viewing pleasure. And yes, that is a former American Idol finalist introducing the vid.

MP3 :: Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
(from The Stage Names. Buy here)

The Stage Names is streaming in its entirety at the brand new Okkervil River homepage

P.S. - Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands has last night's video of Okkervil River's national TV debut on Conan, so check that out. I love how you can tell when Conan genuinely enjoys a band, as he did here as well after My Morning Jacket a few years ago.
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You may recall I wasn’t that impressed with the first single/video from the new Rilo Kiley album Under The Blacklight. “The Moneymaker” was supposed to have something to say about the porn industry (seriously sometimes the West Coast seems like another planet), but the song/video seemed closer to just your average dry hump - whoah, did I just say that? Sorry…anyway, as a possible knee-jerk reaction to the internet’s similar mild to uncaring response comes the second video - the much more successful “Silver Lining”. It starts with a lilting, George Harrison-esque guitar riff and Jenny Lewis’ gently caressing honey-dripped vocals and builds to a soulful, gospel-tinged finale. Hooray!Hooray! indeed.
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New Music - Band Of Horses

Oh snap! Nothing to get you out of "gotta unload these boxes" mode like a new song from one of your favorite working bands. Over at their myspace page, Band of Horses has made available the first single from their new record, Cease To Begin, which drops in October 9 via Sub Pop.

"Is There A Ghost?" was a stand out during their recent pool party at McCarren Park, and the studio version captures that energy well. Band of Horses are old pros at working the quiet/loud dynamic (see "The Funeral"), but once those power chords swoop in at the one minute mark any chance of letting up is forgotten. Watch out Top 10 lists of 2007 - there looks to be a latecomer to the party....

The worst thing about myspace is how difficult it is to download mp3s from their server, so here's "Is There A Ghost?" the easy way:

MP3 :: Is There A Ghost?

(from Cease To Begin)

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MP3 :: The Funeral

MP3 :: The Great Salt Lake

(from Everything All The Time. Buy here)

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Moving Day...

Moving Day is tomorrow. I’m moving 10 blocks away, but nonetheless it’s going to be a busy few days and I may not be able to post for a while, possibly into next week. But don’t worry, I’m basically emptying my inbox for you right now - everything I’ve meant to post, wanted to post, thought about posting, and some stuff I’m just throwing in there because. This clears my slate, starting as soon as I’m settled and able I’ll be posting regularly once again. Until then you’ve got this to keep you cool.

MP3 :: Paranoia In Bb Major - The Avett Brothers
MP3 :: Permanent Sides - Seems So Bright
MP3 :: Black Out On White Night - Sage Francis
MP3 :: Our Friends Appear Like The Dawn - Bodies Of Water
MP3 :: None Shall Pass - Aesop Rock
MP3 :: Jack And Jill - Kim Richey
MP3 :: Postcard From Kentucky - Rocky Votolato
MP3 :: Parsons White - Phonograph
MP3 :: Put A Penny In The Slot :: Fionn Regan
MP3 :: Heart It Races :: Architecture In Helsinki
MP3 :: Rumors :: Josh Ritter
MP3 :: Moonwatcher - Amasser
MP3 :: Heartbroke - The Good Life
MP3 :: All Together Now - The Go Station
MP3 :: Time Gets Us All - Art In Manilla
MP3 :: Please Sit Down - Between The Pine
MP3 :: Rusty Zippers - Bottom Of The Hudson
MP3 :: Scrap Truck - Dollar Store
MP3 :: I Won’t Let You Down - Travel By Sea
MP3 :: Moving Back Home #2 - Richmond Fontaine
MP3 :: Paper Planes - M.I.A.
MP3 :: The Equestrian - Les Savy Fav

Hmm…wonder what I’d rather see - architecture in Helsinki or some art in Manila?

And if you travel by sea over a body of water could you end up on the bottom of the Hudson and go m.i.a.?

Deep thoughts with Pop Headwound……
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Music Video: Parts & Labor

Video :: The Gold We’re Digging



Back in May Brooklyn-based noise rockers Parts & Labor dropped their critically acclaimed 3rd full length record, Mapmaker. The album captured the industrial strength intensity the band was previously known for, but also sharpened up the melodies as well, resulting in the band’s strongest and most diverse sounding set of songs yet. Lead single “Fractured Skies” is practically abusive in its pounding rhythms and dissonant guitar noise, yet unexpectedly possesses one of the year’s most melodically exciting choruses.

Jagjaguwar has just released the video, featured above, for the follow-up single, “The Gold We’re Digging”. The song is once again driven by a propulsive beat and a virtual knife-fight between melody and all-out noise. The video’s cut and paste visuals seem fitting for a band intent on combining the pleasant with the abrasive.
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MP3 :: Fractured Skies
(from Mapmaker. Buy here)

MP3 :: A Great Divide
(from Stay Afraid. Buy here)

Visit Parts & Labor’s myspace for more music
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Old Stuff - Jeff Tweedy: "Crack A Smile"

If you’ve ever wondered what a Jeff Tweedy solo album might sound like then I direct your attention to this little known track from a 2004 compilation. Down In A Mirror turned up on eMusic earlier this year, but was originally released around the time of 2004’s A Ghost Is Born. It’s a collection of artists (also including Okkervil River, The Mountain Goats, The Dirty Projectors, and Six Organs Of Admittance) covering songs by Jandek - perhaps the most prolific and mysterious songwriter of the past 2 decades.

“Crack A Smile” is a stately mid-tempo song. Tweedy’s sad and whisperey vocals are similar to those of A Ghost Is Born songs like “Wishful Thinking” and “Less Than You Think”, but musically it builds with tympani drums and an electric guitar that’s on the verge of being jangly. About halfway through is the surprise - eerie strings that sound lifted from Mercury Rev’s Deserter’s Songs swoop in from some dark, winter night, lifting the song to a completely unexpected place. From there the song deconstructs itself, building to an anticlimax with Tweedy repeating the line “don’t let your fortune fail you” as the music falls apart. Here’s to hoping Tweedy starts making music this desperate, fragile, and beautiful again when they record the next Wilco album.

MP3 :: Crack A Smile
(from Down In A Mirror. Buy here)
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John Vanderslice & Bishop Allen Team Up

Two of this summer’s most web-friendly indie-popsters are teaming up for a US tour that will begin in a few weeks and last through most of the Fall. John Vanderslice and Bishop Allen will be joining forces and bringing their respective brand of smart, catchy pop music to audiences all over the country. Both will be promoting their terrific recent albums - Vanderslice’s Emerald City and Bishop Allen’s The Broken String. Vanderslice was recently featured performing songs live from his new album exclusively for some of the biggest music blogs out there. Check that out the list of songs/blogs at his homepage.

Tour:

09/17/07 Orlando, FL - The Social

09/18/07 St. Augustine, FL - Cafe Eleven

09/19/07 Tallahassee, FL - Club Down Under

09/20/07 Atlanta, GA - The Earl

09/21/07 Durham, NC - Duke Coffeehouse

09/22/07 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel

09/24/07 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's

09/26/07 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom

09/27/07 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East

09/28/07 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East

09/29/07 Buffalo, NY - Buffalo Icon

10/02/07 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig

10/03/07 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop

10/04/07 Athens, OH - Baker Theater

10/05/07 Bloomington, IN - John Waldron Art Center

10/06/07 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle

10/08/07 Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry

10/09/07 Omaha, NE - The Waiting Room

10/11/07 Denver, CO - Hi Dive

10/12/07 Provo, UT - Velour

10/13/07 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court

10/15/07 Vancouver, WA - Red Room

10/17/07 Seattle, WA - Neumo's

10/18/07 Portland, OR - Doug Fir

10/20/07 San Francisco, CA - The Independent
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MP3 :: White Dove
(from Emerald City. Buy here)

MP3 :: Click Click Click Click
MP3 :: Rain
(from The Broken String. Buy here)
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New Music - Eastern Conference Champions

If Spoon has the worst album title of the year and Animal Collective has the worst album art then Eastern Conference Champions has, hands down, the worst band name. I picture a guy in a LeBron James jersey behind the mic, maybe some guys in Knicks and Nets jerseys backing him up and a messy kind of second rate rap-rock coming out of the speakers. But there aren’t any wannabe professional basketball players in this band (that I know of), and there damn sure ain’t no rap-rock. But, maybe not to the extent of those other 2 bands (whose albums are both likely to be Top 10ers for me this year), ECC have overcome their poor aesthetic choice and delivered a winning album (no pun intended). Ameritown (ooooh….this band needs some help with names) is their new record out now.

Musically, Eastern Conference Champions are most successful when they steer clear of trying to be too “modern alt-rock” as several of the songs do. Much better are the off-kilter songs, the weirder ones, the ones that make me think OK Computer is their favorite album, not that new Smashing Pumpkins one. Lead singer Josh Ostrander’s voice comes off as a cross between Billy Corgan and Jesse Malin, and for the most part is better than that rather unfortunate combination suggests. They are a tight band that loves to add layers of overdubbed textural thingies over their piano led power pop. Playful, bright, humorous, catchy - not a bad summer record. Potential to maybe someday play in the better Western Conference.

MP3 :: The Box
MP3 :: Pitch A Fit
(from Ameritown. Buy here)
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New Album Streams @ AOL Spinner

It’s a rainy, nasty Tuesday in New York, which in the music industry means it’s a rainy, nasty Release Day in New York. And as release days go, this one is fairly good. Check out AOL’s Spinner for some full album streams of many of the notable records hitting stores (both tangible and digital) today:

M.I.A. - Kala

The New Pornographers - Challengers

Talib Kwela - Eardrum

Architecture In Helsinki - Places Like These

Galactic - From The Corner To The Block

Caribou - Andorra

Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor

Patrick Park - Everyone’s In Everyone

Kinski - Down Below It’s Chaos

Imperial Teen - The Hair, The TV, The Baby, and the Band
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Pretty sure the new Josh Ritter and the new Mendoza Line are out today too.

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New Music - The Lightning Bug Situation

I had never seen the movie Solaris, neither Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 original nor the Steven Soderbergh directed remake from a few years ago, when I received an email from a reader describing a new album by a band called The Lightening Bug Situation. In the email he described being blown away by the correlation between the new album, A Leaf; A Stream, and the 1972 version of the movie. Just like when you were in college and used to turn off the lights and the sound to The Wizard of Oz, smoke bad weed, pop in Dark Side Of The Moon and totally freak that they kinda matched up. I never tried the Dark Side/Oz thing, and I haven’t tried this new combo either. But I never needed munchkins, red shoes, flying monkeys or bad weed to enjoy Floyd, and I don’t need…..well, I don’t really know what Solaris is about……to enjoy this new album.

.
The Lightening Bug Situation singer and songwriter, Brian Miller (½ of The Speakers - who appropriately sound like another band named after audio equipment: The Microphones), seems interested in exploring the passage of time on his band’s album. The 15 tracks include a number of ambient spoken word interludes, all by Miller’s family members, that relate childhood memories over muted stringed keys. These tracks add a certain thematic weight to the album, and act as a sort of aural diary of the people Miller considers closest. The birth of Miller’s daughter, name checked in “Message To Myself After Franny Was Born” and alluded to in song titles such as “Pitter Patter” and “The New Dad”, among others, is another inspiration, and ties together with the recollections of his family to act as, not to get all Elton John on your ass, a sort of concept record about the circle of life.

.

The songs and music that accompany the dialogue is gentle and womblike. Delicate piano and finger-picked acoustic guitar are set beside textural strings and programmed drums, creating a sonic environment that seems to be floating in space. Miller’s vocals are dry and intimate - another effective instrument amidst the serenity. Such a distinctly personal piece of music could run the risk of becoming boring to anyone not related to Miller, but A Leaf; A Stream contains a focused aesthetic flowing through its 15 tracks - peaceful, artistic, haunting, and hopeful - that creates a beautiful and universal song cycle.

.

MP3 :: Under Your Jacket
MP3 :: Message To Myself After Franny Was Born
(from A Leaf; A Stream. Buy here)
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The (Un)Official Okkervil River Internet Round-Up

The new Okkervil River record, The Stage Names, hit stores earlier this month and since has garnered plenty of well-deserved attention for the band. It may not be as sweeping and enigmatic as 2005’s brilliant Black Sheep Boy, but it certainly is an accomplished bit of widescreen indie-Americana in its own right. Plus it has two of the year’s most ferocious rock songs in “Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe” and “Unless It’s Kicks” - a 1-2 album opening punch that’s pretty much unparalleled this year. Find out what the internets think about the new album:

Reviews:
Coke Machine Glow
Filter
Pitchfork
Stylus
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Popmatters
Billboard
Dusted
Austin Chronicle
The Village Voice
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Around the Blogs:
It’s Hard To Find A Friend
Minneapolis F’ing Rocks
Said The Gramophone
Music For Kids Who Can’t Read Good
I Rock Cleveland
Audiversity
Pop Headwound
Rawkblog
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Other Noteworthy Attention:
Blogs Are For Dogs - examines all the “plus ones” in the song of the same name
Wireless Bollinger - an interview with Will Sheff
Under The Radar - another Sheff interview
Jagjaguwar has a pod cast available
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There are 2 non-album bonus tracks if you purchase The Stage Names from a digital provider. iTunes has a song called “Starry Stairs” and eMusic has “Love To A Monster” (which originally appeared on the Overboard & Down EP).

For those who missed out on the pre-order of The Stage Names, which came with a bonus disc of acoustic demos, here is a sample of what you’re missing out on:

MP3 :: John Allyn Smith Sails (demo version)
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MP3 :: Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
(from The Stage Names. Buy here)
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Talkin' New York, Vol 8 - David Shane Smith

Talkin’ New York is a semi-regular feature I like to include on Pop Headwound that focuses on the wealth of emerging local talent in the Brooklyn and Manhattan area. These are artists who have struck me as incredibly talented folks who deserve to have their music heard.
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David Shane Smith isn’t on a label. He doesn’t seem to have a press kit or even readily available promo pics I could use to help me with this post. I had to bug him to send a photo 7 weeks after writing this article when I saw him at an open mic night in Brooklyn the other day. He doesn't sell his CDs, just gives them away. They come in homemade slip covers with cute little drawings of pitchforks and such on the outside. Sometimes they’re even just pieces of magazine paper folded in fancy ways to keep the discs from falling out. The songs on his latest homemade album, Wintertower, are hand written in blue - maybe Bic, maybe Papermate - I can’t tell. Everything about Smith screams low maintenance - hell, each time I’ve seen him perform he’s been in a white V-neck and jeans. But his music, an inventive melding of diverse influences (folk, ambient, indie, hip-hop) creates a sonic world that is both challenging and comfortable, and displays a talent far beyond his unassuming presentation.

First of all, his songs are wildly eclectic, melding the above mentioned influences into something striking and unique. Smith is the type of ever-evolving artist that has a hard sound to pin down because of its constant artistic flux. Depending on the night you catch him you may hear whispers of Nick Drake in his songs, the next one of those crazed murder ballads from the Violent Femmes second album, and another an Amnesiac b-side. Whatever his muse, his music is always gripping, darkly poetic, and full of rich detail that can be strikingly direct or painfully obtuse.

Wintertower is the result of dabbling in looped electronics and mixing it with an almost spoken word vocal approach. It’s the sound of a man and a machine learning to live with and love one another - naked emotion wrapped in 0’s and 1’s. Songs like “Dead Battery”, “Garbage Bag”, and “Wintertower” stack beautifully bleak lines (“I’m like a suicide note blowing in the wind”; “leave your graveyard skin behind”; “sleeping like a crack in the Earth”) against spooked beats and stark sound effects. Images of deserted cities, urban decay, failed governments and Gods, and cold isolation bleed out of the speakers - the world in Wintertower’s songs is haunted and desolate, saved only by the occasional burst of joyous melody such as in the last minute of “Garbage Bag”.

Love Songs was Smith’s previous collection of songs. Consisting of 9 simple, lo-fi folk songs, the album is plaintive and humble, allowing Smith’s voice and words to penetrate undisturbed. Starting with a would be thesis statement - “you can’t keep love/you can’t keep something that’s invisible”, the album traces the side effects of love through the intimate accounts of the lyrics. If Wintertower is more impressive sonically, then Love Songs is easily the more focused and accessible of the two, combining Smith’s sophisticated wordplay with an almost placid sense of melody. “Her Song” is my favorite - a haunting tale of a girl/woman struggling to find her place in a world where men have left her battered and bruised. It has more great lines than some artists come up with over an entire career.

MP3 :: Her Song
MP3 :: The Body
MP3 :: Keep Love
(from Love Songs)

MP3 :: Wintertower
MP3 :: Dead Battery
MP3 :: Garbage Bag
(from Wintertower)
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Talking to David the other night led to a few interesting bits of information. First of all, his myspace page was recently infected with porn spam - lots of it and uncontrollable, so he’s had to start over from scratch with a new page (click here). So go be his friend - he’s lost 800 of them.

Also, his last New York show will be at Brooklyn’s Bar 4 (soon, can’t remember the date he told me, sorry, keep checking their page) before a permanent move out to the West Coast.
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Previously on Talkin‘ New York:

Eric Wolfson
The Cummies
Brook Pridemore
Chris Cubeta & The Liars Club
Creaky Boards
Matt Singer
Wakey!Wakey!
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Friday Shows In NYC...

Friday night is going to have a rather difficult decision for me. You see, two of my favorite New York bands - Here Lies Pa and Wakey!Wakey! - are playing shows within 2 blocks of one another at pretty much the same time. I don’t know what to do other than try to persuade one of them to go on at 10 instead, but I don’t think I’ve got that much sway. Anyway, here are the details. You should definitely check one of them out (eenie meenie miny moe):

Who: Here Lies Pa
Where: Pianos
When: This Friday, 8/17, 8:30

How: Paul Basile (guitar/vocals/)/Patrick Hay (electric guitar/vocals/ladies)/Chris Sahl (bass)/Nick Lombardi (drums/pilfered red wine)

Why: Because their folk-infused indie rock is gaining attention from fans and labels alike; Basile’s earnest, passionate songs are filled with memorable lyrics and melodies; they just went into a studio for the first time, and the result - “Falls” - was time well spent; and because the band has really grown into a tight outfit since debuting back in January. Plus they’ve promised to debut 2 brand new songs.

Stream: Falls
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Who: Wakey!Wakey!
Where: Rockwood Music Hall
When: Friday, 9:00

How: Mike Grubbs (piano/vocals/charming stage banter/all around nice guy)/ some promised guest appearances.

Why: Wakey!Wakey! is a band on the verge of bigger things. They’ll be releasing a live album in September through Family Records (Make A Fist Inside Your Pocket), have been featured on bigger blogs than this one lately, and singer/songwriter Mike Grubbs is a truly revelatory singer who writes songs that need to be heard. Over and over.

MP3 :: Falling Apart (live)
(from Cross Pollination: The Mixtape, Vol.1. Available for free download through Family Records and Liberated Matter)
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