Fort Lean: A place of thoughtful, sound construction
Brooklyn musicians Keenan Mitchell (Vocals, Guitar), Zach Fried (Guitar), Will Runge (Keyboard, Guitar), Jake Aron (Bass), and Sam Ubl (Drums) are the architects of Fort Lean — a band officially established in 2011. On a foundation of equanimity, they have worked slowly but steadily, building Fort Lean with blueprints outlining honesty and sincerity. Rejecting facades...
Cast off yer hazmat suit: Dirty Projectors’ ‘Offspring Are Blank’
Directed by Dirty Projectors’ own David Longstreth, this new clip for Offspring Are Blank is part of the band’s ambitious Hi Custodian short film series. Additional videos to complete this series — The Socialites and Swing Lo Magellan — will debut tomorrow (December 13th) and Friday (December 14th) respectively via Pitchfork TV.
Because Christmas is coming: ‘Twinkling Lights’ by Office Romance
Taken from festive three-song EP, https://itunes.apple.com/album/i-love-holidays-feat.-syd/id575623598I Love the Holidays, post-punks Office Romance bust out of their mold to debut the holiday-inspired, iTunes Single of the Week, Twinkling Lights.
All is calm, all is bright: A Christmas Q&A with Tess Henley
It’s safe to assume that it was her mother — a professional singer — that gave Tess Henley her natural ear for music. It’s equally safe to assume that it was her dad — a record collector — who honed that ear by schooling Tess on iconic rockers like The Beatles, Tower of Power, and Steely Dan. In that spirit...
Ra Ra Riot release ‘When I Dream’
From their forthcoming third release, Beta Love, comes Ra Ra Riot’s newest track, When I Dream. Hitting January 22nd on Barsuk Records in the USA and Europe (and on Arts & Crafts in The Great White North), fans can reserve a copy of Beta Love at the links below. For a live fix, see the...
Because Christmas is coming: A ukelele version of ‘O Holy Night’
This is what a guitarist, composer and singer/songwriter — named Jon DeRosa — who studied classical and flamenco guitar while idolized Glenn Danzig and memorizing the entire output of 4AD and Projekt Records sounds like when he covers a Christmas classic using only a ukelele. “‘O Holy Night’ is perhaps the single Christmas song I grew up...
Montreal’s Yamantaka // Sonic Titan announce Ontario dates
As brand new members of the Paper Bag Records family, Polaris Music Prize-shortlisters, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, will usher in 2013 with exactly six sensory-attacking dates in Ontario. The multi-faceted in multi-mediums act will pit stop in Peterborough, Ottawa, Kingston, Guelph, Toronto and Hamilton. The complete itinerary is below. ___ Yamantaka // Sonic Titan Ontario...
While you were sleeping: Jack White played Conan
While you were nodding off to dreamland after two heaping bowlfuls of homemade chili (which, incidentally, induced several pulse-spiking zombie dreams), Jack White tore through rompin’ Blunderbuss single, I’m Shakin’, on last night’s edition of the CONAN show. The fuel-injected performance — powered by Jack’s all-female band — was made complete by one of White’s always-electrifying...
Blood Red Shoes debut ‘Water’ EP
Having just wrapped a UK tour with New Jersey’s The Gaslight Anthem, Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes debut the heavy, noise-flooded EP, Water, scheduled for a January 21st release. All three tracks (listed below) were recorded on American soil by John Congleton (The Roots/The Walkmen/Explosions In The Sky). Pre-order it here. Blood Red Shoes’ Water...