3 minute entry: The Teenagers

The Teenagers are playing their last show tonight of their tour with Crystal Castles and These New Puritans sponsored by Vice magazine, who has given them free rein to stumble around England, Scotland and other 'lands' playing free shows with special DJ guests! The tour's called UNITAUR, but that's winding down tonight at Goldsmith College. So if you're around, just sign up here and have fun. They've got more tour dates after playing Festival Des Inrocks in their old city, Paris and going back home to London for a show at Se One with Gods Average Speed. Then the trio will be swinging through Brazil and gracing us with a slew of major US cities and two Canadian stops sandwiched in the middle.

I was first hooked by The Teenagers' remix of Au Revoir Simone's "Fallen Snow" last year and their debut full-length is on its way to the finish line just waiting to trip up your feet. Just to name a few, they've remixed Simian Mobile Disco, Lo Fi Fink, Air, New Young Pony Club, Chromeo, etc, you can hear almost all of their remixes at The Teenagers' Remix MySpace. They've only released a couple of their own songs, but each and every one of them is perfect, meticulously stroked, and labored over, tweaked to the glowing songs they are, into well...pure gold! Their latest single just came out and it's called "Starlett Johansson". It's available on Merok Records and if you're lucky you can still purchase their previous singles and the Homecoming EP from Rough Trade Records.

Mostly, their songs are about what every stereotypical hormone-clogged teenager thinks about and yeah they're a little foul-mouthed, but these three guys are not apologetic about it. They make music for music's sake, and these guys know what they're doing or rather they don't really know or care, because they're just playing music for pure fun and maybe that's better than trying to dig deep in this land of talk/hype.

Tour Dates:

11-10 London, UK - Goldsmith College (Vice UNITAUR)
11-11 Paris, FR - Boule Noire (Festival Des Inrocks)
12-08 London, UK - Se One
01-18 Sao Paulo, BR - TBA
01-19 Rio, BR - TBA
01-22 Los Angeles, CA - Echo
01-23 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland
01-24 San Francisco, CA - 330 Ritch
01-26 Chicago, IL - Sonotheque
01-27 Toronto, ON - Social
01-29 Montreal, QC - TBA
01-30 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
01-31 New York, NY - Hiro Ballroom
02-01 Philadelphia, PA - Pure
02-02 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Starlett Johansson | The Teenagers

Links:

» Purchase Starlett Johansson
» Purchase Other Releases
» The Teenagers Official Site
» The Teenagers' Official MySpace
» The Teenagers' Official Remixes MySpace
» The Teenagers' Official Blog
» The Teenagers' FanClub MySpace

~anne

3 minute entry: Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader)

*latest update on 01/17/08*I've been meaning to post about Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader) ***the project name has been changed to Jimmy Two Fingers*** for a long time, boy that's a mouthful, but somehow I never got around to it. What with sweater season right around the corner you might think it's just cold where you are, but it's really his music that's raising goosebumps along your forearms.

It's his deep cavernous voice that you'll fall for first, but then you'll find his lyrics will linger in your head throughout the day. One-liners will make themselves at home such as, "I'll find a hole in the sun and put stuff inside it, and if it gets too full the lights go out and my world will come undone, like this..." in Astronomy (Undone), which then leads to this beautiful banjo part, with backing tambourines.

When you're hearing the songs for the first time, try and listen to the lyrics and instead of following the different instrument parts, no matter how beautiful they are! It'll be hard I know, because I didn't truly listen to the exact words he was singing for about half a year. I was so distracted by the variations of rough and soft nuances of his voice or I'd just get so caught up in waiting for the banjo part to unveil in "Astronomy" or let my mind get wrapped around the falling piano keys in "Curtains". When I finally listened to the lyrics throughout the full song, it was like listening to a whole new song.

I don't know a lot about the guy behind this project except, he was nice enough to send me some songs when I asked if he had any songs I could put on a blog. His name's Jimmy Magliozzi and he has a myspace up for the project, which I linked below. He's also in a four-person band called The Beaux Champs, that is in another musical vein; they put out a full length this summer called Hold Your Fire.

Stream + Download + More:

Astronomy (Undone) | Jimmy Two Fingers

Curtains | Jimmy Two Fingers

Links:
» Jimmy (A Good Name For A Boy Or A Crusader)'s Official MySpace
» The Beaux Champs' Official MySpace

~anne

3 minute entry: The Monks Kitchen

*latest update on 09/12*

I found myself a few weeks ago knee-deep in a completely, utterly, tangled, wonderful mess that a London band called The Monks Kitchen makes. Their music warmed up my room and gently nudged a stack of folded laundry and shifted around a few pictures hanging on the wall to make it feel more like home. It's the kind of mess where you know exactly where everything is and if you tilt your head you can instantly hear the guitar part by itself, the bass stands out stockstill, and the drums march on alone, but tilt your head the other way they all join hands and soon enough you hear the whole song alive settling into your furniture, your room, your home.

The Monks Kitchen is comprised of four childhood friends and is due to release a six-track EP called The Wind May Howl on Sept. 17th. Their sound calls upon some of Simon & Garfunkel's friendly acoustic charm and Bishop Allen's homemade feel, and their wandering, mellow melodies could sit comfortably and play tic-tac-toe with Midlake's own.

Their debut EP, The Wind May Howl will drop down its six tracks on Sept. 17th. Right now you can hear its single, "Bringing Hurricanes" on their MySpace, so trust me and click on over to their page. We may or may not get a track for readers to download in the near future, so just sit tight. For the ones who are lucky to call England home though, The Monks Kitchen will be playing a handful of shows starting Sept. 8th.

To purchase the single or to pre-order the EP if you live elsewhere, just order it online here.

Tour Dates:

09-08 London - The Gladstone
09-13 London - Louvana
09-18 London - The Proud Galleries *The English Maid (a boat!)*
09-23 Birmingham - This is Tomorrow
09-28 Manchester - Up At the Redbricks
09-30 Nottingham - The Maltcross

Links:

» The Monks Kitchen Official MySpace
» Purchase single/Pre-order the EP
» More info on the tour

~anne

3 minute entry: Ola Podrida

∞

{I've been down with a serious case of blogger's block(is that what we call it now?) so although, my mind can't find the right words to describe a band, my ears still work and this band is nothing short of perfection.}

Sometime back in December, Ola Podrida's forlorn piano keys collapsing on one another in "Pour Me Another" took my breath away. There was something arresting about David Wingo's voice, its huskiness and soft, whispery parts were unforgettable. Now there is something we can hold in our hands and spend an evening sitting beside the stereo. The Brooklyn band's debut album was released this Tuesday with a tracklisting of 11 folky-Americana songs.

The self-titled album is old-fashioned, it's made carefully with nimble, beautiful acoustic finger-picking creating a lush landscape, but don't let it fool you. Some songs will start out ever so quietly, but wind up slipping in a backdrop of guitar noise underneath trailing "ooooohs" like in "Cindy". With "Jordanna", it begs me to give in and drop Okkervil River as a reference, but the climactic parts of the song are more toned down than Will Sheff's idea of a good time.

It walks about your room with a helplessness that you can't help but stop whatever you're doing and listen as a concerned friend would, it's hard to ignore when someone is singing "Some folks just don't give a damn/whether they're coming or going/Hey man/take a stand/When you're up put yourself back in place" or "Here we go/I don't know/If there's any point to it all/but I sure love hearing your voice". "Instead" is likely to hush and silence the honking horns during morning commute and the only problem left would be making sure you don't fall asleep on the wheel. They re-recorded "Pour Me Another" with a fuller piano sound, but other than that everything else is still left unchanged.

Right now, it seems there are only two dates up and both are in Brooklyn, but if there is good in this world, there will be more dates. To sample the album, Vice is offering five full-length tracks available for streaming.

Tracklisting:




Ola Podrida (self-titled)
(Plug Research Records)

1. The New Science
2. Jordanna
3. Instead
4. Cindy
5. Photo Booth
6. Run Off The Road
7. Day At The Beach
8. Lost And Found
9. A Clouded View
10. Pour Me Another
11. Eastbound

Stream + Download + Purchase:

Jordanna| Ola Podrida

Instead| Ola Podrida

Links:

>>> Ola Podrida's Official MySpace
<<< Purchase self-titled album
>>> Stream five full-length tracks from Vice

~anne

3 minute entry: Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo.

Hmm, doesn't ring a bell right? Yeah they're still pretty small. But try googling them and you might come across search notes such as "David Bowie." Yeah if you go on, you'll find out that the famous David Bowie, likes Fanfarlo.

"I've heard four or five of Fanfarlo's songs now, and, like a few of my other favourites, they have that particular knack of being able to create uplifting music that's blessed with a delicious melancholia at the same time. [...] I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more of Fanfarlo. "

- David Bowie

I damn well agree with Mr. Bowie on how uplifting Fanfarlo's music is. They only have several singles out as of now, but it's enough to keep you on your toes. Fanfarlo mentioned in an interview on Playlouder that they wanna create an upbeat sound that you would get if you combine Sufjan Stevens and The Arcade Fire. So you have 6 band members from London, add a violin and a trumpet with that, the upbeat sound of Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, and finally a recommendation from David Bowie. What do you think you'll get? Gah!! Just go and listen to the song below!! Then head on to their myspace and listen to more songs!! Please!!

The single, You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us is now available, along with the song In the Trunk. You can purchase that over here.


You Are One of The Few Outsiders Who Really Understands Us | Fanfarlo

Here's a cute stop motion video of the song above. Enjoy!





Links:
>>> Official Site
<<< Myspace


-Charlie

3 minute entry: Fionn Regan

∞

*latest update on (01/27/07)*

Soft-spoken, but strangely confident is his delivery of the twelve songs off Fionn Regan's debut album, The End of History. His voice glides up and down notes with the guitar so smoothly that you'd think the two were one instrument.

What will keep strangers listening to a song of Regan's though is the work of his clever melodies creating a song from beginning to end that reels in even the most unwillingly listener. This is without relying on much else other than an acoustic guitar, a few strings and foot tapping here and there. Don't underestimate the sound of one acoustic guitar, Regan makes the instrument fill the room, quiets it into a whispery lullaby and wakes it up creating climbing waves of intricate finger-picking giving the song, highs, lows and every volume inbetween.

Turning those strangers into loyal fans is his songwriting. He grew up in a coastal town outside of Dublin called Bray, Ireland, which can be pointed back to his frequent details of coastlines, hills and rock pools... Seeing as the lyrics he writes are incredibly short, a sure fan of the traditional verse, chorus, verse, chorus; it's interesting how he can use so few words to trigger so many images that will stick in the listener's mind.

His debut album, though released last summer in Europe is still unavailable in America. He's signed onto Bella Union, fellow Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice's record label, Heffa and Australia's Etch N Sketch. Gearing up for another tour, Fionn Regan will start it off in Bristol next Monday, Jan. 29th and will preform live on the Meteor Ireland Music Awards for his two nominations as Best Irish Male and Best Newcomer, to vote, go here. He will be supporting Damien Rice on some dates and will be joining a nice lineup for the Australia's Laneway Festival. *Regan will also stop byAustin, Texas for South By Southwest and currently scheduled for another US date at New York's Mercury Lounge on March 20th.* Scroll below for all tour dates!

Digging deeper you'll find Fionn Regan isn't exactly new to the music scene at all, in fact he has released two EPs and a single before The End Of History. The only one left available to purchase is the limited edition(1000 copies!) of the five-track, Hotel Room EP released in 2004. To find out more on Fionn Regan please read the two articles I linked at the bottom, especially the one from Drowned In Sound, very interesting stuff.

Tracklisting:





The End Of History | Fionn Regan
(Bella Union/Heffa/Etch N Sketch)

1. Be Good Or Be Gone
2. The Underwood Typewriter
3. Hunters Map
4. Hey Rabbit
5. Black Water Child
6. Put A Penny In The Slot
7. The Cowshed
8. Snowy Atlas Moutains
9. Noah (Ghost In A Sheet)
10. The End Of History
11. Abacus
12. Bunker Or Basement

Stream + Download + Purchase:

The Underwood Typewriter| Fionn Regan

Put A Penny In The Slot| Fionn Regan

Black Water Child| Fionn Regan

Links:

>>> Fionn Regan's Official Site
<<< Fionn Regan's MySpace
>>> Vote Meteor Awards
<<< Buy The End Of History
>>> Buy Hotel Room EP
>>> Read more: Drowned In Sound
<<< Read more: Gigwise

Tour Dates:

01-29 Bristol - Thekla
01-30 Sheffield - Boardwalk
01-31 Liverpool - Barfly
02-01 Dublin - Meteor Awards (live preformance)
02-06 London - Dingwalls
02-07 Brimingham - Glee Club
02-08 York - Pocklington Arts Centre
02-09 Dipton - Cap-A-Pie
02-11 Glasgow - King Tuts
02-12 Aberdeen - Tunnels
02-15 Perth - Fremantle Theatre
02-17 Adelaide - Thebarton Theatre
02-19 Melbourne - Palais Theatre
02-20 Melbourne - Palais Theatre
02-22 Sydney - Enmore Theatre
02-23 Sydney - Enmore Theatre
02-24 Melbourne - Laneway Festival
02-25 Brisbane - Tivloi Theatre
02-25 Melbourne - Laneway Festival
03-03 Brisbane - Laneway Festival
03-04 Sydney - Laneway Festival
03-16 Austin, TX - Stubbs
*03-20 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge*

~anne

3 minute entry : Habitat

I wanted to wait till the start of 2007 to write about this band. I was going to write about them before 2006 ended but I didn't want them to end up in the end of the year pile, they deserved better.

Another beautiful band coming out from our neighbour from the north, Habitat, a harmonic duo from Guelph, Ontario. The first time their songs grazed my ears, the sound of the familiar keyboards reminded me of the trio Au Revoir Simone, and hints of softness in the vocals a lot like Camera Obscura. I was immediately hooked. The vocals from Sylvie Smith and John O' Regan along with the pulsating sound of the keyboards create an easy going and catchy tunes that you can't ignore. I just wish I knew where to get their ep which I heard had a nice hand made sleeve. But for now, I'm stuck with their songs on myspace.

Next Year - Habitat

Concrete Love - Habitat


Links:

Myspace

An interesting Habitat bootleg from Bootlog


-Charlie

3 minute entry : Eglantine Gouzy

If you know me very well, you know that I'm an avid fan of the French language. I can never get enough of French musicians and French flicks, especially ones starring Audrey Tautou. But I made a mistake in high school and decided to take three years of Spanish instead of French thinking it would help me in the future, so far it hasn't. Even though I don't understand diddly jack except for a couple of phrases, I still love and appreciate French, It's just sounds so soft and fluid to the ears.


Here we have Eglantine Gouzy, I've been meaning to write about her for months now but something always comes up and I end up posting about someone else. You might recognize her from the "4 Woman No Cry" 2005 compilation from Monika Enterprise, if not then you might wanna check that out, it has three other interesting foreign female musicians. To me, Eglantine Gouzy's sounds crosses between a French Bjork, a pinch of electro pop and a tiny hint of Coco Rosie. If you absolutely love having the fluidity and beauty of French streaming in your ears, then you'll definitely love Eglantine Gouzy.

Sorry folks, she's only touring the Paris area right now. Boo!


from her latest album, Boamaster.

Boa - Eglantine Gouzy

more songs

Buy Boamaster

Check out 4 Woman No Cry


-Charlie

3 minute entry : Magic Bullets

I mentioned Magic Bullets a couple of weeks ago in my Voxtrot show post, and this Bay Area band has been on repeat on Chan (my mp3 player) ever since. Their hip swaying beats are seriously infectious and unstoppable.

It's sad to say that I'm not familiar with a lot of San Francisco musicians, I'm too caught up with what's coming out from Austin and somewhat ignoring my own turf. This band is slowly changing that. After seeing these guys, I'm much more open to the sounds of San Francisco. We'll make our mark on the map soon, I hope San Francisco can be the next Austin, or the next Montreal.

Magic Bullets is a band that will no doubt have you shaking and burning the dance floor. This band who "keep their hair and songs short" can easily headline a show with no disappointments. They will release their debut c.d titled "a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love" in early 2007.

For now, we only get a tiny slice of the hot cake.

Lay Low - Magic Bullets

New Kicks - Magic Bullets

more songs

Tour Dates: (they're only touring the San Francisco Bay Area right now)

Nov 29 2006 - Bottom of the Hill w/ Nightmare of You

Dec 11 2006 - The Knockout-- DONUTS



-Charlie

3 minute entry : Joanna Newsom

Her debut cd The Milk-Eyed Mender came out two years ago which got a lot of thumbs up from bloggers and fans. I got a taste of Joanna Newsom a couple of months ago and got hooked right away. A cousin of San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom ( who's doing a good job by the way), Joanna's sound is nothing I've ever heard before. With her individualistic vocals and her angelic harp, everything sounded so new and different, yet, I was liking it. If you're not familiar with her, you'll be suprised with what comes out of your speakers when you play one of her songs. Joanna Newsom is literally a one of a kind musician.

Her second c.d titled Ys comes out this tuesday. A 5 track cd that's about an hour long, yeah, imagine harmonic chapters of her harp and her voice. If you wanna get into Joanna Newsom, I suggest getting into The Milk-Eyed Mender first.

The Milk-Eyed Mender

Sadie-Joanna Newsom

Buy The Milk-Eyed Mender

Ys

Cosmia - Joanna Newsom


Buy Ys


More mp3's.


-Charlie

3 minute entry: The Decemberists

{Photo by Autumn de Wilde}

Somehow describing The Decemberists with words alone has always been hard.

Take one:

"I think you'll like this band called The Decemberists,"
"Oh yeah? What do they sound like?"
"Uhhh...well they sing sea shanties...kind of."
"What the?! I don't know you..."

The better route is handing them one of their albums: Her Majesty, Picaresque, or their latest album, The Crane Wife. They would immediately join you in the puzzle of trying to describe Colin Meloy & Co's catchy 'sea shanties'.

I found on their website a really neat video of a "photo shoot with The Decemberists". It shows how many people are actually behind the scenes bustling around with makeup and backdrops for a few photos. It is also humorous and gives a nice view of The Decemberists just being themselves. Also the photographer in action in the video is Autumn de Wilde, who has captured the memorable images of Elliott Smith, Beck, Jenny Lewis, Spoon, Death Cab for Cutie and so many more. We here at cameracrowd are in awe over her work and we hope you realize how much work goes into the photos in magazines lining the shelves at Barnes & Nobles. If you do swing by the bookstore, the latest issues of FILTER and Under the Radar magazine have The Decemberists on their covers. So if you want to learn more about them, stop by the bookstore, when you're picking up their new album, The Crane Wife. Here are the rest of the photos that came out of the photo shoot!

Links:

>>> Photo shoot video with The Decemberists
<<< Final photographs that came out from the shoot
>>> The Decemberists official site
<<< The Decemberists MySpace
>>> Buy The Crane Wife
<<< Autumn de Wilde's website
Enjoy reading with a cup of coffee/tea:

FILTER

Under the Radar

Downloads & purchase:

from The Crane Wife:

>>>Summersong | The Decemberists

~anne

3 minute entry: Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins Live @ the 930 Club

To those of you who didn't know, Jenny Lewis had a sold out show in Washington D.C and was webcasted live on NPR.org. If you missed it, i have life saving links for you. This webcast serves as a consolation prize to those who will miss Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins on tour this fall, a good example of that would be me, but Anne will be seeing Jenny this following Sunday!

I set up two links that will let you download the show but in different formats. The NPR.org link is one big file, the downside, it doesn't have Handle Me With Care and the vocals are a bit low. The other link, which was provided by Rilokiley.net, has all the songs separated into 18 different files. Although not bunched up into one big file, these have a better quality than the NPR.org download.


****Please, be kind and don't stream the files. Right click and Save as.

NPR : Jenny Lewis in Concert

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins : Rilokiley.net download

Jenny Lewis Fall Tour


-Charlie

3 minute entry: Voxtrot: Your Biggest Fan EP

Anne and I go cuckoo for them. Like the rest of the blog world, we just can't get enough of them. And they're releasing another EP.

Guys and Gals, we're talking about Voxtrot.

The new 3 tracked EP titled Your Biggest Fan comes out November 7th, you can preorder it now at Insound for just 4 bucks! Come on, you spend more money during lunch, 4 bucks is nothing!
The new track titled Trouble has that trademark "let's burn the dance floor" sound that voxtrot carries around with them. So here it is, yes, we're sharing it with you, cause sharing isn't just for preschoolers anymore.


Trouble - Voxtrot

October and November Tour Dates

OCTOBER
Thu 26 - Houston, TX - Walters On Washington &
Fri 27 - Denton, TX - Hailey's AA &
Sat 28 - Austin, TX - Emo's AA !&

NOVEMBER
Wed 1 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
Thu 2 - San Francisco, CA - Popscene [330 Ritch] 18+ *
Sat 4 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall AA &
Sun 5 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle 21+
Mon 6 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom 18+
Tue 7 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom 21+

Tickets Here


-Charlieee

3 minute entry: Maestro Echoplex

Just came across Maestro Echoplex, the project of a "Johnny Fountaine", who is actually Andrew Spencer Goldman, talk about secret identities. There is beautiful soft layering of his voice and a gentle guitar traveling along with not a care in the world. Yes, the songs are long-winded like the long names, but we need more of this napping music anyways. He had his 2001 EP, Last Night I Saw God on The Dancefloor re-released courtesy of Catbird Records in July and, you can purchase it here for only $6 in return for 30 minutes of music that will make your cat purrrrrrrrr.

My Eyes Are Disconnected From My Head Is Disconnected From My Body| Maestro Echoplex

~anne