Tuneage

Andrew Bird - “Heretics”

Violins, guitars, glockenspiel, whistling…Andrew Bird is able to take this amalgam of instruments and use it to create wonderful indie music. As the former leader of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Bird has managed to find a sound all his own.

One of the most compelling aspects of Andrew Bird’s body of work is his ability to recreate it in a live setting. Using loops and effects and any other technology available, he allows you to watch the songs develop right in front of you.

This song is off of his most recent album, Armchair Apocrypha which, while not as solid as his former releases (Weather Systems and The Mysterious Production of Eggs), still helps to solidify Andrew Bird’s spot as one of the best indie artists creating music today.

Comments (View) and 13 plays since davekoen posted this on 16 Jun 08

indie folk rock andrew bird

The Morning Benders - “Damnit Anna”

Durning a late night music binge I stumbled upon a band called the Morning Benders.  To be honest, I still don’t know much about the band aside from what is on their website but I do know that I love their subtle, wonderful harmonies and their songs about love and loves lost.  

Another subtle and usually overlooked aspect that this band embraces is creative album art.  Their (seemingly) hand painted album cover for “Talking Through Tin Cans” is a welcomed change from the usual photoshopped drab that accompanies most of today’s albums.  

Comments (View) and 4 plays since davekoen posted this on 06 Jun 08

the morning benders indie pop

Heartless Bastards - “Done Got Old”

If you’ve ever washed the stamp off your hand just to see if the bartender ID’s you again, then this song is for you. If I’m the only one who does that, and you simply want to hear a young woman who sounds like Janis Joplin, then here. Erika Wennerstrom and her band, Heartless Bastards, are currently in the studio working on a third album with producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon). They’ve opened for Wilco, and they played at SXSW 2005. The lyrics are soulful just like her voice, and she plays the guitar and piano. She’s much closer to 30 than she is to 20 in case you were wondering. 

Comments (View) and 9 plays since musicbrain posted this on 04 Jun 08

heartless bastards blues indie rock

Detachment Kit - “Music for Strobelights”

Have you ever heard of a band that can write the most amazingly beautiful and touching songs you’ve ever heard and then follow it up with incoherent screaming and yelling?  I have and they are called Detachment Kit.   

Their music defies genre… just ask them…

“I think we are relative to the current indie scene, but we’re not card carrying members of any particular genre. Actually, my card is all maxed out. What we are looking for is debt relief.”

This makes it very difficult to pick one song to showcase.  It would take 5 or 6 songs to even begin to chip away at the depth of this band but since we only have one to work with it will be “Music for Strobelights”.  For what ever reason, this song has always been a personal favorite.  Most likely because the guitars and vocals portray an air of shyness and innocence while the percussion tries to fool you into thinking it is tough.  If it was possible to convert people into audio, this song would be me.    

Comments (View) and 413 plays since davekoen posted this on 20 May 08

detachment kit indie rock

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton - “Telethon”

It’s getting late out here on the West Coast, and only a lullaby will put me down. From 2007’s EP What Is Free To A Good Home?, “Telethon” is the most tranquil song I can find on my hard drive.

Emily Haines, a member of Broken Social Scene and boundless lead singer of Metric, is at her best when a piano is the main compliment to her gentle voice. She tends to sound exhausted and vulnerable, so lyrics like “I hang my hands over your eyes to hide” fall softly with a ton of emotion packed right behind.

Currently, all focus is on Metric recording their next album and touring, so we’re stuck with just 2 Soft Skeleton releases. What Is Free To A Good Home? is a short arrangement of quiet songs that work as well at 3am as they do on a rainy day, which isn’t much different from her 2006 full length Knives Don’t Have Your Back. Where the EP does gain some momentum is with “Sprig”, a poem written by Emily’s father Paul that she sings over slightly psychedelic music.

Also, Hi! I’m Courtney. I’m your newest Tuneage contributor. I’m not normally this solemn with my music choices, but I had a long day and it was this or the Smoking Popes, and Emily Haines is easier on the eyes and ears. I’ll be a more upbeat next time!

Comments (View) and 511 plays since courtneyj posted this on 18 May 08

emily haines indie

Stoney - “Jailbird”

A reader e-mailed Tuneage recommending Stoney a few days ago. This morning, his album The Scene and The Unseen dropped through my letterbox, and it only took a couple of listens to realise I’d found my favourite album so far this year.

Stoney is a British musician that got started in his basement in Sheffield — home to multitudinous great musicians — in 2001. Since then, he’s supported the Arctic Monkeys, played at Glastonbury and SXSW, and garnered critical acclaim from various British publications, including NME, for his latest album, The Scene and The Unseen.

This track is one of the singles, and the first track, from The Scene and The Unseen. You can, and absolutely should, download three more from his website and stream another four on his last.fm page. And after that, I highly recommend buying the album.

Comments (View) and 617 plays since nostrich posted this on 17 May 08

stoney indie rock electronica

Lunavelis - Lexicon

The Cleveland music scene has a very strong history dating all the way back to the creation of Rock and Roll.  The musicians are diverse but included in the list are names that you know…

One name that you may not know (yet) is that of the band Lunavelis.  Their sound is their own so who better to describe it than lead singer/songwriter and PR Department, Chris Feran…

“If coffee and Jolt Cola set aside their differences and made a rock band, it might sound a lot like Lunavelis. The group’s melodic, emotive pop appeal combined with heavy use of electronic and digital instrumentation makes Lunavelis’ music as attractive as the members of the band.”

It doesn’t sound so pompous when you find out that it is all true.  The song posted here is the second version of their song Lexicon that will be released with their forthcoming Rest of the World EP.   

Comments (View) and 473 plays since davekoen posted this on 07 May 08

lunavelis rock indie electronica

Flobots - Handlebars

Flobots are a hip-hop group out of Denver that I stumbled across earlier today. Having had the album on repeat since then, I’m impressed. (You can stream the entire albom on Last.fm.) And I’m not usually a hip-hop fan.

They’re undeniably a hip-hop group, but with a classically-trained violist and a trumpet player in the lineup, they’re a little different from what you might usually expect. This isn’t gangsta rap, or anything like that; these guys aren’t rapping about drugs, bitches, or money. They’re very progressively political; every single track on Fight With Tools, their first album, makes some mention of current events or world history, but in a refreshingly positive and optimistic way.

“Handlebars”, which is getting a lot of play on alternative radio stations in the US at the moment, is a little catchier and more accessible than the rest of the album (very much single material). It’s not as immediately political, either, but only because it’s a little more subtle and creative with the lyrics than the rest of the album. They compare a child bragging about his ability to ride his bike without handlebars to world leaders bragging about military capabilities.

I love this album — and I say that as someone who’s not a fan of hip-hop, generally speaking — and I can’t recommend it enough. From what I’ve read, Flobots are a band that show what they’re really capable of when they play live, and I intend to find out for myself in they’re ever in the UK.

Comments (View) and 663 plays since nostrich posted this on 26 Apr 08

flobots indie alternative rap

Band Marino - American Patriot

Band Marino are an Orlando-based quintet that turned up in Tuneage’s inbox this week. From the first track I heard on their MySpace page — delightfully-named Every Time I Make A Girl Cry I Know I’ve Done My Job (with vocals very reminiscent of Jacqui Abbot) — I was hooked.

Having obtained their self-produced album “The Sea and the Beast”, their range and diversity becomes clear. They’ve got fun, catchy tracks like American Patriot, that effortlessly slide into Bluegrass-y breakdowns like Chasing Rainbows. On top of all that, there are mandolins, harmonicas, banjos, and even accordions. It’s hard not to think these guys would be right at home in a tent at a folk carnival somewhere in the southern states.

Luckily, they’re not. They’re producing music for us, and touring the US right now. (Details on their website.)

Comments (View) and 337 plays since nostrich posted this on 21 Apr 08

band marino indie rock

Jawbreaker - Unlisted Track

I love the simplicity of this song. Unlisted Track  is the last song off the 1995 release Dear You, which ended up being the band’s last album together. It’s interesting to think that the band wanted to break up after recording 24 Hour Revenge Therapy in 1994. They stuck it out for an extra year to support Dear You!

 I recently got back into Jawbreaker and found it really hard to pick a song to post. I enjoy the rawness of their sound. I like the fact that it’s easy for something that is so simple to be so ‘refreshing.’ It’s a nice break from the more over-produced music of today.

Rumor has it that there is a documentary being made at this very moment on the band. Perhaps a few shows are a possibility in the future? 

“You can’t sell me incense, my world smells good enough to eat…” 

Comments (View) and 248 plays since rockuboff posted this on 16 Apr 08

jawbreaker punk rock indie