Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

Grayson Currin, columninst for Nashville Scene , wrote an insightful and higly readable review of O’Death’s third LP, Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin . What lifts this particular article from the doldrums in a sea of music reveiws is how Currin presents the album as a metaphor for the digital music age. At a time when so many writers can’t craft a single sentence without opeing thesaurus.com (::cough:: Insound ::cough::), a review like this is refreshing. Currin’s central argument is that sourcing your sound from hundreds (Currin tosses out the "B" number) of influences does not guarantee your band will break any ground. In fact, it will most likely just make your album sound schitzophrenic. From the article: The band represents the label's eclectic aesthetic, then, to a world (minus the dwindling ranks of purists) that's realized through praxis that there's less room for genre strictures. This is the time where Hootie goes country, Nelly jams with Kenny Chesney, Lil...

Happy Birthday, RT. Hope you got my spoken-word cover of Koyanisquaatsi Rough Trade, London label and champion to hipsters all over the world, is celebrating its 30th birthday. And the only present they want is your demo. All you need to do is attend one (or all) of their five birthday parties . They'll have a deposit box outside the door, and you simply slide in your demo. That is if you can fit it inside the slot; no doubt the thing will be stuffed tighter than Beyonce's underwire. However, like me, most of you won't be able to make the trip. Or maybe you just don't want to waste the plastic and paper that goes into a demo CD or tape--because green is the new black, if you haven't been paying attention. Never fear, the ever-thoughtful chaps from the motherland have you covered. You can either email your demo to A&R guy paul.jones@roughtraderecords.com, or snail-mail it to their London addy: Rough Trade Records 66 Golborne Road London, W10 5PS So you really hav...

A summer release just in time for winter Buy CD: The Lord Dog Bird Sounds Like: halfway into your long journey from home, you fully realize the devastating truth you've been avoiding: you can never go back. RIYL: Iron and Wine, Rachel's, Afghan Whigs, moping Response: When Colin McCann went off to make a solo album, I assumed it would be filled with more of the pounding, gritty riffs that he was known for as the guitarist for Wilderness. However, The Lord Dog Bird, McCann's solitary moniker, is one of the most haunting, emotive albums I've ever heard. I would rank it with Master and Everyone , Ugly but Honest , and Devotion and Doubt as an album that wraps a tight, stubborn fist around my heart. If the sense of alone-ness on Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago made you phone your friends just to hear the sound of their voices, then the eponymous album by The Lord Dog Bird will make you feel like every soul on earth is just out of reach. McCann's trebly acousti...

Nickerless, guest blogger and User Interface Designer extraordinaire, is based in London, England I eventually didn't mind that my work bud admitted to "scraping the barrel" before asking me if I'd join him for a Black Keys gig. He had bought two tickets to go see them and had asked everything wearing a skirt and/or a bra, then all those in jockstraps before finally turning to the guy next to him - me - and saying, "I don't suppose you are free tonight?" Well I was... but blowed if I actually knew who The Black Keys were. They were playing at the Carling Academy Brixton in South London, a venue I'd never been to before, but one which draws in a lot of great bands like the Killers, Primal Scream and The Raconteurs. Despite the reputation South London has, especially Brixton, I wasn't stabbed when i got out of the tube. This made me happy. The venue was awesome though. Like most London gig venues, it was an old stage theatre but this had a huge st...

Sounds Like: Thom Yorke, if Thom Yorke were a girl from Denton who played in a punky grunge band. RIYL: The Jesus Lizard, Geraldine Fibbers, The Apes, sitting in the corner of a bar taunting hipsters Response: I ask that you please take note of the un-contemporary (I hesitate to say "old-fashioned") nature of the bands in the "recommended if you like" line. I did that on purporse. Why? Because Record Hop's sound elicits scenes from a bygone era I fondly refer to as "the 90s". An era that saw the rise of dark, dirty music clubs where the walls would sweat more than the audience. The Record Hop dredges up these images for one primary reason: they're from Texas. Texans, you see, have never really been on board with any trend. They can be genre bending and/or genre defining, but they'd never admit it. Texans would hurt me if I said it, but they're kind of America's France. Or perhaps more accurately, America's Quebec (chill out, long...

It's a little like the music blog hall of fame, but with neither the hall nor the fame The good folks over at the [exclusive] Groove Network have invited Duck & Cover (that's us) to be counted in their number. Check out their site. See how many blogs are members? Talk about indie! So, what does this mean to the blog? It means we're in a community of serious music bloggers, and we're referring one another. It's kinda like a bunch of traffic cops in the blogoshpere. What does it mean to you readers? Cast your eyes banner-ward, my friends, and find out. See that horizontal row of links up there? That's the Groove Network. Well, THAT's not the network; it's a bunch of links. Anyway. Go ahead. Click one. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Thanks to Paul from GN for being so groovy as to invite us on board.

Sounds Like: the farther north you go the more constricted your voice becomes; Santa sings in the boys' choir. RIYL: Pedro the Lion, The Thrills, Band of Horses, rearranging the furniture because it's Tuesday Personal Response: While Norwegian band Lukestar is not breaking any ground, they're far from tired. Within the signature pop staccato riffs and big chords there lies comfort in the familiar. Honest and unrepetitive (so long as you don't count refrains as repetitions), Lake Toba belongs on the playlist for your next indie/emo dance party--just be careful trying to sing along. Front-man Truls's vocals take falsetto to new heights, which is tricky for me because I'm a guy who likes to sing along (although recently I've been relegated to drum solos and spoken word while everyone else rocks out to The Darkness . . . bastards). Lukestar is touring the US in the Spring, and will also be at SXSW. Be sure to hop over to Duck & Cover Video to see what...