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

"[I Was a King]'s self-titled album confidently weaves together shoe gaze, indie rock, and pop to create a product that can appeal to both the cynical and the cheerful." - NPR Buy I Was a King from Amazon Sounds Like: Elefant 6 RIYL: Sonic Youth, Apples in Stereo, The Thrills, The Clientele, My Bloody Valentine (circa Strawberry Wine) A Few Words: Noregian fuzz pop quintet I Was a King marries Byrds-era flower power melodies (so readily employed by The Clientele) with the distortion that set apart bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine. The result isn't earth-shattering, but it has something that Apples in Stereo always lacked: subtlety. The album, which features collaborations from Sufjan Stevens, Danielson, Ladybug Transistor and Serena Maneesh, clocks in at just over 30 minutes. Yet the robust composition, layering, and instrumentation makes it feel more like 35--maybe even 40. The tracks tend to be void of guilt or angst, musing instead on the decadenc

Guest post by David Schutz Buy Here Anonymous from Amazon. Sounds Like: They’re on the verge of an iPod commercial RIYL: Shins, Built To Spill, Film School A Few Words: At first glance, Eulogies' second, Here Anonymous , comes across like it’s pre-fabbed for Apple’s ad division. Driven by Peter Walker’s restrained, lilting vocals (a la Shins, Chairlift, Shins), the quartet engages for the most part in jangly, mid-tempo, middle-of-the-road indie rock. When they’re going through the motions (“This Fine Progression”, “Eyes on the Prize”), they’re predictably boring and ultimately marketable. But sometimes they throw a wrench in the formula and things get good. “Bad Connection” is weighed down by a subtle melancholy that Walker seems bent on trying to sing his way out of. The resulting tension creates a more complicated emotional landscape than on other songs, where optimistic and dejected feelings tend to inhabit different sections, fearful of stepping on each others’ toes. “Da

Music producers and musicians, ranging from Frank Z to Chuck D, discuss (well, rant about) the demise of the music industry. As most of us know, the music industry as we knew it in the 80s and 90s is already dead, but the remaining litigious execs in the RIAA are holding the last note of their swan songs as long as possible. Will the digital music "revolution" replace the old model with something better? I think the jury's still out on that one, but judging from the fact that both Bacardi and Starbucks have a music division, the horizon is not entirely sunny. The original post and commentary can be found on CrunchGear .

I just wanted to take a minute to say 'thank you' to everyone who submitted music. Mere minutes after the Help post , the Duck & Cover mail box was innundated with suggestions. To be honest I was surprised. Not that I believe D&C readers don't care, merely because there was so much good stuff I hadn't heard before. So, thank you, everyone. Everyone, that is, except Mark, who suggested Medeski Martin and Wood. Does this look like a Trustafarian blog? Have you read a reveiw of Phish on here? No. No, you haven't. Just kidding. I appreciate all the emails, and I'm excited to get started writing things down. You'll hears tunes from An Horse, Rainbow Arabia, The Forcefield Kids, Naam, Quest for Fire, and Low Anthem. . . Christ--there are so many! I'm suddenly realizing how much work I have before me. I better get typing. Thank you again, team listeners. Sincerely, Jamie

Help! For the past two weeks, my inbox has received a steady flow of new tunes from various labels and media agencies. The problem is that everything just sounds contrived and heartless . I know I've been guilty in the past of just posting whatever comes through (apologies for that. It was a momentary lapse of judgement), but I've been careful to restrict my reviews to music that is not only under-the-rader, but more importantly music that is unique and interesting. Duran Duran impersonators and imitators of Pet Shop Boys just don't make the grade. So I need your help. What have you been listening to? Send me a link to some tracks, a MySpace page, an mp3: anything. I need to break free of this rut! Send your emails and files to duckandcovermusic[at]gmail.com. And hurry! Yours truly, Jamie

Guest post by Dakin Snyder The show, advertised to begin at 9:30pm, didn't start until well after 10pm, with the organizers citing "technical difficulties", likely resulting from OWL's web feed. The crowd was somewhat lethargic and entitled at first; the kind of vibe that can be expected when you put too many hipsters in one room (enthusiasm on command is not our forté) until it was apparent that Snoop was on the way out. All of this changed when Snoop hit the floor, and the evening only went up from there. Snoop played a mix of old and new, bringing out a selection of special guests, (the names of which I didn't fully catch and haven't been able to track down; so apologies) including the phenomenal DJ Quik, creating a near variety show atmosphere. Towards the second part of the show, when the chronic smoke began wafting up from the floor and Snoop's uncle got down with a smooth r&b number inviting everyone to "smoke weed, get drunk, and fuck&qu

Dakin, former blogger for D&C, gets ready to sip gin and juice with the d-o to the double g We here at Duck & Cover are fans of using technology to the advantage of musicians and artists, and are excited to experience firsthand Our World Live's HD webcast of Snoop Dogg's private show tonight at the Avalon in Hollywood. The "secret" show is the perfect showcase of how social media and the internet may be exploited to best serve an artist. For instance, a series of cryptic tweets on Snoop's Twitter had us scrambling to Griffith Park Dog park Saturday afternoon for the chance at some free tickets. While the Griffith Park set under represented (2 present, and both bloggers!), we're told by the publicist for the event that 25 showed at Silver Lake, and a whopping 75 at Runyon Canyon in Hollywood. All told, 200 tickets were distributed to the general public, with the message also being broadcast by Snoop on Facebook and Myspace; again, an experiment in uti

Currently on Tour with Cloud Cult as well as Margot and the Nuclear So-and-Sos Sounds Like: Pure, down home indie rock. RIYL: Wolf Parade, The Decemberists, Built to Spill A Few Words (courtesy of Jessi Hector from Sneak Attack Media ): Ice Palace's haunting sophomore album, Wonder Subtly Crushing Us will be available April 21st through Earthology Records . Ice Palace is the first band to join Cloud Cult on eco-friendly Earthology Records roster. The Minneapolis, MN five-piece released Bright Leaf Left in 2007. The melancholic Wonder Subtly Crushing Us is the culmination of roughly 20 years of writing, steming from the band's overly creative lead singer and songwriter, Adam Sorensen. After assembling some of the best talent in Minneapolis, in some of the most unexpected recording spaces (from Minneapolis’ Sound Gallery studio to a bedroom closet), the album was handed to Craig Minowa of Cloud Cult for final mixing and production at his Earthology Records studio. With the band

Sounds Like : Joe Strummer time-traveled to the future, kidnapped Ezra Koenig, they both smoked a pile of ganga and reinterpreted Somalian funk. RIYL: Vampire Weekend, LCD Sound System, Black Seeds, wrist bands, flirting with hipsters A Few Words: It's difficult to dislike a band that spits out sick little rhymes over beats all crunched and distorted, especially when summer looms. With spring fully sprung, many of us are itching to put our shades on and take our pants off. The currently unsigned gents from Texas who call themselves Honey Claws are right there to help with at least one (if not both) of these actions. Check out the mashed up rasta styles on "Pemperor," their graciously released free mp3 . Bring on the sun.