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

Sounds Like : dancing to the great indie waltz RIYL : Calla, Maritime, 764-HERO, Band of Horses A Few Words : Some of my favorite bands are the ones unknown to others. Obscurity lends a particular allure. Of course, sometimes these little-known bands are off the radar for a reason--and by all accounts should remain buried. Yet I can hardly describe the excitement I feel when I'm introduced to a band who is very clearly about to get a break (or at least deserves to get bigger). I felt it when Flake Music became The Shins, and when Duck and Cover got a hold of a little EP by Vampire Weekend two years ago. This giddiness is welling up again as I listen to Pixie Dust on the Blood Range . Hailing from California, Swim Party employs smooth, calculated riffs reminiscent of American Analog Set, but isn't satisfied with moody grooves alone. Instead of sinking easily into the musical equivalent of a rainy Sunday, they quickly pick up the tempo. Power chords pose for transitions rather ...

Sounds Like : not quite winter RIYL : Animal Collective, Cloud Cult, Samuel Flynn Scott, Belle & Sebastian I waited until Autumn to post Sin Fang Bous, the solo moniker for Seabear founder Sindri Mar Sigfusson, because listening to it makes me reach for a sweater. Or a hoodie. Or a jacket. Anything to keep in the warmth. And, surprisingly, this has little to do with Sigfusson's Icelandic origins. Clangour , the debut Album out now, is laced with eccentric loops and melodies easily mistaken for chill winds howling through Autumn's exposed hollows. Equal parts Animal Collective and Belle & Sebastian, Sin Fang Bous is the music of scarves, fading light, and the sliding saturation and hue of maples. Even the music seems to match the changing season, as Sigfusson begins lightly with a voice and guitar only to re-layer his own singing, add textures, and over-color what he leaves. And although each track could easily be a single release, songs grace from one to the next to cre...

Buy The Pattern Prism from Amazon. Sounds Like: "forget the defibrillator, spark 'em up with Vowels." RIYL: Battles, Stereolab, Gang Gang Dance, Holy Fuck A Few Words: I dropped the press release for Vowels a few weeks ago. At the time I'd only listened to one track, but it was enough for me note something interesting going on. Since then, the 8-song album by UK producer James Rutledge has become a regular part of my daily listening. Although my audio routine may differ slightly from yours. After 9am and my fourth cup of coffee, Vowels grabs me by the ears and, with a gnarly grin, greets me with a fierce head butt. There is calculated madness behind it; from the tremolo syth on "Appendix" to the beats on "Two Wires" that roll and turn like tumbling boulders. Between this and the joe, I'm wired by 10am. Vowels invades again in the evening when there is talk of the pub. "On Up" has become a flat favorite with it's see-saw time s...

Sounds Like: what happens when shoegazers harden up. RIYL: My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Ride, Red Stars Theory, Amateur Radio Operator A Few Words: In high school chemistry, we learned about reactions. More specifically, the reactions that can occur from combining individual and often disparate components. Most of the classes were focused on common syntheses: salts, acids, reducing agents, covalent bonds--you get the idea. Most of it bored me to tears, until one day when our teacher closed all the windows, shut the classroom door, and told us today's lesson was heating ammonium nitrate: we were making nitrous oxide . It was one of the most memorable days in school--mostly because we got high with our teacher and Chrissy H. touched my hand. I may have failed chemistry, but I took away the knowledge that some reactions have an effect greater then the combination of their parts. Take Your Cannons , for example: the individual members hail from Colorado, Sweden, England, and Th...

Buy Lay It On Me from Amazon.com Sounds Like: Gospel bespectacled blues rock seeking damnation over salvation. RIYL: Cold War Kids, Rolling Stones, BRMC A Few Words: There was a time when rock 'n roll was the norm. And I don't mean Smooth Rock, Heavy Metal, or (::shudder::) Country Pop Rock; I mean Rock and Fucking Roll. I mean three-sheets-to-the-wind, kick-a-hole-in-the-wall Rrrrrock. Yet in today's contemporary music scene with its myriad of genres, good rock is as difficult to come by as a Family Values Republican who isn't getting some on the side . But have faith, there is hope; Vancouver-based Minto is one more band keeping good 'ol rock 'n roll alive. While it's more accurately defined as blues rock, Minto's sound will make you toss your pint down your throat and pump your fist in the air--heck, you might even give a rebel yell. The enormity of the band is well-captured on their latest, Albini-produced album, Lay it On Me , but you really nee...

Sounds Like: It's going to be a cool, cloudy kind of day RIYL: Bon Iver, Elliot Smith, Age Pryor, Nick Drake, Iron & Wine A Few Words: Hands up, who like sad songs! That's right, we all do. Or maybe nobody does--I can't actually see your hands. I just assume people like sad music because musicians keep making it. And also because I like it. And since the sun isn't out today, I've been listening to the acoustic musings of young, East Coast singer-songwriter, Peasant. I had to through "young" into the adjective list because Peasant (Damien DeRose) was 19 when he self-recorded his first album, fear not distant lover , in his 1 bedroom apartment. With another release in 09 ( On the Ground , distributed through Team Love ), he's now off on a European tour. Upon his return he plans to record a third album, Shady Retreat , on his own in a converted springhouse studio in the woods. It's easy to lump Peasant in with other Americana, Folk, or the gamut o...

RIYL: The Dodos, The Dirty Projectors, Atlas Sound, Blitzen Trapper Sounds Like: Art rock you can dance to. A Few Words: Despite their somewhat awkward name, Here Is What Is sounds and performs like musicians bound for larger venues. Their short EP ( Done Before it Starts ) is the musical equivalent of stuffing a watermelon into your back pocket, yet they accomplish the feat with ease. While just over 30 minutes long, the EP is filled with ethereal harmonies floating over lyrics as tight and punctuated as the underlying, danceable grooves. I had the good fortune of catching their CD release party at Vancouver's Media Club, which only reinforces my earlier melon-in-back-pocket analogy. For those who've been, you know how small the stage is; fitting four musicians up there is a challenge, on a good day--let alone five. But up they went--the entire quintet--and launched into their set as though there was enough room to contain their massive sound. The pace and structure of the ...

RIYL: Flaming Lips, David Byrne, Flotation Toy Warning, Cloud Cult, Broken Social Scene Sounds Like: Concept albums: not just for Prog anymore. A Few Words: I get my music in a myriad of ways, most of it dubious and downright sneaky. But sometimes I manage to procure a legitimate review copy of an album. It just so happens that my Twitter obsession helped me fill the shoes of "honest blogger" for once. If Twitter needs another success story, I'm willing to throw Umbrella Tree into the pile. By following a fan's tweet, I got in touch with the band and was very soon getting an earful of their latest album, The Letter C . At first blush the album appears to revolve around a nautical theme. Swaying 3/3 signatures will suddenly shift like the seas into rockier, more disjointed patterns. And with track names like "Ocean Sober", "Starfish", and interludes called "Periscoper" (A through C) it's easy to assume they're taking us down in ...

Organic sweetener for saccharine shoegazers RIYL: My Bloody Valentine, Wye Oak, Sonic Youth, Sully, the heavier side of Yo La Tengo Sounds Like: Musicians with the talent to capture both their angst and the irony of their angst. A few words: I confess: I'm a sucker for shoegaze. When my friend Drew played MBV's Loveless for me back in the 90s, I thought I'd found the best record of all time. And while Loveless is still arguably the quintessential shoegaze record, the genre has evolved remarkably, as is evident on the third record from Northfield, MN band Gospel Gossip . The album exhibits everything a shoegaze fan will be looking for: dreamy layers of distortion, frenzied drumming, and songs well past the 3 minute mark. But Dreamland has elements that raise it above the generic; most notably are Sarah Nienaber's vocals, through which we can hear (shock horror!) discernible lyrics. I can't tell you how relieving it is to finally be able to stare at my sneakers AN...

"[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...

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...

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...

Sounds Like: It's 2am on a clear, early autumn night and your friends say, "let's go to a club;" the song that pops into your head. RIYL: The Presets, Riton, Human League, Depeche Mode, LCD Soundsystem Personal Response: The invitation is white with red letters reading "Dance Hall, Rm 16", and the outside looks familiar enough: iron door, dark facade, bass you feel in your feet--your stock standard dance venue, you say to yourself. You knock on the door. Woodhands answers wearing a black tie, white oxford shirt, and black trousers. "Meh," you think as you saunter past. You begin to get settled into a run-of-the-mill room full of boogie tracks when Woodhands shuts the door behind you and starts re-arranging all the furniture. What follows is a twisted, dark scene from Dragonball Z: You watch Woodhands's face go from average to pleased-yet-slightly-creepy. "That's right," says Woodhands. "You thougt we were just ripping off ...

Just when you thought modern music had lost its soul . . . While New York City churns out dance pop, Seattle cries tears of indie rock goodness, and Los Angeles provides us with all our Garage Punk needs, Chicago keeps relatively to itself: an introspective tinkerer, dabbling in the dazzling. From Chicago we get Steve Albini, Touch and Go Records, Cap'n Jazz, and now Light Pollution. The press release I received states that Light Pollution is, "never stagnant, and constantly expanding their musical horizons. [The] music is a kaleidoscope of sound, encompassing everything from backward tapes to dissonant piano rolls to even crunching leaves." In short, a band that is doing something interesting. And we like that. We receive a lot of music here at Duck & Cover, but Light Pollution stood out. As it played through we all sat back on the couch, put our hands behind our heads, and someone muttered, "Ah. Real musicians playing real music. So rare these days." Indee...

Guest blogger Justin Z takes a break from hammering to reflect on something he may or may not have heard before. Hypothetical Auditory Amnesiamania is a mental condition where the subject secretly or publicly desires to experience amnesia for the sole purpose of listening to something they've already heard before and experiencing it again for the first time. Some people have this desire with movies or books as well, craving that initial thrill the mind undergoes when it first watches or reads them. In lieu of beating yourself in the head with a hammer (which only has a small percentage of causing amnesia, anyway) you can listen to Pickin' On Modest Mouse by Iron Horse. To truly appreciate this music, you have to meet two qualifications. First, you have to like bluegrass. Second, you have to have listened to enough Modest Mouse to consider yourself a Hypothetical Auditorial Amnesiamaniac. If you meet these two qualifiers, then you owe it to yourself to supplement your HAA ...

Montreal do-gooders Wolf Parade surprised me with their first album, Apologies to the Queen Mary . The Isaac Brock-produced record was laced with creepy off-key melodies, and singles like "Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" could carry me through a day as though I had my headphones firmly clamped around my noggin. At Mount Zoomer , however, goes off in a direction all its own. This time, the Wolf boys themselves turned the dials in the studio and the product is all the better for it. The story goes that when the band sent the finished album to Sub Pop, they included with it a small note: "No singles." This little white lie was propagated by the label itself as a tongue-in-cheek response to the direction Wolf Parade took with their sophomore effort. There are, of course, singles. Nothing like "Sons and Daughters" or "I'll Believe in Anything", mind you. "Grey Estates", "Language City", and "An Animal in Your Care...

I've always had a soft spot for hard core. I think it goes back to when I was in grade school. As hormones started raging, Bon Jovi and Whitesnake just weren't cutting the angst anymore. Pantera was an obvious choice. But again, my tastes evolved and Pantera was just too simple. When I found Nirvana I'd thought I'd found, well, nirvana. And into high school it was Ministry, Helmet, and the heavier side of grunge. I remember nights sfter theatre rehearsal Justin, Josh, and I would sneak cigarettes in the parking lot while trying to determine who was better at headbanging. To this day, I believe those evenings did more brain damage than all the college keggers put together. Today, the musical genres of "hard" number into the ridiculous: heavy metal, death metal, puff metal, grindcore, thrashcore, mathcore, growlcore, screamo, punk rock, noice rock, Scandinavian costume rock. I'm not making this up (well, I made one of them up, but it's not the one you th...

D&C brings you music; we never said it was going to be NEW music There is grindcore, and then there is fury. Daughters falls into the latter category, but theirs is a worrying kind of fury: mathematical, purposeful. These are the controlled explosions of geniuses--geniuses who are very, very upset. From the first second of the first track, Daughters attacks from every angle: fast, screaming, loud, and (this is where they transcend mere scream-o) disjointed. To steal a Parkcow device: Daughters is what would happen if Napalm Death and Mr. Bungle had a baby, and it was raised by Deerhoof. They make bands like Blood Brothers and Black Mountain sound as harmonic as church choirs. In fact, the only facet where Daughters could be considered "light" is in terms of length. Clocking in at just over 12 minutes, Canada Songs is a frenzy. I was completely finished with the album before I'd finished my tea. Note: does not go with tea. So who cares of the album came out six years a...

The album title says it all . . . Ready, Fire, Aim are a little electro-pop group being pushed by a marketing firm called Two Sheps That Pass . Don't ask me what "Two Sheps" are and why they're passing, and be careful before visiting their website. I think it was thrown together by a first-year design student: poorly cut graphics, repeating background, misalignment, and images used as text. Seriously, I should do an entire post on the website alone, but this blog is about music. Music, and sometimes shoes, but mostly music. I couldn't find an angle by which to approach the review, though. Ready, Fire, Aim aren't my cup of tea. Too verse-chorus-verse. Too, I don't know, wimpy. I mean just look at the album cover! Is it a boy band? Is it a metal band? Is it a car logo? Who knows?! However, while listening to This Changes Nothing I realized exactly who would like this album: my friend Scot in New Zealand. Since he doesn't read my blog, I'm using him ...