Rating: 6.5
San Francisco duo Two Gallants seem to attract their fair share of trouble. A run-in with the police, unfortunately ending in an arrest and a night in jail, and the legal battle that ensued has left Adam Stephens and Tyson Vogel scarce time to grace us with a full-length effort. The Scenery of Farewell satiates with a calm(er) set of recordings from sound checks and radio appearances.
Rating: 7.0
Maybe it’s the humidity, but Immaculate Machine’s music conjures up images of cropped-haired liberal arts girls wearing American Apparel panties and high socks dancing in dorms. It’s either erotic or infuriating, a feeling I sometimes run into with indie pop releases that are painted with pastels, keyboards, and clean guitars. But as I will say again and again, if there’s substance in the music, those imaginary theater majors can dance in my head as long as they want. The Canadian trio’s whimsical approach to tune-crafting on Fables weaves a lovely tapestry of jangly hits that stick like glue.
Dear Confessor [mp3]
Art Brut on Conan Tonight. Unfortunately, so is Carlos Mencia.
Tiny Mix Tapes: A letter to R. Kelly. Also, Trapped in the Closet chapters 13-30 will finally be released July 24th.
Pitchfork: Deerhunter keep poop log. (Pun intended)
Touch and Go Records: Stream and pre-order brand new Pinback track, “From Nothing To Nowhere”. New album Autumn of the Seraphs to be released September 11th.
Rob and Zack are exhausted after burying a few dead bodies under a mossy hilltop
VBS Vid: Everyone loves Battles! (Except for one person I know.) Check out this boozy interview and practice session.
Aversion: Tom from Snow Patrol was arrested. The article doesn’t say why, so it’s pretty much useless, but we at usounds want to say- Stay strong Tom! You are one of the few who honestly answered our weird and borderline inappropriate interview questions. I love you man.
Rating: 5.9
Ryan Adams has been a busy guy. The dreamy-eyed North Caroliner has put out five albums in the last three years, garnering him more than the average amount of press for his excesses…especially since his excesses involve heroin and cocaine. Now you might think that five albums is a lot for that span of time, but speedballs ain’t called speedballs for nothing, and the same obstructions to productivity that the Average Joe on the street might face don’t mean jack to Mr. Adams.
New York’s gothic chamber pop band, Rasputina, is led by classically-trained cellist Melora Creager. Creager spent the last two years scouring over daily world events and adapting them into new songs that may be found on Rasputina’s sixth full-length album Oh Perilous World! recently released on June 26th. Melora was kind enough to answer a few questions for usounds about the new album and tour.
usounds: Can you describe what the two years of your life was like? Will your next album feature current events, or was that too depressing?
Melora: I lived in NYC. I read a lot about climate change, then Hurricane Katrina happened, and I did not want to live in a city anymore. So I moved to the country, got used to that extreme switch and worked on the album all the while. I didn’t find it depressing. Opening my eyes to the world today called me to action in lots of ways. I won’t limit or predict what I’ll write about.
usounds: You wrote a song based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 in New York. Since you are originally from Kansas, a state that has some fairly notable past events, do you ever see yourself writing a “shout out to your homies” song about William Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence, Kansas or something like that? Or do you not get back to Kansas all that often?
Art Brut added to Bumbershoot festival; poses nude for NME.
Pitchfork: Calexico tour and release new album Tool Box.
New Mando Diao streams for “Wildfire” on Real Audio or WMV.
Rolling Stone: The Beatles will soon be featured in a diaper commercial.
“All You Need is Luvs”
NME: The White Stipes play wacky gig venues on bus, in bowling alley and from inside a Honey Bucket.
Live vid of Destroyer playing brand new song, “Foam Hands” at Calgary’s Sled Island Fest: