Kristian Matsson, better known by his stage name “The Tallest Man on Earth” is a folk singer of Swedish origin. TTMOE has a sound all his own, interweaving complex acoustic guitar runs with raw, passionate, and often cryptic vocals. His songs are remarkably simple, instrumentally for the level of their musical complexity. Generally, they...
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I definitely work based off recommendation. As Cathy from Sargent House Records has tweeted recently, Gypsyblood is a favorite new band she is pumping. Of course this is a good thing since SHR line up has some of the best musicians in the indie scene right now… and when SHR says a band is...
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MakeupBreakup is something between interesting and dirty. On one hand, this album makes me feel like I’m listening to power-pop from the 90s. On the other hand, this makes me want to go to a show and get turned down by stuck up hipster girls. In either case, this music is definitely emotive… to...
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Lately, many bands have been toying with the idea of many EP releases rather than a full length album every one to two years. This almost completely eliminates the idea of the extended length concept album. Enter Light Chasers by Cloud Cult. A seemingly traditional concept album about a journey of some sort, the...
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I hate blatant rip off bands. Owl City aka The Postal Service pseudo-cover band. Neon Trees aka The Strokes pseudo-cover band. I hate it. It’s up there along the lines of a sampled song that gets more popular than the original song (Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say” aka sampled version of Imogen Heap’s “Hide and...
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Somewhere between Russian Circles and Mineral exists the hybrid band that suffices both tastes. On one hand, the assassin-like precision of Chicago’s Russian Circles… on the other hand, a vocally charged Mineral or Sunny Day Real Estate type vibe. I wouldn’t necessarily picture Russian Circles with a singer like this, but as far as...
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I suppose sooner or later, an overly-catchy, extremely poppy album comes out of any genre. Yes, even that of the shoegaze catalog. Not saying there weren’t shoegaze anthems before. I was a huge Carrisa’s Wierd supporter for years on end. Shoegaze itself teeters between “music for a college-made indie film” and “music to make...
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This is a little different for everyone, I believe. The funk/soul 60s/70s sound is sort of an in-and-out gimmick for most bands. The first time I heard the doo-wop sound in any one-off fashion was from Saturday Looks Good to Me and the song “Since You Stole My Heart”. I fell in love with...
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Not too many times am I outspoken about my star-struckenness (sp?????). Geoff Farina has been an inspiration for years for me: from Karate to his small-room solo live shows in the Boston area to Ardecore and Glorytellers to now. I’ve even gone so far as to email about guitar lesson rates because I truly...
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Not too long ago, Shane interviewed Fang Island about what they were into. They mentioned Roky Erickson’s newest album, so I decided to take a gander. Usually, from what I noticed, favored bands have interesting tastes in music that usually have no connections (or at least very subtle connections) to the music they play....
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