As fans of the indie act Carousel, we were delighted to learn that one half of the duo, Jackson Phillips was embarking on a solo project known as Day Wave. The Oakland based artist has already accrued a combined 500,000 plays on Soundcloud over the last year with his first two releases, and the latest single “Drag” follows the same sonic trend as previous efforts with its ruminative, lo-fi surf-pop sound. Introspective lyrics paired with light guitar strums — along with an intrinsic post-punk nature and a hint of shoegaze set his sound apart from the more synth-leaning Carousel. Listen below.
S. Carey is playing a couple of Living Room Shows in the District this weekend, and since we’ve never featured him before on CCP we figured now is as good a time as any. The Wisconsin artist S. Carey, short for Sean Carey is best known as the drummer for Justin Vernon‘s Bon Iver, however he also contributed to Sufjan Stevens‘ latest LP Carrie &Lowell. Not surprising, as Carey, Vernon and Stevens all seem to have been cut from the same musical cloth. With a background in classical percussion, Carey crafts mellifluous piano lines and drum rhythms in conjunction with earnest vocals to create gorgeous arrangements and affective melodies.
Carey recently released an EP (called Supermoon) of stripped-back songs from his sophomore LP released last year, Range of Light. Get a taste from the latest LP by streaming “Alpenglow” below, and listen to the beautiful dirge “In The Dirt” from his 2010 debut All We Grow.
Kudos if you managed to catch tickets to Carey’s sold-out stops in DC on April 25 and 26, as they are sure to be an intimate affair. However, if you’re lucky you might be able to still snag tickets to one of his later shows.
Sufjan Stevens, the musical genius from Michigan released his new album Carrie & Lowell March 31, and by this point you’ve likely already heard a few tracks if you consider yourself a fan. Named after his mother and stepfather, the elegiac album is essentially a cathartic meditation on death in musical form — after losing his mother to cancer in 2012.
Regarding the record’s subject matter, in a compelling interview with Pitchfork Stevens said: It’s something that was necessary for me to do in the wake of my mother’s death—to pursue a sense of peace and serenity in spite of suffering. It’s not really trying to say anything new, or prove anything, or innovate. It feels artless, which is a good thing. This is not my art project; this is my life.
Without question Stevens’ most profound and personal album should be listened to as a whole, but you can hear a couple of our favorite dirges — “Should Have Known Better” and “All Of Me Wants All Of You” below.
Stevens is going on tour in support of the album next week, and will be bringing his majestic sounds to DC’s DAR Constitution Hall May 5.
Father John Misty, the moniker of Josh Tillman and former member of Fleet Foxes released his sophomore album last month to near universal praise. Misty seems to have mastered the perilous arch between earnest artistry and satirical indifference, as Tillman’s natural talent merged with his unabashed lyricism is a risk that pays off in dividends on the new album. On the ironically titled LP, I Love You, Honeybear, the Baltimore-bred artist bands together a brazenly beautiful collection of music, covering everything from drugs, to religion, to marriage, and so much more.
“Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)” is a melodic, feel-good folk number, appropriately dedicated to his wife and filled with playful harmonies, strings and mariachi horns towards the end. However, our truest adoration lies with the subsequent song to “Chateau,” the more electronic-leaning track entitled “True Affection.” The whole endeavor is worth experiencing start to finish though — find it on iTunes here.
Additionally, Father John Misty will be playing a sold-out show this Saturday at DC’s 9:30 Club so if you got tickets, good on you.
ELELis a new eight-piece based out of Nashville that has been building a good amount of buzz this past year. Founded by Ben Elkins, the epithet ELEL is an amalgam of Ben’s surname and his wife’s first name, Eliska (insert requisite “awe” here). Recently signed to Mom + Pop Records (Andrew Bird, Jagwar Ma, Poliça) the indie outfit is also comprised of musicians Zach Tichenor (keys/guitar/vocals), Tim Cook (guitar/keys/vocals), Jo Jo Jackson (bass/vocals), Alex Mojavarian (drums/percussion), Jerry Pentecost (drums/percussion), Fredrick Weathersby (trumpet/vocals), and Stefan Forbus (saxophone/vocals).
Collectively with their array of instruments, ELEL make exuberant indie pop complete with lo-fi sampling and lots of live improvisation. Prior to the group’s showat DC’s Black Cat with opener Avers tonight, we caught up with frontman Ben, post-sound check in Philly to discuss their self-titled EP that released today.
When did ELEL first come together?
It came together over about a six month period starting about two and a half years ago up, until we played our first show in in Nashville. A lot of us worked at Trader Joe’s, and at the time I was putting together a new band and got into kind of a crunch cause I needed people to play a show. I asked around a bit to see if people were available and lo and behold they were also great musicians. Around that same time I also met Zach at a party and we just hit it off. The two horn players were more of a struggle to nail down initially – I had to keep calling and calling, but once Fredrick came to the first practice, he was in. So it kind of came together in a real neat organic sort of way, which is great.
Can you give us a little insight into what all went into recording the EP?
It was a lot of recording at my house on my computer with just headphones. I like to record old instrumental jazz records collected from thrift stores over the years. I’ll listen through the song and chop out small chords and percussion parts, loop this or that and manipulative them in a lot of different ways – that really makes the song come alive more than just me doing that part with my own keyboard or something. It was a lot of messing around with textures just to get the feel of it down, then we would replace those parts in the studio. I did all the vocals at my house because I like to take my time with that kind of thing; plus I tend to get nervous in the studio setting since you’re paying for it and have all these random people listening to you.
Did you have to get a lot of equipment?
No but I mean I should have if I’d had the money! I just kind of worked with what I had. I borrowed this really neat old broadcasting mic from a friend, which is what I sing the vocals through. It’s a real DIY kind of project, that’s kind of one of the reasons that I’m thrilled that it’s resonating with people, ’cause I worked countless hours and put countless amounts of energy into it but didn’t necessarily have the best equipment.
You’ve talked before about the music industry being overly obsessed with perfection. Can you speak to that a bit more?
Definitely, I think the record industry’s drive towards perfection is mostly motivated by fear. The industry is so scared of taking risks right now because as we all know, for 10 or 15 years or so there’s been a decrease in revenue in the music business. So the reaction has been to not take any chances, and what that means to record executives is to make everything sound perfect. And it’s unfortunate because I think that a lot of the music that’s coming out is so perfectly produced that it doesn’t even sound human anymore. It’s like a photograph that gets touched up on a magazine cover, you know.
For sure, everything’s photoshopped these days.
Uh huh, it’s like that Foster the Peoplevideo where this one model is told to manipulate her body, and by the end of it she’s changed so much that she looks really, really weird. It’s pretty intense – but in a way that’s what’s happening to music. When you hear a live band that’s really groovin, it just impacts your heart and soul. But if you took that performance and fixed all the idiosyncrasies, something would be lost. Humans don’t look or sound perfect – and if we get further and further away from that in our art, to me it feels uncomfortable and it doesn’t resonate as much with people.
What music inspires you the most and who are you currently listening to?
Anything that stirs my soul. Can be anything from 90s garage rock, to jazz, soul, and modern indie bands like Beach House or Local Natives. Also the most recent Flume release is pretty freakin’ awesome. And actually, it may sound strange but I’m not a huge music consumer; I probably shouldn’t say that – it sounds snobbish but maybe it’s the music producer in me that makes me want to change things. Nonetheless, when I hear a song that moves my soul – that’s the kind of music I want to make and contribute to this world.
How did you get connected to the Mom + Pop label?
Julia, the A&R person there found our track “40 Watt” in May 2014. That was a huge moment, receiving that email. I was sitting with my bandmate Tim in front of my laptop after an ELEL practice, and just happened to see the email from Mom and Pop and got so excited that as he was talking I hit him in the chest and was just like, look at this! We both started yelling, giving each other high fives and immediately went into the kitchen to pour tequila shots. And that was just an introductory email!
Haha, well luckily it all worked out. What’s next for ELEL?
We’re touring right now and getting ready to release a couple of videos off the EP, excited to be playing in SXSW this month, then heading from Austin up to the Northwest for a few more tour dates before heading back home.
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LIsten to the EP’s lead single “40 Watt” below — along with a great remix by JackLNDN — and support the band by purchasing the EP on iTunestoday.
Deptford Goth, also known as Daniel Woolhouse is a producer from South London, who once alternated a daily teaching assistant routine with recording sessions at night in his apartment. Daniel’s sophomore LP, simply titled Songs (November 2014) is composed of introspective lovesick pop accompanied with synthesized instruments such as the harp and piano. Listen to “The Loop” on loop below.
Along with myself and ketchup chips (yes), Broken Social Scene’s 2002 release You Forgot It in People is high in the running for the best thing to ever come out of Canada. The big band Arts & Crafts collective’s sophomore release unveiled their notoriously huge roster long before Arcade Fire or even The Polyphonic Spree got around to it, boasting talents like Leslie Feist and Emily Haines along with frontrunners Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning.
It’s a hard album to describe considering the sonic and tonal shifts the album manages to maneuver through. At once it recalls Yo La Tengo, Nick Drake, and a bit of Interpol but the diversity of these comparisons paint an incomplete picture of the album, and serve only to show the variety on offer. Make no mistake, the songs should be consumed together to be fully appreciated, lest the marked shift in styles and tone lose their weight.
A major inflection point occurs towards the end of the album’s first single “Cause=Time,”as the horn section’s languid outro veers the record from catchy rock into more solemn territory. The dour last half of this record, in stark contrast to its opening, presents what are arguably its strongest tracks – chief among them being the diptych of “Late Night Bedroom Rock for the Missionaries and Shampoo Suicide.”
Whereas the first half of the album sports spritely vocals and plucky bass lines, by the time BSS have made it through the eighth track they seem to be grappling with a weightier sense of both mood and rhythm. Between the plaintive vocals lacing “Shampoo Suicide,” the funereal pianos treading through “Lover’s Spit,” and the dirge-like melodies of “I’m Still Your Fag,” the record seems to somberly redden and drop away like the last weeks of summer.
This album came out when I was too young to understand it but I listened to it anyways. Eventually, I grew into and experienced what these songs were trying to express and found myself returning to it time and again. You Forgot It in People endures because in its honesty and richness, it has the unique ability to remain consistently evocative without subsisting on mere nostalgia.
Twin brothers and two thirds of Manchester rock band Doves have started a new venture called Black Rivers. Jez and Andy Williams began recording music late last year and have released their first single, “The Ship.” As you might expect, essences of Doves can be perceived on the track. The brotherly duo’s debut album will be unveiled in 2015.
A couple months back I featured the haunting debut track “In Pictures” for St Tropez, a promising new outfit out of Oakland. Since then, the five-piece with a penchant for psychedelia and ‘bittersweet indie rock’ have dropped a couple more dreamy tracks on their SoundCloud page. Stream their shadowy second single, “Maybe Nothing” below and get lost in the fuzzy synths and atmospheric sound. Where these guys really shine is in their outros — which in this case kicks in around the 3:45 mark so make sure you stick around.
Look out for St Tropez’s debut full length to be released sometime this fall, and keep track of their latest happenings on the band’s facebook page.
D.D Dumbo is the moniker of Australian artist and multi-instrumentalist Oliver Hugh Perry. The structure of his songs are minimal, authentic and complemented by Perry’s reverberated vocals. Looks like a promising future for this young artist that just signed to 4AD, and recently supported Tame Impala and tUnE-yArDs on tour. Watch his impressive performance of unreleased track “Walrus” from an NPR Music Field Recordings session below and purchase his self-titled EP here.
poetry in an empty coke can 