Freelance Whales released their sweet and honest debut album in September of 2009, but audiences are still getting acquainted with this tenderhearted quintet from Brooklyn.
Frontman Judah Dadone (lead vocals, banjo, acoustic and electric guitar, synthesizer, bass) drew on inspiration for the band’s name from a near drowning incident in the Sea of Galilee when growing up in Jerusalem. He was seeking to grasp a rock to prove that he reached the bottom, but found it difficult to regain the surface. The Israeli fisherman who pulled him out called him in Hebrew a “freedom whale”, which then metamorphosed into the increasingly familiar name. The reference to the musical mammal and the gesture to a do-it-yourself attitude ties Dadone together with bandmates Doris Cellar (bass, harmonium, glockenspiel, synthesizer, vocals) (lead vocals, banjo, acoustic and electric guitar, synthesizer, bass), Chuck Criss (banjo, bass, synthesizer, glockenspiel, harmonium, acoustic and electric guitar, vocals), Jacob Hymn (drums, percussion, vocals), and Kevin Read (acoustic and electric guitar, glockenspiel, mandolin, synthesizer, vocals).
The members of Freelance Whales found each other through friends of friends and through Craigslist in 2008 as a result of Judah Dadone’s posts aimed at musicians who might fill his imagined sounds on unusual instruments. The band further bonded at a remote, eerie, abandoned farm colony on Staten Island where a friend suggested they videotape a performance. This late 2008 evening marked the first time the 5 brought their acoustic instruments together and performances throughout the mazes of NYC subway system evolved from the experience.
The collective honed their sound almost exclusively on the stages and subway platforms of New York City. At 2009′s end, the band journeyed on their first tour supporting the highly-orchestrated, swelling indie pop of London’s Fanfarlo. Several crowded performances at SXSW brought the band’s buzz to new heights after Spin named them one of 50 “Must Hear Bands at SXSW” and NPR simultaneously referred to them as “a band to watch this year” after a live appearance on All Songs Considered. 2010 saw an April re-release of Weathervanes on both Frenchkiss and Mom + Pop, the later which houses hot indie sensations Sleigh Bells, Metric, Tokyo Police Club, and Ingrid Michaelson. “Generator ^ First Floor” and “Broken Horse” were heard on NBC’s Chuck and the CW’s One Tree Hill. Soon audiences found Freelance Whales on tour with Bear in Heaven, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Shout Out Louds, and Tokyo Police Club.
Weathervanes is beautifully poetic and full of pastel imagery that somehow make stories of ghosts and nightmares enchanting. “Generator ^ First Floor” begins the bundle of storied tales which wrap the listener tightly for the album’s 46 minute duration. Dadone softly sings, “We’re finding every day several ways that we could be friends, And in our native language we are chanting ancient songs, And when we quiet down the house chants on without us.” This youthful optimism reveals the core of Weathervanes. “Hannah’s” chorus tempts the artful dreamer by calling “if you’re attracted to the night sky, if you’re vaguely attracted to rooftops”. “Location” follows Dadone searching for his ghostly sweetheart with mood filled lyrics contrasted with honeyed harmonies and hopeful banjo strums within the interludes. “Starring” is reminiscent of Ben Gibbard’s Postal Service with its infusion of electronics and synths mixed with Dadone’s soft vocals creating an electro pop gem with rolling choruses and a banjo solo to briefly interrupt the electric flow.
The poetic story within “Broken Horse” follows the animal’s wintertime journey away from confinement with haunting, intertwining, and overlapping vocals. “Danse Flat” is strangely sparse and slightly spooky as it lures the listener into the depths of a deserted house with the sweet tune of a music box turning. “We Could Be Friends”‘s powerful ascending guitar lines, keyboard meanderings, and rock beats lift the song’s luscious lyrics, “I am convinced that we should be friends, We compare our hearts to things that fly, But cannot land.”
Throughout Weathervanes, Freelance Whales make the most of each moment where vocals are absent to imbue the sound with numerous effects, xylophone tinklings, and atmospheric murmurings. The songs rest among similar tones, which create a sweet whole while deeper listens allow the distinctions to settle in. Most of these differences lie within lyrics crafted from Dadone’s childhood memories and dream journals.
Freelance Whales is currently on their 3rd U.S. tour following summer performances at Sasquatch! and Lollapalooza. Try not to miss them before they rise to another level and the intimacy now to be gained is gone.
Remaining Fall Tour dates…
Mon, Nov 27th – Hi-Dive / Denver, CO
Wed, Dec 1st – 7th Street Entry / Minneapolis, MN
Thu, Dec 2nd – Lincoln Hall / Chicago, IL
Fri, Dec 3rd – The Basement / Columbus, OH
Sat, Dec 4th – Brillobox / Pittsburgh, PA
Sun, Dec 5th – Mohawk Place / Buffalo, NY
Tue, Dec 7th – El Mocambo Club / Toronto, ONT
Wed, Dec 8th – La Sala Rossa / Montreal, QC
Thu, Dec 9th – Middle East / Boston, MA
Fri, Dec 10th – Iron Horse / Northampton, MA
Sat, Dec 11th – Lily’s Pad / New Haven, CT
Tue, Dec 14th – Johnny Brenda’s / Philadelphia, PA
Wed, Dec 15th – Webster Hall / New York, NY
Brooklyn-based indie-rockers Bear Hands have been working the scene since they emerged in 2006 and broke out as a New York buzz band in 2007, after the release of their debut EP. Four year straight at CMJ and three years at SXSW plus opening slots for a number of influential indie artists have provided them fresh fans along the way, but the release of their first LP, Burning Bush Supper Club (Cantora Records, 2010) is the long-awaited piece solidifying the band’s locale on the indie map. Bloggers went crazy for the album’s two singles, “Crime Pays” and “What A Drag”. The full record was released into the atmosphere on November 2nd.
Like fellow labelmates MGMT, Bear Hand formed as a result of their Wesleyan University connection. All four members graduating from the Connecticut school. TJ Orscher (drums/vocals) and Val Loper (bass/percussion) used to be members of an emo hardcore band called In Pieces. In August of 2006, Rau (vocals/guitar/keyboard), arguably one of their biggest fans, asked the two to flesh out some of his musical ideas and record a demo with him. The three rapidly realized that there was potential for a band and Bear Hands was born. Ted Feldman (guitar/percussion) joined soon after to fill out the sound. The four members of Bear Hands grew up listening to punk music and together meld those young influences into their driving, melodic, and vocal rock heavy explorations.
The band’s quirky, hook-filled new record is filled with distorted, reverb heavy guitar lines, pulsing beats, and Rou’s soulful falsetto. His gritty, strangely melodic vocals bring up comparisons to Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock and MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden. Abstract lyrics also form the basis of BBSS and lend to its artfulness. “Tablasaurus”’s cryptic lines meld with layers of sound atop a hypnotic tabla sample. The album ebbs and flows between atmospheric tracks like the deeply textured “Wicksey Boxing” and the slow-building “Julien” and rock-heavy screamers like “Blood and Treasure”. “What A Drag”, the album’s standout pop track, contains solid images that tease and pull you until the song’s infectious chorus about her “goddamn long nails” forcefully hits.
The band’s sound has evolved since the release of the Golden EP in 2007. The band’s early instrumentation was founded upon two guitars, bass and drums. Since then, the songs have become more danceable and rhythmically oriented with additions of keyboards, samplers and programmed drums. This was partly due to the influence of Chuck Brody (Lykke Li, Santigold) who produced both albums.
Over the past three years, Bear Hands has opened for a long list of indie sensations including MGMT, Vampire Weekend, The XX, Les Savy Fav and has toured across North American and Europe with Passion Pit, Obits, We Were Promised Jet Packs, Hockey, Manic Street Preachers, and Mayer Hawthorne and The County. Dylan Rau was classmates at Wesleyan with MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, who selected Bear Hands on numerous occasions to be one of their opening acts. Bear Hand’s shows are known to be deeply powerfully and sonically textured.
Stop by the Larimer Lounge to catch them live on Wednesday, November 24th. The band will be finishing up their fall tour at locales across the midwest and northeast through mid December.
11/24 – Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO
11/26 – Schubas, Chicago, IL
11/27 – MOTR Pub, Cincinnati, OH
11/28 – Lager House, Detroit, MI
11/29 – Sneaky Dee’s, Toronto, ON, Canada
11/30 – Casa del Popolo, Montreal, QC, Canada
12/1 – Great Scott, Allston, MA
12/2 – Pearl Street Clubroom, Northampton, MA
12/3 – The Met Cafe, Pawtucket, RI
12/16 – Lilly’s Pad at Toad’s Place, New Haven, CT
12/17 – Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
“What A Drag”
I’m smearing a look, in a bottomless pit.
I am sending my love, but they won’t let it in.
You are dragging me down, I am punching a tree.
When I fall back now, deeper and deeper.
You’ve got them long nails, I’m dreaming of your god damn long nails.
You’ve got them long nails, I’m dreaming of your god damn long nails.
You have your finger so deep.
Listening is really just a valueless deed.
When you live underground, it’s the way that you sleep.
It’s the light in your hair, it’s the weight of the breeze
and when I fall back now, deeper and deeper.
deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper.
deeper and deeper, deeper and deeper.
You’ve got them long nails, I’m dreaming of your god damn long nails.
You’ve got them long nails, I’m dreaming of your god damn long nails.
You have your finger so deep.
School of Seven Bells trigger psychedelic expeditions into colorful soundscapes infused with the sensual vocals of twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and the ethereal guitar wanderings of Benjamin Curtis. Their multi-layered songs are saturated with melting guitar tones, lush vocal harmonies, raw synths, electronica-edged beats, and heavy production. The band’s love for rhythm, atmosphere and melody is overwhelmingly apparent throughout their explorations.
The members of School of Seven Bells met on tour supporting Interpol in 2004, Curtis performing with Secret Machines and the Dehezas with On!Air!Library!. When first exposed to his future bandmates, Curtis perceived a rare vibe and communication between the girls and fell deeply in love with the sound. Alejandra revealed to Curtis her dreams for a collective entitled School of Seven Bells. The name stems from a fabled training academy of thieves and pickpockets in Columbia. They began making music here and there and by 2007 put some tracks together that they had affection for and released them as the Face to Face on High Places EP. That same year, the band began touring and had the fortune to support both Blonde Redhead and Prefuse 73 on the road.
Initially, the group spent time translating elements programmed in the studio to other musicians who could fill them out in the live setting. Soon, they began featuring the tracks as originally created. If the sounds were programmed, they’d leave it that way, and if they played them themselves, they’d play it on stage. The sound became more honest and the evolution was liberating, enabling the group to remain a trio.
School of Seven Bells’ debut album Alpinism was released in 2008 on Ghostly International. The trio fused their two disparate previous projects into a new sound anchored in gorgeous, winding melodies and beguiling synth backdrops. The recording is glittery and uplifting, peaceful and hymn-like, yet at points dark and tension-filled. Each track is a distinct being, possessing its very own magic. The distorted vocals on “Chain” gorgeously lean in the direction of Black Moth. And at points, School of Seven Bells recall another one of Brooklyn babies, St. Vincent. In 2009, they supported Alpinism on tours with both Bat for Lashes and Black Moth Super Rainbow.
The trio recently announced that Disconnect from Desire, their 2nd full-length release, will drop via Vagrant/Ghostly International and Full Time Hobby in Europe on July 13th. The album, produced by band member Benjamin Curtis and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig, was recorded in the band’s home studio in Brooklyn. “Babelonia” is the gorgeously fuzzy first track off the album, which they’ve released for free into the blogosphere.
“From the start, we knew we wanted to make a record that connected on more of a direct and personal level than we ever had before,” Curtis revealed in a statement regarding Disconnect. “It’s a complete account of our lives this past year, and it’s crazy how taking an honest look at yourself can tell you the most about the world around you.”
In support of the release, the trio will perform one date at The Echo in Los Angeles on June 2nd and two at the Mercury Lounge in NYC on June 9 and 10. And in July, the band will journey abroad to the Netherlands, the U.K., Germany and Australia.
Last year, SoSB brought another atmospheric dream pop group on the road with them, upstate New York’s Phantogram. With their thudding beats, lush synthesizers, psychedelic art-rock and interchange of male/female vocals, Phantogram creates dazzling sounds reminiscent of SoSB. Don’t miss Phantogram on tour throughout the U.S. in May and June. May 13th brings them to the Larimer Lounge in Denver. They’ll also hit Sasquatch in 2010.
High Places exist within a realm of experimental sounds. Repetitive samples, home-crafted percussion, and minimalist vocals imbue their sparse electronica-pulsating world. The outcome feels both foreign and warm. Mary Pearson and Rob Barber have together created a unique sound steeped in soft, wispy female vocal melodies, brisk beats, and rhythmic lines produced on folk percussion and household objects. It is music inspired by beauty and nature, whose artistry leans towards organic resonances. The subtlety of their music whispers images, allowing the listener to fill the landscapes with their own contemplations. This association might bring to mind the amorphous, dream-inspiring work of Animal Collective’s Panda Bear.
Live, the two create layered recordings with Pearson manipulating her vocals with delay and reverb, playing hand percussion, and creating and controlling various loops. Barber triggers percussive sounds from his drum pads, adds ambient vocals, and plays an array of rhythmic instruments to create the certain tone that is High Places. The songwriting is expansive and fluid, while the musical ideas produced are concise. A state of meditation is encouraged by their creations and this seems apt as Barber has been on record saying that music is pretty much the only thing that calms him down and enables him to relax.
High Places’ self-titled debut was recorded in Pearson and Barber’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood apartment in Brooklyn in 2008. And the music has that true, artsy Brooklyn feel. The two met in 2006, when Pearson was living in Michigan and both were pursuing solo projects. Once she moved to New York, they began collaborating, exchanging ideas and giving each other little bits to work off of and respond to. Their unexpected first performance came in May of 2006, when Rob was offered a gig that he didn’t want to play alone. A demo and U.S. tour dates came soon after. In 2008, the group signed with Thrill Jockey Records to release their debut and, shortly thereafter, a collection of singles under the title 03/07-09/07.
The band’s most recent record, High Places vs. Mankind (March 2010), offers a new era of the band’s experimental pop. It takes their music to a more densely atmospheric place with slow dance-heavy grooves. The sound is more mature, more complex, with Pearson’s voice more prominently set against High Places’ thick psychedelic landscapes.
The recently transplanted from Brooklyn to Los Angeles where they frequent the mountain-filled parks that now surround them. The pair’s name actually refers to a place where one has a better vantage point and can gain broader perspectives, so this spot seems apt. Their music tends to speak of their love of mountains, rooftops, and other metaphorically high places. Yet the sounds of the city aren’t far away, which likely prompt the ever-present looping of industrial utterances within their music.
Brooklyn duo MGMT will release their 3rd full-length album, Congratulations, on April 13, 2010. They’ve offered a taste by making the track “Flash Delirium” available as a free download through their website. The adventurous Bowie-tinged exploration veers in a variety of mind-bending directions within its 4 minutes. The confusion it unleashes become more manageable with subsequent listens. Psychedelic lyrics offer this gorgeous sentiment: “Dance until the heart explodes and we’ll make this place ignite.” “Some will love it, some will hate it,” Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone of Congratulations‘ stylistic shift. “We want to freak people out.”
MGMT have so far debuted three other songs off the release, “Congratulations”, “It’s Working”, and “Song for Dan Tracey”, at recent shows. The album was recorded in Malibu by ex-Spacemen 3 Brit Pete Kember (aka Sonic Boom) and mixed by Flaming Lips producer David Fridmann. The record is the follow-up to 2007′s Oracular Spectacular, which crushed with over 1 million copies sold worldwide. Upcoming U.S. tourdates include Coachella, Bamboozle, and Sasquatch in April and May.
Flash Delirium
Mild apprehension
Blank dreams of the coming fun
Distort the odds of a turnaround
Gut screams out next to none
So turn it on, tune it in
And stay inert
You say “I’ve got the backbone”
The back way to escape the gun
Climbing a tree with a missing limb
And not saving anyone
And now it hurts to stay at home
And see flash the mirror ball’s throwing mold
You can’t get a grip if there’s nothing to hold
See the flash catch a white lily laugh and wilt
But if you must smash a glass first fill it to the hilt
Plants, as far as i know are still,
Still bending toward the light
And if we dance until the heart explodes
It’ll make this place ignite
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope
It’s just a case of Flash delirium
Here’s a growing culture
Deep inside a corpse
Ages stuck together
Takin it to the source
Timeless desperation
Pictures on a screen scream
“Hey people, what does it mean?”
Comfort keeps us nice
So quick to donate everything
Die wolken drifting blinding smiles circling (einkreisen)
And time’s tingling spines
Attaching hands to floor
The rosy-tinted flash
The hot dog’s getting cold
And you’ll never be as good as the Rolling Stones
Watch the birds in the airport gathering dirt
Crowd the clean magazine chick lifting up her skirt
(Why close one eye and try to
Pledge allegiance to the sun
When plastic ghosts start terrorizing everyone
Geometric troops aligning
Carried up to the burial mounds
My earthbound heart is heavy
Your heartbeat keeps things light
With the violence forever threatening the night
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust)
Lines when I close my eyes and just
Aim blindly at the sun
And hear love
When the ghosts start singing terrorizing everyone
Geometric troops aligning
Carried up to the burial mounds with gold
It’s a heavy time but your
You rhythm makes it light and explode
Like a violent star keeps threatening the night
And even if this hall collapses
I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust
That our heads won’t bust
66 55 red battleships
40 earthlike planets
3 holes 2 tits
1 fork in its side
Zero tears in their eyes
Eue the spiders
Sink the Welsh
Stab your facebook
Sell sell sell
Undercooked
Overdone
Mass adulation not so funny
Poisoned honey
Pseudo science
Silly money
You’re my honey
Grizzly Bear just released an extraordinary claymation video to go along with the song “Ready, Able”, off of their summer release Veckatimest (2009). The video, directed by Allison Schulnik, depicts creatures as their colors and forms melt and morph in a fantastical natural world. The music provides a gorgeous backdrop. As the song floats along, so does the story.
The band’s eccentric sound incorporates lush choral arrangements, atmospheric folk melodies, and exploratory song structures. The harmony-laden, lush grandiosity of their swelling tunes, feature dreamy vocals from all four members. The resulting resonances and melodic swirls offer a seductive, boozy elegance. Their music plays like the Beach Boys mixed with Nick Drake, fused with the theatrical feel of Devotchka and a touch of David Byrne.
Grizzly Bear formed in 2000 in Brooklyn with members Daniel Rossen (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Ed Droste (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Chris Taylor (bass, backing vocals, various instruments, producer) and Christopher Bear (drums, backing vocals). Droste wrote the first album as a form of catharsis after a bad breakup. He gave the CD to his friends and a copy found its way to Bear and Taylor, who liked what they heard. The two met Droste by way of a friend and offered postproduction and remixing help on the songs. The result was Horn of Plenty (2004). Rossen joined to perform guitar on the live shows. In 2006, the band had the good fortune to support TV on the Radio, in 2007, Feist, and in 2008, the band opened for Radiohead on the second leg of their North American tour. On the last date, guitarist Jonny Greenwood named Grizzly Bear his favorite band. Other admiring fans of the group include Fleet Foxes, Jeff Tweedy, CSS and Beirut.
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