Soren Well

Hearing that a band is from Brooklyn may predetermine your attitude towards it, but good music rises above petty biases, good or bad. Soren Well is a quintet from the aforementioned trendy borough that plays a frighteningly accurate amalgamation of Loveless-era shoegaze with showers of guitars and dreamscape vocals. The tonal similarities to My Bloody Valentine’s career-defining album are almost overwhelming. Upon first listening to “After”, I just harped on all the noises and bended tremolos I could pick out that sounded like they were sampled straight from Loveless. But the more I listened, the less that bothered me because the music overtakes you with its monolithic hypnosis. The new songs the band has recently posted to its MySpace page will immediately trigger a reflexive comparison to MBV’s layered, moody architecture. It’s unavoidable. But there’s enough going on under the surface to avoid a knee-jerk dismissal. Soren Well is really good at reproducing these moods and sounds that you’re already very familiar with. So, even with docking for originality points, the band still comes out in the black just based on sheer talent and sonic mass. It’s quite a racket, but one that you will cling to as your ears bleed.

→ 3 CommentsPosted by eric: July 9th, 2009@ 8:25 am
Tags: MySpace · New2Me · video

VIDEO: White Rabbits “Percussion Gun”

I have no idea why this happens, but sometimes I can hear songs dozens of times without really noticing them. Then one day I’m gobsmacked out of nowhere. This White Rabbits tune had this exact effect on me. It’s been out for a few months, and I’ve heard it plenty of times on Sirius XMU. But one day last week I just suddenly realized how awesome it is. It captures that tense, brooding atmosphere that The Walkmen inhabit so effortlessly, and I can’t stop singing it in my head.

Comments Off on VIDEO: White Rabbits “Percussion Gun”Posted by eric: July 8th, 2009@ 10:43 am
Tags: video

Will there ever be another Crass?

The Guardian’s John Robb questions whether punk legends Crass – or a band with similarly extreme ideals – could exist in today’s musical and social climate. Are kids today too cynical to buy into such ideals? Was Crass’ success outside the mainstream merely a product of extraordinary times? The band played its last show 25 years ago, having released some of the most challenging and experimental punk records in history over the course of its seven year existence, or as Robb further explains:

“The band released a series of records that spliced art-school (in the best possible way), avant-garde collage with white-heat, punk-rock anger. When Crass got mad, they got really mad, and they were ranting and raving at the UK during a mean and miserable time, when Labour buckled and Thatcher took over.

The music of Crass can only properly be understood in this context – the decaying nation, state brutality, the miners’ strike, the Falklands war, and the death of 60s idealism.

Sadly, we’re living through similar times now. Are we too cynical to create an answer like Crass did?”

There will always be niche freaks, who embrace codes that flagrantly reject societal norms, so I think it’s entirely possible for a band to capture some nebulous sense of idealism and turn it into a movement, despite attention spans being so seemingly short these days. But Crass’ appeal stretched beyond those that actually bought into what they were selling.

Comments Off on Will there ever be another Crass?Posted by eric: July 8th, 2009@ 8:00 am
Tags: commentary · link · video

Choir covers Lily Allen


(via Tug/Twitter)

Comments Off on Choir covers Lily AllenPosted by k: July 2nd, 2009@ 4:13 am
Tags: video

Doolittle, the concert (20th Anniversary)

“We wanted to do something special for Doolittle’s 20th anniversary,” Pixies singer/guitarist Black Francis explained in a press release, “and we thought this was a good opportunity to play all of the songs from that album, something we don’t normally do at a regular gig.” Guess I’ll be flying to London or Paris for their European Tour.

p.s. 20 years?!

Comments Off on Doolittle, the concert (20th Anniversary)Posted by k: June 30th, 2009@ 6:33 pm
Tags: link · news

Jens Lekman, Get Well Soon

So, apparently Jens got the swine. I fully expect some amazing songs to come out of this experience.

Comments Off on Jens Lekman, Get Well SoonPosted by k: June 30th, 2009@ 5:20 pm
Tags: commentary · link · news

I Dig Zooey

The Shirt

Comments Off on I Dig ZooeyPosted by k: June 30th, 2009@ 9:39 am
Tags: design · link