Category Archives: Alternative
Big Harp – White Hat (Saddle Creek)
Big Harp
White Hat
Saddle Creek
Rating: 3.8 out of 5
Link: http://www.facebook.com/BigHarpMusic
Although Big Harp hails from the sprawling city of Los Angeles, their style descends down the Sierra Nevadas and more toward the foggy atmosphere of the Bay area. Chris Senseney has the demeanor of Mark Eitzel while their music stretches across the Plains.
But instead of tales of desperation, you get noir stories from the streets. “Nadine” weaves a tale through honky tonk pianos setting the stage. It’s the perfect aura to the ghosts of the westward expansion.
The first time I spun through “Everybody Pays,” I was not too impressed. But multiple passings, and I quickly warmed up to this song. The unique acoustic configuration breathes across an African landscape while keeping the lyrics atuned to an urban-worn tale. I cite this as an example because many of these songs warm up to you the more you listen. At first you sit with a blank stare, but then once the music sinks in, you get it and its dark vaudevillian approach to the metropolitan circus they paint.
“Steady Hand Behind The Wheel” sounds like a lost song off of Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby, while “All Bets Are Off” is Nick Cave swooning. As Senseney raises his voice and the levels begin to heat up, you expect a fight at any time. It comes at the end of the song.
The husband/wife (Stefanie) duo has created an honest release that is straight forward and out there for all to grab on to. For a debut, it feels like Big Harp has been at it for a long time. The music is that progressed.
Big Harp: Everybody Pays from Love Drunk on Vimeo.
Milagres – Glowing Mouth (Kill Rock Stars)
Milagres
Glowing Mouth
Kill Rock Stars
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Link: http://www.milagresmusic.com/
Oh my God, what a beautiful release and a surprising addition to the Kill Rock Stars roster! The sophomore album opens new territory for this band. When you listen to these songs, you feel like you can stare out into the universe.
“Halfway” clearly defines where Milagres’ intentions are on this release. Glimmering keyboard tickles falsetto vocals that fly through the atmosphere of amazingly conceived songs, that is where it is at. The harmonies are exceptional and the melodies perfect. It makes you want to fall back and float along with the band.
The New Yorkers bump up the tempo for pure indie pop thematic on “Here To Stay.” But for a song like “For Disposal,” the band looks more towards Bowie or Pulp to fuel the drive for an eclectic vision of grandeur.
One thing you can be sure is that as much as the band deviates from the traditional, they maintain a balance of style and sound creation that re-occur through every song making a clear identity for themselves that becomes sought after with each passing song. The addition of a cello on “To Be Imagined” or the nighttime crooning over strings following a moonlit piano on “Moon On The Sea’s Gate” is an extra allure like a vampire hypnotizing its prey.
It’s an album you will find equally interesting as you will a band that is gripping with talent.
Milagres: Here To Stay from Johnny Woods on Vimeo.
Dead Leaf Echo – Verisimilitude (Self-Released)
Dead Leaf Echo
Verisimilitude
Self-Released
Rating: 3.8 out of 5
Link: http://deadleafechonyc.com/splash.php
Verisimilitude is a collection of remixes taken from the New York band’s Truth release. The album primarily exists based on two songs: “Half-Truth” and “Act Of Truth.”
Mark Van Hoen is the rare adventurer who goes against the populace and tackles “Woolgathering,” but expect various versions of a small sampling from their album. It is because these two songs are the most accessible. As for “Woolgathering,” Van Hoen turns the song into a trip hop fantasy that slurs reality and makes it feel like someone just dropped acid in your drink.
The Fryer Remix transforms the shoegaze wonderland of “Half-Truth” into a deep coldwave dance of the dead where Elika focuses more on the ambiance of the song. Expect Spry! to do much of the same.
RxGibbs re-working of “Act of Truth” is closer to the band giving subtle pushes here and there. It’s so naturally done you will forget you are listening to a remix. DLE changes up the song to be a “What If” scenario; “What if early Depeche Mode remixed a Dead Leaf Echo song.”
Overall, these versions are nice compliments to the Truth album.
Art Brut – Brilliant! Tragic! (Cooking Vinyl)
Art Brut
Brilliant! Tragic!
Cooking Vinyl
Rating: 4 out of 5
Link: http://www.artbrut.org.uk/
There is that scene in Harold And Maude where the graveside service is over and Maude is walking away. It is raining and everyone has a black umbrella, except for her. She is holding a yellow umbrella. It bears similarity to Art Brut’s latest album cover design.
Where this scene is showing symbolism to Maude’s boldness in life, Art Brut’s cover symbolizes their boldness and straightforward honesty to music and to us. It’s that little thing that makes them stand out. Maude breaks beyond the fear that most people have to fully embrace life with no reservations and no guilt. Brilliant! Tragic! goes where most bands wouldn’t dare to fully embrace the truth within music.
In the beginning, Art Brut was this sarcastic reality that stood out for their art school approach and daring attempt to tell things how they really were in a societal approach. You did not walk away feeling better about yourself, but you were made aware of its ironies.
Several albums later, the band has evolved, added more structure and stepped away from the completistic bore-rock, hypno-reactionary art punk. “Clever Clever Jazz” makes you feel like they are flogging a dead horse, while still putting their debut album on the gold pedestal for its glory.
But then you are faced with “Lost Weekend” and “Bad Comedian,” and suddenly the debut does not mean so much. These songs are good — really good. And it feels like they are songs that would even surprisingly impress the creators.
Not all songs on the album end up with this much poise. They revert back to their defining quirkiness, but with doing so, they also proudly flip off anyone in their paths. The world is not resting on a silver platter and Art Brut continue to make sure you are fully aware of it, thick British accents and all.
Elysian Fields – Last Night On Earth (Ojet/Diluvian)
Elysian Fields
Last Night On Earth
Ojet/Diluvian
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Link: http://www.ojet.com/site/elysianfields.html
Elysian Fields is back with an album that not only reels the duo in to their popularized noir undercurrent, but brings them back to the States after a decade of dominating the European market. But what we see with Last Night On Earth is primarily a simpler and softer modern side to the group.
Last Night On Earth is everything you would want from Elysian Fields. The seductive flirtation with her vocals, the hypnotic squandering that if she snapped her fingers, the trance would still linger. “Chance” reminds us of her Bleed Your Cedar days and an alternative scene haunted by the likes of Curve and Doves.
Just outside the shoegaze genre, Fields has always went against the grain and provided an alternative to the alternative. Last Night On Earth does no different. “Sweet Condenser” is early dawn chamber folk that floats around the heavenly pop of “Sleepover” and the meditatively sobering “Church of the Holy Family.” The only edginess to the release is the brooding “Red Ridind Hood,” featuring Oren Bloedow’s gruffy baritone voice.
The band seems to still wear the scars of their exodus from Radioactive Records, but with Last Night On Earth, the group stears into a more focused territory of softcore odes with more timeless tunes than their dated ‘90s work. It might not appeal to the purist in Elysian Fields’ sound, but it does not veer too far off track to bridge their career together in a nice paste up of elegant songs and typical sway that the band knows how to capitalize on.
