Reader, like many of you, we first heard the sweet, sweet voice of Ms. Victoria Bergsman as she sang opposite Mr. Peter Morén of Peter Bjorn + John on the runaway hit of 2006, “Young Folks”. Well before that, though, Bergsman was the front woman of the indie pop group, the Concretes, whose “Say Something New” you’ll likely also recognize.

The first time we really sat up and took notice of Victoria’s work though was when she started venturing out on her own under the moniker Taken by Trees. Open Field, her 2007 debut album, featured solid pop music and ethereal motifs that framed her vocals well but did little to distinguish her from others in similar fields. But with her follow-up, 2009’s East of Eden, she moved into entirely new territory, physically and musically, taking on the culture and native sounds of Pakistan to produce a beautiful, unique record, start-to-finish. You can read our write-up of that album here and also take a look at the National Geographic documentary on her trip to Pakistan.

Now, just a little over three years later, Taken by Trees is revisiting the idea of a culturally/geographically defined concept album with Other Worlds, an album inspired by Bergsman’s time in Hawaii.

Bergsman was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions about the new work, what inspires her writing, the connection between visual and musical arts, how bad-ass Frank Ocean is, and what a Brooklyn-themed concept album might sound like. Check it out—

Kindness of Ravens: It seems to us, from an outsider’s perspective, that both your beautiful sophomore album, East of Eden, and your upcoming release are much more concept or themed projects whereas your first album, Open Field, seemed much more like an extension of your musical existence in the Concretes. Would you say that’s accurate?

Victoria Bergsman: Sort of—my first solo album was very hard for me to make. I wasn’t well at the moment and I still was feeling very troubled from the break up with The Concretes. So that album is very painful for me to listen to. You can almost hear my hesitation. The other two albums are more where I want to be when it comes to creating and producing music.

KoR: That makes a lot of sense, listening to the respective albums. Did the directions for these second and third albums come about organically, then, or were you at all deliberately trying to avoid female-driven pop comparisons?

VB: I just think it took me some time to really get back into enjoying writing and playing music again. And when I found it again I felt more inspired and driven to explore alternative ways of how to make an album. I was in need of some sort of playfulness and optimism.

KoR: Can you tell us about the trip that inspired Other Worlds? Did you go to Hawaii in the first place hoping to find musical inspiration and new album material?

VB: Hawaii was a place that made me very curious. I had set my mind on wanting to go there one cold December morning in NY, where I was living at the time. Who wouldn’t wanna experience ‘Paradise On Earth’? So I bought a one-way ticket to Los Angeles and ended up living there. Then a few months later I bought my ticket to Oahu, Hawaii. I had half of the songs written and in Hawaii I recorded nature sounds and filmed and took photos. (Photographer) Amanda Marsalis, a very dear friend of mine, was constantly by my side documenting everything. I felt so focused and inspired in Hawaii—I had never been before but I just knew it would be the perfect setting for my album, as I was aiming for sort of a feel good/love album.

KoR: What strikes you as special about Hawaii?

VB: The nature in Hawaii is what I found most striking and enchanting. It is so beautifully dramatic.

KoR: It is really beautiful there. Do you usually consider the link between visual and aural art to be so strong? Or is it all the same, in a sense?

VB: For me, an album is a whole piece of art, so the visual side is very important—almost as important as the music.

KoR: Well-said. What we’ve heard of the album is really beautiful. It retains some common threads we’ve heard in the past—your recognizable vocal melodies and soft, repetitive, almost droning rhythms—and seems to bring in some new elements without hitting you over the head with the overall idea. Can you talk about what sort of musical elements you wanted to absorb from the culture and how you went about doing that in the songs without making things seem too forced?

VB: It is a full-time job finding the right balance. It is never easy but I feel I found a good balance in not overdoing anything on this album.
KoR: What was it like not only traveling through Pakistan for your prior album, East of Eden, but also immersing yourself so much in a culture that I can only assume is very much unlike your own?

VB: All my travels come from me being very curious and wanting to explore and experience new things and cultures. When it came to Pakistan, I was very much into Sufi music at that moment and the whole idea of going into a trance. Hawaii was more a atmospheric idea—I wanted that to be a big part of my album.

KoR: Since we’re in the world of branding and love story-telling—where did the name Taken by Trees come from? It seems so beautiful and emotive.

VB: The name Taken By Trees came to me while I was thinking about how much I love nature and how important nature is to me. The phrase sounded alright and I stuck with it.

KoR: How do you write your music? You seem publicly presented almost as a solo artist, but I gather that it’s much more collaborative than that.

VB: Most of my songs I write while just singing them, then I either use a keyboard or guitar to structure them. Then I send those demos off to whoever I am working with at the moment. This time, it was Henning Furst. He creates a basic track that he sends my way and I record vocals on top. And back and forth with overdubs and mixing.

KoR: So a kind of remote collaborative effort. I know it can be tough to call for some artists, like picking a favorite child, but what’s your favorite Taken by Trees song?

VB: Right now my favorite is “Pacific Blue”, but it changes daily.

KoR: I didn’t recognize any from the track list, but are there any covers on Other Worlds? “My Boys” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” were such great reinterpretations I’m sure I’m not the only one who’d like to hear more along those lines, especially with a Hawaiian slant.

VB: Nope, no covers on this album.

KoR: Do you think you’ll continue along this road geographically/culturally inspired music, or is that too far into the future to see clearly?

VB: It has been fun and exciting so far, who knows what the future will bring!

KoR: Alright, lightning round—favorite restaurant in Hawaii?

VB: We had most our meals in our garden at the house we rented, which I loved.

KoR: Ah, very nice. Band/music you’ve been listening to a lot lately?

VB: There are a few songs on the new Frank Ocean album I really love.

KoR: Never would have guessed that. We’re calling karaoke when you get to NYC. Coffee or tea?

VB: Coffee.
KoR: Correct. Who drinks tea? Favorite non-musical hobby or pastime?

VB: Gardening and cooking.

KoR: Totem animal?

VB: Cat.

KoR: Nice. Favorite place?

VB: Laying in bed in our rented house in Hawaii on Haleiwa Beach, listening to the waves while falling asleep.

KoR: Yeah, that sounds pretty nice. Thing or place or person you miss most back in Sweden when you’re traveling?

VB: My family, the water, pickled herring, chocolate, cleanliness, and overall order.

KoR: We are a pretty dirty, chaotic people. Best piece of travel advice for the rest of us?

VB: Take it slow, drink plenty of water, and decide a couple things you want do or achieve while traveling and not a whole list. Try to connect with locals.

KoR: Got it. More importantly—preferred super-power?

VB: Flying and invisibility.

KoR: That’s two powers…but we’ll give ’em to you. You can pick them up here. Finally, if you did a Brooklyn-themed album, what would it sound like?

VB: Stressful and dark, ha!

KoR: Touché!

Other Worlds hits store shelves tomorrow, but you can give this week’s Song, “Dreams”, a listen now and then stream the entire album via YouTube. Order the CD + vinyl via Secretly Canadian and the 1s + 0s via the iTunes. New Yorkers, Bergsman + co. will be opening for the esteemed Jens Lekman at Terminal 5 a week from today, Monday, October 8. Tickets available here.

Top photo by Maggie Davis; video directed by the above-mentioned Amanda Marsalis.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Reader, you know who sucks? THE MAN sucks. THE MAN likes to tell you what to do, because he thinks he knows better than you. Well, you know what we say to that? We say no way, Reader, not us. No. Way.

When THE MAN tells you to stop watching Groundhog Day because you’ve already seen it 217 times and you need to get some sleep so you don’t look like Droopy Dog in that client meeting tomorrow, you tell THE MAN “Eff off, you don’t rule my life—I’m gonna kill it in that meeting and I don’t live by your rules ANYMORE!” When THE MAN tells you you’re too old to be doing the crab dance late at night at weddings out of town because you might injure yourself, you tell THE MAN “Watch THIS bad-ass move, THE MAN, I bet you didn’t EVEN KNOW my arm bent that way did you‽” And when THE MAN tells you to go prep school so you can be a hotshot doctor when all you want to do is ACT, for god’s sake…you sneak down into his study in the middle of the night during this eerily calm slo-mo scene and shoot yourself in the head. …too far?

Thankfully, Jayson Kramer didn’t pull a Neil Perry, but he did give it to the man, as it were, jumping ship after taking his med school entrance exams—and, likely, after wowing his chums with his rendition of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream—and starting a band. According to Kramer, “A weird thing happened when I finished my MCAT and all the studying stopped. I was completely honest with myself for the first time in my life and recognized that I had no desire to go on to medical school. This is when I took a more serious turn toward music, which is something I realized I should have been doing all along.”

Or he maybe he just really fucked up his MCAT. I don’t know. Regardless, he didn’t fuck up the music thing, which is good news for us. Instead, he returned to the keyboard (Kramer played classical piano from age 6 to 16, at which point I bet it became uncool) and moved back to Chicago, where he met drummer Joe O’Connor + bassist Dan Zima. The three started the band California Wives in 2009, rounding out the group in 2012 with guitarist Graham Masell and releasing their debut album, Art History, earlier this month.

The result seems to be a pretty fine pop-rock album, easy on the ears with just enough new wave influence, catchy beats, and melodic hooks to keep you coming back for more. The songs’ subject matter is familiar—loss of youth, love, reluctant yet undeniably healthy growth, Groundhog Day—and the sound is too, in the most reassuringly pleasant of ways.

See what we mean with this week’s Song, “Purple,” and a few other tracks (below) from their SoundCloud page.

You can purchase the digital formats of Art History on iTunes + Amazon and the more traditional hardcopy versions should be out in early October from Vagrant Records. If you’re in the south or out west, try to catch the band on tour with Stars + Diamond Rings—sure to be an awesome show.

And remember to sound your barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world, Reader.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

We first started writing about the Danish band, Efterklang, way back in 2009 (excuse the formatting—we had a much slimmer site back then). Since then, our fascination with and love of this innovative band has only grown. In 2010, we interviewed frontman, Casper Clausen, at the release of their third full-length—Magic Chairs—and debut on venerable record label, 4AD.

Two years later, the band is poised to release the fourth album, Piramida, an eerily beautiful collection of songs inspired by a nine-day exploration of an abandoned mining settlement of the same name on the snowy island of Spitsbergen, just six-hundred-some miles south of the North Pole. Not only does the album take its name from the abandoned ghostly settlement, it also captures the frozen spirit of the place, translating it into atmospheric, icy sounds that slowly crystalize and break apart again as the bands erects well-constructed pop elements on top of them. From the 4AD write-up:

“When the band returned home, nine days later, they’’d accumulated just over 1,000 field recordings from the many and varied environments they explored in Piramida. The beginnings of this approach can be seen on the band’s 2010 film collaboration with Vincent Moon, An Island. Then the time came to transform these audio snapshots of abandonment, of isolation touched by unique beauty, into songs…. And it’’s this process, of taking sounds found organically in an alien landscape and using them to power ‘traditional’ progressions of notes, of rhythms and melodies, that forms the framework for so much of Piramida. The hollow tones of ‘‘Told To Be Fine’’ are sourced from ornate glass lamps, given new life long after their original use had become redundant. The very first sounds on the record, on opener ‘’Hollow Mountain’’, are metal spikes being struck, protruding from a bizarre-looking oil drum the band cheerily named Miss Piggy. The synth sounds of ‘‘Apples’’ are created from a microsecond of a wonky piano note – from the aforementioned grand. Throughout, the album contains sounds that quite simply have never been heard before. What you’re hearing is a very singular kind of sonic alchemy.”

And “sonic alchemy” is a very apt term for the musical structures on Piramida. Clausen’s drawn-out, wandering melodies are complemented by twinkling keys and toy-locamotive-like percussions throughout, and the three mainstays in the band (Clausen, vocals + various instruments; Mads Christian Brauer, electronics, programming, + other instruments; and bassist, Rasmus Stolberg) bring in a solid team of backup studio musicians including traditional pop instrumentalists, a full brass section, a very well-placed string orchestra, and a 70-piece girls choir to fill out the still sparsely beautiful sound.

Hear for yourself on this week’s Song, “Apple,” and, courtesy of NPR Music’s First Listen series, stream the album in its entirety below for the next week prior to it’s official release, next Tuesday, stateside. You can also check out their video for the album opener below, made up of photos + video taken of their trip to the mining settlement and animated album artwork.Pre-order the LP or CD via the band’s site (don’t be scared of the odd currency mark—it’ll convert) or via iTunes if you prefer 1’s + 0s.

The band is largely touring in Europe and overseas for the time being but will be giving a special performance as a six-piece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art this Saturday.

Photos by Rasmus Weng Karlsen; album art Hvass & Hannibal.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Reader, we had the pleasure this past weekend of watching two of our favorite people in the world stand up in front of a bunch other people—many of whom also happened to be favorite people of ours—and tie the knot. Now, I know for a lot of people out there, the institution of marriage isn’t necessarily something you can put your full weight behind. And, as a child of divorce, I’d have to agree on that it’s not the best road for everyone. But, I have to tell you, when you’re standing in a room surrounded by palpable, tangible, nearly visible-to-the-naked eye love—not just of these two people standing at an alter of electric lights and Japanese paper balloons, but of everyone around them—it’s hard not to be believe in love. It’s hard not to want to immediately set out and find that person who makes you sing inside and makes every moment one million times better than it’d be without them. And it’s these kind of moments that make so very very happy I have and have had that with Katie for a very long time now.

All that’s largely beside the point of a blog post on music—though it is our nine-year anniversary this week—but this week’s band reminded me of a conversation from this past weekend that I had with a friend I see not nearly enough. Said friend was talking about this band in Richmond, Virginia that takes the idea of a cover band one step further, playing an entire album of any chosen artist from start-to-finish with each show. Now, that could be a pleasurable aural experience or a totally horrendous one depending on both the source material and the band doing the covering, but it raised a larger point—very few albums are great start-to-finish. Like, very few. Even if you prize listening to an album from beginning to end, there are usually one or two songs that you’d rather leave than take, when it comes down to it. Filler, let’s say.

But I have to say, Reader—the debut album, An Awesome Wave, from this week’s featured band, alt-J, has proved the exception to that rule.

The British band—also known in writing as ∆, the delta symbol you get on a Mac keyboard when holding down the ‘alt’ and ‘j’ keys (*cough*nerds*cough*cough*)—formed in 2007 when the members met at Leeds University. Somehow moving along the bizarre nexus of folk, hip hop, pop, electro, and…something else, alt-J plays glitchy, deliberately plodding, churning songs that work their way into your heart like the poor kid at recess with puppy dog eyes who never gets picked to be on anyone’s team…and then destroys all the other kids with a crazy awesome robot he built. Joe Newman’s odd vocals conjure up some kind of strange clockwork cyborg of a hybrid Tricky and Nick Drake, giving the band an immediate air of individuality. And drummer, Thom Green, with his syncopated beats and cymbal-less rhythms, provides an equally oddly enticing, quirky base for the band’s looping electronics, plunky piano lines, and intricate melodies. Kind of like what Hot Chip might sound like if they grew up in Appalachia and then went gangsta.

Words fail me, clearly. So give this week’s Song, “Fitzpleasure”, a listen and hear for yourself. Then I strongly encourage you to give the entire album a listen through below, start-to-finish. It really is beautiful, in the most weirdly cool of ways.

Also be sure to watch their video for “Tessellate”—which kind of plays like a hip hop commercial for Armani—and, if you’re in New York, sneak into their sold out show at the Bowery Ballroom this Wednesday as they kick off an American tour. Full tour dates can be found here. An Awesome Wave hits shelves stateside September 18, but you can pre-order the digital album via iTunes now.

Photos by Jory Cordy.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Reader, we are through. No, no, not with you, you’re fine, we love you. You’re great. What we’re through with is work. I mean it. We’ve been toiling away all summer, with the minor of exception of that beach trip to Fort Tilden we took. Oh, or that crazy Indian wedding. Oh, and that trip up to that music festival upstate. And those other trips to Fort Tilden and then Rockaway. Other than that—toiling away! All! Summer!

So we’re out of here, south-bound toward slower times and easier ways, in full hopes that the southern drawl I hated as a kid creeps its way back into my vernacular.

But oh the dilemma, Reader—what do we leave you with by way of sweet tunes? We’ve been a bit too much on the new-80’s tip of late, methinks, so nothing along those lines. Nothing that you’re going to get sick of like a indie-pop equivalent of “Call Me Maybe” (tell the truth—it’s already stuck in your head isn’t it?). Dungeons + Dragons themed death metal? Tempting, but not really our style. The metal part, I mean.

No, instead, being the studious, responsible planers that we are, we’re leaving you with a bit of a slow-burner to last you the couple weeks we’ll be away.

I first heard Cate Le Bon over at the now regretably-defunct music blog, Naive Harmonies (our good friend, Reid, who ran the blog and whose musical taste is impeccable is still doing the occasional post over at tuneMine—you should check it out). The occasion was the debut of her second full-length, Cyrk, and, at the time, I was mildly impressed but not blown away. Seemingly really nice song-writing—slow, deliberate music with beautiful but near-deadpan vocals—but I just wasn’t hooked immediately.

This week’s Song, “What Is Worse,” from Le Bon’s follow-up to Cyrk, an EP called Cyrk II (no idea where the name came from), had a similar effect on me at first. But the more I heard it, the more I wanted to hear it. It’s simple, rough, jerky guitar is impossible to sidestep—much like Le Bon’s voice—and the flat presentation of the verse, reminiscent of the Velvet Underground + Nico, pitches the higher vocals of the chorus into sharp relief, giving the song a surprising degree of depth. Overall, really, really nice dark-ish, folksy rock with a UK twist.

Le Bon originally hails from from Whales and still makes it her home, often singing songs in Welsh, which is clearly awesome and gives her some solid ‘Keeping It Real’ points. She also seems to be a bit off as compared to your average folk-rock-type, explaining her uncharacteristically macabre lyrical content to the BBC: “Early experiences with a string of pet deaths had a profound lasting effect on me. I have an abnormal fixation with death.” We’re not sure if that’s creepy or endearing…or both, but we like what she’s doing with her music, at least.

Give it a listen. And then another. See if it grows on you like it did me. If it does, grab the EP, out tomorrow in the states via The Control Group. You can also check out her playing the All Souls Church Organ version of “The Man I Wanted” below.

Peace out!

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Reader, as you’ve likely picked up by now, we’re a fairly schizophrenic blog. I’m not saying our blog is going to hug you and then stab you with a knife, I’m more saying we’re kinda all over the place—one day, a post on a band we like; one day, a recipe we think’s ‘pretty rad’; another day, something on a movie.

To wit, we’re often emailing a variety of people, from band members or other music industry types to authors and restauranteurs. Recently, it’s come to my attention that my email address seems to have inadvertently been added to the employee list of one restauranteur who shall remain nameless so as to avoid any e-embarassment. So I started getting emails about cleaning out the staff fridge more diligently and summer holiday hours and when the health department might be stopping by. Until now, though, I’ve avoided the temptation to write back to say, ‘Hey, I don’t actually work there and I think you might have put me on these emails by accident,’ thinking they’d eventually figure out and, again, to avoid any undue embarrassment.

Today, however, I received yet another email of this ilk, but this one included an attachment entitled ‘SCHEDULE.’ Just out of curiosity, I opened up the attachment, and, lo and behold, I’m totally scheduled to work while I’m on vacation.

So the question, Reader, is—what’s the etiquette here. Do I just not show up, which seems rude and, frankly, isn’t very ‘me,’ you know? But there’s not quite time to give two weeks notice, which I’m guessing is still industry standard (it’s been a while since I’ve been in that kind of environment). So that’s out. Do you think I can get someone to cover my shift? I mean, I didn’t even know I worked there, so that should garner some sympathy with the co-workers I didn’t even know I had. Or do I just need to bite the bullet, cancel vacation, and hope that this just ends up being the turning of a fated new page in my life?

Well, worst case scenario, at least I’ll have the sweet, island-y, early-80s-inspired tunes of St. Lucia to keep me in that vacation state of mind, even as Katie’s frolicking through the waves without me. The solo endeavor of Jean-Philip Grobler of Brooklyn (by way of Johannesberg…I think there’s a Chunnel), St. Lucia pretty unabashedly lifts some solid pop strategy from the 1980’s game book here, but his song-writing skills are just good enough to make it work. And his spattering of more modern electronic riffs and smooth, clean, choir-trained vocals go a long way to give his music an air of easy enjoyability.

Listen to this week’s Song, St. Lucia’s superb “All Eyes on You” from Grobler’s debut, self-titled EP, which you can stream fully below, purchase via the iTunes, and order on 10″ vinyl via Neon Gold. You can also check out St. Lucia’s video for another great, groove-heavy EP track, “Before the Dive” below.

And yes—there are sax solos. Embrace them. They are warm, like love or those crescent rolls in the commercials.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

We love it when the drums come in.

To expand on that—we love it when an author, film-maker, musician or any other story-teller can take us from one small, quiet, everyday moment to a sudden emotional peak. An oddly sharp-witted little girl in a Paris apartment building comes to the sudden realization that beauty is all around her and eloquently pulls the reader into seeing that very beauty; two frustrated friends stranded in the middle of Chicago are shocked to find their third, wildly charismatic friend atop a float singing “Danke Schoen”; and a dynamic shift in a song brings you from mildly tapping your foot to throwing your hands up in the air and most likely totally embarrassing yourself.

Montreal band, Stars, are skilled practitioners of such dynamic musical shifts and the new, slightly ramblingly named track “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” from their forthcoming album, The North, gives evidence to that yet again. See what we did there? Rambling sentance for a rambling song title. It’s like we’re the Kurt Vonnegut of blogs.

The North—Stars’ fifth studio full-length by my count—is due out September 4th on the band’s own label and they’ll be playing Webster Hall in New York with Diamond Rings + California Wives September 22nd. In the meantime though, check out their track as this week’s Song and, if you want more, head over to Stars’ album Web site to download another new track for free.

Band photo below by Norman Wong.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

We’ve never been ones for the apparent penchant for dead animals and de-feathered birds Bat for Lashes—AKA, English songstress, Natasha Khan—seems to possess, but there’s no denying that she’s one talented artist.

Case in point, her hauntingly beautiful new track, “Laura,” which, with its sparse, simple piano, hones the listener’s focus in on Khan’s impassioned, soaring vocals. The song is the first glimpse of new studio material we’ve been given as we approach the release of her third full-legth album, The Haunted Man.

Give “Laura” a listen below and then, since the MP3 isn’t being pushed promotionally right now, download her superb cover of the Depeche Mode classic, “Strangelove” as an added bonus. You can also head over to Stereogum to listen to Khan covering everyone from Radiohead to the Eurythmics to Springsteen.

You can see the just-released cover art for The Haunted Man—shot by NYC-based photographer Ryan McGinley—and watch the lovely, light-filled, fur-less, animal-headress-less video for “Laura” below. Fingers crossed—maybe she had one of those celebrity vegan revelations or something. Maybe.

The Haunted Man hits stores October 15th in the UK and the 23rd stateside and Apple’s giving away the single, “Laura”, for a meager buck-twenty-nine.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.

Rebecca Gates—whose music provided a soundtrack of sorts to a large part of my collegiate and young adult life—has just released her first full-length album of original music since her 2001 Ruby Series EP.

As one half of the 90’s indie pop duo, the Spinanes, Gates wrote songs of love, loss, and feeling that she gave voice to with powerfully intimate vocals and guitar melodies that still define what I consider to be good pop music structure to this day. Her current work strikes me as understandably more mature in sound and scope and brings her together with ‘the Consortium’—a rotating roaster of backing musicians culled from other notable bands such as Wild Flag, The Decemberists, Quasi, Blue Cranes, and friend from a former life and amazing cellist, Amy Domingues (go Duke Dogs!).

We caught up with Gates last spring as we interviewed her prior to her first live shows with new material in recent memory. You can see her at Park Slope’s Rock Shop this Saturday. Be sure to get their early to catch Verpluscott, the new band from Richard + James Baluyut of +/- and Versus, respectively, and Kendall Meade of Mascott. Word on the street is that they’ll be playing three +/- songs, three Versus songs, and three Mascott songs. So that’s awesome. The show kicks off with locals, Glass Anchors at 9PM, who we hear are also well worth a listen.

In the meantime, check out this week’s Song, the new Rebecca Gates + the Consortium track, “&&&”, from The Float, which you can download, get on vinyl, or pick up at the show this weekend. And check out our 2011 interview with Ms. Gates as she talks about her new work and the best song ever.

Note: Music posted to this site is kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead.