Bright Moments • Travelers
We all need bright moments in our lives, be them tiny diversions from an otherwise mundane or stress-filled day or small reminders of what really matters in life. Which makes me doubly thankful for the music of one Mr. Kelly Pratt, also now known in the musical world as Bright Moments.

Pratt—primarily a very skilled trumpet player—played most of the instruments himself  on his debut album, Natives, which he recorded in his New York apartment during the wee hours of the night when most of us were supposed to be asleep. Employing additional horns, traditional instrumentation, odd found sounds like sampled bats (vampire, not baseball), and pulling lyrics from everything from Scandinavian poetry to the story of the first person to be cured of rabies, the resulting songs sound intimate and unique, ebbing and flowing between sweetly tender and and simply jubilant.

Though this is Bright Moments’ first record, Pratt himself has provided backing for bands like the Arcade Fire, War on Drugs, and Beirut, the last of whom provides the strongest parallel in terms of overall sound.

Give Bright Moments’ “Travelers” a listen and see what you think. Then you can head over to Pratt’s site to stream the whole album(click Music at the top of the page).

Below, Pratt performs another album highlight, “Behind the Gun,” with a full band on WNYC’s Soundcheck. You can hear last week’s entire performance and interview on Soundcheck’s site. And you can purchase Natives over at Luaka Bop or download it from the iTunes.

Note: Songs posted to this site are 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. Buy music!

Madi Diaz • Gimme a Kiss

Okay, I’ve been avoiding this for a while now, Reader. I’ve tried—I’ve REALLY TRIED—to NOT write this song up. Honestly, we pride ourselves on being rather cutting edge with our musical tastes, especially given the fact that we’re—honestly—kinda old and not as in-the-loop as, say, the twenty-something versions of us are or would be. Man. I bet the twenty-something version of me wouldn’t even listen to music. He’d listen to, like, dripping water that’s been recorded and then slightly syncopated and then run over a beat that’s been created by turning every other consonant in the Gettysburg Address into one’s and zero’s, respectively, and then run through some sort of high-end computer that’s been built to replicate an original 8-bit Commodore 64. So cool.

Lucky for you, we’re not that cool. But we do tend to bend our ears, more often than not, in the direction of the less-than-mainstream and sometimes even odd. Stuff our moms wouldn’t necessarily like. Which is why we feel a bit like we’re letting you down with this post, Reader—our moms will all totally love this song.

BUT I CANNOT GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD! And that’s not in a “I went to the Met supermarket and now I seriously cannot get that fucking Sheena Easton song out of my head” kinda way. It’s in a “Damn, this is a gooooood song, even if my mom would totally love it” kinda way.

Nashville-based, Pennsylvania-born, mom-pandering signer-songwriter Madi Diaz, it turns out, has a long and well-documented history growing up with the arts. Her Peruvian mother home-schooled her with an emphasis on development in the visual arts; her Danish father was a keyboardist for Frank Zappa; and she attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and, before that, the Paul Green School of Rock in Philly, where she was featured in the documentary, Rock School. And all that skill certainly comes through in her music. This week’s Song, the blissfully poppy “Gimme a Kiss” shines at times with—yes— a little country twang, which is usually not our bag, but the sweetly crafted hooks of the music and beautifully sung lyrics reel you in in an undeniable way. There’s something about this song and a few others on her 2012 album, Plastic Moon, that remind us of early solo Aimee Mann, especially in the simple, sliding little guitar guitar break of “Gimme a Kiss.” And there can’t be anything wrong with that. Even if our moms would totally agree…but think we should “tone down the potty talk.”

You can listen to “Gimme a Kiss” here and visit Diaz’s site for a couple other free downloads, including a non-album track and the superb, “Let’s Go.” Video for that one below.  Photo by Elizabeth Weinberg.

Note: Songs posted to this site are 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. Buy music!

Yellow Ostrich • Marathon Runner

We first caught Brooklyn’s Yellow Ostrich at the end of last summer when they opened for Mates of State at a Barsuk Records label showcase. They had recently signed to the Seattle label—former home of Death Cab for Cutie in their pre-Warner Music days—and they definitely impressed us live, with their unique instrumentation, an emotive performance from frontman, Alex Schaaf, and skillfully looped live vocals.

A few months later, having caught them again, and with a sophomore full-length, Strange Land, now out, the band seems to be relying less on memorable ‘schticks’ or digital tricks and building more off of Schaaf and company’s commendable song-writing and pop sensibilities. The first album, Mistress, seems to have been much more of a solo effort from Schaaf, drawing from an understandably limited depth of field. Now, with seemingly non-stop touring as a full band, both the live performance and new album strike us more of a collaborative effort, resulting in simpler, sweeter songs that have stripped away some of the layers that stood in the way of a more fulfilling listing experience.

Don’t get us wrong though—the band’s very much still cut form a different cloth. Last time we saw them live, multi-instrumentalist, Jon Natchez, alternated from squeekingly glitchy saxophone to a bass guitar being run through an armada  of processing pedals and drummer, Michael Tapper, who plays sans foot pedal bass drum, went back and forth between providing a solid base for the other instruments and acting as more of bright, riffing percussive melody woven throughout the other sounds.

You can download “Marathon Runner,” from Strange Land as this week’s Song and hear another track via their Soundcloud page. The album can be downloaded or ordered on CD or vinyl from Barsuk.

Oh, and did we mention they seem to love to do covers? Below, their version of the Replacements classic, “Androgynous.” Photo by Kyle Dean Reinford.

Youth Lagoon • Bobby

As Youth Lagoon, Trevor Powers (right, above) writes lonely, introspective bedroom pop that somehow makes you want to simultaneously hug him and dance with him. We caught Powers and Logan Hyde (left), who plays some excellent guitar with Powers live, at South by Southwest a few weeks ago and were surprised to find that they were one of our favorite live actsthat week. Surprised not because we hadn’t already heard great things—the polar opposite was true as his debut album, The Year of Hibernation, had been recommended to us over and over again. We were more surprised that someone who could easily be described as writing bedroom pop or even the overly coined chillwave could elicit such an emotional connection with his stage show.

Most of Powers’ songs follow a pretty predictable progression, starting out with soft, slow keys and then adding in his distinct, endearingly strained vocals to which guitars and pre-programmed beats then begin to layer up on until you’ve got a fairly driving piece of music, Powers’ voice having grown from pensive bleating to a clear-yet-still-restrained screech. Then the songs quickly tumble apart and show their vulnerable core just long enough to remind you that this is—still—a sad song. Formulaic, maybe, but why mess with Original Coke?

You can download his full-length or purchase the vinyl, CD,…or cassette (?) via Fat Possum Records. …if you end up going the cassette route, let us know how that ends up. For anyone else in the NYC area, Youth Lagoon will be opening for Death Cab for Cutie at the Beacon Theatre April 27, 28, and 29. So, that’ll probably be an intimate setting. More intimate—you listening to this week’s Song, “Bobby.”

Photo by Charles Bergquist. Below, YL’s video for their song, “Montana.”

Japandroids • Younger Us

Somewhere in the deluge of bands that was this year’s  South by Southwest music festival, we were lucky enough to catch Vancouver’s Japandroids. I’ve been into their songs since their 2009 debut, Post-Nothing, but, them being a duo, you never know how their recorded sound will translate to a live show. Turns out, pretty damn well.

Collegiate friends Brian King + David Prowse (guitar/vox + drums/vox) bring their noisy, jangly, kinda emo, kinda garage sound to life on stage with about as much vigor as anyone could expect without one or both of them following up the show with a hospital visit. They play loud and infectious songs that are simple enough to get you hooked and tapping along but somehow keep you from getting sick of the mishmash of guitars and strained singing and hard-hit rhythms that’s become their formula for song-writing. Honestly, I’ve liked their recordings for a good while now, but I think the earnestness and excitement you see in both of them on stage connects any missing dots one might encounter just listening to the album tracks.

All that said, I couldn’t convince them play live for your viewing pleasure via this blog. I can, however, let you have a listen to “Younger Us,” one of my favorite tracks form their forthcoming sophomore full-length, Celebration Rock, out in June on Polyvinyl. Click on the Polyvinyl link and you can pre-order the album and hear the another great, driving track from it, “The House That Heaven Built.”

Memoryhouse • The Kids Were Wrong

Alright, first-off, Reader, we wholeheartedly apologize for being a bit absent in your lives of late. As you well know, we partook in the magical, all-you-can-eat-with-your-ears musical buffet that is South by Southwest. And yes, as you can tell by our food-related analogy (which you KNOW we hate), we’re out of practice with this whole blogging thing.

Ew. Eating with your ears? Who ARE we?

But, to continue on the ill-advised analogy of music as food, we are fucking stuffed, dudes. Seriously. I know we saw far fewer bands than many others in Austin a couple weeks ago, but we gorged ourselves on bands that week, taking in, I think, one bajillion shows? …before hitting our favorite bars and restaurants. (PS—free day shows are the BEST when you’re in your mid-thirties)

But, in an effort to cleanse ourselves of the lovely, rich greasiness that was SXSW (I swear, I’ll stop after this), today we hold high a band that was absent from the South by roster and one we’ve been admiring from afar a while now—that being the dreamy Canadian duo, Memoryhouse.

I’ll start by saying that I’m going to—right off the bat—steer to the side of slapping the label of dream pop on the band, for two reasons. First, because I appreciate their effort to pull in much more involved melodies, both in terms of clear, intelligible vocals and in terms of guitar- and classically string-based melodies that, rather than wash out, come to the forefront as gentle, crystalline hooks. Second, because I admire the origins of the band, which seem to be more that of an intimate artists collective than a traditional tour-record-hire-a-manger style band. As Evan Abeele (music) and Denise Nouvion (vocals + visuals) put it on their site:

“Memoryhouse didn’t actually set out to be a band. It took form as a collaborative project meant to serve as an artistic outlet for composer Evan Abeele and photographer Denise Nouvion. Evan, a dedicated student of classical music and a pop-music encyclopedist, intended Memoryhouse to be a multimedia art project, pairing his instrumental compositions with Denise’s photographs and short films. Combining their musical and visual artwork seemed the most promising, and least unhealthy, strategy for battling archetypal adolescent angst worsened by the paralyzing effects of Canadian winter. What they wanted was to test ways to blur the boundaries between genres, to weave a synthesis of music and photography. As Denise explains their collaborative cross-media process, ‘we start with photos that we want to write around, to give us some kind of aesthetic grounding.'”

As visual designers who love music, we’ve got to say, that shit’s fucking awesome. And Nouvion’s ethereal, beautiful images are right up our alley. Oh, and the music’s pretty bad-ass too. More catchy and fun in their upbeat moments and more sonically sincere and meaningful in their sombre moments, this band is far from ‘just another dream pop band.’ But, as always, we trust you not to trust us, Reader—listen to this week’s song of the week, “The Kids Were Wrong,” for yourself. And, for both the full-album and a full-audio-visual experience, check out Nouvion’s drifting, beautiful video accompaniment for their appropriately named debut full-length, The Slideshow Effect—out now in various real-life and digital formats via Sub Pop and, of course, through the ever-present, ever-watching iTunes. Like what you hear but feeling broke? Scroll halfway down their site and you can signup for their newsletter to receive the single, “Walk with Me,” sin dinero. That’s right. I’m taking spanish. Comiendo entra la gan a. Y ahora, un poco de belleza.

All imagery, courtesy of Denise Nouvion.

Memoryhouse – The Slideshow Effect (Full Album Stream) from Sub Pop Records on Vimeo.

Reader, we’ll be frank with you—we’ve got one foot out the door. For the first time ever—thanks to some very kind gifting from Ms. Katie Frichtel—we’ll soon be headed to Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest music festival. Hundreds of hours free shows, free beer, and free food. Some of which we really hope is vegan. If not…one can sustain oneself on beer and music, right? Before we leave town though, we wanted to share with you our top…however many bands we’re über-pscyhed to see play this week, from the already profiled to the long-admired to the just formed 10 minutes ago but has a great following on Twitter. I know we’re trending a little Brooklyn- and Canada-heavy…but what can you do? Those do seem to be where all the good stuff’s coming from of late. Represent!Click individual tracks or start the player on the left side to play the entire playlist. And wish us luck on partying like we’re not in our mid-thirties….

Purity Ring • Ungirthed — Dub-step-ish “future pop” from Canada; live shows feature a giant light-up suspended bass drum that singer, Megan James, ceremoniously strikes in time; definitely one of our favorite acts at last year’s CMJ fest.

Milagres • Here to Stay — Brooklyn-based band signed sight-unseens by the venerable label, Kill Rock Stars; beautifully varied, original music.

Grimes • Genesis — AKA, Claire Boucher, singer and musician from the same, small, insanely talented circle that brought us Purity Ring and Born Gold/Gobble Gobble; eerily catchy “witch house”; past KoR profile here.

Oberhofer • HEART — Former bedroom pop genius from Washington state, relocated to Brooklyn and outfitted with a full band and coming highly anticipated full-length; superb, high-energy live shows and jangly, fresh, catchy-as-hell pop; read our interview with Brad Oberhofer from 2010 here.

Computer Magic • Electronic Fences — ANOTHER awesome bedroom pop savant form Brooklyn, this one venturing unerringly into the simple, enjoyable electro-pop realm; Computer Magic, AKA Danielle ‘Danz’ Johnson, crafts increasingly catchy songs that we’re excited to see replicated live; 2011 KoR profile here.

Arkells f. Kathleen Edwards • Agent Zero — Brand new to us, but much-buzzed-about,  these Ontario natives don’t share much in terms of a sound with the prior Canadians on this list other than sheer awesomeness; much more straight rock sound nearing the inspiring howls of Springsteen himself, can’t wait to see if their shows transit the emotiveness of their songs.

Miike Snow • Devil’s Work — Okay, finally someone who’s NOT from Brooklyn or Canada (AKA, Northern Brooklyn), three producers from Stockholm make up Miike Snow, an electronically based pop band that keeps traditional analog instrumentation key in their sound to give them some Ümph, as the Swedes say; we hear they’ve livened up their stage show and are eager to check them out.
The Big Pink • Stay Gold — Another band that bases their sound in electro-rock, The Big Pink brings their noisy hooks across the pond from England; their most recent release, Future This, presents a more cohesive, mature sound; previous profile here.

Lissy Trullie • It’s Only You, Isn’t It — Whether you consider her a model-esque musician or a musician-esque model, stop hatin’ and admit it—she’s got chops, and though some of her more retro-sounding stuff isn’t exactly our bag, there’s no denying that she can rock and croon with the best of her fellow New Yorkers; November 2011 profile here.

Of Monsters and Men • Little Talks — This six-piece from Reykjavik brings the folk-inspired rock sound to a beautifully new place with their sweeping choruses and chant-along rhythms; like a Björk-infused Head and the Heart; January’s profile here.

Owen Pallett • Lewis Takes Off His Shirt — Another Canadian we’ve been a fan of for quite some time now, Pallett—who used to work under the video-game-loving moniker, Final Fantasy—fuses together somersaulting feats of violin mastery with glitchy electronics and full symphonics to create a wholly enjoyable, wholly unique sound; never seen him live but would love to catch his show in Austin.

Big Deal • Chair — We profiled the folky duo, Big Deal, just a could months ago, and can’t wait to see them bring a dreamy, intimate atmosphere to the festival; hailing from England, this young lass + lad are sure to garner praise from old-school Ida fans like us.

Savoir Adore • Dreamers — Add this to the lists of bands we’ve heard much about but only recently started listening to, Brooklyn’s (sorry) Savoir Adore weaves pop-rich songs with heavy melodies and dueling male-female vocals to get to very listener-friendly gestalt that’ll please all but the most hardened music fan.

Sean Bones • Here Now — Our neighbor in the Cobble Hill area, Mr. Bones jams a pretty clearly reggae-inspired sound that, rather than being over the top, brings in just enough island rhythms and instrumentation to make his songs enjoyable…like a weekend jaunt to sunny southern beaches; it’s a bit of a commute to check out some who lives mere blocks away, but his live shows are worth it.

Poliça • Dark Star — Minneapolis’ Poliça brings some much-needed new soul to the festival, with slowly steady beats from their two drummers and soaring, smooth vocals from front-woman, Channy Leaneagh; much-talked about in their native Minnesota and oft-backed by members of Bon Iver, we’re anxious to see if they live up to the hype; February profile here.

Now, Now • Little Talks — Waaaaaay back in 2009, when we still wrote music-meets-vegan-cooking features for the Discerning Brute, we compared this band from Minnesota—AKA, Mid-Western Brooklyn—to Massaman curry…for some reason; now featuring a more simplified name (used to be called Now, Now Every Children), the band still rocks out pop gems and we’re excited to catch them live.

Jonquil • It’s May Part — Oxford’s Jonquil is fronted by Hugo Manuel, who’s solo electro-bliss project, Chad Valley, was a runaway hit at last fall’s CMJ fest; now both bands are playing SXSW and we intend on seeing them both, if at all humanly possible; Jonquil adds traditional rock instrumentation and calypso-like rhythms for a brit-pop, feel-good sound; last month’s full profile here.

Tanlines • All of Me — Another white-boy-band that loves the island sounds, Tanlines is nothing but fun; the Brooklyn-based duo blends dance music with indie pop, clear, bouncing vocals, and strong keyboards to come up with carefree, catchy songs; again, worth the commute.

Young Prisms • Floating in Blue — San Francisco’s Young Prism’s bring created an unabashed retrospective of 90’s style shoegazing and noise pop with their songs, and we’re cool with that; their debut full-length came out in January on Kanine and this song straight up engulfs you in My Bloody Valentine nostalgia.

We Are Augustines • Chapel Song — Anyone who’s followed this blog for any significant amount of time knows we’re in absolute love with this band; Brooklyn’s We Are Augustines channel stories of loss and longing through singer, Billy McCarthy’s raspy, emotive voice and Eric Sanderson’s solid song-writing; we’ve seen these guys many times but will do our best to see them again as many times as we can in Austin; last summer’s write-up here.

The Twilight Sad • Another Bed — Scotland’s ever-evolving The Twilight Sad started off their career with a discernible stylistic nods to mid-90’s emo; now the band sounds more like Kraftwerk-inspired eletro outfit, but singer, James Graham’s trademark heavy accent the propensity to reach crescendo still remain and make this band both unique and enjoyable for any fans of early electronic/industrial music.

The Chain Gang of 1974 • Undercover — Kamtin Mohager’s The Chain Gang of 1974 started off the new year for us with his new-new-wave dance sound; we’ll be dancing away to this LA artists tunes in mere night; January write-up here.

Grimes • Genesis

First off, yeah I know—super-Salander. But, no, Reader, the young lass pictured above isn’t some dark, edgy, fictional defender of women dreamt up by a Swedish author, she’s Claire Boucher, the dark, edgy, real-life defender of all sounds spookily melodic—AKA, Grimes.

Grimes is yet another mind-blowingly original electronic-based band that hails from Canada—see the theatrical glitch-operatic Born Gold +  the similarly eerily catchy Purity Ring—and, though you can definitely draw some comparisons with all of their instrumentation, these bands are all striking out in refreshingly distinct ways, Boucher included. Skirting the line between atmospherically spooky ‘Witch House’ and a strange marriage between retro-soul-pop and glitchy electronics, Grimes’ sound most often grounds itself in sparse, melodic, electronically generated tones with pitter-pattering percussion and delicate vocals to weave subtly addictive soundscapes.

This week’s Song, “Genesis,” provides some pretty solid backing this assessment, but check it out and decide for yourself. If you like it, definitely give a listen to Boucher’s most recent full-length, Visions, released a couple weeks ago and available on vinyl with two extra tracks via their label, Arbutus.

As with all the bands we’ve been featuring these past weeks, they’ll also be playing Austin’s South by Southwest festival in a couple weeks, and we’re psyched to see them for the first time as well as catching Purity Ring again, who puts on a SUPERB show.

Below, a video for Grimes’ rather dancier—but don’t worry, still slightly creepy—non-album track, “Vanessa,” from her 2011 album with d’Eon. Love it? Download it over on los iTunes. It is pretty tight.

Jonquil • It’s My Part

Reader, first off, our most sincere apologies for leaving you high and dry last week. We initially thought we were only excited enough about Presidents day for day’s worth of celebration. Turns out, we needed a whole week for that shit.

Now, as you may or may not recall, last fall we learned many lessons from the 2011 CMJ Music Marathon, prime among them—don’t miss Chad Valley, AKA Oxford’s Hugo Manuel (second from the right, above). Sadly, we failed to take our own advice, but this year, with Austin’s South by Southwest nearly upon us, we intend to learn from past mistakes and catch the electro aficionado as he smoothly rocks that town to its core.

But, after checking out their brand new full-length last week, we’re even more excited about catching Manuel’s full band, Jonquil, who’s happily also playing SXSW. The new release, Point of Go (out this week), pulls in Manuel’s catchy, plucky electronic melodies but builds off them using solid traditional instrumentation and some pleasingly upbeat rhythms, some of which veer surprisingly sonically close to a calypso feel, more in a Tanlines way than a Vampire Weekend way. Add to all that some smooth, brit-y, not-quite-as-crooney-as-Morrisey vocals and you end up with a seriously pleasant, pretty-pop start-to-finish album.

Check out “It’s My Part,” this week’s Song and then, if you like it, head over to Paste to stream the album while you can. It’s well-worth a full listen. If not two. Below, the video for the same song, featuring female models mouthing lyrics; strange, animal-headed beings playing in alleys; and *shudder* letters cut out of school-cafeteria-style pepperoni pizza rotating on turntables. We DO NOT condone this….

The Jealous Sound • Promise of the West

Reader, historically we’re pretty lukewarm on this whole reunion trend. Like everyone else and their grandmother, we were obviously pretty big fans of the Pixies all through high school. But did we have much of a desire to see an old, sad version of this seminal band shuffling through and likely ruining the fond memories and solid recordings we already have of some of favorite songs of all time? No, not so much. And I was personally one of the biggest My Bloody Valentine fans of all time…like every other My Bloody Valentine fan out there. But the fact that they were charging such kingly sums for their reunion shows smacked of cliché mustache-twirling greed and turned us off on the whole thing.

But then came this new rush of seemingly totally sincerely ‘for the fun of it’ reunions with the string of Cap’n Jazz shows and the mind-blowing Christie Front Drive reunion at the Bell House last year, making us warmup a little to the whole reunion thing. But, all that said, even if the show’s great and the band’s back together for the right reasons and the songs maybe even sound better than they did however many years ago…they’re still old songs being played with a sense of nostalgia and our involvement as a band member or an audience involves living in the past to a certain extent.

Which is why we were we met the announcement that the Jealous Sound—one of favorite post-90s emo pop bands—was reforming and recording new material with measured excitement. Measured because a) they’ve been known to not follow through, as a band, on promises in the past, and b) who knows if an old emo band’s new stuff would even be any good or at all relevant today (see Braid). But when the band’s new aptly named full-length, A Gentle Reminder, came out a couple weeks back, we were pleasantly surprised. They’ve kept the tense, percussive melodies and singer, Blair Shehnan’s strained beloved vocals and seem to have grown the sound just enough to not just be formulaically recreating what worked 12 years ago. See what we mean with this week’s Song, “Promise of the West”—a slow build that crescendoes not into a classic finger-pointing screamfest but into a more mature, complex sound that totally makes sense.

TJS is currently touring to support their new record, with a show Wednesday night at Williamsburg’s Knitting Factory (tickets still available) and—as per our agreement earlier in the year to post about bands playing SXSW in 2012—playing some as of yet unannounced shows throughout the festival in Austin this March. Below’s a video of them playing the album opener, “Beautiful Morning,” live in Richmond, VA a couple nights back, courtesy of Professa Murdah. Totally want to see his birth certificate.