Okay, universe. Okay. I get it.
Every year, I convince myself that, no, I do not in fact want to attend the musical and cultural orgy that is the South by Southwest festival because the town’s going to be a huge explosion of people and craziness and carnival debris and I far prefer to visit lovely Austin when it is actualy lovely and see our dear friends that live there when they’re not being stretched thin by one million activities and out of town visitors. And then every year, SXSW rolls around and I’m like, ‘Crap. Why did I not buy tickets to South by Southwest. Every band I’ve ever wanted to see is playing and it’s super warm down there and I think they’re handing out money to people on the streets.’ So I get it, universe. I GET IT!

But, just to show both you and me, universe, that there IS quality music that is not associated with this year’s festival, we’re featuring a brief interview and Song of the Week from a new Portland, OR artist, Sleepyvillian—AKA, Akila Fields. We received his album, Arithmetic, recently and were totally pulled in by it’s sweet melodies, subtle beats, and quiet beauty. Not knowing a thing about the guy, we decided to talk with him a little about his music, living in the legendary city of Portland, and joining the circus. No, really.

Kindness of Ravens: So Sleepyvillian is basically just you, right?

Sleepyvillain: Yes.

KoR: Where does the name come from?

Sv: It’s kind of silly, but when I was in college, a jazz trio I played with opened for a rock band and they asked us for a name. Rather than something like “Akila Fields Trio,” I knew I wanted villain in the titled so we just went with “Sleepyvillain.” This project is not related to that, but I kept the name.

KoR: That’s fair enough. I don’t think any bands have ever been like, “Listen to this cool, amazing story of how we got our name….” Oh, except Minus the Bear. Have you been playing music long then?

Sv: Yes. I’ve been playing piano since I was kid. I started when I was ten.

KoR: Crazy. I think I was still playing with Transformers when I was ten. Is your album being put out by anyone or are you totally doing it yourself?

Sv: No, I’m doing it all myself. It’s the first time I’ve recorded myself singing and also the first time I’ve done anything like this, stylistically. A beautiful set of interesting circumstances has brought all of this on. It’s been a fun challenge.

KoR: Well, it sounds great. So, did you for real tour with Barnum and Bailey? We’re pretty…er…really anti-animal-involved circuses, but what was that like?

Sv: Mmhmm. Yeah I know it sounds odd, but on the music end of things, it was kind of like playing a broadway show or something. The travel aspect of it was incredible—I’ve been to almost every major city at least once, and I saw music of all styles whenever I could. People bring up the animals a lot. It’s interesting—at the time I didn’t think anything of it, my mindset was mostly, “Whoa, you’re going to pay me to travel and play music….and i’m gonna live on a train?!” It’s definitely not for everyone, and takes a certain kind of person to do it. The repetition of playing 800 shows can wear on you.

KoR: I bet. Yeah, even in the cases where circuses aren’t actively ‘cruel’ to the animals involved, we’re just really against the idea of keeping them confined and forcing them into performing for people. There’s obviously a lot online about this, but this is a pretty concise page if anyone wants to check it out. So, back to you—tell us what do you like about Portland, now that you’re all settled down. We’ve heard very good things…especially for the vegan crowd.

Sv: I really like Portland. Everywhere I go, there are talented people, the city is beautifully laid out. Coffee and beer are plentiful. I kind of moved here on a whim, which I sometimes question, but several times a week, I’ll receive an answer. I’ve met incredible people here. And yes, it’s a vegan’s paradise (I’ve heard).

KoR: Yeah, I need to check it out. Any plans to tour? We hear there are lovely places to play these ‘rock concerts’ in the New York.
Sv: Someday hopefully. Baby steps. It was an awesome yet herculean task just to get it finished finished so the first step is to translate the songs for live performance. I love New York. It would be a dream to play there someday.

Until that day, we’ll have to settle for the soothing sound of headphones and speakers. Check out Sleepyvillain’s “Closer,” this week’s Song of the Week. And then head on over to Akila’s BandCamp page to hear more.

I know little to nothing about the band, Magic Man. They seem to be from Boston, though there’s a good bit on their bandcamp page about recording in the French countryside, so I guess they’re fancy Boston. And, though the name is singular, there appear to be two primary Magic Men, if you will—Sam Lee + Alex Caplow. But despite our severe lack of knowledge on the subject of Magic Man, we’ve got the one insight needed to write up a band on our Music Mondays—we really like their music. Indisputable fact. Prove me wrong.

See if you do too—check out their Song of the Week, “Darling,” and then head over to their bandcamp page to listen to their debut album, Real Life Color, or download it for free. That’s right, FREE! You know those French Bostonites. So giving. “Mon chére, I want you to have this album. It is, how you say, wicked awesome.”

I know, I know, I know. We’ve been kinda lax on the blogging lately. Honestly, it’s due to a nauseating combination of massive business, total laziness, and travel, some fun, some not so fun. But you know what, that sounds like a whole lotta’ whinin’ to me, right? Right? So we’re going to endeavor this week to make more blog posts, fewer excuses.

To start things off this Music Monday, we’re featuring one of our favorite new-ish bands—Baltimore’s Wye Oak. We went to a CMJ showcase a couple years ago to see Cut Off Your Hands (whom we reviewed WAY back when) and were caught off-guard when we were floored by the duo that makes up the spremely un-duo-sounding Wye Oak. They sway and swoon through songs, blowing them up to rocking, sonically-impressive heights and then pulling them tightly in to tiny wisps of emotions that endear you as a listener and as a human being. The drumming of multi-instrumentalist, Andy Stack, and guitar-playing of Jenn Wasner are both superb and work well with the surprisingly unique-but-familiar-sounding song-writing, but the real driving force of the music is Wasner’s voice. Honest, exposed, and beautiful, it gives the lyrics a gravity that swallows you whole.

Stack + Wasner are releasing their third album, Civilian, on Merge Records March 8 and it’s title track is our Song of the Week. Check it out. You will love it. We personally challenge you not to love it. When you’re done loving it, head over to NPR, where you can stream the whole album for free until it’s release next week.

As we all remain in prolonged mourning for Le Tigre and it’s long-ago-announced hiatus, we also must celebrate, at long last, the debut from JD Samson’s MEN.

Originally started back in 2007 as a DJ and remix side-project with the third Tigre, Johanna Fateman, Samson’s slowly grown the group’s presence over the past few years, bringing in her bandmates from Hirsute to record and play live shows while keeping Fateman on as a creative collaborator.

Now they’ve got a recently released full-lenght out on LA’s I Am Sound Records, who’ve brought us such finds as Florence and the Machines and Restless People. What we’ve heard sounds pretty party.

Check out this week’s Song of the Week to get a taste—it’s a non-album version of their album track, “Who Am I to Feel so Free,” and it features Antony Hegarty, of Antony and the Johnsons, on lead vocals. It’s supremely disco-awesome…but we have to say, we LOVE the original. You can check it out on MEN’s site, buy the CD at I Am Sound, and download songs on iTunes. Ah, digital choice. Oh, and they’re playing Bowery in two weeks and the Music Hall of Williamsburg in April.

MEN photo by Donnie Cervantes; Antony photo by Alice O’Malley.

For some reason, Valentine’s Day reminds us more of the cheesey, steel drum filled, synth-soaked 80’s than anything else. Which is why, more often than not, we often think of our good friend and master entertainer, Billy Motion around this time every year (pictured, with me, above).

With his smooth stylings and finely crafted Caribbean jamz, it’s impossible not to be put in the mood for love, as they say, and it’s the perfect soundtrack for a day of red cellophane, super-sweet chocolates, and neon palm trees. To my knowledge, Mr. Motion has not yet graced us with what would certainly be sterling, jive-inducing studio recordings, so instead, on this luv-filled edition of Music Monday, we’ll settle for giving you a taste of the next-best thing—the chilled-out funk of Toro Y Moi, AKA Chazwick Bundick. His songs somehow bring in some of the sounds of the early eighties without coming off as totally insincere. And, you’ve got to admit, they are catchy and will make you—ahem—shake your groove thing. In a chilled out Don Johnson way, let’s say. Check out this week’s Song of the Week, “Still Sound,” from Bundick’s second album, Underneath the Pine, out next Tuesday. He and his band will be playing Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery in April with one of our (and the rest of the interwebs’s) recent favorites, Braids.

Need more? Check out TyM’s video for the same song. Oh, wait, you need more MOTION! I see. In that case, check out the video AFTER that of Mr. Motion with Loverboy featuring…er…me…on…inflatable guitar. Mm-hm. That’s right.

Thanks to Dennis for the Motion pic and Martha for the Motion vid.

We first heard of Brooklyn’s Lia Ices two years ago, when our friends at Sir—a lovely independent Brooklyn boutique—held a Fashion’s Night Out party featuring what we are told was an amazing set by the songstress (we were galavanting through the southern hemisphere at the time—huzzah!)

Checking out her debut album, Necima, we were really impressed with the song-writing and grace with which she both sang and arranged some artistically sparse instrumentation, but it lacked a bit of punch and creativity. Thankfully, that’s not at all the case with her follow-up, Grown Unknown, just out on Jagjaguwar—the still-kicki’n-it label that started up just one college town away from us back in the mid-ninties. COINCIDENCE?! …yes, definitely.

Back to the point, her sophomore LP shows a much more intricate and nuanced song-writing style, with Ices bringing in non-traditional instrumentation and building a latticework of shivering, wintery music around her beautifully soaring, ghost-like vocals. So, if you missed it as part of last year’s Rock Your Own Adventure, be sure to check out the album’s title track and, if you like it, head to Ices’ MySpace page and take a listen to her duet with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, “Daphne.” On that one, be sure to wait for the mid-song shift—truly cool.

Photo by Eric Ogden.

Calm down. You’re on the right site. And no, we’re not posting about Skins or devolved into an oddly timed fixation on celebrity booby shots. We have, however, posted this week’s Song of the Week, which comes from the Auckland band, The Naked and Famous. I’m told they’re usually fully clothed and, though they seem to be doing pretty well for themselves—touring like crazy and playing the many, many summer festivals in their native southern hemisphere (jealous)—I wouldn’t necessarily call them famous. That said, with a sound that straight-up sounds like a heavenly mish-mash of Passion Pit and MGMT, all signs point to some high-flying success once they kick it state-side this spring (in NYC, at Terminal 5 (booo) with Foals and Freelance Whales (yaaay) May 4). I’m sure they’ll eventually bore out their own space in the indie sonic soundscape (yes, that sentence DID rule), but, in the meantime, we’re content to enjoy them as are. As is? As are. Check out their superb “Punching in a Dream.” It sounds like summer. Glorious, glorious summer.

Also, seemingly, black jeans are SUPER-in in New Zealand…

Our friends over at COPILOT Strategic Music + Sound are obviously experts on all things audible, so we count ourselves lucky to be on their mailing list for the annual holiday (virtual) mixtape they put together. This past holiday season, one track in particular stood out for us—that of Brooklyn’s own Minarets. Intrigued, we asked Jason at COPILOT for an intro to this previously—to us—unknown band. The result: A quick interview with Minarets’ main man, Jon Weinman and a lovely Song of the Week. Check it—

Kindness of Ravens: So, tell us about Minarets. Going off your site, all I know is you’re “electronic pop from Brooklyn.” Very mysterious. Is the band just you?

Jon Weinman: Minarets currently exists mainly as my solo recording project. I like to play all my instruments and produce and engineer everything myself. I do have some amazing guest musicians on some of the tracks, but for the most part it’s just me. We are currently working on putting together a lineup and a live show that we hope will be ready for the summer.

KoR: Originally from Brooklyn or are you a fellow transplant?

JW: I’m originally from Rockland County, New York, about 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan. I have lived in various neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn for the last 4 years while I have been attending school at NYU’s Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music.

KoR: How long have you been making music under the current moniker? …I totally sounded like Data from Star Trek with that question….

JW: The moniker is pretty new, actually. We just released our first singles at the end of 2010, so I’d say I’ve been using the name since about that time last year.
KoR: So, does the band name have any significance? Subtle nod of support to the “mosque at ground-zero”? Huge fan of that old Dave Matthews album…?

JW: The name is kind of just an aesthetic thing. I’ve always loved the architecture of minarets. The soft curves, ornate patterns, and monolithic power of the structures have always caught my eye and imagination. I also just like how the word rolls off the tongue.
KoR: Nice, indeed. This can sometimes be an overly lame question, but how do you generally do your song-writing?

JW: I generally have a couple different approaches that I favor. Sometimes a song exists first as a single line or melody in my head, and I use my computer or guitar to orchestrate around it. Other times, the orchestrations come first and I write melodies and lyrics afterwards by examining the emotional needs of the song and trying to best serve them. For the three singles that I currently have up on the internet, I used the latter technique, taking little bits and pieces of orchestration and chopping, manipulating, and gluing them back together until the song achieved the emotional feel that I was after.
KoR: I hate the ‘what music inspires you’ question, so I’ll instead ask—What have you been super-keen on lately, music-wise?

JW: I just recently saw Broken Social Scene for the second time in the last few months and I once again had my mind blown. I think what they are able to do as a true artists’ collective—blending the spacey, far-out soundscapes with the anthemic album rock—is really special. They give back so much to their crowd and you can truly feel the joy they have up on stage, which I appreciate. In terms of a new artist, I got really into Twin Shadow‘s record last year. Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear produced it and I am just so into his sonic footprint, as well as George Lewis Jr.’s amazing melodies and vocal double-tracks.
KoR: Oh, totally. We got really into him last summer and included him on this…somewhat bizarre musical choose your own adventure we did. So, any plans for some formal, long-play releases or you more into doing things tapas-style, serving up the music as it’s ready via the interweb?

JW: We are going to be sticking with the tapas-style releases until we really have a great live show on its feet. An album is a huge endeavour, and when we do it, we are going to have a unified vision and do it right. For now, though, I am thrilled with the response that we’ve been getting by releasing our songs hot off the presses and I think we will continue to do so. We are also working on a little promo campaign to give away new songs using special edition stickers with QR codes that link to free downloads placed throughout the city.

KoR: You mentioned live shows. So you’re thinking this summer?

JW: We are currently working on putting the live show together. I recently had some friends return from studying abroad who are going to be key pieces of that puzzle, and I think we are all stoked to get in the practice space and start adapting these compositions for a live setting.

KoR: Can’t wait. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us, Jon.

Check out Jon’s contribution to our Song of the Week series—“Raised in the Light”—and, when you’re done with that, head over to their Bandcamp page to listen to two other fine, Brooklyn-made pieces.

We woke up Sunday morning to find the above written out on our typewriter…along with a LOT of post-party debris. It was like a terrible, terrible piñata had exploded. And we wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks the ton of well-wishing and over-exuberant jubilation, friends.

This week’s Song of the Week is brought to you by Fierce Creatures. No, no, not the almost-sequel to A Fish Called Wanda. Fierce Creatures is a new band from Fresno (Fresno?) that sounds to us like some sort of hybrid of Local Natives and Freelance Whales and your other favorite indie folky rock-y band, but still manages to sound relatively un-derivative and fun as hell to listen to. Like if half the party you’re at suddenly started singing and playing in time. That didn’t happen this weekend, by the way. Our only complaint. Oh, plus, Australians: Please stop smashing things. In general and specific, I think.

While we wait for that request to come to fruition though, let’s all have a listen to Fierce Creatures’ beautiful and oddly titled “Satan is a Vampire,” from their debut EP, I Mostri Feroci. You can buy the CD over at Big Cartel and listen to more over at their MySpace page. Peace!

Okay, I know it’s just now the new year, but still, it’s weird that 2007 was four years ago, isn’t it? You’d think we were getting old or something. Anyway, more to the point, we first heard Ms. Lykke Li back in 2007, which really does not seem that long ago, but whatever you say, Gregorian calendar. Whatever.

Anyway, Li is a Swedish singer and songwriter who was really riding the crest of the internet-born music wave back in ’07, having ‘released’ song after song on the Web well before her actual hard-copy debut in 2008, Youth Novels. Now, of course, that’s pretty much the norm, but back then it was exciting—hearing a this tiny woman’s whispery, child-like voice woven through solid, melodic instrumentation, and not having the slightest idea where any of it was coming from. It made us fans of hers long before her record ever came out.

Now Li’s set to release her sophomore effort, proppa style, at the end of next month or beginning of March (you know how these things are). It’s emotively named Wounded Rhymes and is said to have been produced by Bjorn of Peter Bjorn and John. And she’s keeping to her ‘o7/’08 playbook, releasing somber album cover art here, leaking snippets of tracks there, putting out two-song EP’s—all leading up to her full-length’s release and all via her (very well-done) site. We weren’t totally crazy about the first single released, “Get Some“, but she just released a second one that’s got us a’buzzin’ again and—you guessed it—it’s this week’s Song of the Week. The track’s called “I Follow River” and, whereas it’s now the feel-good dance track we promised last week, it’s mighty tight. In a moody, Swedish, barely twenty sort of way.

As an added bonus, below’s the video from 2007 that provided our introduction to Frau Li and, though she’s grown a lot musically since then, it’s still super charming. We love the heckler in the window who bookends the song. And we have no idea what he’s saying.

Raise your hand if you know Swedish!