Are you ready for the first Weekly Roundup of the fall season? I hope so, because it's ready for you!
-It's officially fall, and I can't help feeling this song "Come Home," by the Pear Traps captures the spirit of the season very well. Maybe that's just me, but I think you'll agree with me that it's definitely a good listen. I really like the guitar and vocal tones. It comes from a self-titled EP which you can purchase as a cassette or digitally, go here to do so.
-Going to drop some knowledge on y'all. Calliope was the Greek muse of epic poetry. Now you can appreciate this track "Calliope" by Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps that much more. The music should be sufficient for that already, of course. It is driven by Caroline's voice, and while the song is generally catchy, there are some touches of noise that provide an intriguing contrast. "Calliope" comes from the recently released album Little Wind. Here's the band's website.
-One of my favorite things about Weezer's Pinkerton (which is one of my favorite albums) is the sound of the drums. They were recorded in such a big way. Incredible amounts of cymbal crash and huge, cavernous beats on the snares and toms. So I just loved hearing this cut from the Dirty Nil's latest 7" record "Fuckin' Up Young." And, I have to say, the epic chorus is also very Pinkerton. The song is like the cousin of "Tired of Sex," really. Awesome. I hope you dig it, and you can go here for the other half of the double a-side.
-Straight out of Halifax, Nova Scotia comes the quite nice music of Corey Isenor. He will be releasing his full length The Hunting Party digitally on October 1st at his bandcamp page. As a preview for that, have a listen to this song "Deja Vu." I really dig this one, it's just a solid, well-written rock/folk tune. Mid-tempo and very assured. I think it's going to be a good album.
-The fellas in the Rest are nothing if not persistent. After a computer crash wiped out the material from their album, they found a way to use airplane black box recovery technology to get back their music! I had no idea such a thing was even possible. The album will be coming out next year, but in the mean time, they have a double a-side available for free. Check out one of the tracks "Always on My Mind," it's the sort of fascinating chaotic-yet-tuneful-mixture of sound you might expect from a band that has been through such tumult. Here's their bandcamp page.
-It's been a really good week for music videos, so I hope you're ready. We are going to start off with this one by LOVEDRUG for their track "Dinosaur." It depicts a group of five women who don masks and get into mischief and the Abominable Snowman who is captivated by them. Cool tune too. I dig it.
-We first shared some music from Filligar back in February. The band is working on a 2012 release, but they've shared two tracks from that forthcoming work. After listening to the song "Knock Yourself Out," I am quite excited to hear that album. This is a band that knows how to rock, plain and simple. They start off in a nice bluesy groove before kicking it up. Really dig the interplay of the piano and guitars throughout the song. Though I haven't seen them, I remain convinced this band can melt some faces live too. Check out the band's site here.
Knock Yourself Out by Filligar
-Remember what I said earlier about it being a really good week for music videos? We're going to go out of this Roundup on quite the trifecta of clips from previously posted acts (in addition to the above from LOVEDRUG). She's already made one of my favorite videos of 2011 (for one of my favorite songs of 2011) but that just wasn't enough for Ms. Erika M. Anderson – EMA if you are into the whole brevity thing, or want to call her by her actual recording name. She's back with another striking piece, this time for the song "Marked." Check it below and be sure to get her album Past Life Martyred Saints if you haven't already. Here's her website. Oh and bonus, check out her recent awesome Daytrotter Session.
EMA – Marked (official video) from Souterrain Transmissions on Vimeo.
-Next up, we have a wonderful video from A Lull for their song "Some Love." It captures a day and night among some young lovers and friends. They go to an old farmhouse, and in painting it, faintly evoke a favorite of mine, "Today" by the Smashing Pumpkins. It has a sort of documentary feel to it, like this is a real social circle and this is what they do. And like "Dinosaur," there's some cool night-time firework shots.
-By the time I rewatched this last video from Icarus Himself for the wonderful track "On Your Side," I realized there is a bit of an anarchic spirit uniting all of this week's video selections. I don't want to give it away, but let's just say you will probably quite surprised where this video ends up. Yet it proves to be a clever take on the song's message, very cool. The album Career Culture comes out October 11, it should be a good one.