by: Sam Farzin, KUCI Music Director
Chilly champions!
Last night, I went to go see some bands at the Smell in downtown Los Angeles. First, Smogmonster I think played, and it was glitchy and lo-fi and cool. Then Lucky Dragons played and everyone smiled and touched hands. Then The Watery Graves played and everyone got their jazz-psych on. Then Kimya Dawson played and everyone went awwww and hahahah and .... Then Adam Green came out and they played like a million Moldy Peaches songs for the first time in like four years and everyone went WOAHHHH THIS IS RAD.
In other less sexy news, these are the last official adds until the new year. I was going to say 'don't expect a whole lot of awesome tunes for the rest of the month' but this week is already less than stellar, mailwise. That said, I have supplemented official adds with two wonderful EPs that I hope you will all enjoy.
Sambassadeur - Migration [Labrador]
Word association: Sweden. Music. Pop. Handclaps. Boy-girl vocals. Harmonies for days. Ethereally earthbound guitars. Love? There is nothing overtly unlikable about this music. Check "Final Say" (track 6). It's an ice-cool disco popmelter.
Jared Micah and Hats - T.C.H.T.O.B. [Angel or the Airbag]
This music is pretty weird in execution. It's ostensibly indie rock, but it has more nooks and twisted crannies than most. It is is oddly operatic, and it crescendos a lot, sort of like Sunset Rubdown. That's actually a pretty apt comparison. Jared's band is more carefree and jolly than that band, though. I knew a guy named Micah in high school. You said his name "Mee-huh." I don't know how you say this Jared guy's last name, though. It could just be "Mee-kuh."
Little Teeth - Demo [Self-Released]
The amount of fun this band is having on this disc is pretty obvious. Their trade is kitchen-sink-fragment-noise-pop. You'll hear cellos, circuit-bent children's toys, banjos, guitar, drums, mandolin, trumpet, casios, accordian, and melodicas played by three people over the course of five songs. My personal favorite is the last track, "Sideways." This is in a jewel case with the band name in black sharpie on the spine.
Fire on Fire - 5 Song EP [Young God]
For those in what I call "the know," this album's being on Young God is as much of a blurb as anything written from this point on. Across the five tracks, the band crafts a distinct and unifying sound: neo-Americana folk sort-of-dirges that are optimistically melancholy and incredibly listenable. The sound is both very new and very, very old. I am big on the second and fourth tracks, "Liberty Unknown" and "Amnesia" respectively. The former is a beautiful war hymn of a song that features a barely-there finger-picked guitar paired with understated piano, which together form the base that the enrapturing vocals gently march through. The latter is a sunbaked porched-out swamp rag. This is also in case with the band name in black sharpie on the spine. Please keep the lyric sheet with this one.
Okay friends.
til next week,
sam
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