Author Archive
Manimal Vinyl presents: VOICEsVOICEs
Los Angeles based VOICEsVOICEs are comprised of the female duo Nico Turner and Jenean Farris, two ex-drummers delibertaly breaking away from the instruments they once knew to immerse themselves in the unfamiliar machines and methods they chose to adopt.
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Their goal, none other than to break down artistic barriers and preconceived notions while creating something unique, lasting and authentic. While this task may seem lofty to some, the end result is a rewarding blend of unpredictable left turns down darkended corridors and hauntingly beautiful soundcapes bathed in slippery loops, thudding drumbeats and ethereal vocals.
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Emerging from a crowded Los Angeles Smell scene and the rising tide of experimental ambient bands from the area, VOICEsVOICEs are taking their sexually charged live show on the road with stops in Portland and Seattle in early March. Hot on the heels of their newest recording, the critically acclaimed, Sounds Outside EP, the duo seeks to carve out a niche among their contemporaries offering a live experience like none other. Highly recommended for fans of Mercury Rev, Explosions in the Sky and Sigor Ros.
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West Coast tour dates:
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Feb 26, 9pm - Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco, CA
Feb 27, 9pm - Ghost Town Gallery, Oakland, CA
Feb 28, 8pm - the Boogie Room, Santa Rosa, CA
Mar 1, 8pm - East End, Portland, OR
Mar 4, 8pm - the Comet, Seattle, WA
Mar 6, 8:30pm - Pappy & Harriet’s [Welcome Home Show!!!] Pioneertown (Joshua Tree), CA
Mar 11, 9pm - The Smell – ANAVAN + Birds & Batteries + Laco$te, Los Angeles, CA
Mar 14, 10pm - The Unknown Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Mar 16, 8pm - The Echo – Origami Residency w/ Wait. Think. Fast. & more!, Echo Park, CA
Mar 19, 8pm - Avant Garden, Northridge, CA
Apr 21, 9pm - The Smell, Los Angeles, CA
May 29, 9pm - The Smell, Los Angeles, CA
Silver Summit – now playing in a town near you!
Silver Summit‘s self – titled debut is the stuff made of grim and unsettling nightmares. You know, the kind where you feel like you’re drowning in a murky pool, clawing for air just feet below the surface.
Violent, yet oddly transcendent, their sound is a puzzle stacked of opposites. Moody vocals shrouded over bright, prickly guitars. Dense, unmoored drifts of sound dissipate into hand claps and mandolins. It’s a peculiar and often rewarding blend of textures – one that the band describes as “a collision of heaven and earth, fire and water; both bewitching and beautiful.”
The Brooklyn-based psych-folk group is a song-writing partnership between longtime friends and multi-instrumentalists, Sondra Sun-Odeon and David Shawn Bosler. On their current West Coast Tour, the Silver Summit Band will arrive in Portland and Seattle with violins, cellos and added percussion in tow, lending to their already dark and foreboding sound.
For more information, check out the Silver Summit website or head over to their MySpace page for mp3′s.
West Cost Tour dates:
9/2 Portland, OR – THE SOMEDAY LOUNGE w/ tba
9/3 Seattle, WA – THE MIX w/ The Battle of Land & Sea + Lauren Banhart
9/4 Portland, OR – HOLOCENE (MusicFestNW)
9/5 Santa Cruz Mtns. – BROOKDALE LODGE (FolkYeah Presents) w/ Witch
9/6 Oakland, CA – WOULDS (or 21 GRAND) w/ The Why Because + VxPxC/Warm Climate
9/7 Sacramento, CA – LUIGI’S FUN GARDEN w/ The Why Because + VxPxC/Warm Climate
9/8 Long Beach, CA – THE PROSPECTOR w/ Gangi + tba
These Arms are Snakes drop 3rd LP October 7th
According to the Suicide Squeeze website, Spin Magazine has recently leaked album artwork, tracklisting and a few juicy details regarding Seattle-based, These Arms Are Snakes‘ newest long player and follow up to 2006′s criminally underrated, Easter.
Set for release October 7th, Tail Swallower and Dove, marks their 3rd full length and first for Suicide Squeeze, home of Minus the Bear, Crystal Skulls and Human Highway, among others. According to Spin.com, “the disc will be packed full of the hard-hitting hooks, somber tones, and brooding subject matter (as indicated by track titles like “Lucifer” and “Long and Lonely Step”) that These Arms Are Snakes fans have become accustomed to banking on.”
Just in case that little tidbit wasn’t enough to whet your insatiable urge for those sexy, serpentine, synth dudes, the fellas in TAAS will be on the road, mowing down West coast venues with labelmates sBach while presumably playing songs from said release. Tracklist and tour dates below:
Tail Swallower & Dove tracklist:
1. “Woolen Heirs”
2. “Prince Squid”
3. “Red Line Season”
4. “Lucifer”
5. “Ethric Double”
6. “Seven Curtains”
7. “Long and Lonely Step”
8. “Lead Beater”
9. “Cavity Carousel”
10. “Briggs”
Go see em’:
08/31 – Bumbershoot – Seattle, WA
09/05 – Dante’s – Portland, OR
09/12 – Big Dipper – Spokane, WA
09/13 – Hell’s Kitchen – Tacoma, WA
09/16 – Center for the Arts – Grass Valley, CA
09/17 – Bottom of the Hill – San Fransisco, CA
09/18 – Spaceland – Los Angeles, CA
09/19 – Elks Pomona Lodge – Pomona, CA
09/20 – La Jolla – Che Cafe, La Jolla, CA
09/12 – Muddy Waters, Santa Barbara, CA
09/23 – Tonic Lounge – Reno, NV
HUSH Records Celebrates 10th Anniversary with a FREE Compilation!
Well, it looks like you’ve forgotten yet another birthday, you insensitive jerk! Luckily the Portland-based label HUSH Records isn’t one to hold a grudge. In fact, you’re still invited to partake in the festivities. In honor of their first decade in existence, HUSH is offering the ultimate party favor, and best of all, it’s free of charge! Colin Meloy, Flash Hawk Parlour Ensemble, Novi Split and many others are featured on DECA: A HUSH 10th Anniversary Compilation, a 28 song comp with accompanying 36-page PDF booklet.
Should you opt for the convenient, high quality zip download you’ll find you’re given an opportunity to pay an amount of your choosing for it. According to HUSH, “the proceeds to go to funding a retreat for the artists who participitated. Songs are the richness of our community and we enjoy sharing them. It is an increasingly rare and meaningful gesture – which does not go unnoticed – when one is willing to pay for them of their own volition.”
Album 1:
1. “Hollow Notes” – Novi Split
2. “Refining” – Peter Broderick
3. “Come By Storm” – Laura Gibson
4. “The Afterlife Pt. I” – Run On Sentence
5. “Winding Sheet” – Nick Jaina
6. “Coo Coo Bird” – Shelley Short
7. “Hiding Home” – Norfolk & Western
8. “Spring Bird” – Rauelsson
9. “Space And All Dead Things” – Corrina Repp
10. “Elephants & Little Girls” – Loch Lomond
11. “Sharra” – Kaitlyn Ni Donovan
12. “Wii Oui” – Podington Bear
13. “Broke Down” – Amy Annelle
14. “The Wagoner’s Lad” – Colin Meloy
Album 2:
1. “Song #4″ – Fun With Friends
2. “Petting Zoo” – Solid Home Life
3. “Your Smile” – Fancie
4. “Ridin’ For A Fall” (Young Dub) – Bobby Birdman
5. “These Blues” – Super XX Man 6. “Egg Hunt” – Reclinerland
7. “Asleep At The Wheel” – Casey Dienel
8. “The Bane Of Progress” – Jeff London
9. “Flight Cub” – Velella Velella
10. “Oh Darlin” – Blanket Music
11. “Big Eye City” – Operacycle
12. “Elysian Fields (We’re Dead, We’re Dead)” – Parks and Recreation
13. “Humm-na” – Dat’r
14. “Sleep At Last!” (Live) – Flash Hawk Parlour Ensemble
Melvins release 288th record. P.S. it's good!
OK, I know what you’re thinking. Who gives a fuck about these old metal dudes, right? I mean, haven’t they been around for like, 30 years or something? Truth be told, yes, these guys are as old as dirt, but didn’t your parents teach you to respect your elders? After all, if your elders are anything like mine, they get drunk and pull down their pants at family reunions. But I digress…
It’s been a couple of decades since the mighty Melvins packed up and migrated South, leaving behind their greasy, backwater brethren for the sunny locale of Hollywood, California. Before then, they were just another Northwest punk band doing their best to blend Black Flag, the Wipers and KISS into one goofball concoction of rock n’roll sludge. It can be duly noted, that the Melvins have forged an influential and rather perplexing career dedicated to befuddling listeners and record labels alike, plowing ahead well into their 40′s and showing no signs of letting up.
Their newest long player is called Nude With Boots and picks up where 2006′s excellent, (A) Senile Animal left off. Blending the 70′s arena rock stylings Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper and Thin Lizzy with shards of art-damaged punk will make for a satisfying listen to those of you basking in the warm resurgence of guitar-centric, retro rock. Like their last record, Nude With Boots falls in line with the sound of recently absorbed Big Business, melding Jared and Coady’s bottom heavy, no bullshit approach to detuned debauchery. Tying in melody and actual hooks – a somewhat foreign concept for the Melvins in it’s early incarnations – this record offers loads of pummeling drum pyrotechnics and fuzzed out bass leads. Check out the title track, “Billy Fish” and “Suicide in Progress” as spaced out anthems to the holy rock grail. Not to be left out are Buzz’s heavier-than-your-Mom guitar dirges (Dog Island) and a ghostly instrumental (Dies Israea) that some of you may recognize as a re-hashed theme to ‘the Shining’.
Longtime fans will rejoice for the Melvins latest offering, while newer listeners might find this a good jumping off point. You’ll sleep better at night knowing that these lumbering dinosaurs are far from relics of a forgotten time. They’re still very much alive and kicking. Kicking the shit out of your ear drums.
Release date: July 8th, 2008, Ipecac Records
