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Bruce Raves Interviews Tribes

TRibes

Here’s my full chat with the English rock band Tribes, recorded during my recent visit to Brighton, UK’s The Great Escape Festival (full coverage here). Tribes had a high-profile gig while at The Great Escape, which was two days prior to the late May UK release of their second album Wish to Scream. Expectations were high for the band following their top ten debut album Baby, and this new release is another fine album. Together we talked about the evolution of the band, some specific tracks on Wish to Scream, and also their experience recording the album at the legendary Sound City studios in L.A. Yes, the place that Dave Grohl’s recent documentary was about. We lamented the fickleness of the British press and hit on other relevant topics as well. Have a listen to our conversation below. By Bruce Rave

* Links and playlists from Rave’s weekly new music show can be found on his blog and be sure follow Bruce on Twitter too!

reviewed by
07-03-13

WOODS – Be All Be Easy

Woodsist

“Be All Be Easy” goes down easy with an always classic makeup of soothing harmony and folk rock roots music. The NY collective Woods will release the song as a new single on July 9 and be sure to catch them on tour throughout this summer and fall. Sample “Be All Be Easy” below along with a B-side cover of “God’s Children” from The Kinks.

Tour Dates

Fri-Jul-12 Hudson, NY – Half Moon
Sat-Jul-13 Boston, MA TT – The Bears *
Sun-Jul-14 Portland, ME – Space 538 *
Mon-Jul-15 Burlington, VT – Signal Kitchen *
Tue-Jul-16 Montreal, QC – Il Motore *
Wed-Jul-17 Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern *
Thu-Jul-18 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Tavern
Fri-Jul-19 Chicago, IL – Pitchfork Music Festival
Mon-Jul-22 Louisville, KY – Zanzabar *
Tue-Jul-23 Charlottesville, VA – Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar *
Wed-Jul-24 Philadelphia, PA – Morgan’s Pier *
Thu-Jul-25 Baltimore, MD – Ottobar *
Sat-Jul-27 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom #
Thu-Aug-01 Berlin – Berghain Kantine
Fri-Aug-02 Katowice – Off Festival
Sat-Aug-03 Vienna – Flex
Sun-Aug-04 Nürnberg – Folk im Park
Mon-Aug-05 Hamburg – Aalhaus
Tue-Aug-06 Köln – King Georg
Wed-Aug-07 Sibenik – Terraneo Festival
Sat-Aug-10 Helsinki – Flow Festival
Sun-Aug-11 Amsterdam – MC Theater
Wed-Aug-14 Luxembourg – Exit07
Thu-Aug-15 Paris – Plage de Glazart
Fri-Aug-16 St. Malo – La Route du Rock
Sun-Aug-18 Powys – Greenman Festival
Mon-Aug-19 London – Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
Mon-Sep-16 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl %
Tue-Sep-17 Seattle, WA – Barboza %
Wed-Sep-18 Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios %
Fri-Sep-20 San Francisco, CA – The Chapel %
Sun-Sep-22 Big Sur, CA – Woodsist Festival @ Henry Miller Memorial Library
Wed-Sep-25 San Luis Obispo, CA – SLO Brew %
Thu-Sep-26 San Diego, CA – Casbah %
Fri-Sep-27 Los Angeles, CA – Center for the Arts Eagle Rock %
Sat-Sep-28 Pioneertown, CA – Woodsist Festival @ Pappy and Harriet’s %#

* = w/ Parquet Courts
# = w/ Alex Bleeker and the Freaks
% = w/ The Fresh & Onlys

Woods (Official)

Rating 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
07-03-13

Clubfeet – Cape Town (Panama Remix)

clubfeet cape town

New jam. Panama ring in the sunniness sounds of “Cape Town” (yes, both the track and the place) with this latest remix of the stellar Clubfeet track. Catch these two acts together on tour in Australia this summer ahead of Clubfeet’s new AA-side single release for Everything You Wanted/Heartbreak (July 15) and new full length album Heirs and Graces expected this September. In the meantime, get your daytime disco dance-on to this fresh take of “Cape Town” below.

Clubfeet – Cape Town (Panama Remix)

Panama (Facebook)

Rating 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
07-03-13

Smooth Hound Smith – Get Low

smoothhoundsmith

Smooth Hound Smith, the male/female duo out of Venice, CA, ably connect the roots of rock and soul to the more modern palette with their just released debut self-titled LP. A favorite of ours (of many) from the album is the stomping, compact, blues-in-motion sound of “Get Low”. You can stream stream Smooth Hound Smith in its entirety on bandcamp.

Smooth Hound Smith california (Facebook)

Rating 8.5

brown8

reviewed by
07-02-13

Amason – Went To War

Amason

Amason, a Swedish indie supergroup of sorts (the Stockholm-based band features members of Miike Snow, Idiot Wind & Little Majorette), make their B3 debut w/ the compact rhythm-driven indie pop of “Went To War”. The track ticks the boxes (quite well actually) of being great melodically and conceptually as well as lyrically but is particularly memorable for it’s excellent set of horn-led hook-sealing counter melodies (you will recognize them instantly when you first hear them) that are of a quality characteristic of the best songwriters (like Miike Snow’s Pontus Winnberg).

Amason california (Facebook)

Rating 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

Duke Dumont feat. MNEK – Hold On

duke dumont

Duke Dumont’s maturation into a full on star of indie dance music continues with new single “Hold On”. Featuring Rudimental collaborator MNEK (& “Need U” co-writer), “Hold On” walks a neat juxtaposition between the immediacy of the track’s club ready beats and bounce and the more sobering spiritual for the 2010’s vocal and instrumental stylings. “Hold On” is a most definite win for Duke Dumont.

Duke Dumont (Soundcloud)

Rating: 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

Major Major Major – Scream Queen

major major major

Major Major Major a new rock and roll duo out of Austin score major B3 points with the 60’s pop-informed crunch of awesome debut single “Scream Queen”. Get into Major Major Major before all yr friends (inevitably) do RIGHT NOW.

Major Major Major texas (Bandcamp)

Rating 8.3

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

Mayer Hawthorne – Her Favorite Song (Oliver Remix)

favorite song

“Her Favorite Song” is probably Hall & Oates, that is if the sound on Mayer’s latest single transferable to the tastes of the track’s titular boo. Here, blog favorite Oliver gives the Jessie Ware-featuring song a 2010’s synth-pop makeover injecting it with enough bounce and “feel good feels” to keep the blog rocking rocking until the break of the dawn (1990’s).

Mayer Hawthorne – Her Favorite Song (Oliver Remix)

Oliver (Soundcloud)

Rating 8.0

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

Holograms – Meditations

meditations

Ooh yeah, we likey. The well-worn genre of “dark brooding post-punk” comes and goes (as all genres in the larger rotation of the literati do) among the turnstile consciousness of the indie literati. July 2013, scene: The United States, neither the time or place are particularly friendly (at least broadly) to post-punk and the genre’s charms. It’s awesome to find a band that in addition to playing great music in the face of its current trends; but the the fact that Swedish band (where post-punk is still alive and well apparently) Holograms do it so well and so convincingly is something truly worthy of admiration (& a spot on B3). “Meditations” is single #2 from Holograms sophomore Forever LP.

Holograms sweden (Facebook)

Rating 8.4

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

Elli Ingram – Poetic Justice (Retrial) (Prod. Felix Joseph & Rudi Redz)

elli ingram

The very very talented UK up and comer Elli Ingram releases her debut “Sober” EP. A tantalizing (and we don’t use that word lightly) mix of current R&B and pop sensibilities w/ the powerhouse vocal quality and performance of the best and most well-lauded of the current wave female British singers; and, oh yeah, there’s this absolutely crazy re-work of Kendrick’s “Poetic Justice” that closes the EP and is our pick from the set.

Elli Ingram – Poetic Justice (Retrial) (Prod. Felix Joseph & Rudi Redz)

Elli Ingram (Facebook)

Rating: 8.5

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

Bondax – Giving It All

bondax

Lancashire UK’s soul pop home team Bondax. We’re going proceed now with this track by forgoing the requisite Disclosure comparison and introduce you straight to the track, which (and it should really not be a surprise) is very good indeed. We’re talking hit-you-in-the-heart-area R&B vocals, the slickest of slick bass lines & “feel good for summer” vibes; the typical (& typically well-fashioned) Bondax formula. A+’s all around.

Bondax (Facebook)

Rating 8.4

brown8

reviewed by
07-01-13

B3SESSION: X Ambassadors Perform “Unconsolable”

x ambassadors copy

Brooklyn based X Ambassadors recently stopped by Elias Studios in Santa Monica to perform a few tracks from their new Love Songs Drug Songs EP, and to do an interview with KCRW DJ & Music Supervisor Jason Kramer. This performance of their song “Unconsolable” especially showcases the band’s various stylistic intuitions, from pop to indie and alternative rock. Check out Part 1 of the session below.

X Ambassadors newyork: (Facebook)(Love Songs Drug Songs on iTunes)

reviewed by
07-01-13