Pleasant vibes blown in from the Pacific Northwest. Previewed from the upcoming Helplessness Blues is “Montezuma”, a paean to two of rock and roll’s most popular subjects, love and the past.
Fleet Foxes – MontezumaFleet Foxes: (Myspace) (Official) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.0
Contributed by Christopher Gedos
My only really polished skill is my ability to make sweeping generalizations about the state of people, places and things. So take it with no small grain of salt when I proclaim that Smith Western’s “All Die Young” is one of the representative songs of this the year 2011. It’s not indie pop but rather plain old pop music, music meant to be heard by the masses lest capitalist hogs and lowest common denominators bully their way through the back door. The effortlessness, the long build to the chorus, it’s dream pop at the expense of the dream and nerd rock at the expense of the nerd. It’s Beach Boys circa ‘71 had Brian Wilson never cracked. A beautiful lake-effect blowing in off the shores of Lake Michigan, Chicago’s Smith Westerns.
Smith Westerns – All Die YoungSmith Westerns: (Myspace) (Blogspot) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.7
Contributed by Christopher Gedos
Q: Does this band know how good they are? A: Of course. Otherwise they wouldn’t have kept their cards superglued to their chest over the past year. Otherwise they wouldn’t self release their album (Go Tell Fire to the Mountain, out in the UK June 13th), nor would their website look like an art gallery installation. Otherwise their music wouldn’t bubble with such untamed emotion, nor would their videos border both catharsis and parody. These guys are so far ahead of the pack it’s scary, and their other songs are of equally uniform quality. WU LYF’s U.S. debut this April Fool’s Eve at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn is sure to be AN EVENT.
Wu Lyf – L Y FWu Lyf: (Official) (Myspace) (Facebook)
Rating: 8.7
Material from Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues continues to meet expectations. “Lorelai” feels like a deeper album cut – still poppy, you can hear how it might play off “Battery Kinzie” and the title track on the full-length. Helplessness Blues is released May 3. Calendars marked.
Fleet Foxes – LorelaiRating: 8.1
Nobody past, present or (likely) future can shit talk on a record like Bobby Womack.
Bobby Womack – You’re Welcome, Stop on By
You know you’re listening to a great pop song when you can even look-forward to the bridge. Needless to say, we’ve been spending some quality time with The Vaccines forthcoming debut, What Did You Expect from The Vaccines? And one thing’s for sure, we’ll be jamming to “Wolf Pack” all this weekend.
The Vaccines – Wolf PackThe Vaccines: (Info) (Pre-order What Did You Expect…)
Rating: 8.6
Moby’s new single “The Day” goes big… anthem big. Previewed from his forthcoming Destroyed release, it’s a pleasant track with commercial potential. It maintains true to the Moby sound, and with his album dropping in May, this track isn’t far from where it needs to be.
Moby: (Myspace) (Pre-order Destroyed)
Rating: 7.9
Think you’re done with “Intro”? Think you’ve heard this song dressed up and down every possible way? Think you’re peaced out with it? Well, you may have been yesterday, but you ain’t today, ’cause this new Minnesota remix of The xx is OFFICIAL. So legit.
The xx/Sander Van Doorn – XX Booty (Minnesota Remix)
Minnesota: (Soundcloud) (Facebook)
Rating: 8.3
Beards up. Hoes down. Sick to hear Freeway rhyming like he gives a shit again.
Freeway/Statik Selektah – The FlowFreeway: (Facebook) (Myspace)
Statik Selektah: (Myspace) (Twitter)
Rating: 7.7
This new Star Slinger remix of The Morning Benders’ track “Cold War” is part of a just released benefit EP put together by the band raise dough to help the relief effort in Japan. 100% of the proceeds from the Benders’ “Japan Echo” EP will go toward helping the victims of the recent Japan catastrophes. The EP also includes unreleased Morning Benders tracks and additional remixes from Twin Sister and Wild Nothing. Again, all proceeds go to Japan relief, donate as much as you’re able.
DONATE The Morning Benders – DONATE Cold War (Star Slinger Remix) DONATE
Other Ways You Can Help: (Red Cross) (Global Giving) (Doctors Without Borders)
Another killer entry from Saadiq’s upcoming Stone Rollin’ LP. “Moving Down the Line” is maybe the new record’s “Big Easy”, the minor key, the shuffle rhythms, the percussive melodies. Keeping with Stone Rollin’s more ’70’s-inspired sound, “Moving Down the Line” is more cinematic, more layered, more dramatic in its arrangement. The strings build and break with the tenor of the tune. Stone Rollin’ is due May 10th on Columbia.
Raphael Saadiq – Moving Down the LineRaphael Saadiq: (Official) (Myspace) (Twitter)
Rating: 9.0
Contributed by Bruce Rave
Had an ace time hanging with the entire B3Sci team last week in Austin. We interviewed Chapel Club, The Vaccines, and Bombay Bicycle Club. The three will run weekly on my Moheak Radio Show with songs included, beginning with Chapel Club tomorrow (Friday). For this week’s fave, we have the LA band Prima Donna. Their “I Don’t Want You to Love Me” is on fire. It takes me back the the glam-punk best of bands like The New York Dolls. Here you go:
Prima Donna – I Don’t Want You to Love MeCatch Bruce on Moheak Radio Fridays 1-3pm PST
Prima Donna: (Myspace) (Official) (Facebook)
Rating: 8.3
