Cats of Transnistria - IV

 

In the past, Finnish duo Cats of Transnistria have thrilled us with their multi-layered, intense and dramatic shoegaze. But for IV, their recently released new album, Henna Emilia Hietamaki and Tuomas Alatalo have broadened their sonic platform with more varied and complex rhythms and bass guitar. The result is a further increase in intensity and a distinct wash of foreboding. With serious lyrical themes to match the intensity of the music, this probably isn't background music for the kids' breakfast before sending them out to catch the bus. But we have found it to be a great soundtrack for our days. As we recently described the album when recommending it to a friend: This is the rare shoegaze with a genuine personality". And we all like new, interesting friends, don't we?

IV is out now as a digital release and limited vinyl via Helsinki's Soliti Music.

Facebook

Bandcamp for IV

X (if you must)

"Like Butterflies" and "A Tall Tale" by Union of Knives

This week Scottish electronic act Union of Knives shared two new songs, "Like Butterflies" and "A Tall Tale", featuring Ladytron's Helen Marnie. Both songs also have been released with accompanying videos, with the video for "Like Butterflies" featuring an interpretative dance by Alexandra Tsiapi. The two songs can bookend your evening with different approaches to fill the dance floor. Both songs are taken from their new album Endless From The Start -- their first in 14 years -- which is out on either May 31 or June 4 (we have differing information) via Disco Piñata. Few bands can combine dance, soul, electronic and industrial like this trio, and we are thrilled with the promise of their return.

Union of Knives are Chris Gordon, Ant Thomaz (Dope Sick Fly), and Peter Kelly (of The Kills and Ladytron).

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Bandcamp for "Like Butterflies"

Bandcamp for "A Tall Tale"

Bandcamp for album (pre-order)

 

Dead Boy Robotics - New Cells

The Edinburgh trio of Dead Boy Robotics, consisting of Gregor McMillan, Mike Bryant, and Paul Bannon, craft dark, noisey synth rock anthems begging for late night audiences comfortable with an aggressive noir and big arena volume.  Their latest album is New Cells, out now via Brothers Grimm, and it is an excellent introduction to their sound.  Jump and writhe to it on the dance floor or just let the pulsating waves wash over you, this is compelling pop music in a playfully sinister wrapper.  A few tracks are provided below.  You can listen to the entire album on Spotify and iTunes.





Website
Facebook
Soundcloud
Twitter

"Hammer and a Nail" from Vienna Ditto

Cabaret, rockabilly, electro-rock, psychedelic pop, and theatrical pop -- all in one glorious song.  Yes, "Hammer and A Nail" demonstrates Vienna Ditto's ability to be audaciously different, and completely captivating as well.  Hatty Taylor's voice is a seductive, smokey, bluesy force of nature, and I want to hear it all day and night.  Nigel Firth's production is inspired, and deliciously dirty.  This single from the London duo will be released on February 23, in advance of the May 4 release of their LP Circle.  Take the goods for a test drive below.  Then have a smoke and a shower -- you'll have earned it.  Damn, May 4 seems like such a long way away.






Website
Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp for 2014 single

Wild Cub cover Chvrches - "The Mother We Share"

Nashville electro-rock band Wild Cub has made this song, a cover of Chvrches' "The Mother We Share", available for free download - just in time for Mother's Day:



Apparently, if you will "Shazam" their song "Thunder Clatter" (which we shared previously on WYMA), you will receive this new song as a free download. Wild Cub's music is pretty invigorating stuff, and they certainly have raised their visibility lately. They will be on Conan next week (5/13) and you can view upcoming tour dates at their Facebook page.

Wild Cub Facebook

REVIEW: Wild Beasts - Present Tense

Present Tense, the fourth able from Wild Beasts, is an intimate and emotional journey writ in an electro-pop language.  The themes encompass rage, dehumanization, angst, physicality, hope and redemption.  The soundscapes are adventuresome and boast multiple textures, bold rhythms and playful melodies.  The interplay of baritone and falsetto vocals deepens the emotional impact.  It is electronic-based synth music that is triumphantly alive and vital.  Listeners familiar with the previous albums from Wild Beats will note the increased reliance on keyboards, a reliance on the additional depth and touch of menace added by the synth bass, and the soaring high-register atmospherics.  But in light of the results I would be surprised if there are any complaints.   The album consists of eleven tracks, but they fit together so well, and the sequencing is so perfect, that it really seems like a single performance in eleven acts.  While it may not be unusual for a band to seek that effect, the successful execution is rare.

If you wonder whether pop music can be intelligent and carnal, pop but progressive, emotional but subtle and restrained, electronic and human, the answer is "yes, see Wild Beasts".





Wild Beasts are Hayden Thorpe (guitar, bass, keys and falsetto vocals), Benny Little (guitar and keys), Tom Fleming (bass, keys and tenor vocals), and Chris Talbot (percussion and baritone vocals).  Present Tense is out now on Domino Records.

Website
Facebook
Twitter

Introducing: Girl One and the Grease Guns

Girl One and the Grease Guns have a great sound reminiscent of early electro-rock bands and an interesting visual style in composing their videos.  I think the name is pretty good as well.  I don't know much more about them as I suspect the group members' names - Sissy Space Echo, Warren Betamax, Charles Bronson Burner and Bruce LeeFax - were selected some time after Christening.  The UK's Squirrel Records has the honor of bringing the band's music to the world and have released three 7" recordings so far.  Here is the video for the April release, "Driving Without Headlights (Once Again)".



"Jessica 6"


Imagine Manhattan Love Suicides repurposed as a subversive synth pop band.  It is glorious if you try.

This was their debut -

Facebook
Artist page at Squirrel Records

NEW SONG: Belgian Fog - "You Drive Me to Madness"

Belgian Fog is the electro-rock project of Seattle's Robert Dale. We've already posted one of his tracks (WYMA post here), and now he's got a new song out, "You Drive Me to Madness" - still featuring that falsetto vocal, big drums, layered vocals and a dizzying variety of keyboard sounds:



That closing chorus (last minute of the song) is lush and very full-sounding - recommended for fans of stuff like The xx and Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr. He worked with John Goodmanson, whose work with Los Campesinos! was recently featured here. Good stuff.

REVIEW: Fur Trade - Don't Get Heavy

Fur Trade is a duo consisting of Steve Bays of Hot Hot Heat on synths/drums/vocals and Parker Bossley of The Gay Nineties on bass/guitar/vocals. Their new album is Don't Get Heavy, and it's an exhilarating, upbeat record with enough sonic variety and attention to harmony to keep you bopping for the entirety of its 41 minutes. They describe the sound as "yacht rock" - and I'm willing to consider that this may be an emerging genre. We've seen similar sounds from artists like Wild Cub, Beisbol and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. recently, all of them synth-heavy, drumbeat-based but featuring plenty of rock guitar and soul-influenced vocals. Not to pigeonhole, but I'm sometimes tempted to call all these "children of Steely Dan". Like Steely Dan, Fur Trade (and the others I mentioned) have a sound in mind and are willing to put in the work to get it, and don't feel constrained by "genre".

Here's a video for the title track:



Bossley himself describes the sound: “We take our shared love for soft pop from the 70’s and 80’s (Bowie, Sade, Hall and Oates), and add our own touch of modern grime and dirt in there.” It's obvious they pay a lot of attention to the sound - Bays: “Parker and I have very similar sensibilities when it comes to music that ends up in a sort of mad scientist being consumed by his experiments. I’m just obsessed with the blending of old equipment with digital sounds and the audio sculpting to us became just as essential as what riff or melody we were playing.” At the same time, though, they're creative and open enough in their approach to feature a decidedly lo-fi use of modern technology in obtaining the drum sound on "Voyager", one of the best tracks here. Bays said he was playing on a friend's drum kit, liked the sound he was getting so he recorded it on his iPhone - and claims that's the sound you hear on the record... albeit mixed in with swirling layer after layer of synths, guitars, multi-tracked vocals and effects.

Here's a live orchestral version of "Voyager":



Or you can listen to the album version at this link.

There are transcendent moments on this record - the entire second track, "Kids These Days", with its falsetto vocals and slightly off-kilter guitar line over a quietly insistent keyboard, is one.



Another is the last 3:00 of "In Between Dreams". There's something about the way the song (at 5:41 the longest track on the record) rides a quick tempo and treated vocals through the first half, then leads to a nice guitar line about halfway through, and they ride that the rest of the way through the song.

The record is out now on Last Gang Records (released July 23rd). You can learn more, buy a download or order at the links below.

Fur Trade website
Facebook
Last Gang Records

Shapeshifter - Delta

Band names can be cute, clever, offensive, stupid and many other things.  In the case of New Zealand outfit Shapeshifter, the name is a dead-on descriptor of what the listener can expect.  With a base of digital percussion, analog synths, horns and guitar, and stylistic contributions from jazz, funk and soul, their fifth album, Delta, finds the group painting large, outside the lines, and without allegiance to any genre.  It is a big, outdoors kind of sound -- energetic and positive.  Take the album for a test drive with the video for "In Colour" and the streams for "Diamond Trade" and "Endless" --





Delta is out now, and can be downloaded at the Bandcamp link.

Website
Facebook
Bandcamp
Twitter

NEW SONG: Wild Cub - "Blacktide"

We're fans of Wild Cub's sound - their hard, clean electronic music and Keegan DeWitt's husky soulful vocals are a good combination. They've really taken off in the last year, from their inception in Nashville, to a well-received performance at Bonnaroo, to being celebrated all over the world and drawing comparisons to electro-rock predecessors like New Order. From a duo, they've grown into a five-piece: Keegan DeWitt (vocals/guitar), Jeremy Bullock (guitar/synths), Dabney Morris (drums), Harry West (bass), and Eric Wilson (keys/synths).

Their latest single is "Blacktide", and they invite you to listen and download it, in anticipation of a followup to last year's Youth (WYMA review here). Here's "Blacktide":



Upcoming tour dates, too:

AUG. 6 -- TORONTO, ON --HORSESHOE TAVERN
AUG. 7 -- MONTREAL, QC-- DIVAN ORANGE
AUG. 9 -- NEW YORK, NY  -- BOWERY BALLROOM
AUG. 10 -- ALLSTON, MA -- GREAT SCOTT
AUG. 11 -- PHILADELPHIA, PA -- MILKBOY
AUG. 13 -- WASHINGTON, DC -- DC9
AUG. 14 -- RALEIGH, NC -- KINGS BARCADE
AUG. 15 -- ATLANTA, GA -- THE EARL
AUG. 16 -- KNOXVILLE, TN -- BARLEY'S TAPROOM
AUG. 17 -- NASHVILLE, TN -- THE EAST ROOM  (East Nashville Underground Summer Festival)
SEPT. 8 -- ST. LOUIS, MO -- LOUFEST (5:30pm set)
SEPT. 26-28 -- CINCINNATI, OH -- MIDPOINT MUSIC FESTIVAL
OCT. 5 -- AUSTIN, TX  -- AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL (4:30pm set)

Wild Cub website
Facebook

REVIEW: The Besnard Lakes - Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO

Besnard Lakes plays a haunting style of rock, and have for a while - on their latest, Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO, they aren't varying far from their established style. Good thing, because we need more of this stuff. They move back and forth between angelic female vocal choruses and male vocal harmonies that approach Beach Boys-level. Behind, around and under it all, they're featuring guitars, thundering bass rhythms and some beautiful, expansive keyboards and synths. From the band's own description of the record: "The story of the album unfolds its introspection on the endurance of the human spirit during prophetic times as told by a spy or two, maybe more."

I first heard them in 2010, and theirs was one of the earliest posts on this blog. That album was The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night. They are a wonderful example of a band that is a studio creation and uses the studio to keep experimenting and improving their sound. It's a husband and wife team, Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, along with Kevin Laing and Richard White. This album also features contributions by Moonface's Spencer Krug and Mike Bigelow, Sarah Page (harpist with The Barr Brothers), Monica Guenter (viola) and the Fifth String Liberation Singers' Choir. Lasek's guitar work is particularly wonderful - in places it's positively reminiscent of David Gilmour.

Check out "Colour Yr Lights In" - for examples of the vocal harmonies, the guitar work (including a little bit of surf reverb) and the way they weave it all together:



I doubt you want to read any more of my thoughts on this record (which saves me a trip to the thesaurus to find synonyms for "ethereal") - suffice to say I'm crazy about it, and hear new things to like on each subsequent listen. I especially like the way they are able to merge sounds (vocals, synths, bass and guitar lines) together for periods of time, then subtly raise one or another of them above the mix, only to pull it back in.

Video for "People of the Sticks":





The record was released last week (Apr. 2) on Jagjaguwar Records.

They've got a lot of traveling planned - see below for your opportunity to hear them live:


04/11/13 Quebec City, QC - Le Cercle
04/13/13 Montreal , QC - Cabaret du Mile End
04/18/13 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop w/ SUUNS
04/19/13 Grand Rapids, MI - The Pyramid Scheme w/ SUUNS
04/20/13 Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern w/ SUUNS
04/21/13 DeKalb, IL - Otto's Nightclub w/ SUUNS
04/22/13 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop w/ SUUNS
04/23/13 St. Louis, MO - Firebird w/ SUUNS
04/24/13 Fayetteville, AR - J.R.'s Lightbulb Co w/ Suuns
04/25/13 Dallas, TX - Club DaDa w/ SUUNS & Black Mountain
04/26/13 Austin, TX - Austin Psych Fest
04/27/13 Houston, TX - Rudyard's BUY TICKETS
04/29/13 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
04/30/13 Charleston, SC - The Pourhouse BUY TICKETS
05/01/13 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
05/02/13 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
05/03/13 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
05/04/13 Cambridge, MA - Middle East Downstairs
05/14/13 Lund, SE - Mejeriet
05/15/13 Stockholm, SE - Debaser Slussen
05/16/13 Gothenburg, SE - Pusterviksbaren
05/17/13 Copenhagen, DK - Stengade
05/19/13 Groningen, NL - Vera
05/21/13 Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
05/22/13 Bristol, UK - Fleece n Firkin
05/23/13 Manchester, UK - Ruby Lounge
05/24/13 Glasgow, UK - Stereo
05/25/13 Leeds, UK - Brudenell Social Club
05/26/13 Birmingham, UK - Hare & Hounds
05/27/13 Brighton, UK - Komedia
05/28/13 London, UK - The Garage
05/29/13 Paris, FR - La Fleche d'Or
05/30/13 Nantes, FR - Stereolux
06/01/13 Marseille, FR - Le Poste a Galene
06/02/13 Toulouse, FR - Le Dynamo
06/04/13 Lyon, FR - Le Sonic
06/05/13 Strasbourg, FR - La Laiterie
06/07/13 Zurich, CH - Rote Fabrik
06/08/13 Koln, DE - Blue Shell
06/09/13 Berlin, DE - Monarch
06/10/13 Munich, DE - Atomic Cafe

New Electronic Discovery: Belgian Fog - "Wait For Help"

Belgian Fog is the solo project of Seattle/LA artist Robert Dale. He sings in a soulful falsetto and puts together slick electronic rock. Comparison points? Perhaps Foster The People (or the Detroit dudes we just posted yesterday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.)

For now, all we have to share with you is this cut, "Wait For Help":



I really like his voice, and we're looking forward to hearing more...

REVIEW: Homework - 13 Towers

I've been out of school for a good while, but lately Homework has been on my schedule.  Moreover, I confess that I quite like Homework!  No, I haven't gone bonkers -- I'm not talking about term papers or science projects.  I'm talking about an electro-rock band from Edinburgh.  And as long as were cautioning against jumping to conclusions, don't assume that a band relying on synths, bass, percussion and laptops (as well as some guitar) doesn't have a rock attitude.  On their new album, 13 Towers, these young Scots pump out dirty dance grooves, dark soundscapes and an extra-credit dose of hooks.

There are touches of Kraftwork and Bauhaus here, but what most characterizes, and personalizes, the 12 tracks on 13 Towers is the propulsive beat and jittery atmosphere of the music.  This is electronic rock that commands your attention from start to finish.



"It's All Over", made for the dance floor with a menacing tone and a decided Scottish accent --



Homework is Oi Kass (vocals, guitar, synths, programming), Ross Baird (guitar, synths, backing vocals), Richard Kass (drums, laptop), and Ally Dennis (bass, backing vocals).  13 Towers is out today on Home From Home Records.  The album is available on CD and as a digital download.

Website
Facebook
Soundcloud

"Flexin", new single from Masters in France

Globalization! You can't fight it, so you just have to go along with it.  For example, the Masters in France may or may not be masters, but they aren't French.  I'm advised that they are Welsh, but they aren't in Wales either.  They are in London.  Pay attention, I may have a quiz at the end of the post.

So why are we focusing on this apparently cosmopolitan assemblage?  Because they have just dropped "Flexin", and "Flexin" is likely to get you in your groove for the weekend. Or the week. Or the month. It is a pop dance groove with enough of a dirty riff to make you feel the sweat is worth it.



If you prefer the video --



To reward you for reading, we'll skip the quiz.  Just dance to "Flexin".  And don't step on my feet.

Facebook
Soundcloud
Twitter ( @mastersinfrance )

REVIEW: Ohvaur - A Memories Chase

Ohvaur is a Chicago/Miami band featuring frontman Timothy Den, who formerly fronted Boston band Kimone. Ohvaur is playing expansive, synth-based electronic rock and exploring themes of travel, home and longing - this helps account for the very heavy emotional lean to the vocals. To call him peripatetic would be a bit of an understatement. Part of Den's story is the very emotional experience of living as an undocumented immigrant for a large part of his life, and while such an existence made his adolescent and young adult search for identity more difficult, in the end, it actually helped Den find out that he's more than where he's been or what he's done. 

A Memories Chase uses these experiences (both Den's and those of Ohvaur's other members, several of whom have also been part of an immigrant experience - either their own or, as children, their parents') to help inform an outlook (and a sound) that is restless and deeply emotional. The other members of Ohvaur are: Daniel Escauriza, Joel Hernandez, Mike Horick, and Christian Loaiza.

Here's the title track:

The second cut, "You Chose to Bury Love," is a little bit more straight-ahead pop in its structure: 

while others, like album closer "Whole," are fuller-sounding. As the album works its way through these themes, you hear Den singing about parts and places, but the conclusion is that no one part or place is sufficient to make the whole - the person or the world.

It's out this week (3/5) - self-released by the band, and you can learn more at their Facebook page.

Ohvaur Facebook

REVIEW: Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse

Youth Lagoon is Trevor Powers, a Boise-based one-man band with his second full-length album, Wondrous Bughouse, out Tuesday (Mar. 5) on Fat Possum. Youth Lagoon is playing psychedelic synth- and guitar-based pop music that is both languid and memorable. I reviewed his last album, The Year of Hibernation, and put it on my Best of 2011 list. I've got a real soft spot for this music, maybe because of its resemblance to other favorites of mine like Sparklehorse and Built to Spill, or maybe just because, like those artists, he's executing on a really well-conceived vision in which you can sort of lose yourself. Wondrous Bughouse is a much bigger-sounding record than The Year of Hibernation - the live drumming, in particular, gives a lot of substance to the music.

Here's the second track "Mute" - after an instrumental intro, this song fairly explodes with drums, synthesizers and, eventually, guitars.Then you hear the first lyrics on the album: "Living in a 3D world" - and later in the song, there are interludes that include found sounds you might expect from a science fiction movie soundtrack. It's not like he's showing off - the guy really just has a great imagination and a knack for being able to share it:



Here's "Dropla" - soft, sweet, sad, wistful - like much of Powers' work, it rewards repeated listening as well as listening on different levels. The music is pretty engaging on its own, and has a certain childlike quality. But the content of the song seems to be about the question of comforting oneself on the loss of a loved one - especially how a young person without much experience with such a thing might do so. "You'll never die, you'll never die, you'll never die" he repeats multiple times. The first time, it might be the kind of denial you could expect from a younger person with that particular kind of "immortality complex" that is found in the young. But later in the song, it becomes almost a self-comforting mantra, a recognition that there is a place for the soul to go:



These are two of the better songs on the record, but the quality is uniform. Even if the sound is pretty widely varied, it is wonderful throughout. Some of it is whimsical - "Attic Doctor" and "Raspberry Cane" fairly bring a carnival to life - and some of it is profound, often in the same song, and often in very close proximity. And there are songs that deliver great dream pop, songs like "Attic Doctor" that can stand on their own, but fit perfectly into the sonic landscape of Wondrous Bughouse.

Powers is an impressive talent with a delightful way with a song, and a seemingly limitless imagination. Given the level of success of these first two records and the fact that he's still only 22 years old, there would seem to be plenty of reason to hope for more music this good, or maybe better. But for now, and for some time to come, this album will keep me plenty busy. You can order or buy it at Fat Possum's website:

Youth Lagoon at Fat Possum

CISAR - new track "High Horses"

Brothers Keith and Chad Thompson came across our radar last year as Johnny Headband, playing some pretty good psychedelic dance-rock. They are multi-instrumentalists and do their own production work, too.

This time they are back, as CISAR and they've released a new track, "High Horses":



It's electronic rock with soulful vocals and some good guitar work from John Nash. Looking forward to hearing more from them.

CISAR Facebook

New Shoegaze Discovery: Deaf Club - "Break It Slow" and free 4-song sampler

London's Deaf Club is playing atmospheric guitar rock with shoegaze and New Wave influences and really pleasing female vocals. In places it calls to mind stuff like The Cure and Slowdive, or perhaps more to the point, the Cure with touches of maybe Mazzy Star in the vocals. This free EP consists of their recorded output to date - and three of the songs have gotten a decent amount of radio play in the UK (with good reason - it's well-made, polished stuff). They're coming over to the US for SXSW - and maybe they'll add a few more dates in advance of their new EP, due out in April.

Here's "Break It Slow":

The band consists of Polly Mackey (guitar, vocals), Jac Roberts (guitar), Paul Bates (bass), Tom Ryan (drums). Mackey's voice is terrific, and they play together like a much more experienced band - I think they have a lot more good stuff in them. Here's a link to the topspin site to download the full EP.

Deaf Club Facebook

New Dream-Pop Discovery: Blondfire - "Where The Kids Are"

Big beats, big guitars and big synths backing big-sounding female vocals - it's a catchy combination. This is Blondfire - they released an EP in the fall with this as the title song:





And here's "Waves" - on this one you can definitely hear the influence of their Brazilian heritage (father is American, mother Brazilian, and they grew up listening to plenty of bossa nova along with rock and pop):



They are brother and sister Erica and Bruce Driscoll - he's the drummer and she contributes guitar, keyboards and, of course, those instantly recognizable vocals. They'll be at SXSW and on tour with AWOLNation, and a full album is due out later this spring on Warner Brothers. You can listen to more at their website, and it's got links to buy the music, plus tour info.

Blondfire Website