Top 5 Indie Songs by Bands With Whale in Their Name
There's lots of indie bands out there that derive their name from something to do with whales, most of them with folk tendencies. Sometimes it can be hard to sort through all of them and get to the good songs. Well guess what, I've done it for you, right here for my faithful Synconation readers....
I Want To Be Well – A Discussion of Sufjan Steven’s The Age of Adz
t's taken me a long time to collect my feelings about one of my favourite artist's latest album, and I'm not quite sure what that means. After what seemed like a long silence, multi-instrumentalist singer songwriter Sufjan Stevens released his first song based album since 2005's Illinois in the form of The Age of Adz...
The Drums – Portamento: Part of the Pithy Review Series
Tuesday saw the sneak preview of a new track from Brooklyn based indie rockers The Drums, who are working to release a follow up to 2010's critically acclaimed The Drums. Portamento, the title of the new album, is scheduled to be released in September, but you get to listen to the track "Money" today, just...
Spirit They’ve Gone
Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished, henceforth known as Spirit, was the prototype to Animal Collective, and only included Avey Tare, who played most of the instruments on the record, and Panda Bear, who provided “perfect percussion.” Spirit proves difficult to get into, though, and was filled with crashing, off kilter drumming at times, and...
Destination Feels
In some sort of boyish excitement and anticipation for the upcoming Animal Collective show I’m attending, my first one mind you, I can’t seem to quit listening to the band that quite literally changed my musical viewpoint so many years back.
Ten New Tracks That You Should Know
This isn't just some list of everything that noteworthy bands have blurted out lately. Nay, it's a guide to what sounds good and what'll be stuck in your head for a while, or until I write another one of these.
Helplessness Blues
Tuesday marks the release of Fleet Foxes sophomore Sub Pop released album, Helplessness Blues. So how does it stack up? Very well.
Justice – Civilization
Today’s song comes from legendary French banger duo Justice. “Civilization” is their first new track in three or four years, by my count, and absolutely hits the nail on the head. This track beckons me to reminisce about my heady days as a club going youth (oh wait I still do that), when bangers and electro ruled...
Rising: Kisses
LA duo Kisses is popping up on my radar right now. It’s not hard to hear why, though. One listen, and you’ll be instantly addicted to the fun music and memorable vocals. While they’ve only got 4 tracks to listen to, each one of them is different and wonderful. “Bermuda” is reminiscent of the locale the...
Dan Deacon – Build Voice
Be patient . . . it’s coming. The drone builds and is eventually accompanied by chant style vocals into what eventually becomes an epic offering that builds with terraced dynamics . . . piano, drums, harmonies . . . it’s intoxicating and wonderful. And then, just for fun, it even includes a rather Charlie Brown style...
Lord Huron – Making Tough Talk Mysterious and Beautiful
Living and breathing. I can't really explain it. Lord Huron's Mighty EP contains four songs that have been a continual source of discovery. Lord Huron is the moniker used by Ben Schneider, a Michigan native and Los Angeles transplant, who "was focusing on visual arts for a while and only recently got back into making...
Talking Heads – This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)
Somebody once posed the question, “If you could go back and see any band perform live in their prime, who would it be?” Of course thoughts of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones crossed my mind. I think I may have even toyed with The Who, thought about The Pixies (although their reunion tour was super rockin’)...
