forthebeat favorite artist: PICTUREPLANE

“Have you guys heard of the movie Twilight? Well this next song is just like that. Only in outer space. Yea, vampiric teenagers in love in outer space.” – Pictureplane, Mercury Lounge, March 8.

Pictureplane, Millionyoung, Small Black and Washed Out played Mercury Lounge last night, and it was a consistently awesome show from one act to the next.

forthebeat has already written about three of these four bands so this post is devoted mostly to the fabulously talented  Pictureplane. Though, it should be noted that all the bands killed it live last night…

Back to the man: Having first fell in love with Pictureplane’s “Goth Star,” I was extremely excited to see him live. He was more fun than I could have hoped for and hearing some of his new stuff including an unreleased track titled “Transgender,” I can’t wait for his new EP.  He will be touring with Small Black and Washed Out for the next month or so.

Listening to him interact with the crowd and also catching him post show, Travis (Pictureplane) is awesome in so many senses of the word. For instance: along with his traditional merchandise including t-shirts, vinyls and CDs, he has a small book for sale for $5 called “Chandeliers and Piss.” The book is well, just that, black and white photographs of different chandeliers and pictures of piss (piss on walls, piss on streets, etc.) The photos are mostly from places Travis visited in Europe from his fall tour with HEALTH.

There are apparently only 40 of these books in existence, 20 of which are currently with Pictureplane on tour (make that 19 because forthebeat bought one last night…)

You can catch all four bands at sxsw. Pictureplane is also playing Todd P’s Mexico festival and almost convinced forthebeat to change our flights/quit our day jobs and ride the 5 hours down to the festival…we still might.

One of the best live songs I have ever rocked out to:

Pictureplane – Goth Star

New UK Artist: The ABC Club

I like this band. Yea, I really like this band.

The ABC Club hails from Leeds. The 5-piece band is with indie record label based in London called Things To Make And Do.  The band was recently featured on BBC and Hilcock’s NME radio show and are gaining buzz mostly in the UK but I don’t think this limitation will stick, once the kids in the U.S. get wind of them properly…

For now, the band’s busy touring Northern England with a free show April 30th in London. I hope they come to the U.S. in the summer, because their music reminds me of parties on the beach and summer sun. One of my favorite tracks is called “The Thieving Magpie” that reminds me of earlier Phoenix tracks. You can purchase it on itunes as well as off of the Rough Trade website (forthebeat wishes we could stroll in to the Brick Lane store on our lunch break…)

Listen to another favorite, Get Set Go, here:

The ABC Club – Get Set Go

Broken Bells

If you’ve previously been a fan of The Shins, Gnarls Barkley, Beck or Gorillaz, the following “bromance collaboration” will have you begging for more.

James Mercer (singer-guitarist for The Shins) and legendary producer Brian Burton (aqua Danger Mouse) have stepped apart from their main projects to bring us an incredible fusion of analog-synth, mellow beats, and powerful melodies all bottled into one side project they call Broken Bells.

Both Mercer and Burton were searching for a new way to express their full creative desires through their chosen medium, bad-ass music. It was obvious that both Mercer and Burton were discomforted by the thought of continuing with their normal routine. Rolling Stone quotes Burton saying, “With Broken Bells, I was free to express any idea I had.” Having previously felt like more of a hired gun, a collaborative effort with Mercer was freeing, and it shows heavily in both artists uninhibited approach to Broken Bells.

So what are you waiting for? Grab the album, recline in your comfiest furniture, and sip an Italian soda. If that’s not your scene, a Pabst Blue Ribbon is another solid drink alternative. If you’re feeling crunched for time, check out the tracks, “The High Road,” “Vaporize,” and “Sailing To Nowhere.” But seriously, with a total running time of about 35 minutes, listen to the whole thing.

Broken Bells – Vaporize

Chew on this…

England is known for a lot of things, most notably Prince William, The Spice Girls, and Austin Powers.

From this moment forward, you can add Chew Lips to that short but distinguished list of amazing things from across the pond.

A stylish, sexy female-fronted electronic group (heeey, girl power!), Chew Lips toes the line between edgy and catchy, with big words for your brain and beats for your feet.

Lead singer Tigs is a tiny pixie with a big, gorgeous voice and Karen O-esque sensibility that marries electro-pop dance music with power ballads (in a good way).

Their debut album, Unicorn (coincidentally, my spirit animal) dropped in the UK on January 25, but they’ll be gracing the U.S. with their presence at sxsw in just a few short weeks.

Cheers! Oh my god how horrible is it when people in America say that? Pretend I didn’t write that.

Chew Lips: Seven

New Artist: The Growlers

These days in the Lower East Side, it’s getting harder and harder to tell who the rock stars and who the audience members are.  All the fans try to out-cool the performers, and the performers try to look like they don’t care.  Last Thursday at Piano’s, however, it was unmistakably obvious during the opener’s set who was about to jump on stage:  The Growlers, who looked like they just raided Janis Joplin’s closet.

I am often skeptical of bands that so clearly mold their image, especially when said band is from Orange County, but the Growlers shut my busy brain up within two songs.  These California boys echoed their home state’s psychedelic rock heroes, sounding like San Francisco 1965 more-so than 1969, sounding lean and rootsy like very early Dead without the jamming, or the original Moby Grape lineup.

Most of the songs had a distinct same-ishness, with nearly every song having a buoyant, melodic verse contrasted with a minor-key section that typically switched time signatures.  This is not a very complex musical device, and it should have bored me, but it didn’t only because of how perfectly they nailed their sound.  Well, that and because of the folding chairs being heaved at the audience periodically.

My guess is that the Growlers’ favorite band is Brian Jonestown Massacre, except they don’t know which one of them is Anton Newcombe.  Four of the five band members would consistently expound on nothing just to hear their own voice between each song until the drummer, clearly the band’s task-master, would count off the beat for the next song.  Having four Antons in a band is not necessarily a recipe for long-lasting success (at least with a consistent lineup), but the Growlers have managed to sign to Everloving Records (Metric, Cornelius, Ben Harper) and survive a rigorous touring schedule. Perhaps there’s hope in this world for a band filled with rock stars…

The Growlers: Something Someone Jr.

Cymbals Eat Guitars Interview

Earlier this month, Cymbals Eat Guitars released a 7” featuring a re-recorded version of the track “Wind Phoenix” from their debut album Why There Are Mountains as well as a cover of the Elliott Smith song “Ballad of Big Nothing” as the B-Side.  You can download the cover, which I love, for free here and listen on forthebeat below.  Cymbals Eat Guitars will be on tour with Freelance Whales March 5^th through April 8^th, and then an NYC date at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on April 9^th (sans Freelance Whales though).  We caught up with bassist and newest member of the band Matt Whipple (that’s Joe, Brian and Matt Miller in the first pic and Matt Whipple solo above)…

You just joined Cymbals Eat Guitars – how are the guys treating you?
I had a mutual friend with the band who worked on their ‘Tunguska’ single who tipped me off that they were looking for a bassist while they were still out on tour with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.  I auditioned and joined the band in October 2009, and since then it has felt like one of those magical, once in a lifetime moments where the stars align and everything works out more perfectly than you could possibly imagine.   I felt very welcome right away, and I really like the guys as friends.  It’s been wonderful.

You’ve been on the road right from the start of joining the band – how has touring been treating you?  Any fun stories from the road, playing with the Flaming Lips, etc?
It was pretty crazy at first, because there was this feeling of “We should probably get to know each other…”, but we had so much work to do right away.  Once CMJ was over, we realized we had only rehearsed together twice, and then only a few days later had to go on tour in Europe, which was a trip.  That was the first real tour of any kind that I had done, and it included two huge shows with the Flaming Lips in London, who are wonderful, gracious, welcoming people, band and crew alike, and have a really strong family vibe.  After the second show, we were backstage and someone mentioned that John Cusack was there and was on his way back to say hi to the Lips, and our drummer Matt said something like “No way, he’s in that ridiculously terrible movie 2012…” about half a second before Mr. Cusack came around the corner towards the Lips’ dressing room.  If he overheard the comment, I’m sure he’s feeling bad about it all the way to the bank.

What’s your favorite CEG song / which do you love performing live and why?
I want to say one of our newer songs, either “Definite Darkness”, which will likely open our next record, or our newest “Wavelengths”, both of which we just started playing live, but I think “Indiana” is still my favorite, because it features me hamming it up on background vocals, which I am trying to do a lot more of.  The bass part is really difficult to play and sing over and keep it all together, but I practiced it over and over watching “A Hard Day’s Night” with the sound off one evening like “What Would Paul McCartney Do” until I got it.

What color would best describe your band’s aura/vibe?
That’s a good one.  I think it might go song-by-song.  Most of the record seems like a pale yellow to me, like a bright morning in spring.  The newer songs seem more midnight blue or deep purple, like dusk colors.

When or how did you first fall in love with music? (Your dad taught you banjo, you heard Dirty Diana in a bathroom, etc.)
My parents are big music fans, so there was always music playing in the house or their cars when I was really little…Springsteen, Talking Heads, the Police, stuff like that.  And I always listened to the radio like getting dressed for school growing up, like Z100 morning shows and whatever they were playing at the time.  When I was about 10, my dad joined one of those CD clubs and ordered all the the alt-rock hits of the moment…Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, etc, then decided he didn’t really like it and gave that stuff to me, so that sort of started my rock obsession.  Shortly after that, when I was 12 or 13 I got a guitar for Christmas, and the rest is history.

Who do you see in the industry as really doing something different and exciting?
Grizzly Bear.  Beach House.  Really excited for a new Broken Social Scene record.  Also, I saw Titus Andronicus live for the first time a few weeks ago and they are really excellent too.  Their new record is going to be amazing judging from the newer songs they played.

What one song must everyone download RIGHT NOW?
Magnet Magazine’s site has a blog section where they keep tabs on what the Wrens are up to, and people would be well-advised to go there and download some of the recent Wrens demos they have posted.  There’s a song called “The Thousand Dos” that I can’t wait to hear a proper version of, as well as a couple others that make me think they are working on some sort of White Album-level shit.  That is, if you like The Wrens.  Which you should.  Joe turning me on to what I’d been missing there was one of the best by-products of joining CEG.

What is the most shameful song on your iPod?
I have a pretty extensive 90s dance playlist, but I’m not ashamed.  Robin S – “Show Me Love” maybe?

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Ballad of Big Nothing

Cymbals Eat Guitars – And The Hazy Sea…

Le Miel du Mois: Mars

1. sayCet – Opal (Error :: Love – Opalowsky Remix)
DCUP – Style (Rainbows Of Death Remix)
3. Gorillaz – Stylo (Alex Metric Remix)
4. Hooray For Earth – Form
Classixx – I’ll Get You (Gigamesh Remix)
6. Coeur de Pirate – Comme des Enfants (Le Matos Andy Carmichael Remix)
7. Air – So Light Is Her Football (Breakbot Remix)
8. Efterklang – Modern Drift
9. Coma Cinema – Cop Caller
10. Beach House – Silver Soul
11. Neon Indian – Should Have Taken Acid With You (Future Rock Remix)
12. Little Dragon – Twice

you, you’re awesome

Yeah, you’re awesome, but I wasn’t talking about you.  Why do you think people are always talking about you?

Cincinnati-based band You, You’re Awesome takes their ridiculous band name one step further to bring us equally silly song titles.  But I have a sense of humor, a weird one at that, so not only do I appreciate this band, I appreciate each song, like “Oh, Hi,” ”Guess What? Shun!” and “Yipee Ki Yay, Mister Falcon.”

The electronic duo is comprised of Yusef Quotah (noise, synths, Atari, Nintendo, etc.) and Kevin Bayer (drums).  From an article / interview with Pop Dose here, YYA explain the concept of their two-man act, heavily influenced by video games, electronics, drums, visual elements added to their sets and, of course, absurd song titles, inspired by their funny and random encounters.  Here’s an excerpt:

Of the original concept for the group, Yusef says he “wanted to be in a band where I didn’t have to lug around amps. I wanted to put everything in a suitcase and get on a plane and just go somewhere and be ready.” But with the addition of live drums and video, “Obviously we can’t do that. We completely fucked that up.”

After three EPs, the most recent of which is You’re Getting Old, released on January 12th, the band is gearing up for their first full-length.  Meanwhile, here is one of my favorite tracks from the most recent EP:

You, You’re Awesome – Oh, Hi

New UK Artist: Electronic Pianist Donald Yule

I rarely play classical music – it’s just never a conscious selection.  Fast songs tend to dominate my playlist. I even take naps to techno music (not kidding).  But there is something to be said about slowing down and listening to lighter, softer music. Recently, this is what caught my attention: Donald Yule.

Donald Yule is a pianist from East London who also just happens to dabble in electro/techno – perhaps why I love it?  Yule has been playing for 7 years – which when you think about it, it’s kind of rare for someone to start at age 19, as Yule is now 25.  Nevertheless, he seems to have mastered something special.

Yule’s pieces (you can only find two on his MySpace page currently) make me think of  Air’s work on The Virgin Suicides and In Rainbows’ B-Sides. The few songs I have heard from him are breathtaking. He is  currently working on an EP so stay tuned for more to come, which will be released by his brother’s label, Domestic.

Domestic has an artist collaboration EP out now called The Planets. “Venus” is the only piece that’s purely acoustic, and like all the others on the album, is a musical interpretation of what the chosen planet means to the artist (really?! – awesome).

The solo piano track is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon.

Donald Yule – Venus

Phantogram on Amplified

Another one of the bands that performed at the forthebeat CMJ showcase is up on ABC News Amplified this week.  We teamed up with Dan Harris and his team to bring you We Have Band, Phantogram, Sleigh Bells, X-Wife and Electric Tickle Machine at Public Assembly during the NYC music marathon back in October.  Check out the video interview with Phantogram below, featuring footage from our show.

Phantogram is Saratoga Springs duo Sarah Barthel (vocals, keyboard) and Josh Carter (vocals, guitar).  Their self-titled EP was released last Spring, the band signed with Barsuk Records just prior to CMJ and their first full-length Eyelid Movies was released to critical acclaim this month.

forthebeat covered Phantogram’s September ’09 show at Glasslands for ABC News here.  Read, listen and watch!

Phantogram – Mouthful of Diamonds