Wilco’s new album, simply titled Wilco (the album), is now streaming at their website.  I’m a big Wilco fan, so it goes without saying I’ve enjoyed the few listens I’ve had so far.  But it’ll take a few more listens before I can make any final opinions about the new album.  Let me know what you think if you end up listening to the stream.
Official Site / Myspace

Mad props to new friend of the Perch, Kip, from the blog Digging for Days, for stopping by and indirectly introducing me to Miniature Tigers through his blog.  Tell it to the Volcano is perfect summer music.  Laid back, super poppy, love songs.  I’d say the best comparison would be to Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelstin.  A Perch fave you’ll remember if you’ve been following the blog the past year.

Of course, it’s not quite summer yet and is only just now starting to get nice most places, so their brand of laid back, summer pop may not click with some of you right off the bat.  Much like Kip, this album had to grow on me.  My love for Boris Yeltsin kept me listening to the Tigers’ similar sound, but trying to match the brilliance that is the opener in “Cannibal Queen” is one tough task and had me shrugging my shoulders after my first listen thinking, “hm, that was some good pop music”.  It always helps that I write a blog, because I’m forced to listen to the albums I’m planning on writing about more than I normally would, so that helped their album grow on me faster than normal.  But, there’s no denying how good songs like the title track, “Giraffe”, and “The Wolf” are.

I’ll leave it up to you guys whether Miniature Tigers fit your brand of pop, but give it a few listens and I’m sure it’ll end up being a keeper.

Miniature Tigers
Tell it to the Volcano
Perch Score: 8.265

1. Cannibal Queen [mp3]

2. Like or Like Like
3. Dino Damage
4. Tell It to the Volcano [mp3]

5. Hot Venom
6. Tchaikovshy & Solitude
7. The Wolf
8. Giraffe
9. Annie Oakley
10. Haunted Pyramid
11. Last Night’s Fake Blood

Cannible Queen video

Official Site / Myspace

www.lemondroprecords.com

Oh, let the obsession begin. I was literally listening to The Deadly Syndrome’s album The Ortolan non-stop on their virb site where it is streaming. Luckily, the kind people over at The Orchard sent a copy of it my way so I could listen to it in my car, at work, on my living room stereo, and wherever else I could. I think it may be physically impossible to listen to this album as many times as I have in the last few days because of the whole only 24 hours in a day thing I keep hearing about, but I seriously have lost count how many times I’ve listened to it.

The story behind The Deadly Syndrome, from what I’ve gathered, is that they’re a group of new and old friends who came together to make music in the guest room of an old ranch, then eventually played a show for friends on their front porch. From there, they played some real shows and before they knew it, they were playing at SXSW and opening for bands like Cold War Kids. That could all be a total lie, but it’s what I got from the interweb.

So what do they sound like that makes me so obsessed with them in such a short amount of time, you ask? Stereogum described them as Arcade Mouse Parade, which I can hear, but I’d go more along the route of The Acorn mixed with Apollo Sunshine. So, basically quirky indie-folk that doesn’t really follow any preset norm.

Songs like “Eucalyptus”(which ends each show as an amazing encore) and “Winter in You” will carry the album for sure, and that’s why I imagine those were chosen as blogger approved tracks I can share, but it kills me I can’t post some of the other songs. There’s so many moments that just make me grin every time they arrive unexpectedly, like when the drums finally enter towards the end of “The Ship That Shot Its Selef” (not a typo), a song with the delightfully depressing (uplifting?) lyric of “It feels good to know that someone’s out of mind/out of time/only to think of you/so when I listen to someone else/it makes me want to kill myself/or maybe save myself”.

Then there’s the synth filled, bouncy dance number “Emily Pants” which I’ll be playing at my next dance party. “I Hope I Become a Ghost” rivals anything Cold War Kids have written with a great piano riff and, as the video below shows, is great live. “Wolves in the Garden” may very well be my favorite, sitting quietly in the early half of the album as one of only two acoustic songs on the album. “Animals Wear Clothes” is the album’s longest track at 6:25 and is most likely the track that represents Wolf Parade in that Arcade Mouse Parade description.

I could go on for a while just listing all the tracks and why I like them, which I very well may do in the near future should I ever write a formal album review, but for now I’ll just let you take my word for it. Listen to the two songs below and watch the live videos and let me know what you think. The Orotlan is the epitome of why I write about music and have developed music A.D.D. Because I know there are gems like this out there in the sea of mediocre indie music and all my hard work is made more than worth it once I find one. So, here’s a big thank you to the guys from The Deadly Syndrome for leaving the guest room of their ranch to give us such a great album. I won’t jump the gun just yet, but I smell a possible top 10 album of the year with The Ortolan.

The Ortolan was released last Tuesday, September 11th so go buy your copy now. You won’t regret it. Of course, if you don’t believe all my over the top love for this album, just head over to their virb site and stream it yourself. I’ve also gathered up all the youtube videos of their songs I could find for your convenience.

1. Eucalyptus [mp3] [that show-ending drum circle blows me away!)

2. Winter In You [mp3]

3. I Hope I Become A Ghost
4. Wolves In The Garden [youtube]
5. Animals Wearing Clothes
6. Friends Who Don’t Go Out At Night
7. Heart
8. Emily Paints
9. I Release You
10. Creature, Creature
11. The Ship That Shot Its Selef [youtube]
12. This Old Home

Upcoming Dates

09-12 Santa Barbara, CA @ Velvet Jones (w/Morning Benders)
09-13 San Francisco, CA @ Café Du Nord (w/Morning Benders)
09-14 Reno, NV @ Green Room
10-06 Downtown Los Angeles, CA @ LA Weekly’s Detour Music Festival (w/Bloc Party, Justice and more)

I Hope I Become a Ghost live at the House of Blues
[youtube RbQ3OWQx9Cw]
Also, did I mention they’re really funny guys? They went and filmed a bunch of funny shorts to promote the album with a real Wes Andersen type of feel to them.

Happy Birthday
[youtube GrFnWY11I-o]
More Promos:
Kablamo
Doug
Save Water
Is That Chris?

Official Site / Myspace / Stream The Ortolan here
Artist Direct Interview / Buy it here, here, here, or here

Possibly the longest, most in-depth (as far as links go) post I’ve done on a single band, possibly even in a single post since last year’s top 50 list. Whew boy! Time for a nap. Enjoy sifting through all the great stuff in this post and leave a comment for sure to let me know what you think.

So, reading my email today and still incredibly in that indie dance mind-set, Mother and the Addicts seemed destined to enter my inbox today. Was there any doubt? I think not. These guys have a long ways to go before I consider them one of my indie dance go-to bands, but you’d be hardpressed to not find people dancing or at least bobbing their heads in approval of M&theA’s dance music. I feel bad not talking much about these UK dance music makers, but this is mainly a post about dance parties. I think their music will speak for itself. For now, check out their mp3’s, the two bonus mp3’s that completely made that dance party for me, and get your dancing shoes on!

P.S. All you Springfield kids reading this, apparantly there’s a new club in town called Mixology and it has been described as one giant indie dance party. Now that sounds like a good time. This Friday…you and me dancing at Mixology. You in?

So Tough

All in the Mind

**************

Myspace / Chemikal Underground

**************

Bonus dance tunes:

Daft Punk – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

!!! – Intensify

The Greatest Take on Daft Punk’s Song I’ve Seen Yet
[youtube K2cYWfq--Nw]

Super Bonus:
Kayne West – Stronger / Youtube 

Asleep At Heaven’s Gate
Sept. 18th Brushfire Records

Harmonium
Like I Needed
Chicago X 12
Lake Michigan [mp3]

Lullaby
Christians In Black
Own Your Own Home
Ghost
Missed
Fantasies
Phonytown
Cheaper Than Therapy

Making of documentary
[youtube oNMuqIY_CIM]

Official Site / Myspace

***Bonus***
Baketball (from At the Crossroads: A Benefit for Homeless Youth)

“You have worked 12 hours and 5 minutes” says my cell phone as I logged out today. 

Whew boy what a day.  I think I set the record or came very close to setting the record for games shot in a single day.  Today I did six, but one of them was two “onesies”, meaning you only shoot one of the two teams playing that game, at the same time.  That means the first I shot went smooth, then I had to race over to the other field and shoot that game even though it was half over.  Needless to say, that was not an ideal situation, but I did get through all the games and was happy with a lot of the shots I took.  It’ll be interesting tomorrow to finally see them printed out, and then to sell my own shots to the parents.

I did have some time tonight to find some music.  Stars, one of those bands I never get tired of but rarely find myself listening to their music when I think about it, is releasing a new album on September 25th called In Our Bedroom After the War and I’m excited to finally hear new stuff from Stars.  Their last album was released in 2004, so it’s been a while.  If you haven’t heard Set Yourself On Fire, by all means go out and check that album out, then once that wins you over, you’ll have a reason to be as excited as me to hear their upcoming album later this year. 

01 The Beginning After the End
02 The Night Starts Here [mp3]

03 Take Me to the Riot
04 My Favourite Book
05 Midnight Coward
06 The Ghost of Genova Heights
07 Personal
08 Barricade
09 Window Bird
10 Life 2: The Unhappy Ending
11 Bitches in Tokyo
12 Today Will Be Better, I Swear!
13 In Our Bedroom After the War

While searching for that mp3 above, I also randomly found this interesting remix of their song “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” done by Final Fantasy (aka Owen Pallette).  I knew Stars put out a remix album, and that Pitchfork tore it a new one, but I never got around to listening to it.  Owen may have given me a good reason to go check that remix album out.

Your Ex-Lover is Dead (Final Fantasy remix)
 

Not related, but one of Stars’ best…
Set Yourself On Fire (towards the bottom) 

Another reason I like Stars so much is how cool to fans they’ve always been.  Case in point their latest message at their site which I’ll sum up briefly with four quotes from it:

“Inevitably someone will leak the album…We believe that the line between the media and the public is now completely grey…As such, we are making the new Stars album available for legal download today, four days after it’s completion…It’s our hope that given a clear, legal alternative to downloading music for free, you will choose to support the creators.”

Dear Stars,
You rock.  And I don’t just say that to anyone.  Stars and LemonDrop leading the new fan-controlled music industry.  Care to join us?

-Kevin

Official Site / Myspace / Buy Set Yourself On Fire
Amy Millan’s site (girl singer) / Mephis’ Site (side band)

(I’d honestly go as far as hosting the album here in complete support of them, once I found it, but that would destroy my bandwidth and shut me down for a while.  So you’ll just have to find it yourself and I’ll most likely post a few songs here and there until September.  Man, this turned into a doozy of a post out of nowhere.  See you tomorrow with probably yet another story in the continuing saga that is my month from hell) 

My favorite new album? We’ll have to see about that, but it sure is one of the better ones I’ve heard in quite a while. It’s really crazy how randomly I find some music. Earlier this morning I had no intentions of looking for new music, but an email about Dappled Cities followed by the rest of the morning spent listening to their upcoming album Granddance changed all that.

Dappled Cities Fly are from Sydney, Austrailia and have seen success already in their home country with Granddance in 2006 and are hoping to get big here in the States releasing the album June 3rd of this year. I can’t say exactly, but I think they’re calling themselves Dappled Cities, minus the “Fly”, here in the States. The music itself is an odd hybrid of a lot of bands, but it seems to change with each song. “The Eve The Girl” and “Within Hours” sound vaguely like Guster singing with Broken Social Scene. “Granddance” sounds like Mew if they were less annoying, and “Beach Song” has a slight Shins feel too it. I bring up these comparisons to give you something to go off of, but when all is said and done, Dappled Cities really have a sound of their own and are one of the more refreshingly original bands I’ve heard in a long time.

I wish them the best of luck here in the States once their album is released and really hope their album is as well received here as it seems to have been in Austrailia. I can’t guarantee it’ll make my year end list, but it sure is a welcome surprise today. Hopefully you guys end up enjoying them as much as I currently am, but it’s hard to dislike a band that not only makes great music, but also re-enacted the final beach scene from Point Break on the actual beach it was filmed at. That gets them points in my book. Enjoy the mp3’s and check the links below for more info on Dappled Cities.

Granddance

Holy Chord (my favorite by far. 2:19 in is the best part)

Vision Bell

Released Date: June 3rd, 2007
Dangerbird Records
01. Holy Chord
02. Work it Out
03. Fire Fire Fire
04. Colour Coding
05. Beach Song
06. Vision Bell
07. The Eve the Girl
08. Granddance
09. Within Hours
10. Watercourse
11. Battlewon

Official Site / Myspace / Buy Granddance

Fire, Fire, Fire
[youtube QhXQ8qdYMd8]

Reaching for the Lasers (site with streamable videos and songs from the album)

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7 (not out yet)
• Part 8 (not out yet)

Official Site  /  Myspace  /  More Voxtrot