Walk Off The Earth will release their Columbia Records debut full length R.E.V.O. (an acronym for the band’s motto “Realize Every Victory Outright”) on March 19, and ahead of release day they will be playing two shows at SXSW in Austin, TX.
R.E.V.O. features Walk Off The Earth’s immensely popular cover of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” (which was the #2 trending YouTube video of 2012 with over 140 million views), as well as 10 original songs, including first breakout single “Red Hands,” which has been added to radio stations nationwide and is quickly climbing airplay charts, approaching the Top 30 at AAA radio. The group is known for their elaborate videos, and in a nod to their most popular video with all five band members playing one guitar, the band have taken things a step further and covered their own single “Red Hands” with all five band members playing one GIANT guitar (watch below).
HAERTS is a band from New York hailing from Germany, England, and the United States. The group consists of Nini Fabi, Ben Gebert, Garrett Ienner, Derek McWilliams, and Jonathan Schmidt. The band’s first single “Wings” was produced in collaboration with Jean-Philip Grobler (aka St. Lucia). HAERTS’ debut album is due to be released this year.
“We Drink Bitter,” a Cannanes song released in the band’s native land in 1987 that later surfaced in America on its 1993 Witchetty Pole album, has been called one of the best “Is it really over?” songs of all time. Although co-written and performed by The Cannanes, the song’s lyrics are attributed to K Records founder and Beat Happening leader Calvin Johnson.
Now, The Cannanes have answered their own tune. “It’s a nod to ‘We Drink Bitter,’” says band member Frances Gibson about “Crawler,” the latest single from the upcoming “Small Batch” EP, the Australian duo’s first release in over 11 years.
Nearly 26 years since “We Drink Bitter,” Gibson sings “And no, I won’t say it again, There’s no good reason why this shouldn’t end. And things keep happening that can’t be true, Does what you say make sense to you?” “Crawler” even repeats “Is there love in the sound of a closing door?” one of the most stinging lines from “We Drink Bitter.”
“Even when you know someone really well, they can still shock you,” explains Gibson of the sentiment. “Things fall apart.”
The Cannanes have been releasing modest, ramshackle records since forming in Sydney, Australia almost 30 years ago. Though essentially underground, the band has amassed a legion of fans in that time, including Kurt Cobain, who, it was later discovered, name-checked The Cannanes as a personal favorite in his posthumously published journals.
The upcoming “Small Batch” EP is the first release in over 11 years from band members Fran Gibson and Stephen O’Neil and is scheduled for release on March 19th.
Check out last month’s post where you can download another of their new songs, “Bumper.”
Back in November last year, I posted about The Last Bison with a free download of their track, “Switzerland.” (You can see the post here.) Well now, The Last Bison has officially arrived with the release of their full-length debut album, Inheritance via Republic Records. In support of the release, the band is currently on the road through mid-April, including stops at SXSW, Savannah Stopover Festival, the Tree Fort Music Festival and more. The band also took time to film a BEAUTIFUL cover of M83’s “Midnight City,” which you can watch below.
The Virginia indie folk septet roams in its own pastures, threading together strands of classical, indie, and rock into a vibrant sonic patchwork, which the members have cleverly dubbed “mountaintop chamber.” The first single “Switzerland” whisks listeners away from the rustic heart of the American south into a cold European eve under the winter stars. It also elegantly evinces the group’s robust instrumental fusion and warm, wistful melodies.
The best kind of art is always a family affair, and Ben Hardesty fronts The Last Bison being joined by his dad Dan and sister Annah. Their ranks also include lifelong friends Andrew and Jay Benfante, Teresa Totheroh, and Amos Housworth.
Already, the sounds of the rustically soulful collective have resonated powerfully with the press with their Inheritance EP drumming up widespread acclaim. NPRencapsulate their enigmatic style calling it “classical-influenced Southern folk-rock,” while the LA Weekly praised them for being “At once epic and intimate, great-outdoorsy and fireside cozy.” PopMatters fittingly declared, “Are The Last Bison a Band to Watch in 2013? Most definitely.”
The Last Bison invite everyone to join their family now and enjoy Inheritance.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
3/05 – Athens, GA – The Melting Point
3/06 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
3/07 – Savannah, GA – Savannah Stopover Music Festival
3/10 – Denton, TX – 35 Denton Music Festival
3/11 – Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s Downstairs (free show)
3/12 – Austin, TX – Blackheart (Paste Magazine/Newport Folk Festival Showcase, 12am)
3/13 – Austin, TX – SXSW
3/15 – Austin, TX – The Wild Honey Pie Showcase @ Uncorked (900 E. 7th St, 3:45pm)
3/18 – Denver, CO – The Soiled Dove Underground
3/20 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
3/21 – Boise, ID – Tree Fort Music Festival
3/22 – Wenatchee, WA – Caffe Mela
3/23 – Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
3/24 – Vancouver, BC – Media Club
3/26 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
3/29 – San Francisco, CA – The Rickshaw Stop
3/30 – Los Angeles, CA – The Mint
4/02 – La Jolla, CA – The Loft (UCSD)
4/05 – Kansas City, MO – The Record Bar
4/06 – Ames, IA – The Maintenance Shop (Iowa State University)
4/08 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue & 7th Street Entry
4/09 – Milwaukee, WI – Club Garibaldi
4/10 – Chicago, IL – Schubas Tavern
4/12 – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
4/13 – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
4/14 – Louisville, KY – Uncle Slayton’s
Australian indie pop duo The Cannanes will issue their first official release in over 11 years on March 19th, 2013. The “Small Batch” EP contains the fun, bouncy songs that the band’s fans know them for (and that famously earned them a mention in Kurt Cobain’s journals.) The Cannanes have been releasing modest, ramshackle records since being formed in Sydney, Australia by Fran Gibson and Stephen O’Neil almost 30 years ago.
UK producer Richie Phoe has his own take on the first single from “Small Batch” and his downtempo remix of “Bumper” is streaming and available for download now. BBC Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank has described Phoe as “Brighton’s Lee Scratch Perry” and fellow BBC Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens calls his work “Bouncy dub at its very best.”
SPIN recently premiered the original EP version of “Bumper,” with columnist Marc Hogan writing, “Cardigan-owners, rejoice! Long-running Australian indie-pop combo The Cannanes have returned with ‘Bumper,’ the first taste of their first major release since 2002’s Trouble Seemed So Far Away. The ‘Small Batch’ EP, due March 19, is helmed by veteran members Fran Gibson and Stephen O’Neil; and while the production quality seems slightly more polished, the earnest melodicism remains.”
For the “Small Batch” EP, The Cannanes have once again collaborated with Explosion Robinson producer and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Hermann. The six-track release sees Gibson and O’Neil at their best, back on familiar territory musing on the nature of friendship, love, and outer space that has characterized their best work over the last 27 years.
Conquistador attacks again with another contagious, psych-pop hit “I’m Alive.” Expanding from his trippy persona, Conquistador enters a new realm of intoxicating glam electro. He recently released a video that won this year’s Machinima Interactive Film Fest and was an MTVU Freshman video nominee– check it out below.
“I’m Alive” was inspired in part by the Arab Spring. Conquistador has been involved with the Free Iran organization in Sweden and donated music to them at the height of the Green Movement, which demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Supporters of the green movement wore green as its symbol, and what started as a peaceful protest ended in the removal of a dictator. Another key inspiration for the song is the Zazous, a garishly-dressed subculture in WW II-era France who wore yellow stars that said zazou, which mocked the badges of degradation that the Jews wore in Jewish ghettos all over Nazi controlled Europe. These revolutionaries used style as a form of transgression and wore it like a weapon. “I’m Alive” has a message of survival, both of the joy of making it through a dark time in society and also the melancholy of remembering those who didn’t. While studying anthropology at NYU, Conquistador spent time in the Middle East. He took a musical cue from the region, which can be heard on the track.
“Edwardian Ziggy Stardust goes to Transylvania,” –Los Angeles Times
“An amalgam of Bowie, Queen, synth-pop, disco, psych…and the introspection of a sensitive oddball who’s been told many times he doesn’t fit in, but is actually more normal than most people.” – BLURT
“A glam rock peacock.” -Paper Magazine
Conquistador is an LA-based musician and artist whose music is collaboration between himself and Carlos Cháirez of Mexico’s iconic alternative band Kinky. The pair have also received two Latin Grammy nominations for co-writing Kinky songs. A champion of true freedom, his work champions individualism and is defiantly eccentric. His presence alone has a transformative effect on any space. His signature look consists of cat suits, a Ushanka Russian hat, and most notably, his award-winning moustache, which made him the first American, first Jew, and youngest competitor in history to win the title of “World Imperial Moustache Champion” at the World Beard and Mustache Championships, held in Brighton, England in 2007. Conquistador was also #3 in Fuse’s “10 greatest moments of SXSW 2012.”
Conquistador grabbed national attention this fall when he unwittingly became one of the highlights of MTV’s 2012 VMAs and caused a sensation on the red carpet. His music and performance art has lead to Madness and The Whigs inviting him onstage at festival performances. The image and music have always been inseparable for Conquistador. He grew up with Sparks as neighbors and was inspired to wear lycra catsuits by Todd Rundgren and Alice Cooper. The glitter movement inspired him to be exactly who he wants to be at all times and Conquistador is paying the inspiration forward. He has already won a pair of Latin GRAMMY nominations for his co-writing with Kinky.
When It Was Now, the long awaited and highly anticipated full-length debut from Atlas Genius, is out today! The band wrote, recorded and produced the album at a studio they built in their hometown of Adelaide, Australia. They will perform their hit single, “Trojans,” on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” tonight and play a sold-out record release show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY tomorrow, February 20th. The record release show will be broadcast by SiriusXM Alt Nation on Friday evening and then throughout the weekend.
Their song “Symptoms” is currently the iTunes Single of the Week. New single “If So,” praised by Rolling Stone for its “dream-like guitar licks, shifty hi-hats and a meaty bass backbone,” is already gaining momentum at radio and online, where it has over 75,000 Sound Cloud streams in 2 weeks.
Last week, the band introduced new songs off of When It Was Now…
Taking its inspiration from the album artwork, the trailer for When It Was Now was shot underwater. It was directed by Claire Marie Vogel, who lensed the “Trojans” and “Symptoms” videos. When It Was Now is available now at iTunes.
Their sold-out tour with Imagine Dragons is underway and stops at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom on February 23rd and the Wiltern in Los Angeles on March 20th. Atlas Genius will perform at SXSW on March 13th (KCRW’s Official SXSW nighttime showcase) and March 14th (The Warner Sound showcase). They have also just announced new shows at The Bowery Ballroom in New York, Edgefest in Dallas, and Sasquatch! Festival at The Gorge in Washington. Tickets for Atlas Genius’ first-ever North American headline tour have been selling so quickly that many shows have been moved to larger venues. Their Headlining Tour will kick off at Emo’s East in Austin, TX on April 24th and go through the end of June.
The track listing for When It Was Now is as follows:
Check out The Royal Concept taking on Daft Punk. With a brand new cover, the Swedish lads add their patented rock ‘n’ roll swing to the legendary French electro duo’s classic from Discovery, “Digital Love.”
Given the quartet’s penchant for danceable grooves and massive hooks, it’s an undeniable interpretation worth spinning again and again. It’s also the perfect tune to hold over fans until the release of the band’s forthcoming full-length debut for LAVA Records/Republic Records later this year.
In addition, after unveiling “World on Fire” online last month, the single is available on iTunes and other digital retailers. The group continues to stir up buzz stateside after cultivating a fervent and faithful following in Sweden. Their song “D-D-Dance” hit No.2 on Hype Machine, while “Gimme Twice” reached No.3.
Musically Amusing 