Pandercakes is a four piece band of Joel Floyd, Logan Goldstein, Desirée Richardson, and Phillip Soellner. Their music is textural, experimental, and unusually orchestrated. Yet it is also simple, accessible, poppy, and fun. Pandercakes is a purposeful contradiction. They fulfill the norm of the pop music medium but at the same time and push towards the unexpected. Even the name has a hidden depth. In their own words, "Pandercakes is a comment on the duality of popular music: appealing and accessible, but prone to demean itself in order to gain widespread approval." This is what Pandercakes is all about. At first glance they are a catchy band hell bent on a good time, but a second looks shows them as an intelligent and forward thinking quartet writing songs about French surrealist writers. 

The four song EP Paint By Numbers was released Feb 28th of this year and opens up with the title track. Paint By Numbers sounds like something from the Elephant 6 Collective, except that they are more immediately accessible. I really dig the textures they are creating in their music by combining a wide array of instruments and playfully tossing around vocal lines across the band.

Read on and get a full taste of this enticing band.

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Tonight we have a special new album to share with you. It's called Lost In Translation by Indiana-based artist Soy La Vid (the recording alias of Mark Abdon). Lost In Translation is a concept album that draws inspiration from nine paintings, all of which can be viewed at the Art Institute of Chicago or in the attached collage. Read on for my thoughts on this very cool and creative approach to music-making.

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Dave Newberry is a folk-rock singer/songwriter who will be celebrating the release of his second album No One Will Remember You on March 15, 2012. I have had the immense pleasure of listening to this album this week and am excited to hear that country music does still have a voice in contemporary pop music. Ripe with nostalgia, infectious melodies, and a comfortable feeling of song familiarity Dave Newberry's new release is a must have. 

The album opens with the tune All of the Apples in the Basket and sets the tone for all of the artist's subsequent work. With pedal steel guitars, banjo, tag team vocals, drums, and a healthy dose of hook and rhyme this song invites you to sing along from the first listen. 

Dave Newberry: All of the Apples in the Basket

This album is a grower. No One Will Remember You feels like an album I've known deeply in spite of the fact that it isn't even released yet. I can easily see this album soundtracking it's way into my spring and leaving an enduring impression on the new year.

Dave Newberry has a plethora of tour stops throughout Canada in 2012 which can be found on his webpage here. Unfortunately we can't all be Canadian but in the meantime you can further your Newberry fix by enjoying his collaborative music blog/podcast Newbsradio which he runs alongside Eric Newby. You can also reach the artist via Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Vimeo. 

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Cheyenne Marie Mize released an eclectic and enjoyable EP We Don't Need that we music fans absolutely do need. Don't miss this one!

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Ryan Ferreira is a Brooklyn based guitarist/composer who works with ambient sound. In his own words his artistic ambition is to create " ambient soundscapes that provide a comfortable open environment for the listener." I have been enjoying the simplicity and stasis of his music lately via his webpage and his bandcamp page. Sometimes I am moved to use a lot of words when I hear music. Other times I am not. The compositions of Ryan Ferreira are not asking you to think too hard about what you are hearing, just to interact with it in an unhurried and placid way. 

    

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Everyman Of Parts – Arid Eyes

I think I always liked Badly Drawn Boy more than most people seemed to. A lot of this stems from the fact that I loved About A Boy. Yea, jerks, I mean the sentimental Hugh Grant early-oughts heartwarmer. Mostly, i just worship at the alter of Nick Hornby (which in turns stems from my complete obsession with High Fidelity). But, tender admissions aside, Badly Drawn Boy's full-hearted, diverse, sometimes acoustic warblings always struck the right chord for me.

Everyman Of Parts is the musical project of Andrew Sheron who plays almost every instrument of his upcoming album, Travelling Time. Sheron is chanelling Mr. Gough something fierce here, which is refreshing really. It's a form of honest, meandering indie rock that's been lost in the current reverbed, synthy haze. The songs of Travelling Time are comforting with an underlying fierceness. Sheron's talent is always evident as he jumps around genres and woos you with his words. 

Check out Everyman Of Parts on Facebook and pick up the album on his Bandcamp page.

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Kapowski – Section 8

Really, I'll give a fair shake to any band potentially named after a Saved By The Bell character. It's icing on the cake that the Bay Area's Kapowski are actually really good. "Section 8" is a tidy little 60's inspired rock song with a sizable portion of awesome organ. The breakdowns are particularly intriguing, only to be sucked out of existence by the hard-driving percussion. All in all, it's a great teaser for the bands' upcoming February 1st album, Boy Detective.

Bonus robot butlers:

 

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Plants and Animals – Lightshow by SecretCityRecords

It's so supremely satisfying and comforting when you hear a song that just speaks to you, directly, at a certain time. It's like the artist reached in your brain and spilled your thoughts all over the recording studio. It's almost like you don't want to share the song with anyone else – after all it was made just for you, right?

Fortunately for you guys, I have a music blog and sharing great tunes is kinda what I do. I've been having a tough time lately finding the time/will/energy to post on TWD, but luckily the other Digsters are holding it down. I haven't given up on music or the site – just in a bit of a motivational lull lately and some major life changes have been brewing that tend to take up my thoughts. I needed a spark to light a fire under my ass and it came yesterday courtesy of Kyle the Music Savage (Gardener).

This new song from Montreal-based band Plants and Animals came through my speakers with a 2×4 in hand and whacked me right in the forehead. It starts out simply enough with a carefully strummed acoustic melody and clear vocals. It's when the drums kick in and I started to parse my way through the varying tempo that I realized I was listening to something special. That crunchy guitar breakdown in the middle is the release of every gnawing feeling that weighs on you in times of struggle. It's the aggression at your fingertips clawing for a way out. Shit, I love this song.

Plants and Animals release The End Of That on Secret City Records at the end of February, so be on the lookout.

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Ben Beirs is an exceptional classical guitarist based out of beautiful charm city Baltimore. He is a multi-faceted talent whose titles include musician, teacher, composer, arranger, and duck pin bowler. He has been featured on the Dig before alongside his duo partner Maud LaForest for their work as the Duo Transatlantique. Moreover, Ben has been praised by the D.C. Examiner for being a "Brilliant young classical guitarist" and he is once again in the studio working on a second solo album.

The new album is entitled Widening Circles and in an attempt to defray the many costs of releasing this album he has created a Kickstarter page. I believe that this album and this artist are worth your time, consideration, and perhaps a few of your hard earned dollars. Ben Beirs is the quintessential 21st century musician/entrepreneur for undertaking repertoire which defies genre, for creating his own opportunities to be seen and heard, and for utilizing tools like Twitter, YouTube, and Kickstarter to promote, fund, and share his art.

Classical music needs new audiences. Furthermore, the classical musicians are the ones who need to take charge of their art and bring it out of the universities and tired under appreciated music societies and into your earbuds. As a classical musician myself, I too feel this burden and have tried in my own way to create an outlet for appreciation, education, and general exposure to a music which I know has something meaningful to offer. Watch the video and then jump on over to the attached Kickstarter page for more information about how a little can go a long way to support the arts, and keep music by the people, for the people, alive and well. If you are unfamiliar with this organization read on for the full details of how the donation process works. You dig?

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Here's an exciting new thing for Those Who Dig: hosting an album preview. For all of Monday, October 3rd, you can stream the forthcoming album Career Culture by Icarus Himself. Check it out!

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