Ahoy, sexy! After seeing Frances Ha a few days ago, I had to use that greeting to kick off the latest Weekly Roundup.
This past week, we welcomed Dave back after his epic cross country trip to Portland, OR. He wrote about the great new album from Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners. We unveiled the latest Brooklyn Headsets session with Field Mouse (who are in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign; details in the post) and installment of the music of Freaks and Geeks series with Episode 4 "Kim Kelly Is My Friend." My song of the week was "Celestial Heaven" by Brook Pridemore. And though their shows are done, you should check out the latest singles from our friends David Pollack and The Great American Novel.
I have no idea what it means, but when I hear "Froggin'! Just Froggin'! Yeah Froggin'!" and the crunch of guitars on the chorus of the song with that name by Staten Island's Giga Herbs, I am in a state of complete digness. It reminds me of a lot of my rough-yet-charming indie rock favorites. Check out their album Mad Weird.
Supersmall is a duo that plays acoustic music of a folk bent packaged with well written melodies and lyrics. They have an EP called This Other World worth checking out. Here's the title track. I really like the line "Here lies the ghost of what could have been." They play Saturday at Funkadelic Studios, too.
In late October, we will be treated to the debut EP by Emergency Tiara. After you hear the first single "Poison," I think you'll be pretty excited. The song's catchiness cloaks a warning, though: don't mess with this woman. She might come after your man, and you may just be powerless to stop it. It's like a more upbeat, first person version of "Femme Fatale" by Velvet Underground.
Lucius has been one of my favorite discoveries this year and they recently announced their official debut album Wildewoman will be released October 15th. They have put out a single in advance called "Hey, Doreen." It's a tight rocker with excellent vocal performances. So, par for the course basically. I also like the keys on this one, they give a nice texture. Can't wait to hear the full length!
It's been quite awhile since we've heard from the electronic artist Fold, but he sent us his latest project, a remix of "Theme from PSB." These collage-like tracks of found vocals don't always go right, but I just love the mood here. It has a subtle groove and its parts feel well-integrated. Interestingly, it seems to be a loose reflection of what is said about TV in its lyrics: "This instrument can teach, it can illuminate, and yes, it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it towards those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box." It could be just noise, but it sounds nice.
Our final pick is an excellent track from David Shultz's new project Valdosta. I can't get enough of "The Room." This country rock tune reminds me of old Wilco and Neil Young, among others. It's probably the intuitive, soulful playing and lyrics rife with detail and heartache in just the way I like. Really looking forward to hearing more.