Empress, back on the horse

New names appeared today in the ever-growing list for the next SXSW. I haven't looked at the list, I just started feeling preemptively overwhelmed. It did get me thinking, though, how it's time to start our own little tag for next year, and how this could be the perfect chance to get me back into posting.

Then I went to GvB and played the most recent video on it:

Empress Of playing a sweet acoustic version of "Don't Tell Me" for Yours Truly. Super easy sell. The original version (side B of her debut 7" Champagne -- free download) was great, but certainly not this lacrimogenous.

née Lorely Rodriguez lives in Brooklyn. But the last name, use of Colombian rythms (see #2 below) and lyrics in spanish (see #13) lead me to believe there's a richer story there.

Listen to all of her 15 "Colorminutes"down here.
Download "Champagne".
Visit her Craigslist-inspired website.
Keep an eye open for her when she comes next spring.

Cold Surf

Orca Team is a beautiful-sounding 60's pop band from Seattle. I know we're supposed to let the 60's go already, but I don't care. Here's their latest video, from Restraint, a fresh full-length (go listen!).

Things I like about Orca Team:
Jessica describes their music as "Cold Surf".
Dwayne is a coffee snob.
Their blood/vomit seems to be black.

Things I don't like about Orca Team:
They're touring From Seattle to New York, to the UK and back, and they're not stopping in Austin. Who do they think they are?

Only the tips (of the whistles)

Whistle Tips is the name of Dinosaur Feathers' new full-length. It hasn't been released officially, but I have been constantly streaming it from the SPIN website. It is extremely good. Infectious, tight sound. Their track "Beatcha" is available for free download at their Facebook page.

Make sure you get on these guys.

Chu etc.

So yesterday I get this e-mail welcoming me to the POP ETC. mailing list. What the hell is Pop Etc. and why are they spamming me? Still, it wasn't from a Nigerian prince, so I checked it out.

Upon further inspection, I learned that Pop Etc is the re-branding name for The Morning Benders, that California band of toddler experts in squeezing the best of a wall-of-sound approach. Mr. Christopher Chu explains in the MB website after realizing that their name was demeaning to the gay community in the UK, they had decided to change it.

ANYWAY. The purpose of this post is to let you know that POP ETCETERA has a FREE completely spring-appropriate, thoroughly enjoyable mixtape that you can download from their website (HERE).

Not Reinhardt

DJANGO DJANGO play pop. Art-pop, or avant-pop if you will. I've read multiple (accurate) comparisons with The Beta Band. Labeled as one of the bands to watch 2012, these Brits are already making it big time in european radio and other more current media. They are coming to the U.S. for the first time this March and, of course, they'll be playing during SXSW.

This is the single "Default" from the excellent debut album Django Django, already out. Catchy as hell, just as your average Last Choice pick. You can download a remix of this song on their facebook page.

Urgent Action

POLIÇA (polish for urgent action?) is R&B-leaning, dubby, triphoppy, proggy, relaxing music. Also, an example of auto-tune put to good use (not that Sufjan hasn't made that point a long time ago already).
Gayngs leader Ryan Olson heads this project that involves some collaboration with non-Vernon Bon Iver dude. The soothing voice is Channy Casselle.
They're getting a lot of very well-deserved hype. Jay-Z blogged about it right as he was having a kid and all, so I guess he really likes them.

They're coming to Austin on February 24th. If you're in town, head down to the Mohawk.

The whole album is out now. I bought it, and I'm loving it. Here's the video for the single "Lay Your Cards Out", from a couple of months ago.



And here's a live session:

Keep Austin DUMB

C. Baum (left), not M. Pierce (right)

This one by courtesy of GKS, generous host of last year's Last Choice presxsw party.

Corey Baum (who performed at the aforementioned bash as Taber Maine) and Michael Pierce are DUMB. They have released a set of seven tracks entitled Don't Worry About The Pool Party via Bandcamp. As their e-mail address suggests, they rock BIG TIME.

Please download and learn the lyrics to sing along as you jump at their shows. And cross your fingers that they're not booked for a potential re-do of last year's LC event. I think they'd be just what we need.

Confesión (the ultimate Constanza)

The highest number of plays on my iTunes goes to: "Asthmatic" in Jungle Habits by Young Circles, an album that I've already recommended here.

So let's move on to the second place. Close second. This one is the definition of a guilty pleasure, the ultimate Constanza, a hard confession to make. It's a Top40 radio single in Spain (and probably other hispanic countries). It makes me happy and I sing it like a 12yo girl. This song should've been released in the 80's, so that now I could shamelessly yell it out at karaoke or drunken house parties. I don't know if non-spanish-speakers will find this catchy at all.

"Todas tus amigas" by La Casa Azul, was released as a single a year ago, and in the 2011 full-length, La Polinesia Meridional. LCA has been famous (in Spain) since 2007 or so, when he released "La Revolución Sexual" -- a gigantic hit.



I must say, he's done better videos.

Beat Beat crash crash slap

Beat Beat crash crash slap 

swelling to precise fullness 

pooling on the floor 

(From "EULA in haiku", by Esyla Bmai)

EULA are a band. They live in Brooklyn. I've been listening to their not-so-recent full-length Maurice Narcisse lately. I listen to it when I need an effective cleanse from sappy music, or when I want to listen to powerful, tight DIY awesomeness. Something in there reminds me of Deerhoof's Offend Maggie (2008).

BUY IT!

Listening Habits

I recently discovered Young Circles, from Miami. They released Jungle Habits, their first LP, a couple of months ago. I guess I'm two decades behind in blogosphere time.

A quote on their Bandcamp describes them as "Radiohead-meets-Clinic". At first, I liked that comparison (after all, that's quite a feat). But now I don't think that's fair at all. They're so much more. I continuously found myself hearing bits that sounded like other bands, but never quite put my finger on what it was. Kasabian? Arctic Monkeys? Beck? Wilco? Foreign Born? Sufjan? Atlas Sound? Damn, they even sounded like Nomo, in the Afrobeat-infused "Jangala" (it's an afro-Zappa-Zone, a bit much for my taste). I'm not claiming these bands are good descriptors for YC. I'm just trying to inadequately communicate how they make me feel. Every song on Jungle Habits has something unique, yet weirdly familiar. I loved it immediately, but where have I heard this before?

Now this for the next edition of Modern Jackass Magazine: "YC are doing in indie what Tarantino did in film. Jungle Habits is a quilt of references to a long list of influential indie musicians. The end product is, however, refreshing and very much welcome." Lolz. What a dick.

Listen and listen again. Then buy the whole thing. If you don't buy, at least go to SoundCloud and download "Asthmatic".

[Image via]

Sport Dudes

Good Sport (Ryan Hyzer) lives in Pittsburg. He's giving away his (self-described) lazy lo-fi pop at Bandcamp. I wouldn't call it lazy, cause that'd be like Wavves "they're so lazy", but I do get a nice drowsy feeling from it. Here's "Dudes", my favorite of the five songs in the And Now We Are Talking EP. Go to Bandcamp and get the whole thing.


PS: Thanks to nomodestbear for this one (and many others, actually).

Four non-blondes

This one is not about that mid-90's one-hit wonder. It is not about an new blog-hype either. These four are all over the news. Household names, one would say. But maybe, you never know, someone still doesn't know about them and happens to be reading the last choice. It would be unforgivable that we don't tell said reader about them. So here we go.

Charlotte Gainsbourg
French regal gal, manages to put out records while delivering disturbing acting in Von Trier films. Here's "Memoir", from the recently released EP, Terrible Angels. If you're into remembering Goldfrapp, you will like the song "Terrible Angels" better than this one. Check out the video.

Eleanor Friedberger
I had a crush on a girl once (in 2004). She told me about her love for The Fiery Furnaces. So I listened to "Blueberry Boat" and "EP"to an unhealthy degree... Anyway, the Furnaces are witty and playful and generally awesome (except maybe live). Eleanor (half of the band, sister of the other half) released a solo album in July called Last Summer. Her brother Matthew has also released music (4 in a series of 6 experimental-ish EPs; less, say, accessible). I think I know now which half of the Furnaces I like better.


St. Vincent
Aw, Annie Clark. So good. So, so good. Read the interview at Pitchfork, and be sure to get her new album, Strange Mercy.


Lamb
They reunited and put out a new record this summer. I'm not completely in love with it. They also put out a live record, "Live at Koko". Listening to it is going back in time 10 years, yet it sounds so perfectly new and current. Lou Rhodes's voice is ridiculously beautiful.

Ten kids every day

Remember A Band Called Quinn, them of wolf stories in their songs? They just posted a remix album on bandcamp. Check it out. Quite enjoyable and danceable, at least upon first listen. I liked a couple by Kid Loco and Celebrity Murder Party.

Not a bad option for your $10 of monthly legal music. AND: you will get double karma credits, as all proceeds will go to DEC, who are organizing aid efforts in the Horn crisis.

Ten kids are starving to death every day there. I don't mean to preach. To whom, any way? Only the Parkour Movers Company (and a few in company) read this blog. But even 50 of your cents will help.

If you don't feel like buying music in quid, there are many other places you can go to and donate. For example, through the UN World Food Program.

Subtract

Aaron Jerome, aka SBTRKT, is a DJ/producer of dubstep or postdubstep or whatever they're calling it in London now. He's not embarrassed of the trip-hop roots of his music ('Wildfire' sounds so Tricky/Massive Attack), making a much more R&B sounding record than fellow postdubteppers (e.g. James Blake).
The result is one of the most accessible albums of the genre. It came out in June, and has already been well received by Pitchfork, Fader and even Rolling Stone. So pardon if this one comes a bit late for you guys, but I really like it.

Here's the stream of the whole album.


...and here's the video for the first single, "Wildfire", which must've been filmed in the Texas summer. Little Dragon's Yukimi Nakano sings.

Too much giving

I had this idea of rounding up one of those typical lists of summer songs. At the top of said list was, of course, the summery-est of all singles this year: "Up Up Up" by Givers. Holy damn, can you just frolic like a happy hippie through the prairie with this one.
Alas, it took me too long to post said list and now I've lost my headliner. The reason: they released this stupid video for the song. I just can't endorse the song any more.



Please do ignore the apparent lameness of the band, and try to imagine the song as a simple summer tune.

At least this rant now rescues June from a slump (word of the day in Lausanne).

Bear Rescue

On the verge of finishing our weakest month so far, the numbers in May are rescued by Bear Attack.

This spanish band plays mostly post-Rock, I'd say, with some indie folk and waltz (check out their interludes! pretty string/piano work). I have been enjoying their self-released album for some weeks now, and fully recommend it. It's downloadable for free at their website (here).



Annoyingly, there are at least two other 'Bear Attack' bands, making it rather hard to google. ugh.

The Archetype

The MakeMayMatter initiative continues.

I think I have a strong case to suggest Tom Vek as the ultimate Last Choice artist. It's true, in terms of genres we have spanned country to hardcore. But the mode of the distribution is somewhere close to indie dance/rock or something. (ok, maybe there's a second peak at hip-hop).

Nerd metrics aside, Tom Vek plays impecable garage dance/rock. He's also a nerdy looking guy, and closer to our age than many other LC artists. Most importantly, there's not "Constanza" or guilty pleasure effect here (I don't think this is the case for a lot of LC dance-oriented posts: very good for the dancefloor, but...)

He's all over the internet, as his second album (Seizure Leisure) comes out next week (his debut was released way bak in 2005). And I'm excited.

Here's a remix (by Amateur Best) of "A Chore", the first single from said album:


And here's the video for "World of Doubt", the second teaser track: