Featured Artist: Austra

Austra

My local Indy radio station is WKNC 88.1 and they are one of the best college radio stations in the nation. They were even nominated for an MTVU Woodie for Best College Radio Station. Not bad! Well, they usually have a band or two that the obsess over each month. A few months ago it was Austra. Soon after hearing a song or two from them, I too began to obsess over them. They are a New Wave band from Canada who have created a dynamic, over-arching sound that mixes elements from electronica, dance and classical music together. They are lead by Katie Stelmanis whose middle name is Austra, which is the Latvian Goddess of Light. That's like if my middle name was Zeus, pretty sweet. The trio is completed by drummer Maya Postepski and bassist Dorian Wolf. Even though the share the workload in writing the music, Stelmanis is at the front and center of everything they do, hence the picture above. 

Their debut album, Feel It Break was released by Domino Records on May 17th of this year. Critical acclaim, fanfare and comparisons followed soon there after. They have everything a successful band needs. A lead singer with a powerful and memorable voice, great rhythmic foundations, monster bridges, and sensational hooks. They sound like Bjork, The Knife and Zola Jesus had a very crazy musical orgy, made a baby and gave all of their best gifts to the child. That is a loud statement to make, but Austra has backed me up already. Feel It Break is simply brilliant! It moves fluidly, it pulls your energy and it tugs on all areas of the mind. Stereogum even had it in the Top 5 of their albums of the First Half of the Year. It will most likely make my Top 10 for the year. Austra will beat your heart to a pulp, beat your brains to mush and your feet will keep dancing all the while!

Check Out These Tracks:

- Beat And The Pulse

- Spellwork

- Shoot the Water

- The Noise 

Featured Artist: Robyn

For Those of you just learning about good music, the above photo is Swedish Popstar Robyn. She had a massive hit about 15 years ago called "Do You Know" and another in 2005 called "With Every Heartbeat". She has won 10 Swedish Grammies, which is a big deal because pop music in Sweden is like County-Western in Nashville. And in 2010 she released Body Talk Pt. 1 and Pt. 2. This was a two part album which had more singles than a strip club! I mean at least 10 of the 16 songs were strong enough to be released on their own. It even made my Top 50 Albums of 2010 list. She won an American Grammy nomination for her single "Dancing On Your Own". I am not a huge fan of the Grammy's for a majority of music genres, but they usually hit the nail on the head for Pop/Dance music.

She is a genuine triple-threat. She can obviously sing and dance, but she was an actor for a while and both her parents are actors. And, I know you are saying, "Kyle, that is great and all, but what about Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Brittany Spears, Usher, or the Black Eyed Peas. Well, this is what sets Robyn apart from all them. She is quintessentially an artist. The rest of them are performers making music. Maybe this will help make my point. If Picasso were a pop artist he would be Robyn. If Penn and Teller were to be pop artists, they would be the Black Eyed Peas. Robyn is only rivaled, in my opinion, by Justin Timberlake. I think she wins by a hair.

Rather then read my babble about my opinions. Watch this video she just put out for her latest single "Call Your Girlfriend". Pitchfork.com had this to say about it, "a true command performance, a hall-of-fame effort from an artist at the absolute peak of her powers." It is one of the greatest 3 and a half minute performances in history. That includes TV and Film. Enjoy!

Review Session: Wild Beasts' Smother

Smother by Wild Beasts

I think most people who listen to indie music have that one band they feel they discovered in some cosmic way. Well, Wild Beasts is mine. I didn't really discover them, but I found a couple of tracks they had released about a year before their debut album Limbo, Panto came out. I thought they were the next movement in indie music with their operatic, steampunk sound. Limbo, Panto was amazing, and their sophomore album Two Dancers was even better. Smother comes out soon, and I gave it a few advanced listens and it is interesting. Most of the tracks are thoughtful, progressive, and sound so damn good. A few are incomplete, but still better than 99% of the bands out there.

Wild Beasts have a sense of elegance you get with bands such as Beirut and Fleet Foxes that hark on elements of music from past centuries. And Smother is a huge move for Wild Beasts in my mind, because Smother is completely different than the first two albums. They use the piano to perfection in song such as "Lion's Share" and "Albatross". Electronics weave their way in and out beautiful, sophisticated lyrics. Hayden Thorpe, known for his atomic falsetto, sticks to high pitches and tones, and Tom Fleming chimes in with his alter-ego masculine voice. The album moves along steadily and is evenly spread, and not too thinly I may add. Smother creates new sensations for me and it feels breathtaking in a small way.

I can see why someone may not like Smother as much. It doesn't have that one phenomenal track like "Devil's Crayon" or "Two Dancers", maybe "Albatross" fits that bill, but I think it has a deeper repertoire. I truly love this album and it has some great nooks and crannies that need discovering. It has some kinks that could have been worked out before hand, but these guys are so good at getting their sound correct. Which is hard to do on your third album with such a distinct sound. If you haven't listened to them before, check out their first two albums first. The progression of Wild Beasts has been joyful and I think their future is bright still.

Rating = 8.5

Review Session: The Blitz

Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes

I read a preview of this album back in March and the thing they emphasized about it was that it was darker and harder than their self-titled debut. Well, I have listened to Helplessness Blues multiple times and all I can think is, "Are they fucking nuts?" It is lighter and softer, minus their own version of Radiohead's National Anthem at the end of "The Shrine/An Argument". This album is simple, delightful and fresh. It is not as evocative as their first album, and they fail to complete some very important thoughts. But it is sweet, compact and makes you ask for more.

Rating = 8.5

Tomboy by Panda Bear

In 2007, Person Pitch had it's knob slobbered all over by Pitchfork, which named it Best Album of the Year and gave "Bros" it's Track of the Year. If you look back to my Top 21 of 2007 IT WASN'T EVEN ON THERE! It was good, I admit, but it is really only three really great songs and 4 really average songs. Not a really good album. Tomboy is different though. It doesn't have any great songs, but all of the songs are really good. I know this isn't a great evaluation, but it is Panda Bear. You expect the same pedal-mushing, voice-overlapping, sonic-booming, heady music that he always does. Tomboy is a complete album, something Noah Lennox is doing for the first time.

Rating = 8.3

Belong by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

A couple of days after this album dropped I was at the Cat's Cradle watching them play with Twin Shadow. I do not like to listen to a band leading up to their show, so I didn't listen to the new album. However, I made two observations at the show. One, Twin Shadow was amazing (and over shadowed Pains) and Two, Pains' new songs didn't sound great live. So, then I listened to the album and I was truly impressed by it. It didn't matter that the songs weren't all that good live, on an album they were refreshing and guided. They used less power and more finesse. It is more heart-felt and less in your face. Ironically, I felt it did Belong (Get it!).

Rating = 8.3

Goblin by Tyler, the Creator

Awesome, hardcore, pounding, insane, ghetto-fabulous, in-your-face, mind-blowing, disgusting, creative rap music from Odd Future's ringleader!!!

Rating = 7.8

Someone Great: The Final LCD Soundsystem Show

April 2nd, 2011 will live in infamy as the last day LCD Soundsystem ever played a show. I hope it isn't true, but I think it is. Madison Square Garden hosted 25,000 hipsters listening to 3 and half hours of music from one of the greatest bands to ever live. I wish I was there but I at least found the webstream. I have it below for anybody else that wishes to witness the greatness.

Enjoy!

SETLIST
Set 1:
“Dance Yrself Clean”
“Drunk Girls”
“I Can Change
“Time to Get Away”
“Get Innocuous!”
“Daft Punk Is Playing At My House”
“Too Much Love”
“All My Friends”
“Tired”

Set 2:
45:33 Part One
45:33 Part Two (ft. Reggie Watts)
“Sound of Silver”
45:33 Part Four
45:33 Part Five (ft. Shit Robot)
45:33 Part Six
“Freak Out/Starry Eyes”

Set 3:
“Us V. Them”
“North American Scum” (ft. Régine Chassagne, Win Butler, and Will Butler of Arcade Fire)
“Bye Bye Bayou” (Alan Vega cover)
“You Wanted A Hit”
“Tribulations”
“Movement”
“Yeah”

Encore 1:
“Someone Great”
“Losing My Edge”
“Home”

Encore 2:
“All I Want”
“Jump Into The Fire” (Harry Nilsson cover)
“New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down”

When someone great is gone. We're safe, for the moment. Saved, for the moment.

Thanks LCD!