Bon Iver won't be performing at Coachella, but Justin Vernon will be. This time, the indie frontman and noted passive aggressive Grammy speech-giver will be backed by a very different group. Completely bypassing any timid navel-gazing, bandmates Brian Moen (Peter Wolf Crier), and Phillip Cook (Megafaun) bash out bluesy, old-school rock, as Vernon gives the autotune a rest to howl in his best Otis Redding. The result is The Shouting Matches, a group that's been around and recording since 2008, but hasn't really put much out there, til now. And how do they do? Well, Mother When's the Judgement Gonna Come has a raucus, I'm-totally-gonna-get-a-staph-infection-in-this-dive-bar feel to it, while the live I Had a Real Good Lover makes me want to lie on the floor, belting out lyrics in a whisky stupor. So it sounds awesome. Mouthoil, their first EP is due out sometime this year. Probably.
Your musical education continues with Neon Filler's list of the top 100 indie/alternative albums of all time.This week: 60-51 (including Bon Iver and my favourite Modest Mouse album).
Fellow Canucks be proud: Spinner looks at the invasion of Canadian music at SXSW including Broken Social Scene, Feist, and The New Pornographers. But it's "aboat" not "aboot", Stuart.
The National has a new song Think You Can Wait, and it confirms my long-held belief that Matt Berninger just wants everyone to cry and moodily drink whisky all the time. Hear it at Stereogum.
My former flatmate's favourite musician was Joanna Newsom, and--swear to God-- she once casually uttered the phrase "I find dirt really interesting." So the suggestion that she may have once "considered befriending a squirrel" seems pretty dead on. Flavorwire will hilariously stereotype you, too, by your favourite indie band.
Dance-punk/ noise rock duo Death From Above 1979 has reunited, is rehearsing for Coachella, and is testing out a badass bass-cam video. As cool as that sounds, Dominic at This Moving Picture manages to make it sound even cooler.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Sunnybrook a band who describes their sound as "your running through a field of dandelions laughing uncontrollably". Sunnybrook you need to come to my parties. And bring whatever it is that made you write that. (Universal Yellow Keys)
I've had a complicated, shitty week, so I genuinely appreciate Young Minds'Change of Pace (no pun intended). It'sa catchy lo-fi track that will make the world feel simple and upbeat for two and a half minutes. Thanks to guerolitomusic for the tranquilizer.
When thinking Irish temperament it tends to be in extremes. On the one hand there's the raucous, life-affirming, fun loving side. On the other is the melancholic, mournful, hard-luck side. And as a musician, Dubliner James Vincent McMorrow has covered both.
Cutting his teeth on hardcore punk, McMorrow credits Crosby, Stills and Nash for turning him folk. He now makes slow-moving, heartbreaking albums with faintly tragic guitar-picked melodies and high-pitched vocals (not unlike Bon Iver, actually). Meanwhile, his lyrical inspiration comes from the likes of John Steinbeck, F Scott Fitzgerald and Roald Dahl, writers Mc Morrow looks to for "the darker, less spoken-about aspects of life, solitude and disillusionment."
In terms of the good vs. the hard luck of the Irish, McMorrow's music may fall in the latter category. But we're all the luckier for it.
His new album will be available January 25 in the Canada/US, and March 7 in Europe. For now, you can get his self-titled EP from Faction Records.
Any music posted is for sampling purposes only. If you like anything you hear on this blog, please support the artist by buying their music. Then maybe send them an e-mail of encouragement because money can't give them the warm fuzzies like a nice letter can.
If you represent an artist on this site and would like a song removed, e-mail me. I'll tear the song down and buy you a beer. Then we'll become best friends, I just know it.
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