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SXSW Preview: The G's and H's

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:01:32 +0000

And so it begins. Every year, we listen to mp3′s of every band scheduled to appear at SXSW. We then present you with an A to Z preview of the bands that we think should earn your attention. Whether you’re coming down to SXSW (recommended!) or just looking for new music, there’s no better time of year. There’s a variety of music here, so buckle up for some different sounds. We’ll be previewing two letters per day, which’ll take us right up to SXSW Music Week. Then we’ll give you our picks for the “Ten bands you must see at SXSW!”. This is part 4 of 13!

The band: The Ganjas
Where are they from: Chile
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/theganjas

The band: The Ghost of a Thousand
Where are they from: Brighton, UK
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/theghostofathousand

The band: The Good The Bad
Where are they from: Copenhagen, Denmark
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/tgtb

The band: Grand Analog
Where are they from: Peg City, Canada
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/grandanalog
TDOA Interview here

The band: Grand Atlantic
Where are they from: Australia
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/grandatlantic
TDOA Interview here

The band: Grass Widow
Where are they from: San Francisco, CA
MySpace page: http://myspace.com/grasswidowmusic

The band: The Happy Hollows
Where are they from: California
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/thehappyhollows
TDOA Interview here

The band: Harlem
Where are they from: Austin, TX
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/harlemduh

The band: Hogni
Where are they from: Copenhagen, Denmakr
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/hognilisberg

The band: Home Video
Where are they from: Brooklyn, NYC
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/homevideo
TDOA Interview here

Previously: The A’s and B’s
The C’s and D’s
The E’s and F’s

Top Albums of 2009: The Artists' Picks

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:01:32 +0000

We remember a time when Rolling Stone used to do a wrap-up issue at the end of each year with their critics top ten. Now every website on the planet (including ours!) spews out their own, holier than thou list. But RS used to have the decency to ask the popular artists of the time to submit their own top ten lists, which were either good for a chuckle or a trip to the record store.
In the spirit of sending you off to buy some new records, we’ve asked a few bands/musicians/writers to give us a sense of their favorite records of the past year. Why do we love the bands we interview? They challenge us and you’ll find a lot of really interesting picks amongst these. We think these lists also give you valuable insight into the thought processes of these artists. Cue up the Spotify and Lala search engines and take a listen to a few of these gems.

Charlotte Hatherley (Bats For Lashes, Ash, solo)
1. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
3. Squarepusher – Just A Souvenir
4. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
5. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

Petter Ericson Stakee (Alberta Cross)
Phosphorescent – To Willie
PJ Harvey and John Parish – A Woman a Man Walked By
Dead Confederate ‘Wrecking Ball’ (We are aware it’s from last year but still think it should be on there as it didn’t receive enough credit in 2008.)
John Alexander Ericson- Songs from the White sea
Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears- Tell Em What Your Name Is
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid

Darker My Love
1. Thee Oh Sees- HELP
2. Cass McCombs- Catacombs
3. King Tuff- Was Dead
4. Strange Boys- …and Girls Club
5. A Place To Bury Strangers- Exploding Head
6. Tim Hecker- An Imaginary Country
7. Kurt Vile- Childish Prodigy
8. Pearl Harbor- Something About Chaparrals
9. Mocky- Saskamodie
10. Girls / Album

Brad Laner (Medicine/Solo)
1. Beatles Remasters / Beatles Rock Band
2. Neil Young – Archive Vol. 1
3. Baby Champ – Faya/Maya
4. Shits and Giggles – Trick or Treat
5. Helado Negro – Awe Owe
6. Where The Action Is! (Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968)
7. Bell Gardens – A Series Of Farewells
8. Slaraffenland – We’re on Your Side
9. Baths – http://www.myspace.com/bathsmusic
10. The Silent League -But You’ve Always Been the Caretaker

Milo (The Big Pink)
1. Comanechi – Crime of Love
2. A Grave With No Name – Mountain Debris
3. Pre – Hope Freaks
4. Cold Cave – Love Comes Close
5. The Horrors – Primary Colours
6. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Its Blitz

Max Tannone (Jaydiohead)
1. Mos Def – The Ecstatic
2. Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon
3. Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing
4. La Roux – La Roux
5. Boys Noize – Power

Aurelio Valle (Calla)
1. Yeah Yeah Yeah’s-It’s Blitz
2. Fever Ray-S/T
3. Kid Cudi-Man on the Moon:End of the Day
4. Flaming Lips-Embryonic
5. Animal Collective-Merriweather Post Pavilion
6. Raekwon-Only Built for Cuban Linx pt.2
7. Antony and the Johnsons-The Crying Light
8. Jay-Z-The Blueprint
9. U2-The Unforgettable Fire Re-issue
10. Bat for Lashes-Two Suns

Simon Reynolds (author/music critic)
1. Micachu and the Shapes, Jewellry (Rough Trade)
2. The Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca (Domino)
3. Moon Wiring Club — Striped Paint for the Last Post (Gecophonic)
4. Dolphins Into The Future, On Sea Faring Isolation (No Not Fun)
5. Oneohtrix Point Never, Rifts (No Fun)
6. Belbury Poly, From An Ancient Star (Ghost Box)
7. Roj, The Transactional Dharma of Roj (Ghost Box)
8. Broadcast & The Focus Group, Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age (Warp)
9. Woebot, East Central One (Hollow Earth)
10. Mordant Music, SyMptoMs (Mordant Music)

Matty (The Soft Pack)
Kurt Vile- Constant Hitmaker
Women- Self Titled
Cold Cave- Love Comes Close
Pearl Harbor- Something about the Chapparals EP
So Cow- So Cow
Obits- I Blame You
Bill Callahan- Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Abe Vigoda- Reviver EP
Friendly Fires- Self Titled
Micachu and the Shapes- Jewellery

Adam (Apteka)
1. The Horrors-Primary Colours
2. Nirvana-Live at Redding
3. Girls-Album
4. Washed Out-Life of Leisure
5. Sonic Youth-The Eternal
6. The Warlocks-The Mirror Explodes
7. Wooden Shjips-Dos
8. The Big Pink-A Brief History of Love
9. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
10. A Place to Bury Strangers-Exploding Head

Home Video
1. Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
2. School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms
3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. The Horrors – Primary Colours
6. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
7. Wave Machines – Wave If You’re Really There
8. Julian Plenti – Julian Plenti Is…Skyscraper
9. JJ- no 2
10. Silk Lung – Just a Thread

Living Things
(in no particular order)
Jay Z- Blueprint 3
The XX – The XX
Girls – Album
Crocodiles – Summer of Hate
Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Doll Face Honey
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
Phoenix – 1901
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
The Big Pink – A Breif History of Love
Living Things – Habeas Corpus !!!!

LR Rockets
Golden Silvers- True Romance
The Horrors- Primary Colours
The Maccabees- Wall of Arms
Florence and the Machine- Lungs
Julian Plenti- Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper

Odario Williams (Grand Analog)
1. Mos Def- The Ecstatic
2. Jay-Z- Blueprint 3
3. Little Dragon- Machine Dreams
4. Blakroc- Blakroc
5. Maiko Watson- Sweet Vibration
6. Raekwon- Only Built For Cuban Linx II
7. Phoenix- Wolfgang Amadeus
8. Maxwell- Blacksummer’s Night
9. Nestor Wynrush- Trinnipeg!78
10. Easy Star All-Stars- Easy Star’s Lonely Hearts Dub Band

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to get a preview of upcoming interviews, music news and behind the scenes stories about our interviews.

CMJ Preview, Part 2

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:36:37 +0000

You thought we were done, didn’t you? Well, the promos and emails have been flying in at an ever increasing rate since our post this morning and this is a compilation of the stuff that’s grabbed us. To view a schedule for the bands we’ve previewed click on the link below:
2009 CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival: The Dumbing of America’s schedule.

Grand Analog- Ok, I need you to open you mind because this isn’t your normal TDOA fare. Please know that Land of the Loops, Chemical Brothers and Autechre occasionally make their way onto our turntable. This Canadian (?!) group reminds us of a sexier, funkier Tricky. And that’s a good thing….

Home Video- Interviewed by us, here. Somehow we missed them the first time around, but don’t you make the same mistake.

Ume- We gave them props after their SXSW performance and this is certainly another chance for you to see one of the best Texas bands around. Blissnoise at its’ best.

Still Life Still- Canadian group that sounds like Pavement crossed with The Smiths. And now that we’ve set your expectations unreasonably high….

Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to get a preview of upcoming interviews, music news and behind the scenes stories about our interviews.

World Premiere Video: Home Video

admin — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:06:16 +0000

Here’s the new video from Home Video, whom we interviewed here.

To purchase their new album, click on the cute little button below:

Your New Favorite Band: Home Video

admin — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:51:15 +0000

Most bands shun comparisons to other bands. They’d prefer to be known for their own virtues and don’t want any intimation that they’re “unoriginal”. Personally, I appreciate when critics cite a comparison because it gives me a reference point. But if the comparison is wrong or does a disservice to the band, I too am disillusioned. It’s with this caveat that I make a comparison that I’ve never made before. Home Video shares a passing fancy for In Rainbows era Radiohead. There, I’ve said it. I’ve just compared a band to my favorite band in the world. It’s a lofty pedestal to be placed upon and HV have a long road ahead, but this the sound of a band who completely eschew traditional pop songwriting structure. Multi-rhythmic, challenging, beautiful, epic music that spins you round the room, leaves you dazed and yearning for more.

Collin Ruffino and David Gross are New Orleans transplants, living in New York City. Since their first ep’s were released in 2004, they’ve created a series of great releases before releasing their lastest ep as a free download from their website (http://www.homevideo.fm/). The duo took some time to answer some questions this week.

TDOA: We grow up listening to bands like Smashing Pumpkins (who you’ve referenced in interviews), but it isn’t always reflected in the music we produce. Do you find yourselves listening to music that sounds similar to Home Video or do you still to other types of music?

HV: I feel like music fans can never limit themselves to just one type of music. It’s like trying to limit yourself to having only one emotion in a day. Listening to the same type of music that you make can only get you so far. Making music is about filtering all of the input you receive and synthesizing something new that’s molded by your experience, including your life experiences beyond music itself. So we pretty much listen to everything we can. And there are two of us with differing tastes in music, so both of our ears get thrown into the pot.

For me, I will listen to the grinding and screaming in a Einsturzende Neubauten track, but five minutes later put on The Pearl by Brian Eno, which is just an hour of reverb and sparse piano. I used to be a bartender and would be bombarded on the weekends by the top 40 hip-hop hits. There is always something you can find in that stuff – a beat idea, or an interesting synth sound. Even the bands we usually list as our influences: Massive Attack, Portishead, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails…we don’t really sound like any of that stuff. There are fundamental similarities, like a shared philosophy of harmony maybe, but on the surface Home Video doesn’t immediately get compared to these musicians.

TDOA: You live in NYC, but don’t seem to have been sucked up into the “scene”. Can you talk about the differences between living in NYC vs. the time you spent in New Orleans. I’d also love to hear any stories of your interactions with other NYC bands.

HV: New York is a hard reality, while New Orleans is a beautiful, melancholy dream. We wrote a song, that we have yet to put out, called “A Quiet Place.” It’s about New Orleans, and was inspired by the hurricane and this feeling of intense loss that came with it. For me it felt like something deeply personal had been violated and that everything would be different. It was very traumatic, and I wasn’t even one of the victims who actually suffered through the storm.

As for NYC bands…we are friends with a band called Naked Hearts. We just finished a remix of one of their songs, called Only For You, which you can download on Rcrd Lbl. It is one of the best things we’ve done. They’re great, one of the few bands that we’ve met that are really making music that we want to listen to. I would be a fan of theirs even if I had never met them.

Also, our drummer, Jim Orso, has a project of his own under the name Silk Lung where he does everything himself, including some very beautiful, delicate tenor vocals. His stuff is disarmingly sweet and sincere. I love to listen to his tunes. He just did a really cool remix of our song I Can Make You Feel It that we are going to try to put out there in the ether.

TDOA: Please tell us about the brilliant video for “I Can Make You Feel It”. Who directed it, what was the inspiration, etc?

HV: We directed it together. We had made another video in the past, for “Sleep Sweet” on our first album, in a similar way. Basically, we’ll brainstorm ideas, and then David and I will sort out the details together.

We decided to make the video for I Can Make You Feel It at a time when we were about to move out of this amazing brownstone in Brooklyn we’d been living in. In the last month, when most of the furniture was gone from our living room, we bought a lot of white vinyl shower curtains (which was most of the budget) and covered the room in them, creating a white seamless space. We lit the whole thing with regular light bulbs. We had no crew. All the close-ups were manned by whoever was not in the shot. The actual shooting was pretty easy. It was shot for $200 on a borrowed DV camera.

Then, I edited it together and began the tedious process of scribbling on each frame of the video. We printed out each frame, and on tracing paper I drew a unique series of scribbles for each shot. I scanned all of those in to the computer and sequenced them in After Effects. It took about three or four months for that process, with a lot of it trial and error. David helped me out with the scanning and sequencing, as well as keeping me from killing myself along the way.

After that, we put in some real old-school special effects, reshooting the end through a fresnel lens off a monitor, which gave the end that distorted psychedelic look.

For our videos, we find inspiration in our limited resources. We look around at what we already have, figure out what we have the ability to make, and try to squeeze some art out of it.

TDOA: Bands don’t seem to place as much emphasis on videos (unless you’re Kelly Clarkson). With a video that good, I’m guessing you guys feel differently. Will video continue to play a big role in your creative output? Hwo do you incorporate video into your live shows?

HV: We love making videos. I went to college for film, so I feel the pull toward that medium. Making images for music, or music for images, is exciting. One can elevate and re-contextualize the other. There is something magical that happens when you see a good music video. It can open your mind to accepting a song you didn’t realize you liked.

We usually play with video projections behind us. I’ve always enjoyed the added dimension that even the most simple visual element of a show brings. We’re working on re-vamping our setup to include lights as well.

TDOA: You made you latest ep available as a free download. What motivated you to do get this music out this way, especially given the great response it’s gotten? Do you have a sense of how many times it’s been downloaded?

HV: We wanted to get these songs out into the world quickly. And we felt that the music could reach more ears if it were free. It was a gamble. We thought that if people heard us, they might like us enough to keep checking in and follow our development. I guess we’ve basically taken on the philosophy of a drug dealer.

TDOA: Give the decision to release “It Will Be OK” in this format, how do you feel about illegal downloading of music?

HV: This is a difficult subject to navigate. These days, it is hard to make a living by selling your music to fans, unless you are on a major label and have lots of marketing behind you. So most successful indie bands get licensing deals and sell music to tv shows and commercials. This was known as “selling out” back in the good old days, but is now pretty much par for the course, and even spoken of with pride.

The record label model for the music industry seems to be disintegrating before our eyes, which has been hard on artists in some ways. But this disintegration has also helped to expose the men behind the curtain. The music industry has been run for a long time by this elite group of a few, powerful people who’ve had the power to decide what everyone will hear. There is a new, more democratic system opening up, and there is something appealing about cutting out the middle-man and dealing directly with fans.

Technology is democratizing, or even communizing everything, including art in all forms. Policing the vast spaces of the internet for illegal activity is like trying to fight against a guerilla insurrection; as soon as you stop one site from doing something, ten more have already sprung up. I think you probably have to win hearts and minds. That means writing good music, and giving people some substance they can invest in.

I’m sure there are smart people writing graduate theses on this topic. I don’t really know what the answer will turn out to be. Our reaction has been to give away our EP and sell it on iTunes, at the same time. So fans have a choice, neither of which puts them in the position of stealing.

TDOA: Based on your bio and website, you’ve been making the transition to playing live more often. How has performing live changed how you approach writing music?

HV: Well, we’ve been playing live for awhile now so it’s not such a new transition. It feels like we’ve really hit our stride recently though. Not long ago, we did make a conscience decision to play more often, and it has helped us tighten our show. And playing more often has given us a new perspective on recording. Working with our drummer, Jim, has broadened our appreciation for the live drum sound, and this has led us to record live drums way more for the new recordings. Everything is still on the electronic end, but there is an added “liveness” to it. I think it injects more energy and emotion into the recordings.

TDOA: What’s next for the band? Touring, a new album, etc….

HV: We are working on getting on some tours, and playing out as often as we can. We have also been focusing on our remixing lately. We pumped out three remixes in the past couple months. The sounds of these remixes are usually our deconstruction of someone else’s song and rewriting it to be a Home Video track. So they aren’t always designed to be dance-floor hits (but sometimes they are).

There is enough new material to release a new album, and we are still writing. We’re going to shoot a video soon for “Every Love That Ever Was.”

TDOA: The new ep was a change in sound for you. What precipitated the change and do you see this as the “sound” of Home Video in the future?

HV: Since the last album, David got into practicing classical piano more, and we both got interested in incorporating more of the piano sound into our songs. Over the years, I’ve gained confidence as a singer, and I think that has had a subtle effect on our sound. The live show, like I said, has also changed how we hear our own music.

We’ve also gotten some new equipment in the meantime and that has informed our sound a bit. The new album will be close in flavor to the EP. I think we are constantly developing and consuming new ideas, so I can’t say what future Home Video will sound like, but it will be informed by the same basic musical philosophy.

For more information about Home Video, visit their website:(http://www.homevideo.fm/)

The Library

admin — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:52:42 +0000

Each month, I’m going to start providing you with a list of the best music that was released the previous month. In general, I’m going to stay off the beaten track (no U2 mp3′s for you, thankfully) although I can’t stay away from the new Death Cab. I’m efforting to make a cute little mp3 player on the sidebar, which you can use to listen to these songs anytime. In the meantime, here’s the April mp3′s that have been in high rotation for me.

I was going to go in alphabetical order, but this first one is by far the best of the bunch. You need to own the entire album, as there isn’t a bad track on it.

Black Box Revelation- Love Is On My Mind

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/love-is-on-my-mind.mp3]

and this too:

East Hundred- Hammerhead

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/07-hammerhead.mp3]

Aidan Moffat & The Best-Of’s- 9,000,000 Bicycle

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/01-9000000-bicycles.mp3]

The Artisans- Jazz Serenade

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/jazz-serenade.mp3]

The Big Pink- Velvet

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/12-velvet.mp3]

British Sea Power- A Forest (Cure cover)

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/08-a-forest.mp3]

The Coathangers- Killdozer

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/10-killdozer.mp3]

Dananananakroyd- Watch This!

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/01-watch-this.mp3]

Death Cab For Cutie- My Mirror Speaks

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/03-my-mirror-speaks.mp3]

Great Lake Swimmers- Everything Is Moving So Fast

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/02-everything-is-moving-so-fast.mp3]

Home Video- I Can Make You Feel It

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/01-i-can-make-you-feel-it.mp3]

LR Rockets- Cameron Is Connected

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/01-cameron-is-connected.mp3]

Lykke Li- Knocked Up (Live on Carson Daly)

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/knocked-up-carson-daly.mp3]

Metric- Help I’m Alive (Acoustic)

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/help-im-alive-acoustic.mp3]

M.M.- Call The Shots

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/call-the-shots.mp3]

Other Lives- Don’t Let Them

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/02-dont-let-them.mp3]

Popface- Dreams Burn Down (Ride Cover)

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/01-dreams-burn-down-ride.mp3]

Shirley Lee- The Smack of Pavement On Your Face

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/10-the-smack-of-pavement-in-your-fac.mp3]

SomaHigh- Lo Fat

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/08-lo-fat.mp3]

Superchunk- Learned To Surf (new Superchunk! Yes, please!)

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/03-learned-to-surf.mp3]

What did I miss? Post a comment and tell me your favorite releases of April!