The Dumbing of America » Ringo Deathstarr

Top 10 Albums of 2011: TDOA Staff Choices

admin — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:55:30 +0000

Each year, we’ve posted our top ten albums of the previous year. 2011 was an intriguing year. The best albums were fantastic, but it felt like their was a dearth of great new bands. Bands that put out great singles in 2010, tended to follow up with mediocre albums in 2011. You’ll certainly want to check out our list of Top 10 EP’s of 2011, as we think there’s still a few bands with great promise on the horizon. Thanks to the bands, the labels, the promoters and most of all….the readers. Over the next week, we’ll also be bringing you the top ten lists of some great musicians, writers and music industry folks for you to peruse. Check back soon!

This year we’re presenting individual lists from the three main contributors to the site. Each brings their own tastes and we hope you’ll enjoy them all.

Special thanks to our friends at Rdio, who’ve helped us to embed virtually every album on our top ten lists, so that you can listen to them in their entirety. Enjoy!

Todd- Editor/Writer

01 We Are Augustines- Rise Ye Sunken Ships

02 The Duke Spirit- Bruiser

03 Apteka- Gargoyle Days

Striking Violet by apteka
Listen on Spotify: Apteka – Gargoyle Days

04 Adele- 21

05 Dum Dum Girls- Only In Dreams

06 Cerebral Ballzy- Cerebral Ballzy

07 The Black Keys- El Camino

08 Libyans- A Common Place

09 The Field- Looping State of Mind

10 Johnny Foreigner- Johhny Foreigner vs. Everything

Amy- Writer

01 Adele- 21

02 Lykke Li- Wounded Rhymes

03 Cults- Cults

04 Panda Bear- Tomboy

05 The Decemberists- The King Is Dead

06 The Antlers- Burst Apart

07 Fleet Foxes- Helplessness Blues

08 Jay-Z and Kanye West- Watch The Throne

09 Active Child- You Are All I See

10 EMA- Past Life Martyred Saints

Sania- Writer

01 The Horrors- Skying

02 Black Lips- Arabia Mountain

03 The Black Keys- El Camino

04 The Duke Spirit- Bruiser

05 Night Beats- Night Beats

Night Beats – Puppet On A String by BurgerRecords
Listen on Spotify: spotify:album:2bKHbnyTpfVWyQDen9Pgg0

06 Bass Drum of Death- GB City

07 Battles- Gloss Drop

08 Dirty Beaches- Badlands

Listen on Spotify: spotify:album:2vW79BiE5ngvlFe7JMcBAx

09 Psychic Ills- Hazed Dream

Listen on Spotify: spotify:track:0QncJR9cLt5SgFrq7qGxO9

10 Ringo Deathstarr- Colour Trip

CMJ Recap: The Videos

admin — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:57:24 +0000

We like videos, yes we do. As you’ll recall, we gave you our picks to click at CMJ. Since then Warpaint was signed to Rough Trade and The XX blew up more (if that’s possible). Here’s a quick look at the videos we’ve compiled that show our favorite bands performing at CMJ.

Warpaint

Ume

Ringo Deathstarr

The XX

CMJ Preview

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:57:31 +0000

Here’s our preview of the CMJ Festival, which begins today! We’re so excited to see that so many of the bands we love and have interviewed, are appearing. Now’s your chance to see what we’ve been ranting about. To view a calendar of our recommended bands performances, click the link below:
2009 CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival: The Dumbing of America’s schedule.

2009 CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival: The Dumbing of America’s schedule.

Warpaint- Interviewed here. Is this the band most likely to blow up after CMJ? An original sound with great vocal and bass melodies make them primed to climb into your veins and make you bleed Warpaint.

Ambulance LTD- At some point, these guys are going to have to release a new record. Supposedly they’ve recorded a new one, with John Cale acting as a producer. Sounds interesting. Check out them out live, because if they’re able to pick up where they left off, they’ll be something special.

The DeBretts- Originally interviewed by us when we were just little kids, they return to America with their combination of Banshee-esque punk and Strokes-like cool (they recorded their demo with Strokes producer Gordon Raphael). They’ve pulled their songs from MySpace which leads us to believe they’re either about to hatch a brilliant plan or they need a new manager. Either way, we’ve heard their songs and you’ll thank yourself for seeing them at CMJ.

Diehard- At the point we interviewed New York’s finest, we expected big things from them. At the time we compared them to Superchunk, which we meant as a compliment. Many months later, the songs stand up on their own and the obvious nod to late 80′s britpop makes them less a Merge knock-off and more a walking encyclopedia of great musical tendencies.

Lovvers- Interviewed this month and ready for global domination. This is one of those bands that you just know if going to be an amazing live band. I remember seeing early shows by The Replacements and Guided By Voices. These shows at CMJ have that same kind of “who knows what’s going to happen” sense of chaos. Chaos=good.

Ringo Deathstarr- Interviewed here. If we had a complaint about CMJ, it would be their refusal to acknowledge the resurgence of the My Bloody Valentine/Jesus and Mary Chain genre. Ringo Deathstarr embrace the genre while cranking up the volume. Making your ears bleed has never felt so good.

Robbers On High Street- Going to festivals like CMJ is about taking risks. However, we always like to throw it a known entity every once in a while. Going to see Robbers On High Street is money in the bank. Great melodies, great musicians, great live shows. A well-respected band, who’s still underrated in our opinion.

Heavy Trash- If you’ve never seen Jon Spencer, do yourself a favor and check out his current band. Jon Spencer is a modern Elvis Presley and we are just spinning hyperbole here. The ultimate showman, he has been dazzling audiences for years. Guarantee to sweat and shout by showing up for this show.

The XX- Ok, we’re not breaking new here. The XX are the most hyped band coming in to CMJ. Based on the album and the live appearances on TV, it’s justified. Might be a battle to get into their shows at CMJ, but would certainly by worth the payoff. An album of the year candidate, in our estimation.

Your New Favorite Band: Ringo Deathstarr

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:13:06 +0000

The brilliantly named Ringo Deathstarr are an Austin-based band who need to be on your radar. They’re the ADD cousins of My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary chain, crafting three minute bursts of noise-bliss that will shred your ears and leave you asking for more.

After numerous line-up changes, the one constant is singer/guitarist/mastermind Elliott Fraizer. The band (well, actually it was just Elliot) completed one EP in 2007 to rave reviews from indie mags everywhere. Kip Berman from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart name checked them in an interview and the buzz has steadily increased.

With a new line-up and a new album being recorded, we thought this would be a good time to touch base with Elliott and get a finger on the pulse of Ringo Deathstarr.

As you know by now, I like to add a few videos to each interview so that you can listen to them for yourself. Their reputation for being MBV-loud, makes finding videos to post a bit of a challenge. Turn these up to 11, flick the light switches on and off to get a good strobey effect and dream on.

TDOA: In recent interviews you’ve talked about the lineup changes and the
more colaborative writing process. Do you sense a change in the sound

or style of the band as a result?

EF: The sound is still the same vibe, but yes it is changing. But, nobody wants to do the same album over and over.

TDOA: After doing the bulk of the work on the EP, do you find it
difficult to loosen the reigns and let other musicians influence the sound?

EF: It just depends on the song. Sometimes I have the whole song already mapped out before showing it to the band, but it is great to have everyone writing, ’cause we like variety. I only did all the work on the EP because I had to, not necessarily cause I wanted to.

TDOA: You wear your JAMC and MBV influences on your sleeve (thanks for
not being as coy as most bands!). The U.S. generallly missed the boat
on these bands when they were in their heydey. Do you think bands
like RD can capture the American ear this time or do you have to go to England to get your just dues?

EF: I think that with the success of A Place To Bury Strangers and The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, that people are perhaps ready for the noise pop dreamy sound. I think the reason it didn’t catch on a long time ago was because of GRUNGE. Right now, I think it works because people want more interesting guitar sounds than the same old rock n roll. I think electronic music is popular because, to a lot of people, the sounds are more interesting that just a guitar and a drum kit. But when they hear more unusual guitar sounds, it attracts interest, I guess.

Sweet Girl

[audio http://thedumbingofamerica.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/05-ringo_deathstarr-sweet_girl.mp3]

TDOA: We’ve been extolling the virtues of Austin on our site for a while. Any thoughts on why the Austin music scene appears to be so vibrant?

EF: Because it’s so easy to be in a band here. I mean, its like saying, “Why is the acting scene in LA so big?”

TDOA: What influence did bands like Sixteen Deluxe and some of the older Austin bands have on you?

EF: I was not here when Sixteen Deluxe was around, but I met the guitar player, Frenchie, in 2002, and I have only recorded with him or at his studio ever since. What a dude!

TDOA: The lead singer of The Horrors gave an interview in NME recently in

which he suggested that Facebook, MySpace and music blogs should be
blown up because they’ve created a plethora of bad underground bands.
How do you feel about the internet as a marketing tool? (BTW, not
trying to lead the witness here, even though we’re “part of the problem”).

EF: It has its ups and downs. I agree about the tons of bad bands, but if you are a good band, it makes it so easy to get heard. It is hard at first to convince the world that you’re not just another shitty band. One of my favorite books is “Our Band Could Be Your Life” by Michael Azzerad, and the bands in there didn’t have the internet, they just toured a bunch and put out lots of albums, but they made a big impact on lots of people’s lives.

TDOA: How did you connect with Pains of Being Pure at Heart and can you tell us about your experiences with them at SXSW?

EF: Kip, the singer, had mentioned us in an interview or something so that’s how I found out about them, so we just contacted each other, hung out in New York when we were there, and they are just great. We played CMJ with them, but at SXSW they had 50 shows a day so we couldn’t play with them.

TDOA: We talk to a lot of bands that struggle to get publicity, record
deals or spots in festivals. Can you share your secrets on how RD has managed to be a part of SXSW?

EF: After we released our EP and it got good reviews we applied to SXSW and got in. I guess you just gotta be doing something that people want to hear. When I first started this band, friends would tell me that it was a stupid idea, but after 3 years it finally paid off. I guess some bands just give up too early.

TDOA: When will we see some new music from you guys? Any plans to tour this summer?

EF: We are recording an album now, but we have no money so it will take a while. We have a couple of releases coming out at the end of the summer in the UK and Japan. We will tour at the end of the summer I suppose.

TDOA: What bands are you listening to these days?

EF: MBV and JAMC, of course!

For more information about Ringo Deathstarr, visit their MySpace page at: http://www.myspace.com/ringodeathstarr