Cougar Microbes

I’ve been constantly humming Telstar‘s “Karate Luv” since it was first played to me at a particularly intoxicating desert jam session back in April.

The trio recently unveiled their DIY video for the track and which immediately brought to mind the humor and creativity of the Beastie Boys‘ “Sabotage” video; not a bad thing at all.

Telstar will be playing some sporadic shows this summer so be sure to check out their site.

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I had the wondrous opportunity to see echo-synth-noise-darkwave duo Tearist (pronounced tear like rip apart) perform at Los Angeles‘s Lyric Theater a few nights ago. As a total Tearist virgin, I was only marginally prepared for what would ultimately become an invitedly deep aural penetration. The magnetically charged female vocalist, Yasmine Kittles, took the stage with a confidence that screamed ‘please buckle up‘. However, my mind still abuzz from the incredible energy brought into the room by previous band Coming, I failed to strap in and ended up being ejected through the front windshield as we slammed into a wall of sound.

The duo channeled music & arts deepest cuts as Kittles‘ vocals fully opened up. With her diaphragm in full effect she belted a knockout blend of reverberant aural pleasure that perfectly expanded into every dark centimeter of the room. Kittles‘ counterpart, William Menchaca, stretching a flawless synth-beat canvas for her to paint the vocals across. If I was a synesthete I’m pretty sure the complete sound would’ve looked like an artistic collaboration between Dali, Pollock, and Van Gogh. Incredibly thick paint smeared, melted, and splattered, yet somehow perfectly composed.

Kittles‘ also featured a signature brand of DIY percussion that took the show to a uniquely connected level. Simply a pipe and steel cylinder that she commands, yet seems to play itself as she whacks it, drops it, and throws it. A few drops down into the audience with her found object contraption and I felt like I was a part of the operation. I hit instant recall of the toddler joy the first time I hit a cookpot with a spoon on the kitchen floor.

Bonus points for the on-stage floor fan, sending Kittles‘ hair and red dress into a rippling wave that only further complimented the audio-visual music-art experience. I look forward to the next time I get to see this duo perform. I’ll know I’m not going to a concert, but to a full scale performance art piece. It would’ve been just as well suited for a gallery exhibition at the MOMA, as the dark cold Lyric Theater. I’ll choose to remain unbuckled in the future as well, slamming into the wall of sound at full speed was perfectly fulfilling.

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Post by Karl / @Justfinethanks

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Back in January Tycho played a pair of back-to-back shows at The Troubadour in West Hollywood.

And just so you don’t make the same mistake I did, let me clarify — though both are from San Francisco and both start with “Ty“, Tycho and Ty Segall put on two very different shows.

Yes, admittedly, I thought I was going to see a garage punk band, but ended up with possibly the furthest thing from that: Tycho‘s subdued mix of ambient tunes.

What can I say? There’s a lot of music out there that I’m ever-exploring and my wires got crossed.

No harm, no foul though.

While it was far less aggressive than the punk rock attitude I was expecting, Tycho made up for it in their extremely polished performance and chilled out vibes.

Scott Hansen, a.k.a. Tycho, is also well-known for his graphic design work. His blog, ISO50, was featured on Paste‘s Best Design Blogs of the 2012 list. For Tycho that means developing dreamy visuals of rolling surf and sand dunes, and projecting them on stage. A perfect pairing with the spacious, instrumental music: the two become natural companions, so that one informs the other.

The unexpected star of the night was Rory O’Connor, the drummer, who’s super dynamic and tight rhythms elevated the entire outfit. And it turns out Tycho isn’t the only group benefiting from his mad skills either – he also plays drums in Com Truise.

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Post by @nikki_redhead/ Nicole

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Whether it is solo or as part of his Odd Future it seems Tyler, The Creator is unable to sit still for a minute. In the buildup to the recently released ‘Wolf‘ album Tyler dropped a video for “IFHY“, continuing his streak of ludicrously brilliant vids.

Having just proclaimed (rightfully) to be “dope as fuck” on last year’s “The OF Tape Vol.2” it’s exciting to see what the talented LA madman will pull out of his magic hat next.

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It’s always hard for me to review the Strokes because I’m conscious of being far from objective when it comes to them and that, to counteract my innate subjectivity, I tend to become far too critical. I openly admit to putting them on a pedestal that is so high that even Kanye West‘s ego wouldn’t reach.

The higher the pedestal, the steeper the climb, and with ‘Comedown Machine‘ it feels like The Strokes have failed to achieve previous peaks. To be honest it might even have been acclaimed if it was the work of some new indie band. However, therein lies the problem; The Strokes aren’t just some indie the band, they are… The Strokes; the best thing that happened to NYC garage rock since The Velvet Underground, and most importantly they are the guys behind that revolutionary masterpiece called ‘Is This It‘.

The Strokes are part of a group of bands and artists that have changed the face of music with their debut album, but never managed to attain that level subsequently. ‘Room on Fire‘, their second album was definitely great but not as meticulous, ‘First Impressions of Earth‘ completely divided their fans ( personally, I loved it) and even though ‘Angles‘ was rather innovative, the chaotic relationship between members during the recording process seemed to impact on the overall consistency of the album.

My first reaction when I listened to ‘Comedown Machine‘ was to think ‘where on earth has Julian‘s voice gone? ‘ and ‘Why the Falsetto ? He sounds like the Bee Gees‘. Of course I have nothing against falsettos, but when Julian Casablancas gives up his unique baritone to sing like Tom Yorke‘s little sister…I cannot help but think of this as wrong. It’s just plain wrong. Furthermore it’s not only the tone of his voice that irritates me ( particularly on ‘Tap Out‘, ‘One Way Trigger‘, and ‘50 50‘), but also the fact that he just sounds half asleep and is sometimes barely understandable.

My second reaction was to think that with this album, The Strokes seem to have sadly completely abandoned that special trademark beat, led by Fabrizio Moretti‘s drums that made them so instantly recognizable, and oh so rock ‘n’ roll.

‘Comedown Machine‘ is obviously heavily influenced by 80s sounds, with a lot of synths and electronic beats, and in that way is overall very similar to ‘Angles‘ and Casablancas‘ solo album ‘Phrazes For The Young‘. With this album they make it clear that their sound has significantly changed since they went from a dictatorship to a democracy after ‘First Impressions Of Earth’, and that they’ve moved away from their nervous style towards a much cleaner and funkier one.

I guess anyone who doesn’t know The Strokes well enough would tend to enjoy this new aspect to their music. I don’t. I like the dark, twisted and nervous Strokes. I like The Strokes that make me jump around every time I hear ‘Last Nite‘, lose my breath on ‘Take It Or Leave It‘, and break my voice on ‘Reptilia‘ or ‘Juicebox‘. Most importantly I miss the The Strokes that were everything but funky.

That said, there is this another side to this album which I quite enjoy as it feels like they are trying to go back to basics ( afterall bassist Nikolai Fraiture did say that it was their aim with this album), and it’s quite nice to have songs such as ‘Partners in Crime‘, ‘All the Time‘ or ‘Happy Ending‘ ( by far my favourite song of the album) that have a much ‘Strokes-y‘ feel to them. I was quite taken aback by how ‘Call it Fate, Call it Karma‘ sounds like Fabrizio Moretti‘s side project called Little Joy.

One thing that you can give The Strokes credit for is trying different styles of music and looking for possible evolutions to their own sound. Also it does sound like they finally had fun creating this album. So if there is one band that never sounds the same it’s them, and yes, a lot of people would see this as great.

Personally, I consider this constant vacillation as the identity crisis of a band that was abruptly chosen as the saviours of indie rock, and are now constantly trying to play the part.

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Post by @OliviaScopes / Olivia
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As the world continues to discover and fall in love with Haim it was impossible for me to resist their charm. Let’s face it, this is a marketing man’s dream-come-true but, fortunately, the three sisters also have the tunes to back up all the hype.

Here is Haim‘s take on The Strokes b-side “I’ll Try Anything Once”, yet another impressive rendition to add to their ever expanding material.

Having seen the girls offer an electrifying performance at SXSW (full review coming soon) I can also say the trio are destined for great things.

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I feel that every time I mention Chromatics I get a ‘oh yeah that band from the Drive soundtrack‘ type of response. Chromatics are so much more than that though. Having been making music for over a decade now confining them to simply a soundtrack would be plainly wrong, like saying that Jeff Buckley‘s ‘Hallelujah‘ was ‘that Shrek song‘. 

‘Kill For Love‘, their latest release on indie New Jersey-based label ‘Italians Do It Better‘, is a little piece of heaven for those that love synth and dream pop mixed with a good dose of minimal wave. Critics tend to say that their music, in particular Adam Miller‘s guitar playing, echoes the sound Joy Division and New Order. I agree and this is probably why I like them so much. On tracks such as ‘Kill For Love‘ and ‘The Page‘ the influence noticeable and I am able to find that same characteristic raw and cold beat in the background. 

When I think of Chromatics, I think symbiosis. They have managed to find the perfect recipe to mix all their different influences, sounds, styles and top it all off with Ruth Radelet‘s smokey voice. The result is breathtaking and innovative. It took them ten years and four albums but I think Chromatics have found their signature sound. – Olivia

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With their baroque/indie/folk leanings and sardonic rap-like witticism is safe to say WHY? are an oddity in today’s musical landscape. The much awaited ‘Mumps, Etc‘ is a first outing since the delicate instrumentations of 2009′s excellent  ’Eskimo Snow‘.

While that album remains an absolute pleasure it did signal a slight detour from the sound we had associated with the Californian 3 piece right from their debut. WHY? have definitely not sacrificed their new found pop sensibilities yet  ’Mumps, Etc‘ displays enough bite to be considered a kindred spirit to their 2008 breakout album ‘Alopecia‘.

Thom included them in his top-10 explaining “Sometimes words can carry a track on their own and Yoni Wolf‘s lyrics are the sociological poetry of every thoughtful and intelligent down and out. But this record obviously isn’t a poetry reading and WHY?‘s musicianship on ‘Mumps, Etc.‘ is still as exciting, genre-twisting and gritty as their diamond in the rough debut ‘Oaklandazulasylum‘ way back in 2003“.

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