Hey guys, I just played Jesse Sykes on my first Beyond Beyond is Beyond radio show on East Village Radio and was happy to stumble on this brand-new Daytrotter Session that the band just did. There are 4 songs that are recorded live in a studio and there is plenty of fuzzy guitar and haunting vocals and that other nice trippy stuff I dig. Check out the session here, you can even download all of the songs to put in your very own iTunes library!
Says Jesse of the live Daytrotter Session:
these songs were recorded in early october as we were be-lining it home from a US tour to catch a plane to europe where we were to continue for a couple more weeks…as we pulled into the daytrotter studio our van started to make some funny noises…the kind of noises that are suggesting to you that you may be screwed!! well, luckily we did the recording and the fellows there at daytrotter were very kind as i couldn’t have been more stressed out at that moment, as i wasn’t convinced we were going to make it home to catch that plane! needless to say, im so glad we have this document, as it was one of the best autumns of my life in some ways and as it always seems to be the case, the memory of that day stands out as such a cool testament of how close we have become as a band…dealing with things that seem insurmountable at the time….anyway, as we pulled away from the studio hours later, our vans u joints completely shit the bed (clunk clunk clunk….thats what it sounds like if you ever hear that noise…)and somehow we lucked out and found a kind hearted mechanic a few blocks away who fixed it on the fly….i remember the big white puffy clouds of iowa and the birds chirping as i sat waiting for the van to be fixed…lots of kind gentle souls there in iowa-thank you to all of them who helped us get home safe, we made that flight too!! anyway, enjoy this recording j.s.
All right, you’s guys, I’ve got opinions about albums and since everybody likes to show off their super-important and highly-refined musical tastes by way of year-end lists, I’ve decided to join everyone…like a sheep to slaughter. I’m gonna have some oldies which I’ve just been turned onto in 2008 sprinkled in there too, so please don’t be alarmed that I don’t only listen to new music. In fact, it’s not healthy to only listen to new music.
After mine, you have to show me yours though…as creepy as that sounds. So start thinking about everything you heard in this last great year of our unruly despot’s reign, and be ready to list ‘em by the time you finish looking at mine.
In no particular order…
Frances – All The WhileOkay, yes, they are friends but this album is truly original and stands out in a sea of indie-rock music that is becoming more and more boring. Hooks abound, beautiful harmonies, and amazing arrangements…all with a good sense of humor too.
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MGMT – Oracular SpectacularHere’s an album I was all over when I got an advance copy. It’s totally trippy and neo-psychedelic and totally up my alley. Here’s me singing it’s praises last January…lalala. The backlash is already present but isn’t it always there for bands who get any kind of recognition for actually being good?! They sounded great at a super-packed McCarren Park Pool this past summer too! I look forward to a second album from these cats.
Black Mountain – In The Future
Here’s another one that I got an advance of and I picked it for my year-end list last year even though it came out in 2008. Trippy , heavy, ter’riff’ic! These guys have a great loud live show too. On the album, “Wucan” will hypnotize you…and live, “Wucan” will bewitch your skull. You’ve been warned!
What a great show last night at the Ballroom, where the sound is always perfect! We got there towards the end of the opener, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, and were pleasantly surprised to hear a top-notch folk-psych outfit who could be Steeleye Span folky one minute and the next, launch into some scorching jams led by electric guitar maestro, Phil Wandscher. Jesse’s voice is beautiful and hauntingly mesmerizing, and completely set apart from the vocal style that a lot of ‘alternative’-ish female singers are latching onto these days. Dig their songs on MySpace!
And then it was on to the main event, Black Mountain, who started strong and never let up. Here’s the setlist…
…and that’s about the best picture I got, since the band likes to keep the stage nice and dark. They are named Black Mountain, after all! These guys pound you with heavy riff-filled sound that you can’t help but bang your head to…kinda like Black Sabbath, but more trippily-psychedelic, and with killer proggy keyboards. They have a female singer with a ‘bleating vibrato’ (a la Roger Chapman…anyone?) and the guitarist also sings. And the band is at their best when the two are singing together, like in the third song of the night, “Wucan”, a song that puts me in a willing trance every time I hear it. Check out their video for the song…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8upxRhff7cE&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]
…is that not amazing? And it was 11 times the badassedness live at Bowery Ballroom last night. There was nary a dull moment. Other highlights for me besides “Wucan” were “Druganaut” and “Stormy High”. Check this band out if they come to your town!
I love that there are now bands like this out there playing to indie-rock audiences and reminding them how good a guitar solo can sound. It seems like the guitar had become just an instrument to make cutesy little jangly sounds on for so many indie-rock bands, as it somehow became unhip to have songs with guitar solos. Why is this? Did all the sensitive guys think of a guitar solo as an extension of their penis, which of course they would never want to admit to having? Or maybe their lyrics were so deep that a guitar solo would only water down their dire message to the world. Well, I’m happy to say that I’d rather wallow in the guitar-centric new pool of talented psych-rock bands such as Black Mountain, Dungen, Howlin Rain, Wooden Shjips, Earthless, and Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter.
Check out Black Mountain music on MySpace and, if you dig ‘em, pick up In The Future, an album that I nominated for one of the best albums of 2008 at mid-year.
