The Love Language‘s first album is a fantastic record, but you were never supposed to hear it.
Stuart McLamb wrote and recorded The Love Language in a Chapel Hill, North Carolina storage space after splitting from his girlfriend. Its nine songs were alternately heartbreaking and manic, propelled by McLamb’s vocals which, despite — or perhaps because of — their rough and unpolished sound, cut straight to the bone. Continue reading…
The last time Menomena played the Casbah, drummer Danny Seim cut his hand open on his drum set, then proceeded to wipe the blood all over his face like ghastly warpaint.
A moment like that leaves an impression, but even without it, the night would have been memorable. The quirky trio’s performances are so intense and spirited that the blood flying onstage pales in comparison to the blood rushing through the crowd’s veins. Continue reading…
This month’s Rumble at Bar Pink features indie up-and-comers Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and local musical hitman Jamuel Saxon, and will be held on Saturday, September 11.
Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott are the Detroit-based duo behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.. They are known for incorporating many styles and substances into their music — they like samplers and drum machines, but they’re also not above playing to the indie-folk crowd.
Epstein and Zott describe their debut EP, Horse Power, as a “quasi-psych mix of folk, hip-hop inspired drum programming, and effervescent pop within which Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. machines a series of chicanes, straightaways, washboards, and u-turns that when assembled make for quite the interesting ride.” Additionally, Epstein and Zott like to wear Nascar outfits onstage. For a sample of their sound, we’ve got the video for “Nothing But Our Love,” and two MP3s — one of which was remixed by Jamuel Saxon — below.
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Parlour Steps are a self-described electro-pop/motown band hailing from Vancouver. The group’s engaging sound would fit nicely between The Decemberists and The New Pornographers in your record collection.
In 2009, Parlour Steps released a catchy gem of an album, The Hidden Names!, and have been touring in support of it ever since. In a rare offstage moment, front man Caleb Stull recently compiled a list of his favorite music-related movies for us. His Poetic Memory is below. Continue reading…
Cloud Cult are nothing if not prolific. The Minnesota band just finished up their eighth studio album, Light Chasers, which is set to hit stores on September 14th.
Light Chasers picks up right where Owl and Bear favorite Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes) left off, exploring the relationship between the human experience and the unknown. Frontman Craig Minowa took some time out from tea-partying through tornadoes to talk to us about loss, the environment, and what the band has in store for us in the future. Continue reading…