The inaugural installment of the Owl and Bear Guestcast was compiled by Italy’s dau-al-set.
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Tom Fec, the mastermind behind O&B Best Of 2009 alum Black Moth Super Rainbow, is back with his other project. Tobacco is a psychedelic, glitch-pop, one-man supergoup that’s one acid trip from the loony bin — in a good way.
With Maniac Meat, Fec continues the electro buzz-saw sound he created on his first full-length, Fucked Up Friends. Shying away from the ambient, slowed-down grooves of Black Moth Super Rainbow, Maniac Meat is, well, meatier. The more robust, aggressive sounding effort leans on Beastie Boy-ish beats and tons of synth layers.
Lending an air of prestige to the proceedings, the one and only Beck (who Fec has said produced his favorite album ever, Mellow Gold) appears on two tracks. Continue reading…
“The Casbah has always been a special place for us,” Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison informed the enthusiastic, sold-out crowd.
It was his band’s third appearance at the quintessential San Diego venue — which he claimed had given them their first headlining gig — and you could tell that his professed love was genuine. The show was the second to last stop on Frightened Rabbit’s US tour, but the smiles on their faces made it clear that it was far from just another gig. Continue reading…
Though you might find the new Caribou album, Swim, tucked in the indie-electronic aisle, frontman Daniel Snaith samples a much wider buffet of genres in a live setting. As you’d expect, you’ll hear him match up against electronic contemporaries like Vitalic, Animal Collective, and even Paul Van Dyk, but a good portion of the show also has the wider influences featured on earlier albums. His previous album, Andorra, had vintage tributes to The Mamas and The Papas (if backed by the relentless drums of, say, Dave Grohl) as well as indie-style jams that evoke My Morning Jacket or Wilco on an experimental kick. Last Thursday at the Casbah, Snaith tied up this diverse palette with a fat beat and dropped it all over a late-night dance party. Continue reading…
When I listen to Brighton, England’s The Miserable Rich, I feel like I should be chasing a wheel of cheese down a cobblestone street somewhere in the South of France.
Well, not all of their songs make me feel that way. The song I speak of is called “Somerhill” — off the band’s excellent Of Flight and Fury LP — and it just has that old-timey, European feel to it. Their sound is typically referred to as chamber pop, but after a deeper listen, the plucky folk influence begins to shine through. If you’re a fan of Beirut or Fanfarlo, The Miserable Rich are a must-listen.
The band’s swirling, whimsical orchestral arrangements can feel lighter than air, but it is front man James de Malplaquet’s sincere, quivering croon that keeps the songs from floating away. De Malplaquet decided to create a list of the things that keep him grounded. His Poetic Memory is below. Continue reading…