Noah and the Whale‘s new album, The First Days of Spring comes out October 6th.
Poetic Memory: Boy Without God (List)
Fact: there are more albums in existence today than ever before, and, as more albums are released in the future, that number will most likely increase. We, the intrepid writers for Owl&Bear, stand at the frothy frontline of this constant deluge of new music, bravely filling buckets with the good stuff and presenting it as sweet sustenance to our parched readers. We perpetually receive music from PR people, begging us to check out undiscovered artists, and a lot of it is, quite frankly, underwhelming. But once in a while we come across a diamond in the rough, something that grabs us by the ears and doesn’t let go. And so it happened that, mere seconds into hearing “If You” (MP3), I became a fan of Boy Without God.
Hailing from Massachusetts, famed home of the sassy Congressman, Boy Without God is the solo project of multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Birnbaum. His new album, Your Body Is Your Soul, which sounds like Neutral Milk Hotel if they’d been fronted by Johnny Cash, has been on constant rotation in the Owl&Bear offices lately and is shaping up to be one of the best albums of the year. Birnbaum was kind enough to share his influences with us for our newest installment of Poetic Memory.
Poetic Memory is a regular Owl and Bear feature in which musicians disclose their influences—whether it’s albums, songs, artists, or something random. If you’re interested in being featured here, send us an email. Continue reading
Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks (Video)
Animator and artist Gabe Askew is a fan of Grizzly Bear. He created his own video for their song “Two Weeks”.
Review: Dirty Projectors – July 17, 2009 at The Earl; Atlanta
I headed from my friend Andi’s pleasant apartment in East Atlanta to Flat Shoals for Thai before the show on a beautiful and surprisingly cool (for Atlanta) summer evening, so we walked around as long as possible, or so we thought. After they let us in, there was a long delay, which turned out to be because the The Dirty Projectors were still en route from Baton Rouge. Finally, Altas Sound opened the show with a five song set that surprised mainly because angel-voiced Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) added a band (three Selmanaires) two days before and they managed to crunch out a fine country-laced set, departing from Bradford’s more electronic Atlas Sound peregrinations. Listen to their set here. We both liked the effort, which I likened to country Radiohead and she compared to early Travis, if that tells you anything. These are definitely worth downloading, even if the band isn’t as polished as it will be by the time they tour in support of the forthcoming Logos EP. Bradford played with the confidence and panache of a salsa champion and the band couldn’t help but follow his lead, even if there was a misstep here and there. Continue reading
Noah & The Whale ‘Spring’ Into Action (MP3)
The marriage of indie rock and corporate advertising can be a strange coupling. Of Montreal, Modest Mouse, and The New Pornographers are just a few bands that have had their tunes co-opted to hock steaks, cars, and beer. If you watched any television last year, chances are you caught the commercial for the Saturn Outlook, which prominently featured a bubbly little tune called “5 Years Timeâ€. Catchy as it was, the advertisement gave little indication that the band behind the jingle, London folk rock act Noah & The Whale, had created one of 2008’s best albums: Peaceful,The World Lays Me Down.
Sounding like a poppier version of Scottish soul mates—and Owl&Bear album of the year winner—Frightened Rabbit, Noah & The Whale use acoustic guitars and mournful vocals to craft aching confessionals that would break your heart if you weren’t so busy tapping your foot. The band is set to release its sophomore album, entitled The First Days of Spring, on August 31st in the UK and October 6th in the US.
As a companion piece for the album, the band has created a film version of The First Days of Spring, which will be screened at select locations in August and September, and will also be available as part of the album’s deluxe edition. You can watch a trailer for the Wes Anderson-inspired film, as well as download a Twelves remix of the song “Blue Skiesâ€, after the jump. No Saturns were harmed during the making of the film. Continue reading