South Ambulance

The Stockholm band South Ambulance was formed in late 2003 by Pietu Kaipainen, Daniel Filipsson, Robin Spurrier & Daniel Gamba, with the ambition to write good music on Saturdays and record it on Sundays. In November the same year, four songs were caught on tape and the band was offered to do their first live set at a club in Stockholm. The audience was happy, Swedish radio started to play the music and magazines wrote nice words so the band decided to put out their ep#1 on cd-r. “Die 5times times5”, their first recording, was spread on the internet and became kind of a hit in Sweden. During 2004 south ambulance did gigs, recorded more songs, participated on compilations and released ep#2 & ep#3, still with great support from fans, radio and magazines.

In January 2005 friend & percussion/keyboard player Stefan Lindström joined the band. Sonic magazine put “Saturdays for sad excuses” on their compilation sonically speaking. More concerts, radio airplay and song writing led the band to finally sell its soul and sign with Labrador. Their first album was released on the 23rd of march 2005. When this biography was written south ambulance just finished their recording of the pale saints song “kinky love” which will be on an English indie cover compilation published by London based AC30. South ambulance may not be a Sunday band anymore.

In the period 2004-2005 the band released debut album and three EPs titled by numbers. After the break, the band is back with the new EP titled EP #4. The EP #5 and EP #6 are planned for the rest of the year. Recommended!

South Ambulance - Davy Crockett
South Ambulance @ MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: The Marry Onettes - Dare
(from EP/CD Dare, out on April 29th on Labrador)

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Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound

San Francisco’s Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound is a soundtrack for strange days and futures bright and bleak. But there is also a crooked thread that runs backward through every Assemble Head record—the celestial trajectories of The Notorious Byrd Brothers and circa ‘70 Floyd; the dusty canyon stomps of Crazy Horse, slashing action pop of the savage young Who, Italian bastardizations of Lalo Schifrin cop movie scores, and the scuzz-bomb shrapnel of latter-day garage mongers like Mudhoney and Monoshock.

The band’s third LP, When Sweet Sleep Returned, is propelled to some extent by that same glorious distillate. But it also finds the group speaking their own twisted tongue more assuredly than ever—marrying hazy Saturday moods, interstellar sonics and wrecking-ball swing to song and harmony in poems for California, lovers, ghosts, the stars, and a world gone stark raving mad.

For When Sweet Sleep Returned, Assemble Head re-united with engineering mastermind Tim Green, who manned the controls for masterpieces from Howlin’ Rain, Comets on Fire, Six Organs of Admittance, and Earthless, as well as Assemble Head’s 2007 release Ekranoplan.

The band entered Green’s Louder Studios in October 2008 with an expanded lineup including original trio Michael Lardas, Jefferson Marshall and Charlie Saufley; longtime theremin and synth collaborator Anderson Lanbridge; and mega-multi-instrumentalist Camilla Saufley. The band also reached out to Brett Constatino and Evan Reese of fellow Frisco freaks Sleepy Sun, for vocal harmonies on the beautifully sprawling and soaring “Two Birds.”

Elsewhere, When Sweet Sleep Returned finds Assemble Head exploring the sun-dappled terrain of daydreams on “The Slumbering Ones”, hard-chugging crust-fuzz boogie on “Clive and the Lyre”, bittersweet melodiousness on “By the Rippling Green”, and space-temple chorale chime on “Kolob Canyon.” Recommended!

Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound - Two Birds
Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound @ MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: Apostle Of Hustle - Perfect Fit
(from Eats Darkness, out on May 19th on Arts & Crafts)

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InBirdsEye

Inbirdseye is a four piece DIY indie band from Elkahrt, Indiana. The band members are Garrett Fitzgerald (guitar, vocals), Ty Thomas (guitar, vocals), Andrew Bozymowski (bass) and Ryan Lackner (drums). The band has been described as "the Appleseed Cast meets Sonic Youth meets My Bloody Valentine".

The band's music is sometimes described as mathrock!?, but I would simply describe it as indie rock... and a very good one. If you like Band Of Horses or Frank Black's Pixies era, you'll probably love InBirdsEye. They promise a lot.

Recently, the band released their first ever single 'They won't see'. The single is free to download as well as the other two songs from their 'Tres Songs' demo release. Although the presented songs are demos, they doubtlessly discover a great potential of the Indiana newcomers. InBirdsEye is up to now the most pleasant surprise of 2009. Highly Recommended!

InBirdsEye - They Won't See
InBirdsEye - Tres Songs (3 songs demo release)
InBirdsEye @ MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: Maximo Park - Wraithlike
(from Quicken the Heart, out on May 11th on Warp Records)

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Deastro

When Randolph Chabot, the 22-year-old auteur behind Deastro, is asked about the title of his new album, he recounts a dream about a prince, a kingdom, an evil King of Darkness, and a search for the mythical “Moondagger,” the bearer of which wields ultimate power. And while Moondagger, Deastro’s astonishing new album, does contain traces of that dream–in all of its bittersweet, fantasy-novel glory–the record itself is infinitely more down-to-earth, containing the sort of unrelentingly earnest, inspirational pop music that could only come from a kid weaned on fiction but living desperately, joyously in the here-and-now.

Moondagger expands upon the positive electro-pop of Keepers – Deastro’s home-recorded opus from 2008 – with the addition of a full band. Thankfully, the mercurial, prolific Chabot still seems blissfully unaware of his music’s genreless-ness. Thick, atmospheric production obscures bright, starry-eyed melodies; ecstatic synth squiggles dance around new-wave beats on songs about Nordics, toxic crusaders, and geometric shapes; arrangement ideas bounce off one another within ambitious song structures that swerve left, then right, then left again.

And yet underneath all of their seeming irreverence, Deastro’s songs are breathtakingly down-to-earth – melodic slices of synth-led experimental pop whose energy builds with each iteration of the chorus, hitting emotional peak after emotional peak until they collapse in a heap. The album-opening “Biophelia” can barely contain its heart-in-throat urgency, Chabot’s rapid-fire delivery slicing through layers of shoegaze-y ambience; “Vermillion Plaza,” plucky synth arpeggios ricochet off cavernous echo-chamber walls, Chabot pleads for human contact, asking “would you be my son, ‘cause of all of mine have died?”

Moondagger hums with Chabot’s faith in the goodness of his family and friends (“People are so amazing that I can’t help but write about what makes them who they are,” Chabot says), and yet, there’s a lurking sense that the optimist’s fight is never over. The title of Moondagger’s centerpiece, “Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed in the Heart with the Moondagger by the King of Darkness and His Ghost Is Writing this Song as a Warning to All of Us,” says it all: Among all the Beach Boys backing vocals and keyboard confetti-curliques, there’s an eternal battle raging; with Deastro, Randolph Chabot is out to win the war for the forces of good. Recommended!

Deastro - Parallelogram
Deastro - The Shaded Forests
Deastro - Leah's Daughter The Giraffe
Deastro @ MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: Jeremy Enigk - Mind Idea
(from OK Bear, out on May 12th on Lewis Hollow)

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Here We go Magic

Here We Go Magic's first record was recorded by Luke Temple, it is a project based on non editing linear movement. He made it quick and with a very limited palate of equipment. It has many layers and is best experienced with head phones or in a car. It is also important to note that there was no electronic looping of any kind involved in the more "song" oriented numbers on the record, it is important to say this because there is an imperfect breath that might otherwise go unnoticed. He feels it has good energy and emotion and hopes you do too. Now, the seed of this recording has sprouted a band consisting of Luke Temple (guitar, synth, vox), AJ Lambert (bass, vox), Alex Luther (keys, vox, guitars), Michael Bloch (guitars, vox), and Peter Hale (drums, sounds). The band is becoming it's own thing.

To date, Luke Temple has been unconfined by genre. His full-length debut Hold a Match for a Gasoline World presented heartfelt folk tunes and expansive pop numbers filtered through a unique outsider perspective. Last year's follow-up Snowbeast was an avant statement full of interwoven light and dark imagery recorded entirely in his Brooklyn bedroom.

Developed over a two-month period of stream-of-consciousness recording in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Luke's self-titled debut under his new moniker Here We Go Magic is a remarkable departure from his signature singer-songwriter material. Luke recorded the album at home using analog synths, a cassette 4-track, and his trusty SM-57 mic, coloring the sound with warmth and creating textures you want to wrap yourself in. Highly Recommended!

Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision
Here We Go Magic - Fangela
Here we Go Magic @ MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: Phoenix - 1901
(from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, out on May 25th)

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The Dead Weather

The Dead Weather is the new band of Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs). It consists of Allison Mosshart from The Kills on vocals, Jack Lawrence from The Raconteurs on bass, Dean Fertita from Queens of the Stone Age, and Jack White on the drums!

Their debut album “Horehound” is expected to see a release in June. Recommended!

The Dead Weather - Hang You From The Heavens
The Dead Weather - Are Friends Electric? (Gary Numan Cover)





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SONG OF THE DAY: Lady Sovereign - So Human (The Cure Cover)
(from Jigsaw, out on April 7th on Midget Records)

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The Traditionist

The Traditionist is Joey Barro and whoever can make it out to play that night...

Growing up amongst a family of musicians, singer and guitarist Joey Barro immediately found a connection with the songs he heard when the sun went down and the guitars came out at family get-togethers. Van Morrison, Simon & Garfunkel and lots of Dylan could often be heard with a low hum emitting out from the walls of the Barro house. As he grew, his love of music and the classics only got stronger and his taste developed with the years. While his influences are clear, he does not set out to replicate the originals, but to acknowledge and update them.

Written as almost a chronological window into the mind of Joey Barro, The Traditionist's aptly titled debut, Season To Season, was created over a period of greater than a year with the collaboration of long time friend, touring companion, and now producer Tim Bluhm (Mother Hips). This unique approach was by no means an accident, as Barro prefers to keep his diary in the form of his songs, keeping fresh records of exactly where he is at each point in his life. Originally meant to be the next record from The Antiques, Barro's long time band, this departure that was realized through open experimentation became an entirely new project, and thus The Traditionist was born. Recommended!

The Traditionist - I Know My Ocean
The Traditionist - A Sleep Be Told
The Traditionist - Driftwood Doll
The Traditionist @ MySpace

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SONG OF THE DAY: St. Vincent - The Strangers
(from Actor, out on May 5th on 4AD)

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Passion Pit

Boston’s Passion Pit is the brainchild of Michael Angelakos with live band consisting of ian hultquist(synths), ayad al adhamy(synths, samplers), jeff apruzzese(bass, synths), nate donmoyer (drums). Michael is a songwriter’s songwriter drawing from a variety of influences, from the classic pop of Randy Newman to the synth work of Giorgio Moroder.

The Chunk of Change EP was originally put together as a (belated) Valentine’s Day present to Angelakos’ girlfriend which then prompted him to give it out to friends and fellow students at Emerson College. Angelakos wrote and recorded the entire record by himself and it only hints at what is to come from this extremely talented perfectionist. The production of the recording - brief, sporadic, and explosive - worked towards the development of Angelakos’ signature euphoric and blissfully melancholic sound. Frenchkiss Records will reissue the ep this fall with the addition of two bonus tracks “Better Things” and “Sleepyhead” that are already catching the online world on fire. All of this is in preparation for Passion Pit’s debut full length coming out in early 2009.

Playing as a five piece live, Passion Pit has already blown away audiences opening up for Death Cab For Cutie, Girl Talk, These New Puritans and more. Also winning the WFNX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll as the Best New Local Act of 2008, Passion Pit hopes to bring their soulful dance explosion to your town this summer.

Passion Pit have begun the slow climb from blog curio to possible magazine cover boys, and the next step in that evolution is a debut LP, which the band has announced will be called Manners. Manners is due out in the U.K. via Columbia on May 18, and in the U.S. via Frenchkiss on May 26. Highly Recommended!

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Passion Pit @ MySpace

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead


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SONG OF THE DAY: Damien Jurado - Gillian Was A Horse
(from Caught In The Trees, released on Secretly Canadian, Sep. 2008)

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