May 18, 2013
| Steve
We missed a Weekly Roundup last week due to travel, so this week is a double dose. Let’s get to it.
Over the past two weeks, we’ve had some great posts. I talked with Mal Blum and wrote about her great new album, wrote about the awesome new Hey Anna EP, and shared the latest Brooklyn Headsets session with Chaos Chaos. Dave did posts on some amazing music and videos from Noah Gunderson, Bryan John Appleby, First Blush, and Jacob Miller and the Bridge City Crooners.
Here’s the new music. Montclair, NJ may not exactly be NYC but I’m willing to think it is in the case of Pinegrove because their latest single “V” is so good. It makes me think a little bit of one of those dynamic, emotional post-rock songs, only it’s not instrumental. It actually fuses several different genres and I can’t wait to hear more when they release the new EP. They play Cameo Gallery on Thursday and Matchless on Saturday.
Golden Suits is the new recording project of Fred Nicolaus, a member of Department of Eagles. The debut album hits August 20th, but you can enjoy this lovely tune “Didn’t I Warn You,” in the mean time. It goes down smooth.
I’m pretty sure I’ve met some of the members of Blue & Gold around town at shows and other events. It’s quite a nice surprise to know these passionate music fans are themselves quite talented. They released their first single “Ghost Man,” recently. The track nails the bluesy garage rock trinity: strong guitar riffs complete with a ripping solo, dynamic drumming, and a hell of a vocal performance. Should be fun hearing this band develop.
And another blues stomp I’m digging this week is “Love and Hunger” by Graveyard Lovers. Their new album Dreamers comes out on September 17th. The tune crackles and swaggers with another excellent mixture of riffage, pounding skins, and howling vocals. Enjoy this double shot of blues rock and be sure to check the band out 5/31 at Bowery Electric.
Our buddy David Bronson has released yet another cool music video for a track from Story. This time its “Outside” and it uses an interesting animation style. It also has some nudity, so be careful where you watch this one. You really should check out the album if you haven’t yet.
Catching up with some previously on the Dig artists, we have a brand new track from Howth. This band has expanded in size and sound and they are preparing a new album, but wanted to let everyone hear the catchy and clever track “Superfreak.” It’s not a cover but it does reference Rick James. As an added bonus, they are also on the bill of the 5/23 Cameo Gallery show with Pinegrove we mentioned above.
Any New Girl fans out there? You might recognize this song from Lucius “Until We Get There” because it was recently featured on the show. The band’s debut album comes out this fall and between this song and others from the EP they put out, as well as cool live versions, I’m pretty excited for it. This track is another with great harmonies and a nice pop feel.
Fort Frances is a band that we’ve had on the blog several times and while we unfortunately missed their show in town last week, we do want you to hear their great cover of Ryan Adams “New York, New York.” It’s a beautiful rendition of voice and piano.
Here’s what I missed last week, starting with this incredible track “Nancy Kerrigan” by Frog. It’s a moody slow burner that gets so powerful and I can’t get enough of it, or the other songs on the album, which is the first release from local label Monkfish Records. Definitely check the band and label out. Great stuff.
Mree is a young artist with her second album coming out August 6th. The lead single from Winterwell is “Into the Well.” She uses her voice well as both a texture and as a singer, and it comes together with the backdrop of primarily acoustic guitar and some electronic effects into something rich and atmospheric.
Old Monk kicks off a singles series with “Seymour.” I dig the tune quite a bit. It’s got a very 90s thing going on, almost like it’s a lost classic. Part of what makes me think that is the way it builds up musically and uses dynamics to hook us in, and also the acrobatic vocal performance. You can check the band out 6/8 at Knitting Factory at 6/18 at Cameo Gallery.
Finally, we have Sharkmuffin, which is a hard act to follow. This group has an EP called She-Gods of Champagne Valley out, and it’s noisy, wild, fun batch of rocking music. Here’s the lead track, “Sleeping Alone” a gritty garage jam that burns brightly and quickly. I feel like they’d be a great band to see live, which you can TONIGHT at Knitting Factory.
Oh, and let’s share two videos of songs we’ve had in the Roundup before we close it. Here’s Money & King “I’ve Got Time”…
…and Alessi’s Ark “Tin Smithing.”