Today's Hotness: Scud Mountain Boys, Oh Look Out, The Field

>> You likely saw the news a couple weeks back that during Joe Pernice's recent tour stop in Cambridge 75% of his revered, '90s alt-country unit Scud Mountain Boys appeared on stage for the first time this century. And you probably read that the band intends to play a few shows before the end of the year. Now comes news that Pernice's label Ashmont Records will reissue two "effectively out of print" Scud Mountain Boys records, The Pine Box and Dance The Night Away "either separately, or together... as they were, with no new material." Both records were originally released on Chunk Records in 1995 prior to the absolutely phenomenal 1996 Sub Pop full length Massachusetts, and the two were collected into the single disc The Early Year by Sub Pop in 1997. Ashmont will also issue a newly compiled rarities compilation, and all of these records will be available by the time the reunion shows transpire in December. Three shows are contemplated, one each in Northampton, Boston and New York. There is, of course, also a new Pernice Brothers record in the offing, although details about that are sketchy, but include the names of some collaborators including former New Radiant Storm King guy Peyton Pinkerton, the fact that the collection is being mixed by T.W. Walsh and that the collection is, according to our intrepid Managing Editor, to be titled Spread The Feeling. While we all sit around and wait for December, why not have another look at our review of the Cambridge Pernice show from last month?

>> One of the most enjoyable surprises we've come across of late is Oh Look Out's Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright, a freely available nine-song set of sharp, spikey synth-pop (whose title we have to believe is some sort of response to Spoon's stellar 2007 set Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga). Oh Look Out principal and pop savant J.P. Pfertner also plays in Austin-based synth-pop foursome Built By Snow, which impressed us in January 2009 with the full-length MEGA. MEGA featured two particularly strong tracks, "All The Weird Kids Know" and the Tokyo Police Club-esque "A-Beta," and Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright for the most part echoes the same fizzing tension (although the ballad "Implode Alright" makes us think of Daniel Johnston). The latest songs continue to sound like chunky, lo-fi Cars or Ric Ocasek demos, and that is a very good thing. In fact, we'd venture that the recent Cars reunion effort would have been much better had they used some of Mr. Pfertner's songs. Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright is officially released Sept. 27, and it will cost you zero dollars, and it looks like you don't even have to wait that long, so, really, you have no excuse not to obtain this. Stream or download the whole cabbage via the Soundcloud embed below. Pfertner apparently already has two more records in the works, and we expect it won't be long before you start hearing more about Oh Look Out.

Alright Alright Alright Alright Alright by ohlookout

>> We've been remiss in reporting the forthcoming release of Stockholm-based The Field's sophomore full-length, Looping State Of Mind. The new collection will be released by un-eff-with-able German techno label Kompakt Oct. 10, and Drowned In Sound has tracked down a song from Looping State Of Mind called "Then It's White" on Soundcloud (how have we lived this long without following Kompakt on Soundcloud? Astonishing.) "Then It's White" is an achingly beautiful, slowly spinning amalgamation of piano chords, electro beats, convincingly-real-sounding upright bass and glacial synth. It is desperately wonderful, and we expect we will spend most of the next 24 hours listening to it. Check it out at the Soundcloud embed below. We saw a very rare Boston show by The Field in June 2008 and reviewed the performance right here.

The Field - Then It's White by Kompakt

Today's Hotness: Built By Snow, Burning Hearts, It Hugs Back

>> [PHOTO CREDIT: Alison Narro] Austin, Texas regularly surprises us with upstart indie acts. Recently it was turning out impressive shoegaze bands (the mighty Ringo Deathstarr, She, Sir), but its manic quartet Built By Snow trades in synth pop. The aesthetic is not unlike scene antecedents Belaire (whose self-titled 2005 EP continues to make us smile). But Built By Snow, which formed in early 2006, embraces a more overtly rock sound encompassing the bracing '80s pop of, oh, let's say The Tubes, as well as a thousand forgotten acts, as evidenced by the upbeat, hand-clapping anthem "All The Weird Kids Know." Built By Snow counts among its influences Devo and The Cars, but we think that assessment ignores several obvious contempories; Built By Snow's "Something In 3D" sounds a lot like New Pornographers. "A-Beta" touts sparer -- but no less punchy -- verses that the foursome leverages into dense pre-choruses/non-choruses packed with squalling guitars. Built By Snow self-release its new album Mega Jan. 20; an earlier EP, Noise, was issued in 2007. The band will be quite busy beginning tonight, when it plays the first of a half-dozen local engagements. We've posted Built By Snow's itinerary below.

Built By Snow -- "A-Beta" -- Mega
[right click and save as]
[buy Mega from Built By Snow right here]

01/02 -- Mohawk -- Austin, TX
01/06 -- Beauty Bar -- Austin, TX
01/08 -- Beauty Bar -- Austin, TX
01/18 -- KVRX radio session -- Austin, TX
01/24 -- Club DeVille -- Austin, TX
02/25 -- Emos -- Austin, TX

>> Pushing an even more synth-heavy musical agenda is the Finnish duo Burning Hearts, whose icy music largely foregoes real drums and rocking electric guitars in favor of programmed beats and analog(-sounding) keys. The act is comprised of Cats On Fire drummer and multi-instrumentalist Henry Ojala, and Le Futur Pompiste singer Jessika Rapo, who met while those two outfits toured Sweden in tandem in 2004. Burning Hearts' debut Aboa Sleeping will be released by Shelflife Feb. 10. The set is filled with gently glistening and airy compositions anchored by Rapo's rich and affecting alto, and the combination of the singing and synths will likely spur some knee-jerk comparisons to Stereolab. The likeness, however, is merely superficial, and we can't imagine anyone mistaking Burning Hearts' mid-tempo brooder "Sea Birds" with a Stereolab jam. The former's "A Peasant's Dream," well, maybe.

>> A left-over item from before the holiday: Kent, England-based It Hugs Back's full-length debut is -- somewhat improbably -- titled Inside Your Guitar. The set will be issued by the venerable enterprise 4AD, and likely not before April, although the quartet hopes to be selling the collection at gigs early from early in 2009. Inside Your Guitar will be preceded by at least one and perhaps two singles. Readers will recall we were ga-ga for the band's most recent commercial offering, the single "Work Day," which will also feature on the full-length. In late December It Hugs Back was offering a gift in the form of two tracks, NRBQ's "Christmas Wish" b/w "Sometimes The Snow," wrapped up in a .zip file. We're not crazy about the former track, but "Sometimes The Snow" is an interesting pastiche of spacey studio rumination built on reversed tracks, cymbal drone and guitar and bass snippets that went very nicely with the snow that fell on Boston the Sunday before Christmas. If you rush over here right now perhaps you can still download it.