Today's Hotness: Future Carnivores, Manors, Scud Mountain Boys



>> A number of things conspired against us providing timely coverage of Future Carnivores' recently issued sophomore set, but none are as remotely interesting as the record itself. Titled Come Inside, the set features 10 generous cuts of the Cambridge, Mass.-based collective's singular tribal space-pop. The songs are largely spun from the same silk as the tunes gracing Future Carnivores' 2012 self-titled debut, which we reviewed here. Come Inside continues the band's love affair with re-imagined New Romantic pop: dreamy vocals swirl over basic, hypnotic grooves fashioned from electro beats and staccato guitar loops, a foundation regularly and significantly embellished by imaginative instrumentation and production. If there is a defining characteristic to Come Inside versus the band's debut, it is that the music has drifted further from verse/chorus constructs to focus pointedly on the aforementioned hypnotic grooves. If you'll permit the aside, it calls to mind Dave Sitek's (TVOTR) interview with Pitchfork in 2006, in which he discusses the importance of repetition ("Through the trauma of birth we're thrown into these repetitions, everything from our heartbeat to our routines, and I think it's identifiable") and hi-hat ("This guy named Fegun who played with Fela Kuti for a while was telling me about the hypnotic effect of music. He's like, 'The most important drum in Afrobeat is not a drum, it's the hi-hat. Because it hypnotizes. And that's what people identify with. It syncs with their heartbeat.'"). It speaks to the confidence of Future Carnivores that Come Inside opens with a six-minute mid-tempo jam whose second-half blossoms into a blissful, psychedelic sound-chakra. "Blame Time" ups the ante on the six-piece's groove fixation via a foregrounded syncopated cymbal cadence. Not that there aren't some uptempo and single-worthy numbers on Come Inside; the quasi-title track "Twice" is a modern dance-floor killer that provides the record's boldest moments, and the slightly more subdued preview track "The Drugs She Fed You Last Night" goes intergalactic when the beat drops out and returns at the close of the final chorus. Come Inside was self-released by the band June 3, and is available for sale as a digital download via Bandcamp. Stream the whole dealy via the embed below.



>> We aren't head over heels over the entire collection, but the recent lo-fi LP from Philadelphia's Manors does feature one song we can't stop listening to, the sweet, spare and spooky ballad "Teeth Dreams." Tangentially, we'll remark here for those who don't know that teeth dreams is a thing, we used to have bad dreams with some regularity that our teeth broke. Ironically, we finally broke one 10 years ago and then the dreams went away. Magic! Anyway, Manors is the nom de rock of Dayna Evans, and "Teeth Dreams" rests in the midst of her record called Fit In. The set features drumming by all-around awesome dood Evan Bernard, whose name should be familiar to Clicky Clicky readers, but "Teeth Dreams" is comprised of just three elements: a Kim Deal-esque vocal track, electric guitar and what we'd guess is melodica. It's the simple vocal and its sad, self-aware narrative that draws us in again and again ("...I thought you'd be the one, but I don't know anymore..."). The tune is filled with beauty and resignation and regret and doubt and is terribly human and affecting. It's perfect for the hot summer days upon us, just the thing to help you pass still hours under a piece of shade and within a wisp of breeze. Fit In was released to the wilds of the Internerds via Bandcamp May 14; stream "Teeth Dreams" via the Bandcamp embed below.



>> We'd be derelict in our duties if we did not inform you that details about the new record from reunited alt.country legends Scud Mountain Boys are now available. The new, fourth set -- the band's first in 17 years, since the release of the harrowing classic Massachusetts -- is titled Do You Love The Sun, and it streets July 9 via Ashmont Records. You can look at the album art and stream three songs (the title track, "Double Bed" and "Crown Of Thorns") at the quartet's brand-new web site right here. Fans who pre-order by July 4 will also receive a numbered, limited edition bonus disc titled Drowned, featuring three Joe Pernice-penned tunes recorded just before the Scuds signed to Sub Pop. Legal drama that surrounded the signing, among other things maybe, kept the songs -- which were recorded with Michael Deming at Studio .45 in Hartford, Conn. -- from ever being released previously. Drowned goes out of print immediately after the expiration of the pre-order period, so that's a pretty good inducement, right? You know, besides this awesome band reforming and recording a record for you? Incidentally, we once gave a Warners A&R rep the very bad advice to skip a Scud Mountain Boys show in Northampton, Mass. in 1995 or so, instead directing her to see the goofballs in The Unband. Live and learn... Anyway, if you know what's good for you, you will pre-order Do You Love The Sun directly from Ashmont and the band right here. The Scuds first reunited in 2011 at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge; the foursome's next local appearance will be at Brighton Music Hall in Boston Sept. 20.

Today's Hotness: Hallelujah The Hills, Au.Ra, Foxes In Fiction + Benoit Pioulard

>> We had hoped to have had these remarks about Hallelujah The Hills' tremendous new single prepared in time for our coverage of last weeks' The Unfolding Synchronistic Improbable event, but doing it this way will have to do. The Boston-area indie rock institution led by Ryan Walsh on Valentine's Day released "The Three Minute Mark" b/w "Meet Me In The Car," with the A-side streaming at the act's Bandcamp dojo, where we've listened to it repeatedly for days and days and days. The single is available on limited edition, hand-made CD for five American dollars, and we'd say the A-side alone is worth your Abraham Lincoln. "The Three Minute Mark" -- which actually eclipses that total by about a half-minute -- deftly builds from a tense and quiet initial verse that rises from a cyclical bass line and a single acoustic guitar chord into a shuffling chorus. That shuffle is emphasized by a nifty, tight echo on the snare; by the time that becomes apparent Mr. Walsh is erecting a house of cards from the repeated line "I'll need about three minutes to explain just how I feel for you now" and layered horns, and indeed by the three-minute mark the song is cooking. To paraphrase the famous cigarette jingle, there's a lot to like; stream the tune via the Bandcamp embed below and click through to get your paws on the limited edition, physical article. According to the band, neither "The Three Minute Mark" nor "Meet Me In The Car" will feature on the next Hallelujah The Hills full-length. Hallelujah The Hills' most recent long-player was its third, titled No One Knows What Will Happen Next. It was released last May and featured excellent tunes including "Call Off Your Horses," the awesome video for which you can watch right here. The band, now in its eighth year of rockulescence, tonight wraps a short strand of live dates with a performance at The Rock Shop in Brooklyn, although we can assure you that if you are just learning this now there's little chance you'll make it to the show in time. So there's that. Stream "The Three Minute Mark" below.



>> Remember our post last summer about Exeter, England-based Art Is Hard Records and their "Pizza Club" singles series? Well, that series wrapped up last year, but the clever label is back with another series for 2013. No, it's not more pizza boxes (alas). Instead, for one pound, lucky adherents receive an individualized, band-created postcard conveying a new digital single from the series every three weeks. The first installment, released ON DATE WHAT?, featured the bobbing dream-rock stunner "Morning" by Au.Ra. The Sydney, Australia-based band -- a two piece comprised of Tom Crandles and Tim Jenkins -- score with a slow-burning indie rocker built on a steadily enlarging pile of smooth and silky guitar loops. Previous singles from Au.Ra focused more on melodic electronic elements that echoed work by contemporaries Sun Glitters, or even Starslinger in terms of the instrumentation. But "Morning" evidences a more analog approach to Au.Ra's evolving soundscapes. After some delayed glide guitar in the opening, the band introduces a solid eighth-note bass line that recalls Kim Deal's influence. With this sensual rhythmic drive, the guitarist tastefully goes pedal-crazy on top with blasts of distortion, echoes that plop and fizz, clean strums, and circular melody lines that pile up into an extremely over-driven music box by the tune's close. The song shifts subtly throughout, the singer's vowel-heavy vocals sighing through verse and chorus. What makes the song so pleasing is its own forward groove and how everything within it shuffles. A cursory glance at the Art Is Hard roster should be enough to induce anyone to partake in the "Postcard Singles" club; a second single, from Manchester, England's Sorry, No, has already been revealed, but we’d venture it is still not too late to get in on the action. In a time of declining emphasis on the value of physical media within music, Art Is Hard (along with like-minded peers including, specifically, Alcopop!) deserves all the attention it can get, not just for its solutions to the conundrum facing the recorded music industry, but also for approaching the problem with impeccable taste. Order a "Morning" postcard here and stream the song via the Soundcloud embed below. -- Edward Charlton



>> Thanks to the work of stalwart wide-angle outlets like The Wire, local Boston outlet Anti-Gravity Bunny and even Tiny Mix Tapes, artists branded with unpopular identifiers such as "ambient," "experimental," and "drone" receive a not insignificant amount of attention in this here Internet age -- perhaps not on par with that of today or tomorrow’s Pitchfork darling, but certainly greater than non-pop-oriented-or-derived artists received in the era of paper-only publishing. Or so it seems. The jury is out as to whether the greater exposure has translated into more artists working in these areas of specialization, but a swelling tide of tonal recordings rises to the ears of interested, aware listeners these days. One recent effort from Warren Hildebrand, a/k/a Foxes In Fiction, and Thomas Meluch, known better by his nom de music Benoit Pioulard (who will soon release his latest album Hymnal on Kranky), has captured our attention. "Ground Glass" is the A-side of a forthcoming single the pair will release next week via Wool Recordings, and it suggests a drifting, scraping shell of half-remembered dream-pop in the best way. Opening with a distant synth patch and a scratchy sample of a woman's confusion, the song abruptly blasts into a swirling, directionless fuzz. Anchored by a reverberated strum and a gorgeous, deep-voiced vocal, "Ground Glass" modulates infrequently, but even so beckons listeners to get lost in the rich tones and a carefully concocted floating effect. The bold, churning motion of the distortion as it decays and collapses is another remarkable element that makes the piece so enjoyable. In sum, the number suggests to this writer what might result were Austinites She, Sir to take a stab at the drum-less, gothic work of the groundbreaking lovesliescrushing. "Ground Glass" b/w "Etalon" will be released Feb. 28; you can stream the A-side below and pre-order the vinyl here. Speaking of both Benoit Pioulard and Anti-Gravity Bunny, the latter recently celebrated its five year anniversary with a free digital comp featuring a cracking collection of droney stuff including an apparently exclusive jam from Benoit Pioulard; grab that comp right here. -- Edward Charlton