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.

Rock Over Boston: Joe Pernice | Lizard Lounge | 7.19.2012

[Joe Pernice, Bob Pernice, and Tom Shea; with Frank Padellaro of King Radio at the Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA., 7/19/2012. Photos by Michael Piantigini].

Great new info on busy Joe Pernice's current activities, including new recordings with the Pernice Brothers, Scud Mountain Boys, and with Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake(!) as New Mendicants over here. In the meantime, I'll never get tired of this one:



King Radio have also been working (for, uh, awhile now. Like, almost as long as The Wrens, even) on a follow-up to 2004's (see?) soulful chamber pop Are You The Sick Passenger? epic. Hopefully there will be some news on that one soon too. Internet presence is scarce, but they're on Spotify too:

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

Review: Pernice Brothers | Goodbye, Killer

If you’re keeping score at home, I still haven’t caught up enough to have read last year's Joe Pernice novel, It Feels So Good When I Stop, but I have already read his most recent book, which he reluctantly (unwillingly, perhaps) co-wrote with his manager, Joyce Linehan. Pernice To Me is, as Pernice describes it, a “libelous” chronicle (via a compilation of Linehan’s @Ashmont Twitter updates) of the period of time between the release of the novel and its corresponding soundtrack and the making of the Pernice Brothers’ newest long-player Goodbye, Killer in Linehan’s Dorchester attic (both are out today on Ashmont).

If you believe everything you read – and it is important to note again that Pernice strenuously warns against this – the recording of this album seems unlikely to have been so successful. It is indeed the loosest, least self-conscious, and most varied Pernice Brothers album yet. I mean this in the best possible way: this casual style loosens up Pernice’s song craft in a way that puts across a personal vibe that hasn’t always come across on the earlier records.

But before we get to that: it generally takes a back seat to Pernice’s songwriting, but it must be mentioned that there’s some really cool guitar moments on Goodbye, Killer courtesy James Walbourne (also of the Pretenders) and/or Actual Pernice Brother, Bob (there’s no specific credit breakdown, and I don’t want to guess): the lusty solo on “Jacqueline Suzanne,” the searing leads on “Something For You” that could have been on Bandwagonesque, the perfectly wrapped solo on lead-off track “Bechamel” that would have had George Martin himself beaming down from the Abbey Road control room, and the perfect slide solo that again recalls George Harrison - but this time his 70’s-era – on “Not The Loving Kind.” These are just the beginning of the way the sum of this collection makes these individual moments stand out.

Naturally, there’s some great harmony-laden pop - “Something For You” could be that long-lost Teenage Fanclub outtake – but even these are shaken up a bit here; “The Great Depression” is all arpeggiated jangle pop chords in the verse, but goes to a theatrical falsetto call-and-response chorus that’s weird but works. The perfect and stellar closer “The End of Faith” is classic twelve-string acoustic jangle, but with a Big Star’s Third sort of melancholy that is hard to do right. Pernice does.

These tracks stand out even more than they might have on previous Pernice Brothers albums since they’re surrounded by tracks like the strummy, can’t-be-broken-down-in-a-family-newspaper leadoff track “Bechamel,” which contrasts its sweet-harmonied chorus with an oddly aggressive vocal in the verses that makes its suggestiveness a bit unsettling; and the relating of the pursuit of a well-read object of desire with a blazing and appropriately lascivious guitar solo that makes the dynamite “Jacqueline Suzanne” a sort of New Wave-meets-ZZ Top affair; and the old-timey “We Love The Stage,” (which we can only take as sarcasm since it has been declared that there are no current plans for a tour), and the Faces (think Ronnie Lane, and not so much Rod Stewart)-Jayhawks flavored title track.

The common thread to it all, of course, is Pernice’s particular melodic style and literary wordplay. It is the rare lust song indeed that has the narrator longing to be a “book in her hand.” A sign of maturity, or are we all just getting old?

-Michael Piantigini

Pernice Brothers: Intertubes | MySpace | Facebook
Follow the latest adventures of Pernice To Me on Twitter: @Ashmont

Today's Hotness: Pernice Brothers, Yuck, White Laces

>> The muse has led indie rock veteran Joe Pernice from the damp, nicotine-stained Americana of Scud Mountain Boys through lush and crystalline New Order-influenced territory and into the singer-songwritery companion album to his charming 2009 novel "It Feels So Good When I Stop." Little did we expect that the Toronto-based artist -- who once called Massachusetts home -- would come roaring back with the rocker posted below, "Jacquline Susann." The tune, from the forthcoming fifth Pernice Brothers set Goodbye, Killer is long on organ drone and jangly guitar and touts a fringe of straight British Invasion pop sounds. It reminds us of the stark stylistic change Lilys underwent between the mind-alteringly good Eccsame The Photon Band and the vintage Kinks-channeling tour de force Better Can't Make Your Life Better. Ashmont Records will release Goodbye, Killer June 15, and we have no way of knowing whether the 138-second rocker "Jacquiline Susann" is representative of the entire set. But we really don't care -- it's great. Have a listen.

Pernice Brothers -- "Jacquline Susann" -- Goodbye, Killer
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[buy Pernice Brothers music from Joe Pernice's site right here]

>> Impressive young London-based indie rock quartet Yuck totally has our number, having hit us square between the heart and soul with each of the four demos we've heard. The band's latest effort is the ballad "Suicide Policeman," and it was posted for free download at its web site earlier this week, and it is brilliant. We have here yearning Yo La Tengo-esque vocals, tremelo'd guitar, enough grit around the edges to make the entire proceeding evoke all the best in early '90s indie rock. And then when you think you've got the track pegged, enter the horns! According to It's Getting Boring By The Sea, our source for all news Yuck, the band has just been brought on to support a Dinosaur Jr. tour date in the U.K. Not too shabby, particularly since this act only has one single to its name right now to our knowledge (and it is only a split). But we love what they are doing, and we love "Suicide Policeman." Download the track below.

Yuck -- "Suicide Policeman" -- Demo
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>> Devoted readers may recall our review of Virginia-based indie rock concern Cinemasophia's third and final full length Fits + Cycles last year. The band has since splintered and singer/guitarist Landis Wine has launched a new project, White Laces. Based on what we've heard, White Laces is a little more aggressive, a little more lo-fi and a little more tuneful than Cinemasophia. Mr. Wine has graciously consented to allow us to offer a stream of the new track "Motorik Twilight," which will be released on an EP digitally and on audiocassette May 11 by Lynchburg, VA-based micro-indie Harding Street Assembly Lab. The noise-pop song, which throbs in 3/4 time and touts a lo-fi attack that suggests Guided By Voices under a crippling load of psychedelics, is one of four on the HSAL #9 EP. Curiously, we don't perceive at all the Teutonic rhythm that is the song's namesake, but even so we think you'll enjoy this freak-out a great deal. The rest of White Laces' year sounds busy; it includes some short stints on the road as well as getting back in the studio to record a planned 10", as many as two 7" singles and perhaps another cassette release. For now, catch the stream of "Motorik Twilight" below.

Today's Hotness: Colleen, Pernice Brothers, The Cure, Cat-A-Tac

>> How many Colleen releases will just sneak up on us? We think this is the second one in a row -- we had much more luck getting promos from her (well, Colleen proprietress Cecille Schott's) label Leaf when we were still with Junkmedia. A couple years back we reviewed Colleen's sophomore set The Golden Morning Breaks here and named it one of our favorite releases of 2005 here. Anyway, tucked into this review at Mapadaisical of a live Colleen performance is news that Schott's third proper (and sorta fifth improper) record Les Ondes Silencieuses will be released in the UK May 21; the U.S. release is slated for July 10. As with her previous album, the music on Les Ondes Silencieuses is coaxed from obscure instruments such as the viola da gamba (a seven-stringed "ancestor" of the cello) and spinet, which is apparently a small harpsichord. Mapadaisical also points us to this MP3 from the new record -- check it out.

Colleen -- "Blue Sands" -- Les Ondes Silencieuses
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>> We don't think we've seen this posted anywhere else just yet, even though the announcement was in an email from a week ago. Joe Pernice of the Pernice Brothers is about to embark on a new recording project. Whether the sessions will yield a Pernice Brothers record or something under a different moniker is not yet determined. Apparently the sessions will happen at the Ashmont Records world HQ south of Boston. Ashmont honcho Joyce claims she's been asked to rent Morphine's drum kit for the sessions. If that is true and not some inside joke, it makes us wonder why they don't just jam at Hi-N-Dry Studios in Cambridge, which we visited recently. Good times. Anyway, with the announcement today that "Gilmore Girls" is getting canceled, Pernice's marketing team must be in a tailspin trying to figure out the next-best means of reaching the youth of today. In case you've forgotten, you can stream a whole arm-load of Pernice Brothers jams at the band's site here.

>> At this point there are few acceptable reasons for not having heard The Cure's epic-lengthed mood piece "Carnage Visors," especially as it has been made widely available for The Digital Age via the recent (and most excellent) Cure album reissues. But anyway, if you haven't heard it, today's Ear Farm's post is for you.

> We discovered the band Cat-A-Tac today via a quasi-legal podcast of our favorite local college radio show this morning. We expect you are going to hear a lot more about the Denver-based quartet soon, at least from us. We went over to CD Baby to buy its just released debut Past Lives And Former Lives from CD Baby and -- at least today -- they were selling them 2-for-1 stylee. The track we heard that inspired us to instantly buy was the title track, and we are eagerly awaiting the discs' arrival in the mail. In the meantime, we can all stream the cut and two others at Cat-A-Tac's MySpace wigwam here. There you will also encounter some tour dates, including two for the east coast of the U.S. No Boston show... yet.

>> We're hearing from people who know stuff that Dinosaur Jr. will be taping a couple TeeVee appearances next week. So if you missed them on Letterman last week, you'll have some more chances. Hey, let's check to see if the Letterman site has posted the performance from Monday yet... Well, whatta ya know! Here it is! You've got to sit through a short soap commercial, but it is well, well worth it. Oh, we just noticed that according to Freakscene it is also on YouTube now. So much for the lawsuit we guess. Here it is: