Review: New Dog | Classic Ballroom Dances

Poet Charles Simic's "Classic Ballroom Dances" is as much a series of chipped, fading tintypes as it is a collection of words. Each phrase captures, along with a steady whiff of nostalgia, glimpses into the times-gone-by of some anonymous urban setting, perhaps the Chicago of Simic's late adolescence. The images are rich and poignant, and readily scan for people of a certain Western upbringing. For that set of people, anyway, there is a universality to Simic's images, and this is perhaps how the new record by veteran songwriter (and Simic fan) Anar Badalov diverges most noticeably from the poem from which it takes its name. Mr. Badalov's Classic Ballroom Dances, his second record under his New Dog moniker, is marked by its adeptness at conveying the personal, whereas Simic's poem so ably translates the universal.

Somerville, Mass.-based New Dog bowed with the stirring 2014 debut set Lost Weekend [review], whose homespun reveries quietly billowed and softly clicked. The home-recorded Classic Ballroom Dances expands New Dog's sonic palette -- and in places, its dynamic range -- without diluting Badalov's keen minimalist approach or piercing the veil of sublime intimacy that permeates his (yes, poetic) songs. Across its beautiful ballads ("Love," "Out Of The Blue") and tense noir ("The Airport Lobby"), the decidedly nocturnal record sounds bigger without succumbing to the sometimes hollow dazzle of obligatory bigness; its carefully measured dynamics and gentle vocals still give the feeling that Badalov is sharing closely held confidences with his words and music.

Even so, in places Classic Ballroom Dances flexes its muscles in such a way as to burst the too-easy slowcore tag that has been hung around New Dog's neck. This manifests in ways small and great: there's the anachronistic war whoop during the tight guitar soloing in the first minute of the smoldering march "23" on the one hand, and the outsized fuzz of the noisy title track on the other. "Classic Ballroom Dances" launches with big distorted chords that are probably as close as New Dog might ever come to approximating the bile of The Walkmen's epochal "The Rat." However, Badalov's tune (which touts the brilliant, blurry lyric "there will always be people, and there will always be you") is a swinging, near-anthem interrupted by quiet passages of Badalov's typically brittle guitar chords and speckled with light piano flourishes. Later, the song "Dusklands" works itself into the same sort of lather, but not before staging a few quiet, glimmering verses that echo the android soul music of Pinback. The highlight of Classic Ballroom Dances is its haunted, dreamy center "Hospital Nights," whose introductory moments would not be out of place on one of Kompakt's amazing Pop Ambient comps. The songs alternates two spare notes on the electric piano, which find themselves surrounded by spectral voices (perhaps the television referenced in the lyrics?) and a cycling, ominous and, yes, amorous low guitar lick. It is that guitar line that propels the song toward a fade that does little to resolve the sense of restless between-ness the song conjures.

Kill Rock Stars released Classic Ballroom Dances yesterday as a limited edition LP and digital download; order the vinyl direct from KRS right here, and acquire the digital download via the New Dog Bandcamp right here. Badalov and touring drummer Justin Kehoe (he formerly of Boston noise-gaze goliaths Soccer Mom) kick off a European jaunt Saturday in Germany, and a full list of live dates -- including a homecoming show of sorts at BAR in New Haven, CT July 15 -- are below. We were very pleased to present the very first show performed by the newest iteration of New Dog earlier this month, and you can look at very nice pictures from the show right here courtesy of Bradley's Almanac. Stream all of Classic Ballroom Dances via the Bandcamp embed below.

New Dog: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds | label



06.06 -- Bielefeld, DE -- AJZ Club
06.07 -- Cologne, DE -- AZ Koln
06.08 -- Karlsruhe, DE -- House Show
06.09 -- Darmstadt, DE -- Oetinger Villa
06.10 -- Munich, DE -- Kafe Kult
06.11 -- LEIPZIG, DE -- Dr. Seltsam
06.12 -- Pilzen, CZ -- Papirna
06.13 -- Broumov, CZ -- Silver Rocket festival
06.14 -- Brno, CZ -- Kabinet Muz
06.15 -- Koprivnicem, CZ -- Mandala
06.16 -- Breclav, CZ -- Denni bar Dvur
06.17 -- Pardubice, CZ -- Divadlo 29
07.15 -- New Haven, CT -- BAR

Review: Roomrunner | Separate EP

If you've read anything about Baltimore noise-rock unit Roomrunner, and we're guessing you have, you know people can't seem to stop saying that the foursome loves the '90s rock. The band was practically suffocated with comparisons to Nirvana and assertions that it loved grunge during its last album cycle, although we have half a memory of a sticker applied to the face of the LP that suggested Roomrunner had a pretty solid sense of humor about it. After all, what's a band to do -- at least people are paying attention, right? Well, what Roomrunner did was evolve, and to an impressive degree, in fact, as evidenced by the foursome's fourth release, the terrific and massively listenable Separate EP.

The tunes on the short set tout a less dense, more nimble mix of elements, an apparent byproduct of all four members of Roomrunner contributing to songwriting for the set. In effect, the new dynamic masterfully frees the band from the glue trap of its earlier super-saturated, sludgy sound. Where Ideal Cities was an unrelenting listen that regularly featured overwhelming fuzz, Separate is marked by a notable amount of space within even more sophisticated and tuneful compositions. Sure, no one will ever call songs like the new one "Push Down & Turn" spare, but the mechanistic EP closer "Slow" is almost as airy and fluid as a Pinback song, and shows the remarkable degree to which Roomrunner's reality is greater than its supposed influences. On "Slow" Bowen presents a lower, gravely voice, before the song shifts into a bombastic, Weezer-styled chord progression appointed by simple, effective vocal harmonies that trail off in a series of surprisingly contented "doo doo doo doos."

The more balanced -- dare we say separated -- mix of Separate de-emphasizes guitars, or at least loud distorted ones, leaving room for different tones and textures to reveal themselves. Maybe they were there all along, hiding in the corners, paved over in album mixes by colossal guitars and explosive, room-filling drumming. Speaking of, notable EP opener "Ms. DNA" is packed tightly with some chunky, floor-stomping 4/4, but veers into a nifty 7/4 bridge. Fronter Denny Bowen smartly matches his nasal, distorted vocal to the tune serrated riff during the verses, making the song a fairly irresistible calling card for the collection. Dynamite preview track "Chrono Trigger" and its no-less-awesome-but-more-ridiculously-titled successor "ESPN Zone," instead of looking across the country (and the decades), seem to find inspiration in more proximal D.C. post-hardcore acts like Jawbox -- which, incidentally, was fronted by the EP's producer, J. Robbins -- or Shudder To Think. As the EP winds down the band continues to fluidly shift gears, executing some exciting dynamic shifts and entertaining some lighter, occasionally even jangly guitar. It's a new morning for Roomrunner, and we are very stoked to hear the next full-length set.

The Separate EP was released Tuesday via Accidental Guest on 12" vinyl or digital download; you can acquire the vinyl right here and the ones and zeroes right here. A bunch of live dates are posted at the act's Bandcamp right here; assuming you are reading this review the moment it goes live, you are probably missing Roomrunner's hometown show tonight, but the act is slated to perform in America's Living Room, a/k/a The Silent Barn in Brooklyn, tomorrow night, Oct. 25. -- A Dillon Riley and Jay Breitling joint

Roomrunner: Bandcamp | Facebook



Previously:
That Was The Show That Was: Roomrunner with Shannon And The Clams | Great Scott | 17 June

Greys Over America: Frightened Rabbit Prep Next U.S. Onslaught

Was there a calculated series of proddings that resulted in the wave of press leading up to the release of Glaswegian trio Frightened Rabbit's Sing The Greys? If so, it was for good reason, of course: the record -- which previously was most readily attainable by U.S. music fans via the EMusic digital music storefront -- is a ball of fire. And based on the preposterously good reworked version of "The Greys" that is the bed for the amazing video above (that buzzes and throbs and seethes), we expect that this U.S. version of Sing The Greys is a cut above the original release. Which is somewhat amazing, considering. But somehow in the remastering with Douches or the re-recording or whatever it was, the jittering and convulsive Scottish Good Rock that populates the record swells even bigger. If you haven't yet watched the video atop this item you are missing one of the biggest rock moments of the year. We love how certain shots in the clip shudder almost in time with each blast of the kick drum. Anyway, Frightened Rabbit begins a U.S. tour a week from today. We are so amped for their show in Boston we already bought tickets in advance; full tour dates are below. We also got in touch with Scott of Frightened Rabbit to get his thoughts about yet another trip to America. Here they are:

Unless we've lost count we think this is the band's third or fourth trip to the U.S. in the last 9 months. Are you getting the hang of it? We recall there being some trouble with the great volume of water in American toilets mentioned in our last interview.

We do still forget about the high tide in the toilets, but aside from that, each time we return to the US it beats the previous outing to a pulp. Ignoring the shit on our hands, we're always very happy to be in America.

Here's a stupid question we've never asked before. We recall taking special electrical adaptors to the UK and Europe in the past for -- well, we don't know what for. But we had them. Have you ever heard of a band from the UK or elsewhere running into difficulty with their music gear when they come to the U.S. vis a vis the different electrical voltage or wattage or whatever it is? We imagine this being a huge problem for '60s British Invasion bands, maybe not so much anymore.

Never with music gear. My mobile phone didn't like the voltage in the US and staunchly refused to turn on... That was a very weird question and I'm not sure I have any more information on the subject. Did you know that New Zealand is the only country in the world that has no crows?

We still haven't gotten to the store this week to get the U.S. release of the record. But if we are remembering all our facts this was worked on by Peter Katis and then Alan Douches, two big names for fans of indie records. What were some of the good ideas they had for making the already-great U.K. version of Sing The Greys even greater? Anything surprising about the process of having a second effort at making a record?

The 'bettering' process was actually mainly down to myself and Glasgow based producer Marcus Mackay going back into the studio earlier this year and ironing out the creases, filling in some potholes and adding some beef to the trifle. We didn't actually re-take many of the parts at all. We just spent more time shaping the songs. The first version took about 10 days start to finish, which turned out to be less time than it needed. It still surprises me to this day that people can actually enjoy that version, because I rather dislike it. The original was actually never mastered at all, so that was a beautiful thing that Alan Douches did. Peter didn't work on the first record at all, but he and Alan did work on our second album, due out next year.

You'll be doing shows with Pinback and Mum. Which act would you put money on in a brawl between the two?

Hard to say. That depends on whether Pinback would hit the girls. I doubt they would. If its some sort of tag team match then the situation changes, as all kinds of skullduggery can go on outside the ring when the referee's back is turned. Items such as 'the metal chair' come into play and then the match is much more even. A glass to the face here, a kick in the nuts there. I'm actually thinking Mum might have a chance.

---------------------------------------------

Here's the old version of "Go Go Girls" for your listening enjoyment. Grab it down, rock out to it, and then go buy the domestic release of Sings The Greys to compare.

Frightened Rabbit -- "Go Go Girls" -- Sings The Greys [UK Version]
[right click and save as]
[buy Sings The Greys from Newbury Comics here]

10/12 -- Death By Audio -- New York, New York
10/15 -- Empty Bottle -- Chicago, Illinois
10/16 -- Pabst Theatre -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10/17 -- Fineline Music Cafe -- Minneapolis, Minnesota
10/18 -- Slowdown -- Omaha, Nebraska
10/19 -- Gothic Theatre -- Englewood, Colorado
10/20 -- The Depot -- Salt Lake City, Utah
10/22 -- Showbox Showroom -- Seattle, Washington
10/23 -- Viking Union Multipurpose Room -- Bellingham, Washington
10/24 -- Roseland Theatre -- Portland, Oregon
10/25 -- Bimbos 365 Club -- San Fransisco, California
10/26 -- Bimbos 365 Club -- San Fransisco, California
10/28 -- The Wiltern -- Los Angeles, California
10/30 -- Solar Cuture Gallery -- Tucson, Arizona
11/01 -- Emo’s Jr. -- Austin, Texas
11/03 -- Spanish Moon -- Los Angeles, California
11/05 -- Drunken Unicorn -- Atlanta, Georgia
11/06 -- Local 506 -- Chapel Hill, North Carolina
11/08 -- Theatre of Living Arts -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
11/09 -- Pianos -- New York, New York
11/11 -- Great Scott -- Boston, Massachusetts

Review: Pinback | Autumn Of The Seraphs [Stream]

In an interview earlier this year TV On The Radio guitarist and producer Dave Sitek discussed repetition in music and how it appeals to a deeper consciousness in humans that is tied to the human heart beat. We wish we could dig up the clip, but the point is that this primal thrum that appeals to something very basic in listeners permeates the pleasantly sculpted music of veteran San Diego indie rock concern Pinback. We permitted Pinback's widely acclaimed 2005 Touch + Go debut Summer In Abbadon to skate by unexamined save for a few tracks posted on blogs, despite developing a pronounced affinity for the band's 2003 set Offcell. This latter record accompanied us on a lot of drives in the fall of 2003, and in the intervening years we've been increasingly interested by the work of Pinback's Rob Crow, whose non-Pinback releases earlier this year have both been notable, particularly the record by the project Other Men.

Here we pick up the Pinback thread on the occasion of its new, fourth set. Autumn Of The Seraphs percolates with the band's characteristic meditative energy. Mr. Crow, cohort Armistead Burwell Smith IV and band craft clean-burning songs that convey crackling passion and earnestness, all without getting too worked up. It's a neat balancing act, accomplished in no small part by refusing to indulge in rock's typically overt muscular posturing. As we said here a week ago: where other bands would use distortion, Pinback just dials back the edge and hits you with the clean. Where most other bands would deploy the fuzz-bass liberally to make their rock points strongly, Pinback uses in many places what sounds like one of those acoustic hollow-body electric basses that were popular in underground music circa 10,000 Maniacs. The album opener "From Nothing To Nowhere" is a case in point; it's all killer and no filler, but the instrumentation is surgically efficient. The album's hypnotic high points are "Good To Sea" and "Walters," two mid tempo amblers strung across crisp beats and abetted by a gauzy field of syncopated synth tones and guitar lines. Pinback embarks on an extensive tour Tuesday, and we've posted the American dates below.

Pinback -- "From Nothing To Nowhere" [stream] -- Autumn Of The Seraphs
[buy Autumn Of The Seraphs from Touch + Go here]

Pinback: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

09/11 -- Lou's Records -- San Diego, CA
09/12 -- Ameoba -- Los Angeles, CA
09/13 -- Ameoba -- San Francisco, CA
09/14 -- Fingerprints -- Long Beach, CA
09/19 -- Marquee Theatre -- Tempe, AZ
09/20 -- Sunshine Theatre -- Albuquerque, NM
09/21 -- Bricktown Events Center -- Oklahoma City, OK
09/22 -- LaGrave Field -- Fort Worth, TX
09/23 -- Emo's -- Austin, TX
09/25 -- Numbers -- Houston, TX
09/26 -- House Of Blues -- New Orleans, LA
09/27 -- Club Downunder -- Tallahassee, FL
09/28 -- The Social -- Orlando, FL
09/29 -- Common Grounds -- Gainesville, FL
10/01 -- Roxy Theatre -- Atlanta, GA
10/02 -- The Orange Peel -- Asheville, NC
10/03 -- Cat's Cradle -- Carrboro, NC
10/04 -- Satellite Ballroom -- Charlottesville, VA
10/05 -- Theatre Of The Living Art -- Philadelphia, PA
10/06 -- Stone Pony -- Asbury Park, NJ
10/07 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, DC
10/09 -- Nokia Theatre -- New York, NY
10/10 -- The Roxy -- Boston, MA
10/11 -- The Tralf -- Buffalo, NY
10/12 -- Opera House -- Toronto, ON
10/13 -- The Crofoot -- Pontiac, MI
10/14 -- Metro -- Chicago, IL
10/16 -- Pabst Theater -- Milwaukee, WI
10/17 -- Fine Line Music Cafe -- Minneapolis, MN
10/18 -- Slowdown -- Omaha, NE
10/19 -- Gothic Theater -- Englewood, CO
10/20 -- The Depot -- Salt Lake City, UT
10/22 -- Showbox -- Seattle, WA
10/24 -- Roseland Theatre -- Portland, OR
10/25 -- Bimbo's -- San Francisco, CA
10/26 -- Bimbo's -- San Francisco, CA
10/27 -- Belly Up -- Solana Beach, CA
10/28 -- Wiltern Theatre -- Los Angeles, CA
10/23 -- Viking Union -- Bellingham, WA

Today's Hotness: The A-Sides, The Answering Machine, Sigur Ros

>>[PHOTO CREDIT] Our big day-job goings-on have kept us from telling you the important news that you can stream The A-Sides' forthcoming sophomore set Silver Storms in its entirety right now over at Philebrity. We haven't even streamed it yet ourselves, although we did catch the studio version of the Philadelphia indie rock phenom's new tune "We're The Trees" on Jon Solomon's consistently excellent Local Support podcast a week ago. The Philadelphia Weekly here has an interesting question-and-answer with a couple of the guys from the band, and the most up-to-date fall tour dates were recently posted at The A-Sides blog here. The A-Sides will play the Middle East in Cambridge, Mass. on Nov. 4; Silver Storms will be released Sept. 18. We're checking our mailbox every day, oh great promo Gods -- please don't disappoint us. For the 10th time, here's an MP3 for "Cinematic," a track off the new record.

The A-Sides -- "Cinematic" -- Silver Storms
[right click and save as]

>> The beer-drinking young folks in Manchester, UK-based trio The Answering Machine are easily as charming as their music, if this video (which takes forever to load) posted at the V Magazine site is any indication. The negative rap on this band is that they are very derivative of The Strokes, but we don't buy it. First of all, The Answering Machine appears to still not have a drummer. Additionally, saying an act is derivative of The Strokes basically ignores 30 years of rock history. But that's a conversation for another day. The Answering Machine recently did a BBC radio session -- you can hunt around the band's MySpace wigwam for the details and a link.

>> The trailer for the Sigur Ros documentary "Heima" has a very Harry Potter vibe working in it. Check it out here. And we mean the HP movies, of course -- we've yet to read any of the books. But the Sigur Ros video is stunning. Generally, we have to be in a specific mood to really get down to Sigur Ros, but this video is pretty inspiring, Spine-tingling even. Is this Icelandic band now out-Pink Floyding mid-'70s Floyd? If not, they're damn close.

>> We're in receipt of the new (or new-ish) Wombats EP. You Ain't No Picasso has the video of "Let's Dance To Joy Division" posted right here. With its iffy lyrics, it's not the sure shot that The Wombats' unstoppable cut "Moving To New York" is, but the track is still amply peppy. And the end of the video has some compelling visual surprises. Check it out here.

>> One of the things getting us through the 13 and 14-hour days we've been putting in at the day job recently is the forthcoming record from indie rockers Pinback. It is called Autumn of the Seraphs and it is due on Touch and Go Sept. 11. We hope to have the time to review the record in full sometime next month, but in the event we don't have the time (a second deadline-sensitive project is already in line behind the current Sisyphean task, and this is all in addition to our usual workload) we can tell you that a lot of the review will or would focus on the tone and energy of the set. Where other bands would use distortion, Pinback just dials back the edge and hits you with the clean. Where most other bands would deploy the fuzz-bass liberally to make their rock points strongly, Pinback uses in many places what sounds like one of those acoustic hollow-body electric basses that were popular in underground music circa 10,000 Maniacs. On top of it all, we love how Pinback's Rob Crow rocks the flight suit for the video for "From Nothing To Nowhere." Check it out here.

Frightened Rabbit Releases Sings The Greys In US Oct. 2

It's been a while since we've talked about brilliant Glaswegian indie trio Frightened Rabbit, but here's some news. The long-awaited US version of the band's 2006 debut Sings The Greys, which has been remastered by Mr. Indie Mastering Guy Alan Douches, will finally be released Oct. 2 on new label Fat Cat. As we reported here in June, Frightened Rabbit is expected to issue a single prior to the re-release of Sings The Greys for the track "Be Less Rude." So that should be out sometime in the next six weeks, in our estimation.

Anyhoo, to celebrate the US issue of the full-length the lads will be returning to the US for a few weeks of dates beginning in mid-October [incidentally, some of the dates listed below are with Pinback, who will be supported in late September by another :: clicky clicky :: fave, The A-Sides -- check out the A-Sides dates here]. Sadly, right now there is no Boston date, but we're hopeful that the band might fill one of those empty nights in the first week of November with a show here in Cambridge, Mass. Maybe they could get an in-store at the Urban Outfitters like the one they had in Austin? Somebody make it happen. Have you heard Frightened Rabbit's live set from SXSW that they've been selling at EMusic for a goodly while now? It's a barnburner, especially the opener "Square 9." To get you back in the mood for Frightened Rabbitamania, here's a version of "Modern Leper" the band was giving away on its MySpace page for a while early this year.

Frightened Rabbit -- "Modern Leper" -- MySpace Download
[right click and save as]
[buy Frightened Rabbit music from EMusic here]

10/15 -- Empty Bottle -- Chicago, Illinois
10/16 -- Pabst Theatre -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
10/17 -- Fineline Music Cafe -- Minneapolis, Minnesota
10/18 -- Slowdown -- Omaha, Nebraska
10/19 -- Gothic Theatre -- Englewood, Colorado
10/20 -- The Depot -- Salt Lake City, Utah
10/22 -- Showbox Showroom -- Seattle, Washington
10/23 -- Viking Union Multipurpose Room -- Bellingham, Washington
10/25 -- Bimbos 365 Club -- San Francisco, California
10/26 -- Bimbos 365 Club -- San Francisco, California
10/28 -- The Wiltern -- Los Angeles, California
10/30 -- Solar Culture Gallery -- Tucson, Arizona
11/01 -- Emo’s Jr. -- Austin, Texas
11/02 -- Dan’s Bar -- Denton, Texas
11/08 -- Theatre of Living Arts -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Previous Frightened Rabbit coverage:

Frightened Rabbit's First American Tour
Show Us Yours #5: Frightened Rabbit
Frightened Rabbit Signs To Fat Cat

Big Day Coming: Pinback, Young Marble Giants, Shout Out Louds

>> Heard that new Pinback single? It's an uptempo rocker. Here's the stream. You can also buy the single from Touch And Go's online store. The track will be included on Pinback's forthcoming full-length Autumn Of The Seraphs, which is scheduled for release Sept. 11. The duo is planning a tour to begin that month.

>> Also coming Sept. 11 is the domestic release of the reissue of post-punk notables Young Marble Giants' only proper album Collossal Youth. The reissue contains the British trio's singles as well, and as such is titled 'Colossal Youth' & Collected Works. Limited editions of the reissue contain a third CD of 1980 Peel Sessions, making the set a complete collection of the band's recordings. If you're not excited yet, check out the e-card being promoted by Domino UK here. Awesome.

>> We don't know why, but we liked this new Shout Out Louds tune a little when we got the advance of the Tonight I Have To Leave It EP, but after we watched the video we started to like it a lot. Doesn't make much sense, but there you go. Maybe its because there's something about singer Adam Olenius and the video's random nautical theme that reminds us of Jason Schwartzman's Max Fischer character in "Rushmore." Check out the video below. The Swedish quintet releases its sophomore album and Merge debut Our Ill Wills on, you guessed it, Sept. 11. The Shout Out Louds are currently in the U.S. for a short series of dates on the east and west coasts; check out the band's tour dates here. Since you read all of that, how about an MP3 of "Tonight I Have To Leave It"?

Shout Out Louds -- "Tonight I Have To Leave It" -- Tonight I Have To Leave It EP
[right click and save as]