Today's Hotness: Sabonis, National Park Service, Media Jeweler

Portland's fledgling Good Cheer Records has in it first year made a name for itself as a bastion for the city's endangered under-age and DIY art communities. For a locale that puts such an emphasis on craft-brewed, alcoholic fun (and the rising rents and privileged patrons that accompany it), there has been a surprising amount of push-back in The City of Roses against some of the more challenging, creative and young individuals around -- a circumstance as unfortunate as it is expected. Thankfully, Good Cheer is fighting the good fight, documenting on cassette some of the more original and energetic guitar-pop bands the city has to offer. Among these is co-ed quintet Sabonis, whose twinkling, self-titled debut EP combines indie pop melodrama with introspective post-hardcore guitar lines. It's a sonic amalgamation that suggests an affinity for the more melodic Mike Kinsella projects, such as Owls and American Football, Clicky Clicky favorites each. The highlight of Sabonis' five-song release is undoubtedly the opener "More Time," in which male and female vocals couple in catchy mantras contemplating an instantly fraying relationship. The clear and sturdy production works wonders to highlight the neatly arrayed triple guitar attack, not to mention the thoughtfulness and subtlety of the lyrics. The deft interplay suggests a unit so capable that it need never resort to heavy handedness. "You left in slow motion, I watched in real time," sing Edward Beaudin and Maya Stoner -– a simple and devastating couplet that emphasizes the group's carefully considered songwriting. The song "Mother Of All Ghosts" rocks to an inevitable tempo, its palpable mesh of guitars and downcast lyrics establishing a mood akin to that of an anxious Interpol b-side Sabonis was issued Aug. 15 in a limited edition of 100 cassettes and as a digital download, either of which can be purchased via the act's Bandcamp dojo. Stream all of Sabonis via the embed below. -- Edward Charlton



In the late autumn of 2013, we were bowled over by the Lakewood, Ohio ambient/experimental project National Park Service and its fantastic I Was Flying cassette. The set's mix of pastoral acoustic looping, post-shoegaze delay guitar, synthetic drones and transporting samples was the perfect headphone accompaniment to the season's crisp, cool air and ephemeral longing. Imagine our delight at recently discovering new music from the mysterious act, a recently issued album called '97 Tracer. The seven-song set surfaced in June, but was superseded by a 14-song deluxe version Aug. 11. The physical release of the latter was issued by PSI Labs/Guest Room Records in a hyper-limited edition of cassettes that immediately sold out; a small number of the original seven-song tape -- perhaps from a second edition of 40 -- remain available; both versions are available as a pay-what-you-like digital download. The opening salvo of each version, "So Fucked Up on Drugs," sets the mood, trading in the carefully multi-tracked approach of Flying for something more live and electric. Speaking of flying, it would be negligence not to mention that the track echoes the early work of Bristol, England legends Flying Saucer Attack in the layered feedback chords and clanging strings marking the tune's first four minutes. After that, surprisingly, a live snare presents in the mix, grounding the piece while reminding the listener of The National Park Service's restlessness. Much of '97 Tracer maps a similar aesthetic, inviting the listener into a world of harsh noises that nonetheless retain the curious beauty of the project's previous work. The title track erupts into squeals before etablishing a low hum as the piece burns away via a steadily crumbling fade. While much of the original version of '97 Tracer concerns itself with crushing volume, the deluxe edition's bonus tracks showcase a softer side. "The Moment Has Passed" resurrects the drums of "So Fucked Up" and contrasts them with looping, rickety acoustic guitars. Highlight "Head Injury" behaves similarly, while setting a pulsing, two-chord guitar and piano groove against a dream-pop background, highlighting NPS' elegant melodies. If I Was Flying was the soundtrack to the feeling of the fall, this new release makes the case for serving as the hot and humid accompaniment to the increasingly fleeting dog days of summer; it's a meticulously arranged monument to the introspection of a very certain moment. Stream and download the deluxe version of '97 Tracer via the embed below, or purchase the original on cassette here while supplies last. -- Edward Charlton



>> Santa Ana, California quartet Media Jeweler caught our attention last month with its spastic, jazzy instrumental track "No Exit," one of three striking preview songs from the foursome's forthcoming debut album $99 R/T Hawaii. The LP successfully captures the very randomness its title suggests; it's due Sept. 18 via Brooklyn's Fire Talk Records. The seven-track blast enlists clean, caterwauling guitar leads and drum rolls to ensnare listeners within Media Jeweler's inspired logic and arrangement sensibilities. A press release referenced members emerging from the ashes of a "revolving door big-band," suggesting the members of Media Jeweler share a background in California post-hardcore or emo, and the band's noodling riffage, wanton horn playing, constantly changing rhythms and sharp, destructive drums cause this reviewer to imagine a killer house-show scene germinated its happy-go-lucky, youthful vitality. The aforementioned tune erupts into such an awesome atonal breakdown shortly after the first minute that this reviewer is fully prepared to invoke the name of math rock gods Polvo. The loping "Passport Invalid" fuses chanted group vocals to the controlled disorder, while the third preview tune "Autopilot" injects James Chance-styled free-jazz energy into Media Jeweler's clanging universe via some inspired horn playing, allowing us to posit a thrilling union of Californian hardcore and No Wave. $99 R/T Hawaii touts excellent production work from certain folks that have worked with Battles and Lightning Bolt (very fitting), and a stunning mastering job from XOQ (Liars, Factory Floor, etc.) further embellishes this impressive collection. The album is available now for pre-order in a limited edition of 200 translucent pink or a standard issue black vinyl 12", or as a digital download. Stream the aforementioned three tracks via the embed below, and click through to purchase. Media Jeweler embarked last night on a strand of west coast dates, which can be reviewed right here. -- Edward Charlton

Today's Hotness: Cloud, Polvo

>> The catalog of imaginatively inept London-based indie label Audio Antihero has held many wonders over the years, but never before has it included an American act, let alone one with significant Boston roots. That all changed with the label's recent signing of the now-LA-based noise-pop act Cloud. We first stumbled upon Cloud about a year ago due to his contributions to a lo-fi release from Boston slowcore concern Marblemouth. Both Cloud and Marblemouth are satellites orbiting the Practice Room Records collective, a nebulous entity that also counts among its number Clicky Clicky faves Winter; indeed, Winter's namesake Samira Winter contributes vocals to two tunes on Cloud's new record and also appeared on Cloud's 2011 set, Rocket. Right, Cloud's new record, that's what we were talking about... the project is the brainchild of Tyler Taormina, and Audio Antihero will re-issue on Aug. 5 Comfort Songs, Cloud's third release originally issued in Sept. 2012 as a download. The 11-track collection is available from Audio Antihero in a limited edition of 140 compact discs as well as, of course, digital download, and the lead single for the Audio Antihero edition is the stormy and densely layered strummer "Mother Sea." There's something of Conor Oberst's general agitation and gift for description in Taormina's delivery and songwriting respectively, but Mr. Oberst has to our knowledge never arranged as noisy a bed to lie in as the churning instrumental to "Mother Sea." A conventional rhythm guitar track is buried amid rich reverb, spiraling and droning piano chords, slowly arcing feedback, and sundry unidentified aural embellishments, all of which conspire in the song's final two-and-a-half minutes to create a hypnotic ebb and flow, not unlike the cycling of crashing waves. Which, given the title of the song, either makes Mr. Taormina brilliant or extremely lucky. Readers who took a closer look at the recent Audio Antihero charity compilation Regal Vs. Steamboat that we wrote about last month likely saw that there is also a song from Cloud among the comp's 31 tracks, the tune "A Song Of What Stays" (originally released on Cloud's Elephant Era full-length from 2010) which you can stream right here. Stream "Mother Sea" via the Bandcamp embed below, and then click through to pre-order all of Comfort Songs from Audio Antihero. It's something you'll be glad you did.



>> Maybe our social networks were just skewed weirdly today, or maybe the lack of any preview music didn't elicit the typical Pavlovian "!OMG Firsties!" response from the blogosphere, but whatever the reason, we were surprised by the lack of widespread enthusiasm at today's news that post-rock legends Polvo will release their sixth LP Oct. 1. The set is called Siberia and it will be released by the highly esteemed Merge label, who among other things also did the honors for Polvo's 2009 comeback record In Prism and the 2011 single "Heavy Detour," which, curiously, was described as being "taken from Polvo's upcoming album." We say curious because the eight-song track list for Siberia does not contain a song called "Heavy Detour." Was the title changed for the record, or did the band have a change of heart? We suppose we'll find out Oct. 1 when Siberia hits the new release bins (or, we suppose, a week ahead of time when the record is inevitably streaming at Pantsfork Advance or NPR First Listen or whatever is The Thing two months from now). We're not sure how well this opinion will be received, but despite releasing some very great music in the intervening years, we still don't know that any new Polvo record will ever hold our affections as strongly as the band's epic double 10" from 1996, Exploded Drawing. The album has too many highlights to mention, but do yourself a favor and click the YouTube embed below to listen to the 11-minute-plus masterwork "When Will You Die For The Last Time In My Dreams," the song that closed out Exploded Drawing. Siberia can be pre-ordered now from Merge on CD and LP right here, and those who pre-order will also receive a poster along with their order, which will arrive on or around the Oct. 1 release date, Merge promises. For a related and somewhat weirder thrill, check out this video we just stumbled upon of an ice skater named Emily Hughes performing her routine to "When Will You Die For The Last Time In My Dreams," intercut with footage of a Roomba vacuum cleaner doing it's thing. INTERNET FUCK YEAH!

Today's Hotness: Pile, Calories, Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam

>> We've been meaning to circle back to our recent feature in The Phoenix on Pile, the Boston indie rock quartet whose formidable LP Dripping was released late last month. As the band plays a hotly anticipated tour homecoming show Wednesday night with now-band Metz and Northampton-based leading lights Speedy Ortiz, we figured there's no time like the present. Our conversation with Pile founder and fronter Rick Maguire was both long and interesting. He hand-rolled and smoked cigarettes, we drank some beers, we talked about music, it was delightful. One of the many things we didn't have the space to hammer in our Phoenix piece that we found remarkable was Mr. Maguire's understandable yet surprising lack of familiarity with acts from the late '80s and earlier '90s that Pile sounds like. Sure, he knows Jesus Lizard, Polvo and the like exist. He's even heard some of their records a bit. But Maguire said he wasn't conversant in their music. And then he said (well, we're paraphrasing) what we thought was a particularly smart thing: he said at this point he didn't WANT to know those bands' music well, he wouldn't want to be influenced one way or the other by hearing them at this point. We like that, that independent thinking, that drive to be pure. You can stream Dripping via the Bandcamp embed below; buy it from Exploding In Sound Records right here. It's a great record, dark, drop-tuned, regular outbreaks of mayhem, melody, aggression. The show tomorrow night is going to be awesome. Hit the Facebook event page here for details and to proclaim your faith.



>> Birmingham, England-based indie punk quartet Calories have revealed more about what they are doing these days, and how they are doing it, dispelling some of our questions about the recent revelation of Burning Alms yet adding new questions. So, for starters, Calories announced it will issue sometime around Dec. 1 a new EP titled "DMT," and there is an ace video for the strikingly effervescent tune right here. According to the band, the video had 1,000 views in just five days, which is none too shabby. As you can hear from watching the zany, "Benny Hill"-esque clip, "DMT" has a lighter touch that Calories' heretofore characteristic dense, blunt and forceful attack. Indeed, "DMT" is downright jangly. What else? Well, a Facebook status from the band refers to not one, but two new side projects. There's Burning Alms, which we already wrote about here last month, which is referred to as Thomas Whitfield and John Biggs'. But there is also a new bass-less project being helmed by Calories bassist Pete Dixon called Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam, who is joined by two chaps Andrew Bullock and Ralph Morton. Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam has apparently been busy making rock and rock videos as well, as evidenced by this recent video for the very great tune "Halloween." So chew on that, why don't you? No word yet on what formats Calories' "DMT" will be available on or what label will release it, but we'll keep up our vigil and bring word about the EP when we can. In the meantime, how about streaming Calories most recent, and quite excellent, full length Basic Nature via the embed below?

Be Prepared: Soccermom | You Are Not Going To Heaven EP | 3 October

Absolutely crushing 10" extended play release from pack-leading, Boston-based noise rock juggernaut Soccermom. The quartet's 2010 single "Bill Cosby In Glamorous Chains" b/w "High On Dad" was an impressive debut, and early shows were remarkable, but Soccermom has further refined its attack. As evidenced by this six-song collection, the 'Mom continues to set its bearings via sonic references to early Lilys, Swervedriver and Polvo, but its live performances have become increasingly desperate, dynamic, precise and heavy. The band closed a set with the new song "Southern Bells" last week at Precinct and the room shuddered in the moment following the song's final staccato blast. Soccermom co-fronter Dan Parlin in particular performed as if everything was on the line, and You Are Not Going To Heaven, which will be available on letter-pressed LP and digitally, captures ably the beauty and weight of the quartet's current onslaught. Soccermom plays a release show for You Are Not Going To Heaven at TT The Bear's Place Sept. 23; LPs may be available for sale by then, but the confidence level is higher that vinyl will be ready contemporaneously with the already-firm digital release date of Oct. 3. We won't bullshit you: in 10 years someone will be flipping through your records, will see the Soccermom EP, and say, "wow, how did you get this?" And you will say, "some blog told me to get it. It's fucking awesome, right? I was really bummed when they went all Jan Hammer for their third record..." We don't have a pre-order link for the EP yet, but you should watch this space for one. As Built PR's summer 2011 comp includes "(A) Natural History," which as far as we know is the second track on the forthcoming Soccermom EP. Have a listen to the Bill Scales-sung number via the embed below (the line "I think I should take you home and keep you under glass" gets us every single time).



Soccermom: Internesticles | Facebook | Soundcloud

That Was The Show That Was: Varsity Drag, Soccermom | PA's Lounge

[UPDATED with Varsity Drag set list below] Varsity Drag's fiery Friday night headlining set at PA's Lounge was notable for a number of reasons. First, the Cambridge, Mass.-based indie punk stalwarts have maintained the edge to their live show that they brought back from their fall UK tour. Second, the band has apparently fully integrated charming cellist Aliah Rosenthal into its stage show, adding a surprising new dimension to songs we'd never heard him play on. And for fans afraid that the addition of electric cello can only portend ill, un-rocking things for Varsity Drag: fear not. Mr. Rosenthal most certainly rocks.

It was also notable that The Drag played not one of fronter Ben Deily's classic Lemonheads cuts. We suspect that says more about the depth and quality of the Varsity Drag catalog at this point than it does about Mr. Deily's affinity -- and the collective affinity of fans -- for the older tracks. And while our calls for "Ever" at the close of last night's set went unheeded, we were more than pleased with the final selection, Varsity Drag's infrequently aired, wholly gripping cover of The Cure's annihilating "Push" from 1985's The Head On The Door record. As part of its UK label's 20th anniversary Varsity Drag has also been working up and recording a cover of Ipanema's "White Cat In A Snowstorm." The Drag's live performance of the tune was searing, and we look forward to hearing the recording of the track. According to this recent interview Deily gave, Varsity Drag is planning an EP that will contain the Ipanema cover as well as four bonus tracks from the sessions for the band's superlative 2009 long-player Night Owls [review here].

Soccermom, who we profiled here earlier this month, were a revelation. The quartet's quietly determined stage presence belies its dense, visceral guitar attack. Indeed, the recordings we've heard that will grace Soccermom's forthcoming debut single only approximate the squawl and punch of the live renderings of Soccermom's compositions. The tracks on the single, "High On Dad" and "Bill Cosby In Glamorous Chains," bring to mind the relatively more controlled and architected sounds of Polvo. But Soccermom on stage through brute guitar force earn comparisons to the music of the earliest incarnation of Lilys (1991-1992) and even Rodan, although perhaps with less of the melodic sense of the former or the dynamic rhythms of the latter. We look forward to seeing these guys a lot more in the future. Soccermom is slated to play O'Brien's May 5 as part of the E.R. residency.

Varsity Drag: Internerds | Bandcamp | YouTube | Flickr
Soccermom: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: Line Drawings, Saint Solitude, AC/DC

>> We like what we hear from Line Drawings, an Australian indie rock quartet whose recently released, self-titled EP has been getting a lot of play here at headquarters. No surprise, really, as Sydney-based Line Drawings' first two Top Friends at MySpace -- :: clicky clicky :: favorites Polvo and Seam -- indicate that we're likely as pre-conditioned to be a fan of these Australians as anyone. Although, if we had to pick our own RIYL to slap on a sticker meant to entice college radio play, we might go with Swervedriver first, as Line Drawings is neither as technical as Polvo nor as seething and disappointed as Seam. That said, there are very pleasing curtains of electric guitar and mildly plaintive vocals, a sturdy recipe (along with well-constructed melodies, also present here) for successful indie rock. Line Drawings has been together since 2007, and prior to that certain of the cohort played together in the act Ides Of Space. The band's self-titled EP contains six moody tracks and opens auspiciously with the urgent guitar anthem "Atmosphere Flies," which is certainly Line Drawings' strongest calling card, and which you can download below. Victoria-based Bell Sounds Digital issued Line Drawings March 28.

Line Drawings -- "Atmosphere Flies" -- Line Drawings EP
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[buy Line Drawings from the band right here]

>> We're inclined to be skeptical of one-man bands, who nowadays often ply their trade with loop machine and/or laptop, because the live spectacle can lack the sort of passion that really drives our fandom. There are exceptions, of course, as we think you'll agree -- if you've seen him -- that Dosh can work some hypnotic business on stage (granted, he performed with a colleague when we saw him). All that said, it really comes down to songwriting, and so we were favorably impressed with Asheville, N.C.-based and Maine-bred solo effort Saint Solitude. The band is a fellow named Dup Crosson, and Mr. Crosson writes very catchy indie pop numbers that -- at least as recorded -- bear none of the undesirable hallmarks of the solitary musician. The piano-anchored toe-tapper "Tosabesatoch" touts a light touch and an arresting melody. The rocker "Soft Contact" sounds like something Ben Gibbard might sing if he were in good mood and was backed by a sunshiney outfit; the guitar-and-voice ballad "Stay In Touch" is obvious enough sentiment-wise but is eminently listenable. "Tosabesatoch" is on the split EP He Is Contrary To Him out this month and available at shows, and Crosson is already at work on a full-length he hopes will be ready for public consumption come summer. Saint Solitude embarks on a three-week tour of the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. Thursday, and the act touches down at P.A.'s Lounge in Somerville, Mass. April 25, with Midriff Records' Scuba supporting. Full tour dates are at the Saint Solitude MySpace casa right here. Crosson was kind enough to allow us to post "Tosabesatoch" below, so do check it out.

Saint Solitude -- "Tosabesatoch" -- Split EP
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[buy Saint Solitude music from Crosson here]

>> Let us be the first to suggest that in the inevitable TV movie that will re-tell the heroics of the past weekend (remember that whole hostage/pirate/sniper thing?), the climax should be dealt with as a montage soundtracked by AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock, We Salute You." The events leading up to the snipers' dispatching the three Somali pirates should unfold in real time, and the decisive gunshots should be unleashed as Brian Johnson shouts "FIRE!" Just sayin.'