>> Given how strongly we were moved by her recordings in the middle of the last decade -- even naming one of her records among the best of 2005 -- we have a hell of a time keeping up with Colleen, the project of one-time (and perhaps current, we've really lost the thread here) French school teacher Cécile Schott. But by a stroke of good fortune we saw Colleen's name dropped in a Facebook status posted today by UK electronic music heroes Isan, along with a link to Fact's exclusive on a new Colleen track, "Push The Boat On To The Shore." The song is from Colleen's forthcoming fourth full-length The Weighing Of The Heart, which will be released by London's Second Language Music May 13. In 2005, we called Ms. Schott "an iconoclast whose singular style seems predisposed to produce resplendent music." Based on an album sampler we've embedded below, that is still completely the case. Colleen continues to create placid, textured, thoughtful and otherworldly electro-acoustic music consistent with her first three records and various EPs and one-offs. Criminally, Clicky Clicky last wrote about Colleen here some six years ago, although fortunately it appears Colleen has not released a full-length since then, based on a glance at her discography. Still, there is plenty of music to catch up on, and we certainly will keep a much closer eye -- well, ear -- on Colleen going forward; it's not worth the risk of missing such intelligent, pure and beautiful music. Check out a sampler of all 11 of the tracks from The Weighing Of The Heart below. We can't find a buy or pre-order link at the Second Language site, but we're hopeful the record will get a domestic release, as The Weighing Of The Heart has "potential album of the year" written all over it. And, well, we don't want to pay import if we can help it. If you are interested in learning more about Colleen, we highly recommend revisiting Ben Sterling's excellent 2004 interview with Schott for Junkmedia right here.
>> We struggle to understand Los Angeles and its indie rock community. The city is linked so strongly to the music industry, has such as rich history of music, and yet in the last decade we can only think of one truly excellent band from LA, The Henry Clay People [Exh. A]. Whenever we've mentioned this in casual conversation (and we readily admit this all may just be ignorance on our part), people always remind us of the very good indie pop act Army Navy, to which we typically say something brilliant like, "Oh yeah, right!" Well, this time it was the band itself offering a friendly reminder in the form of a delectable new freebie. The nine-year-old trio fronted by Justin Kennedy earlier this month issued the digital single "Pickle," a gently rocking number populated with glistening guitars and gorgeous melodies. The swaying strummer hints at a strong appreciation for the Sarah Records aesthetic, perhaps hints a bit at the resolute poignance of Small Factory, and is eminently listenable -- a perfect spring time jam. "Pickle" is a precursor of Army Navy's forthcoming third long-player. Its most recent full-length collection, The Last Place, was issued in 2011 on EMusic's Selects label and the band's own imprint, The Fever Zone. No additional details are as yet available about the forthcoming record beyond the fact that it is already mixed (at least in part by the great Adam Lasus, legend) and expected to be released this year. While you wait, stream and download "Pickle" via the embed below. Also below you will find a stream of Army Navy's cover of Yaz's extraordinary electropop ballad "Only You," which was released as the B-side to the threesome's "World's End" 7" released in August 2012. Army Navy offers up a straight, guitar-centered version, but for those of us old enough to be haunted by the original, its well worth listening.
>> Much is made about the sound in dream-pop and shoegaze, from plaudits for its ethereal release to complaints about "buried vocals," but surprisingly few realize just how sexy the genre can be. For the properly attuned, it can be easy to identify a distinct femininity permeating many tunes. Hell, one could argue that Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine redefined sexuality in pop music. Regardless, that influence has been snatched by certain bands, who have run off to the best parties, leaving stray vinyl behind like photo albums of that one perfect night. You just had to be there. Enter The Bilinda Butchers. Taking their name from one of indie rock's most graceful and mysterious sex symbols, the San Francisco-based duo proffers incandescent, soft-focus party songs on its latest single, "The Lover's Suicide!" b/w "Love So Estranged," which was released early last month. Yes, that B-side is a cover of a song released on a split single by '90s dream-pop legends Rocketship. The A-side is giddily paced and coated in just enough lo-fi studio fuzz and odd warping in the background to approximate quite well the rush of youthful and inebriated celebration. That splash of water at the beginning? It's not dour rain, but rather the fountain outside of the casino, because once the hi-hat beat and driving bass line come in, the intention is pretty clear. The singer's soft vocals bring to mind The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, while the strange, quarter note siren noise that enters a little more than a minute into the tune indicates the band knows its way around some exotic effects pedals. As is often mentioned by this reviewer, the dream-pop and shoegaze scene is regularly plagued by artists that have little substance beneath the dialed-in tones and obvious fretwork generating half-baked ideas that feign some epic purpose. We remain hopeful that the modus operandi of The Bilinda Butchers -- who work as hard to move people's feet as they do to get them to stare downwards -- can be a model for another wave of dream-pop acts. "The Lover's Suicide!" b/w "Love So Estranged" is available as a digital download via The Bilinda Butchers' Bandcamp right here; a vinyl 7" was released by the band's European label Beko, but it has already sold out. Stream "The Lover's Suicide!" via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton
>> Sometimes heavy like the blitzkrieging sounds of the D.C. underground of the late 20th century, sometimes just spacey and weird (check out the wonderful and stumbling ballad "Twinkle Toes"), it's Boston post-hardcore quartet Grass Is Green. The act just released a seven-song EP Chibimoon that is one of the most enjoyable surprises we've encountered in a while. The EP presents an impressive sonic range but at the same time shows Grass Is Green doesn't disregard the importance of melody. The foursome is playing our alma mater tomorrow night, the alma mater at which we spent the mid-'90s when you heard this type of smart, awesome indie rock seemingly around every corner. Chibimoon was self-released by the band in March and you can grab the whole thing for $5 at Bandcamp right here; a debut full-length was issued last September, and is also available via Bandcamp. We're embedding "Twinkle Toes" below, but it's well worth parting with five American dollars to hear the whole collection. Grass Is Green has two local gigs listed at its Bandcamp dojo: May 11 at Church and May 14 at Middle East Upstairs.
>> Additional notable indie rock has been piling up in our inbox, such as Fire Island Pines' fine Bratislava EP. The Cornwall, UK-based sextet fronted by a chap named Anton Rothschild is fewer than two years old, but the calm pacing of its orchestral pop communicates surprising confidence (not to mention competence). The music recollects The Sea And Cake or even Chin Up Chin Up in places, tempered with a spiky energy that suggests a very, very sleepy Los Campesinos!Fire Island Pines's arresting amalgamation of jangly guitars, persistent trumpet and murmured lyrics makes for a very listenable debut. Bratislava was released earlier this month via San Francisco-based digital label Vulpiano; the set is also available on a limited-edition CD-R. You can grab the entire collection for free at Bandcamp, but if you want a taster we suggest you check out the relatively perky "Heaven Till You Say;" the full EP is embedded below.
>> As we quipped on Twitter last week, Los Angeles-based indie rock saviors The Henry Clay People have a new EP coming out next month, and it's a barn-burner. The short set is called This Is A Desert, and it's got five tracks, not the least of which is the scalding opener "The Honey Love He Sells." The whole thing was streaming at Spinner.com last week and we listened to it about 10 times, but now we can't find the link and the search on Spinner ain't turning it up. Dammit. Just take our word for it: you want this; it will be released on TBD in May; you can already pre-order the thing for $7 at the band's web site right here; and we think that's a smart move. If you need an early taste and can't be arsed to go to MySpace anymore -- and really, who can -- Aquarium Drunkard has a free download of track 2, "California Wildfire," that one can snatch right here. The Henry Clay People's full-length Somewhere On The Golden Coast was one of our favorite records of 2010.
What an amazing time for indie rock. Each year we take issue with proclamations that any given set of 365 days was better or worse than any other set of 365 days, but we were very excited by what we heard this year, and what we think we'll be hearing next year. Musical trends ignore the calendar, of course, but we feel like in 2011 a lot of music is going to be informed by sounds characteristic of our favorite bands of the early '90s. Just a hunch, and this isn't the place to make that argument, but we feel it. We're excited. For now, we'd like to celebrate the 10 best records of 2010, by our humble estimation.
Long-time readers will be familiar with our ground rules from lists in prior years; here it is in a nut shell. We look at our ITunes play counts, we see what was played most, and those are our picks. Simple. Some related comments: Arcade Fire does not make it into our list, and probably should, or at least would have come close. We didn't connect with Neon Bible, and as bracing as Funeral was, we felt like it was over-wrought in places. But The Suburbs, released (as we are sure you know) in 2010, really spoke to us; we connected with the themes of adulthood, distance and alienation. But we listened to the disc a lot in our car, and plays in the car aren't captured in our rankings. Sorry Arcade Fire. Other records that certainly should be heard include Bettie Serveert's Pharmacy Of Love, Joie De Vivre's The North End and Tears Run Rings' Distance, just to name a few. So what did make the proverbial grade? Read below, and avail yourself of the many streams scraped from Soundcloud.
1. Los Campesinos! -- Romance Is Boring -- Wichita/Arts+Crafts
Heavier, denser, and more focused than all prior efforts, Romance Is Boring -- to use a hackneyed phrase we hate -- finds Los Campesinos! at the peak of its powers. We've grappled with how to articulate the strengths of the Cardiff-based octet's record all year. It doesn't necessarily have Los Camp!'s catchiest jams -- indeed there are things that drive us crazy about the record (what is that grinding sound laced through the mix in the verses of "In Medias Res?" Why is it there? It reminds us of how a song on A Ghost Is Born was supposed to represent Tweedy's migraines). But the songwriting, composition and production is fully realized, impervious and whole. We really wonder where the band can go from Romance Is Boring, because the record is flawless. The musicianship of the players has wrongly taken a critical back seat to fronter Gareth Campesinos!'s personality and (at times comical, at times harrowing) lyrics; that is understandable, but if you mentally strip the words out of this set it is still gripping. That said, Gareth's performances here are amazing, and none more so than the cataclysmic album closer "Coda: A Burn Scar In The Shape Of The Sooner State," where the devastating and searing final lyric "I can't believe I chose the mountains every time you chose the sea" makes for the most crushing moments in recorded music in 2010.
2. Walter Schreifels -- An Open Letter To The Scene -- Dine Alone/Big Scary Monsters
As we quipped in a recent episode of CompCon, if you told us in 1990 that Walter Schreifels would release our favorite record of 2010, and that it would be a largely acoustic pop affair, we'd have thought you were crazy. But, of course, it is true. Mr. Schreifels has crafted what is perhaps the most listenable, catchy collection of the year. The fact that he is working in a sonic vernacular that to us seemed very unlikely (since we haven't really followed Schreifels' career closely since Quicksand) underscores the amazing songwriting and performance chops at his command. In fact, the more unlikely the scenario, it seems, the more convincingly Schreifels succeeds. A song about pop rapper Lil' Kim? Called "The Ballad Of Lil' Kim?" Ridiculous, right? Wrong -- somehow our hero turns out a scrappy, yearning and wistful pop classic. A song eulogizing hardcore like it was a person, called "An Open Letter To The Scene," with lyrics including "at the hardcore funeral I cried and cried?" Ridiculous, right? Wrong. This song is awesome. As is the rest of An Open Letter To The Scene. Schreifels returns with a new Rival Schools record in 2011, and the first single is great, to be sure. But it will be a very tall order for it to be as good as An Open Letter To The Scene, which is, in a word, superlative.
We know what you're thinking. "Really? This unassuming, straightforward and sometimes a bit silly collection of pop-tinged hardcore?" To which our response is this: do not to make the mistake of underestimating the self-titled debut full-length from this Philly-based foursome. Everyone Everywhere is sneaky, just understated enough to not attract much attention, but the collection is perfectly paced, packed with hooks and Hoovers up all the right influences (The Promise Ring, Superchunk). In a way it's like those drinks that were just banned in the US that had booze and tons of caffeine. Everyone Everywhere wins with glorious guitars and big vocal melodies, which power both soaring choruses like that of "Raw Bar OBX 2002" and the dream-like reverie of "Obama House, Fukui Prefecture." It all adds up to something surprisingly irresistible.
Calories' hotly anticipated, but delayed sophomore set was certainly worth the wait. The perennially under-rated Birmingham, England-based power trio here delivers characteristically hooky, brawling post-punk anthems while expanding its sound to include additional textures and temperaments. "The Brink" clocks in at nearly seven minutes in length, challenging Calories' reputation for bluntness and brevity, and deconstructs into a motorik jam. Two pleasantly disorienting set pieces, "Basic Nature 1" and "Basic Nature 2," set off sections of Basic Nature and offer evidence that the trio can thrive outside its winning format for fist-banging shouters. Even so, the record's finest moments are not the singles or odd appendages, but rather the desperate quasi opener "You Could Be Honest" and the upbeat album cut "Even Stephens," which touts melody to spare, bludgeoning drumming and a brilliant sinewy lead guitar in the chorus. Basic Nature is all of your favorite things, only better.
5. Johnny Foreigner -- You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm -- Alcopop!
While we predictably loved this EP from our first listen, the more we listen the more we feel like we under-estimated You Thought You Saw A Shooting Star But Yr Eyes Were Blurred With Tears And That Lighthouse Can Be Pretty Deceiving With The Sky So Clear And Sea So Calm. The more we listen, the more we hear the themes, the hurt and the desperation. Opener "The Wind And The Weathervanes" ends serenading, its final 90 seconds a stirring and beautiful coda of feedback and strings that almost makes you forget the stinging admission that the narrator's ex-lover was probably right. The coda butts against the thrashing opening of "Who Needs Comment Boxes When You've Got Knives," which at first seems like a ham-fisted bit of sequencing until one realizes the discord is entirely the point. Indeed, the achievement of You Thought You Saw... is how well it conveys the discomfort of being in one's own skin, stewing in one's own thoughts ("this is how he'll spend forever with you...," "I wish I had a part in this...") when the world seems to be moving on without you. There is solace in the goofy, beat-driven and D Plan-referencing half of "Elegy For Post Teenage Living (Parts 1 and 2)," and even deliverance in the cymbal crash and guitar crash of the verses and conclusion of the song's front half. Whether considered in parts or as a whole, the EP is further evidence that Johnny Foreigner is among the best bands working today.
6. The Henry Clay People -- Somewhere On The Golden Coast -- TBD
Ah, the thrill of the perfect pure rock record. Time was you could count on The Hold Steady to deliver the sort of goods delivered here, but while that act has begun experimenting out of its comfort zone (actually quite successfully: Heaven Is Whenever is a sleeper record full of charm), The Henry Clay People have stuck with its son-of-the-son-of-The Replacements sound and attitude. Somewhere On The Golden Coast is chock-a-block with rootsy, narrative shouters, melodic and self-deprecating odes to slackerdom. As we said in our review (link below), the People spread their wings a little wider here, going beyond the bar room for atmospheric, textures and feedback on the standout "A Temporary Fix." Of course, there are still plenty of rockers, including the driving winner "Your Famous Friends." You need this record, and having a back-up copy ain't a bad idea, either.
While the early warning was that this was a difficult record that the band created for its own satisfaction, the fact is Transference is characteristically strong. Perhaps, as we speculated on CompCon, the message was supposed to convey that Spoon's newest collection wasn't likely to win over news fans, wasn't likely to cross over into the more broadly embraced radio formats. At any rate, Spoon fans bought the record and have probably reached the same conclusion we have -- Transference is a taut, economical and flawless record of minimalist indie rock. Fronter Britt Daniel's lyrics are a bit more impressionistic, and there are some entrancing production flourishes (mostly just expertly applied delays and reverbs), but there are no missteps here, just great songs you can dance to or drink beer along with. Win.
We didn't review this record from Glen Rock, New Jersey's finest indie punk quintet. Frankly, we saw no reason to draft anything after reading our friend and former bandmate Jim's review (link below). So while we haven't spent much time thinking critically about this record, doing so would have missed the point. Titus Andronicus' music is visceral, pounding with a desperate energy and exalted angst. The fact that there is a U.S. Civil War theme draped around the collection, the fact that fronter Patrick Stickles coopts and spins Springsteen lyrics to his own ends, doesn't dispel the immediacy of the driving guitars or hollered vocals, or the emotional punch of a Boston/Jersey long-distance relationship collapsing -- one Fung Wah bus ride at a time -- like so many arranged dominoes. While chronicling a crippling break-up, The Monitor never broods, but instead revels in the anguish and pain, celebrates the strife, and all the while rocks right along the precipice of forcefully strummed, bluntly chorded chaos.
9. Distractions -- Distractions -- Plus Tapes/Infinite Best
This selection for the year-end list reminds us of that snarky t-shirt that proclaims "I Listen To Bands That Don't Even Exist Yet." That's because, as it turns out, our number nine selection is kinda sorta not out yet. The collection is a self-titled cassette put out by a Chicago-based outfit called Distractions. Said cassette version was serviced digitally to bloggers at the beginning of the summer to build hype for a pending reissue from Infinite Best. However, due to other stuff coming up, Distractions, remixed and remastered by Dev from Twin Sister and now titled Dark Green Sea, is not due for release until Jan. 18, 2011. We find it hard to believe that the cassette version can be improved upon, as it is perhaps the most specifically evocative set among the 10 we list here. Distractions just sounds like it was made by a Zombies-influenced pop band that has worked the same subterranean bar room in a seaside town for a decade. The tunes -- often awash in reverb, organ-led and paired with a deep baritone lead vocal -- just sound murky, even with the sunshiney melodies. Even if the lead track "All Night" was the only song on there, the record would be worth whatever anybody would charge for it. And that "anyone" at this point is Midheaven, the price is $13 for the LP, and you should just buy the thing now, because it is awesome. Pre-order Dark Green Sea at the link below.
10. Screaming Maldini -- And The Kookaburra EP -- Alcopop!
Note to indie labels that are not Alcopop!: keep an eye on Alcopop!, because the small label has two entries on our year-end list, which means it is doing something right, and you are probably doing something wrong. Screaming Maldini's And The Kookaburra, in case you didn't know, is the best pure pop record of 2010 -- well, EP, anyway, as the collection touts only five songs. Imagine, if you will, that Spandau Ballet was cryogenically frozen at the height of its popularity and then reborn today as a prog-pop entity with embarrassingly excellent songwriting skills: this is Screaming Maldini. And The Kookaburra's first three songs are brilliant, but the gentle, wistful penultimate track "I Know That You Know That I Would Wipe Away That Snowflake From Your Eye" is the winner of the lot, covering lover's rock territory with its spine-tingling chorus and then -- in typical Maldini fashion -- going widescreen and panoramic and diorama and maparium into a dizzying crescendo of horns and distorted guitar. It's the song that all pop will be measured against going forward. Screaming Maldini will release a new EP Dec. 18, and the act has also completed a new video that we wrote about here Saturday.
>> Remember The Henry Clay People, supercool resuscitators of rock & roll, restorers of credibility to Los Angeles as a breeding ground for compelling music in this crazy post-pre-post-pre-post-Van Halen/Jane's Addiction world that we all live in? Well, the quintet is currently touring the U.S. in support of its addictive sophomore full-length Somewhere On The Golden Coast, which was issued June 8 by TBD Records [review]. Said tour will bring the ten-legged rock machine into the Boston market for what promises to be a thrilling headline set at T.T. The Bear's Place Oct. 17. To whet your proverbial whistles The Henry Clay People are offering a free download of the tune "Switch Kids" to all takers, come what may. We don't think the song has ever been properly released before, although it was part of a May 15, 2010 Daytrotter session that you should really download right here. This is a studio recording however, and the verse features the act at perhaps its most aggressive, pounding guitars at octaves like the late great Pilot To Gunner. And then there is a cool, burbling, backwards guitar effect breathing in a caesure at the end of the second minute. Hit the download below, you'll be glad you did. And, look, some promo house has put all of Somewhere On The Golden Coast up on Soundcloud to stream. You should hit that, too.
The Henry Clay People -- "Switch Kids" [right click and save as] [buy Henry Clay People music right here]
>>L.A.-based rock saviors The Henry Clay People are giving away for almost-free another track from the act's rousing new set Somewhere On The Golden Coast, namely the rocker "Slow Burn." The "almost-free" of which we speak refers to the fact that you have to give them your email address: only a minor drag when the payoff is this good. "Slow Burn" strides in on some razory slide guitar and settles into the sort of uptempo strummer upon which The Henry Clay People has built its reputation. What is handy is that in this day and age of gizmos and whatzitz the band has created (or more accurately, Topspin has created for the band) a tasty little embed/widget/black magic devil soul stealer so you can cough up your address right here in the box below rather than surf around to their site to look for the thingy. So yeah, there's a black box below, put your email in it, get some free rock and roll music. We reviewed Somewhere On The Golden Coasthere in May. The Henry Clay People are in the middle of a tour with Silversun Pickups and Against Me! that continues through early August; inspect all the pending dates here.
>> Other thing to watch for No. 1: we'll be giving away on Twitter (follow us @clickyclicky) Wednesday night a Pernice Brothers prize pack that includes a t-shirt, tote bag and, of course, the band's very solid new release Goodbye, Killer. Michael Piantigini reviewed the record here in June.
>> Other thing to watch for No. 2: we've been back and forth with a publicist about Clicky Clicky being one of a bunch of sites hosting viewings of the forthcoming Mogwai movie "Burning." It appears the movie will be released to selected theaters and for sale in late August with a companion album Special Moves: Live In Brooklyn, NY 2009. If things work out you'll be able to screen the movie at Clicky Clicky sometime before this month is out. If you prefer to see "Burning" in a proper movie house and you live in Boston, you can see it at the Brattle Theater Aug. 28. The film will screen in a number of additional North American cities in August and September, and all the dates are posted here.
You'd think after the debacle posting The Henry Clay People's "Your Famous Friends" last week we'd be wary of posting another clip by the band. But you'd be thinking wrong. The L.A.-based act recently performed a live set at Fingertips, which we think is a record store somewhere, and at some point requests were taken, and the result is the awesome video above wherein The Henry Clay People tackle The Replacements' "Can't Hardly Wait" and -- astonishingly -- Operation Ivy's "Knowledge." Check it out. The Henry Clay People will play in Boston June 27 as part of commercial radio broadcaster WFNX's Clam Bake event, the details of which you can peruse here. We reviewed the band's recently released sophomore full-length Somewhere On The Golden Coastright here late last month.
[UPDATED]Best. A big gas-face to The Henry Clay People for advertising the availability of this video this morning or late last night, and then making the video private only after we posted it here. We suspect it is because they gave a certain web site exclusivity on the video release. Either way, we're going to let this post sit here in hopes that it will re-activate in a week or so. In the meantime, go out tomorrow and buy the band's new record, it's full of hot rock songs. We reviewed it here last month.
Making rock music about making rock music is a dangerous game, and a band that attempts it best have the goods lest they be relegated to dung heaps still piled high with '70s cock rock and the output of faceless '80s metaltards. Fortunately the young and exuberant Los Angeles-based rock concern The Henry Clay People has the right amount of hooks, attitude and self-awareness to succeed brilliantly, and -- despite songs about selling guitars to pay rent; about crashing on couches; about Saturday night -- the quartet's forthcoming sophomore full-length Somewhere On The Golden Coast just might save rock 'n' roll from itself for a little while longer (as the similarly 'Mats-inspired The Hold Steady's earth-shaking Separation Sunday did five years ago).
The Henry Clay People's precedent full-length, EP and single hinted at great things, but Somewhere On The Golden Coast exceeds expectations by showing the band, fronted by the wonderfully shouty Joey and Andy Siara, can shift gears and offer more than boozy mid- and uptempo rockers. The opening prologue "Nobody Taught Us To Quit" skips rhythm tracks altogether while aggrandizing the sort of foot-shooting favored by Paul Westerberg. The ballad "A Temporary Fix" similarily ditches the drums in the first verse, and Mr. Siara's aching murmur floats among hair-raising feedback and noise and tremeloed organ. It's a surprising turn for an act best known for foot-stomping bar anthems, which, of course, Somewhere On The Golden Coast touts in spades. In addition to the ace single and EP cuts "This Ain't A Scene" and "Working Part Time," the red-hot "Your Famous Friends" and "Keep Your Eyes Closed" memorably rock with abandon.
To borrow a phrase, the greatest bands create their own mythologies, and The Henry Clay People's Somewhere On The Golden Coast boasts neccessarily short-handed tales whose genesis may or may not be founded in fact. The emphatic expostulation "we got drunk and called in sick whenever we felt like it!" tidily sums up a glory of slackerdom; "If your fancy school put you back in debt, I'd sell my favorite guitar so you can pay your rent" romanticizes trials of the rocker class. By our (unscientific) calculations, the last cool band to come out of Los Angeles was Jane's Addiction, so The Henry Clay People actually aren't only saving rock 'n' roll, but they are also restoring legitimacy to a town whose contributions to indie rock grow ever more remote. Somewhere On The Golden Coast will be issued by TBD Records June 8.
The Henry Clay People -- "Your Famous Friends" -- Somewhere On The Golden Coast [right click and save as] [pre-order Somewhere On The Golden Coast from Amazon right here]
06.08 -- Spaceland -- Los Angeles, CA 06.15 -- Hard Rock Live -- Orlando, FL 06.16 -- Sunset Cove Amphitheater -- Boca Raton, FL 06.18 -- Ritz -- Tampa, FL 06.19 -- The Tabernacle -- Atlanta, GA 06.20 -- The Ritz Theatre -- Raleigh, NC 06.21 -- The National -- Richmond, VA 06.23 -- DAR Constitution Hall -- Washington, DC 06.24 -- Wellmont Theatre -- Montclair, NJ 06.25 -- Williamsburg Waterfront -- Brooklyn, NY 06.27 -- House Of Blues -- Boston, MA 06.28 -- Penn's Landing -- Philadelphia, PA 06.29 -- The Sound Academy -- Toronto, Ontario 07.02 -- The Fillmore Detroit -- Detroit, MI 07.03 -- Aragon Ballroom -- Chicago, IL 07.04 -- Summerfest -- Milwaukee, WI 07.16 -- Hard Rock Hotel -- Las Vegas, NV 07.17 -- Marquee Theater -- Tempe, AZ 07.19 -- Stubb's -- Austin, TX 07.20 -- Warehouse Live -- Houston, TX 07.21 -- Palladium Ballroom -- Dallas, TX 07.24 -- Live on the Levee -- St. Louis, MO 07.26 -- The Fillmore Auditorium -- Denver, CO 07.27 -- The Rail -- Salt Lake City, UT 07.29 -- Crystal Ballroom -- Portland, OR 07.31 -- The Paramount Theatre -- Seattle, WA 08.07 -- Soma -- San Diego, CA 10.09 -- Austin City Limits -- Austin, TX
LA-based indie rock saviors The Henry Clay People will issue their long-awaited third full-length June 22. The five-year-old foursome, anchored by brothers Joey and Andy Siara, layer a southern California cool over the sort of bar-wrecking sounds of mid-period Replacements. Perhaps there is a sort of wink and nod in the direction of Pavement's straighter stuff circa Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but frankly we don't hear that too much. What we do hear is the sort of vibrant, catchy and unpretentious rock music that should have a universal appeal. You like Springsteen or The Hold Steady? You'll like these guys. Somewhere On The Golden Coast packs 11 songs into just a bit more than 30 minutes. You can listen to it while hashing out who has to get up and walk to the gas station for the next 12-pack.
>> [Photo Credit: Scott Schultz] We downloaded a handful of tunes from Los Angeles indie rockers The Henry Clay People recently [probably via ExitFare] and every time one of said songs shuffles up we have to grab our IPod to identify who's rocking us. The quartet, fronted by the Siara brothers Joey and Andy, will release release next week its sophomore set For Cheap Or For Free on Aquarium Drunkard's Autumn Tone label. The record was recorded in a number of different studios around Los Angeles with folks including the very personable Dave Newton, he formerly of The Mighty Lemon Drops and he whose acquaintance we made while visiting The Hush Now's recording sessions in Charlestown, Mass. earlier this year. We see a lot of Pavement references made to The Henry Clay People's sound, but that doesn't quite get to the heart of it, as the latter act isn't nearly as cracked as the former. But The Henry Clay People are certainly very good, and apparently put on a dynamite and inebriated live show. So what's not to like? The act has a number of West Coast tour dates booked through next week, so if you are a left coaster, check out the list at The Henry Clay People MySpace dojo right here. Below are two tracks from the forthcoming set; "Working Part Time" was previously released as a single.
The Henry Clay People -- "Working Part Time" -- For Cheap Or For Free The Henry Clay People -- "Something In The Water" -- For Cheap Or For Free [right click and save as] [pre-order For Cheap Or For Free from Autumn Tone right here]
>> Here's something we did not know. Doghouse Records is reissuing The Get Up Kids' debut Four Minute Mile on vinyl. The set, which was originally released by the now defunct act in 1997, will be available on blue vinyl from December 9. This all according to a Pun Canoes item right here. We've got mixed feelings about the records the renowned Midwestern emo quintet released following Four Minute Mile. But in our humble opinion -- which we've offered previously here -- its caterwauling emo classic "The Last Place You Look" [live video here] is is one of the top jams of the late '90s, up there with all your "Misunderstood" and "Paranoid Android" and "You Talk Twice" and whatnot. You can pre-order The Get Up Kids reissue from Amazon.com right here for about 13 bucks.
>> We're no huge Ryan Adams fan, but we have loved all the big songs ("Let It Ride," "Come Pick Me Up," etc.) from the big records, as well as few choice Whiskeytown cuts. And so lately we've been listening to the new Adams jam "Cobwebs" a lot. It gives us goosebumps. Mr. Adams and his Cardinals performed the track as the web bonus to the Letterman show the other night, and we think this link will take you straight to the clip. Totally worth rocking it.
