Today's Hotness: Big Deal, Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson, The Nimbleines

>> [Photo Credit: Malia James] Internationally sourced and London-based indie rock duo Big Deal disclosed earlier this week that it will release a sophomore set, June Gloom, June 4th. Which, you know, thank God it's actually being released in June, because, duh, am I right? If the spelling-challenged preview track "Teradactol" that first appeared online in November is any indication, the new collection promises a new, noisier and louder sound for the heretofore relatively reserved pair of Kacey Underwood and Alice Costello. June Gloom was produced by Rory Attwell, whose credentials include production work for Yuck as well as the recently released triumph from London's Veronica Falls. Underwood and Costelloe are abetted in the creation of the record by drummer Melissa Rigby (according to SPIN) and an unidentified bass player, yet another indicator that the softly forlorn Big Deal that first revealed itself with the skeletal and haunting single "Homework," released by Records Records Records in 2010, is a thing of the past. Or at least not quite so softly forlorn. June Gloom will be released by Mute and touts 12 tracks in total, and you can stream and download "Teradactol" via the Soundcloud embed below. A video for the first single from June Gloom has been filmed and, according to Big Deal's Facebook page, it will be unveiled soon. The duo's enchanting first full-length Lights Out was released via Mute in the US in January 2012, and we kicked its tires for readers right here.



>> Oslo-based emo heroes Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson this week relayed news that its 2005 debut Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City has been remastered and will be reissued in March on 180g vinyl by Doognad Records, also based in Norway. The set is available in a limited edition of 250 black LPs, and fans can get one via Doognad's Big Cartel dojo right here for the princely sum of 20 Euros, which according to the Googles Saturday afternoon equals USD $26.76. We're not saying Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town... on 180g vinyl isn't worth that kind of coin, we're just reporting here, folks. According to a Facebook post, the record was remastered by Will Killingsworth at Amherst, Mass.'s own Dead Air Studios. Older and hipper Clicky Clicky readers may recognize Mr. Killingsworth's name from his years playing guitar with screamo giants Orchid (readers may also recall Bedroom Eyes and Best Practices have both made exemplary records at Dead Air). Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson's most recent release, the 10" EP Small Changes We Hardly Notice, was released last summer and included the stunning opener "All I Remember Is Punk Rock." The set was one of our favorite releases of the year (although, as we got it on vinyl, its aggregate ITunes playcount didn't rate the EP for inclusion in our 2012 year-end list). Small Changes We Hardly Notice was issued domestically by emo powerhouse Count Your Lucky Stars Records -- keep your fingers crossed that the label might get some stock of the reissue of Unnoticable, so you don't have to eat some pesky international shipping. Since it is one of the greatest things since sliced bread, stream the tune "All I Can Remember Is Punk Rock" via the Soundcloud embed below. If you'd like to listen to the old master of Unnoticeable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City, it is available for streaming right here at Bandcamp.



>> There is a slippery but quantifiable charm to the debut digital single from the new oddball electropop duo The Nimbleines, who recently revealed themselves via the 12" extended mix of the tune "Let's Play Leaving." The song traverses some varied terrain while hewing closely to some familiar touchstones, laying in gentle vocals, synths and electric rhythm tracks that at different times echo vintage DEVO or Yo La Tengo's "Year Of The Shark." Even with the synth and programmed beats there is a lo-fi aura to the tune that gives it an earthy appeal; The Nimbleines certainly are not taking a sterile approach to the production values, something that we appreciate. The band is comprised of Boston musician and music journo Jonathan Donaldson, who some may know from his work from the delightfully quirky guitar act The I Want You, and Columbus, OH-based James Goodman, a fellow heretofore unknown to Clicky Clicky. The Nimbleines characterize themselves and an electropop/psych act, and its Facebook page indicates a full-length is planned. We don't feel the psych stewing on "Let's Play Leaving," just light, hooky, '80s-referencing synth-pop, so we'll be curious to hear more from the pair. In the meantime, the delicate hooks that cycle through the verse and chorus of "Let's Play Leaving" will give your ears plenty to contend with. Stream and download the tune via the Soundcloud embed below.

Today's Hotness: Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson, Sun Airway, Michael Quinn

>> We only discovered it about 12 hours ago (as of this writing Friday night), but we're already on our seventh listen to the massive forthcoming 10" EP from Norway's towering post-rock heroes, Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson. The Oslo-based septet's new collection Small Changes We Hardly Notice, exclusively premiered at Alternative Press here Friday, touts four spine-tingling numbers that deftly synthesize orchestral post-rock sounds with desperate and beautiful, classic midwestern-styled emo. Earnest and intense opener "All I Remember Is Punk Rock" pairs punchy rhythm tracks with shimmering guitars and reverbed horns and strings, but it is the powerfully evocative vocals that will unleash cascades of goosebumps across the listener's skin as gears shift, crescendos blossom, cymbals tear across the top of the mix, horns call like far-off sirens. It's mind-blowing; it's what you wish Built To Spill or Modest Mouse sounded like in this millenium, instead of what they've been doing (you know you do). We last heard from Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson way back in 2010, when the collective issued a self-titled sophomore set that we wrote about right here. Small Changes We Hardly Notice is being released domestically by Count Your Lucky Star Records, which is taking pre-orders for an August release right here. The Count Your Lucky Stars release is in a limited edition of 500 discs, 150 black and 350 electric blue, that come packaged with a download code. We found an embed of the opening track at Soundcloud (which we hope is legitimately posted there, guys), so do yourself a favor and stream "All I Remember Is Punk Rock" below, and then click over to Count Your Lucky Stars to pre-order the full-release.



>> Long-time readers will recall that we thoroughly enjoyed Pennslvania's scruffy, under-appreciated The A-Sides, a combo that burst out of Scranton in 2005 with a peppy, mod-sprung sound hard to resist. After two full-lengths (the second released by Vagrant), the band splintered and principal members Jon Barthmus and Patrick Marsceill formed futurepop concern Sun Airway, a band also familiar to these electronic pages. We are pleased by recent news that that musical concern will issue Oct. 2 a second full-length of its own titled Soft Fall. The set, which we expect will be packed with gentle electropop boasting big, radio-ready hooks and gauzy atmosphere, will be released by Dead Oceans and a preview track, "Close," surfaced 10 days ago; it has already garnered some 25,000 streams on SoundCloud, and we've embedded the dreamer below. It commences with a revved-up snare drum and faraway but insistent staccato guitar riff before Barthmus layers in syrupy vocals; the sum total could almost be mistaken for some sort of Top 40, Hollywood stadium production. However, a liberal application of plush synths and other tasteful trappings steer "Close" firmly toward the happily emotive, Ecstasy-approved vibes of later New Order, circa their 2001 comeback Get Ready. Sun Airway don't forget their previous '60s influences, either, allowing "Close" to lapse into flashes of psychedelia via some backward guitar noodling and soft cooing. It all makes us eager to hear the entirety of Soft Fall, which you can pre-order from Dead Oceans right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> When we last heard from Michael Quinn he was doing his rootsy indie rock thing in Scranton (that's two blurbs referencing Scranton in a row! Amazing!); he released that Steely Dan cover at the beginning of the year and a year ago he issued a full-length Magico. Mr. Quinn recently got in touch to share his new collection Youngs. The set features recordings Quinn made in the last couple years with collaborators including players from his prior bands Okay Paddy -- which released one of our favorite records of 2006 -- and ...And The Moneynotes. Youngs is a varied set that is perhaps more rock-oriented than Quinn's prior work (we swear there is a sort-of perceptible Joe Walsh thing going on here in a couple places); it also touts a stronger focus on groove, from the strangely electro rhythm of "Hippie Girl" to the jab-and-thump of "Roomy." The clear album highlight is the swinging and melodic, mid-tempo album opener "Ring-in." It's an incredibly pleasing romp with ear-catching vocal melodies, a guitar rave-up just past the two-minute mark, and a recurring and odd little melodic reference to James Taylor's "Your Smiling Face." Youngs is intended in a sense to clear the decks, as Quinn recently relocated to California and is currently in the process of formulating a new band with which to seek auditory nirvana. The album was released via Bandcamp July 2; stream "Ring-in" via the embed below and then click over to grab the entire set.

Be Prepared: Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson | Self-titled | 1st March

Above is the art for the magnificent sophomore full-length from Oslo-based post-rock standouts Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson. The act enlivens the increasingly tired post-rock formula by blending in the urgency and immediacy of second-wave emo; think Christie Front Drive and Mineral (one of the songs from the new album curiously references Weston, too, although we don't hold them in quite the same esteem). The seven-year-old septet's Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson is a limited edition double-disc set packaged in an A5-format, 32-page hardcover book in one of four colors (as above, as well as green, white and grey). The first disc is subtitled "Puzzle," and the second "The Detective."

The new music, the band's first since its 2005 debut Unnoticable In A Tiny Town, Invisible In The City, will be issued 1 March by How Is Annie Records. It costs 19 Euros and How Is Annie accepts Paypal; the latest exchange rate makes that $25.87 in U.S. currency. Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson offered a free preview track late in 2009 via its MySpace dojo. It is the closing track to the "Puzzle" disc, "To Sit Down Or To Follow, So I Follow," which we have taken the liberty of posting below. The stirring, elegiac track has a wonderful, subdued middle section with cello and shouting buried in the mix that is very compelling.

Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson -- "To Sit Down Or To Follow, So I Follow" -- Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson
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