Last night, I threw on Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson’s (I know, it’s a mouthful) self titled LP, an album I ripped blindly from my college radio station. Expecting that I would quietly fall asleep to the album, I found myself captivated from start to finish. The RIYL tag on the album at the station had read “Bob Dylan” so naturally I expected some traditional folk. But what greeted my ears was a superb mix of lo-fi psychedelic folk and intimate acoustic songs (think The Microphones’ The Glow Pt. 2). The album features guest appearances by Chris Taylor & Christopher Bear of Grizzly Bear and Kyp Malone of TV On The Radio and their influence is apparent in the powerful vocal layering and awesome production. Though only vaguely similar in sound, I am reminded of Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago in regards to this album sheer emotional power coupled with fantastic songwriting. It’s not hard to understand where the intense emotional performance comes from when you read Robinson’s biography (available here), which includes drug addiction, homelessness, and cross country migration. Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is one of the most exciting albums of the year and I urge fans of Conor Oberst, The Microphones, Bon Iver or Grizzly Bear to check out the album. Robinson is currently on tour with Swedish indie pop sensation Lykke Li (who I will be featuring later this week) in the States and he is going to put out another album next year, produced by Kyp Malone, so look out for both! “Woodfriend” is a gritty lo-fi rock out with incredible vocal work while “The Debtor” and “Written Over” are examples of Robinson’s pop sensibility with their combination of raw acoustic licks and bouncy piano.

mp3: “The Debtor”
mp3: “Woodfriend”
mp3: “Written Over”

Myspace | iTunes | Say Hey Records

 

Pretty much all of us at Indie Muse grew up on Ben Folds. There is no question that we are always going to treasure the music he used to produce. Not sure what happened along the way (one hypothesis: he’s old), but opportunity cost laws dictate that his new album, Way To Normal, is not worth your time. Go listen to anything before Songs for Silverman instead. Actually, Songs for Silverman, is a pretty good album, especially compared to this. So go listen to that. Basically, anything but Way to Normal.

That doesn’t mean he can’t still produce a catchy song, though. “You Don’t Know Me (featuring Regina Spektor)” is going to be stuck in my head for the weeks to come.

Way To Normal (2008):

Ben Folds – You Don’t Know Me (featuring Regina Spektor)

Rockin the Suburbs (2001)

Ben Folds – The Ascent of Stan

Whatever and Ever Amen (1997):

Ben Folds Five – Battle of Who Could Care Less

Bonus:

Ben Folds – Bitches Ain’t Shit

The Bens – Just Pretend (Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, Ben Lee)

Let me start by admitting that I am not nearly as familiar with Calexico as I should be. Strangely, my first experience with the band was when a couple years back I asked my dad if he had ever heard of an album called Feast Of Wire and to my surprise, my dad responded with “yeah, by Calexico?” I had heard the album name dropped multiple times on “essentials” lists and was interested to find out more. Apparently, despite his all but exclusively classic music collection, my dad really dug on Calexico’s Spanish influenced alternative country/folk jams and he gave me Feast Of Wire, which I listened to maybe once but didn’t particularly like it (though in retrospect, I don’t think I had as much of a soft spot for acoustic folk as I do now). Enter 2008: David and I are in the studio at our college radio station when I spot Calexico’s new album Carried To Dust. Fueled by my desperate need for new music, I ripped the album so I could finally maybe get what all the fuss about Calexico was. A week later, I think I’ve figured the fuss out.

Carried To Dust is a beautifully crafted album in Calexico’s traditional vein of Spanish and country influenced folk, written by primary members and chief songwriters Joey Burns and John Convertino. The first two tracks are absolutely breathtaking. “Víctor Jara’s Hands” sets the tone immediately with its Spanish lyrics, dirty southern guitar line and a sexy brass line. “Two Silver Trees” is more simplistic with its use of chimes that mimic the vocal melodies, but the swelling tremolo guitar under the beautiful vocal harmonization on the line “two silver trees” could bring one to tears. “Writer’s Minor Holiday” swings back and forth on its catchy rhythm beneath guitarist/vocalist Joey Burn’s smokey drawl. And while most of the music borders on the sing along folk of the Mountain Goats with a dash of Summerteeth-esque alternative country, “Inspiración” is an unashamed Spanish dance number. From start to finish, the album is truly a fantastic piece of art and undoubtedly one of the best of the year. Luckily, my enthusiasm with Carried To Dust lead me to another Calexico related gem, Iron & Wine and Calexico’s collaboration for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Dark Eyes” for the film I’m Not There, which I included as a bonus. So check out Carried To Dust and check Calexico’s website to see if they are coming near you during their tour this winter!

mp3: “Two Silver Trees”

mp3: “Writer’s Minor Holiday”

mp3: Iron & Wine With Calexico- “Dark Eyes [Bob Dylan cover]”

 

After much deliberation, we’ve decided to implement a new feature on Indie Muse, where we are going to dedicate a post to an under-appreciated animal every month.

Let’s face it. Some animals out there really suck. Nobody is going to try argue that a rat is a cooler animal than a dog–except for me. And that’s the point of this feature.  There are a lot of really redeeming things about rats.  I would even go as far as saying rats are to “indie music” what dogs are to mainstream music…and that’s coming from someone who hates rats (and loves indie music).

This first feature isn’t dedicated to rats, though, because rats are a rare exception, and really do suck. It’s dedicated to monsters.

Now you are probably thinking 1 of 2 things:

1) “Oh no, monsters!!!”

2) “Wait a minute, monsters aren’t real!”

If you are thinking 2 (good job), you can skip to response 2.

1) You are an animalist! How do you hate something that doesn’t exist?!

2) You are right, monsters aren’t real. So why do they get such a bad wrap? Think how it must feel to be a monster, and have everybody always bashing you for no good reason.

Anyway, really just wanted to share these songs with you. So I guess this ones for you monsters.

5 Tracks entitled “Monsters.”

Band of Horses – Monsters

Electric President – Monsters

Forest City Lovers – Monsters

The Boy Least Likely To – Monsters

The Microphones – Monsters

A week ago, fellow indiemuse writer Dave and I went to see Chicago math rock up and comers Maps & Atlases (who we interviewed and hope to have posted within the next week!). Although openers Rahim really didn’t wow me much, Oregon based labelmates Nurses arguably almost stole the show with their surreal performance. Nurses is three fellows who create a unique blend of reverb drenched indie pop that almost hints at the freak folk genre given to bands like Animal Collective. On stage, the three members played a set of wild ballads driven by bouncy piano, strange loops and samples, and eerie yet strangely catchy vocal harmonies. Their performance was truly awe-inspiring and I urge you all to catch them if they ever stop by your area. Although the band only has one LP out on Sargent House, the material they played on tour will be featured on their upcoming LP Apple’s Acre, due out early next year. Luckily you can hear 4 demos from the album on their myspace so check it out and keep an eye out for Apple’s Acre next year!

mp3: “Technicolor”

mp3: “Lita!”