Tag Archives: Indie

New The Acorn Video is AMAZING

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(Song [AND VIDEO] of the Day – 4/3/08)

Well, the saucy fuckshow that is Pitchfork Media did something nice for me yesterday. While I almost never agree with their record reviews, their news section is a great way to get into the more “industry side” of indie music. Sometimes they even share something of great merit and talent. The Acorn is such a creation.

I heard The Acorn in 2006. Their song “Dents” was just one of those inspired and honest tracks that drew me in. I really didn’t expect their next work to be a mammoth concept project.

If you know me, you know I drool over nasty motion graphics. An aspiring post-production artist, I always love to see someone work hard to make visually stunning companions to great music. It’s obvious a talented and energetic team really exerted themselves here. From what I hear they have done videos for Broken Social Scene and Modest Mouse… so there’s your cred right there.

Here’s “Dents” as well as some MP3’s from their latest album (Glory Hope Mountain). Throw those on your ipod for now. First, watch the video for “The Flood, Pt. 1”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2XREBNiDZE[/youtube]

MP3: The Acorn – “The Flood Pt. 1”
MP3: The Acorn – “Crooked Legs”
MP3: The Acorn – “Dents”

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THE ACORN IS TOURING: hit the jump for dates and venues…

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Song of the Day – 4/2/08

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This here is a one-man outfit. For me, making songs is like building houses. And I’m not very good with a hammer, and you might be able to tell if you’re a carpenter, but I’ll be goddamned if you can’t live in it when it’s done.

I’d like to begin by saying Black Bear is one of the most original and intellectual acts I’ve encountered in a long while. Like any other great album I’ve ever heard, this one slid almost divinely into my hands. I was immediately drawn into its electronic nature, irregular song structures and the use of an awesomely heavy and hollow bass drum, but I was hooked by the brilliant use of imagery.

Sam Beebe, the one man behind the magic, does for music what ekphrasis does for a painting. He can play the omniscient narrator or the close friend. Listening to Black Bear’s album, The Cinnamon Phase, is like secretly reading a stranger’s diary–it’s as if we were never meant to hear his thoughts.

The sonic component of this album is vast and varied. Sometimes the music is a blissful melody with Beebe singing in and out. Other times, like on “Like Venice” we are literally listening to a story, Beebe the speaker–prose the lyric. Please enjoy the album and I urge you to go out and find more about the man, whose mind is surely a rare one.

MP3: Black Bear – “I Believe in Immediacy”

 Here are some more:

MP3: Black Bear – “Like Venice”

MP3: Black Bear – “Black Bear”

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Buy The Cinnamon Phase: Amazon | Baskerville Hill for $12!

Song of the Day – 3/21/08

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WORD: “Hi this is Carl from Arrah and the Ferns. Thanks for the kind words, i’m glad you liked it. I just wanted to let you and everyone know that, sadly, we just broke up and will not be releasing a sophopmore album. We’re all continuing to make music in various other projects. Check out our myspace blogs for more info.thanks again, it means a lot
carl.”

Looking at upcoming releases this year, I realized that the sophomore album by Muncie, Indiana’s own Arrah & the Ferns would be dropping in just two months. It was good reason to get their 2006 debut, Evan is a Vegan, back out and give it a listen. I forgot how happy this is.

Arrah & the Ferns enjoyed limited commercial success afterwards, but maintained a satisfying impact on the music community with their upbeat indie-pop. Co-Lead singer Arrah Fisher’s voice is exactly that sound whose sonic structure makes the corners of your lips curl and injects a bit of sunshine in yr step.

The sound of a Rhodes is the perfect accompaniment to Fisher’s poetic lyrics as well as the swelling mandolins and guitars that bring the folk element cleanly into the mix. Not to be understated, Arrah and the Ferns are more than just a pop group. Pay attention to the subtleties and be rewarded. On the whole, Evan is a Vegan is not the contemplative, philosophical breakthrough that the world needs to hear, but its optimism, energy and wonder make it the perfect album to fill that “Boner Jamz 08: Happy Sunshine Rainbows” mixtape you want to give to your cute quazi-indie hipster girlcrush who works at that one coffee shop…

I loved Evan is a Vegan and can’t wait for May 2008’s All The Bad In One Place.

MP3: Arrah and the Ferns – “Science Books”

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MP3: Arrah and the Ferns – “Bernadette”

MP3: Arrah and the Ferns – “Emo Phillips”

Here’s a video of em on Letterman:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaYRKH-4cig[/youtube]