New Jersey duo Slow Animal deliver fuzzed up blasts of washed out slacker-surf rock that sounds like they've been intravenously fed The Velvet Underground, Pavement and The Beach Boys since birth. Check out 'Sitting Here' another song that's made it onto the unfeasibly large list of contenders for the Devil's top 10 of the year.
Go Try
MP3 - Slow Animal - Sitting Here This track is linked direct from the Slow Animal Last.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please don't claim breach of copyright
I'm back from my brief encounter with the real world and glad to be able to relaunch my quest to bring you the best in music you've probably never heard of with some great news from my pals at MP3Hugger. In their never ceasing mission to bring lost classics to an indifferent world the irrepressible Kevin Hugger will be resurrecting Dublin's The Sewing Room sometime later this month via his label Indiecater. Trust me this is one reissue that you don't want to miss. With ex members of The Stars of Heaven (Stan Erraught), Hey Paulette! (Eamonn Davis And Colm Fitzpatrick) and Wilder (Dez Foley) The Sewing Room were the closest that Dublin got to a John Peel approved indie super group.
With a sound that pitched it's tent somewhere in the vicinity of The Velvet Underground and Felt their failure to achieve even a modicum of public attention is a mystery that even Sherlock Holmes would struggle to solve.
If you can't wait for the Indiecator release then here are a couple of Sewing Room tracks to tide you over. Go Try
MP3 - The Sewing Room - Kill Me MP3 - The Sewing Room - Stop The Rain These tracks are linked direct from the Sewing Rooms Last.FM site and are therefore already freely available so please don't claim breach of copyright Go Visit
take a trip to the Independent Records website where you can download two (yes that's two) albums from Stan Erraught's previous band The Stars Of Heaven free of charge.
check out Eamonn Davis And Colm Fitzpatrick's previous band Hey Paulette!...
check out Eamonn and Dez Foley's post Sewing Room combo Crumb...
New York quartet Murder Mystery started out as a lo-fi indie band in thrall to The Velvet Underground, they're named after a VU track, Pavement and Sleater Kinney. Following the viral success of the retro electro twee cross over 'Lover Astronaut' they've gone through a conversion to rival that of St Paul. With the enthusiasm of the recent convert they're producing shiny, summery electro pop like it's going out of fashion.
The latest results of their efforts are light and easy on the ear. 'Change My Mind' sounds like the early jaunty, fresh faced incarnation of Depeche Mode covering the Cure. On I Am If You Are they sound like they've picked Stereolab's pocket and sold the proceeds to the Cardigans.
Murder Mystery's new songs may not have the charm and substance of their earlier stuff but they're bright and breezy and a perfect companion for a hot summers day.
Castanets From: Rip City, United States I'm embarrassed to say that, despite having been an interested bystander in the U.S. freak folk scene centred around Devendra Banhart I'd never really picked up on experimental one-man band Castanets.
Composed of Raymond Raposa and any number of session musicians he could persuade to join him for his albums and performances, Castanets was a prominent member of the U.S. freak folk scene of the early noughties. However Raposa has refused to be bound by such restrictive labels and has since created a back catalogue that fuses the avant garde with the traditional, the modern with the historical.
Castanets is the sound of the Velvet Underground making music from the entrails of Animal Collective and cuttings from Devendra Banhart's beard and I'm rapidly catching up with his back catalogue. I suggest those of you who have not yet succumbed to the delights of Castanets do so too. Go Try
MP3 - Castanets - Worn From The Fight (With Fireworks) This track is linked direct from the Asthmatic Kitty website and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
