If the forests made music, it would sound like Colorado’s Candy Claws. The duo of Ryan Hover and Kay Bertholf, which expands to a thicket of musicians when they tour, trade in lush, intricately arranged orchestral pop with vocals so hushed you need to wait for the wind to die down to hear them. They’ve taken the nature thing seriously — their sophomore album “Hidden Lands,” out last week, is intended as a musical companion to Richard M. Ketchum’s illustrated book “The Secret Life of the Forest.” Even without that volume, though, it’s pretty rapturous, especially with the headphones on. A chorus of leaves, rustling.
Missouri-born, Denver-based singer-songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff pens songs as provocative as novels, thick with details, characters and unexpected twists. His new album “In Memory of Loss,” out now on Rounder Records, is a collection of vivid memories and naked words about the future, produced by Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Califone). Sparse, organic instrumentation and gorgeous harmonies sit carefully behind Rateliff’s wistful voice, a strange and familiar combination that sits somewhere between Cat Stevens and Bill Callahan. No longer performing as Nathaniel Rateliff & the Wheel, he’s quickly gaining a reputation as a powerful performer who can silence a crowded house with his first few notes. Catch him and his 5-piece touring band this Thursday night at the Echo.
Top 3 reasons to go out tonight (after watching “Paul McCartney: In Performance at the White House” on KCET at 8):
☛ Laura Marling, the U.K. folk singer who’s nominated for a Mercury Music Prize for her sterling sophomore album “I Speak Because I Can,” plays the El Rey Theatre. That’s her video for “Rambling Man,” above.
☛ It’ll be formidable back catalog vs. good new album at the Gibson Amphipheatre, where Squeeze play behind their new release “Spot the Difference.” Old-school fans seem to always want the hits, y’know?
☛ And up in the Buzz Bands neighborhood, it’s Vanaprasta and Robotanists at LaBrie’s in Glendale.
The new single from Kisses — the collaboration between Princeton’s Jess Kivel and his girlfriend Zinzi Edmundson — is even better than the first (which we took a shine to back in March). “People Can Do the Most Amazing Things” (out next week digitally and on 7-inch vinyl on IAMSOUND Records) is a sleek, simmering Euro-pop number that reminds me a bit of Stephin Merritt’s work as Future Bible Heroes, or of a lesser-known duo from my dusty archives, Vitesse (recommended: “Chelsea 27099″). Kivel’s world-weary deadpan seems buoyed by twinkling keyboards, but the biggest conundrum for me is: When he sings the song’s title statement, is he being earnest or jaded? Kisses are planning a full-length album by the end of the year. Color me eager.
With too much music for the incredible shrinking record industry to nurture, artists are increasingly turning to fan-funded strategies to help get their work manufactured and marketed..
Add disco-funk quartet Casxio, indie-rockers the Deadly Syndrome [that's their new Aurelien Levitan-directed video for "Armrest," above"] and singer-songwriter Bleu to the list of artists trying to finance their new projects through campaigns at Kickstarter.com, a website that allows donors to put their money where other people’s ideas are.
[Raising a glass to Juliana Hatfield on her birthday ...]
Five mp3s, with tonight’s corresponding shows:
☛ Polls, “Executive Treats.” The L.A. noise-pop trio celebrates its EP release at the Bootleg Theater. [See last week's feature for more.]
☛ Jesca Hoop, “Feast of the Heart” (e-mail required). The songstress and former Tom Waits nanny celebrates the release of her very compelling new album, “Hunting My Dress,” with a show at the Hotel Cafe.
☛ Bear in Heaven, “Lovesick Teenagers” (via Pitchfork). The Brooklyn buzz band headlines the Echo.
☛ Phosphorescent, “The Mermaid Parade.” The Brooklyn purveyors of heartbreaking twang (that’s Matthew Houck, pictured) headline the Troubadour.
☛ The Monthlies, “Still Life” (e-mail required). The L.A. quartet celebrates the release of its new “Horror Flick” EP by playing tonight’s installment of the International Pop Overthrow festival at Spaceland.
Your tastes may vary: Conor O’Brien, the frontman of the Mercury Prize nominee Villagers, does a solo set at Hotel Cafe. … Also: Midnight Juggernauts at [click to continue…]
It’s been two-plus years since I happily stumbled uponFuneral Party at the Echo, and more than a year since I talked to James Torres about how fast the L.A. quintet was growing up. Since then, they’ve been busy — polishing their previously DIY sound, preparing their debut album “Golden Age of Nowhere” (which won’t be out until January on RCA) and touring relentlessly, including a spring U.K. trip with Surfer Blood and a current cross-country jaunt with New Politics. If you couldn’t tell by the bold statement of their early cowbell-addled single “New York City Moves to the Sound of LA,” Funeral Party makes urgent dance-punk with a decidedly East L.A. snarl. The first single is a throbbing number called “Finale” — let it rip.
||| Live: Funeral Party plays tonight at the Viper Room. And they’ll be doing a residency at the Bootleg Theater in September.
||| Download: After the jump, trade your e-mail for “Finale”: [click to continue…]
To say that I am not much of a dance-music guy would be an understatement. But the opening of the Robyn/Kelis “All Hearts” tour on Friday night at the Music Box — which old pal Lina Lecaro tells me was attended by a lot of gay men — was one impressive display of disco dynamite.
[Re-posting this because some gremlins seem to have invaded the original — sorry.]
Top 3 reasons tonight is like Friday:
☛ Local dance-punks Funeral Party (album coming in early ’11; background here), on tour with Danish rockers New Politics, play the Viper Room. And if New Politics singer David Boyd has half the moves he displays in the “Yeah Yeah Yeah” video, above, it could be a dynamite show.
☛ Aussie dance-rock trio Midnight Juggernauts (see the video) hit the Echo behind their new album “The Crystal Axis.”
☛ And reasons 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d: July’s residencies wind up, with Summer Darling at Spaceland, Mississippi Man at the Echo, the Outline at the Bootleg Theater and Yellow Red Sparks at the Silverlake Lounge.
Past writing in the print edition of the L.A. Times here.
The old Buzz Bands blog here.
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Quote du Jour
"Much popular music is hollow professionalism – musicians and record producers recycling ideas and styles most likely to sell records. The memorable artists redefine the boundaries, either through blinding originality or by looking with unbending honesty at their deepest fears and grandest dreams."
