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Follow your only instinct

9 Feb

The day glows warmly. It’s sunny, but the woods cause the sunlight to create dull shadows even at midday. There’s a lonely cabin near a creek. During the winter months, the chimney pumps out smoke from the fireplace, but it’s not winter yet, so all is silent. The air is cool, a breeze causes the trees to sigh. The cabin is hollow, cavernous even, without furniture or many walls. In the middle of the room are instruments and amps and sheets of music, all carelessly piled atop one another. This is the hypothetical space where Colorado Youth conceived their debut album, Only Instinct.

This is a cohesive folk album, but it often feels like more than that. One of my favorite tracks is “Fare You Well,” a soft four minute melody. Other tracks are louder, with fuller swells of guitars and brusque vocals, but still others are stripped down and acoustic. Listen closely and you may even catch a banjo.  Only Instinct’s opening track, “Tricks,” sets the tone with a slow-burning intro, a choral refrain, and eventually a taste of the true form that Colorado Youth exhibits. Powerful vocals demand to know, “is it just my mind playing tricks on me?” We’re being had, you and me both.

Only Instinct is out now. For more information, visit Colorado Youth on Facebook.

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Gee, no wonder, Jack + Eliza release debut EP

28 Jan

jack + eliza

Think of all the famous duos you can. Who do you come up with? The White Stripes, The Kills, Batman and Robin. Simple, yet effective teams that gave their all so effectively, you’d have expected more people to have been involved. Our latest talented twosome: Jack + Eliza.

There’s a dusky nostalgia in Jack + Eliza (…though I may just associate the thought of summer with nostalgia because I’m writing this as the northeast is ravaged by an enormous blizzard). Their debut EP was released last summer, and is exactly the sunny disposition everyone (except LA) really needs right now. Aside from the light and bright melodies, I also really love the earnest youth in their voices and lyrics. Think of Jack + Eliza as Best Coast’s younger sibling. That comparison works sonically as well, with their songs generally being upbeat and reverb-laden. All around, feel-good tunes.

Their No Wonders EP is out now. For more information on Jack + Eliza, visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud.

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Silent Partner makes some noise

27 Jan

I love music. I know that seems obvious, but bear with me for a moment. One of my passions is discovering new music, but I also love sharing it, hence this article and the many I’ve written up until now. I could not live without music, or sounds in general. I would have a very hard time if I was suddenly struck deaf. Which brings me to the subject of this article, Tom the Lion’s “Silent Partner.” The video for the track shows a woman signing along with the lyrics in a manner that I can only describe as heartbreaking.

Rebecca Withey is herself hearing impaired, and she does an incredible job emoting throughout this clip. There is an overwhelming amount of silence felt throughout, despite the track swelling and cascading with rhythm and feeling for four minutes. The minute-long intro watches Withey stare silently back at you, but the vocals don’t provide any relief. Withey lip-syncs along to very few of the lines in the song, and even then she is not loud. She is forlorn, her gestures exact. (The continuity editing of this video is superb.) Though the song isn’t necessarily about being deaf, this video is a perfect intersection of theme and emotion. The song would be tragic without the video, and vice versa, but paired together they become something more.

“Silent Partner” is from Tom the Lion’s Sleep LP, which is out now. For more information, visit Tom the Lion’s website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Soundcloud.

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Newly Nulabee

26 Jan

I am anti-Disney. I don’t understand people who insist on watching Disney movies repeatedly as grown adults, and never has that craze been so popular than with this Frozen nonsense. I might watch Mulan sometimes, but the only reason will be because there is a child in the room or because I am playing a Mulan drinking game. Something I can’t get enough of, though: Pogo. I only knew him as the Disney remix dude until I began working at my college radio station, then I realized he remixes much more than just Disney movies. The soft vocal cuts are like cotton in your ears, and the sounds he pulls together are so tender that everything he makes I just want to cradle in my arms. A new French artist, Nulabee, takes on the same idea, though does not aim to be so saccharine.

There is a certain weight in all three of Nulabee’s newest tracks. I’ve noticed a pattern where most of the lines end on a lower note than they began; this is apparent in the Holly Drummond remix, which also features somber vocals. Nulabee’s “Fade” is a great reinvention, with more layers than the original. Nulabee is adept at taking what he needs, highlighting it, and renewing it for his own gain. The samples of Kimbra’s “Settle Down” prove this point in “Down with Me.” Samples are strung together with a quick and coherent bassline in “Glitter,” though I can’t place their origin. That doesn’t make it any less his own, though, weaving his own signature into the bits that he’s re-appropriated.

Find more information on Nulabee on his Facebook, Twitter, and Soundcloud.

I went, I saw, I listened: Sego

23 Jan
There's a 'g' behind Petersen, I promise. S-E-G-O

There’s a ‘g’ behind him, I promise. S-E-G-O.

I have been to a number of concerts in the short amount of time that I’ve so far resided in LA, but I seem to always find my way back to the Bootleg Hifi. This past Monday I was drawn in by local apathetic indie rockers, Sego.

Sego has a brand of indie rock that is influenced heavily by their demeanor, and they come off as chill and carefree millennials. Vocals by lead singer Spencer Petersen are often only a step above glottal fry, but in their most notable track “20 Years Tall,” they bounce playfully with the bass and blah blah blah blahs. Petersen and drummer Thomas Carroll are the founders of Sego, and they have created a mighty beast of genre-defying musicianship. “20 Years Tall,” both recorded and live, is a testament to what kind of band Sego is, a loud and exciting yet monotone and contemplative one. Sego isn’t without its playful tracks, though, “False Currency” being one of my favorites, though that may have a lot to do with how much I love the lyric video they made. (Musta been hard to make with two righties.)

As far as their set at the Bootleg, I couldn’t have been more satisfied. I enjoyed the delicate melody that lead into “Wicket Youth” and of course chanting along with “Engineer Amnesia” (the latter of which gave me Modest Mouse goosebumps). The group is tight onstage, evidence of the amount of shows they’ve played in the past year to gear up for their big break. They will be playing a whole bunch more soon, like with Body Language in February in a few cities along the west coast. Get your tickets here.

Their Wicket Youth EP is out now. For more information on Sego, visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This is an anti-guitar stands show.

This show was strictly anti-guitar stands.

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