Alternative Music

As surprising as it was when post-rock heavyweights Godspeed You! Black Emperor rolled out of a seven-year hiatus and reformed in 2010, now the ragged instrumentalists feel like part of the touring landscape; known names ready to create their epic music at artfully-minded rock festivals.

And, so, another Godspeed! tour announcement, and it's getting less strange that the Québécois co-op are alive and functioning in 2012, playing the old 'hits' for the kids. As well as upcoming dates at the Pitchfork Music Fest and a September ATP shindig, they now have an autumnal tour through the United States on tap for October.

Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La:
July 14: Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
September 23: Asbury Park, NJ - ATP
October 1: Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
October 2: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
October 3: Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
October 4: Carrboro, NC - Cats Cradle
October 5: Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theatre
October 6: Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
October 7: New Orleans, LA - Tipitinas
October 9-10: Austin, TX - The Mohawk
October 11: Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre
October 12: Nashville, TN - Cannery Ballroom
October 13: Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
October 14: Detroit, MI - Majestic Theatre

Photo © Eva Vermandel

A week after randomly unveiling two brand new songs, those beloved bros from Animal Collective have taken it a step further: announcing a brand new album.

Centipede Hz —the ninth Animal Collective album, and follow-up to 2009's five-star classic Merriweather Post Pavilion— will be released on September 4, on Domino. Neither "Honeycomb" nor "Gotham," the two freshly-released songs, will be appearing on the album, so the mystery is thus-far preserved.

Are "Monkey Riches" the lucre they've made as one of indie music's big festival draws? Is "Amanita" a Bardo Pond homage? Did Deakin wear Crocs whilst making the album? All will be revealed in four short months.

Those wanting to be 'teased' can check out the obligatory in-advance 'trailer' for the album via the Animal Collective website. Otherwise, let the anticipation for one of 2012's most anticipated albums run wild.

Centipede Hz Track List:
1. "Moonjock"
2. "Today's Supernatural"
3. "Rosie Oh"
4. "Applesauce"
5. "Wide Eyed"
6. "Father Time"
7. "New Town Burnout"
8. "Monkey Riches"
9. "Mercury Man"
10. "Pulleys"
11. "Amanita"

Photo © Atiba Jefferson

One of my favorite albums of the year is the debut solo album for Sophia Knapp (pictured!), the leader of Brooklyn rock outfit Cliffie Swan (née Lights). I've been meaning to write the full review with love for its sentiments, its sounds, and it's fantastically evocative lyrics, plus I interviewed Ms. Knapp, too, and, oh, how that remains untyped.

Even in the absence of such a Knapp jamboree, the goodness of her record made me think of the astonishing discography of Drag City, the Chicago label Knapp records for. Though they're not thought of in the Matador/Sub Pop/Merge pantheon, Drag City are, well, actually, they're better than that; if they're never been cool or shifted Billboard-botherin' units, they've pretty much never released a bad record, quietly cultivating a vast roster of idiosyncratic artists and allowing them the freedom to pursue their own unique visions.

Will Oldham (he of Palace and Bonnie "Prince Billy") and Bill Callahan (Sir Smog) have been the two indefatigable mainstays of the label, but Drag City goes way beyond that; tending to such charmed oddballs as Silver Jews, Jim O'Rourke, and the almighty Joanna Newsom.

To take true stock of its greatness, from the label's 22 years (and counting) of impressive audio, here are the 20 Greatest Drag City Albums...

Name: Ryan Power
From: Burlington, Vermont
Story: Fearing death, one man quietly battles obscurity
Sound: Complex synth-pop with croony vocals

I Don't Want to Die is the fifth album from Ryan Power, but the first to be properly released. After a career of self-releasing, the set —initially released in 2010, and now expanded and improved upon— was recently pressed up by NNA Tapes, shining a light on a ridiculously talented musician who'd been toiling in something approaching obscurity.

Power is a studio rat based in Burlington, Vermont, and recorded I Don't Want To Die in a barn in Shelburne. There's nothing snowy nor rustic about his music, though. Instead, he plays complex, odd synth-pop that harkens back to old smooth-rock acts like Steely Dan, Aztec Camera, and Prefab Sprout, '90s pop-perfectionist revivalists High Llamas and the Aluminum Group, and conceptualist/stylist/iconoclast figures like Momus and that exponentially-influential Godfather of all '10s home producers, Ariel Pink.

The record's centerpiece is, somewhat naturally, its title-track, a five-and-a-half minute ballad —all chiming synths and sotto voce vocals— in which Power ably articulates the paralyzing powers of a fear of death. "This is one short trip/why don't we enjoy it?" he asks, amidst the study-of-monogamy that is "The Way It's Always Been," and the question lingers.

"We can't deny/we're all going to die," Power croons, in the rhythmically-odd "You Wanna Seltzer," before revisiting the line, again, almost exactly, mid-"The Knowhow." "Hey, everybody/we're all gonna totally die," he wails, in the middle of a manic jam in which a desire to seize-the-day results in existence as a kind of frantic, chaotic grab-bag of terrified experiences. Life is short; far too short to spend with bad music. Power makes sound that, in its goodness, makes listening feel a worthwhile investment of the few precious moments you have before you expire.

• Listen: Ryan Power, "I Don't Want to Die"
• Listen: Ryan Power, "I Don't Care"

Name changes have been in the air in 2012 —Dive becoming Diiv, War becoming Vår, the Morning Benders becoming Pop Etc— and, so, the Artists Formerly Known As YellowFever now have themselves a brand new handle: Deep Time.

"Clouds" marks the first taste of the Austinite duo under their new banner, and the first taste of the self-titled Deep Time album, due out on Hardly Art. And, good lord, it sounds like Quix*o*tic! Which may not mean much for those not devoted to the church of Billotte (be it Christina in Autoclave, Slant 6, or the Casual Dots; Mira in White Magic; or the sisters together in Quix*o*tic), but means over so much to the fervent few. Like me!

"You got thinner gaining for a change" Jennifer Moore sings, in a deep, soulful, Mira-ish voice; in a song that sets her guitar and bassplaying in ricocheting rhythms, with complex patterns emerging as strings lock together over drums. And, in the best bits, Moore and drummer Adam Jones both sing at once; sometimes in unison, in harmony, at other times in overlapping, rounds-ish parts that adding an extra rhythmic wrinkle.

Deep Time, "Clouds"

Photo © Ben Aqua

When I introduced you to Eternal Summers a couple of years back, they were a determinedly lo-fi duo, playing secretly-sad-hearted indie-rock that owed a huge debt to The Breeders.

Now, two years on, the Virginians have done some changing: there's three of them, they've made a positively mid-fi second record, Correct Behavior, and "Millions" kicks things out with sprightly indie-pop jangle that sounds more like, like, Velocity Girl.

But the biggest change may be Nicole Yun's voice, which once sounded tuneless and nervous, but now resounds as its own powerful instrument. "Stop me from sinking back in the grave," Yun carols, ever so pretty, as her guitar glints high and bright, "I've got to shake this shell and break it into millions." It's an odd refrain, but it's repeated twice, before, each time, the tune finds Yun's guitar going from pretty picking to snarling lead-breaking, and the now-trio exploring their new format.

Eternal Summers, "Millions"

Photo © Brian Hamelman

Back in the days of wine and Wolf Parade, there was this weird dynamic in following said Canadian Indie-Rock Powerhouse: you had to pick a side. Fans of the band either identified themselves as acolytes of Spencer Krug or Dan Boeckner, and fervently supported only one-half of the dual songwriting foils. When their side-projects, Sunset Rubdown and Handsome Furs, became their own fully-fledged endeavors, the supposed divide widened. No one, apparently, ever believing you could just like both, equally (full disclosure: initially I was Krug all the way, but I grew to love both bros).

I can feel a similar scenario brewing with the imminent pop-cultural arrival of twin Beach Fossils side-projects: Z. Cole Smith's already-much-hyped Diiv (née Dive), and John Pena's less-hyped Heavenly Beat. Diiv's debut disc, Oshin, arrives in June; Heavenly Beat's Talent in July, both on Captured Tracks. With Beach Fossils main bro Dustin Payseur sitting out this round: who ya got? Diiv or Heavenly Beat?

As much as that'll be the blog debate, pitting them against each other seems combative where the pair are likely supportive. But the divide is pretty obvious: Diiv comes with a harder, grungier, more rockin' edge; whereas Heavenly Beat is more melancholy, sweet, and twee.

"Messiah" continues a run of charmingly-trebly singles for Pena, with stabs of synth-strings, pulsing drum programming, and Hookian bassline gamboling along with twee jauntiness. Diiv may be worshippin' at the church o' Kurdt, but here Pena sounds like he's been listening to Trembling Blue Stars and Acid House Kings.

"'Is this enough?'" Pena falsettos, mournfully, and repeatedly; the refrain sounding, in its delivery, as some rhetorical wondering about days spent, a life as lived, love received. Except, then, the backhander "is that your only offer?" seems to suggest that maybe it's just about ponying up cash.

Heavenly Beat, "Messiah"

The second Twin Shadow, Confess, plays a lot as you'd expect from the follow-up to 2010's synthy, swooning Forget. There's a bigger, more bombastic edge to its new-wave revivalism, George Lewis Jr pushing his '80s recreationism to over-the-top, totally-cheesy places, be they power-balladic ("Run My Heart," which sounds like Richard Marx) or anthemic ("Beg for the Night," which sounds like the lost theme-tune to some Brat Pack teen movie).

"Five Seconds" aptly foreshadows the new Twin Shadow: the tune boasting a harder edge, befitting both the long touring grind that followed Forget, and Lewis' apparent inspiration for the album, which came, supposedly, from riding a motorcycle around Los Angeles and its surrounds.

Thus, the song boasts an accelerated pace, some crunchy rock guitars, and a pantomimed masculine angst; Lewis' sudden need for speed —and love for homoerotic leather— feeling as if modeled on Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

The lyrics are a collection of none-too-life-altering hooks repeated with increasing forcefulness. "Five seconds in your heart," is sung endlessly, and there's plenty of riffing on tears and distance. "I'm not trying to make you cry," GJL croons, "I don't believe in you/you don't believe in me/so how could you make me cry?" It all seems a piece of pained anguish at ephemeral emotions and a poisoned paramour, our hero riding away his heartache over the flickering lines of the highway...

Twin Shadow, "Five Seconds"

"He said 'I think it's time to move to Oregon'," Deepak Mantena wails, under a swarm of distortion, immediately summoning a different anthem to Northwest migration. If the dream of the '90s is alive in Portland, Mantena is livin' it; his producer-as-band project, Junk Culture, perform pop-cultural recycling on a library full of dusty samples.

Following a pair of recent collaborations with Lower Dens leader Jana Hunter and Phantogram singer Sarah Barthel, Mantena polishes off his debut Junk Culture LP, Wild Quiet. The fact that it's out (July 31) on the non-clearing imprint Illegal Art —best known as the home of Girl Talk, but long an entity questioning notions of intellectual copyright, etc— shows that Mantena is still employing a host of samples.

But Wild Quiet features far more in the way of instruments; of traditional rock'n'roll construction. And so it goes with "Oregon," with its crunchy rock guitars and smashed drums and lack of cut-ups. The song turns out to be, once you peer beneath the fuzz and the synths, a tense dialogue in a relationship, where moving cities is either liberation or burden, depending on who you are. "I know I can't be free," Mantena sings, on close, and so the chapter does; freedom a vision that burns bright in the mind, but —even in a utopia like Portland— can easily be extinguished.

Junk Culture, "Oregon"

"Mad luv for Young Magic!!!" Purity Ring typed on their Zuckerbook page last year, and now the world gets to hear just how much love there is. On Purity Ring's forthcoming, much-anticipated album-of-the-year-contender debut, Shrines, Young Magic frontman Isaac Emmanuel drops a couple of verses on "Grandloves," and stands out as the only collaborateur in Purity Ring's insular world.

Young Magic's debut LP, Melt, has earned not nearly as much hype, but it's a plenty impressive work of wonky beatmakery and digi-psychedelia. The band have a huge slate of tour dates lined up in support of Melt, including a July tour of North America where they'll be taking acid-folk hippies Quilt along for the ride.

And, Young Magic have just shared a remix of Doldrums' "Egypt," where they take the delirious, ridiculous seven-minute original and hack it down to a sweet, three-minute pop-song. It's more fine work from a band I tipped for a breakout oh so long ago.

Waking Up Is Easy:
May 10: Brighton, England - The Great Escape
May 11: Paris, France - Fleche D'Or
May 12: Tours, France - Le Temps Machine
May 15: Zurich, Switzerland - Exil
May 16: Genova, Italy - Teatro Hops
May 17: Rome, Italy - Circolo degil Artisti
May 18: Padova, Italy - Ex-Macello
May 19: Yverdon-Les-Bains, Switzerland - Amalgame
May 20: Stuttgart, Germany - Zwoelfzehn
May 22: Gent, Belgium - Vooruit
May 23: Amsterdam, Netherlands - OT301
May 24: Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rotown
May 25: Tilburg, Netherlands - 13
May 26: Utrecht, Netherlands - Le Guess Who Festival
May 27: Cologne, Germany - King Georg
May 28: Berlin, Germany - Comet Club
May 29: Copenhagen, Denmark - Stengade
May 30: Aarhus, Denmark - Radar
May 31: Oslo, Norway - Revolver
June 1: Stockholm, Sweden - Debaser
June 2: Malmo, Sweden - Debaser
June 14-15: Toronto, ON - NXNE
June 28: Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands
June 29: Washington DC - Comet Ping Pong
June 30: Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
July 1: Boston, MA - Great Scott
July 3: Burlington, VT - Monkey House
July 4: Montréal, QC - Divan Orange
July 5: Toronto, ON - Garrison
July 6: London, ON - APK Live
July 7: Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog
July 8: Chicago, IL - Schubas
July 9: Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar
July 12: Seattle, WA - Barboza
July 13: Vancouver, BC - Waldorf Cabaret
July 14: Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
July 17: San Francisco, CA - The Rickshaw Stop
July 19: Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
July 20: San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
July 21: Tempe, AZ - Sail Inn
July 23: Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
July 25: St. Louis, MO - The Firebird
July 26: Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
July 27: Cincinnati, OH - MOTR Pub
July 28: Pittsburgh, PA - The Brillobox
July 29: New York, NY - Mercury Lounge

Photo © Bek Anderson