Your Friday Fix (07/17/2009)
Friday, July 17th, 2009 by Ipequey
Two weeks in a row! See, I wasn’t just talkin’ when I said the fix was back! With so much music to catch up and so much more to share, it’s hard for me to choose a place to start. I did just pick up the new Wilco album, so, maybe you’ll see me review that in the future…who knows? At any rate, lets get this party started.
Iglu & Hartly – In This City (2008, Echo Park, California) Iglu & Hartly met at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado (USA) Before long, Jarvis Anderson, Sam Martin, and Simon Katz quit school and moved to Echo Park, California to pursue their passion for music. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Luis Rosiles flew from Jarvis’ hometown of Chicago to join the band as their drummer, and LA local Michael Bucher joined as bassist. Releasing their first album last year, it included this track and a few others, with music which seems folks either really like, or dislike. If you find yourself in the former category, you can enjoy this track on their “& then Boom” album.
Point Juncture, Wa – Sick on Sugar (2008, Point Juncture, Washington) I found Point Juncture, WA while browsing band camp one day. After checking out a few samples, I found I really dug their laid back indie pop sound and downloaded the full album. You can find this track the second full length, “Heart to Elk” (which features raccoons on the cover, yay). In 2005, they made their debut, releasing their “Juxtapony” EP, which was followed by their album “Mama Auto Boss” album in 2006.
Damien Jurado – Gillian was a Horse (2008, Seattle, Washington) Damien Jurado is a singer-songwriter in the indie-rock tradition of Seattle, Washington. His music is regarded as being heavily influenced by folk music. He often makes use of found sound and field recording techniques, and has experimented with different forms of tape recordings. In 2000 he released Postcards and Audio Letters, a collection of found audio letters and fragments that he had found from sources such as thrift store tape players and answering machines. If you dig this track, be sure to check out the full album “Caught in the Trees”.
Liekki – Pienokainen (2003, Tampere, Finland) Flint actually turned me on to this fine group from Finland. They remind me a lot of French-Canadian 70s trio “Harmonium”, only singing in Finnish. Featuring heavy use of classical guitar, piano and the flute, “Korppi” is an extremely solid and enjoyable sophomore album. They have several full length albums released, including their latest in 2008.
Fischerspooner – Never Win (2005, New York City, New York) Fischerspooner is an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in New York City. The name comes directly from the last names of the band members; Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. Back in 2003, I had the privilege of seeing these guys perform live. Their albums can be seen as soundtracks to their stageshows, as opposed to recordings which are performed live. This might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but seriously, they put on one hell of any entertaining show including everything from zombies, smoke machines, awesome lighting and outrageous costumes.
Bell X1 – The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella (2009, Kildare, Ireland) Originally known as Juniper, they became a quartet with the departure of lead vocalist Damien Rice and renamed themselves Bell X1, with drummer Paul Noonan becoming the band’s new frontman. This album was one I was highly anticipating this year, as I really enjoyed their re-release of their 2005 album “Flock” in 2008. This album was even better in my opinion, though I still feel that the band can grow even more in it’s sound, as some of the tracks are just exceptionally better than others (I’m not saying that those other songs are bad though). Be sure to pick up “Blue Lights on the Runway” if you enjoy this song.
Two weeks in a row! See, I wasn’t just talkin’ when I said the fix was back! With so much music to catch up and so much more to share, it’s hard for me to choose a place to start. I did just pick up the new Wilco album, so, maybe you’ll see me review that in the future…who knows? At any rate, lets get this party started.
Iglu & Hartly – In This City (2008, Echo Park, California) Iglu & Hartly met at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado (USA) Before long, Jarvis Anderson, Sam Martin, and Simon Katz quit school and moved to Echo Park, California to pursue their passion for music. Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Luis Rosiles flew from Jarvis’ hometown of Chicago to join the band as their drummer, and LA local Michael Bucher joined as bassist. Releasing their first album last year, it included this track and a few others, with music which seems folks either really like, or dislike. If you find yourself in the former category, you can enjoy this track on their “& then Boom” album.
Point Juncture, Wa – Sick on Sugar (2008, Point Juncture, Washington) I found Point Juncture, WA while browsing band camp one day. After checking out a few samples, I found I really dug their laid back indie pop sound and downloaded the full album. You can find this track the second full length, “Heart to Elk” (which features raccoons on the cover, yay). In 2005, they made their debut, releasing their “Juxtapony” EP, which was followed by their album “Mama Auto Boss” album in 2006.
Damien Jurado – Gillian was a Horse (2008, Seattle, Washington) Damien Jurado is a singer-songwriter in the indie-rock tradition of Seattle, Washington. His music is regarded as being heavily influenced by folk music. He often makes use of found sound and field recording techniques, and has experimented with different forms of tape recordings. In 2000 he released Postcards and Audio Letters, a collection of found audio letters and fragments that he had found from sources such as thrift store tape players and answering machines. If you dig this track, be sure to check out the full album “Caught in the Trees”.
Liekki – Pienokainen (2003, Tampere, Finland) Flint actually turned me on to this fine group from Finland. They remind me a lot of French-Canadian 70s trio “Harmonium”, only singing in Finnish. Featuring heavy use of classical guitar, piano and the flute, “Korppi” is an extremely solid and enjoyable sophomore album. They have several full length albums released, including their latest in 2008.
Fischerspooner – Never Win (2005, New York City, New York) Fischerspooner is an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in New York City. The name comes directly from the last names of the band members; Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. Back in 2003, I had the privilege of seeing these guys perform live. Their albums can be seen as soundtracks to their stageshows, as opposed to recordings which are performed live. This might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but seriously, they put on one hell of any entertaining show including everything from zombies, smoke machines, awesome lighting and outrageous costumes.
Bell X1 – The Ribs of a Broken Umbrella (2009, Kildare, Ireland) Originally known as Juniper, they became a quartet with the departure of lead vocalist Damien Rice and renamed themselves Bell X1, with drummer Paul Noonan becoming the band’s new frontman. This album was one I was highly anticipating this year, as I really enjoyed their re-release of their 2005 album “Flock” in 2008. This album was even better in my opinion, though I still feel that the band can grow even more in it’s sound, as some of the tracks are just exceptionally better than others (I’m not saying that those other songs are bad though). Be sure to pick up “Blue Lights on the Runway” if you enjoy this song.