The first time I saw Beach Fossils, they played a barely attended show at The Velvet Lounge, on tour right before their self-titled LP was released. I remember vividly walking right up to Dustin Payseur and telling him how fantastic I thought they were, and he charmingly thanked me and told me they would be back soon touring to promo the full-length LP.
It’s been a few years since then, and now Beach Fossils headline a sold-out DC9 this Friday, touring in support of Clash The Truth, the band’s second full-length LP released on Captured Tracks.
Originally a solo performer, Payseur has cycled through many musicians to eventually form Beach Fossils. While Cole Smith of DIIV got away, an energetic stage presence still persists, and Brooklyn’s Beach Fossils have amassed a large following. Clash the Truth, produced by The Men’s Ben Greenberg, strides past “bedroom project” towards something this is more punk in its roots.
“Confession time: records (in the physical sense) weren’t really a part of my childhood. See, I was born in 1982, and while my folks certainly were and are music fans, they’re not really collectors of anything… besides children, maybe.”
“In fact, I only remember three records being in the house when I was growing up: an original Beatles “Let It Be” 45 (cool), a Lynyrd Skynyrd Gold & Platinum double LP (ok…), and Glenn Frey’s The Allnighter (yikes). Despite the randy title, I can’t recall ol’ Glenn getting much action, but perhaps I’ve blocked it out.
Like most teenagers in the mid-’90s, I spent much of my disposable income on CDs, and early signs of my future fetishism were apparent – I’d spend hours ogling expensive, strangely-titled imports by popular “alternative” artists of the day at the grimy Disc-Go-Round and expansive Planet Music in Memphis. I still regarded LPs as artifacts of an earlier time, though.
With Edinburgh based synth fiends Homework about to release their debut album, 13 Towers on 25th March, the band present their first single from the album, “It’s All Over.”
The video features a mirrored street scene sped up and slowed down, moving forward and then in reverse. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what the images are and they’ve transformed normal daily street life into something that feels mechanical and robotic—it’s quite gripping.
The video is simple but the song will have you entranced, the band sounding like an amalgamation of LCD Soundsystem and Cut Copy.
Somewhere down the line, elements of math, indie, and pop rock all got jumbled together in a “Will it blend?” cultural experiment.
The results spawned forth a long list of talented groups who embody the very best of technical know-how and careful composing. This includes cultural forerunners The Postelles, Arkells, and Ambassadors, and we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to see them all at the U Street Music Hall on March 7, presented by 9:30 Club. Getting a hold of them is easier than you may think.
The Postelles are a Manhattan four-piece that carry a sense of dry social wit to their craft. The Strokes’ own Albert Hammond, Jr. produced The Postelles’ 2011 self-titled debut. The record was met with positive reviews and established the Postelles as a name to watch in the undercurrent of pop rock.
Some 10 years ago, my contempt for straightedge led me to write an ill-advised article slamming it (along with DC’s entire rock culture, about which I knew precious little) for the Washington City Paper. The article (written, in my defense, largely tongue in cheek) generated reams of hate mail, including a letter from punk/hip hop photographer Glen E. Friedman, who cordially (but oddly—he’s a vegan) invited me to “eat a bag of dicks.”
Another writer managed to call me a “dumbfuck” twice in a 10-word letter. I was also warned by a video store clerk I knew to “stay out of Ft. Reno.” More alarming by far, a certain Henry Rollins told a friend of mine he’d gladly put fists to my personage were it not for fear of a law suit. To which I say three cheers for the litigation-happy American jurisprudence system. I have a patrician nose and exquisite cheekbones, and would hate to see my model good looks ruined.
Speaking of Rollins, he was kind enough to grace us with his perpetually enraged presence at the 9:30 Club on Sunday, February 24, where he hosted a multiracial old-school musical hoedown called the DC Funk-Punk Throwdown Jam, held to celebrate the opening of the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s exhibit Pump Me Up, The D.C. Subculture of the 1980s.
Neanderthal that I am, I would sooner listen to Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue” fifty times in a row than darken the doors of an art museum, but there was no way I was going to miss the Throwdown Jam, whose line-up included such blasts from DC’s go-go and hardcore past as Trouble Funk, Black Market Baby, Scream, DJ Kool, Junkyard, Youth Brigade, Static Disruptors, DJ Grover Norquist (just kidding), Worlds Collide, and Shady Groove, along with special guests Stinky Dink, DJ Tommy B, and an unspecified “more”—which I was hoping meant the Little River Band, because who cares if they’re from Australia: “Lonesome Loser” is the greatest song ever.
The youngest musical member of the Marsalis family has switched to the vibraphone and other percussion instruments for his latest recording on Basin Street Records.
It is his third release on the acclaimed New Orleans-based label and the first official release with his current band, the Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet. Jason Marsalis has released two previous records on Basin Street Records– Year of the Drummer (1998) and Music in Motion (2000). Both of those recordings feature Marsalis on drums.
The Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet features Austin Johnson on piano, Will Goble on bass and Dave Potter on drums. He met the young musicians while working with pianist Marcus Roberts during a residency at Florida State University. Johnson is now based in New Orleans, and is studying at the University of New Orleans.
People talk all kinds of smack about the music of the ‘80s, and one recurring putdown directed at the era’s sounds regards their prevailing nature of conservatism. Perhaps that’s true on the pop surface, but if a listener simply did a little digging all sorts of edgy documents could be found. Indeed, a hungry ear could even locate stuff that was downright bonkers. One such example was Fred Lane, who along with a troop of Dada-inspired malcontents named Ron ‘Pate’s Debonairs, knocked out a pair of screamingly subversive and darkly humorous albums during the decade. From the One That Cut You is their best, and anyone deriding the ‘80s as an overly safe place should definitely search out its truly bent agenda.
Records that land in the extreme, “out-there” and avant-garde categories of the record store can explode from all sorts of scenarios, but it’s pretty common for these expressions of the fringes and the forefronts in art-making to utilize the refuge of larger cities as they express their qualities of difference against the prevailing norms.
The idea that these agents of strangeness and their often contentious stylistic developments reliably hail from highly populated points of origin was far more prevalent in the era prior to the advancement of widespread global communication. These days, the ease of worldwide access obviously assists those thriving on the margins to feel considerably less isolated.
But before the big breakthrough of the global village, those in less metropolitan environments who felt themselves shunned or ostracized due to their idiosyncratic forms of expression often just packed up and left, concluding that the big city was the place they ought to be. And hopefully the reception there proved less hostile.
The New Orleans duo will also embark on a month-long tour with Splashh and Brass Bed celebrating their new label and album
Back in early January, Polyvinyl Records announced the signing of Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer, aka Generationals. If the new home was not enough, they also revealed the details behind their third full length album, Heza. After nearly three years, two full length albums, and one EP on Park The Van Records (Dr. Dog, The Spinto Band), Heza will be the band’s first release on Polyvinyl.
High school pals and New Orleans natives, Joyner and Widmer have been making music while attending Louisiana State. They, along with a few other classmates, formed The Emaes Era. After a four-year stint the band broke up. Joyner and Widmer moved back to their hometown and began making music under the name Generationals.
On their debut album Con Law, it was clear that the pair had a knack for crafting lush pop melodies. A handful of the songs from the album scored major commercial placement. Their strongest single, “When They Fight, They Fight” was the track behind Bloomingdale’s holiday campaign. The record featured a sunny and bright ’70s California vibe and Phil Spector-esque production.
One week ago we launched our most ambitious undertaking yet, TVD500—the recurring competition where TVD and our esteemed partners, Infrasonic Mastering,Furnace MFG, and Dorado Music Packaging will master, press, design, print, package, and deliver 500 copies of your winning 7″ single—on us.
We’re putting the call out for any individual artist or band—working in any genre—to submit two tracks to us as entries, an A and B side, for consideration for this competition.
Think of it as an internet Star Search. We are.
One week later, we’re delighted to present the first cross-section and glimpse of the overwhelming volume of submissions we’ve received, all vying for the title of being the first release on The Vinyl District’s brand new vinyl imprint TVD Records—the home for TVD500 releases as well as special projects to come.
Complete information on the TVD500 Competition can be found here, and get familiar with our panel of celebrity judges who will make the final call on our winner!
Chicago soul, jazz and rock group, Bassel and the Supernaturals will be officially releasing their new 12” vinyl, Dreamer, at the Empty Bottle tomorrow to coincide with the band’s “Save Syria” Benefit.
In Chicago by way of Northeast Ohio, front-man and Syrian-American, Bassel Almadani, has had family among the millions affected by the intense civil war in Syria. Half of the proceeds from tomorrow’s show will be directed to Avaaz and ICRC – organizations directly assisting families within Syria’s borders by providing food, blankets, water, and support.
Dreamer, engineered at Hinge Studios in Chicago, is an independent release funded by a previous presale campaign organized by the group. Along with the release itself, the campaign helped to fund the album’s recording as well as a three-week US tour and an already sizable charity donation to Syria.
Making a video for a song is a sensible way to promote it. Making videos for an entire album is an ambitious and creative undertaking well worthy of note.
Memphis garage/post-rock outfit Switchblade Kid is halfway through the lengthy endeavor. “I felt like it was the logical thing to do. The album came out of a singles record idea like Siouxsie and the Banshees Once Upon A TIme or The Cure’s Standing On A Beach. It’s not the MTV generation anymore, and Youtube is too damn boring with just pics of album covers and photomontages, so why not?” said frontman Harry Koniditsiotis.
Today, we premiere the fifth video from the Switchblade Kid self-titled album, for the song “Switchblade Kid 2.” Working with filmmaker George Hancock, the band used a simple setup to convey an authentic aesthetic and the group’s unique vibe.
From winning their native country’s “Battle of the Bands” competition in 2010, to gaining rock-star status across the globe with their single, “Little Talks,” Of Monsters and Men have definitely come a long way within a couple of years. With “Little Talks” reaching platinum status and an ongoing tour, the Icelandic band’s success continues to grow, well, monster-sized.
Of Monsters and Men began as a result of co-singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir needing a bit of extra oomph with her solo acoustic act, Songbird. She rounded together the members that now comprise the band, Ragnar þórhallsson, Brynjar Leifsson, Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson, and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson. Liking the sound and music they created as a group, Of Monsters and Men emerged.
After playing shows in Europe and South America, the five-piece will be spending the spring months playing venues across the U.S., including a stop at the Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 11. Tickets haven’t even gone on sale yet, but we’ve got a pair of lawn tickets to give away!
The second release from Brooklyn’s newest and greatest label Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records is a beautiful sprawling modern masterpiece from Finnish psych band Kiki Pau. With four songs over 43 minutes, Pines is a departure from the type of music that Kiki Pau made on their first two albums.
Says Kiki Pau’s Henrik Domingo: “As for influences, lately its been about nuances and finding different ways of making sound, so we’ve listened to a lot of jazz, experimental, electronic, and ‘ethnic’ music etc. I’ve grown a bit tired of rock music and playing loud and so I feel have the other guys as well. We really tried to not to think of any references while making this record, so it was more like ‘hey this next part should sound like a thunderstorm in a desert and the next part a forest full of animals’, just childlike stuff.”
As president of Beyond Beyond is Beyond Records, when I first heard this music in the summer of 2012 via Kiki Pau’s Bandcamp page, I knew I would love to get it pressed to vinyl…the way something so beautiful and amazing should be heard. And now that it’s immortalized in wax, the world is being turned on to Kiki Pau’s Pines…
“…with woodwinds, hand drums, and guitar twang tracing links between pagan rituals under the midnight sun and Indian ashrams half a world away.”
—SPIN
“Pines is their third LP and the first to really make it’s way over to our shores – good thing too, ‘cuz we’re probably gonna be spinning this one a lot! This one is the total package too – beautiful cover art and groovy green vinyl, plus the LP was mixed by Dungen’s Gustav Ejstes so you KNOW it sounds great too. A real surprise and a definite contender for Top Ten lists here at the shop! RECOMMENDED!” – Permanent Records Chicago
The Caulfield Beats are a curious bunch—a three piece based in East London who take inspiration from the cut n paste DIY culture of electronic experimentation. It’s a fairly new genre that isn’t quite electro, it’s not dub, and it’s certainly not dance. The Caulfield Beats are a niche all of their own.
Their EP “Garage Electronics Vol. 1” is like a 90s acid trip—your head may not be the same when you resurface at the other side. The fact that indie publications and radio DJs have already picked up on their sound shows that they’re not just a one trick pony. These guys appeal to the alternative crowd too, not just the house party club kids.
The Caulfield Beats’ newly created crossover sound is really refreshing and satisfyingly peculiar. We urge you to give them a go and not be at least a little intrigued.
The first time I saw Beach Fossils, they played a barely attended show at The Velvet Lounge, on tour right before their self-titled LP was released. I remember vividly walking right up to Dustin Payseur and telling him how fantastic I thought they were, and he charmingly thanked me and told me they would be back soon touring to promo the full-length LP. 
