Monthly Archives: February 2016

Cayman Kings, a French-born rock band, have just released their first LP, Suffering Chelsea Boots, and they didn’t hold back—it’s an energy filled debut. The group takes the traditional garage rock sound and ups the tempo with howling vocals and quick chord progressions.

The band flirts with different tones—from mesmerizing pop riffs to grittier blues fills—forging something new from these staple sounds. Almost every song on the LP ends right under the three-minute mark, but still manages to pack a strong bite. A marked momentum trails through the album, making the whole thing a lively listen from start to finish.

Each track pays its rent, contributing its own finely-nuanced sound to the LP. For example, “Memory Lane” starts with a with a low-octave riff accompanied by a deep drum bellow. The lead vocals enter in a raspy falsetto, providing the perfect contrast to the song’s heavy start. The group effortlessly reaches the chorus, which is a cheeky reminder of how the past is permanent and there’s no way to change it. It’s a quick tune that illustrates garage-rock’s power when properly executed.

Suffering Chelsea Boots is available now on vinyl via Bandcamp.

“I am amazed at the heaviness I still feel about vinyl and the difference it has on my entire listening experience for either hearing a new record for the first time or hearing a classic record for the thousandth time. Vinyl brings along a hands-on experience, commitment, work, a ritual—things I truly value in life and in making music. That same feeling I felt as a kid, I do today, and I know I will for the rest of my life. There’s a timelessness to vinyl.”

“When I was young, my family would play classic records and I remember how special it felt when they let me be the one to put the needle on the record. It amazed me how it all worked! How the needle made the music play! I would stare at it for hours.

Vinyl was starting to phase out when I was about 7 years old. My father was a huge record collector—he had crates of old classic Beatles records, Neil Young, The Rolling Stones, etc. At a garage sale, he sold all of his vinyl for 25 cents a piece thinking that there was going to be no use for it anymore. I remember it so vividly in my mind yet I was too young to appreciate vinyl at that time. That day goes down in history with my family. We always talk about what it would be like if that didn’t happen and wish we could take it back. I can only hope that the tradition of listening to vinyl got passed on to another family.

Read More »

Jonesing for some Rolling Stones? Perhaps a pinch of Lou Reed? A little three minute, three chord rock ‘n’ roll with no fancy additives? Well, look no further than London’s newest export, Thirsty.

A collaboration between The Quireboys spearhead Guy Bailey, Russian poet Irina D, and an assortment of venerated English rockers, Thirsty came to life early last year after the aforementioned players began an impromptu jam session and bonded over their punk/arthouse sensibilities.

Aping old school rhythm and blues may be all the rage for young indie rockers but this kind of appropriation often ends up as little more than a homage and rarely expands on the tried-and-true format. Gritty, off-the-cuff and beautifully authentic; Thirsty captures the imagery of their native London while throwing a rose towards the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, coloring outside the lines all the while.

PHOTOS: RICHIE DOWNS | Between two live dates in Washington, DC in support of her very well received and highly regarded new LP, Liberman on Dine Alone Records, we had the pleasure of Vanessa Carlton’s company for a bit of a rummage through the stacks at the District’s Som Records.

If there’s a characteristic trait that runs among those who’ve joined us at Som Records for our filmed feature, Vanessa exemplifies the enthusiasm, genuineness, and appreciation for the flat, black shiny medium that saw over 2,ooo of you queueing in line last weekend at the DC Record Fair. 

She’s warm, funny, ready with the anecdotes, and is most importantly a music fan. So, onward—we’re record shopping with Vanessa Carlton at Washington, DC’s Som Records.

Read More »

Co-founded at the start of the ‘80s by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and UK producer Adrian Sherwood, African Head Charge constitutes a particularly successful chapter in the story of On-U Sound. The project’s early work, four albums combining post-punk-derived experimentation with dub and African ingredients, shapes up the latest installment in On-U Sound’s deserved retail retelling. They’re available now on vinyl and digital separately and as a bundle directly from the label.

Gradually returning a vital hunk of ’80s musical history to print, the ongoing string of On-U Sound reissues and compilations provides lovers of way-out dub, edgy post-punk, and specifically recent converts to the achievements of Adrian Sherwood with numerous reasons for celebration. Revealing striking consistency amongst steady growth, the emergence of African Head Charge’s ’81-’85 output deepens the scenario considerably as it illuminates an especially fertile collaboration.

Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, or Bonjo for short, had studied in the Rasta drumming camp of Jamaican bandleader Count Ossie. After time spent on the UK scene he joined the Sherwood-produced group Creation Rebel and like many of his bandmates ended up in the credits of numerous On-U Sound releases including those by New Age Steppers, Dub Syndicate, Singers and Players, and Mark Stewart. However, African Head Charge stands as Bonjo’s deepest contribution to the label.

Indeed, what essentially started as a joint Sherwood-Bonjo effort (with assistance from Style Scott, Crocodile, Deadly Headley, Crucial Tony, Bruce Smith, Steve Beresford, Mus’come a.k.a. Charlie “Eskimo” Fox, Doctor Pablo, Public Image Limited’s Jah Wobble, Sugarhill Gang/Tackhead member Skip McDonald and others) slowly became an actual band led by the percussionist; the four records reviewed here represent African Head Charge’s collaborative, studio-based period.

Read More »

Emerging ambient indie rockers YJY flex noise pop muscle in “Amelia” video.

The New Jersey natives released their debut EP, “Couch Surfin USA.” in mid-2015 to local acclaim and a Top Emerging Artist nod from The Deli. While tracking their sophomore follow-up at Converse Rubber Tracks studio in Brooklyn, the band found time to shoot a video for Couch Surfin’s glorious single, “Amelia.”

Inspired by the work of filmmaker Kenneth Anger, the video features some awesome and gratuitous hipster crotch shots via lead singer Steve Sachs as he lovingly details and buffs a bright orange 1974 Volkswagen Beetle. Groovy.

Matt Kivel has been on the scene for a while in a handful of bands, but the profile of the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter and guitarist was effectively boosted by a pair of recent solo efforts documenting a progression from folky individualism toward a more pop and rock-tinged milieu; the experimentation-flecked Janus combines aspects of each and exhibits tangible growth to produce his best album thus far. It’s out on LP February 5 via new label Driftless Recordings.

Before stepping out solo Matt Kivel was in the group Princeton alongside his twin brother Jesse; additionally, he played guitar in the garage pop outfit Gap Dream. His debut Double Exposure, the byproduct of a couple of years of work, arrived in 2013 on cassette through Burger Records and on vinyl courtesy of Olde English Spelling Bee.

Aptly described as folky, Double Exposure has been compared at least once to Nick Drake, though Kivel’s no copyist, his occasional falsetto distinct for starters. A big similarity is purity of conception, the record having emerged without much in the way of expectations and finding a label home only after completion. But it wasn’t entirely like that; the title track was a sleepy-lidded post-shoegaze pop nugget foreshadowing Kivel’s follow-up Days of Being Wild.

Swiping a title from Wong Kar-wai’s classic film from 1990 (this cinephile hypothesis is reinforced by Double Exposure’s final entry “Days of Heaven” sharing a moniker with Terrence Malick’s ’78 masterpiece), Days of Being Wild was issued in 2014 through the Woodsist label and revealed a considerable move into the light.

Read More »