popwreckoning

Yes, you read that headline correctly. The much-anticipated sophomore album from everyone’s favorite cardigan-wearing rockers can officially be heard in its entirety on the band’s MySpace.

Yelps, language and history lessons abound on Vampire Weekend‘s new effort Contra, and while it is slightly more toned down than their debut, it looks like it might be able to continue to help this band live up to their hype.

If you like what you hear, the album will be available on iTunes and in retail stores on Tuesday, January 12.

How do you sum up the first decade of the 21st Century? For The Avett Brothers, this decade has seen them go from a little-known pair of brothers playing small shows to a touring band with a rabid, dedicated fan base to a critically-acclaimed foursome landing a major record deal and national recognition. Could one show somehow encapsulate such a journey? To the delight of everyone in attendance at this show, the answer was a resounding “Yes!”

2009 was a particularly turbulent year for The Avett Brothers. Having inked a deal with American/Columbia records for an album to be produced by Rick Rubin, expectations were mixed. All over message boards and blogs, the same fears from their core fan base appeared again and again: would Rubin polish their sound to the point where it was no longer the raw, unbridled emotion that we had come to love? Would I and Love and You be to The Avett Brothers what Let it Be was to The Beatles? When the album was released in September of 2009, it seemed that the worst fears of these particular fans had come true; much of the album consisted of understated, mellow songs that featured more piano than banjo, more singing than shouting, more romance than longing. However (and I’m speaking mostly to those who negatively responded to this album), was this progression really so unexpected? Their 2008 EP The Second Gleam was as reserved and melodic as we’d ever heard The Avett Brothers sound, yet this album was very well received by fans. All of this brings us to the present: New Year’s Eve 2009, a show in Asheville (just a two hour drive down I-40 from their hometown of Concord), a crowd of both long-time fans and newcomers, and a sense that no one quite knew what to expect. I’m sure I can speak for everyone present when I say that no one left disappointed.

The show began with a tune from their newest release – “The Perfect Space.” A more apt opening song could not have been selected. The song begins with a beautiful piano melody accompanied by Scott Avett singing lyrics of acceptance and want. As the song builds, the other members begin to join in until the song peaks into a fun, jubilant pop song with a choppy piano riff, fun gang vocal shouting, and an eventual decrescendo back into a reprise of the opening seconds. Setting the tone for the rest of the evening, the band performed the song both beautifully and energetically. The song selection wonderfully spanned most of the history of this veteran group, from “Swept Away” and “Salvation Song” (folky quasi-hymns from their 2004 Mignonette record) to raucous, foot-stomping ditties such as “Talk on Indolence” all the way to ballads from their newest record like the title track “I and Love and You.” The slower, seemingly less concert friendly songs from I and Love and You were performed with such energy and passion that the audience couldn’t help but get caught up in the moment, regardless of where one stood on the debate of “new” Avett versus “old” Avett music. Of course, if you have ever seen this group perform live, you have come to expect nothing less, and this performance seemed to dull if not eliminate the imaginary line drawn between earlier and newer Avett releases.

As the final encore song, The Avett Brothers chose “Colorshow,” the third track from their 2006 effort Four Thieves Gone: The Robbinsville Sessions. Again, little can be said to debate this choice. With lyrics like “Be loud, let your colors show. Try to keep the madness low. I tell them ‘no’ with my hands, make them understand the plan of it: bright and gone!” the band summarizes who they are and what’s they’re truly about, and the sing-along chorus and driving verses made for clear crowd enjoyment and engagement. I was expecting to hear “Kick Drum Heart” at some point in the show (and possibly as their last song), but once again, The Avett Brothers are a band who defy convention and expectation. I was thrilled to bring in the new decade with The Avett Brothers, and they seemed to be just as thrilled to welcome a new year with an appreciative and finally exhausted audience.

Written by Marc G. Gray

After spending their entire Summer on the Vans Warped Tour, The Phillips brothers - Brandon, Zach, Adam – and their best friend Keenan, otherwise known as The Architects are packing their bags again for another cross country trek in support of their fourth album The Hard Way. This time, the boys will be touring with Flogging Molly and Frank Turner.

Produced, mixed, and engineered by KC’s own Aaron Conner (Cher, 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G.), The Hard Way is drawn from the deep lyrical pools of songsmiths like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Tom Petty, while the roaring, crashing sonic inspiration comes from the likes of The Clash, AC/DC, The Replacements and The Who. “We are still our father’s sons with respect to our heroes,” says singer/songwriter and eldest brother Brandon describing the evolution of The Architects sound and the creation of The Hard Way. Still stubbornly free of gimmicks, costumes and celebreality bullshit, The Architects are all piss and vinegar and good tunes, delivered with guts and authenticity…just as it should be.

Tour Dates:
Feb 9 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Dallas, TX
Feb 10 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Houston, TX
Feb 12 – MINGLEWOOD HALL / Memphis, TN
Feb 13 – TABERNACLE / Atlanta, GA
Feb 14 – THE RITZ YBOR / Tampa, FL
Feb 16 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Orlando, FL
Feb 17 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Orlando, FL
Feb 18 – THE MUSIC FARM / Charleston, SC
Feb 19 – THE FILLMORE / Charlotte, NC
Feb 20 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Myrtle Beach, SC
Feb 22 – THE NORVA / Norfolk, VA
Feb 23 – RAMS HEAD LIVE / Baltimore, MD
Feb 25 – WEBSTER THEATRE / Hartford, CT
Feb 26 – ELECTRIC FACTORY / Philadelphia, PA
Feb 27 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Boston, MA
Feb 28 – MAIN STREET ARMORY / Rochester, NY
Mar 2 – HAMMERSTEIN BALLROOM / New York, NY
Mar 4 - LC PAVILION / Columbus, OH
Mar 5 – HOUSE OF BLUES / Cleveland, OH
Mar 6 – THE FILLMORE / Detroit, MI
Mar 8 – EGYPTIAN ROOM / Indianapolis, IN
Mar 9 – BOGARTS / Cincinnati, OH
Mar 10 – THE PAGEANT / St. Louis, MO
Mar 12 – EAGLES CLUB / Milwaukee, WI
Mar 13 – ARAGON BALLROOM / Chicago, IL
Mar 14 – UPTOWN THEATRE / Kansas City, MO
Mar 15 – CAIN’S BALLROOM / Tulsa, OK

New York’s Jupiter One recently created their brand new Van Pilates video to help all you touring artists, musicians, and music fans alike to jump start that New Year’s resolution to get in shape! Spending a good portion of the latter half of 2009 on the road with Regina Spektor, Jupiter One is excited to shares moves like The Sub-Dominator, The Long Distance Relationship, and the Pelvis Costello with you so you can lose that unsightly tour fat, too. BOOSH!

Catch a fit and trim Jupiter One at Philadelphia’s North Star Bar on Saturday, January 9th with Run To Sandy, The Levee Drivers and Evergreen. Doors at 9PM, $8, 21+. Buy tickets now. Hope to see you there!

Jupiter One: website | myspace

Now when I first got asked to review this CD, I went and checked Midlake’s MySpace out and I can’t lie, I was just a bit scared about how it was going to sound. Everything on their MySpace gave me this sick feeling in my stomach and made me want to roll my eyes. The vocals were all beautiful. I loved that and I think acoustically all of the songs would have sounded amazing, but what was up had all of these background noises (it was a lot of obvious fake sounds mixed with very little actual guitar or drums or anything else that I would consider ‘real’) that just screamed we’re just trying to be a pretentious indie band. It wasn’t that it was absolutely horrible it was just too much for my poor stomach to handle, but hey some people like that sort of stuff, and if that’s your bag, that’s your bag, I won’t judge you.

Now as skeptical as I was before I even got the CD, I swore I would at least give it a chance. A chance I do have to say that it at the very least earned. I turned it on (metaphorically of course, after all you don’t really turn on iTunes, and really, who uses anything but iTunes anymore?) and was actually quite surprised. I expected more eye-rolling indie music but what I got was much, much more folky. While there are some remnants of the rest it is much less blatant, enough of an undertone on the record to be tolerable. It went from something you’d expect your run of the mill pretentious hipster to listen to something much more pleasing on the ears. It’s the sort of thing I’d want to listen to if I was walking through a forest alone or just needed to calm down and hang out in my apartment in the dark and relax. It did give me an almost amusing feeling like I should be watching the movie Robin Hood. It has a very old world guitar feeling to it in the background that reminded me just of how lutes sound in many old period pieces.

There were a few songs that still made me roll my eyes a little with their intros, but for the most part if you could get past the first 15 seconds, it was all good. This CD isn’t necessarily something I’d go out of my way to listen to, but I wouldn’t skip past it if it came up on shuffle on my iPod either. I’d recommend at least giving the CD a try if you’re into more folky. There’d certainly be no harm in it.

Track Listing:

1. Acts Of Man
2. Winter Dies
3. Small Mountain
4. Core Of Nature
5. Fortune
6. Rulers, Ruling All Things
7. Children Of The Grounds
8. Bring Down
9. The Horn
10. The Courage Of Others
11. In The Ground

Written by Hanna Marie Pageau

You probably know Laura Marling best as a former member of London folk pop band Noah and the Whale: she provided angelic harmonizing vocals to the band’s hit “Five Years Time.” According to her official website, the English songbird now has plans to play several dates across North America in support of her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album released in 2008, Alas I Cannot Swim, which incidentally was produced by NATW’s singer/songwriter Charlie Fink. Catch her folky stylings at the following venues in February 2010.

Tour Dates:
Feb 03 – Casbah / San Diego
Feb 04 – Largo / Los Angeles
Feb 05 – Cellar / Visalia, CA
Feb 06 – Swedish American Hall / San Francisco
Feb 09 – Drake Hotel / Toronto
Feb 10 – Divan Orange / Montreal
Feb 12 – (le) poisson rouge / New York City
Feb 13 – Attucks Theater / Norfolk, VA

It’s almost baffling that the Album Leaf has been around for 10 years and they’ve never hit it big. On their latest release, the appropriately titled Chorus of Storytellers, producer Jimmy LaValle brought the live touring band together to record a much fuller sound than he’s ever achieved on the four albums preceding this one.

The definition of chorus is: “a group of persons singing in unison.” Now, there aren’t necessarily a choir of voices on this album, but with multiple people recording multiple instruments, the album has the choral quality hinted at with the title. One of the better mellow and ambient releases I’ve heard in awhile, Chorus of Storytellers mixes the strong instrumentals ever-present on the previous albums Into the Blue Again and In A Safe Place with the newly synergic band vibe created in the studio.

The album opens with two tracks void of vocals, “Perro” and “Black Pages,” with an especially fitting title for the latter song. Because of the more saturated recording, those two songs are quite reminiscent of Sigur Ros, without sounding copycat-ish. In this case, starting the album with the lack of vocals added to the eerie feel of Chorus of Storytellers. The next few songs, “There is a Wind,” “Within Dreams,” and “Falling From the Sun,” give a slight Postal Service-esque feel to the album, with the synthetic sounds LaValle uses so effectively. And even more fitting, when I first listened to “Stand Still,” it almost sounded like an underrated b-side from an early Death Cab for Cutie album. The final songs are also beautiful, cerebral ambient tracks, similar again to those of Sigur Ros. And yet, these all fit perfectly together, flowing from one song to the next.

While all these reminders of other artists could detract from the artist we’re actually listening to – The Album Leaf – somehow they don’t. As a fifth album, Chorus of Storytellers is exactly where The Album Leaf should be – familiar, yet fresh. From strings to piano, synthesizer to straight vocals, LaValle put forth his best effort yet, matching both the organic fairytale quality of In A Safe Place and internal complexity of Into the Blue Again. Without the presence of too much vocals, you just get to listen to the music, which is what ambient music should be about. The ambiance, not necessarily the content.

I mean, who needs all the lyrics when you can just feel the music?

Track Listing:

1. Perro
2. Blank Pages
3. There Is a Wind
4. Within Dreams
5. Falling from the Sun
6. Stand Still
7. Summer Fog
8. Until the Last
9. We Are
10. Almost There
11. Tied Knots

Sunderland, England indie rock band Field Music, led by brothers David and Peter Brewis, have announced a North American tour for early next year. The band originally planned to tour on our side of the pond this December but had to cancel scheduled dates in Brooklyn and Chicago due to illness.

Field Music’s fifth official album, Measure, will be released in America on February 16, 2010 on Thrill Jockey Records.

Tour Dates:
Jan 30 – Bell House / Brooklyn
Mar 15 – Cedar Cultural Center / Minneapolis
Mar 16 – High Noon Saloon / Madison
Mar 17 – Lincoln Hall / Chicago
Mar 19 – Horseshoe Tavern / Toronto
Mar 20 – Il Motore / Montreal
Mar 21 – Great Scott / Allston, MA
Mar 23 – Bowery Ballroom / New York City

If 2010 does not turn out to be Woodpigeon‘s year, it will truly be a great injustice. In a music industry lacking artists with honest abilities and talents that aren’t the result of a studio technician, they’re a breath of fresh air.

However, Woodpigeon is kinda hard to explain to someone who might not have heard them.  They’re too Andrew Bird to be alt. country, but also too Ryan Adams during his Whiskeytown period to be indie. I honestly can’t really sum up the band in terms of a genre, because I can also hear classic rock, bluegrass, and England sound in them. A lazy journalist would simply crank out a laundry list of A-List bands that vaguely resemble them (like, if the Sufjan Stevens style of storytelling was fronted by The Swell Season, who had written some songs with Alison Krauss and Damien Rice). However, a description so simplistic (ha!) wouldn’t do this band justice.

For example, “Die Stadt Muzikanten,” the album’s opening and title track, reminds me of something I’d hear flipping through the channels past Turner Classic Movies. The combination of slide guitar, violin and piano strikes the feel of a dated saloon song. This impresses me greatly, considering that this album is dropping in 2010, seventy years late for the California gold rush.

But they’re more than some trivial band, aiming for a signature sound so out of the norm that people will have to notice.  They possess pure raw talent, beyond their initial attention gathering snag. They’re impressive lyrical content and musical ability is nothing to be discredited. Mark Hamilton‘s vocals remain calm and soothing throughout the album, regardless of the storytelling. The album shifts around, turning a new corner at every song. Each highly unique track contributes, personally gathering responsibility and accountability for what could quickly become one of the most underrated albums of the year. Every song is worth the cost of the album.

But don’t just take my word for it. Check out Woodpigeon’s new album Die Stadt Muzikanten, in stores everywhere on January 12 of 2010. I personally promise that you will not be disappointed.

Track Listing:
01. Die Stadt Muzikanten
02. Woodpigeon vs. Eagleowl [Strength in Numbers]
03. “Empty-Hall Sing-Along”
04. Morningside
05. My Denial in Argyle
06. Enchantée Janvier
07. Such a Lucky Girl
08. Unmissable Grey, Mixed Paint
09. Duck Duck Goose
10. Spirehouse
11. Redbeard
12. The Street Noise Gives You Away
13. …And as the Ship Went Down, You’d Never Looked Finer
14. The Pesky Druthers (Parts 1 & 2)
15. Our Love is as Tall as the Calgary Tower

So, here we are my musical playmates, at the tail end of 2009 with “Top Ten” lists jamming your inboxes, twitter feeds, and collective unconscious. I find myself overwhelmed when faced with the task of writing down that looming “Top Ten.” In an attempt to narrow down the scope of my list, as well as in taking full advantage of the opportunity to write about what is near and dear, I offer you my humble thoughts on the best music North of the border, 2009. That’s right folks, Canada: home to free health care, equality, and just about the best avant garde, trendsetting, F’d up music around.

10. MSTRKRFT

Hailing from Toronto, MSTRKRFT, pronounced Master Kraft, released their second EP in ‘09, Fist of God. Swooping synths, scratchy white noise, and chunky, electro dance beats landed these guys on my list. The duo has remixed songs by fellow Canadian crew members Metric and Wolfmother as well as The Kills and Bloc Party. In 2009, the boys signed to Dim Mak/Downtown and collaborated with hip-hop heavy weights Ghostface Killah and E-40. Boom! A fan of Crystal Castles? Daft Punk? Check these guys out and be prepared to break out your best robo-moves.

9. GENTLEMAN REG

I had the chance to catch Reg Vermue, a.k.a. Gentleman Reg at The Bowery Ballroom in New York this Fall. His stunning 2009 album, Jet Black, released on “It” Canadian label Arts &Crafts, home to big-ups like Broken Social Scene and Feist, blew me away. It’s not often you stumble upon music that has you aghast and asking, “Why isn’t everyone listening to this?!” Over the past year, Gentleman Reg’s eclectic genre-mashing musings have sort of been my little secret, my go-to album for everything from inky 80s inspired dance to tethered and bluesy, sly, indie chill. He won’t be staying under the radar for long, so I suggest you beat the crowds while you still can.

8. OHBIJOU

Ohbijou is a group of people from Canada who sing and play instruments together and make music, but don’t call them a band. OK? Preferring, “friends, a curatorial movement, familial unit, assembly of musicians, and philanthropic initiative” to the former, Ohbijou are my number eight reason to love Canada this year…and maybe next? I’m predicting an unbearably long line at their SXSW showcase this year. Another great big Canadian collective to fuss over, Ontario-based Ohbijou sound like pillowy exchanges during a late-night slumber party: nostalgic, delicate embroidering of the heart. There’s a certain intimate yet orchestral gleam to lead singer Casey Mecija’s sympathetic choiring. The critically acclaimed, Beacons, was released on Last Gang Records in 2009, and features some of the loudest, feverish rustling I’ve heard all year.

7. K’NAAN

A Somali-born rapper who landed in Toronto at the age of 13, inspired by Eric B and Rakim, and raps about everything from his war-torn homeland to learning ones “ABCs,” K’Naan’s heavily buzzed-about 2009 release, Troubadour, didn’t need much help but certainly picked up steam with guest spots from Damian Marley and Mos Def. On the top of almost every critic’s 2009 watch list, K’Naan offers some of the freshest, most intelligent beats around and boasts an authentic sense of self that challenges the tired, hip-hop stereotypes still being regurgitated in the mainstream.

6. JAPANDROIDS

They hit SXSW last year, rocked CMJ in October, played NYC’s Siren Festival this past summer, and are already slotted for SXSW 2010 return. Beyond buzz, you should be listening to Japandroids if you dig raw, mashed up, cymbal crashing, fuzzed out, beat up, rock with an infectious heart. The emo-steeped “coming of age” tale we know all too well is at the core of this duo, and honestly, it’s what really makes them so damn hard to resist. You know the yearning, bratty chorus by heart: “We used to dream/ Now we worry about dying/ I don’t want to worry about dying,” but this time it’s packaged in a rousing, busted up, pure punk-drunk adrenaline shot.

5. THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE

I have to admit, I just sort of stumbled upon this trio not that long ago, but boy do they deserve to be on this list. Signed to Saddle Creek, in 2009 they released Hometowns, 13 indie rock love letters that pay homage to everything from the beauty of the Alberta wild rose flower to summers in the Rockies to rising towns and hometown honeys. The organic beauty and soil of the rural Canadian countryside is mirrored in this affectionate and nostalgic collection of songs. They are also playing SXSW 2010; stay tuned for my full report.

4. TIMBER TIMBRE

I caught Timber Timbre (a.k.a. Taylor Kirk) at his packed to capacity Arts & Crafts CMJ showcase in October at Union Pool in Brooklyn. It was worth being sardined in a tiny bat cave to witness this rising dark horse summon the souls of many to his hearth. Timber Timbre’s self-titled 2009 release is a chilling folk-blues foray into a strange world of soulful and haunted hymns, acoustic stillness, cloaked and rising choirs and gloomy, hollow pastoral visions…it’s what you would imagine it sounds like as your passing from this life to the next; vacant, washed out coolness punctuated with flashes of recognition—chirping sparrows, leaves rustling, and cinematic last glances. Kirk had produced one of the most original artistic visions I’ve come across in the past year.

3. HANDSOME FURS

There’s no denying that Sub Pop had a big 2009. Celebrating an anniversary and a kick-ass roster which includes Fleet Foxes and my #3 pick on this list, The Handsome Furs. Face Control, the band’s second release garnered a lot of enthusiasm and kept the two touring for the better part of ‘09. The album is punchy, electro boss with a Soviet slink-all the heart and rumble of Springsteen matched with some of the raunchiest keyboard clout I’ve ever heard. This Montreal match made in heaven, husband and wife duo, Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry, are so damn sexy when they perform the music pretty much seeps from their pores. The sweaty kinetics between these two live trumps for best live show of 2009 in my book.

2. FUCKED UP

Whether you like hardcore or not, Fucked Up is a band that you need to know about. Winners of the elite 2009 Polaris prize for their album The Chemistry of Common Life, these Toronto-based breakneckers have pretty much owned top spots on almost every list over the past two years. Some critics have been bold enough to claim that the band’s second release has even “redefined hardcore.” With intelligent, provoking lyrics and melodic subterfuges this isn’t your mama’s hardcore. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re on Matador, played a twelve hour marathon album release show last year which featured drop-ins from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and Dinosaur Jr’s J. Mascis, or that they open the album with a wind instrument that has all the indie-kids perched, but one listen and you have to admit Fucked Up is bringing something different to the game. Now we could get all huge with how many overdubs there are on a particular track or the nerdiness and wonder of the atypical instrument choices they’re batting with or I could just tell you that it’s one of the most thrilling, charging, genre-bending, pioneering albums of the past ten years, never mind 2009.

1. TEGAN AND SARA

Tell me you’re not surprised that my favorite Canadians took top honors on my list of reasons to heart Canada 2009. Tegan and Sara are a PopWreckoning favorite and we’ve been all over coverage for the girls’ highly anticipated, stellar sixth album, Sainthood, released in October to wide critical praise. Fans of the twins have been pining for new music since wearing out 2007’s The Con. The new material is a creative push forward for the sisters, one that boasts a heart-wrenching, hyper-analytic, intellectual aplomb and is decidedly more experimental; marking the first time the sisters penned tracks together. I can’t deny my love for the twins’ addictive, power-pop, motives of love and I’m already anxious for new music…most anticipated album of 2012?