Okay first of all, has anyone seen this? Pitchfork’s “Guide To Music”? Really? If you’re like me, trying to get a grasp on over a century of great music that came before your lifetime (yeah I’m a Sousa fan) can be, at times, daunting. But that doesn’t mean you need to ruin the experience of finding out yourself!

Or more importantly, it doesn’t mean you need a book’s worth of distraction from the hordes of great music being produced at this very instant. Today, for example, we’ve got a new track from long-time writer and producer Scott Garred, aka Super XX Man. The new album is called Volume XII: There’ll Be Diamonds, and it draws primarily from experiences at a State Hospital. While the subject of the mentally ill is in itself is somewhat haunting, and Garred captures the solemn, inconsolable guilt of the whole experience.

The music is reassuringly upbeat, often times searing with guitar feedback, or as in “Medication,” calculated in its movements, like a Kill the Moonlight-era Spoon song with the “cool” turned way down. But don’t let it be a distraction from the lyrics underneath: “I’ve taken too many medications, I don’t know, I don’t know…” Take a listen for yourself:

Super XX Man - Medication

The new album is out October 28, 2008 on Tender Loving Empire.

I was listening to some wailing trumpet solos when I got the press release about Jay Crocker’s new album Below The Ocean Over, so when I heard this track off it, the horn parts fit suspiciously well with the playlist I’d been listening to and enjoying on my own.

Crocker you might know as a member of another Calgary band I posted about a while ago called Ghostkeeper, but – and this might just because the album is still fresh – I’ve been enjoying Below The Ocean Over more than Ghostkeeper’s material. The album racks up a variety of styles, including some songs that are a little too unfocused (I think the technical term is ‘experimental’) for my tastes, but in certain songs Crocker seems to have tapped into that universally sought recipe for mixing “pop sensibility” with, you know, all that other cool stuff about music. What does that mean? I don’t know, but it sounds like this:

Jay Crocker – Below The Ocean Over Pt. 23

Any one else hear a little Randy Newman in there? Anyway, the album is out October 14th on Artunit. Check it out.

Note: Unfortunately, camera issues marred our pictures from the show, so these are stock photos instead. Apologies. – Ed.

Let me just put this on the table and then back it up with some facts: Shearwater are the best “new” (to the indie-mainstream) band in the world right now. Like Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga last year, Shearwater answered their newfound media attention with an album that completely surpassed all expectations, one that will probably go down in the books as the best album of the year (of course, I’m talking about Rook here). Jonathan Meiburg is perfect: he has a knack for weaving intricate and often delicate music into an ether of pure energy, cycling seamlessly from crystalline falsetto and string arrangements to caustic guitar tones and barbarian howls, holding the creative reigns of an extremely talented set of musicians and pushing the possibilities to the extremes; perfect.

To see Shearwater live, as I did once again this past week, is to see the amazing qualities of the band all Gestalt-ed into one grand performance. I was initially worried that, playing outdoor at the Mohawk, the performance would not live up to the one the band gave a couple months ago at The Parish, where they presented Rook in its entirety, hiring on a harpist and various string players to fill in the gaps left by the core members. Unfortunately, this largely proved to be true: the sound quality at the Mohawk wasn’t stellar (it seemed that the right channel was faltering mid-way through the show, and the e-piano was mixed insultingly high), and many of the intricacies of the past show that I was hoping to relive were lost somewhere in summer night.

With distorted highs and inaudible calms, the dynamic range of songs like “On The Death of The Waters” (i.e., most of Rook) was much less stunning, but still strong. On the upside, the band did play to perfection what is still one of my favorite Shearwater songs, “Seventy-Four, Seventy-Five”. Under the staccato of a pounding piano and the wail of a trumpet the band roared through the powerful track off Palo Santo, lighting up the entire stage, shitty sound-system and all. With few exceptions, the louder songs prevailed, though only because they were most likely to be properly heard, and the softer didn’t, only because they couldn’t quite compete with poor sound, the wail of sirens, and the rest of the intrusive city ambiance.

I’d never miss a chance to see Shearwater, and even in the worst situations (at least sound-wise) the band still easily impress, adapting to their environment and showing their flexibility in moving from studious composers to seasoned outdoor rockers. That being said, I’d prefer to see Shearwater in a venue more suited to highlight the band’s gorgeous intricacies. Alas, bad sound or no, Shearwater are damn near perfect.

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The Donkeys - Photo: Jeff Wenzel

First of all, I know I’ve been out of touch lately, with hardly any posts up, so let me apologize for my absence, but also suggest that you check out some of the other great sources of music we have linked to in our “Links” section off to the side whenever we’re out of the office.

Second, and more importantly, Living On The Other Side, this new album by The Donkeys, is a must listen for fans of good Americana music. And guess what: they’re playing Wednesday night right here at the Mohawk in Austin on the second stop of their cross-country tour supporting the new album.

The Donkeys are experts at musical progress, channeling the music of their elders with pride while still making considerable creative progress in their own right. Owing their musical direction to time-tested Americana traditions, most of the album tends to sounds vaguely familiar to the undiscerning listener, like a Blues record that got lost in an extensive collection, unheard for years. That sense of familiarity is the genius of a band like The Donkeys: it’s clearly not a ripoff - you can never put my finger on exactly which band they sound like - but it embraces the spirit of its influences (the ones Americana has been preaching for years), placing that spirit at the album’s core and building freshly from their. It’s no surprise then that even with repeated listens there is still that sense of familiarity and Americana identity.

To describe the band any further would probably do their music even more of an injustice, so I’ll hand it over to The Donkeys after the jump, where you can download “Walk Through A Cloud” and “Nice Train” straight off the new album. If you like what you hear, be sure to head out to the show tonight at the Mohawk. They’ll be playing with local acts Golden Bear and Visitors (who also come highly recommended).

Music, tour dates and more after the jump.

Tunes:

Donkeys - “Nice Train”

Donkeys - “Walk Through A Cloud”

Info:

Living On The Other Side is available 9/9/08 on Dead Oceans.

The Donkeys Fall 2008 Tour Dates:

09/02/08 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves
09/03/08 Austin, TX - Mohawk
09/04/08 Houston, TX - Rudyard’s Pub
09/06/08 Birmingham, AL - Bottle Tree
09/08/08 Charlotte, NC - Thirsty Beaver
09/09/08 Philadelphia, PA - M Room
09/10/08 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East Upstairs
09/11/08 Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool
09/12/08 New York, NY - The Cake Shop
09/13/08 Purchase, NY - The Stood
09/14/08 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
09/15/08 Bloomington, IN - Cinemat
09/16/08 Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
09/18/08 Des Moines, IA - Vaudville Mews
09/19/08 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
09/20/08 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
09/21/08 Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
09/23/08 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
09/24/08 Portland, OR - Someday Lounge
09/25/08 San Francisco, CA - Hemlock Tavern

Note: This review was originally posted on Austin Sound (link), but is the original work of the author. -Ed.

If local thrift stores selling old pearl snaps along side vintage instruments wasn’t enough to convince you that Austin might be a town that values a “revival” spirit, the Jungle Rockers might be the kick in the 40-year-old Levis you need. In fact, the new EP by the Jungle Rockers, which follows in the footsteps of last year’s eponymous debut, would be more at home on the shelves of one of a hundred “vintage” stores, or perhaps even your dad’s record collection, than next to most new music today. While venturing into the same territory as thousands of garage bands across America, the Jungle Rockers recreate a bygone era with striking success; but whether or not mere revival of the classics is cause for celebration hinges on a simple question you should probably ask yourself: Am I looking for one hell of a rockin’ good time?

Don’t kid yourself, you are. And if that be the case, Cool It Out is a shot straight to the vein of guitar licks so raw they could get Bo Diddley turning in his grave. A primal scream jump starts “Cool It Out”, followed by riffs and vocal howls that burn the tape throughout, pushing needles to red and, presumably, all the kids to the black checkered dance floor. “I wanna be a good boy, meet a good girl / But there’s a devil in my head goin’ ‘ha, ha, ha, ha’” chant the Rockers, flashing their signature sardonic wit like true greasers. In fact, most lyrics can be classified into one of three taxa: 1) self-attributions of “bein’ bad”, 2) clever sexual innuendos about women, or 3) screaming, with an emphasis on 3) screaming. The combination of the three is, quite literally, timeless.

In the grand scheme of things, both for music and the Jungle Rockers, Cool It Out is generally more of the same. But when that “same” is exciting music that hearkens back to a simpler, more enjoyable time in rock-n-roll, it’s hard to deny that while musical pioneers they are not, their music is first and foremost entirely enjoyable, a quality music has often forgot in the many years since.

Tunes:

Jungle Rockers - “Cool It Out”

Info:

Cool It Out is available now.

Websites:

[myspace]

Chicago/NY duo French Horn Rebellion recently did a remix of a band we featured a little while ago, This Is Ivy League (we included the track below). But the band, which features the Brothers Perlick-Molinari, David you you might know as the producer of first MGMT EP, also have a brand new full-length out now, which they’re supporting with a tour this fall.

I don’t know a whole lot about the band, and I was quite honestly a little disappointed when their music didn’t include any (identifiable) french horns, but their music is certainly fun, and made me dance a little bit in my desk chair, which is enough for me. Check out the track “Up All Night” from the new album (which sounds like a seizure-laced acid trip) and their remix of “London Bridges” (which sounds like the end credits to a Sega Genesis game) after the jump.

They won’t be playing in Austin, but they will be through Dallas if anyone up North is interested, at The Door on August 30th. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go play more John Madden Football ‘92.

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