Photo by Vanessa Heins The voice is unmistakable – immediately identifiable by those who know it and intensely intriguing to those who don’t. It belongs to Dallas Green, perhaps better known as the man who writes, records, and performs under the moniker of City and Colour. Already renowned across Canada and the UK, thanks to … Read more
Photo by Cary Norton Is there a void in your analogue-nomadic-folk record collection? Heralded as a cross between Bob Dylan and The Violent Femmes (and we’re thinking a slightly tripped-out The Tallest Man on Earth), Paleo (aka David Strackany) is the answer to your foot stompin’, midnight ghost conjurations in addition to your early summer desert … Read more
Austin, Texas trio Ringo Deathstarr has been creating waves on the live front for quite some time now. The name alone sticks in your head like Crazy Glue, and their combination of head-splitting volume and short, energy-filled, enthralling performances, has become the currency of indie-rock bragging rights for those who have caught them at their … Read more
Photo by Aggie Donkar/Brand New Kind of Photography There were two possible directions we could have gone with this post, and not being totally sure which is best, we’re including them both. A) Like an aged bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild, Future Islands is one of those bands that gets more complex as you allow … Read more
Springtime in the blogosphere can be quite busy. There are those Vampire Weekend records to dust off and Ray-Bans to shine. Hipsters everywhere must flock to H&M to get their rolled-up shorts in all shades and colors. So don’t judge us for just now finding the room to give Battles new track, “Ice Cream,” its … Read more
Active Child’s new single “Playing House” has been receiving a lot of love online since it dropped last Tuesday, but we just want to remind all you readers that we were giving choirboy-turned-indie-pop musician Pat Grossi props since we checked him out at last year’s Hopscotch Music Festival. On that particular night, he and his … Read more
We have so much love but we need so much more A friend of mine recently told me that it’s the first 10 seconds of a song that make or break its fate. A tough standard, but really, in many cases, it’s true. If you don’t like something, well, it’s often immediately clear to you … Read more
When the aural cacophony of Hooray For Earth’s “True Loves” comes full force at about thirty-five seconds in, it becomes readily apparent that the NYC quartet have a knack for showcasing a contrast of heavy beats with breezy vocal arrangements. It is this sonic dichotomy that makes the eponymous track from their debut LP (Dovecote … Read more
Image taken at Hopscotch 2010 by The Independent Weekly As someone who prides myself on never listening to the radio, I have recently been forced to flip it on at the most inopportune times, now that my kid is all smart and steals my iPhone from me each time we get in the car so … Read more
I want to know what it’s like To live with you To give to you To not be without you My mind wanders aimlessly. (Convoluted translation: I get easily excited and tend to think anything is possible no matter the circumstance or distance between myself and what I want.) I blame songwriters such as Matthew … Read more
Tomorrow night at The Fox Theatre, Eddie Vedder will be rocking with his ukulele, playing songs from his new album, Ukulele Songs, an album that’s really growing on us here at Speakers in Code. Of course, Vedder will also be playing Pearl Jam songs, and today’s JOTD is kinda one of those. “Can’t Keep” is … Read more
This past weekend at their self-curated music festival (Solid Sound at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art), Chicago-based rockers Wilco played a new single entitled “I Might.” Available only on vinyl (for now), “I Might” is a straight-forward, buzzy rocker with keyboard and xylophone notes that provide hints of a 1960’s vibe. The track is … Read more
Photo courtesy of Expunged Records “I was born with a heart of stone/ until you came along/ and you broke my throne…” You know what sucks? Purposely avoiding the lures of love, accidentally falling into it, and finally having your heart stomped flat by a dude in baseball cleats. Or a chick in stilettos. Either … Read more
Jacuzzi Boys, pictured above, are three pretty hip looking dudes from South Florida, bright as a neon sign at a strip club, and judging by their music, probably a lot of fun to hang out with. Their band name is one of the most brilliant on record, conjuring images of shirtless dudes in the ’80s, … Read more
On thethird LP, Dracula, Nurses taps into the physicality of rhythm and how it speaks to the body itself. For their live show, Nurses’ three members blend hypnotic sounds, shifting from instrument to instrument effortlessly, creating the feel of three producers onstage. Their performances are immersive, visceral experiences, and the dubby groove of Dracula is … Read more
Don’t mistake Ganglians for another stateside ensemble playing hollow tunes that come sepia-toned, rippling with sonic nostalgia for a period its makers never lived through. We’ll leave those lo-fi slacker-rock and chilled-out buzz-band comparisons to those other blogs you might read. Unlike many a would-be peer group riding the hype wave before washing up on … Read more
Photo by Ted Newsome Several songs from the last A.A. Bondy effort (2009’s When the Devil’s Loose) frequently appear on mixes I make for friends, or myself, that whisper the slow coming of fall. “I Can See the Pines Are Dancing” is a leisurely jaunt over wooded hills and through dry, crunching leaves. The title … Read more
Photo by Graham Tolbert “Baby Missiles” perfectly illustrates everything I adore about musical juxtaposition. ’80s synth pop mixed with country-rock? Yes, please. I’ll have that. The War On Drugs frontman, Adam Granduciel, has a purposefully wobbly delivery on “Baby Missiles” that reminds me a little bit of Mark Knopfler on Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life.” … Read more
Artwork by Susan Logsdon Scarlet Tanager burst onto the local scene in a tornado of cute. I know that particular adjective has been frequently used when describing the Saint Louis six-piece, but GD if it ain’t totally accurate. And, I mean that in the best sense possible, nowhere near a patronizing connotation. About four or … Read more
San Fran rock group Girls have released a new single entitled “Vomit” (yes, “Vomit”) as the lead in to their new LP, Father, Son, Holy Ghost (True Panther), and the track is a doozy. Starting with a simple guitar scale and strum and the hushed delivery of singer Christopher Owens’ unmistakable vocals, the initial gentle … Read more
In 2005, Brooklyn / Philly based group Clap Your Hands Say Yeah reached near mythical status in the indie community as a result of the grass roots, do it yourself, release of their exceptional self-titled debut record. Two years later, the quintet released Some Loud Thunder, a record that, for the most part, fell short … Read more
Dreamers of the Ghetto are a family band from Indiana, consisting of brothers Luke and Jonathan Jones, Luke’s wife, Lauren, and then some guy named Marty. After teasing us blogs with kick ass, homemade video clips for the past year, they have quickly become one of the most eccentric, but perhaps promising bands out there … Read more
In a lot of ways, summer is about getting away, breaking free from whatever it is you do to make a living. That’s what keeps me sane – knowing that there are days ahead where I’ll be on my own, not looking at a spreadsheet or dealing with a budget. Music, of course, is also … Read more
After spending the bulk of the past year on the road in support of last November’s excellent LP, Sports, Weekend has since been hard at work on their highly anticipated followup effort. Prior to their European tour in July, the band spent three weeks in the studio recording tracks that would become an EP, now … Read more
Photo by Katie Guymon Springfield, Missouri’s hometown cuties, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, are quite a prolific crew. In a few months, the band is geared to release a double album compilation called Tape Club, a collection of songs that have never previously appeared on any of SSLYBY’s records. The songs intentionally span the … Read more
Gypsy rock is a new one for me. I’m more of a lyrics guy (read: sad bastard), as you probably know, or might have guessed. But hey, music discovery never ends, so I’m happy to have been introduced to Diego’s Umbrella, who are “San Francisco’s Ambassadors of Gypsy Rock.” You’re probably wondering what that means, … Read more
M83 is the dream-pop moniker for France’s Anthony Gonzalez (that is not him in the picture), who, since 2001, has been recording lush, electronic-based tunes that blur the lines of ambient compositions, pop rock, shoegaze, and synth. On October 18th, M83 will release the project’s sixth studio album, a double disc entitled Hurry Up, We’re … Read more
Fertile ground can be found outside the heartland, folks. Just follow my gaze east, now south, yeah, that’s it. All the way down to The Port City, good ole’ Wilmington, North Carolina, where the soil is sandy, and cotton grows like those potatoes do in other places not surrounded by salt water. What’s cropping up … Read more
The self-titled debut LP of Santa Barbara, California quintet Gardens & Villa was released in July (Secretly Canadian), and the record has been steadily growing on us all summer. The record’s first single is “Black Hills,” a grooving jam that evokes memories of some of Britt Daniel and Spoon’s earlier work, fused with a branch … Read more
Canadian duo Purity Ring have only released three singles in the year or so that they’ve been making music together, but it is easy to see why these offerings (including prior tracks “Lofticries” and “Ungirthed“) have the web abuzz and ablog with excitement over their odd brand of electro-pop. Their latest effort is “Belispeak,” a … Read more