Unmap is the rare record that excites by premise alone: pair indie-folk king Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) with the equally esoteric Wisconsin post-rock band Collections of Colonies of Bees, and let Vernon’s arresting voice glide over the band’s mesmerizing, cinematic sound collages. That tantalizing prospect doesn’t even begin to describe the music found on Unmap, [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘indie rock’
September 15, 2009
Album Review: SeepeopleS – Apocalypse Cow Vol. 2
During “What’s Missing,” the lush, schizophrenic track that opens Apocalypse Cow Vol. 2, SeepeopleS front man Will Bradford creepily announces, “what’s missing is old fashioned justice.” He’s on about something sinister and corrupt, but he could easily be talking about the puzzling path his band has traveled for the last 7 years. For the third [...]
July 7, 2009
Album Review: Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
Though I hadn’t listened to an entire Dinosaur Jr. album since sometime in the late 1990’s, I still had a good feeling about Farm before I ever heard it. While it’s not even close to the band’s original albums as far as sticking power and repeat listenability is concerned, Farm is far from a disappointment. [...]
June 24, 2009
News Fragments: Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Lineup, Sunny Day Real Estate Reunion, Phish Album Announcement, Virgin FreeFest
-San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival has announced the initial lineup for the free event, which takes place at Golden Gate Park October 2-4, 2009. The first announced acts look just great, and the lineup includes Okkervil River, Del McCoury Band, Robyn Hitchcock, Aimee Mann, Allen Toussaint, Dr. Dog, Neko Case, Booker T. and the [...]
June 24, 2009
Live: An Horse and Telekinesis – Chapel Hill, NC, June 18, 2009
Chapel Hill’s Local 506 is one of the darkest, stuffiest clubs in North Carolina. It eats talented bands alive, because they find that playing in a sauna isn’t as easy as they surmised, and the crowds tend to be comprised of relentlessly unenthusiastic, motionless hipsters. Thankfully, there’s a great beer selection.
When a band succeeds [...]
May 27, 2009
Bonnaroo Preview: Okkervil River
Bonnaroo has done Okkervil River no favors.
The Austin-based band will perform at the festival’s geographically-challenged Other Tent on Sunday afternoon, when exhausted fans will be doing more hunkering than walking. Other bands have fallen victim to the sinister stage and schedule spot – even an increasingly rare stateside Broken Social Scene performance couldn’t lure the [...]
April 7, 2009
Album Review: Doves – Kingdom of Rust
For the last few years, Doves seemed grounded. Having released a trio of albums in the first half of the decade, they soon found themselves bobbing in a sea of their own expectations. Many thought the band to be on some kind of aimless hiatus, but one listen to their new record quashes that notion. [...]
