Deep Cuts: Indie Rock

The Vaccines are an indie rock group formed in West London in 2010 by Justin Hayward-Young (lead vocals, guitar), Freddie Cowan (lead guitar, vocals), Árni Árnason (bass, vocals) and Pete Robertson (drums, vocals). The band has released three albums Melody Calling in 2013, Come Of Age in 2012 and their excellent debut from 2011 "What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?". "What Did You Expect..." features several key tracks including the anthem-esque "Wet Suit".

The Vaccines have earned a great deal of popular and critical success. They were named MTV's Best New Band and played at SXSW in 2011, they've opened for the Arctic Monkeys and count Debbie "Blondie" Harry as a fan. With just the right mix of uplifting performances and razor sharp lyrics grounded in strife and struggle - it appears that this band has arrived in top form.

The Vaccines - Wetsuit
References:

• Official Site, The Vaccines
• Wikipedia, The Vaccines

Deep Cuts: Soundtracks

What do you do when you are tasked with organizing the soundtrack for one of the most shocking and disturbing b-movies made in the past 50 years?

Do you: A) play it safe and use an eerie combination of sparse sound effects as in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? B) Implement the "Troma school" methodology and use canned public domain tunes? Or, C) Compose, perform and gather together one of the most entertaining, original and fresh soundtracks to grace a motion picture since Jerry Goldsmith's original Planet Of The Apes score in 1968?

The answer is C. The Taint (2010) features a brilliantly executed score by a series of artists including the 80's/8-bit synth-rock righteousness of an artist identified as Hot Convict aka Drew Bolduc the director of The Taint. This score takes the best of cheesy, "futuristic" synth soundtracks like Tron, Escape From New York, New Wave pop, and the editing ability of The Faint then makes them into a high-energy, adrenaline-fueled musical melt-down.

The sound track also features an amazing hair metal inspired ballad "We'll Meet Within the Shadows of Love" by Philip Heesen, Robert King and Brian Beck that recalls the strange spectacle of late 80's rock acts like Kix and White Snake.




References:

• The Taint, Official Site
• IMDb, The Taint (2010) Soundtrack

Deep Cuts: Experimental

Philadelphia's Power Animal is a experimental, modern music production that is the brain-child of the well-liked and well-respected Mr. Keith Hampson and his ever-shifting group of musical collaborators.

The band's seminal "People Songs" from January of 2010 launched the band on a national tour with a brilliant and sometimes introspective record. It's required listening for fans of lo-fi, indie and experimental work like Daniel Johnston and Sebadoh. The album is a look at how people interact badly with each other but is told with great vocal performances from Hampson and a reflective personal warmth that is impossible to mistake.

The newest release in October of this year is entitled Excorism which was followed by a re-mix album (much like Beck's Odelay Deluxe Edition). Power announced on Bandcamp that for every $2 that you pay for Exorcism on Bandcamp, $1.50 will provide 3 meals for those in need through Philabundance while the other 50 cents will go toward funding future charitable projects with Human Kindness Overflowing.




References:

• Bandcamp, Human Kindness Overflowing
• Facebook, Power Animal
• MySpace, Power Animal

Deep Cuts: Alt-Rock

The title track from Mellow Gold, recorded in 1991 by Bongload Custom Recordings in L.A., introduced the world to Beck Hansen two years later in 1993. An infectious slide guitar driven melody, the single's chorus of "I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me," became unavoidable. Beck released Mellow Gold (1994), his Geffen/DGC Records debut, in early 1994 to critical acclaim. The album included the aforementioned single as well as the live staple "Beercan", and showcased Beck's love of all things musical. Elements of folk, punk, blues, noise and hip-hop informed the varied sounds on the album. He also released two independent albums during this period including the melancholy, folk-tinged One Foot In The Grave (K Records) (1994).

Beck toured extensively over the next year and a half, most notably appearing on the main stage at the 1995 Lollapalooza tour. Afterwards he returned to the studio and emerged in the summer of 1996 with Odelay which sold 2.3 million copies and won two Grammys in 1997. Since then, Beck has stunned the music industry with each of his ensuing albums including his outrageously party anthem-esque Midnite Vultures (1999), downbeat and melodic Mutations, thundering heartbreak in Sea Change (2002), groove-laden samples and street culture in Guero (2005) and exploring new soundscapes in The Information (2006) and Modern Guilt (2008).

Beck - Corvette Bummer

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References:

• Beck.com, News and Views
• Wikipedia, Odelay

Deep Cuts From Bloggy's Vault: Indie-Folk

Originally, Ray's Vast Basement's Starvation Under Orange Trees album began when indie-folk musician Jon Bernson was asked to write a few songs for a live score for performances of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the Actors Theatre of San Francisco in 2001. What resulted, in 2007, was an amazing adaptation of Steinbeck's themes of poverty, injustice, cruelty, crisis and momentary release through love and music as told in Berson's low key, down tempo mastery of a wide range of styles and instruments.

In 2008, RVB became Exray and made their debut performance at SXSW. This was followed by a national tour and numerous unofficial live recordings. Exray's first studio recording Ammunition Teeth (released by Bernson's Howell Transmitter label) will be released on 10.12.10.

Ray's Vast Basement - Palace Flophouse.mp3 (3.4 mb)

Off The Shelf: Swallow Me Whole

Swallow Me Whole is a 216 page graphic novel by Nate Powell. First published by Top Shelf Comix in 2008, the book was the 2009 Eisner Award winner for Best Graphic Novel, winner of 2008's Ignatz Award for Outstanding Debut and nominated for an L.A. Times Book Prize.

The book deals with a family strained with dysfunction and mental illness. It's has gotten a lot of positive reviews from national and international reviewers. Forbidden Planet, a web zine in the U.K., calls Swallow Me Whole a: "- hypnotically dark tale that slowly, quietly and masterfully tells a story that will demand multiple readings. All the way through Swallow Me Whole there’s a desperate sense of lives spiralling out of control." The New York Times in a rare turn towards the accurate called the book: "Scaldingly dark ... Powell’s flowing, impressionistic artwork, with its ravenous expanses of negative space, swirls the reader’s perspective through his characters’ perceptions...".^[0]

Powell's art style uses a thin line to describe form and sparse color to create depth. He describes himself on his site See My Brother Dance as: " - born in 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas... began self-publishing comics and zines in 1992 at age 14, and graduated from The School of Visual Arts (in New York City) in 2000." Today, Powell lives and works in the Bloomington, Indiana area and also play venues around America as part of an alt-rock band called Universe.

Notes:
[0] = Quote directly from Douglas Wolk's 2008 review of Swallow Me Whole for The New York Times.

References:

• See My Brother Dance, Art + Comics by Nate Powell
• Blogspot, See My Brother Dance
• Top Shelf Comix, Swallow Me Whole
• Forbidden Planet, Tales of Extraordinary Madness
• Daily Crosshatch, Nate Powell Interview