Monthly Archives: September 2012

Listen: Whale Fire – “Wild-Eyed Mistake”

Whale Fire, a four-piece indie rock/pop group from Little Rock, are set to release their 7″ titled Dream of Me / The Fabric on September 29th. After hearing their single “Wild-Eyed Mistake” (listen below) from their forthcoming album coming in October/early November, I am quite excited to see what else they are capable of. Whale Fire splits lead vocals/guitar duties between Clay Grubbs and John Steel while Matthew Steel handles the harmonies/bass, and Will Vick takes care of the drums/percussion.

Referring to their upcoming material in John’s own words, “We recently finished recording material for a 7″ and a full length album with our good friend Michael Stephens mostly between his spare bedroom and our practice space. The process ended up taking a little longer than we thought it would after the laptop we were using broke and it hit another snag when Michael had to move to Shreveport, LA, but we are finished now and happy with the results.”

Pick up their single Wild-Eyed Mistake for free on their bandcamp page now and check out their website for tour dates and more information.

Listen: Frank Ocean – “Blue Whale”

New Frank Ocean is always a treat and last night’s mysterious new “Blue Whale” is no different. This time, however, Ocean trades his falsetto and melodies for a couple of chilled-out rap verses. We’ve already heard him spit on “Oldie” and “She” with the rest of the Odd Future goons, but “Blue Whale” (which seems to be an old demo produced by Midi Mafia) is the most continuous and solid rap effort so far from the Def Jam singer. Check out the song on Ocean’s Tumblr below.

MP3: Frank Ocean – “Blue Whale”

https://twitter.com/frank_ocean/status/250434302951706624

Watch: the xx Live with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

 As a part of the BBC Orchestra Presents… series, the xx has performed live with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in a seaside resort of Bridlington in East Yorkshire, England. In the concert, the xx performed arrangements of songs from xx and Coexist. You can watch the performance below or listen to the archived broadcast on BBC here. The xx recently released their sophomore album Coexist and are on tour promoting the new album. Check out tour dates below the video.

10-05 Vancouver, British Columbia – Vogue Theatre
10-06 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theater
10-07 Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
10-10 Las Vegas, NV – The Pool at the Cosmopolitan
10-11 San Diego, CA – Soma
10-12 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
10-13 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Forever Cemetery
10-14 San Francisco, CA – Treasure Island Fest
10-16 Salt Lake City, UT – The Complex
10-17 Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater
10-19 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
10-20 Chicago, IL – Congress Theater
10-21 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theatre
10-24 Quebec City, Quebec – Imperial De Quebec
10-25 Boston, MA – House of Blues
10-28 Bronx, NY – Paradise Theater
10-29 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
10-30 Baltimore, MD – Ram’s Head Live

Listen: Red Alder – “Empty Staircases”

Kelsie Brown, a Washington-based solo artist has put out her fourth and final release, “Empty Staircases”, under the new moniker, Red Alder. Red Alder produces ambient atmospheric music, with an influence from classical music which can be definitely heard while listening to her songs. The mood created from her music is unique as you seem to become emotionally gauged with it, as it draws you in.

As she says in her own words, “I put my soul into this album and I am so proud of what I have created and I can only hope that others appreciate it as well.” Fans of Ricky Eat Acid will definitely enjoy this release as it creates the same atmospheric vibes. You can listen to the new release below and download her entire discography on a “Name Your Price Basis” from her Bandcamp page.

Listen: Ricky Eat Acid + Arrange – “Sketches”

 After a long anticipated wait, Ricky Eat Acid and Arrange have released a collaboration titled Sketches. Recorded during the fall and winter of 2011, the release was initially intended to be a full album, but the duo were set back by technology failure, thus putting the project on hold. They then decided to release the four songs that they did finish as an album of “sketches”, rather than not at all.

The roles they each played in the collaboration explained in Sam’s own words, “Malcom recorded the vocals for these songs, as well as a lot of the instruments and synths, while I handled the production aspect mostly, contributing guitars, (some) pianos, pads, bass, (some) synths and most of the drums. We shared a lot of the mixing duties as well. The cover art is also by me, and is composed of four photos I’ve taken (and subsequently re-printed and scanned again to achieve a textured effect.)” You can see a lot more on Ray’s tumblr.

Their distinct styles seamlessly work together to a produce an excellent experimental ambient collection of four songs. Sketches is available both at Ricky Eat Acid’s Bandcamp and Arrange’s on a name your price basis.