#yagada

8/5/22.

Ah, Melted Ice Cream...my favorite label from Christchurch, New Zealand. There have been so many great releases from this label run by Joe Sampson (Salad Boys).

This release is Violet French backed by The Horrible. Violet was originally from Dunedin but now lives in Christchurch (where The Horrible are also based). The music and vocals have the feel of Opposite Sex or Terror of the Deep (which I had forgotten how much I love).

But French's vocals and melodies also hint at the beauty and range of Natalie Merchant. The band is made up of members of Kool Aid, Dogfish,Wurld Series and Kane Strang.

10/22/20.

I listened to these three songs from Gregor (Melbourne, Australia) yesterday and was truly taken aback.  Gregor’s first release seemed to rely less on his voice and the songs weren’t as unique or strong.  

This music takes me back to John Maus, Radiohead, Aztec Camera, The Divine Comedy and even David Bowie.  But, it’s really Gregor’s voice that carries this album.  He really lets it fly much more than his earlier releases.

11/13/20.

Fixtures is Brooklyn, NY band.  I heard “Five Ft One, Six Ft Ten” a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn’t until I heard “The Great Tequila Flood of 200-2018″ which is an epic indie rock journey (described on Bandcamp as “Sun Ra meets JJ Cale“) that I realized this isn’t only post-worthy, it’s yagada worthy.

The Bandcamp release page cannot be improved upon:

Throw a beer soaked dart at a Venn diagram with circles for The Velvet Underground, Dinosaur Jr., Patti Smith, Archers of Loaf, Alice Coltrane, The Books, Reigning Sound & New Order and you'll hit a Fixtures song on there somewhere.

8/30/20.

I’m sure you know or have intuited that there are days where posting is simple...others require more work.  This is a simple post about a Glasgow, Scotland band that has been lost, but should be found.

The Wee Cherubs were contemporaries of Orange Juice and Aztec Camera but have a more consistently driving pop sound.  I find it interesting how it is simply accepted that some bands form a “sound”.  I’d only heard of Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, so I simply believed the narrative.  Now there’s The Wee Cherubs to give a fuller idea of the Glasgow Sound.

I’m assuming they heard The June Brides.  I also wonder what kept a band this good from being on any compilations (like C86) from the time period.  Were they too short lived?  Did they have too few connections?  These are questions with larger historical implications than can be covered adequately by this blog.

8/18/20.

I remember Rick loving Ride.  I never got into them, but I did “discover” The Stone Roses later in life, so maybe I should check out Ride again.  

Andy Bell was a member of Ride, and if “Love Comes in Waves” is any indication, this album could help make this shit-show year way better.  This song sounds like Gerard Love, Teenage Fanclub and Mazarin (Quentin Stoltzfus) with a shoegaze feel.  

3/30/20.

I first heard Los Bitchos via their live performance on KEXP that was filmed in France early last December.  Los Bitchos are not French...they are from England.  However, their band is made up only one UK-born member.  The other members were born thusly:  two Uruguayan, one Swedish, and one Australian.  Their music is called cumbia-rock. 

It recalls the work of Mdou Moctar (I’m not saying the guitar work even approaches his craftsmanship...but the overall sounds can have the same groove).

4/25/20.

I’m going to immediately give credit to Mariana Timony (Bandcamp) for highlighting this in their “Weekly Essential Releases” on 4/24.  I really don’t know what to say about Brendan Eder.  He is classical, pop, new-age (there are parts of this release that could belong on a Windham Hill release), and indie all at the same time.  And I know I’m prone to hyperbole and comparison, but I challenge anyone to see another release like this in our bandcampsnoop history (use hashtags).  I had a short email interview with him and he said that, “I went to a small liberal arts school called Santa Fe University of Art & Design.  There I was able to stuy recording, basic composition and orchestration and play in a math rock group called Emergency Room.”   

Brendan Eder could somehow make William Tell’s Overture sound like pop.  He can also out chamber-pop Sufjan Stevens.  He makes David Byrne sound like an amateur composer (and this is coming from someone who adores David Byrne and will always tout his “Music for the Knee Plays”).  This is really that good.  Honestly, I can’t imagine that someone as talented as Neil Hannon (the Divine Comedy, The Duckworth-Lewis Method) wouldn’t look at this and say, “Wow...I wish I had made this album”.  In our email interview Brendan said this of his influences:  “The music is inspired by early 20th century classical music, Miles Davis, Aphex Twin, [Antonio Carlos] Jobim, Fugazi, Dave Brubeck, Les Baxter, and hip hop.

Brendan Eder’s career is just starting.  He is a Los Angeles, California based musician who has corralled the likes of Colleen Green (”The Spirit of”).

2/23/20.

I don’t know why I shy away from Austin, Texas bands.  Perhaps it’s because Austin Town Hall (great blog) already covers all the bands.

Holiday Music really caught me by surprise.  The name, and the artwork didn’t make me want to listen.  But once I listened, all I could think was how much I really enjoyed this...it deserves the Yagada medal.

While Holiday Music doesn’t perfectly fit any of these comparisons,  I will lay them out:  Parquet Courts, Pavement, The Strokes, Deerhunter, Dick Stusso, Eamon Fogerty, and The Dream Syndicate.