The side project of Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner, the Furs couch his indie-man's urgency in a starker sonic template. Implosive machine beats are introduced to piercing synths, and by all accounts they agree to disagree. The dirges may end up closer in spirit to Modest Mouse than Boeckner's main band.
New York outfit the Golden Filter mixes retro-sexual disco-tech around undulating waves of electro-pop--revival style. With influences ranging from Soft Cell and Giorgio Moroder, the beats of GF will leave you craving their "nu-disco" sound not long after they end. Here's to a night of solid, disco-dancing!
If you followed all your notions of what being in a band should be--heavy drinking, wailing away on an untuned Strat, generalized debauchery--well, you'd probably never finish a song. But Atlanta's Lips make it work. It's as though their scruffy garage melodies reward the purity of their rockness.
After hearing this album (and finding out it's his fourth!), we wonder why we're just getting to know Sam Bisbee. The outstanding guy-meets-gal harmonies on "Never Fall in Love" with Leona Naess tap into the similar magic that Damien Jurado and Jenna Conrad created on their most recent effort.
J.Period is about to separate the men from the boys with his latest mix, The Best of Q-Tip. He's rounded up some of hip-hop's finest, including De La Soul, Black Thought, Talib Kweli, Questlove, Pharoahe Monch, Busta Rhymes, Dres, and Blu to contribute reworkings of classic Tip and A Tribe Called Quest classics. You can download "Excursions 2009" feat. De La Soul right here, right now.
Miranda Lee Richards creates what she calls "psychedelic chamber folk rock," and her moody and introspective songs definitely contain faint shimmers of whimsical psychedelia paired with personal folk stylings, resulting in reflective and timeless folk tunes.
The New York-based producer carves out his own niche in electronic music by combining electro-funk, hip-hop rhythms, and even house and techno beats. With driving synthesizer progressions and old-school arcade game sounds, Lipp creates wide-ranging digital compositions to satisfy any music lover's sonic palette.
His trials and tribulations have been well-documented over the past several years, but former Grammy-nominated Fugees collaborator and Rawkus A&R dude John Forte is finally ready to resume a normal life and tell his side of the story through music. He wastes no time, trading intelligent wordplay with fellow Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli over Kanye's "Homecoming."
With bright, clashing costumes and just the right amount of irony, Of Montreal could be the most likable indie-rock band around. Their schizophrenic style ranges from caffeinated pop to lovemaking funk in a matter of seconds. In other words, they have a lot of energy but can also smooth it out like Barry White.
Mixing influences from Gil Scott-Heron to Beck and Donald Fagen, Dan moves between jazzy instrumentals and singer/songwriter terrritory with ease, but has also been known to don a wig and leather pants to play the role of Teutonic bassist Klaus Shave in the heavy-metal parody band Pink Steel.
