Will 2008-9 be looked back on as the years that indie rock got good at writing pop music? Considering songs like ‘Two Weeks’ by Grizzly Bear and ‘Stillness Is The Move’ by The Dirty Projectors, the perfect summer album (to these ears) Phoenix released, and oh yeah, MGMT, it’s not a hard argument to make. If so, then Tigercity will be joining some pretty esteemed company when they release their first LP, “Ancient Lover,” later this fall.
The comparisons to bands like Hall & Oates, BeeGee’s, or Prince are inevitable, but “Ancient Lover” opens up with a falsetto-ed set of pop-eyed tunes that after one listen are unmistakably Tigercity’s own. The first song on the album and first single, “Fake Gold” has been heating up recession friendly house parties all summer long. It’s burning, slow motion stomp, highlighted with Joel Ford’s taught disco bass snap, is nearly impossible to not tap some free-wheeling body part to – right up until the chorus which proclaims “It’s! Fake! Gold!” to well-placed synth stabs, that steal the thunder from any cowbell still hanging around from the early 00’s indie dance hangover.
From there, the next few songs take the same form and build tight, minimal pop jems fronted by Bill Gillim’s controlled, and frankly, perfectly pitched vocals. As the album continues, the level of fun starts charting a little lower than the first four stand outs, but that’s not to say the quality of the songs really goes down. Tigercity knows what a well-crafted song is and delivers on that promise, it’s just the mood got a little darker – or the night got a little later, everyone’s worn out from dancing and the neighbors are bombing the party with water balloons - so the crowd returns to ‘the comfort mistaken for love,’ like Gillim does in ‘Red Lips.’
‘Ancient Lover’ is hitting at the right time and could be a stand out fall album in a year where pop has been a welcome trend in the indie rock landscape. If this had come out a couple of years ago, it might have been seen as a bunch of Brooklyn dudes ironically ripping off trends from the late 70’s/ early 80’s that hadn’t been mined by their contemporaries. This would have been a shame, of course, because Tigercity has the chops to make the kind of music that fits Gillim’s range and our own ‘09 pop state of mind.
The electronic goddess releases her much anticipated album Ellipse today, a short 3 years since I Megaphone. Provocative lyrics like “put your back into it, make it up to me now,” clever stories about trouble making body doubles, intimate ballads, and beats that make you want to twirl and swirl around while you sing along bring the new albumalive. Ellipse keeps up with Imogen’s style with its layered vocals, make shift noises, and whimsical lyrics, but it fails to stretch beyond anything we have heard from her in the past. Apparently even Imogen Heap can’t outdo Imogen Heap.
Leaving on a MayDay’s tone from the very beginning is deep and heavy, “what have I done to fall so hard for you.” It is Anna Ternheim’s keen sense of putting words to the most human of moments that set her apart from the rest. The album is beautifully done, but boarders on a depressing breakup album. Perhaps the most appropriate timing for a dark, love obsessed, slower album to be released is not when everyone is cramming in their beach time.
Mixing quiet intimacies with dreamy electronics is nothing new for the foursome from Nashville and they have done it again. Absense, Paper Route‘s stunning album which seems refreshingly organic, is out in stores today, April 28th.
Chan Marshall has been singing and performing music under the name Cat Power since she dropped out of high school back in Atlanta. Her eighth album Jukebox came out in January of this year and her ninth, as of December 9th, can be found on local music store shelves. The later is an EP of six songs, four of which are unpublished tracks from recordings during Jukebox. Dark End Of The Street consists of everything that we love Cat Power for, including her low sultry voice, sparse guitar, and minimalist piano accompaniments.
In the past, live performances by Cat Power have been unpredictable, with no real flow for songs and many ending shows early and abruptly. Cat Power finished touring in Europe this past summer but will be performing on the Jay Leno show on February 11th.
Las Vegas should be proud, the sin city rockers have put together another killer, excuse the pun, record. The album is said to be a continuation of Sam’s Town, “its like looking at Sam’s Town from mars.(Brandon Flowers, vocals)” Day & Age wasjust released on Monday, November 24, 2008. The album hits you with track after track of guaranteed living-room dance floor action, and does not stop. As always, their lyrics are intriguing, their beats are hot, their chorus’ crash and the sound is vicious.
The experimental pop band Xiu Xiu, which is pronounced shoe-shoe, will be playing tonight, Wednesday the 19th, at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. They released their sixth album this year titled, Women As Lovers. Singer songwriter Jamie Stewart formed the band in 2000 and took the name from the Chinese film Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl, which translates into “heaven bath”. This 1998 film, about a 15 year old girl who learns about life and love through a corrupted government where she is forced to submit her body for the sexual pleasure of officials, is not far swaying from the issues Stewart sings through his lyrics. Poetry of suicide, war, love, lovelessness, and aids are woven into sounds of ambient noise and modern classical instrumentation. In regards to their pop influence Jamie Stewart says, “all the songs are about sadness and trying to dance it away.”
“The live music capital of the world”, known as Austin, Texas is home to indie rock band Okkervil River. Ten years ago they formed and released their first album, Stars Too Small To Use and a year later played their first gig at Steamboat, located in Austin itself. Four albums, two split albums, and five EP’s later, Okkervil RIver released yet another notable album on shelves this past September of 2008. The Stand Insis a brilliantly planned second album to the group’s 2007 release of The Stage Names, which Pitchfork claimed as “one of the year’s best”. The album covers, if placed vertical to one another, complete each other. Will Sheff sings with such passion and the words sung are so eloquent that a book under their authorship would be necessary for your personal library.
To promote The Stand Ins, Okkervil River asked some of their friends to cover the band’s latest work. The list includes Bird of Youth, Jack Ladder and Carl Newman of The New Pornographers. My personal favorite is “Blue Tulip” performed by Bon Iver. Check it out below; the remaining tracks can be found on youtube.
Dubbed the “closest contender to an overwhelming buzz band” at the CMJ Music Marathon , Friendly Fires played 5 gigs in 4 days during the marathon madness. The UK based band mixes up sounds from the 70′s and 80′s that give them a post punk feel to their sound. It’s like disco, meets 80′s pop, meets indie rock, meets electronic. In other words their music is magical.
Friendly Fires finished out the rest of October opening up for Lykke Li. Come November you can find them across the waters as they continue their tour in Europe with theFoals. You can also check out their latest album, “Friendly Fires” which was released this past September, 2008.
The electro rock roller coaster Shiny Toy Guns takes you on is one ride you don’t want to miss. If you sit down and listen to a Shiny Toy Guns album from first to last song you will think that you are listening to several different bands. At times their tunes are strictly dance floor material and then the track changes and its punk rock all the way. It is their versatile sound that gives them a unique appeal to music fans.
Strap yourselves in, throw your arms up and take a listen to their new album Season Of Poison out today.
‘Ancient Lover’ is hitting at the right time and could be a stand out fall album in a year where pop has been a welcome trend in the indie rock landscape. If this had come out a couple of years ago, it might have been seen as a bunch of Brooklyn dudes ironically ripping off trends from the late 70’s/ early 80’s that hadn’t been mined by their contemporaries. This would have been a shame, of course, because Tigercity has the chops to make the kind of music that fits Gillim’s range and our own ‘09 pop state of mind.
Leaving on a MayDay’s tone from the very beginning is deep and heavy, “what have I done to fall so hard for you.” It is Anna Ternheim’s keen sense of putting words to the most human of moments that set her apart from the rest. The album is beautifully done, but boarders on a depressing breakup album. Perhaps the most appropriate timing for a dark, love obsessed, slower album to be released is not when everyone is cramming in their beach time. 
Chan Marshall has been singing and performing music under the name 
