Keeping with the current trend of really spectacular, folk-esque, female musicians (Alela Diane, Marie Sioux, Fascinoma) The Orphan Review brings you a new favorite. Miss Basia Bulat is Ontario's own warbling nightingale, whose debut LP Oh, My Darling! was released in the U.S. through Rough Trade U.S.A. on February 5th of this year. It's an extremely musical recording totally packed with strings, and the Motown/Stax/Beatles/Beach Boys influenced composer is vocally reminiscent of a classier Kate Nash (my apologies for the trite comparison). Anyway, Basia Bulat is getting set to tour with Devotchka on their post-Coachella U.S. trek, which will unfortunately not stop in Los Angeles. Better luck next time, I guess. But it's kind of okay, because Bulat has (quite recently) recorded a session with (what might just be Orphan's favorite website ever, for obvious reasons) Daytrotter dot com. That the entire world can download for free. So that totally makes up for us Los Angelenos NOT getting a live taste of Basia Bulat. Right? And this video of Basia performing 'Snakes and Ladders' live in Brussels helps too huh? Pshhhtyah, right. Sorry dudes, but it's all I got.
Ok, I can't hold back on this anymore. I was pretty disappointed with the new Goldfrapp album and when I saw the new video I was even more disappointed. It sucks, and there's no way around it. I mean...was it done by the same person who did the Bat For Lashes video that ruled so hard? If so, someone should tell that director to try a different tactic. Random leaf monsters just aren't as cool as random bike dancers dressed up in big fuzzy animal costumes. Duh. And while I was considering this fact, my friend sent me this:
This girl's named Alela Diane, and I'll be honest with you--I'm not particularly fond of your run of-the-mill female folk artists, but it's the video that makes her sound work for me. Want more? download some free tracks via daytrotter.
The Dodos are an acoustic duo that spawned from Dodo Bird, a solo act that used to be just this dude named Meric Long from San Francisco. He teamed up with drummer Logan Kroeber and the result is this creamy folk stuff that you'll be into if you like Sparrow House or Animal Collective, or anything they write about on daytrotter. They're pretty terrific.
The band has recently signed with Frenchkiss Records (home to the likes of Les Savy Fav and The Ex Models) and will release the album Visiters in March 2008. They're playing SXSW this year, and you'll probably be able to catch them soon at a shitty club or dive bar near you--
The Dodos Tour Dates:
Jan 28 9:00P Mercury Lounge/New York w/ Alberta Cross
Feb 2 11:00P Union Pool/Brooklyn NY w/ Phosphorescent Feb 15 10:00p The Blank Club/San Jose CA w/ The Mumlers, Two Sheds
Feb 28 11:00P Cafe du Nord/San Francisco NOISEPOP FESTIVAL w/ Or the Whale
March 8 9:00p The Smell/Los Angeles w/ the Ohsees
March 9 8:00P The Elephant Bar/San Diego w/ the Ohsees
March 12-16 2008 SXSW/Austin TX
March 19 9:00P Lola's/Ft. Worth, TX
March 22 The Ballroom/Marfa TX
March 22 9:00P Mink/Houston TX
April 5 9:00P Cafe 9/New Haven, CT
April 10 9:00P Bard College/Annandale on the Hudson NY
Thanks to Oh My Rockness! and Goldenvoice for hooking me up with Sunset Rubdown tickets to last Friday's show. For those of you who don’t know who/what Sunset Rubdown is: Wolf Parade's Spencer Krug (after 1 solo release under the same name in 2005) and Pony Up!’s Camilla Wynne Ingr, got together with two other dudes in 2006 and recorded, "Shut Up I Am Dreaming" which is a masterpiece of an album. click to view discography
***most listen-worthy track on the album***
But I will not hesitate to be honest here: While I really do think that Sunset Rubdown is one of the best recent groups I’ve heard in a very long time, if you hadn’t heard them before seeing Friday's show you will probably disagree with me forever. Why? BECAUSE THE SHOW WAS BORING! There’s just no way around it. I didn’t feel any positive energy or excitement from the band at all--In fact, I found myself more interested in trying to stab the olives at the bottom of my martini without spilling any of the drink, and in the venue's (really cool) light fixtures than I was in the show. To be truthful: I got the impression that the band was more bored than I was.
Seriously though, their recorded material is really good and I definitely recommend that you give it a listen. Just don't get too excited about seeing them live.
Ok so I know I tend to get pretty enthusiastic about things, and I've probably said, "DUDE THIS IS LIKE THE COOLEST THING EVER!" about a bazillion times, but here are three things for you to add to the "Little Orphan Carrie's Picks" list I know you're keeping.
1. Sparrow house--Sparrow house is the (usually) solo project of Voxtrot's Jared Van Fleet. His first release under this name is OUTSTANDING. I think my friend and I accidentally put it on repeat one night and fell asleep. It was on for like 5 hours and I'm still not sick of it. Seriously.
2. Daytrotter.com--Daytrotter makes me feel cheated cause it's like one of the best music blogs out there and I didn't know about it until like 3 months ago. They've got [GOOD] free mp3's and recordings that're only available on their site. And the artwork is awesome too. In short: indie-folk-pop paradise.
3. imeem.com--Another social networking site. A mash-up of the greatest hits of YouTube.com, LinkedIn.com, Uber.com,and Pandora.com. And the video quality is better than youtube. I think I've signed up for every social networking site I've happened across in the past 2 weeks, so you should trust me when I say that this is (or, rather, WILL BE) the best one. hands down. imeem rules.
PROOF IN THE PUDDING: i leave you with a sparrow house track from a daytrotter session at SXSW, embedded using imeem.
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Keeping with the current trend of really spectacular, folk-esque, female musicians (Alela Diane, Marie Sioux, Fascinoma) The Orphan Review brings you a new favorite. Miss Basia Bulat is Ontario's own warbling nightingale, whose debut LP Oh, My Darling! was released in the U.S. through Rough Trade U.S.A. on February 5th of this year. It's an extremely musical recording totally packed with strings, and the Motown/Stax/Beatles/Beach Boys influenced composer is vocally reminiscent of a classier Kate Nash (my apologies for the trite comparison). Anyway, Basia Bulat is getting set to tour with Devotchka on their post-Coachella U.S. trek, which will unfortunately not stop in Los Angeles. Better luck next time, I guess. But it's kind of okay, because Bulat has (quite recently) recorded a session with (what might just be Orphan's favorite website ever, for obvious reasons) Daytrotter dot com. That the entire world can download for free. So that totally makes up for us Los Angelenos NOT getting a live taste of Basia Bulat. Right? And this video of Basia performing 'Snakes and Ladders' live in Brussels helps too huh? Pshhhtyah, right. Sorry dudes, but it's all I got.
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