Hippy Hypocrites On Crystal Shipsss

A triptych of warped warbles of varying degrees of low fidelity, here are three releases likely to blow your mind and fill your ears with white fuzz and ear-candy.

Danish-born, Berlin-based psych pop wizard Jacob Faurholt has been on Sonic Masala's radar ever since he entered the fray under the moniker Crystal Shipsss. His Yay release made an impression, and now he (along with a band of willing  wanderers) is back with not one but two releases slated for 2013. First cab off the ranks is this self-titled EP, available on cassette through Three Ring Records, Mouca and Raw Onion. The 5-track EP are scuzzy to the point of obstructive - this is Demo 101 territory, almost to a fault. Yet whether the band are opening up the throttle or quietening down to a soothing idle, Crystal Shipsss is never an easy proposition - a wayward journey into the counterculture of the backwaters of your mind. Yet in the past year they have traipsed across stages alongside TEEN, The Black Heart Procession and Grizzly Bear, and these three best represent where Faurholt and his acolytes are heading. It's a great taster for Crystal Shipsss's next full-length Dirty Dancer which we will see before the year is out.

Another lo-fi gem that struck a chord here at Sonic Masala was Tweaker In The Park, the debut LP by Indiana's guitar-pop malcontents  Hypocrite In A Hippy Crypt. Tweaker Two (out on 12" vinyl through Tree Machine Records) continues the weird themes and tin-cans-and-shoestring budget, yet offers more semblances of spit and polish alongside being anchored in more grounded, maudlin concerns such as fading youth and imploding dreams. Its hooks are surreptitious, then the penny drops - once you are familiar with this world, it becomes a second skin, with all schizophrenic connotations to such a notion held intact. Elliott Smith suspended in formaldehyde, preserved in sepia and seedy chagrin. An addiction worth having.

Finally we have Brooklyn's Hippy. Reminiscent of the nascent garage punk and guitar pop amalgams that the likes of Harlem (seriously, where have these guys gone???) and Black Lips dish out at regular intervals, the trio's new (debut) record Almost Live is in turns buoyant, ridiculous, bilious and carefree - tonguing the power socket whilst outta your gourd kinda fun. Hurts so good (c'mon, baby now...)

StaG Meekly Floats Past The Rifle

This week you will see a few albums that I've received from small bands over the last month and, although its taken me forever to get to them, they are ace. First one of the shelf is Rifle Meeker, the debut album from Los Angeles-via-Boulder, Colorado band StaG. StaG. It shimmers with so many Panda Bear references it would be overpowering, if Panda Bear wasn't one of the greatest solo artists out there at the moment. And the thing is, it transcends the comparison (if not Panda Bear himself) with the production values. The summery haze that permeates this dream-like existential drifter is so clear and beautiful that it is incredibly easy to find yourself lost in the sound, having inexplicably strayed from the path, and never wanting to find you way back to the real world. What's even more impressive is that this cacophonous beauty has been carved out by two guys who sound like a cross between Lockett Pundtt and Noah Lennox - if that doesn't make you weak at the knees, you aren't a sonic romantic...) And also the auxiliary percussion in tracks like 'Everyone Is Plaster' is warranted, not superfluous, and helps to buoy the soaring vocals. A very effective debut, and one I hope kicks StaG into the outer consciousnesses of all of you...

In their words, Rifle Meeker is about "living in a city I didn't think was right for me. It's about missing California and feeling like I was stuck along the seventeen-hour drive between Boulder and Calabasas, CA, constantly seeing road signs for places like Rifle, CO and Meeker, CO. It's also about going through a few months of constant panic attacks about issues that were way over my head. I think overall, though, it's an album about accepting that life in my early 20s comes with a lot of transitions and that relying on the constants in my life, that I care about, will make things a bit more manageable." Lofty? Maybe, but easily achieved.

Rifle Meeker is available at their Bandcamp here.

StaG - Whatapity
StaG - Everything Is Plaster

These Paper Cuts Don't Fade Away

Sometimes it takes a "right place-right time" type situation before someone can get their sound (or shit) together. The National had to wait til their brilliant fourth album Alligator before the plaudits trickled in, and its was another two before they climbed onto mainstream festival stages.
For Jason Quever, the San Fransiscan that calls himself Papercuts, four could be the lucky number also - his latest album, Falling Parades (his first on Sub Pop), is a lyrical, windswept gem of dreamy, spangly guitar pop.

Whilst his music has garnered praise in the past, and he has had an impressive support slot tally - playing with the likes of Grizzly Bear, Camera Obscura and Beach House - two things seem to have fallen in place here. Its the production values that really ramp up the warmth inherent in these tunes (thanks Sub Pop), and the wavering beauty that the melodies create are brought together more succinctly, if still somewhat hazy (thanks close friends Beach House). These things have allowed Quaver to expand on his dream pop meanderings, whilst also crafting songs that are concise and more complete than in past offerings. 'Marie Says You've Changed' has an, almost marching band like coda at its end; 'Winter Daze' takes a colder hue to its dreamlike canvas, the brushed drums and minimalist piano offering heartbreak between the spaces as well as swelling within the sounds. And above all, Quever soars, his lyrics as elegiac and melancholic as you could expect - but there is something refreshing in his search for the subtleties that lie inherent in what makes a pop song tick. These songs wont bludgeon into sugary submission; rather they will caress you, lull you away from you preconceptions and lure you into the hazy night, never to return...

Falling Parades is out on March 1st.

Papercuts - Do You Really Wanna Know
Papercuts - Winter Daze

Going to the Dogs

I do love my 70s rock. As cliched as people try to make Led Zeppelin/Black Sabbath/et al out to be, they knew how to make fucking great rock music. There are many bands that take elements of these gods and make them their own - White Hills comes to mind of a band that I have seen recently that invoked that feeling - but only a few fully embrace it and come out on top.

Earl Greyhound is one of them.

Originally a two-piece consisting of Matt Whyte and Kamara Thomas, they have been kicking around since 2002 in NYC. They brought in a drummer, Chris Bear, but he left the band in 2005 to try his luck with a little known band called Grizzly Bear. However it wasnt long before they caught the eye of The Root's guitarist Kirk Douglass, who introduced them to friend and Gold Crowns drummer Ricc Sheridan. The line-up became complete.

They have just released an LP, Suspicious Package.

Earl Greyhound - Ghost and the Witness

Some Pivot remixes for you...

Pivot are one of my favourite Australian acts out there at the moment. They are good friends with my best mate's brother (who was their photographer back in their Sydney days), and they have relocated to London (along with another amazingly unique Aussie outfit, Snowman), and they are amazingly affable chaps that are brilliant at what they do - tight, atmospheric, damn catchy indie electronica rock.

Furthermore, Pivot - Pike brothers, guitar guru Richard and drumming demon Laurence, and electronomaniac and all round nice guy Dave Millar - are currently putting the final touches on their 3rd LP, following up the out-of-nowhere explosively impressive Make Me Love You and the assured brilliance of follow-up O Soundtrack My Heart.

Laurence will also feature on a Bill Callahan live CD where he took over drumming tour duties.

They are truly special - their gig at Hoxton Bar and Grill in May last year was a ephemeral sweatbox of writhing limbs - and will be touring again soonish. They are currently doing SXSW (arent they all?) plus scoring support slots for the likes of Morning Teleportation, Nice Nice, You Say Party! We Say Die!, and the impressive Quasi. They need to be heard (and seen) to be believed.

I will do an album retrospective of them soon (I am that keen for people to start listening to them...), but for now here are two remixes the boys have laid down in the past few months. The first was done for Warp Records 20th anniversary, a reimagining of Grizzly Bear's 'Colorado' off their Yellow House record. The 2nd is an example of probably the ONLY time you will see the Temper Trap mentioned on our blog. Not that they are deplorable - not just my cup of tea. Pivot makes them palatable here though - especially around the 2 and a 1/2 minute mark - quintessential Pivot. More to come!!!!!

Grizzly Bear - Colorado (Pivot remix)

Temper Trap - Fader (Pivot remix)