A Wild International Freak Folk Creek Party

I received an email from New York tribal/experimental folk act Wild International. They claim their influences include bands such as Akron/Family, Animal Collective, and Keepaway - and from the opening moments of 'Creeks', their leading single off their forthcoming EP it isnt hard to see why. The running water and warped whistling evokes early AC, whilst the jangly Americana-flavoured guitar and hushed drums are definitely in the AF mold.

Creeks by wildinternational

Getting The Kellies In The Woods Of Tape Deck Mountain

I posted about San Diego's Tape Deck Mountain earlier this year, waxing on about their EP Secret Serf (check out our thoughts here). It was ace, still is, and now they are touring with a new track to boot. 'Kellies' is on a cassette that is only availbale from the band on their US tour, which is massive, starting in Los Angeles on the 2nd of June and continuing on until they reach Phoenix in July. Along the way they will tour alongside Grooms for a bit, and play a show with Keepaway in New York, but its the first leg we are excited about as they will be joined by the excellent Woodsman. The Denver outfit have some new stuff to back up their great Rare Forms album too (which I lost my shit over here) - this track, 'Tone Cloak', is eight minutes of classic psych sprawl. Anyway, check out their respective websites to ensure you don't miss em, ok?

Tape Deck Mountain - Kellies
Woodsman - Tone Cloak

A Sideways Smile Wont Keep Us Away

Animal Collective acolytes Keepaway keep on with their surreptitious leaking of songs every couple of months, continuously goading us with tantalising treats before retreating into the multicoloured yonder from which they came, leaving us rendered blind and salivating in their wake. They have done it again with 'Sideways Smile', apparently to be a part of an upcoming digital-only release called KOMPETITOR - and I think this may be their best slice of jittery pop yet! It has those AnCo stylings, particularly with certain vocal stylings and the digital squiggles in the first third, but then there it runs off on its own, a freed beast with subversive tropical beats, sudden bursts of guitar blasts and echoed call and response, before a quasi epic outro. Its a sweet song, well constructed and dangerously infectious. These guys just keep on turning up the heat, and have one hand firmly clasped on 'Hottest New Band of 2010' here at SM...

Keepaway - Sideways Smile

Can't See The Psych For The Trees

Swan Fungus are hitting home runs all over the place musically this week. Yesterday was Yume Bitsu - today is Woodsman. Lefse Records (they of class acts such as Keepaway, A Grave With No Name, and Neon Indian) have just released EP Mystery Tapes to pave the way for their upcoming LP. There is enough mingling of kraut, motorik, space-psych jamming and shoegaze aesthetics in their sound to shake a hundred sticks at, and all with the relative lack of vocals. They have been compared to the likes of Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 - I think the Denver based Woodsman are much ballsier than all that. To make up your own mind, have a sample below. While you're at it, chase down their previous LP Collages - its pretty damned good. These guys are definitely ones to watch...

Woodsman - No Drone

Woodsman - Spirit Stone

"Aww, give us a 100!"

We have covered Keepaway's 'Yellow Wings' a few months ago - its still one of my fave tracks of 2010 - and gave them a high five in my weekend post on Glass Vaults (another tres cool band - and Antipodean to boot!). So I thought it best to let you know of their new track, '100'.

Keepaway - 100

Too transparent? Ah, the price of Animal Chemistry...

So many acts are being put into the Animal Collective basket. Which is all well and good, but one has to realise that the combustible material that AC create is so ridiculous in its intricacy and yet transcendent in its innate brilliance that anyone foolhardy to actually attempt likewise compositions are likely to find themselves with more than singed eyebrows - they will be put in stocks and have rotton fruit laced with shards of glass pelted at them from two feet away. Oh, when the arty music world bare their fangs... Still, it is certainly not a bad thing to take a couple of leafs out of their handbook in order to create one's own twisted alchemy. Keepaway have been grandstanded and lamblasted in equal measure for doing just that - and I love those guys.

Another act that is traversing said divide are Glass Vaults, which brings to mind all kinds of magical tomfoolery and Essex-tanned dwarves with murderous tendencies and a sweet tooth to boot. The fact that they hark from New Zealand shouldn't come as a complete surprise - fans of Flying Nun Records, Split Endz and Mint Chicks (plus previous SM postees Jakob) can attest to that - but the experimental quirks and syrup that Animal Collective have woven into celestial gold is augmented here by glacial ambience and tribal elegaics that shows true strength, character and gives a visual pastiche of NZ itself.

This is a great find - I have to say Fridays are being quite fruitful of late (did you listen to Zorch last week??? If you didn't - go do it now! Its close to the funnest thing Ive heard all year!) And if you like, go get the whole Glass EP at their Bandcamp site - double sweet!

Glass Vaults - Forget Me Not

Keepaway are (Animal Collectively) comin at ya

I'm still flummoxed by the rise and rise of Animal Collective.

Don't get me wrong - I fucking love the guys. Ive been hooked ever since Sung Tongs. Not all their albums hit me up the right way (Im looking at you Danse Manatee), but their sound is definitely their own, and to immerse yourself in it is to enter a world far more surreal, otherworldly beautiful and completely fucked up than Avatar could ever lay claim to.

Nevertheless, their skyrocketing popularity after the mammoth success of Merriweather Post Pavilion had, and still has, me scratching my noodle. Still, even without an appropriate answer, it has been massively influential in the sounds that are now allowed to permeate the airwaves in the past 12 months, and for every miss there is a well qualified eclectic hit. Grizzly Bear got their leg up due to the AC shimmer; another small band that might find themselves getting that helpful hand is Brooklyn trio Keepaway. If their single Yellow Wings (from their Baby Style EP put out through Lefse Records) is anything to go by, we should all count ourselves lucky - for although the tribal drumming, the warbled soarings of singer Nick Naumann's vocals, the slithering whisps of guitar breaks all denote a clear influence, there is a sense that Keepaway are a band that people will more readily get. And that is a good thing. The lyrics (I think I finally know what I want/I want to be in two places at once) and the inherent fuzziness that emanates from every beat and groove will have many a happy listener dance around in their redundancy meeting, blissfully skip in front of passing buses, and bop furiously as they steer their aircraft into devious volcanic ash clouds.

In short - when the world comes to an end, Keepaway will allow all and sundry to not give a shit.

Keepaway - Yellow Wings