Steve Tartaglione, Author at ALARM

Pop Addict: All Tiny Creatures’ Harbors

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

All Tiny Creatures: Harbors (Hometapes, 3/29/11)

All Tiny Creatures: “An Iris”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/AllTinyCreatures-AnIris.mp3|titles=All Tiny Creatures: “An Iris”]

If you’re in a band from Wisconsin, and you’re friends with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, people are going to hear about your record. And if you happen to enlist his help, if only for one track, most of those people will venture a listen or two. Make that song your single and you’ve pretty much guaranteed a modicum of favorable attention from fans and critics alike.

But if, like Madison’s All Tiny Creatures, you also happen to seamlessly weave synthesizers, guitars, and percussion into loop-heavy, pop-friendly melodies, then you’ve probably earned a great deal of that notoriety on your own; in fact, that attention might be long overdue. With or without Justin Vernon, your band is on the verge of something exciting. And you should congratulate yourself with a nice Wisconsin cheese tray.

Record Review: Obits’ Moody, Standard and Poor

Obits: Moody, Standard and Poor (Sub Pop, 3/29/11)

Obits: “Shift Operator”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/8676.mp3|titles=Obits: “Shift Operator”]

Few bands have had their first live shows bootlegged by fans. But when Obits‘ January 12, 2008 gig at the Cake Shop in New York City leaked on the Internet, few were surprised. Followers of Rick Froberg‘s previous bands, Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes, had been anxiously awaiting his new partnership with Sohrab Habibion, of Washington, DC-based Edsel, since the band began writing and rehearsing together in 2006.

After a fan leaked the lo-fi recordings, things moved quickly for the Brooklyn-based indie rockers. Obits posted two of the songs to its MySpace page, was subsequently signed to Sub Pop in late 2008, and released its first record, I Blame You, in March of 2009.

Its follow-up album, Moody, Standard and Poor, finds Obits further honing its gutsy blend of melodic garage punk without sacrificing the energy that defined its first release.

Pop Addict: The Dears’ Degeneration Street

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

The Dears: Degeneration Street (Dangerbird, 2/15/11)

The Dears: “Blood”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/TheDears-Blood.mp3|titles=The Dears: “Blood”]

Following its 2006 tour in support of Gang of Losers, the existence of Montreal indie-rock band The Dears was questionable at best. A relentless touring and recording schedule fueled tensions within the band, and, despite its success in Canada and abroad, it fractured.

However, lead vocalist and songwriter Murray Lightburn and keyboardist Natalia Yanchak pushed forward, recording the stripped-down Missiles in 2008. Now it looks to stabilize a relatively rocky period in its 15-year history with its new album, Degeneration Street.

The Dears’ fifth album, Degeneration Street is a reunion of sorts. Guitarists Patrick Krief and Robert Benvie, who departed following the Gang of Losers tour, have returned, as has early-era bassist, Roberto Arquilla. With newcomer Jeff Luciani on drums, this is arguably its most stable lineup in years.

Pop Addict: La Sera’s La Sera

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

La Sera: La Sera (Hardly Art, 2/15/10)

La Sera: “Devils Hearts Grow Gold”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/LS_DevilsHeartsGrowGold.mp3|titles=La Sera: “Devils Hearts Grow Gold”]

Fans of the noisy, riotous punk delivered by Brooklyn-based band Vivian Girls will find that La Sera — the solo project of bassist Katy “Kickball Katy” Goodman — explores decidedly softer terrain. More ’50s-era pop than riot grrrl, Goodman’s eponymous debut as La Sera exudes ethereal lushness.

Known primarily for her high-pitched backing vocals on Vivian Girls’ records, Goodman takes this opportunity to showcase a sweet singing voice through layered, heavenly vocals set to simple, clean guitar strumming. The result is a charming, dream-pop response to the hot buzz of Vivian Girls’ records. And though the songs began as simple guitar-and-tambourine demos, with the help of Brady Hall (director of Vivian Girls’ videos “Moped Girls” and “When I’m Gone”) Goodman was able to flesh the material out into tempered harmonies and celestial choral arrangements.

Pop Addict: Smith Westerns’ Dye It Blonde

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde (Fat Possum Records, 1/18/11)

Smith Westerns: “Weekend”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Weekend.mp3|titles=Smith Westerns: “Weekend”]

Known primarily for its lo-fi blend of ’70s glam and Nuggets-era garage rock, Smith Westerns has discovered a sweeter, cleaner sound on Dye It Blonde, its sophomore LP on Fat Possum Records.

A hearty leap in production value is the most significant shift from the band’s 2009 self-titled debut. Gone are the fuzzy, washed-out melodies and underwater vocals of early recordings. Yet Dye It Blonde feels just as youthful and energetic as anything the band has released to date.

Though Smith Westerns has largely abandoned the murky, homespun sound that ignited the blogosphere only two years ago, fans of the band need not worry – Dye It Blonde is filled with jangly guitar hooks and young heartbreak. With the help of producer Chris Coady and an increased studio budget, however, Smith Westerns delves even further into the Brit-pop canon, culling inspiration from the likes of Suede, David Bowie, and T. Rex.

Pop Addict: The Get Up Kids’ There Are Rules

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

The Get Up Kids: There Are Rules (Quality Hill, 1/25/11)

The Get Up Kids: “Regent’s Court”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/the-get-up-kids-regents-court_2010-11-30-181223-4137-0-0-0.128.mp3|titles=The Get Up Kids: “Regent’s Court”]

Seven years removed from Guilt Show, the album that marked the end of The Get Up Kids, the popular emo rockers will release their fifth full-length, There Are Rules, on January 25, 2011 via its own label, Quality Hill Records.

The Kansas City five-piece, which had been disbanded since 2005, returned to the studio in 2009 following a series of rehearsals to promote the tenth-anniversary tour of Something to Write Home About.

Recorded at long-time producer Ed Rose’s Blacklodge Recording studio in Eudora, Kansas, and mastered by Chicago’s Bob Weston (Shellac) — who recorded Four Minute Mile in 1997 — the album sprouted from the release of Simple Science, a four-track EP that was meant to serve as the first of three vinyl EPs in 2010.

Instead, the band pulled together the remaining tracks and, with the addition of new material, released a full-length record.

Pop Addict: Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s’ Buzzard

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s: Buzzard (Mariel Recordings, 9/21/10)

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s: “Birds”

[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/1285885158Margot_and_the_Nuclear_So_and_Sos_Birds.mp3|titles=Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s: “Birds”]

Following the Animal!/Not Animal tussle with the bosses at Epic in 2008, Indianapolis’ Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s has released Buzzard, its third full-length album, on its own Mariel Recordings label.

A record very much about rebirth and reinvention, Buzzard signals the band’s shift to a louder, more energetic sound. Its signature chamber-pop melodies are now reinforced with fuzzed-out guitars and a more pronounced, uptempo rhythm section, helped in large part by the addition of drummer and producer Brian Deck (Red Red Meat).

Displaced after a fire damaged the home that singer-songwriter Richard Edwards shared with his seven bandmates in Indianapolis, Edwards moved to Chicago to record Buzzard in an abandoned movie theater in Ukrainian Village. It was there that he enlisted the help of Chicagoans Deck and Tim Rutili of Red Red Meat, Ronnie Kwasman, and Cameron McGill. The songs, loosely inspired by the 8mm nudie-cutie films that Edwards recovered from the theater’s basement, were recorded from 10 PM to 5 AM without the use of artificial light. The result is a strangely dark and eclectic album, filled to the brim with haunting harmonies and grungy guitar work not found on the band’s earlier records.

Pop Addict: Ólöf Arnalds’ Innundir Skinni

Every Thursday, Pop Addict presents infectious tunes from contemporary musicians across indie rock, pop, folk, electronica, and more.

Ólöf Arnalds: Innundir Skinni (One Little Indian, 9/14/10)

Ólöf Arnalds: “Surrender”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Olof_Arnalds_Surrender.mp3|titles=Olof Arnalds: “Surrender”]

Icelandic singer and multi-instrumentalist Ólöf Arnalds has crafted an intimate and lovely sophomore record, Innundir Skinni, released on the London-based label One Little Indian. Arnalds, a touring member of Múm since 2003, follows up Við og Við – voted Iceland’s Record of the Year in 2007 – with nine songs produced by Sigur Rós keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Kjartan Sveinsson.

Classically trained on the violin and viola, and self-taught on the guitar and charango, Arnalds enlists the help of fellow Icelandic musicians Skúli Sverrisson, Davið Þór Jónsson, and Björk as well as Secret Chiefs 3 contributor Shahzad Ismaily.

Innundir Skinni – “Under the Skin” in English – is largely an album of balance, of the ebb and flow between quiet moments and orchestral bursts. It’s a calm yet affecting album, due in large part to Arnalds’ vocal charm. For the many instruments she plays, her most enchanting tool is her voice — at times folksy and melodic, at others high-pitched and lilting – drawing comparisons to Kate Bush and, in rare moments, Joanna Newsom. Yet her style, acutely Nordic, is distinctly her own.

Soars: Deconstructing Sound to Rebuild a Town

Soars‘ music exists as a necessary creative outlet, tracing the valleys and peaks of the terrain and morale of Pennsylvania’s economically depressed Lehigh Valley.