Crystal Castles

Crystal Castles is a canadian electronic duo from Toronto. The band takes their name from a toy series produced by Mattel and not the Atari videogame. Ethan Kath (multi-instrumentalist) and Alice Glass (vocals) make up the duo. The band formed in 2004 and started as an instrumental side-project for Kass, but Glass provided vocals for several songs and one of them, called Alice Practice, was accidentally put on their myspace. Glass was not even aware it was on the internet until record companies began calling and offering deals. Crystal Castles sound is based on heavy sampling, fragmented electronic sounds as well as distorted female vocals. When you hear Crystal Castle's music the first thing that comes to mind is vintage videogames. It sounds as if all those 8-bit games have been spliced together to form music. They have one full-length self-titled ablum which came out in 2008. It received good reviews and press and the band has played a number of festivals as well as touring in Europe, Japan, Australia and the United States. The band is infamous for its wild and chaotic live shows. The band also remixes scores of songs including material from Bloc Party, The Klaxons, and Uffie. My favorite tracks are Vanished, Courtship Dating and Air War. 

Dan Deacon

Dan Deacon is an electronic musician from Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon attended the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in New York. He is also a member of Wham City, a Baltimore based music and art collective. Deacon began his musical career while still a student at Purchase College, releasing two solo albums. Both albums, Meetle Mice and Silly Hat vs. Eagle Hat, were released by Standard Oil Records. They are almost completely instrumental and do not feature the distorted vocals he is infamous for. Next he produced two cine wave-piece albums. Green Cobra is Awesome Vs the Sun is a 42 minute composition. Goose On the Loose is a 60 minute composition. These early albums are nothing like his commercial music that pandors to his fans. In 2004 Deacon released an EP titled, Twacky Cats, which is the first material his current fans would associate him with. 2007's Spiderman of the Rings was Deacon's first full length commercially distributed album. Deacon's latest album, Bromst, came out this year on March 24th, 2009. Deacon is renowned for his live performances often setting up in the center of the floor with the crowd on all sides. He does not care for the stage and prefers to get the audience as involved as possible. His act used to incorporate stand-up, games involving the audience and as much participation as possible, although with an expanded song library his act has become more traditional. His performance persona seems to be similar to the antics Ben Folds employs which I do not car for at all. A youtube comment on his Crystal Cat video reads, "Dan Deacon always disappoints--he's just a little hipster bitch whose music only makes sense to stoned-out hipster, tight-jean wearing college kids with long greasy hair and body odor issues who like to think they're are subversive and off-beat." This comment is almost guaranteed to be in response to Deacon's unapolagetic way in which he carries himself. His muisc however is solid. My favorite tracks are Red F, Wham City, and Crystal Cat.

The Whigs

The Whigs are an up-and-coming band from Athens, Ga. The band consists of Parker Gispert (guitar, vocals), Julian Dorio (drums), and Tim Deaux (bass). Hank Sullivant originally played bass in the band early on in their formative years but left to play in Kuroma and tour with MGMT. Dorio handles the bands finances and was named drummer of the year by Esquire Magazine in 2007. The Whigs have released two stellar albums. They released Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip in 2005 and Mission Control in 2008. Gispert and Dorio are both graduates of the University of Georgia and live in Athens. The band had a negative experience with a major record label and dumped them, deciding to record their first album independently. They had no money and actually bought recording equipment off ebay, recorded the album, and then sold it back. Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip was recorded in the empty SAE frat house. The Whigs signed with Dave Matthew's label, ATO records, shortly before releasing their first album. Before releasing the album Rolling Stone Magazine named the Whigs "perhaps the best unsigned band in America". 2008's Mission Control was recorded in Los Angeles and released on ATO records. The Whigs have played most of the big festivals including Bonnaroo, Oxygen, T in the Park, SXSW, and Lallapalooza. The Whigs have played with bands like Kings of Leon, Drive By Truckers, Band of Horses, The Kooks and Tokyo Police Club. The Whigs best known songs are Right Hand On My Heart and I Never Want to Go Home.

Ghostland Observatory

Ghostland Observatory was recently introduced to me and I absolutely love them. The group hails from Austin, Texas and is comprised of front man, Aaron Behrens (vocals, guitar) and Thomas Ross Turner (drums, synthesizer). Turner often wears a cape as seen in the picture, which was made for him by his wife. It is hard to classify the sound of Ghostland as they include elements of electronica, rock, funk and alternative. In my opinion they sound similar to MGMT. Turner use sequencers and synthesizers to create an electronic beat and then adds drums and Behrens throws in scratchy 70s vocals and a bit of guitar. Their myspace describes their sound as "a robot making love to a tree". They released delete.delete.i.eat.meat in 2006 with the single, Silver City on it. Within the same year they released their second studio album, Paparazzi Lightning. The album contains Sad Sad City which is their most popular song. Their most recent release came in 2008 with Robotique Majestique. The single is named after the album. The duo met in Austin and started experimenting with their sound while playing in Waking Helix. Both members pushed the other to new heights and we got Ghostland out of the experiment. They settled on the name referring to "ghostly sonatas" and "astral observations". The experiment began as a heavily Beatles influenced sound but as Turner moved deeper into electronic sequencing and programming and Behrens moved into the screaming-Jay Hawkins-esque vocals, something new was born. Something excellent.

Asobi Seksu

Asobi Seksu recently released their third studio album, Hush. The band is comprised of Yuki Chikudate (lead vocals, keyboard) and James Hanna (vocals, guitar). Asobi Seksu hails from New York City and although there are only two permanent members, the band plays with a number of supporting musicians. Their name is derived from the Japanese phrase meaning " casual or fun sex". Asobi plays a reinvented form of shoegaze often called, "nu-gaze", and drawing heavily from dream pop and noise pop styles. Their sound is also heavily reminiscent of pre-cursors like My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins. Other bands to attract the "nu-gaze" label include M83, Maps, Van She and Longwave. The re-invented shoegaze incorporates electronic dance elements and ambient noises into the typical heavy guitar distortion and effects laden sound of normal shoegaze. In fact the "shoegaze" moniker was coined by critics who noticed the musicians in these bands remained very static, often simply staring at their pedal boards the entire time. Asobi Seksu released their first studio album, Asobi Seksu, in 2004. One of the most popular songs off their eponymous debut album is, Walk On the Moon. Their second album, Citrus, came out in 2006 and featured their biggest hit, Thursday, as well as the single, New Years. Their latest ablum, Hush, was released in February of 2009 and featured the single Me & Mary.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their 3rd full-length album, It's Blitz!, this week. The album was released early, because it was leaked to the internet several weeks ago. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are made up of three members: Karen O. (vocals), Brian Chase (drums), and Nick Zinner (guitar/synth). The trio formed in 2000 and make their home in New York City. They play garage rock/punk revival and got noticed while opening for The Strokes and The White Stripes. Their first album, titled Fever To Tell, gained some critical acclaim and the singles, Maps and Y Control, were instant hits. The video for Y Control was produced by Spike Jonze who was involved with Karen O. at the time. Fever To Tell, as a whole, is very raw and unpolished and very much in the punk rock style. This is typical of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's early work. Their second album, Show Your Bones, was produced by Sam Speigal who collaborated with Karen O. for a song in an Adidas commercial titled Hello Tomorrow. Show Your Bones is much more polished and more in the vein of garage rock revival than standard punk rock. The two singles from the album are Gold Lion and Cheated Hearts. This brings us to It's Blitz! The first thing you will notice about the album is the absence of Zinner's guitar as the centerpiece. He has traded in his guitar for synths and this is evident in almost all the tracks on the album. Do not fear though his guitar remains very much in the background and some would argue even helps flesh out a more fuller sound for the band. The album is two parts: dance and mellow experimentation. Some tracks, like Zero and Heads Will Roll, would set even the most obstinate crowd dancing. Other tracks like, Skeletons and Runaway, seem to drift into the sleepy subconscious of Karen O. herself. In fact the album feels like a Karen O. solo album which just happens to feature Chase and Zinner playing their instruments in support. In any case the album seems to reflect a maturing band who are beginning to experiment, unafraid to pursue sounds unlike their previous work. This is most obvious in Karen O.'s delivery. She has toned down the yelps and pantings typical of her performance and tried a more nuanced singing style. I liken this album to Bloc Party's, A Weekend In the City, in fact I think there are a lot of parallels between Bloc Party and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Overall I really like this album, and have absolutely no problem with the direction Karen O. has taken the band musically. For the die-hard Yeah Yeah Yeahs fans, afraid of a synthesizer-centric album, fear not. There are several songs that could fit into their older material seemlessly. Have some faith however and follow the band through their new sound for the rest of the album and I believe you will be rewarded.

Lady Sovereign

Lady Sovereign is an up-and-coming British rapper on the British Grime scene. She is one of the few white, female rappers on the scene. She was born Louise Amanda Harmon and grew up in London's infamous Chalkhill Estate (the now demolished public housing project in London). Lady Sovereign says she began rapping "in front of a mirror with a can of hairspray for a mic". Her biggest influence growing up was Ms. Dynamite, one of the first female MC's she heard. She dropped out of school and started going by the moniker, Lady Sovereign, a reference to the large sovereign ring she wears. Her break came when she secured the lead role in a film about a female MC like herself who drops out of school at 16 to follow her music career. Louise convinced the film's producers that she could record the soundtrack for the film and her demos fell into the hands of a record producer who helped her get signed. After several successful EPs, Louise caught the ear of Def Jam Records CEO, Jay-Z, and he set up a meeting with her in which he demanded an on-the-spot freestyle. Louise must have done well because Jay-Z signed her and her first full-length album titled, Public Warning, came out in 2006. She is the first non-American female to sign with Def Jam Records. Her second full-length album titled, Jigsaw, is set to be released April 7th in the U.S. The first single off the album is a cover of The Cure's, Close to Me, called So Human. Lady Sovereign has drawn many comparisons to Eminem for her white MC status as well as her style. My favorite track off of Public Warning is Love Me Or Hate Me and I really like her Cure cover.