Interview: Crocodiles

"I Wanna Kill Tonight"
(photo by Abbey Braden)
Bobka will be on vacation for the next week or so, in order to head to, prepare for, and cover Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Spain. I mean, Aphex Twin is gonna be there. Anyway, while there may be a post here or there, in my absence, check out this interview I did with the Crocodile's for 'Sup Magazine.

new: Holiday Shores

"Days Drag"

A few weeks ago I noticed that two syllable records had a new act by the name of Holiday Shores on their lineup. Curious, and sort of thinking 'how did I not know this?', I realized that Holiday Shores press shot was a exactly the same as two syllable signee's Continental Divide's photo. After putting two and two together, and getting confirmation from the two syllable CEO's, I came to the conclusion that, yes, Holiday Shores are indeed Continental Divide.

The band, who produces the musical equivalent of the half-half ice tea lemonade I'm drinking and the perfectly ripe banana I'm eating, is currently putting the final touches on their two syllable debut, Columbus'd the Whim, which, depending on who you ask, comes out either July 26 or August 4th. Fans of Matt Mondanile's (Real Estate, Ducktails) loopy bedroom psyche and day-drinking, will rejoice upon hearing Holiday Shores debut, which ebbs and flo's much like a hazy afternoon drinking lukewarm beer in the sun; happy, lethargic, rejuvenated and wasted, it's all here, ready to be devoured. It's the sort of record that makes you want to quit your job, move to Alabama, start a pie shop and sit out back and smoke cigarettes all day, while downing Coors Original, the banquet beer. (What can I say, this band really makes me want to drink beer.) While I anxiously await their debut, those fiending a post-work malt beverage can sip on portions of Continental Divide's EP over at RCRD LBL.

Continental Divide- Golden Throat EP

mp3: Ganglians "The Void"

"Moon Shadow Running Through Your Head"

An eye catcher in the Woodsist store window, Ganglians self titled 12" plays like a product of its album art. Here's my fictional account of the happenings:

Recorded in the dankest, darkest outcove of a Southwestern desert abode, a secret splinter group of renegade shaman's induldge in some ayahuasca, grab a few broken instruments (remnants from former settlers, long since gone after the great cliff massacre of 2009) and take a stab at pop music. The ayahuasca rolls like a venomous twister, swaying thoughts between horrifying and magical, and generating enough electricity to bring cave-paintings to life. "The Void" is the aftermath; hazy and beat-up, introspective and drained, its psycho-active balladry encompasses a thousand trips, here and fro, and a longing for the next.

(removed)

7": Kria Brekkan "Wildering"

Pickup Sleepy
While AC and Grouper were both phenomenal last night, the highlight of my evening may have come before the show when I noticed that Animal Collective was selling Kria Brekkan's Wildering 7" alongside their own merch and a bunch of Grouper vinyl. (If you are heading to upcoming shows, be sure to snag the Pumice split, I can't believe it's still available.) For a long time now I have been under the impression that this limited run single was long out of print, so finding it for 5 bucks at a former shipping terminal in the absolute middle of nowhere Manhattan was quite a pleasant surprise. Like much of Kria's work, Wildering plays like a black lullaby from a decrepit, abandoned old barn, where a young orphan girl lives with a family of mice, subsiding only on bread, water and worms. The sound of the wind in the house is like her dead parent's voices and often comes clattering in from the cold shore, shaking windows and making the floor boards creak an unsavory creak. Often horrifying, the young orphan girl takes comfort in the company of her rodent friends, who bundle crumbs for her and make sure not to naw away at her only blanket.

Kria Brekkan- Wildering (via Raven Sings the Blues)

live: Animal Collective @ Terminal 5

"A Guy On The River Really Can't Make You Change"
(photo by rezflicks)
Like clockwork, Animal Collective continues to absolutely crush. That might seem a little dry and 'bro-y", but it's true. The show started with "Chocolate Girl," a choice opener to get the ball rolling, before getting down to business. They got "My Girls" out of the way early, subsequently working the crowd into an ecstatic fervor. As expected, it was jam packed and the kids were really getting down on MPP cuts, especially "Summertime Clothes," which I've heard 4 times live and it just keeps getting better. While the band didn't reach too far into the back catalog and the set was pretty much what I expected, having seen them on MPP release day in January, I was once again blown away by how tight Geologist, Avey and Panda have become on stage, and just how far their sound has truly come. It's almost at the point where we have to start guessing what they'll do next? My guess, back to their more acoustic roots, as it'd probably be the most unexpected thing. Then again, AC always have two feet firmly planted in the future, so maybe the next record will be recorded in Space? or 20,000 leagues under the sea?

Setlist
Chocolate Girl
My Girls
Also Frightened
Summertime Clothes
Slippi
Why Would I Want The Sky (new)
Guys Eyes
Comfy In Nautica->
Essplode->
Fireworks->
Leaf House

Encore
Bleed
Lion In A Coma
Brothersport

Animal Collective- Why Would I Want The Sky (Live on BBC's Rob Da Bank sessions)

mp3: Pocahaunted "Dusk"

Travel Down Peyote Road

I hate throwing the term drone around because it tends to turn a lot of people off, but I've noticed there is something about Pocahaunted which enthralls even people completely opposed to avant-noise, etc. I've been following the cavernous Angelino's for a while now, snagging their Gold Miner's Daughter tape, as well as the phenomenal Chains LP, but Passage is really where its at. Maybe that's because it is the first time on record (I think) that the Pocahaunted sisters have recorded with Sun Araw axe-mastermind Cameron Stallone and LA weirdo scene maker Bobb Bruno, whose appeared on other Pocahaunted recordings, as well as records by Abe Vigoda, Mika Miko, Silver Dagger and countless other "Smell" acts. While Chains is truly a force to be reckon with, the strength of the Passage lies in its subtlety. It creeps up from behind you, shrouding the room (or the park or wherever the hell you are) in an incredibly dense haze of melodic smog. Breathing in too much of this smog will surely choke one to death, however, if prepared (with swine-flu doctor's mask and a good pair of goggles) one can see the light beeming through the smokey fog, making the Passage the perfect modern representation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave.

Pocahaunted- Dusk

mp3: So Cow "Shackleton"

"I Made A Rough Mix"
(photo by maeversification)
Encompassing all your fed-up suburban emotions and the dilemma's of young life in three minutes and thirty eight seconds, So Cow's "Shackleton" is the 2k9 equivalent of a real-time, stream of consciousness lyric poem, made famous by fellow Irishman James Joyce. While Dubliners seems to have influenced So Cow's (aka Brian Kelly) writing style, it is hard to deny Stephen Malkmus's influence on Kelly, who delivers "tragic irony and neon punchlines too" like Woody Allen's pre-occupied court jester in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex *But We're Afraid to Ask, every little word spilling from his mouth, a mere spout for emotional hangups to pour from. While the pouring is important, its Kelly's knack for cleaning up the spillage in a few comforting words ("And one day I'll write the song you require, until then La La La") , that really makes one question the concept of paying hundreds of dollars on therapy sessions, when one could simply purchase a $15 LP from Tic Tac Totally and get the same results.

So Cow has one last show in New York, this coming Friday at Cake Shop.

So Cow- Shackleton (via Soundbites)

new: White Antelope "Silver Dagger"

"I Can Be Your Bride"
As if you needed another reason, this is why Twitter is great. Robin Pecknold tweets "Silver Dagger / Wild Mountain Thyme http://is.gd/inf2" and we get two new songs from the Fleet Foxes/White Antelope. "Silver Dagger" is a fine example of Pecknold channeling Dylan the storyteller, the Blood on the Tracks/Desire-era Dylan, where stories were the center of the song, rather than just a mere aspect of them. Pecknold really hits this one on the money. The other new treat is "Wild Mountain Thyme", which is basically a Jackson Browne-CSNY-Laurel Canyon dream come true. Hit the MySpace asap.

White Antelope- Silver Dagger & Wild Mountain Thyme

mix: Sleep

"When You Sleep"

A little over a year ago, as per request by a few readers, I published a second sleep mix. In retrospect, the mix isn't as much as ambient, as it is ethereal, although it does contain incredibly still moments of crystalline wonder. The goal with this mix was to provide a foray into dreams, a sort of Alice in Wonderland/The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe/Coraline portal into a sea of dreams, beginning with Vera November's transcendent cover of Arthur Russell's "Our Last Night Together" and ending in a wash of sea sounds and lilting forest voices, care of White Rainbow's "Awakening." While I don't consider this to be an incredibly well mixed mix, after recently rediscovering it, I truly felt like it accomplished its goal of leading the listener from the drowsy conscious world into the luminous world of dreams.

Sleep Mix
1.Vera November- Our Last Night Together (Arthur Russell Cover)
2. Stars of the Lid- Even if You're Never Awake (Deuxieme)
3. Deerhunter- Red Ink
4. Grizzly Bear- Granny Dinner
5. Japancakes- What You Want (My Bloody Valentine Cover)
6. Taylor Deupree- Untitled 1231
7. Tangerine Dream- Sequent c'
8. Efterklang- Illuminant
9. Johan Johannson- Bao
10. Jonny Greenwood- Prospectors Arrive
11. Klimex- The Ice Storm
12. White Rainbow- Awakening

Sleep Mix

video: Woods @ Market Hotel

"Don't Repeat It, Don't Ask Why"
(photo by YiiioiiiY P)
This is what I was talking about a few months ago (two days after this was recorded), when I said Woods "did some interstellar exploration, reaching for the most far out galaxies, yet managing to ground their sound in songs, which, after getting lost in space, kept calling me back to earth." The verdict, Woods is super-fucking natural.

"The Hold"


"Twisted Tongue"

bootleg: Mogwai @ MHoW 4/29/09

"Mogwai Fear Satan"
(photo by georgia.kral)
Last Wednesday I hit up the final show of Mogwai's sold-out three night run at Music Hall of Williamsburg. While I was prepared for a full on sonic explosion, I was absolutely dumbfounded by how devastating the Scottish post-rock acts live show was. A full on sensory experience, I left having to completely regroup, as if I'd been skiing Tuckerman's Ravine, hit a boulder, fell 300 yards and had to climb back up to reclaim my gear. I literally felt like I lost my shit. Luckily, NYC Taper was there to capture Mogwai in all its glory. And if that wasn't enough, for fans truly looking to experience the set again, the band was filming the show for a future DVD release.

NYC Taper Mogwai 4/29/09

video: Titus Andronicus "Upon Viewing..."

"... Brueghel's 'Landscape With the Fall of Icarus'" True to form, this new Titus Andronicus video is fucking awesome. Was just over a year ago I got The Airing of Grievances on Troubleman Unlimited and proceeded to head bash my way through three weeks of an allergic coma in New Jersey. Couldn't have done it without them.

live: Kurt Vile tomorrow @ Silent Barn

"Bigger Than A Humpback Whale"
(photo by c89)
By now there shouldn't be much need to talk up Kurt Vile from Philly, but I'll do it anyway, as he's back in Brooklyn this weekend for another show with Gary War at the Silent Barn. (Ok, technically it's Queens, but whatever.) At this point its obvious to anyone paying attention that Vile's got some Ryan Adams strength prolific-ness in his blood, as if songs ooze out of him, all sludgy and hypnotic, in some preternatural way. Considering all the mediocre, highly conceptual indie rock and breakneck fuzz, it's scary that Vile is able to consistently deliver such seemingly carefree records, blending the American bar folk of Tom Petty with the mesmerizing noize of Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. While God Is Saying This To You and Constant Hitmaker have been garnering most of the buzz, his Kurt Vile & the Violator's release, The Hunchback EP, is as good, if not better than his folk leanings, proving that Vile really knows how to let loose. If Constant Hitmaker is the sound of a Sunday drive through a canyon, then The Hunchback is that same drive on PCP while being chased by amphetamine fueled Hells Angels and Cops looking to bust some heads; paranoid, intoxicating full-throttle stoner rock of the finest sort. Only question is when will Vile roundup the Violator's and take them on the road.

Kurt Vile & the Violators- The Hunchback