An Horse

Often associated as "that band that toured with Tegan and Sara" or "the band that opened for Death Cab", An Horse doesn't get NEARLY the rep that it should. Obviously if they're good enough to tour with T&S and Death Cab, there's a little something gleaming in the shadows thats likely to grab hold and not let go. In other words, I love this band. Kate Cooper, Damon Cox, the fact that their from austraila (the coolest continent on the planet), and of course THEIR MUSIC. The drums are the "catchy" aspect of the melody, but honestly, Kate's skills on the guitar and her killer vocals are what pull it all together. I love it when bands have good vocals, but that doesn't always mean they can pull off a sweet vibrato. If they have that down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness voice that requires a lot of mouth movement lol (aka T&S, Cat Power, etc), its just as good in my book.

Their a two-person indie pop band from Australia, comprising Kate Cooper of Iron On and Damon Cox of Intercooler and Mary Trembles. In 2008 they toured the United States as an opening act for Tegan and Sara, prior to the release of their first album. In August of 2008, they opened for Death Cab for Cutie for their Australian tour.

To date An Horse has completed an EP, Not Really Scared, and a full album, Rearrange Beds. Rearrange Beds was available on iTunes as of December 8, 2008, and is due to be released in stores on March 17, 2009.

I'm really excited for their album to be released so I can buy it :) I listen to them, so YOU SHOULD TOO.

PS: for any of you local dwellers, An Horse is coming to Lola's (on burnside) in Portland, OR. on March 26th. BE THERE

Florence and the Machine

ok, so I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but work with me here. I'm a busy person. Anyways, so in the time I spend away from the computer, I'm usually in the car. Music is the only reason I like driving, so I usually listen to Tegan and Sara, Cat Power, Uh Huh Her, whatever my mood seems to inspire. However, lately I can't stop listening to florence and the machine. Her voice is sooooo captivating. Not in a creepy, sultry way, but more like a power stroke. The band's punky roots kind of remind me of Tegan and Sara, but I don't know if I'd go that far since they sound nothing alike. She has that super-gripping voice that she can just BELT and totally stay on key, and if anything sound better. A british Hayley Williams maybe? I don't know, I'm just saying what comes to mind. Especially in "Dog Days Are Over", she's practically yelling the whole time, and she sounds amazing. I guess I choose a lot of my bands based on voices rather than instumental melodies, but regardless; LISTEN TO THEM. you won't regret it. Have I let you down up to this point? I think not :)

www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

Ra Ra Riot

Flying under the radar for quite some time, Ra Ra Riot has been able to make quite a name for themselves over the years in the Indie community. With their catchy pop/alternative roots and spunky personality, their a great listen. Their the kind of band that when your in a good mood, all you want to do is listen to their album from beginning to end. To call them "feel good music" makes them sound generic, but they are so much more than that. These guys can catch you with just one track, but the albums will pull you in. Hailing from the big apple (like so many other indie bands), they really don't fit into any stereotype you could attempt to label them with. Which I believe is saying something these days with the way the music industry is. The first time I heard these guys was on late night with Conan, which I admit is not the "earliest" phase I could have caught them in. But I'm not a music snob and I think that whatever time I find a good band, the music is good regardless. So me being lazy as always, I gave my shpeal, and here's the wiki

Ra Ra Riot formed in 2006, playing at houses and venues around the Syracuse University campus. The band started to attract attention due to their energetic live shows, enough to gain an appearance at the CMJ Music Marathon, fewer than six months after their formation. Following this appearance, their live show received the first of several favorable reviews from SPIN.com, who called them "one of the best young bands we've heard in a really long time".^[1] They went on to open for Art Brut and Bow Wow Wow in New York City, toured the UK twice on their own,^[2] then returned, opening for the Editors;^[3] they also toured North America supporting Tokyo Police Club. Their first solo headlining tour of the U.S. was completed in 2007, and in early 2008, they embarked on a second.^[4] The band was also invited to play the Iceland Airwaves Festival, in Reykjavík, Iceland. They have recorded three sessions on the national online radio station WOXY and two for the acclaimed^[5] Daytrotter sessions at Futureappletree studio 1 in Rock Island, Illinois.

In 2007, they made their first appearance at South by Southwest and headlined a show at the South Street Music Festival in New York City. The band returned to appear again at the South by Southwest Music Conference in March 2008.^[6]

After a show in Providence, the band's original drummer, John Ryan Pike, of Hamilton, Massachusetts, went missing in the early morning of June 2, 2007 at Wilbur's Point in Fairhaven. His body was discovered the following day in nearby Buzzards Bay; Pike was believed to have drowned.^[7] Ra Ra Riot issued a statement a few weeks after Pike's funeral that they would continue as a band.

In the winter of 2007, the band signed to major label V2 Records. To celebrate their new label deal, Ra Ra Riot released "Dying Is Fine" and "Each Year (RAC Mix)" on 7" vinyl as an A/B single. In December 2007, the band announced that they had finished recording new songs for their debut LP. During their show in Cambridge, MA on April 25, 2008, the band announced their new album "would be released in August. If not August then September" 2008.^[8]

On May 19, 2008, the band announced that they had signed to Barsuk Records. Their debut album The Rhumb Line was released on August 19, 2008 in the United States and Canada. It is due to be released in Europe via V2/Cooperative Music on September 22, 2008.

On November 22, 2008, they finished their European tour with Vampire Weekend and Los Campesinos!

Holly Miranda

Frontwoman of the amazing band The Jealous Girlfriends, Holly Miranda isn' t just another lead singer with shallow talent. Her Cat-Power-esque tone catches your attention and never lets go. The first time I heard her I couldn;t believe how powerful of a voice was coming out of that young lady. She's one of those artist that you just KNOW were meant to be in a band or play music, and she definately does not let you down. I'm going to admit I listen to more of her solo work than her band's stuff, but I imagine its amazing just the same. I'm getting pretty lazy these days when it comes to blogging about my favorite artists, so I'll just copy and paste the wiki on her. But honestly guys, this makes my current playlist, and her CD is usually playing in my car (if not T&S, but that doesn't count). So give her a good listen, I'll post her and her band's myspace links to this, and I'm sure you'll get hooked just like I did.

http://www.myspace.com/hollymiranda

www.myspace.com/thejealousgirlfriends

www.myspace.com/hollymirandaliveatzebulon

Holly Miranda is a Detroit born musician, raised between Michigan and Tennessee. Miranda has been a one woman Banda for the past five years, touring the East coast and Midwest United States. Besides being trained in piano, Holly is a self-taught guitar and trumpet player. In 2001, She recorded "High Above The City", a 20-track solo album available online (hollymiranda. com) and at shows. The fall of 2003, Holly met and teamed up with Alex Lipsen, producer and keys player, The project evolved into 'The Jealous Girlfriends', a four piece band based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The record will be released in the spring of 2005, and a national tour will follow in the summer.

Rachel Cantu

So...I'm kind of a copy cat. A lot of these bands I find DO come from Raimy Rosenduft (muthafunka), but it doesn't mean I can't share the love. If Raimy ever has a problem with it, she can hit me up. But anyways, I'm listening to a couple things currently, one of which is Rachel Cantu. This lovely and talented SoCal girl has been playing music for quite a while. I wikipedia'd her profile so I'll copy that in here for you in a sec. But honestly, her voice is amazing and just makes you want to keep listening, and her funk will reel you right in. watch out :)

Rachael Cantu is an American singer-songwriter. Born in 1981, she grew up in Orange County, California. She currently lives in both Los Angeles and Boston.

Cantu started her career fronting a southern Californian indie rock band called Quite Satellite while still at high school. She later wrote and performed as a solo artist in Los Angeles and San Diego, and opened for bands such as The Get Up Kids, Saves the Day and Karate. After moving to Boston, her reputation grew amongst fellow artists. Cantu opened for Canadian folk-pop duo Tegan and Sara on two North American tours, and also for Dear Nora and Ben Lee.

Cantu's first release was the EP Blood Laughs. After signing to Q Division Records, in 2006 she released her debut album Run All Night. The album has been well received by critics, and was successful in the independent album charts. Since then she has toured North America to promote the album.

Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara appeared as a backing vocalist on Saturday, as well as Tony Goddess of Papas Fritas. Cantu has also recorded songs with Limbeck, Kori Gardner of Mates of State, and Jason Gnewikow of The Promise Ring.

Musically, Cantu has been described as "something of a mix of The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, PJ Harvey, Sarah McLachlan, and Nora Jones". She has also been compared vocally to Björk and Patty Griffin.

She's currently working on her new album with Meghan Toohey. Toohey's myspace blog reads "still plugging away at rachaels record, but it's not likely it will be ready for your ears anytime soon. i will say it's awesome and we are working on getting it to you ASAP."

What a weekend..

So, this is the first (or maybe second, I don't remember..) time I'm writing a blog, as a PERSON. I've always just written about my favorite bands, but I figured I'll switch things up a bit and tell a little story. Since my music was music related, you'll understand why this is relevant. Just gimme a sec :)

Friday, I don't even remember Friday actually.. I think I slept early. Sorry, boring. Ok, so then saturday, a friend and I went to go see Slumdog Millionaire, which I was actually very excited for. So I PAID (of course, its the right thing to do), then we get into the theatre and there are only two seats open, in the front row, probably a good two feet away from the screen. I wasn't about to sit through a two hour movie with my neck at a 90 degree angle, so we got a raincheck. Then my friend supposedly had the DVD quality burned version of it, so I tail on over to her house, grab it, go home, and we were just going to watch it in my room or something. IT DIDN'T WORK. after two cases of bad luck, we thought, lets just rent a movie. Which leads me to the purpose of this story...we watched My Best Friend's Girl, which was suprisingly better than I thought. Light-heartedly funny, stupid, but not too much (like I expected)

SUNDAY: awesome day. First off, I slept in until 1130 which was amazing. Then I went on a crazy adventure with my friend who wishes not to be named. But i'm going to anyways, Stephanie. There, I hope you read this and then realize it doesn't actually matter that your name is on here lol. Anyways, we went down to southeast portland to visit the INFAMOUS Kung Fu Bakery. Apparently thats where Tegan and Sara, Death Cab, Everclear, and a few other fmous artists have recorded, so we decided to check it out. We went down to hawthorne to powell's books, got some waffles at the waffle window, walked back (part of the way in a shopping cart), and still never saw anyone fmaous. Oh well :( but we decided to go downtown and look for the wonkavision issue with tegan and sara on the cover, which led us to some really smelly cigar shop that had every magazine on the planet EXCEPT wonkavision. After failing 2 missions, stephanie said "why dont we try and make it to the roof of one of these buildings?" GREAT IDEA. except apparently everyone that works at a reception desk in downtown Portland is out to get teenagers, and getting to the roof of a building is next to impossible. and that was the day! After tomtom told us how NOT to get home, I spent the rest of the day hitting a steam roller and baking cake and crashing horribly on my longboard giving myself a concussion as my head bounced off the concrete. No joke.


...and that was my day.

oh, and then i spent monday at seaside longboarding on the boardwalk in my UGGS, bad idea..

here's a little tid-bit that made my day today. I've seen and heard it a thousand times but it never seems to get old..

Kaki King

Kaki King may only be 29 years old, but she packs a serious punch when it comes to guitar skills. Which is suprising considering she use to play when she was younger, switched to drums to play seriosuly, and didn't start playing again until her college years at NYU. In college she played a few gigs here and there, but nothing incredibly serious. Kaki is gaining a larger fan-base by the day, and I would definately project seeing her in the major indie spotlight within the next year or so. She's already done her fair share of basking in the spotlight when she was the guest guitarist with Tegan and Sara on The Con album, playing guitar for "knife going in" and "floorplan" (both of which are Sara's songs).

King's two earlier recordings Everybody Loves You (with Velour Records) in 2003 and Legs to Make Us Longer (with Sony Records) in 2004 featured more acoustic compositions, but her 2005 tours saw more use of electric guitars and loops. During some shows, she made it known that she had parted ways with major label Sony. For her third album ...Until We Felt Red, King made a conscious decision to depart from her previous musical direction, out of a desire to escape being pigeonholed as a solo instrumental artist. The album features King's vocals on more tracks than previous albums. With the prominence of electric guitar on the new record and the addition of a full band, the popular music website AV Club called the sound a “post-rock makeover”. Featuring production work by Tortoise's John McEntire, the album was released on August 8, 2006 on Velour Records.

In February 2006, King was named as a “Guitar God” by Rolling Stone Magazine, becoming the first ever female to make this list in the history of the publication.^{[citation needed]}

On December 13, 2007, Kaki King was nominated for a Best Original Score Golden Globe Award for the music she played in the film Into the Wild. She was nominated for the award along with Eddie Vedder and Michael Brook, who also contributed music to the film.

Being a guitar player myself, I love her soulful style that corralates beautifully with her natural talent for funk. She's worth a listen, even if you don't have the time

Tegan & Sara

What do I even begin to say about T&S...there is so much known about them i don't even know where to start. Yet there is infinitely more stuff about them that the public will never know. They are a band of two twin sisters out of Canada. They are classified as "indie" or "pop", but that just makes them sound generic, and they are anything but that. With Sara's uniquely high pitched voice, and Tegan's rough melodies, they stick to you like glue and paper :) I can go on and on about how much I love these two and how I would give my left kidney just to get a chance to meet them, but I'll give you the bio off their website, by Sara, so here we go...

"the con is the fifth album that we have released, but first, a brief history. we were born (at the same time, give or take eight minutes). we are raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. fifteen years pass, we find a guitar. we record a demo tape at school and in our bedrooms. we enter in a "garage band" competition (it was the 90's), and we win. we make the yellow tape. we graduate from high school and we make two more demos, "the orange tape" and the red tape. we play shows and do small tours in Canada. Tegan and i make under feet like our in April 1999. we start to tour more extensively in canada. we eventually send the album to Elliot Roberts, president of vapor records. We sign a record deal with vapor. we then make this business of art and go on tour in the USA with neil young. after the tour we embark on our first national tour of Canada as headliners, we tour with Rufus wainwright and Melissa Ferrick, and make our first attempt at touring Europe and japan. we play David Letterman, we head back into the studio with john Collins of the new pornographers, and David Carswell of the smugglers in February 2002, to make if it was you. we tour with Ryan Adams, hot hot heat, and manage to get ourselves to Australia for the first time! we tour Canada, we play very small, dirty clubs in the USA. we go back into studio with JCDC and Howard Redekopp in February 2004 to make so jealous. we finally sell some records! we get nominated for a juno, the killers take us on tour all over the USA, and white strips do a cover of one of our songs. we buy hummers and do cocaine. just kidding. we release our first DVD, it's not fun don't do it. we tour and tour and tour. and after 18 months on the road, we decide to take some real time off. we see the seasons change, we record demos like crazy. we add drums, bass, guitars and keyboards. we meet up with Chris Walla (death cab for cutie). we give him the demos, and we make a plan to relocate to Portland, Oregon to record with him in January 2007. we move into a house in Portland. we walk to his studio everyday. we tow our gear behind us in a wagon. we bring angela kendall (who filmed the making of so jealous and speak slow video) down with us from vancouver to film everything we do. we focus on keeping the songs as close to the demos as possible. after a month we're finished tracking most of the guitars, keyboards, and vocals. we bring Jason mcGerr from death cab for cutie. he plays drums and passes along the life lessons. hunter from AFI plays bass on Tegan's songs, and Matt sharp of the rentals plays bass on mine. we film everything, we develop segments and we gather endless footage. we build a set in our basement and every night for two months we records in-person interviews and speaker phone conversations with our friends and family. march 12th arrives, the albums is finished, the movie is ready to be edited. we go home. i arrive in exile. tegan goes to hawaii in search of dog the bounty hunter.

the con

Land Of Talk

I must admit I don't know too much about these guys. And honestly, its kind of hard to get anything on them. I know that they are a female-fronted band from Montreal, Quebec. They are very much an indie-rock band, but at the same time I feel like they are so much more than that. The front-woman, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Powell, has been in a string of failed solo and band attempts; but she hit it big with this one. I feel like these guys are bound to reach stardom, in a rilo-kiley-esque kind of way. Lizzie's voice is intoxicating and you really can't get enough. Its one of those natural sounds where you can just tell that these guys fit. It seems like all of the best indie bands come out of Canada, and these guys are no exception to that stereotype. Not in a bad way.

They released their debut album Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, on April 4th of 2006. In addition, they released their most recent album, Some Are Lakes, on October 7th of 2008. Both are amazing albums, and definately worth an earfull.

Mermaids

With all the falling in and falling out Katie Sketch has endured in the past, she always manages to make an appearance eventually. After the break up of the organ in 2006, and the releasing of The Organ's E.P of unreleased tracks in 2008, Katie has finally resurfaced in a band called Mermaids. The band is definitely in the fetal stages, and whether or not this will follow through is hard to say. But this song is amazing and everyone should give it a good, long listen. If you want to learn more about Katie Sketch or the Organ, just go to wikipedia :)

And here is the only video I could find of Mermaids, and its lovely as anything. Listen and weep

Bon Iver

Most commonly known as "that guy who lived in a cabin in the woods for three months when his girlfriend broke up with him", Bon Iver (Justin Vernon), is SO much more than that. With his falsetto melody and moody rhythms, he is far beyond what most people percieve. Due to his unique singing voice and mellow atmosphere, a lot of people cast him aside as another sob story artist. Yet take a good listen to his entire album, For Emma, Forever Ago, and you will soon come to realize that he's difficult to get tired of. Perfect for listening at home, in the car, or wherever, his tunes will fit more of your moods than you'd expect.

After the breakup of a band, relationship, and bout with sickness (mononucleosis of the liver), Vernon left Raleigh and moved back to Wisconsin spending three months in his father's cabin in the woods of northern Wisconsin. According to Vernon, it was during this time that the "Bon Iver" moniker first entered his mind..

And the reception for the album was stellar: When released in the UK, For Emma, Forever Ago received 5/5 and "Album of the Month" reviews in both MOJO and Uncut magazines. It was the seventh highest rated album of 2008 on review-aggregator site Metacritic, with accolades from publications including The Village Voice, The Hartford Courant and The A.V. Club.

I've heard some of his stuff on grey's anatomy, "western sessions" on youtube, and basically all over the place. It must be gaining popularity since I saw his Blood Bank EP as the #1 album on iTunes. But seriously, give him a good, long listen, and you just might fall in love with this band as I did.

Coconut Records

Ever heard of Jason Schwartzman? He's been in films such as Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, and Hotel Chavier (All works by Wes Andersen). His band, Coconut Records is his LA based Indie Pop solo project which began in 2006. The debut album, Nighttiming, was released on Schwartzman's Young Baby Records in 2007. The second album, Davy, was released January 20, 2009.

Jason Schwartzmen is the cousin of Sophia Coppolla, the infamous Copolla family. He is the Son of producer Jack Schwartzman and actress Talia Shire; Nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and cousin of Nicholas Cage.

He was the drummer for the band Phantom Planet when he was 14 years old. His music career continued in 2002 when he released a single with Evan dando and Ben Lee. Nighttiming has a few tracks featuring Kirtin Dunst, who adds to the cutsie factor.

Overall, I love the band, and their music is perfect for any mood. I listen to the album if I'm driving, longboarding, whatever. Give 'em a shot :)

Uh Huh Her

I know its two music posts in one day, but bear with me here. Uh Huh Her is the dynamic music duo of musician/actress Leisha Hailey and singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Camila Grey. The two incredibly lovely ladies will rock anyone's world.

Uh Huh Her’s sound – a self-described indie electro-pop hybrid – is a unique and organic product of Hailey and Grey’s styles. "[The sound] is the evolution from our backgrounds," Grey says. "We slammed them all together and that's what came out." The band, which released its debut EP I See Red last July, marks Hailey's return to music – she was formerly a member of the bands the Murmurs and Gush. Though she garnered success with her portrayal of journalist Alice Pieszecki on Showtime's The L Word, Hailey considers herself equal parts musician and actress. Less than a year after the release of I See Red, Uh Huh Her will unveil their full-length debut, the accessibly melodic Common Reaction, on August 19th.

"We wrote a lot of it before we went in the studio, but we wound up re-cutting everything," Grey says of the 11-track album. "We wanted to make a commercially appealing record. The songs aren't specifically poppy but appeal to a wide variety of people."

"Sometimes the song just calls for it and you can't fight the pop," Hailey laughs. "I like that it's eclectic and not just one thing. That bores me in a record. We never wanted this band to be small."

With Common Reaction, Hailey and Grey are looking to a horizon that's as expansive as their sound – which is to say, seemingly infinite. "We're getting a chance that a lot of bands aren't," Hailey says. "It's just about us showing up and proving that we can do it."


I've only recently discovered these guys, and I realize now that they have an amazingly strong underground following. Their eclectic and poppy beats leave people wanting more, and they have definately earned their spot on my Top 25 Most Played list on my iPod. I just can't get enough, and I hope people will take the chance to give them a listen.

You Never Cease To Amaze Me

Cat Power. By far my favorite artist I have ever encountered, I believe she is the most underrated artist of her time. Her distinct voice, along with her entrancing melodies, earn her the number one spot in my book....

"Charlyn Marie Marshall was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 21, 1972. She spent her early childhood moving among Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. She quit high school while living in Atlanta and began performing as Cat Power, and In 1992 she moved to New York City and continued playing with underground rockers, attracting the attention of Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelly. In December 1994, she recorded her first two albums of punk-inspired folk, country and blues songs — Dear Sir, released the following year on Plain Recordings, and Myra Lee, released in 1996 on Shelly's Smells Like label – with indie guitarist Tim Foljahn and Shelly on drums. The larger independent label Matador Records signed Marshall in 1996 and released her third Cat Power album, the critically acclaimed What Would the Community Think, on which she continued referencing country and blues while maintaining her signature slow-burning vocal delivery.
After a three-month tour, Marshall dropped out of the music scene and began working as a babysitter in Portland, Oregon, before moving to a farmhouse in South Carolina ostensibly to retire.Having tired of her own compositions, she began performing cover songs that would appear on her next album, 2000's The Covers Record. Some of the songs that didn't make it on that album — including Bob Dylan's "Hard Times in New York Town" and a much-abbreviated, ethereal version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird"
In 2003, she released You Are Free featuring guest vocals from Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl on drums. The following year, she issued an experimental DVD, Speaking for Trees,
In 2005, she hit road again where she began working on songs that would appear on Cat Power's highly acclaimed album of the following year, The Greatest (Number 34), which marked a radical improvement in sound and production. The album featured Memphis guitarist Mabon "Teenie" Hodges and his bass-playing brother Leroy "Flick" Hodges, veterans of Al Green's band. Shortly thereafter, Marshall cancelled her U.S. tour as a result of a nervous breakdown her record label said stemmed from exhaustion and alcohol abuse.
In spring 2006, she resumed touring, alone as well as with the Memphis Rhythm Band. That same year, she put together The Dirty Delta Blues Band with guitarists Judah Bauer (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), Gregg Foreman (The Delta 72) and Erik Paparazzi (Lizard Music), and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three). Jukebox which came out in early-2008 was a sequel to 2000's The Covers Record admirably interpreting songs by the likes of Dylan, Hank Williams and Sinatra. "

~ Rolling Stone Magazine

Personally, I was too young to have followed her career from the beginning. However when I discovered her 3 years ago, I have never stopped listening to her. I've seen her in concert, and it was nothing short of perfection. I keep searching and searching to find someone better than her, but I still can't. I can't even count the number of times I've popped in one of her albums during a drive, or just tuned out for a few hours with my head phones blasting her tunes. She is amazing, and I hope that one day she will be honored for the respect she deserves.