No Fun
River To The Sea
Tangled Line
Bank Holiday
Longest Day
Hit The Grass Running
Good Ideas
Campfire
This first offering from Vancouver-based Brave Irene is energetic and addictive. Indiepop legend Rose Melberg is back, with the help of Caitlin Gilroy, Jessica Wilkin, Amanda Pezzutto and Laura Hatfield for this polished Slumberland release. The keyboard contributions from Caitlin and Jessica are priceless and play an outstanding role in these Brave Irene songs. From the opening track 'No Fun', you'll get your shuffle on. 'Tangled Line' features brilliant keyboards bouncing off each other and furious drumming which balances delicately with Melberg's silky vocals; the track is danceable, lively and warm. In a career that spans over two decades, Melberg has written some of the loveliest songs about friendship and love, 'River To The Sea' is beautiful and adds to this tradition. The opening line "I prefer the river to the sea / I'd rather come to you than let you come to me" is a perfect example of the sweet intimacy on this EP. And timeless lyrics are again displayed on the lovely 'Bank Holiday' where Melberg tenderly sings "I walked all this way and forgot it was a bank holiday / Nothing was open, still I was hoping I might see you". 'Good Ideas' is bouncy and worthy of being one of the best tracks of the year. Throughout this 18 minute release there is a sense of classic jangle pop, but with Rose Melberg in charge we shouldn't expect any less. Brave Irene have delivered a great first impression with uptempo tunes and great melodies.
Cottonopolis + Promises
Angelyne
Record Shop
The Ghost With A Hammer In His Hand
Biergarten
Palma Violence
Me, Sola And C
My Window
Cellophane
S*W*I*M
Tracy Tracy
Split Infinitives
Born out of the defunct and sorely missed Language Of Flowers, Bentley Cooke and Colm McCrory have got together with Louise Winfield, Ben Ambridge, Kath McMahon and the incredible D. Lucille Campbell to help deliver one of the best albums of the year with this self-titled debut. The album opens with the tongue tied track 'Cottonopolis + Promises'. It's clear from the beginning that this is an up-tempo summery album. Campbell's voice is to die for. Her sense of variety and dynamics is masterful throughout the record, and, providing that the listener is willing to be infatuated by her auditory spell, there is never a dull moment. The breezy layered celestial harmonies and gorgeous melodies make sure the album glides along in an highly accessible way. The Johnny Marr inspired 'Record Shop' has a beautiful lush quality about it, and 'The Ghost With A Hammer In His Hand' will be a mix tape favourite, with its playful keyboards and addictive lyrics. The more guitar driven 'Angelyne' is a gem with vocals straight from heaven. 'Me, Sola and C' is remarkably tender, while 'Tracy Tracy' declares "A cosmic shower isn't half as bright as you". While the vocals are certainly the standout, the band is talented and creative enough to put together a brilliant musical canvas to showcase the vocal abilities. Surely one of the years very best!
For those of you who don't already know, Katie Crutchfield is the singer of P.S. Eliot. Her work with The Ackleys and P.S. Eliot has been critically acclaimed and her new projects with Bad Banana and solo work as Waxahatchee, further display her musical talent and song writing abilities. In the past year P.S. Eliot lost band members, came close to calling it quits, picked the guitars and drum sticks back up again and recently released Sadie, which has been lauded a great success. Katie, along with sister and fellow P.S. Eliot bandmate Allison, have been recording demo tracks under the band name Bad Banana. And alone, Katie records under the name Waxahatchee. With all this work being released, how does Katie deal with the pressure of being a work-aholic and what inspires her to create music? Blueboy and Popgirly asked Katie a few questions to see what makes her tick.
First of all, thanks for taking part in this interview.
Yeah of course!
Allison and Katie
Obviously your sister Allison is also musically talented, what about the rest of your family? And when did you and your sister start playing music?
Allison and I are sort of just total freaks. My mother and younger sister both love music as much as we do but they're not as creatively energetic. Allison and I started playing music together when we were freshmen in high school. We had a falling out with our mutual best friend who had, formerly, introduced us to Bikini Kill and at that point we had no one but each other. So we started a band. That was 8 years ago.
It must be difficult working on P.S. Eliot, Bad Banana and Waxahatchee . Have you had difficulty deciding which penned lyrics should go with which band? How do you approach the process?
Oh no, I write melodies first and lyrics immediately following, usually. Even though I try not to premeditate this, I normally go into songwriting with the intention of writing a song for a certain project. It's usually not an issue, deciding which song is for which band.
Are you under pressure to stray away from P.S. Eliot-esque songs when you record as Bad Banana?
Definitely. It's something I struggled with a lot and one of the reasons why Bad Banana isn't going to be an active band anymore. I was the sole songwriter in P.S. Eliot and in Bad Banana that duty was shared with Allison. It was a complicated dynamic and I think I was super self-conscious about straying from P.S. Eliot. Writing songs with a certain "sound" isn't something I do consciously so trying to stray from a "sound" is really hard.
Chayse Porter is a new face in the band, what dynamics has he added to P.S. Eliot? Who are the current band members and can you tell us a few things about them?
Chayse and I have been friends since I was in my old band the Ackleys! He played a few shows with P.S. Eliot back when Allison and I still lived in the south. These days Kate Eldridge and Colman Durkee are playing with us. Kate was in a band called Cheeky and is now in a band called Big Eyes. Colman's in a band called Natural Law and another one called Creem. Kate's moving to Seattle later this year so once she goes Kyle Gilbride is taking her place. He's in a band called Big Soda and another one (with Allison) called Dear Marje.
What have you been listening to lately that you would recommend?
I listen to Go Sailor everyday. I play 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac every time I work (I work at a coffee shop) My favorite band making music right now is Sourpatch from San Jose and my favorite band from New York is Aye Nako.
What are you up to right now music wise?
I'm about the release a Waxahatchee record called "American Weekend" and I'm working on a hiphop project with my friend Marlee called Pregnancy Pact.
What’s next for Katie Crutchfield? Any chance on touring outside the US?
Yeah, hopefully P.S. Eliot will do a Euro tour in the next 12 months! Fingers crossed!
Spain's Reina Republicana formed in 2009 and have a unique sound full of intriguing influences, these range from pop on 'Clondina' to bossa nova on 'Mar Diamante'. This short little 7 inch is pretty darn impressive to say the least. Sure we can't understand the lyrics, but it hardly matters when there's a voice is like honey in the mix.
Shiver Up My Vein
Kiss Me, Kill Me
Get Nothing Done
Over
Stem-Filled Vase
If you've never heard of The Sunday Reeds, they are a noisepop band from Australia that are highly influenced by The Jesus & Mary Chain and are the label mates of The Blanche Hudson Weekend. The band have followed up their tremendous debut album Drowning In History (2009) with this stunning EP. It's fuzzy dark noisepop at its best. The only tragedy involving this EP is that it lasts for a mere 14 minutes. Highly recommended!
All My Friends
Tulips
Careless Teens
Sigh
Boyfriend
Secrets
Over the past couple of years The Bilinda Butchers have had a few EPs and singles released independently, including a few covers, most notably The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's 'This Love Is Fucking Right!' and 'Girls Don't Cry' by Pillows. Now they have found themselves on Bandcamp and have released this beautiful EP, regret, love, guilt, dreams. Some of the songs have been released previously, the first song 'All My Friends' being an example, but it seems to fit so well on this EP and is the perfect opening song. Although they may have taken their name directly from My Bloody Valentine, don't expect noisy feedback. The tunes are lush and hypnotic, but in more of a chillwave-electronic-dreampop way, rather than a shoegaze-reverb way. 'Careless Teens' will no doubt be a mix tape favourite of the year. It's a relaxing EP, one you listen to when you're thinking about being somewhere else. Case in point is the instrumental 'Secrets' which almost makes you feel as though you are by the beach watching the sunset disappear, a perfect way to end this lovely EP.
You can listen to the EP for free at Bandcamp, or alternatively download it on a 'name your price' option.
