Listen Up Summer!

by Ian Schober for Urbane Magazine

The arrival of summer marks the beginning of beach season, a break from school, and a flood of new artists and music- iPods come out and sometimes it’s difficult to sift through all of the new releases to find something unique or something you’ll actually like. To counter this problem, I’ve selected a number of new bands and albums that will hopefully make your summer all that much more enjoyable.

For fans of rock:

Melbourne-based Australian rock band, Eddy Current Suppression Ring has released a new album, “Rush to Relax”. The band is stylistically marked by their linear guitar melodies and dirt-spattered, ‘Raw Power’-style production which drives them further with each album release. This individuality protrudes from their new album. Consistent and uncontrived, Eddy Current manages to avoid the bar-band stereotype by sounding completely late ‘60s/early ‘70s. Though rooted in proto-punk and garage, their sound is adoptive of later, as well as faster and heavier, influences as well – “Walked Into A Corner” is similar to lighter ‘80s hardcore in tone and length, 0:59. As authentic to their sound as the few original Nuggets/Pebbles and the first big garage groups still around today, including The Sonics, and Standells, Eddy Current succeeds in their retro-garage without being kitschy, similarly to what the White Stripes have done in their entire career. More evidence this is possible — and that lazy blues and garage rock revivalists need to step up their game.

The space between ECSRs two latest albums, 2008’s “Primary Colours”, which won the Australian Music Prize, and 2010’s “Rush To Relax” is notable as the band’s sound has refined itself and their instrumentation is greatly improved, with consistent song writing throughout. The fact that they sound like better musicians on “Rush To Relax” is likely due to their award-boosted confidence more than anything, seeing as the latter LP was famously completed in six hours. The band is less sloppy, despite the time they allotted to themselves (drum hits are dead-on and fills come easier than before) and are better off as a result.

As ECSR takes it baby-steps on a mini-tour of the USA, which will be their first, we hope it goes well and they return soon after and perhaps even venture up to Canada.

For fans of electronic and experimental music:

In the world of instrumental hip-hop and electronic, the future has arrived in the form of a producer in his mid-20s out of Los Angeles named Steven Ellison. Working under the pseudonym ‘Flying Lotus’, Ellison – in just under ten years – has collected what most artists strive for throughout their entire careers: he is the subject of universal critical acclaim, his most recent effort, the full-length ‘Cosmogramma’ (Warp) has received an 87% positive average on review aggregator, Metacritic.com and a burgeoning fan base – evidenced by the record hitting #1 on the iTunes electronic store and two completely sold-out record release shows at the Echoplex in LA, celebrating the release of ‘Cosmogramma’. Unfortunately, for vinyl-fetishists, the LP version of ‘Cosmogramma’ was delayed sale from most North American stores thanks to the music-hating ash clouds over Europe but most copies have now made it over. This is not bad at all, when one considers the popularity of a hybrid album that splices samples with hip-hop rhythms, free jazz, electro and dubstep.

Ellison has cited his spiritual ancestry – his aunt was jazz musician Alice Coltrane – and fate as contributors to his popularity and production skill, which, in part, has led to publications like the Guardian to compare him to the late psychedelic guitar virtuoso, Jimi Hendrix. Others compare him to Miles Daves because of his ability to mix genres to create an entirely different sound. Additionally, his spot on tour with Thom Yorke’s ‘Atoms For Peace’ throughout the US gained him a lot of pre-‘Cosmogramma’ notice. Surely his live remix of Radiohead’s “Idioteque” reeled in the non-believers – but we’re still waiting for a studio remix.

Sleigh Bells’ debut LP, “Treats” is noisy beat-metal that has demanded attention from a variety of music fans, as the band has worked on production for M.I.A.’s forthcoming /\/\/\Y/\. With a sound that is at times reminiscent of both Crystal Castles and ‘80s thrash, the boy-girl duo with indie pop and hardcore roots has utilized deep club beats, samples, which were best incorporated in use of Funkadelic on “Rill Rill”, and frenetic guitar playing by producer/multi-instrumentalist Derek Miller. Alexis Krauss, a former teacher who met Miller at a diner in NYC, uses her voice as a perfectly flexible instrument throughout “Treats”, allowing it to scream, sing, and even just breathe in tune. Each style is effective and helps define the overall mishmash of tones and styles that make Sleigh Bell sound like Sleigh Bells.

Their live show, recently seen here in Toronto supporting Yeasayer, could be described as the best ear-shredding show to dance to. If you can, go see them. If you can’t, check out “Treats”.

Sleigh Bells’ “Treats”, released last week digitally and coming out June 27 physically (with an additional 7” from Insound.com).

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Guelph’s memoryhouse has been making waves via their gorgeous blend of Boards of Canada-style production and dream-pop vocals. The band, made up of Denise Nouvion (vocals) and Evan Abeele (production/instruments) is set to leave North America for a tour Europe in June, where they will play with, among others, highly buzzed about Toronto artist, Diamond Rings.

Denise was kind enough to participate in an interview with Who To Hear (ed- author Ian Schober’s blog) via email:

Who To Hear: When did you two meet each other and had either of you been involved in composition before memoryhouse?

Denise Nouvion: We met a few years ago through a mutual friend, although it’s odd that we didn’t meet before that since we’ve both lived in Guelph all our lives. Evan studied classical composition in University; my relationship with music is more instinctive.

WH: In an earlier interview with Pitchfork.com, Evan mentioned that John Brion’s “Phone Call” was one of the samples used (slowed and buried under a crystalline layer of synth textures on “Lately (Deuxième)”) What degree of the music on The Years EP is sample-based?

DN: We often use archived sound effects, but the only true samples are in Lately (Deuxième) and the voice in The Waves.

WH: Does memoryhouse function as a band that writes its songs through playing on what comes to mind or through songwriting?

DN: Evan’s formal training leads him to write more technically, so the songs are planned out sometimes even before Evan picks up an instrument.

WH: There has been massive web/blog hype surrounding the rise of

memoryhouse; from venerable indie tastemakers like gorillavsbear to Canadian sites like Spinner. How has the build-up affected your band, from writing to booking shows outside of Ontario or Canada?

DN: When we were first recording songs, we never had the intention to ever formally release anything or to become a “band” that plays shows. It’s weird to think that we’ve been getting so much attention, especially internationally, when we haven’t really made much of a mark in Canada. It’s definitely overwhelming to go from being a University student and never leaving my apartment to a musician that’s about to tour Europe.

WH: Recently memoryhouse posted via twitter that the band is contributing music to a film (Weston Currie’s “Congress: A Thousand Years of Death”). How did memoryhouse get involved and how is the project progressing so far?

DN: We were both fans of Currie’s work, especially the video he did for Grouper’s “Hold the Way”. When he came to us and asked if we could work together on something, we didn’t really have anything ready to release, so Evan offered to contribute something new for his film. We’re lucky to be working with such amazing visual artists, and we’re hoping to continue working with Currie as well as more filmmakers in the future.

Big thanks to Denise for her direct insight into the latest Canadian breakout artist’s workings and origin. Check out their EP, The Years, out now via Arcade Sound Ltd./Inflated.

Also check out the band’s blog memoryhouse.tumblr.com