Field Music - “Let’s Write A Book”
On Tour:
14 May 2010 Walk The Line Festival, Den Haag, NL
20 May 2010 Liverpool Sound City, Masque Loft, Liverpool, GB
26 May 2010 Concorde 2, Brighton, GB
28 May 2010 Phoenix, Exeter, GB
29 May 2010 Dot to Dot Festival, GB
30 May 2010 Evolution Festival, Newcastle, GB
31 May 2010 Dot to Dot Festival, Manchester, GB
03 Jun 2010 The Musician, Leicester, GB
04 Jun 2010 Guildhall, Gloucester, GB
05 Jun 2010 Wilde Theatre, Bracknell, GB
15 Jun 2010 Richard Thompson's Meltdown @ QEH, London, GB
26 Jun 2010 Glastonbury Festival (John Peel Stage), GB
27 Jun 2010 Glastonbury Festival (Queen's Head Stage), GB
31 Jul 2010 Camp Bestival, GB
13 Aug 2010 Oya Festival, Norway
22 Aug 2010 Green Man Festival, Wales, GB
05 Sep 2010 Electric Picnic Festival,IE
08 Sep 2010 Cypress Avenue, Cork, IE
09 Sep 2010 Crawdaddy, Dublin, IE
10 Sep 2010 Open House Festival, Belfast, GB
22 Sep 2010 Great Scott, Allston, MA
23 Sep 2010 Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
24 Sep 2010 Johnny Brenda's, Philadelphia, PA
26 Sep 2010 Snug Harbor, Charlotte, NC
29 Sep 2010 Emo's, Austin, TX
01 Oct 2010 Record Bar, Kansas City, MO
02 Oct 2010 Billiken Club, St. Louis, MO
03 Oct 2010 Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL
10 Dec 2010 All Tomorrow's Parties, GB
25 Records from 2010 That Deserve a Listen
2010 has been good to us so far, delivering quite a few music gems in between hidden beneath the piles of mediocre records. Great albums by Liars, LCD Soundsystem, Gorillaz, Shearwater, Tallest Man On Earth and other mainstays have gotten the expected universal praise, but plenty of lesser known bands have slipped through the cracks without the deserved attention for their hard work. Below are 25 of the best records of 2010 so far that have gone generally unnoticed by the music media.
Adrienne Drake - Dullabies
A terribly haunting dance record with similarities to Burial but a sound of its own.
ArpLine - Travel Book
Explosively catchy prog rock.
The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
An epic album built on big reverby stoner rock that flows perfectly from front to back.
Bluebrain - Soft Power
A wonderfully loud experimental electronic dance record.
Christopher Paul Stelling - The Songs of Christopher Paul Stelling Vol. 1 & 2
A reminder that an acoustic guitar and a voice can still be interesting when the person writing the songs is immensely talented. His incredible fingerpicking playing style will lure you in so his words can invade your soul
Christopher Stelling - "The Ocean Took My Love Away"
Citay - Dream Get Together
Strangely combining folk with big '70s riffs without sounding like a colossal mess
Citay - "Mirror Kisses" (featuring Tune Yards)
Common Prayer - There Is A Mountain
A more adventurous, rustic record from Hopewell frontman Jason Russo
Elaine Lachica- I Think I Can See The Ocean
Her lovely voice shines brightly over a wide-ranging album that seems loungy at times before the ethereal "Rapture" lifts off into swelling post rock.
Extra Life - Made Flesh
Eerie, exhausting experimental rock from Brooklyn.
Extra Life - "Black Hoodie (Pre Album Version)"
Field Music - Measure
Some of the best pop rock harmonies caught on tape in decades combined with excellent xtc-influenced musicianship.
Ghastly City Sleep- Moondrifts
Capable of pulling off epic swells comparative of Mogwai and Radiohead
Download Full Album: Ghastly City Sleep - Moondrifts
Ghastly City Sleep - "Seven (33 Leagues)"
Hooray For Earth - MOMO
How many more times can I rave about this band without it being annoying?
Jesus Makes The Shotgun Sound- DAMNANT QUOD NON INTELLIGUNT
Part Radiohead part Sleepy Time Gorilla Museum with one hell of a band name Jesus Makes The Shotgun Sound has made something that's simultaneously beautiful and menacing
Jesus Makes a Shotgun Sound - "Do Not The Clothes Make the Man"
Judson Claiborne - Time And Temperature
Former Low Skies singer Chris Salveter has a unique emotive voice complimented perfectly by his band's complex brand of alt-country
Judson Claiborne - "Song For Dreaming"
The Loom - Teeth
Elements of Low's mellow slowcore are mixed with chamber pop orchestration to create a magnificent slowburner
Malachai - Ugly Side Of Love
DJ records that flawlessly mix '60s pop-psychedelia, Morricone, and trip-hop are rare enough as it is, but one with a charismatic, scratchy-voiced singer this good are impossible to find
Miles Kurosky - The Desert Of Shallow Effects
He wrote some of the best albums of the last decade with Beulah and then went on hiatus, only to come back with some of the biggest, catchiest tunes he's ever written.
Miles Kurosky - "An Apple For An Apple"
My Gold Mask - A Thousand Voices EP
A guitar and drums duo can still sound fresh when the drummer has a huge voice to thrown on top of tribal beats and sinister, reverb-heavy guitars.
Parenthetical Girls - Privilege, pt. I
Their first in a series of EPs to be released in 2010 is a wonderfully melodramatic affair for anyone whoever wanted to hear a modernized Gene Pitney.
Parenthetical Girls - "Evelyn McHale"
Royal Forest - EP
When they changed their name from Loxsly to Royal Forest, they also bulked up their guitars without losing the Grandaddy-like charm
Sad Red - Elder
Playful, jazzy space-rock that avoids being overly jammy
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Saharan Gazelle Boy - Airplanes Can't
Heartfelt, electronic bedroom recording from a member of the tragically underrated Capybara
Saharan Gazelle Boy - "Something I Wanna Know About You"
Download the full album for only $2 here.
The Silent League - But You've Always Been the Caretaker
Ambitious, beautifully orchestrated and refreshingly original, this should set the standard for chamber pop. Very few bands could ever pull this off this sort of record without just sounding like a terribly cheesy ELO cover band.
The Silent League - "Here's A Star"
Sonoi- Sonoi
A hazy trip that fits right alongside classic Yo La Tengo for slipping into a pleasant coma on rainy days.
Untied States - Instant Everything, Constant Nothing
Yup, those are guitars ripping your insides apart. Untied States has created an adventurous record loaded with angular Denison and Froberg-influenced guitar riffs but less abrasive vocals than that of Jesus Lizard or Hot Snakes.
Yukon Blonde - Yukon Blonde
A throwback to the melodic 70s guitar rock of Thin Lizzy, loaded with catchy harmonies. It's not groundbreaking and Kings of Leon's early records did it better, but it's almost impossible not to love a song like "Babies Don't Like Blue Anymore."
The Clientele and Field Music @ Bowery Ballroom // 3.23.10
Throughout the entirety of their performance at Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday, The Clientele reminded me of the late great Alex Chilton. It was the first time I ever made the rather obvious connection—more than likely due to Chilton's recent passing. I began to feel a desire for a Big Star cover imagining that singer Alasdair MacLean could definitely pull off those vocals. Sure enough, when the band returned for their encore, a dedication to Chilton with a cover of "Nightime" followed. I think Chilton would have been proud of just how beautifully they pulled off the incredible ballad which Paul Westerberg recently called his favorite Chilton tune.
Their Big Star cover wasn't the only highlight of the set. The Clientele's own shimmering 60s-sounding pop songs shined just as brightly mostly due to MacLean's lovely breathy vocals. The bouncy "I Wonder Who We Are" from last year's Bonfires on the Heath was a standout from a set that included special guests from Veviter and Ladybug Transistor.
As good as The Clientele were, they had to be because following Field Music (as they have all tour) was not an easy feat. From start to finish the fellow English quartet flawlessly performed one of the finest sets I've ever witnessed. A fan of their records but never quite blown away by them, Field Music is best experienced live, where the harmonies are bigger and the sound is a big less clean. Crafting proggy stop-on-a-dime rhythms, the members of Field Music traded off unbelievably executed harmonies while one of 2 Brewis brothers (David and Peter) commanded lead vocals. It was the type of musicianship that makes jaws drop, particularly the bass playing. Moments like "Give It, Lose it, Take It" and "All You'd Ever Need To Say" were at a level few bands will ever reach, Radiohead territory.
NYC Live Pick for 03.23.10 // Field Music
Field Music - "Measure"
Tue 3/23 • 7:30 PM • Bowery Ballroom • 18+ • $15
w/ The Clientele, Mad Scene
