2010FM - August Edition Three

No let up in great new music coming our way, here's the third and final 2010FM edition for August, that in our increasingly 'trade mark style' we will now gallop through. 

We are advised that featured track ‘Winter Weeds’ "contains all the ingredients that make Liam Singer’s music so utterly beautiful and unique. With its striking minimalism and melancholic romanticism, the track swoons and sways. Singer’s piano and vocal interweave with the heavenly backing vocals of Boxharp’s Wendy Allen, all topped off with Scott Solter’s masterful production".

The track is a taster of Liam Singers forthcoming album, Dislocatia. "Full of fantastical song-stories, the album carries the listener skyward like a clockwork cloud. In Liam Singer's music, the prosaic and the magical are two sides of the same dusty coin. Dislocatia is out through Hidden Shoal on October 5th". This is a gorgeous gentle start to this 2010FM edition, we look forward to hearing more from this talented individual.

Featured Track: Winter Weeds
Website: Hidden Shoals.
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Elephant and Castle is a kaleidoscope of sound; twisting and grooving to create music all it’s own.  Based out of Oakland, California, it is the project of musician/sound engineer David Reep.  Starting with a love of old vinyl and the endless digging through old thrift stores, Elephant and Castle was formed with the idea of making modern music out of mostly vintage material.  Similar to new bands such as Flying Lotus, The Samps, Free the Robots and drawing from the legends such as Madlib, Juan Atkins, and Derrick May, Elephant and Castle attempts to bridge the gap between cheese and soul.

During time spent living overseas as a youth in London, England, David absorbed the early 90′s electronic scene as well as the explosion of Britpop.  There he became obsessed with learning the guitar, eventually leading to him picking up bass, keys and drums.  Upon returning to Houston, Texas for high school he was primed for the booming rave scene, seeing many of his heros spin vinyl in forgotten warehouses.  After moving to California for college, he started the record label Third Culture Records and continues to dedicate his time and effort to support new artists.

Elephant and Castle’s debut release, Analogue EP will be available August 31st via Third Culture Records.

Featured Track: The Look.
Website: Third Culture Records.
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I am massivly impressed by Ed Vallance, one of this month or even years great surprises for Beehive Candy. His promo is copied below, it could claim he can fly solo to the moon and back in an afternoon and I would probably still have printed it, as it happens it has some useful info.

"Ed Vallance and KCRW.org debut the lush, dreamy, and gorgeous new video for “Silent Sun” directed by Autumn Hruby and featuring actress Rhona Mitra. In addition, Ed is using the occasion to release another free single, “Famous Last Words” the closing track from his newly released Summer Fire EP.  Stereo Subversion wrote of “Famous Last Words”: “It’s undeniably pleasing to the ear… making this an extremely successful wrap-up to a brilliantly crafted album.”

With one ear solidly rooted in classic British songwriting styles from Ray Davies and the Kinks to Supergrass, and the other schooled in the sonic approach of bands like Spiritualized and Galaxy 500, Vallance has honed his craft into a focused blend of pointed pop melodies and the ethereal qualities of his predecessors above.

The Summer Fire EP (Hello My Name Is Records) is a concise snapshot of the wide array of talents Vallance possesses in his arsenal. Opening with the sweeping vocals and pulsing drive of “Black and White Light” The Summer Fire EP seamlessly shifts between genre’s, touching upon elements of Bowie, Destroyer, and Keane yet retains Vallance’s core sound, unique voice, and powerful songwriting.  While merely our first taste of what the London-born, now Brooklyn-based, singer has to offer, The Summer Fire EP satisfies in its own right and sets an appetizing looking table for Vallance’s upcoming full length, being recorded now, and due this Fall".

Featured Track: Famous Last Words.
Website: Official.
Video: KCRW Blog.
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Fielded is the solo project of Lindsay Powell, vocalist of Ga’an and one half of sister songstresses Festival. By mainly using vocals and minimal instrumentation, Powell explores the many moods that can be created through experimentation with voice as leader rather than follower of the amplified instrument. She straddles dark and light, her lyrics reaching into depths; her voice reaching toward the sky. Her set hovers, fluid and with feeling - a church chorus, cacophonous chants, a post-apocalyptic pop paradise but always of the throat and of the heart.

Fielded is set to release vinyl-only Terrageist September 7th via Catholic Tapes. She is currently on the road touring with Psychic Steel (tour dates below).

8/26 Northampton @ Media Mansion (George's House)
8/27 Buffalo, NY @ TBA with Shapes of States
8/28 Cleveland, OH @ The Front Room Gallery (3615 Superior Avenue) with Mark McGuire & Pimlo
8/29 Columbus @ SKYLAB
8/30 Louisville
8/31 Lexington
9/1   St. Louis
9/2   Columbia
9/3   Iowa City @ White Lightning Warehouse

Featured Track: Another Time.
Website: MySpace.
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Forged during a colorful year spent working at Hollywood Sound Studios in 2008, LexiconDon is the synthpop union of Alex Koons and Fabian Ordorica. Taking inspiration from their daily lives enjoying the struggles of getting by in Los Angeles, the songs are equal parts soulful heartbreak and late-night party jam. Their debut release, Pink and Blue, is a unique blend of singable melodies and heartfelt lyrics over a vibrant storm of funk-laden pop. Capturing the youthful American spirit with summer serenades and hard hitting electronic production, their songs are a refreshing foil to the increasingly hazy lo-fi indie rock dominating the scene. Like a grown up twist on a John Hughes soundtrack, themes of innocence and young love flirt with darker moods, giving LexiconDon's music a nostalgic take on the simpler days of youth and the freedom of life on your own in the city. For LexiconDon and frontman Koons, moments of late night contemplation are matched by sing along anthems, adding up to something richer than your average dancepop.

2009 saw the addition of Sam Gabbard (guitar) and Matteo Eyia (drums), creating a show that is built on the energy of live instrumentation and the charisma of Koons and the band interacting with an eager crowd. As songs came together for their album, the band hit the road, coming into their own. Sharing a stage with acts like Little Boots, Neon Indian, Class Actress, Toro y Moi, and MADRAD, they've proven they can do more than hold their own with the rising stars of indie pop. Shows are high energy dance parties that bring something special that can only come from a band that calls Los Angeles its home.

LexiconDon has already seen a wave of buzz surrounding their early demos within the blog community. Their song "Heart Attack", one of the singles from Binary's roster compilation album, gained enough traction to make LexiconDon one of the five most blogged about artists on The Hype Machine in October 2009. After opening for Little Boots at her sold out NME showcase at Spaceland, LexiconDon was featured on on KCRW, as well as getting picked up by various college radio stations. In Austin, at The Hype Machine's massive SXSW showcase, the band's performance unleashed a flurry of energy and excitement from an unsuspecting packed house. Their full length debut, Pink and Blue, is set for release on dubFrequency this August. 

Featured Track: December Sunset.
Website: Facebook.
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Panico formed in 1994 in Santiago, Chile and went on to release four albums in South America before moving to Paris in 2001 where they released ‘Telepathic Sonora’ through Sony.  After parting company with Sony they started working with Tigersushi, releasing ‘Subliminal Kill’ in 2005 to critical acclaim.  Shortly after, Panico befriended Franz Ferdinand, the latter hailing Panico as their ‘favourite band’. UK and wider European press took note, impressed by their live set on tours with Franz. Returning to play in South America, the band were heralded as cult heroes and effortlessly sold out 3,000 capacity venues in their native Chile before returning to Paris in 2008 to start work on forthcoming album ‘Kick’.  Recorded at Franz Ferdinand’s studio with Paul Savage mixing and Gareth Jones producing, ‘Kick’ is Panico’s most compelling album to date and will be released worldwide (bar France and Benelux) on Chemikal Underground on 11th October 2010. The band have also recently completed a documentary film with James Schneider as they visit ‘ghost towns’ in the Northern Deserts of Chile – due for release in 2011.

'Kick' is rough, fuelled with adrenaline and psychedelia. It's also a return to Panico's roots: 90’s indie rock and shoegaze, a touch of Gang of Four’s angular edge mixed with The Horrors and a tropical twist.  Voodoo themed vocals boiling over hot garage guitars and relentless beats.

Featured Track: Reverberation Mambo (Joakim mix).
Website: MySpace. Official.
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Delivering a yowling array of raw blues tunes mashed with heavy rock riffs and raucous beats, the livewire Sydney two-piece, The Fumes, are touring the US throughout the months of August and September to bring you their brandishing of uncaged rock n’ roll.  Enigmatic vocalist and gifted guitarist Stephen Merry and battering percussionist Joel Battersby make up the stripped yet full sound and gutteral bravado exhibited in The Fumes.

No strangers to the road and high-energy live shows, The Fumes return to the US after tours as exclusive support for Queens of The Stone Age and having scrabbled around Australia on separate outings with Clutch and Calexico. Sure to leave first time listeners and spectators with their mouths agape, The Fumes will be playing shows all throughout California and New York, with stops off in Minnesota. Be sure to check them out. Tour dates below.

The Fumes’ highly anticipated debut album Guns Of Gold will be released later this year and from what I’ve heard so far it takes listeners on a journey of intense and melodic moods that interweaves between blues roots rock and edgy swagger punk. Exploding onto the US scene, Guns of Gold will be their first full-length release in the States. The debut single “Automobile” is an ambush of pulsing rock stomp and has just been released across North America via MB3 Records/EMI (Aug 24th).

08/27 – New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall
09/01 – Brooklyn, NY – Death By Audio
09/02 – Brooklyn, NY – The Rock Shop
09/03 – Saint Cloud, MN – White Horse
09/04 – Minneapolis, MN – Palmer’s Bar      

Featured Track: Automobile.
Website: MySpace.
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As premiered on Stereogum earlier this month, Roman Ruins, solo project of Beach House and Papercuts' touring drummer concocted a woozy remix of Beach House's "Lover of Mine". The remix comes in promotion of his newest PASTOR/AL 7" available now via Gold Robot Records.

Roman Ruins is Graham Hill's solo project exploring the mystical link between song and architecture. Like a building, the music is an assembly of components. The pieces are built around a rhythmic skeleton that informs the skin and flesh sounds that surround it. When not crafting songs, Graham plays drums for Beach House and Papercut.

I think Beach House are another great band of recent years, and the remix here does them some justice, clearly Roman Ruins adds another dimention to them and is more than worthy of a listen in his own right - two great songs.

Featured Tracks: Beach House - Lover Of Mine. 
                              Roman Ruins - The Comedown.
Website: MySpace. Gold Robot records.
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‘The First Cause’ is the second single taken from Heresy and Rite, the debut album by Danish dream-rock quartet Salli Lunn.

The track is a true epic in scope and execution, and a superb demonstration of Salli Lunn’s mastery of light and shade. Across its eight-minute runtime, it packs a sonic and emotional punch, layering guitars into surging waves, upon which Lasse Skjold Bertelsen’s vocals ride with aplomb.

‘The First Cause’ proves a devastating follow-up to acclaimed first single ‘Parachutes Forever’ – and a fittingly awesome finale to Heresy and Rite. Heresy and Rite is out now and is our second helping through Hidden Shoal Recordings this time around.

What others have said: "... ‘The First Cause’ floats between a dream-pop musing and an indie ballad - and then turns into a frenetic juggernaut that completely defies contemporary taxonomy." – No Ripcord

"a debut that is alive with creative individuality. Chiming guitars over the ever shifting, twisting, pulsing, and impressive drumming… help create a maze of possible directions which prove impossible to second guess." – BlogCritics

“studio jamming of near stroboscopic intensities… a record that has both the noticeable hallmarks of their influences and still manages to sound an entirely original work… Anyone wanting to hear a purposeful and imaginative rock album will find very little fault with Heresy And Rite.” – Delusions of Adequacy 

Featured Track: The First Cause.
Website: Hidden Shoal Store.
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Finally this time around two more items that are well worth mentioning and for the first one I quote because that does the job just fine.

Recently, Robert Randolph and the Family Band took some time to sit with acclaimed producer Will Abramson of Yours Truly at Broken Radio Studios in San Francisco. What resulted was this:



... an impassioned, acoustic, interpretation of "Traveling Shoes," itself an interpretation of a classic blues field recording from nearly a century ago. After the performance, Randolph sat to discuss "getting back to the bones of American roots music" with legendary producer T Bone Burnett and what it was like recording his widely-praised record 'We Walk This Road' with folks such as Robbie Robertson, Leon Russell, Jay Bellerose, Doyle Bramhall Jr, Jim Keltner and even Elton John, and Dylan.
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2010 marks the 60th Anniversary of Elektra Records, one of the most revered labels in the history of modern music.  In celebration, the company has launched Elektra60.com, an innovative, interactive digital experience that tells the stories of the legendary artists, the music, and the culture that have defined the label over the past six decades. 

Conceived and curated by Elektra founder Jac Holzman, who currently serves as a Senior Advisor to Warner Music Group Chairman and CEO, Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Elektra60.com draws on the label’s rich archives to "create a unique, ever-evolving experience designed to reward deep and repeated exploration".

In other words it's worth taking a look at (and we think it is) the timeline is interesting and a reminder of just how many significant artists found their way to the mainstream through the label which at last has been given another chance to shine, as in June 2009, it was announced that Elektra was being relaunched after a five-year hiatus.

Visit Elektra60 HERE.