Useless Clatter...David Bowie Announces New Album + Single

With its many perks and glories, fame can be a deceptive trap.  Old age can squander any star athlete's sports career, but this is not the case with music.  Call it a blessing, but also call it a curse.

The Rolling Stones can without a doubt be considered one of the greatest bands to ever make music, but I am probably not the only one that finds issue with a man my grandpa's age jumping around on stage swinging his hips while wearing skinny jeans.  The music is not the issue; its just that image.  

With the release of Reality in 2003, David Bowie entered himself into an elite category of musical artists, alongside the Rolling Stones, whose career spanned five decades.  Its is a remarkable feat for an artist to remain relevant through 50 years of music, withstanding the test of time amidst an ever-changing musical landscape.  After a number of rather quiet years went by without any talks of a new single or album, many thought that Bowie's day was done; he himself throwing in the towel while Mick Jagger and co. continued to push on, for better or for worse.

Audiovisuals...In Guards We Trust [album promo]

Quite easily my favorite band that doesn't yet have a full-length album, New York trio Guards have been circulating on my iPod ever since I stumbled upon their fabulous Guards EP January 18, 2011.   But that was two years ago.  Being that it is now January 2013, I have beaten that EP to death, memorized just about every verse and rhyme, yet it never gets old.

Thankfully, come February 5th, the wait will finally end as Guards has announced the coming of their debut album In Guards We Trust for that Tuesday.  In anticipation of the new LP, the band released a quick album teaser reminding us all to save the date.  a quick teaser little promo video featuring a brand new track called "Nightmare" that we can assume will pop-up somewhere on the upcoming album.  The song features a darker sound, blending their oft familiar brand of rock pop with a hint of psychedelia.  An off-shoot of what we have heard thus far with the twp previously released IGWT singles, but versatility proves fare when it comes to music.

And what goes better with the sounds of smoky psychedelia than a straining montage of fast cars, race tracks at night, and motorboats gliding across across the sea with people wearing veils over their faces? Its hard to describe as it is one of those "you have to see it" things, but trust me it fits like a glove.

With barely more than a few songs to their name, Guards are still in limbo, apart of that endless category of "emerging indie-bands hailing from New York" until February 5th, but this video surely deals them them an elusive hand.  Sure every band wants that Gwendolyn Brooks-we-cool-type mantra attached to them, but few actually do it. All in all, Guards has got it, and come February 5th, I see no signs of that changing.

                       

Hear This...Stream Demos/First Cuts by Blackfeet Braves

Fresh off the latest post dealing with the staggering differences between a band's initial rough first cuts and the remastered album songs, we here at TUNEclatter (hah, there's only one person here) dug up a goldmine of rough cuts from a relatively unknown outfit located deep in the valleys of southern California by the name of Blackfeet Braves. 

Who Are They?

As far as any background info goes on these guys, I know just about as much as you all do.  This could be one guy (although the plural usage of 'feet' and 'braves' make me think otherwise) or it could be an eighteen person hippie-colony of music makers, something along the lines of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.  Who knows. They give no details, past or present, about who they are.  However, I see that they do have a variety of shows coming up in California so I'm pretty sure they are real.  But their name bearing resemblance to a real group of Native American tribes of northern America could lead to another theory.  For all I know, this could really be a pack of wild Indians sitting in a tee-pee making psychedelic riff-raff as they smoke piece pipes.  Just sayin'...

Useless Clatter...First Cuts/Demos- Tennis, Cults, The Brian Jonestown Massacre

      Like a writer's rough draft, a song goes through countless edits and re-edits as demos before the finished product finds itself on an album.  Sometimes big changes are made once a band is settled into the recording studio and begin to play. The Rolling Stones originally wanted "Start Me Up" to have a more reggae feel to it, until four years in the recording studio turned it into the song we know and love today.  In most cases though, it's just a tweak or two that comes by way of the producer or sound engineer meant to "clean up" a song and give it a crisp finish.  These demo tracks, or first cuts as they are sometimes called, often get tossed out and forgotten once the band discovers the perfect sound, records it and calls it a day.  

      In some cases, bands save their demos and first cuts to be released as promotional material for a forthcoming album.  The songs are let free into the realms of the internet and find their way onto various music blogs, tabloids and websites taken as evidence for what to expect next from the band.  We sit and listen to these first cuts as the band heads back to the studio to work the final nooks and crannies for another, better release.

[Personally I enjoy the Tennis demo versions better than the actual album tracks]

TENNIS
demo/first Cut                                                                          released on CAPE DORY  [2011]

demo/first Cut                                                                           released on CAPE DORY  [2011]

                                

CULTS
demo/first Cut                                                                         released on CULTS  [2011]

                               

THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
released on TAKE IT FROM THE MAN  [1996]                         re-released on STRUNG OUT IN HEAVEN  [1998]
                               

Free Music Fridays...#3

+I've made a bit of a change to these Free Music Fridays worth pointing out: The link next to DWNLD is no longer a download link, (assuming you could all decode DWNLD to mean "download").  Instead, I embedded the download link into the word DWNLD, so clicking on the word will lead you to the link to grab your free song.  Now the URL to the right of that is a link to the artist's website/band page if anyone has the immediate desire to learn more about the band.

1. "Chasing My Mind" Holograms
With a bit of revved up 90s arcade-like techno thrown into the mix, this song steers back to the nostalgic days of Nintendo when punk rock was fast, messy and unbearably raw.

DWNLD | http://capturedtracks.com/artists/holograms/

2. "Flesh Dance" Gothic Tropic
Vibrant little piece of psych-pop with perfect impromptu-sounding guitars and smooth bass line.  The words take a bit a backseat here and allow everything to mesh together perfectly- not a single piece commanding the other.
DWNLD | http://gothictropic.bandcamp.com/

3. "If You Want It" TV Girl
Fresh and delightfully cheery song about the harmonizing "upsides" of one-night stands.  Sleigh bells always make things more pleasant.  

DWNLD | http://tvgirl.bandcamp.com/

4. "Henrietta" Yeasayer
A vibrant, swirling mix of fanning strings, beats and bops with a T.Pain auto-tune tossed in at the end to break it down.  This time, it actually sounds good.

DWNLD | http://www.myspace.com/yeasayer

Hear This...Stream Gothic Tropic's Awesome Problems EP

      
"They have the summer songs that blow 'Pumped Up Kicks' out of the California Pacific..." [Straight from their own bio page]  I'm not totally sure who or what designates a song to be a summer song, though it has always been the whistling in 'Pumped Up Kicks' that did it for me. 

      But this Cali trio goes way beyond whistling. Sure they don’t stand a chance overtaking Foster The People with the catchiest song ever written because frankly no one does, not even Lady Gaga. 

      Gothic Tropic took the handbook on “How to Make a Catchy Song Remain No. 1 on iTunes All Summer” and threw it out the window.  They take the atypical and often overused jangly guitar sound and add some zing to it. In their songs “Monkey Bars” and “Kill Lloyd Opus,” they throw in the occasional bongos, maracas, hand claps and distorted guitar riffs wherever they deem necessary. It’s an almost organic approach to music where a little Do-It-Yourself and impromptu touch ups are welcomed and encouraged. The end result actually sounds quite organized. Whether or not they blow out “Pumped Up Kicks” is debatable but no doubt, if I had the suitable conditions I would certainly add Gothic Tropic to my “Late Night Summer Barbecue on the Beach” playlist.

+ Gothic Tropic is offering a free download of the last song on the EP "Flesh Dance."  It will be added as a part of Free Music Fridays which I will post tomorrow.  [LINK]

Useless Clatter...2012 Album Releases [June]

Here's a general list of the albums I am most excited to hear when they release in June.  Its a good mix of new bands with debuts (Friends, solo Glen Hansard) as well as some veteran rockers breaking a sleepy hiatus (Smashing Pumpkins, Neil Young + Crazy Horse).  I even threw DMX up on the list too for some good fun, despite the fact that his music is still angry as hell.  It's all fun and anyways even without DMX,  June looks to be a terrific month for music.

June 5
Crocodiles – Endless Flowers

Friends – Manifest!