Author Archives: Ryan

Reptar’s “Sebastian”

Posted on February 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

Yeah, we’ve been waiting for this one. After teasing us with EP Oblangle Fizz Y’all  the kooked up boys from Reptar have dropped their first hint from up-coming full debut, Body Faucet. Besides evoking some particularly strange bodily imagery, the album and opening track “Sebastian” seems to have some promise. Lots of it.

Jammed with tribal percussion, steel drum samples and one surf-happy guitar, “Sebastian” is a perfect encapsulation of Reptar: crazed and care-free to the point of bliss. With lead singer Graham Ulicny doing his best Ezra Koenig impersonation– “Mixing my emotions, you just don’t care!” he wails–Reptar takes off on choral hollers and sets the bar high for the rest of its 11 tracks.

Reptar’s Body Faucet comes out in May 1 on Vagrant Records.

Reptar- Sebastian (sign up for their mailing list to download)

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Lana Del Rey at Amoeba SF 2/9/12

Posted on February 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

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Photo: Brian Valdizno

After a month of being blasted in the media, lampooned on Saturday Night Live and roasted on every social networking outlet available, Lana Del Rey made her San Francisco debut at Amoeba Records on Thursday. With pending tour dates cancelled because of the negative hoopla, Del Rey’s show at the end of Haight Street was likely one of her only public appearances for the year, corroborated by the bulging crowd that filled the record store’s aisles all the way to the back reaches of the classical section. Yes, even those searching for Bach vinyls needed their Del Rey fix.

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Doe Paoro is a “Little Dreamer”

Posted on February 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

A deer, a female deer. (Photo courtesy of rcrdlbl.com)

If James Blake had a shy little sister, I’d imagine her to be something like Doe Paoro. A budding songstress with a penchant for emotive reverb and echoing daggers, Paoro has a voice that seems melted onto recordings. Add in light dubstep a la Monsieur Blake and place her over some ivories, and you’ve created an artist with a sound you’ll be unable to scrape from your mind for days.

While her debut LP, Slow To Love, drops in a few weeks (ironically on Valentine’s Day), the most stunning work from Paoro has been her cover of Future Island’s ”Little Dreamer.” Replacing the charming croons of Samuel Herring, the songstress brings a bit of uncertainty and heartache to the track. With a sonar beat that drops in and out with an added doppler effect, Paoro wails and wails, but to no avail. Cupid isn’t saving her any time soon.

Doe Paoro- Little Dreamer (Future Islands Cover) (download)

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Posted in Covers, New Artists, New Releases

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Andrew Bird’s “Eyeoneye”

Posted on January 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Birdman. (Photo courtesy of brokenmic.com)

Talented and prolific, Andrew Bird is good for about a record every two years. But after 2011 passed, two years after the release of the widely successful Noble Beast, we were left scratching our heads after the dapper violin virtuoso failed to deliver.

Signed to new label Mom+Pop, Bird didn’t let disappointment linger long, with new album Break It Yourself set to be released in early March. The first sample of Bird’s newest album, “Eyeoneye,” is titled in the same traditional homonym-stylings that fans have been accustomed to in  a career spanning 15 years and six full albums. The latest song, yet to be polished, reads like 50s rock, steadied by the clockwork strumming of an old time guitar, as Bird is joined by backup singers on the refrain “Bringing your heart, but break it yourself.” More uptempo than what we’ve been accustomed to, the song also has elements of Bird’s old tricks. Whistling is aplenty, while the talented songwriter turns to his favorite wordplay to stretch out the song title, “Eyeoneye,” into a deliciously fun chorus.

Andrew Birds’ Break It Yourself will be released on March 6.

Andrew Bird- Eyeoneye (download)

 

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Elephant & Castle teams up with tUnE-yArDs for “En Memoria”

Posted on January 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

The namesake. (Photo courtesy of http://thirdculturerecords.com/)

As a nomad, David Vincent Reep is accustomed to trying new things. It comes with the lifestyle. With travel tickets that blaze a trail across the United States and Europe, Reep is a wanderer, whose fleeting whims and curiosities can change into passions just as easily as he changes his home. Take music, for example. Inspired by the likes of DJ Shadow and plugged into the local rave scene while in South Bank, London, Reep picked up his first synth, giving birth to a musical science project.

Elephant & Castle, named for the famous London intersection, is the culmination of a few years of experimentation, which has wandered with Reet to his new Bay Area digs. Started on a whim, E&C has been refined at sound engineering school. It’s been polished at the legendary Studio 880 in East Oakland and then in Los Angeles at Low End Theory, the finishing school of Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing. And now it’s ready with Reet’s debut LP, Transitions.

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