A Poet's Lyre
In Gowan Ring
On a gentler, more introspective note, In Gowan Ring is in my opinion the finest of all the New Weird Americans, and some of the most beautiful music being made. Helmed by travelling bard B'Eirth, In Gowan Ring features a plethora of obscure forgotten ins
Danes In Peril
Hank
Hank are a great electronic-pop band from Toronto. Watch your ears on this one, they sound pretty lovely and poppy but they get noisy near the end.
Hands Pull You Through Purple
Wolves In The Throne Room
I'm not going to sleep easy knowing that the forest-dwelling evil Wolves in The Throne Room is lurking in the shadows just south of here in Olympia, WA.
A Tribute To Bruce
Mingering Mike
Mingering Mike - contender for the greatest outsider musician of all time. Shooby Taylor, Jandek, Yahowha.... Mingering is up there with the best of them. A couple of dudes were shopping in a Goodwill when they stumbled on a whole collection of extraordinary hand-drawn record covers including hand-drawn bar codes, liner notes, fake record labels, the whole nine yards. They turned out to be by this chap Mingering Mike. They finally tracked him down and obtained some records, his story and even some recordings. There's a website at http://www.mingeringmike.com/home.html - if features some record covers and information. Here's one of his recordings and it is both curiously odd and awesome as hell.
Super Zero
Linda Draper
We gave Linda Draper a glowing review last month. Here's why. She's a melancholic singer/songwriter with a golden voice from NYC on Planting Seed Records with echoes of Kath Bloom and occasional touches of Rennaisance Faire. produced by Kramer.
Dead Woman
Oly
Oly was going to come and play at Blim here in Vancouver, a wonderful spot that was unfortunately shut down. So I never did get the opportunity to see Oly but I did check out her MP3's and they are absolutely wonderfully wonderful electronic pop perfection from Miami/Chicago. Like Six Cents & Natalie meets Boards of Canada.
Untitled No. 6
Warbler
Warbler is a great cheercore band from SF. Here's a track from their Dogg Pony album. Kristy from Warbler plays in one of my personal favourites, Lil Pocketknife, they're a twee gangsta rap group with a keytar and a D'n'D fixation.
The End of the Real World
Escape Velocity
We reviewed this Virginia band last month and here's a song from that album. Fans of Of Montreal and Apples In Stereo will shit themselves when they hear this.
Under An Old Umbrella
Marissa Nadler
Does your heart swoon at the merest pluck of Joanna Newsom's harp? If you don't already know Marissa Nadler you should check her out. For fans of Joanna Newsom, Shirley Collins and In Gowan Ring. Medieval, witchy, dark, romantic and haunting.