Land Of Talk thrilled me with their live performance a while back, but first they started me out with their music, and their videos too. I’m happy about them. I love their energy and they do everything right – like writing songs and the way they portray their music in their videos they are something that most bands are not and that is creative and genuine. Here’s their new video for “Quarry Hymns” off of their new album Cloak and Cipher from those longtime lovers over at Saddle Creek.

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It was May 4th, 2010 that Athens, GA based Gift Horse released their debut album Mountain of Youth. Like the fool I am I didn’t take much notice of the release until a week or so ago when we got lucky with an opportunity to premiere a new video for their song “Missionaries”. It’s a gentle rocker that pulls on my memories of when I first heard Built To Spill, Boilermaker, and perhaps Nada Surf. It’s a good song, I can’t speak for the album though, as I haven’t heard it yet. For all you factoids they did record with Hank Sullivant (The Whigs, MGMT), which should keen you up. Enjoy!

Visit Gift Horse

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Written by Bear

Mt St Helens Vietnam Band – Hurrah - MP3

A year or so I thought these guys were all kids. Their parents came out to their first show and it looked like the crowd was made up of pimples. I’ve since found out that there is only one band member that is younger than my little sister, the rest are a bit older. Not that that has anything to do with their music, there was just so much hype, and while their live show was good – especially for a first performance, I didn’t see the coolness about it all. I also met the drummer one Seattle afternoon a few months ago, that’s when I was still living there and he had come acallin’ for an apt – I used to manage 3 apartment buildings on Capitol Hill. Anyways, he was a great kid and we found out who each other were. So if you read this…. hello. But for all the hype I thought their music just sounded like everyone elses, and while I still think this is true, it’s better than most of their counterparts. The arrangements are stellar, the vocals are gravely and fill up your head. I recommend it to all you cool kids so you can keep being cool.

This link doesn’t work to buy the album so search google cause I don’t want to.

After watching the new OMD video Dan Black’s video doesn’t make me want to puke in my mouth.

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Dan Sartain Interview
by Thirst n’ Howl

In any type of deep diving or self control course they teach you to breathe deep and slow prior to jumping into the shit. As I was about to interview one of my favorites, I figured I would do the same. It’s a good thing I did because the rest of the interview I was laughing my head off. Dan Sartain is a wild man. A goddamn feral animal of music and probably the most revered phone number stored in my phone.

IRR – Hey Dan Sartain, this is Monti Smith with IRR, how you doing?

Dan Sartain – Yeah, man, good, how ya been?

IRR – Not to freak you out or anything but I am actually super excited about doing this interview. (At this point I am obviously as happy and confused as a puppy with two peters)

DS – Cool man. Right on. I’m stoked to do it too man. Where you at?

IRR – I’m actually out here in California, just outside of San Diego.

Ds Cool man, I’m headed out there in July. You get that Swami show out there?
The radio show and whatnot?

IRR – Yeah, we dig Swami out here.

DS – I wish that stuff would have got more infectious. It seems a little exclusive to so cal but there are even people up in nor cal that dig it. I wish everybody had that mentality because I always thought that stuff was great, what he was doing.

IRR – So where are you at these days?

DS – I’m back in Alabama for the time being.

IRR – Alabama? Cool.

DS – Uhm, yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know why it’s cool to claim you’re from the south or something like that. I mean back in the day I would have to be like I don’t fuck pigs, I don’t hate black people, I’m from Alabama yes but I don’t own a horse or remotely know what to do with a cow. I used to have to do that with people. Now I see these guys, because I’ve been going over to England and they have a love affair with the blues. Like some mystic view, probably how I would view an old time band of gypsies or something like that. They probably view the south or blues people like that or something. I told some people that I’m from Alabama, and they say “do you live there now” and they’re from Michigan or something. And its like yeah I live there but it sucks. I’m not claiming it or something to have some connection to some history that I don’t even know about. I mean I like the Swami radio show more than I like the blues. I mean I guess there have been some posers from the south lately. I mean I have been going around with a fake California accent all my life. Saying dude all the time and fucking, trying to ride a skateboard. I guess I’ve been trying to imitate you guys my whole life and than I go to England and we get invited to play this blues oriented festival and there is this total English guy who gets up there and he is singing like a total negro spiritual. He was this white dude who looked like Rick Rubin and he’s English but he’s up there singing like “Jump down, turn around, pick a barrel of cotton” and I’m going “oh my god” this is like the most black faced thing I have ever seen. He is contorting his voice to sound like that. Its fake south.

IRR – So he’s dropping ya’lls with an English accent?

DS – Yeah he was while he was singing and it was honestly kind of insulting.

IRR – So you’ve been touring quite a bit in England lately?

DS – Yeah, its been going better for me over there.

Irr How do you like England?

DS – It’s good man. I’ve finally figured out what to eat over there. It took years but I think I’ve got it. You usually can’t eat English food but there is tons of other food. Its kind of like all of America is closer to Mexico, so I don’t really trust a Mexican place in England. But we’re closer to Mexico so we have better Mexican food. I mean, we are better at imitating Mexican food cause we’re closer but they are better at imitating Italy or India. Actually there’s too much Indian food over there. Its tough to tell which is actually better.

IRR – Now when you are playing in England do you have a backing band?

DS – Yeah I get different guys all the time. Some of them are English guys when I m over there. Last time I had some guys from Atlanta, which isn’t too far from here. But I think I may have tapped out all my resources here with musicians in Alabama. They go “this is too crazy, I can’t do it.” Which I don’t get it cuz I’m not getting drunk or into fights or anything like that. They might prefer that if I did cuz than they would think this guy is cool.

IRR – So, no one is getting knifed or shot?

DS – No, no, not yet. There’s potential there for it I guess. Hasn’t happened yet. Pretty tame actually. These guys are like this sucks. I’m sick of the hotel rooms.

IRR – Now back in the day you toured with the White Stripes. What was Jack white like?

DS – Uhm, that was weird man. I mean they knew that it was a privilege for us to be on that tour. And yeah, they were aware that anybody at my level or any level for that matter could use that tour. I mean Alice Cooper is great, and he could have played in front of that many people and he’s been doing it since the 60s. It was a privilege to go and do that, but they knew it. It was like “Ooh, wow, we know that we can be replaced at the drop of a hat if we don’t do every little thing right”. It was totally hospitable though.

IRR – Really? Because the few things I have seen of him, he looks pretty pompous.

DS – Uhm. Off the record, I hate that fucking guy. Off the record I fucking hate that guy. He was totally pompous.

IRR – Ok don’t worry, that won’t go on the record.

DS – Fuck it man, I don’t care. I don’t care. I got nothing to lose at this point. That guy was a fucking jerk and I am sick of pussyfooting around. I mean you assume that you are a nice cool guy but than people take it the wrong way. And people might really like him but they didn’t walk a mile in my shoes. And he was a fucking dick. That man is uncool.
I mean when he is cool, he’s cool as fuck. He writes good songs, he sings good, he’s got good taste in musical equipment so what the fuck man? I know lots of friends that do, and they aren’t assholes. Fuck it. I don’t know. People been asking those questions and I keep saying he’s hospitable. And its true, we got fed, we got everything we needed. But you know, I didn’t feel like I walked away with any friends because of it. No, that dudes a dick.

IRR – Hahahaha, you are my idol. On the other hand, how was it working with Jon Reiss?

DS – Great. Always. No, I mean there was a few times that I didn’t’ want to be there, but than I had to say that’s Jon. I mean the dude hasn’t been in a bad band. Ever. He’s never made a bad record. The dude has a flawless record since what, 1989? It’s going on a longtime. I really trust the guys’ opinion. Every time that I would realize that, I would think maybe that’s not where I would go with it but than I would think “I cant argue with him. It’s Jon.” But I didn’t feel like that working with Jack because I had to wonder, “Does he want this record to sound bad?” I don’t know man, I don’t know.

IRR – So what music are you listening to these days?

DS – Tons and tons of the Ramones. It’s been kind of a weird year and those guys just rode the happiness. It’s totally safe. For as dangerous as they must have seemed at the time, they are just really safe. I know that I can get any Ramones record and there will be 3 or 4 songs that I like a lot. I mean even the ones with the studio guitarist ripping in the background are always good. I mean even Brain Drain. They are just always good. A safe place I can go.

IRR – I think on your Daytrotter sessions you did a Rufus Thomas cover that I really dug.

DS – Yeah Rufus Thomas. I love that song “Tiger Man”. I know it as the funny Elvis version.

*At this point my phone recorder is dying after the standard amount of time we give each interview. I have not yet even spoken to Dan about the new album Dan Sartain Lives, Girlfriends, Cats, Chic-Fil-A and Cobras, which seem to fascinate him so he agrees to talk to me later.

Phone rings, I slow my breathing and pray he picks up again.

DS – Hey man.

IRR – Sorry about that, glad I got you back and I want to ask you some more about some of my favorite songs. I notice you have quite a penchant for Cobras. What’s the background on that?

DS – Well, its just that it was one of my earlier songs and one of my best songs. I really liked that song when I made it. When I wrote it I knew that it was good, so I’ve been trying to do it again. I don’t know. I thought I was done with em. And those problems that I had when I wrote it seem to be recurring.

IRR – Yeah it seems to be a recurring theme between cobras, leeches and hanger ons. Is that people hanging on you or memories hanging on you?

DS – Well, probably both. I heard Mike Tyson quoting somebody else. He was talking about his old trainer. This old white dude from the old days in upstate New York. He got Tyson, this kid from the city and he brought him into his house and kind of raised him up there in a place with a huge yard and things like that. And he was talking to him and just telling it to him straight. “Look there are people out there and they are animals disguised as human beings, and you aren’t intelligent enough to decipher the two” and he told Tyson that and Tyson still quotes it. Basically telling him that he wasn’t really that smart. And hopefully I can tell the two apart but sometimes you can’t. But I don’t know. I’m like that too. There are folks that I let down and they probably feel that way about me. I hate it, but that’s kind of life.

IRR – Another one of my favorites of yours is “ The world is gonna break your heart”

DS – I recently started doing that one live, because everybody was requesting it. But when I am doing these openings there may only be 10 or 20 of my folks there. That may be coincidentally a fan of the other band but if you are the opening act you don’t want to play a song that soft. You want to grab people’s attention with the harder songs. Plus if I play a softer song and the 10 or so people love it but the rest of the crowd is thinking “who is this pussy singing about his feelings” well than you know I’m not going to do it. But on this last tour I was playing by myself and I just started doing it and it got real quite. Like you could hear a pin drop, but not in a bad way, I mean everybody clapped at the end.

IRR – On that same album Join Dan Sartain you also had Besame Mucho and Flight of the Finch which both kind of had a Latino feel. Was that new for you and what caused you to go exploring that genre?

DS – Honestly, it probably had less to do with that culture and more to do with Italian Westerns. I mean I really like those movies and those guitar tones. So I guess I am trying to sound like Italian guys trying to sound like Latino guys. You know. Its just minor chords I guess.

IRR – So you’re headed out with Social distortion pretty soon. When does that start July?

DS – Yeah a little sooner than that. I have to head up to New York pretty soon. Yeah, I am kind of weary of it cuz I know that crowd. But I usually do pretty good in front of those crowds.

IRR – What’s that a rockabilly crowd?

DS – Yeah for lack of better words we can call them that. I don’t know what it is. People with old-fashioned hairdos with a purple stripe and Frankenstein shoes. Wear earplugs and have a haircut like Elvis. I mean its cool. I want to do it. It’s a privilege and I don’t want to appear ungrateful or anything.

IRR – Than in August you come to San Diego and will be headlining at the Casbah, correct?

DS – Yeah, it’s going to be my first headlining show there. Ive headlined at some other spots in San Diego but never at the Casbah. I’ve opened for friend’s bands there. IF its one of Jon’s bands or Garr’s bands or any of our friends out there. I usually end up opening but this time it’s my show, so hopefully one of my friends will open for me.

IRR – Cool, that will be great we’ll have to get some Mexican food also

DS – Yeah man, anything that ends in bertos.

IRR – Shoot , we got one of those on every corner around here.

DS – I know man, don’t remind me. Well how about Chic-Fil-A? You got those out there? We got one here and they have this new sandwich that everyone is fucking excited about. It’s actually pretty good. I’ll probably go get one when we ‘re done talking.

IRR – Sounds delicious, and in that same vein let’s talk about the new album Dan Sartain Lives. Did you go into the studio with something specific that you wanted to accomplish?

DS – Yeah, well, we went and did the whole thing with Liam this time. Ive worked with him before and he’s very meticulous. He basically breaks me down to the level to where I am like wow, I can’t play guitar at all, like I’m absolutely no good. Than he rebuilds it and I’m better than ever. I don’t know if I’m a better musician after but I know I’ve got a better ear. I’m hearing things that he hears and I go, you know what, you’re right. He’s a really good producer. I want to do it again. I’ve already got some things reordered with him and I want to do more. Hopefully it wont be long before the new record because I have some things written and plenty to write about and more to write about and we’ve got a good team.

IRR – I love the new record, I don’t have it as memorized yet as Join Dan Sartain seeing as I just got it but it’ll get there, it’s a solid record.

DS – Right on, it’ll take a few spins. But, man… I really want this one to be successful monetarily. I feel like I’ve already done more than I thought I was going to do…I mean I hate to sound cliché or like I’m saying I’m a member of a club that I don’t have identification for but I think I’ve done as much as I think I can do underground or in the club circuit and it has branched out into doing big shows with big acts and things like that. So, i don’t know, I really want this one to be successful and I don’t really see any shame in that. People used to accuse bands of selling out and things like that. And yeah maybe in the early 90s or the early 80s when you could save up some money and have something to show for yourself. I mean, yeah, I’m in a punk band and I put out punk records and I own this house. But nowadays, I don’t know, I mean some friends of mine have just sold a song to Wal-Mart. And I know that Wal-Marts the bad guy and they aren’t paying those people living wages and they outsource everything and the jobs they do provide in this country aren’t really livable wages, but I also know my friends are good guys. They aren’t bad. And they are in their 30s or almost and they are still couch surfing and they aren’t really members of society or they wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for their girlfriend. You know what I mean. I don’t see any shame in that. There is no such thing as selling out anymore. And what’s even more fucked up is that they used to get people to write songs and whatnot. But I mean the music industry is dead or almost dead. I mean back in the day they used to employ people to write songs and write jingles for Ajax, or Coco Krispies or Coca Cola or whatever. They would hire somebody who had an ear for tunes to write something and they don’t do that anymore. They take pre-existing songs and the people in charge of that have better ears than people on the radio. I mean you don’t hear the Buzzcocks on the radio, at least not here in Alabama. But you do hear it on the TV. I fucking turn on the television a few years ago and I hear the Misfits. On the television! It’s fucking crazy. It’s not entirely bad because it’s showing that whoever does the hiring for those companies isn’t doing such a bad job. But that’s not their job. They are supposed to be selling you car insurance not turning you onto good music. That should be the radios job. You know what I mean. I mean I heard this great band from a Tony Hawk video game. And I can’t deny it because it is great music on those commercials man. And I want to be in a commercial man!

IRR – Let’s do it. Lets get you rich!

DS – Well at least out my parents goddamn house! That would be nice. That would be really nice. But really, I got no complaints. I know why I’m here. I’m probably not a very good boyfriend and it doesn’t really make sense to pay money for a place that i’m not really going to be at for moths at a time. I mean I don’t want to ask my friends to take care of my cat and crank my car once a week cuz I come back and my battery is dead and my cats fucking skinny and has got fleas. Ya know. I’m waiting around for the right girl to move in.

IRR – There you go, lets start the Win A Date With Dan Sartain contest

DS – Yeah, man. A holiday in Cambodia. Those guys in England that put out my record. Some of the stuff we don’t agree with but ultimately I’ve decided I really like those guys. Sometimes they’ll do something that irks me or leaves me scratching my head but I like them But one time I showed up at the club and there was this god-awful picture of me that I never approved. Like with my shirt off or something and under it, it says “ win a trip to Alabama” I was like “Why? Man why? I mean Alabama is not a vacation destination at all. I mean anything that we have there, there is somewhere better that has it better. I mean Memphis is a town that actually has culture and things going for it and it’s still a pretty lousy vacation. So why would you want to come to Alabama? And than I found out it wasn’t even a contest. It was to get on a mailing list. But I mean if they want someone to win and come to my house cool but they will be thinking “ why the fuck am I here? I just flew 17 hours or something and now I’m in Alabama. What am I going to do” I guess they can hang with my parents, we got some Neil young records or we can go get that Chic-Fil-A sandwich I was talking about. I mean now I can look at it as funny but at the time I was like “What the Fuck” Plus I hate mailers. Those things are annoying.

IRR – Yup the mail never stops.

DS – Not for bad bands it doesn’t. Those things just keep coming, Myself included man. I’m not above anybody. I’m sure some people are sick of hearing about me. Maybe they don’t even want to know about this third record.

IRR – No man, I think the world is going to recognize.

DS – I hope so man, and it kind of felt like it this last time in England. I mean there were kids kind of dressed like me and they handed me this song and they said “we wrote you a song” and they give it to me and I’m like wow, this sounds like one of my songs. A lot of bands get bummed by that thinking that their sound is getting ripped off but I know what that means. It means if they rip you off they like you. And I would like to feel like I’ve accomplished something. I mean I’m almost 30 and I’d like to have something by this time. I mean I feel like I’ve accomplished some things definitely but its just that every job I’ve had I get fired at. I’m just not very good at it. Music is the only job I’ve ever got a promotion at. So i’m going to stick with that and hopefully it goes somewhere. And if it did, I wouldn’t be a dick.

IRR – Well, shoot, I hope it does go big. I hope you get all the money and you, your cat, your girlfriend and your car live happily ever after.

DS – That sounds great man. That’s what I’m trying for.

IRR –Alright man, this has been my favorite interview and you are one of my all time favorites out there so I’m looking forward to seeing you in San Diego. I just want to warn you that 2 or 3 of my friends love your music so much they will probably be so excited to see you they may go gay for you.

DS – Awesome, I’m ready for the Gay. See you in San Diego. Later man.

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Written by Bear

Cover bands make my mouth taste of bile. Straight up nasty. The only credit I give bands for covering a song is when they not only make it their own, but also make it just as good, or even better than the original song, and perhaps when they are an all girl ACDC covers band called Hells Bells. In no way am I saying Nada Surf is a cover band, but they’ve become one with their new covers album If I Had A Hi-Fi, at least for now here is a covers album worth your time. The songs are all so good and catchy that I’ve listened to it over and over – that’s one of the bonuses of being part of  a music site, when you get a great album you get to spend a lot of time with it. Not every song is as good as the original but the one’s that are not, come real close. They even put some sunshine and energy into Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence”, a song up until Nada Surf’s reworking has managed to depress me every time I heard it. But that’s just what Nada Surf does, they make guilt free uplifting indie rock. How many bands accomplish this without being totally lame?

I like lyrics sung in languages other than English, who listens to lyrics anyway? Two linguist gems for Nada Surf are the cover of Coral Clemente’s “Bye Bye Beaute”, I love how it defines what whimsical pop might be if there were such a thing, while Mecromina’s “Evolucion” brings the tempo down a notch, while upping the beauty with strings. And in case you are wondering, my favorite song on the album is Kate Bush’s “Love and Anger”. Sweet tears.

Enough jibberish, if you want great, guilt-free, indie rock then here it is.

Visit Nada Surf

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Great news if you’re poor and love Casiokids. One winner gets their new album on CD, as well as beautiful Vinyl, and to top it all off a Casiokids Poster. So who wants to win?

To enter send an email to info @ indierockreviews.com with (Casiokids Contest) as the subject and you will automatically be entered. We will notify the winner by email. Contest ends June 18th.

Have you even heard Casiokids? If not have a listen below. And if you are natural born loser go and buy the album here.

Visit Casiokids

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Don’t let their name lull you back into winter, for Best New Music is indeed what Wintersleep is all about. I got to see them perform their new songs at The High Dive in support of mattpondPA just a few majestic nights ago in Seattle. The band is touring on their newly released record, New Inheritors. On the stage the band sounds best when they let the rock out, while on their record they really impress with their mellow kick back songs, but whatever floats your boat. Either way they should be on your radar!

*With The Hold Steady
October 5th    The Trocadero                  Philadelphia, PA
October 7th    The Beacon Theatre        New York, NY

Visit Wintersleep

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Written by Bear

Music is all about how it makes you feel. I don’t like to feel like a thug, so I don’t listen to gangsta rap. I usually go for feeling sexy, that’s why the new Stars album is an album you should know. The Five Ghosts, well, it’s elegant, passionate, sexy, emotional, upbeat, and something that I’ve been missing in music lately, and that’s pure and simple happiness. I feel this is one of the best albums to be released by the band throughout their illustrious career. Stand out tracks on the album include “We Don’t Want Your Body”, “How Much More”, “Wasted Daylight”, and “Fixed”. Stars seem must never have head the term filler, the much dreaded word that defines careers of most bands. The album is brilliant the whole way through, the recording is impeccable.

‘We have never written an album with this much cohesion and unity’ says vocalist Amy Millan ,  ’It is the first time we’ve had the luxury of being together in a huge room writing songs off the floor.’

The Five Ghosts Tracklisting:
1) Dead Hearts
2) Wasted Daylight
3) I Died So I Could Haunt You
4) Fixed
5) We Don’t Want Your Body
6) He Dreams He’s Awake
7) Never Been Good With Change
The Passenger
9) The Last Song Ever Written
10) How Much More 11) Winter Bones

Purchase The Five Ghosts
Visit Stars