Photographer:  Thirst’n Howl III
Venue: Troubadour
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Date: 3/3/10

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Written by T.Paine
Score: 9.5/10

In the time that its been since Daughters released “Hell Songs”, I have become accustomed to Sonic Youth’s feedback drenched droning, which makes the newest Daughters self-titled album even more enriching. Nicholas Sadler (who has since left the band and is playing in the lame indie band Fang Island) really knows how to get his guitar to tremble violently and lurch forward in the most disgustingly awesome way possible. I wouldnt call it a solo, but the musical bridge in “The First Supper” is something straight out of Steve Albini’s playbook. It pulses and pummels as if KMFDM partied with the Meat Puppets and “Family Man” era Henry Rollins took LSD and married them over a human sacrifice. For the second album in a row, vocalist Alexis Marshall croons and slowly drawls over the face pummeling noise attack, as compared to the throat shredding screams of his contemporaries and his own work for this band earlier in their career. He sounds like Tom Waits if he took hallucinogens instead of spent all of his time at the bar.

To call this grind music would be a total lie, and to call it noise rock would be to sell it short. Its some sort of hybrid that makes you feel like you got punched in the stomach. Even (comparatively) slower tracks like “The Hit” and “The Dead Singer” twist higher and higher until they collapse into broken down noise freakouts that I cant really wrap my mind around yet. “The Theatre Goer” riffs like a Black Sabbath track, but the guitar effects make it sound like its trapped in a tornado, which leads perfectly into the absolutely ridiculous opening guitar part to “Our Queens”. Pardon my lack of journalistic integrity here: holy shit. Daughters have once again created a noise rock masterpiece. This is a must hear.

-Visit Daughters
-Visit Hydrahead Records

Color Of Clouds – Brother

“Brother” is a song you might hear in that moment of stillness right before you die, or in that short period of time when you feel the ache your bones take on when you feel heart break coming on. I might be leading you astray because it’s not macabre in any sense of the word, it’s just that painfully breathtaking. Who would have thought that Brooklyn would become the make-up and lipstick of a burgeoning New York music scene? But it’s true. I have a feeling Color Of Clouds will have us all swooning and crooning their tunes in no time. This 3 piece has a debut album by the name of Satellite of Love coming out on April 6th, 2010. The album is a follow up to last year’s well-received EP The Look. “Color of Clouds is fronted by singer-songwriter and Moby touring partner Kelli Scarr with Dan Chen (Nicole Atkins & The Sea) on keyboard and Nate Greenberg on production. Amen.”

-Visit Color Of Clouds

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Woods – When I Was Gone

With the release of their new album At Echo Lake right around the bend, the musical prowess that is Woods has just released a lo-fi gritty mountain music rocker perfect for skinning dears or planting evergreen trees, and it’s called “I Was Gone”. Now you should no it’s short, and just when it gets going it ends, but that’s all the more reason to get into it. This song actually might be only a tidbit of the actual song. Maybe their publicist sent the short version of the song? It could be on purpose. In 2007 this NYC rock band released their last full length album At Rear House and now the world only has to wait a few May showers until full realization is ours.

-Visit Woods

1. Tell us about the band?

How goes?! The Law hail from the city of Dundee on Scotland’s’ east coast. We released our debut album in the autumn of last year and have been touring the UK & Germany since then. The record itself is a collection of songs to celebrate everyday life. Recorded in the Sawmills studio, Cornwall, the main objective was to capture the energy of our live shows on tape – the result is ‘A Measure Of Wealth’!

2. Have you ever been fed up with playing music or with band members, why?

This is the best job in the world – music has so many tangents and avenues, it would impossible for even the closed-minded among us to get bored! Band members are the opposite – they tend to have a multitude of deviations and vices so complex that without an open mind, most of them would be grossly misunderstood!

3. What was your first concert experience? Do you remember how you felt once the concert was over?

Yeah, I was 15 in the old Westport bar in Dundee. The band I was in at the time played a mixture of original material and Doors covers. When the gig was over, I stood in the audience to take the total number of bodies in the room up to 5!

4. Did you grow up wanting to play music, or when did the whole making albums thing come about and how?

We all found a certain sanctuary in music from an early age. Playing music is something we all love and making a record is just the next step up the ladder if you want to carry on writing and performing for a living!

5. What qualifies you guys to be in a band?

Marti and Si’s (brothers Martin and Simon Donald, Drummer and Bassist) granddad played the spoons…

6. Do you have a favorite song you have ever written? Why?

For the groove of the tune – Television Satellite from the record! Everyone has a vice, in one form or another, they should really just give up – we chose the squeaky clean subject of Television as apposed to relationships, drugs etc. for this number!

The Law – Don’t Stop Believe

7. What is your greatness weakness as a band?

Stella Artois!

8. What qualities should a successful label or manager have?

A successful act always helps!

9. What’s the scariest thing that has ever happened to you in your life?

Our bass player and motivator is, as is every red-blooded male, partial to a drink. Simon isn’t biased, in fact he is quite open- minded when it comes to the type of said liquor. However, a drink by the name of vodka can cause this gem of a man to turn…  During these spells of madness, Simon is, and i quote “neither drunk nor wrong!” These are the scariest moments of my life…

10. What’s the first thing you do when the band arrives in a new town while on tour?

We unload the van, set up the stage and sound check. After all that we usually check a local pub and chill until stage time.

11. Have you ever had an audience member give you the willies because they kept looking at you all weird?

We are of the mindset that if they buy the record, they can look at us whatever way they bloody well want! It would actually be more fitting to ask our audiences, “Have you ever had member of The Law give you the willies because they kept looking at you all weird?”

12. Have you ever cried while listening to music? If so what were you listening too?

Every time our old tour manager picked up the guitar it brought a tear to my eye. Having to watch someone disgrace such a beautiful instrument in that way is quite emotional. He was chronic!

The Law – Don’t Stop Believe

13. If you could re-record, or re-write any song of yours what would that song be?

We put a lot of hard work into seeing that the tunes sounded the way we imagined them to. I don’t think any of the band has any desire to move backwards by revisiting old turf. Onwards and upwards!

14. What’s the worst place you have ever played a show at, and why?

Something this band has always been good at is making the best out of a bad situation… or is it, making a bad situation worse?! I forget! Anyway, sometimes the places that look the worst on the face of it all are turn out to be the landmark gigs for your band. It’s a combination of the band and the audience all knowing that things could be a hell of a lot better and just saying, ” F**k it, we’re here now, let’s get on with it!”

15. In a perfect world how many albums would you have to sell to be happy?

None. In a perfect world, commercial success and the cold grip of cash would hold no restraints over the wonders of music. You could pick up CD’s of your favourite groups or download them legitimately for free and gigs would be on a first come first served basis… “Who’s paying us again..?”

16. What do you guys have planned for the future?

We’re currently rehearsing for a US tour that starts on the 15th March. There are a few showcases in New York & L.A. with a mini tour of SXSW in the middle of it all.

17. What music do you listen to when you are having a bad day?

Bad days usually come up when I haven’t listened to music for a couple of days due to one reason or another. It’s just your body’s way of telling you that you need your fix. A heavy dose of Rubber Soul usually sets you on feet again!

18. If you had your life to live over again, what one thing would you change?

Nothing. Ask me in another 40 years…
Thanks very much for your time. Hopefully you can make it to one of the shows soon enough.

Get to know The Law and check out their tour info!

http://www.thelawmusic.com/

We searched the web, and our emails to compile this list that will never quite be finished. Sites we give credit for helping us out are: metacritic.com, punknews.org, thesilentballet.com, pauseandplay.com, and billboard.com. If you are a band or label and would like to see your Album Release up here please contact us at – info at indierockreviews.com

March
3/1/10 – Dark Tranquility – We Are The Void
3/1/10 – The Specials – 30th Anniversary Tour
3/1/10 – Errors – Come Down With Me
3/1/10 – Loscil – Endless Falls
3/1/10 – Aaron Martin – Worried About the Fire
3/1/10 – Polar Bear – Peepers
3/1/10 – Frightened Rabbit – The Winter of Mixed Drinks
3/1/10 – Sone Institute – Curious Memories
3/1/10 – These Monsters – Call Me Dragon
3/2/10 – Clogs – The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
3/2/10 – Danny Elfman – Alice in Wonderland (Score)
3/2/10 – Sean Hayes – Run Wolves Run
3/2/10 – Seabear – We Built A Fire
3/2/10 – Rogue Wave – Permalight
3/2/10 – Man Overboard – Before We Met
3/2/10 – Mike Golden & Friends – Trees (EP)
3/2/10 – Peasant – Shady Retreat
3/2/10 – Jaguar Love – Hologram Jams
3/2/10 – Save Your Breath – Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy
3/2/10 – Portugal. The Man – American Ghetto
3/2/10 – A Weather – Everyday Balloons
3/2/10 – The Bled – Heat Fetish
3/4/10 – Stray Ghost – Nothing, But Death
3/6/10 – The Yellow Team – You’re Welcome World
3/6/10 – Tonight Alive – All Shapes And Disguises
3/8/10 – The Steel Wheels – Red Wing
3/8/10 – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Beat The Devil’s Tattoo
3/9/10 – Aloha – Home Acres
3/9/10 – Pavement – Quarantine The Past
3/9/10 – Hadoken – Luminary
3/9/10 – The Knife/Mt. Sims/Planningtorock – Tomorrow, in a Year
3/9/10 – Jason Collett – Rat A Tat Tat
3/9/10 – Jatun – Blanket of Ash
3/9/10 – Mountain Man – One
3/9/10 – Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – The Brutalist Bricks
3/9/10 – Crystal Antlers – Little Sister/Dead Horses
3/9/10 – John Powell – Green Zone (Score)
3/9/10 – Frightened Rabbit – The Winter Of Mixed Drinks
3/9/10 – Imperial China – Phosphenes
3/9/10 – Isles & Glaciers – The Hearts Of Lonely People
3/9/10 – Simulacra – There Is a Fountain Filled With Blood
3/9/10 – Demon Hunter – The World Is A Thorn
3/9/10 – Small Brown Bike – Composite, Vol.2 (7-inch)
3/9/10 – The Besnard Lakes – Are the Roaring Night
3/9/10 – Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
3/9/10 – Gorillaz – Plastic Beach
3/10/10 – Jan Jelinek & Masayoshi Fujita – Bird, Lake, Objects
3/12/10 – Shaking Sensations – This Is Your Hellfire Religion! EP
3/13/10 – Rocky Votolato/Chad Price – Split
3/16/10 – The Whigs – In The Dark
3/16/10 – The Menzingers – I Was Born (single)
3/16/10 – You Me At Six – Hold Me Down
3/16/10 – Smoke On Fire – Prehistoric Knife Fight
3/16/10 – The Blue Resistance – The First Resistance
3/16/10 – Vultures United – Savages
3/16/10 – Eddy Current Supression Ring – Rush To Relax
3/16/10 – Brendan Kelly/Joe McMahon – Wasted Potential
3/16/10 – White Stripes – Under Great White Northern Lights

3/16/10 – From First To Last – Throne To The Wolves
3/16/10 – Dropkick Murphys – Live On Landsdowne
3/16/10 – Brand New – The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me (vinyl)
3/22/10 -  Architect – Consume Adapt Create
3/22/10 – Autechre – Oversteps
3/22/10 – Fabio Orsi – Winterreise
3/22/10 – Harold Budd & Clive Wright – Little Windows
3/23/10 – She & Him – Volume Two
3/23/10 – Leatherface – The Stormy Petrel
3/23/10 – Dillinger Escape Plan – Option Paralysis
3/23/10 – Look Mexico – Bed To Battle
3/23/10 – Love Is All – Two Thousand and Ten Injuries
3/23/10 – Stephen Brodsky – Here’s To The Future
3/26/10 – Greg Haines – Until the Point of Hushed Support
3/29/10 – To Rococo Rot – Speculation
3/30/10 – Annuals – Sweet Sister (EP)
3/30/10 – Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee
3/30/10 – Greg MacPherson – Mr. Invitation
March TBA – Hammock – Chasing After Shadows … Living With the Ghosts
March TBA – Loveliescrushing – CRWTH (Chorus Redux)
March TBA – Metavari – Studies Volume One

April
4/1/10 – Ef – Mourning golden morning
4/5/10 – FNS – FNS
4/6/10 – Shark Speed – Education
4/6/10 – Doves – Best Of
4/6/10 – GBH – Perfume and Piss
4/6/10 – Red Sparowes – The Fear Is Excruciating
4/6/10 – Murder By Death – Good Morning, Magpie
4/6/10 – Kayo Dot – Coyote
4/6/10 – Elliott Smith – Basement On The Hill
4/13/10 – 108 – 18.61
4/13/10 – For.The.Win. – For.The.Win.
4/13/10 – The Flatliners – Calvalcade
4/13/10 – Japandroids – Art Czars/Racer x (7 inch)
4/13/10 – Bleeding Through – Bleeding Through
4/5/10 – Jonsi – Go
4/6/10 – Red Sparowes – The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
4/16/10 – Dustin O’Halloran – Vorleben
4/19/10 – Manual – Drowned in Light
4/20 /10 – When the Clouds – The Longed-For Season
4/20 /10 – The Slackers – The Great Rocksteady Swindle
4/20 /10 – Sick Of It All – Based On A True Story

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Sleep Bellum Sonno - A House Of Spades

“A House Of Spades” could have made it on the soundtrack to the new Alice In Wonderland flick. Instead the people that came up with the tunes for that movie decided to put a bunch of watered down tracks on it instead of material worthy of such a tripped out subject. Needless to say “A House Of Spades” succeeds at entertaining even with duo vocals that are as opposite as day is to night but fit the odd composition well. I’m imagining people that are way into Cursive and mewithoutYou liking Sleep Bellum Sonno, let me know if I am wrong.

-Visit Sleep Bellum Sonno

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Sarah Kirkland Snider – Penelope

-Visit Sarah Kirkland Snider

Aloha’s latest album “Home Acres” is in stores today! We had three of our contributors all review it on their own and since they were all great reviews we had to post them all. So here our the thoughts of three seperate people that span 3 different locations including another continent. Don’t forget to check out our Aloha Contest to win the albm which ends soon. Click Here To Enter.

Review #1
Written By Barry Moore
Score 8.2/10

Aloha’s recent release “Home Acres” is upbeat to say the least. There are few moments of down time and although it doesn’t quite inspire me to jump up and down and dance, it does at least keep my head bobbing. It’s nonstop rock and roll in the most classic sense of the word. Not so much in the “classic rock” sense of the word, but in the sense of the word that the 90’s are beginning to be a part of what is considered “classic” these days and it’s making me feel old. There are moments when Aloha is reminiscent of R.E.M. or perhaps, Dinosaur Jr. but, really “Home Acres” just has a distinctively late 80’s/early 90’s “alternative” feel to it.

“Everything Comes My Way” and “White Wind” are the slowest tracks on the album and comprise a nice break in the middle of all the motion throughout the adventure of exploring “Home Acres”. It also allows the listener to focus on the lyricism a little more rather than just feel absolutely brainwashed by the driving drums and guitars. But it immediately picks back up again with “Cold Storage” in the kind of interesting dichotomy that makes up the album.

Lazy melodic vocals laid atop the fist pumping drums seem to be the most consistent aspect of the album. Each track differing with guitar tone and delivery and sometimes accompanied by piano, or organ, it has a very similar theme throughout the whole experience which ties each individual song in nicely to what makes Aloha so welcoming. It’s very lovely album construction.

Aloha – Moonless March

Review #2
Written By Natalie Salvo
Score 8/10

On their first four records, indie rockers, Aloha have earned a reputation for their experimental style that references eighties luminaries like The Cure and Joy Division. On their fifth record, “Home Acres” other key influences have been added to the musical melting pot with the band producing glorious harmonies like The Beach Boys and going off on a few experimental tangents à la The Velvet Underground.

“Building A Fire” is a great song awash with keys, cymbals and the kind of dirty guitar riffs synonymous with a blistering Queens Of The Stone Age anthem. The result is one hell of a trip on the back of a pick-up truck through a bright cloud of purple haze.

“Moonless March” is yet another catchy indie pop song to add to an already burgeoning genre. Sure it’s a little interchangeable and plenty of bands spew out this kind of music with gusto, but few manage to elicit such a feel good sensation in the process.

“Microviolence” boasts some of the best xylophone heard since Radiohead’s “No Surprises.” But Aloha also keep things funky while also delivering a love letter of sorts. “Searchlight” meanwhile, is sunny indie pop reminiscent of The Drums’ music about surfing and the summertime. It’s clear that the latter haven’t got the market on contemporary musicians referencing The Cure in a light-hearted yet modern way.

“White Wind” contains harmonies that reach for the sky like The Shins, while the beat in “Cold Storage” instantly conjures up images of flamboyant eighties acts in fluoro spandex. And capping things off is “Ruins,” which boasts more keys than a locksmith. Okay perhaps not, but it does reference New Order’s “Love Vigilantes” while offering some organ that sounds like it has been derived from a hymn. Praise the Lord!

On “Home Acres” Aloha aimed to turn the energy up to eleven and equal the dizzying heights they had reached in their previous work. It’s fair to say they delivered, due to their excellent throwbacks to the best elements of the sixties and eighties, not to mention a modern twist of lime for added juicy goodness. Basically, Aloha will leave you wanting to dance around smiling in the sun and if you can’t enjoy participating in this silly kind of sport than you’re just a killjoy.

Review #3
Written By: Wells Sinclair
Score: 8.6/10

We’re all assholes really. You me and everybody else who goes to web sites like IRR to find the lesser-known bits of delight in music. We don’t want our favorite musicians to have massive followings. We feel like the music is contaminated once some douche (I usually picture him running a finger over his cowry shell necklace and listening to a Dave Matthews mix on his iPod while having his teeth professionally whitened) also owns an album by a band that we personally cherish.

Aloha fans are likely to be in for that disappointment sometime relatively soon. The Prog-Rock/Post-Rock (fill in the the blank with your arbitrary genre label here ____ ) quartet can only put together so many quality albums before the fan base bulges and a few starry-eyed main streamers start calling their sound home. You don’t think so? Well nobody thought it would happen to Modest Mouse either but by the time Good News for People Who Love Bad News came out, the days of romantic obscurity were long past.

I’m not saying Aloha sounds anything like Modest Mouse or even appeals to the same set of cochlear implants, but it’s a quality album – a quality album coming on the heels of four other quality albums and two EPs.

I’d recommend you get the album now so you can at least have a tinge of superiority when, 3 years from now, your 13-year-old cousin from a farm in Eastern Washington tells you their favorite band is Aloha. “Yeah,” you can say with your manufactured nonchalance, “Their earlier stuff was cool, I guess.”

C’mon man, your cousin is only thirteen. You’re such an asshole.

Here’s how the record label accurately and fluffily describes it:
“Home Acres pushes tempos and dials up the guitars, with the band’s slow-burn intensity sometimes overflowing into huge moments. But even as the energy surges, Aloha casts an otherworldly glow, serving up ambiance and attack with equal measure.”

- Buy Home Acres
- Visit Aloha
- Visit Polyvinyl Records
- Read our 18 Questions with Aloha

1. Tell us about the band?
Hey battlefield is pretty much a rock band. Jason has a real bluesy approach. While Michael brings more of a jazz and rock attack. We don’t tailor the sound in any one way but I feel like we both give each other enough room to play our parts. We really try to focus on a guitar/vocals, drum, and bass lineup to keep it simple. We don’t believe in tons of effects, loops or what we would call noise. We try to keep it pure and simple with more subtle nuances that we hope come through in the songs.

2. Have you ever been fed up with playing music or with band members, why?
Being in a band is like any relationship. There are always issues about commitment and ego that are constantly popping up. Like being married but to 2 people instead of one!

3. What was your first concert experience? Do you remember how you felt once the concert was over?
Jane’s Addiction, I think it was at the Ritz, I was 14 and I was mesmerized, I needed to be up there!

4. Did you grow up wanting to play music, or when did the whole making albums thing come about and how?
I studied music from the time I was 7 with my grandfather who was a jazz trumpet player. Then I picked up the drums and guitar when I was around 11. It is something I have always done. Recording was a natural progression because it gives you the ability to control exactly how your sound is portrayed.

JR: I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember, and when I was very young I taught myself how to play the guitar and the piano. I don’t know how to read sheet music; I just play what sounds good to me, which gives me a lot of freedom to experiment. Being in the recording studio is always an education, I find it to be a hard process breaking down the songs like that into pieces, but its an important part of the journey, getting the music down and available for people to listen too.

5. What qualifies you guys to be in a band?
MS: I’m not sure that one can be qualified to be in a band. I think if you enjoy it or you NEED to do it then you do. That’s the only prerequisite as far as I’m concerned.

JR: Playing music isn’t really a choice for me; it’s just something that I have to do.

6. Do you have a favorite song you have ever written? Why?
They go in and out of favor all the time. Sometimes we love certain songs and later we will hate them and not play them for a while. It’s really about what kind of mood we are in I think.

7. What is your greatness weakness as a band?
This will sound cheesy but it might be that we take things very seriously. That has become a problem for Jason and I sometimes because we expect anyone we work with to have the same level of commitment. I think it can be hard for people when they come in to play with us though, feeling included can be an issue.

8. What qualities should a successful label or manager have?
They should be clever, beautiful and never take no for an answer (in a nice way) you can ask Maya our manager about that… she’s perfect for the job!

9. What’s the scariest thing that has ever happened to you in your life?
MS: I’ve had a few close calls. Probably surfing related for me.
JR: Being shot at one crazy night in Queens.

10. What’s the first thing you do when the band arrives in a new town while on tour?
Have a look around, put up flyers, find out where people are and promote the show if there’s time. Maybe see who else is playing or if there’s anything cool to check out. If we don’t have time, it’s straight to sound check and a beer.

11. Have you ever had an audience member give you the willies because they kept looking at you all weird?
There is this one person who shall remain nameless that shows up sometimes who gives us the creeps and acts like they are Jason’s best friends. Usually they take off after the beginning, which is also weird, they don’t always stay for the show…. a bit stalker vibe really…

12. Have you ever cried while listening to music? If so what were you listening too?
MS: Too many to count…. JR: Tom Waits gets me every time!

13. If you could re-record, or re-write any song of yours what would that song be?
All of them, recording are an ongoing process. I don’t think I ever listen to something we have done and think PERFECT! There are constantly changes happening in your head. It’s actually hard to settle in the end.

14. What’s the worst place you have ever played a show at, and why?
I think there are some terrible sound guys out there, wouldn’t blame it on the place. We’ve been pretty lucky.

15. In a perfect world how many albums would you have to sell to be happy?
As many as it took so that we could all be comfortable and felt like people really liked the music we made… couldn’t give a number. If we did this for accolades we would’ve quit years ago.

16. What do you guys have planned for the future?
Just really to keep playing and writing songs… more touring and playing more shows. That’s what we love to do.

17. What music do you listen to when you are having a bad day?
There’s actually a song that we do (Jason wrote it) that I listen to sometimes lately called “hell bent on you”, it’s actually very soothing to me. There are a couple though.

JR: Anything by The Pogues.

18. If you had your life to live over again, what one thing would you change?
I don’t believe in thinking that way… what would you change? If I lived thinking I wish I had or hadn’t I’d miss out on what was happening now. No regrets… what’s that line from the Butthole Surfers song? Its better to regret something you have done than something you haven’t done. And by the way….

Get To Know Hey Battlefield:
http://www.myspace.com/heybattlefield

IRR: Tell me a little bit about Nouvelle Vague.  How did it come about?

Marc Collin: It’s a long story.  It’s like… I was a fan of new wave when I was young.  And after I became a composer, and an artist myself.  So a long time after, I just went back to all these songs and just realized that they are really beautiful songs.  So I wanted to prove that by keeping only the skeletons of the songs, the lyrics and the melody, and remix it completely differently.  In order to prove that songs are timeless somehow.

Most of the time when you do a cover, it is something that is already known as a classic somehow.  So I thought it was interesting to cover something that is normally not covered.  Like Marian from Sisters of Mercy, Bela Lugosi’s Dead from Bauhaus, Friday Night Saturday Morning from The Specials.  Those bands are not covered really.  So I wanted to do a tribute to all of these bands in this era, because I wanted myself, to hear these songs differently.

IRR: What has been the biggest struggle with covering some of these groups?

MC: Most of the time it’s really easy because the songs are really good, even if you take I’ll Melt With You, with only two chords, it’s kind of easy.  Sometimes, the struggle is that there is a song that I really love, for example Bella Lugosi’s Dead, that it’s not really a song actually.  It’s just a little melody, almost no chords, so I have to struggle, and I have to really be imaginative and inspired to completely reinvent the song and try to find the different arrangement, or something completely different.

ça plane pour moi, performed by Jenia Lubitch

Nouvelle Vague | MySpace Music Videos

IRR: When you’re completely reinventing a song, what steps do you take to reach the goal you’re looking for?

MC: I’m trying always to start from something, like an idea.  For example, Bella Lugosi’s Dead, suddenly I just get in my mind ‘okay… let’s do this song that could have been recorded ten years before for a movie, maybe a sci-fi aura movie’.  And suddenly I get all of these images, the black and white screen… you know.  So I just took the song and put the arrangement like the soundtracks of the 70’s.

I just get things in my mind, and suddenly I’m doing it, because I have a lot of things in my studio.  It’s not that difficult to take the sound and attack one point, and it’s works like that.  And if it works, I start looking for a singer.

IRR: Do you have a favorite song that you want to do?

MC: I’m a big fan of Japan, and their song Ghosts.  But I don’t know exactly how to do it now.  I’ve tried one or two different times and I wasn’t really happy, so I failed.  I gave up.  Not too many songs.  It’s just a matter of an idea.  One day I think ‘Oh! I have to do it like that’.  I have to find some links between genres in many ways.

Ghosts, if it had been recorded before in the 20’s with a jazz singer, and we try it like that.  It’s just a matter of ideas.  There are a lot of bands that I like that are not on the album.  There is no Madness, and I’m a big fan of Madness.  I did a cover of Enola Gay from OMD that I didn’t put on the album.  Also Devo… a lot of songs.

IRR: Aside from the songs that you cover, which artists do you gain inspiration from?

MC: To do a cover, I have to gain influence by something else, otherwise I will do the music like the original.  The first album was really Bossa Nova, so I took my inspiration from Bossa Nova of the 60’s from Brazil.  The second album I did a lot of research of the Caribbean sound, the mento, the calypso, reggae, ska, all this stuff.  Also I’m a big fan of all the soundtracks, John Barry, Moriconi, etc.  This new album we’re more into south country and western sound, bluegrass, Johnny Cash, this kind of thing.  This is our reference.

Nouvelle Vague – Master & Servant (Depeche Mode Cover)

IRR: The tour is wrapping up tonight.  Do you have any memorable experiences this time around on tour?

MC: Probably the thing that happened that was incredible was Melanie, that is one of our singers, couldn’t come because she was pregnant.  She was supposed to have her baby at the end of March.  The bass player of the band is her husband.  He thought that he’d come do the tour and that it would be okay because it would end on time.

Finally, in the middle of the tour in Seattle, he got a call in the middle of the night saying that his wife will have the baby, so he just quit the tour. So we did two gigs without bass.  But it was nice, and went okay.

IRR: You’ve worked with various different artists for the songs on your albums.  Are there any favorite artists that you’ve paired with and learned from?

MC: For sure.  The members bring me inspiration for sure.  When we recorded with Phoebe on the second album, she was already into this bluesy and dark thing.  So I knew that she could perform Human Fly, and Bela Lugosi’s Dead, and this kind of track.  It brought me inspiration as I adapt my style for artists like this.

IRR: What’s your plan from now since the tour is wrapping up?

MC: The idea is to go back to France and record a new album.  We have now an idea to do a special album for America.  Telling a bit of the story of punk, from New York Dolls, and maybe even from Iggy Pop, through The Talking Heads, Black Flag, and all of this stuff.  We will start soon I think.  The idea is to release that next year.  So we’re going to tour with this album next year.  There are a lot of things to say about American music.

When I was young, punk was English for me.  It was in the British movement you know.  It was a long time after that I discovered that punk was born in America finally, and that Malcolm McLaren was the manager of the New York Dolls, and that took everything from Richard Hell and imported it to England, with all the science of marketing, invented punk.  But he just invented how to sell it in a way.  But the roots are really from America, from Iggly Pop and all these bands.  Nobody knows it.  But it would be nice to say that.

IRR: How come France produces so many brilliant artists?  It seems there is a huge influence from France by just the artists that come over here.

MC: We are a bit special, because we’re trying not to copy the English band and the American band, so we’re trying to have our own style.  I think we have the audacity, to dare to do things a new way.  Nouvelle Vague is a good example of that.  I don’t think an English band can do that in the same way.  If you think of Daft Punk, and Air, they have this ‘we’re going to do it!’ attitude ya know?  We’re going to put these rock beats, and the synth, and we’re going to invent something.

I think in England and here in America, there’s a style, like R&B, Blues, Country, Rock, and you follow something.  I think we are more open to try different things, because we don’t have these roots.  We don’t have blues and such… maybe just jazz and some things.  We don’t have the things to follow, so we just try our own new things and go after it like we have nothing to lose.

IRR: If you had one message to share with the world, what would it be?

MC: That’s difficult to say.  Try to keep inspired by music and everything around you somehow.  Keep on with inspiration.  Because the inspiration that music is bringing to you is really important, even when you’re really young.

Get to know Nouvelle Vague:
http://www.nouvellesvagues.com/

Photographer:  Thirst’n Howl III
Venue: Detroit Bar
Location: Costa Mesa, CA
Date: 3/4/10

Harlem come to Orange County.   Ears rejoice as new sound prevails.  Finally, a new tune or two.

Orange County is  a place that has far too many connections and ties to music that lingers on the radio and often blares from multiple raised trucks.  Sublime, No Doubt and other OC staples will usually make one cringe as they enter your brain constantly harassing you on repeat as though they were Casper the Friendly Ghost searching for a friend.  And so it was indeed a treat to have something new and authentic visit from the musical kingdom of Austin, TX.  Those in the know were at Detroit Bar to chase such repetitive and stagnant songs from their heads as Harlem ushered in the new catchy.  Songs such as Caroline and Friendly Ghost (holy irony!) now are stuck inside my noggin and I couldn’t be happier.

The twangy guitars and the jangly pop of these boys is unmistakably their own.  It reverberates through speakers and gives off a care-free and honest sense.  Their songs are the kind you would have playing in your tree fort if you still had one.  Well, maybe they would be the songs you have playing at the kegger party you throw at your treehouse.  Shoeless and stress free and probably some free drugs.

Icelandic indie rockers Seabear have delivered their newest full length listen, with “We Built a Fire.” Seabear started as the brainchild of Reykjavik song man Sindri Már Sigfússon until recruiting more members, transforming into a full unit. Gaining praise for their previous release, “The Ghost That Carried Us Away,” on label Morr Music, we were introduced to not another pseudo language-singing Icelandic noise rock outfit, but an indie songwriters feast.

Seabear – Lion Face Boy

Right away, I gravitated to the piano ballad “Cold Summer,” with its dreamy strings and simple piano progression. It spoke easily of Sufjan Stevens or The National, in its rich horn washes. The Sufjan Stevens comparison that Seabear so frequently gets, though, does them a disservice, as the music streams into commonly sailed waters. Soft whispering vocals, which could easily be found in something like Stevens himself or Doveman, are delivered without any originality or gusto. Taking lead vocalist Sigfússon seriously is quite a task, when he conjures up a mental image of falling asleep at the microphone.

Breaking away from the droning nature of the album is the upbeat folk jam, “Wooden Teeth.” Peppered with bluegrass fiddle and trickles of banjo, this song brings a rise in energy so deserved in the album. There are a handful of gems in this coal mine, those being “Cold Summer,” “Wooden Teeth,” and “Warm Blood.” Without those songs in the mix, coupled with no focus to the track listing on your iTunes display, one could easily confuse this album with a handful of 25 minute songs.

I realized that the strength of the album was really its lush and organic production, coating the album like a thick jam. Unfortunately, dreamy and layered production still doesn’t trump solid song craft. Again and again I found myself hearing the production of other bands on top of hollow husks, masquerading as songs. Overall this album left me wanting more, regardless of its sleek instrumentation and vague beauty.

-Visit Seabear