Echolocations 5.3: Cheer Me Up Thank You, Sept/Oct 2007

A Filial
Verge Records
Established in 2000 by Edu Lopes, A Filial is a fusion of diverse musical elements from the world over: Afro-Cuban, African, erudite, Indian, soul, funk, bossa nova, samba, Afro-Brazilian rhythms and Hip Hop. It’s a Hip Hop style that gives more value to poetry and to more subtle issues of human life than to those concerning urban violence and socio-racial relations. 'Camilia' is taken from Verge Records' compilation The Inspiring New Sounds of Rio de Janeiro which puts an ear to the exploratory pulse emanating from one of the most culturally diverse and economically divided societies in the world. Verge Records is an independent record label based in New York City that showcases cutting edge, politically and socially conscious music from distressed neighborhoods across the globe. Verge combines great music with community development and donates a percentage of income earned from record sales to support educational organizations in artists' neighborhoods working with youth through music and art.

Art In Manila
Saddle Creek Records
After Azure Ray disbanded in 2004, Orenda Fink, one half of the beloved Omaha-via-Athens duo, put her energies into a solo record. In 2005, she released Invisible Ones, an under-the-radar but critically acclaimed debut album. With a little astrological nudge and some serendipitous circumstances, Orenda decided to form a new band using the cream of the crop of her touring crew, and thus Art in Manila was born. At times, Art in Manila travels the lush path set forth by her previous work, however, it is here subsumed with edge and backbone. The band flirts playfully with genre wanderlust without ever abandoning cohesion. Moody slow-burners follow four-to-the-floor rockers, which butt up against serene ballads. And it all works. Orenda and company have deviated from their collective musical pasts without forsaking it... and have conjured a powerful debut record in the process.

Spoon
Merge Records
With a history of stellar, no-filler records, Spoon has somehow topped themselves with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, a consistently thrilling album recorded throughout 2006 in Austin by the band and Mike McCarthy. Spoon have been together over a decade, with one of the most unusual trajectories of any band in recent memory and one of the best and most unique songwriters in the world.

Ferraby Lionheart
Nettwerk Records
Ferraby Lionheart was born in Los Angeles, raised in Nashville, studied art and sang to Chet Baker records in Chicago, and finally moved back to Los Angeles, where he got a job serving pizzas on Fairfax Avenue until 4 o' clock in the morning. After work, he'd walk the empty streets back to his apartment and record music until the sun came up. His songs were inspired by the quizzical, comical world in which he lived-colorful songs about beautiful girls in coffee shops, ghosts and Ouija boards, and his struggle to stop fighting with a world that always wanted to fight with him. So with the help of some friends, an engineer named Dan, and a few more instruments like trumpets, toy pianos, and violins, Ferraby set out to record an entire record, which he decided to call Catch The Brass Ring.

Fanfare Ciocarlia
Asphalt Tango Records
Following the release of Gili Garabdi in spring 2005, which promptly landed at number 1 in the WMCE Top 10, Fanfare Ciocarlia traveled throughout Europe to record with musicians from the continent's extended Romany community. Overcoming borders and visas, foreign tongues and rhythms, more than two dozen musicians from France to Bulgaria came together to create Queens and Kings an extraordinary celebration of Gypsy songs. Casual observers may wonder how Fanfare Ciocarlia's roaring Balkan funk could possibly fuse with the flamenco guitars of French Gitans Kaloome or Macedonian legend Esma Redzepova's accordion driven music? Zece Prajini's musical magicians shrug off such concerns, noting that they share elements of language, experience, and an almost indescribable yet very Gypsy musical synergy with their guests. Hungarian music has permeated northern Romania for centuries, while Yugoslav and Bulgarian music came from encounters with traveling Gypsy communities or on pirate cassettes. Spain and France existed in pre-war memories, lost yet not forgotten Latin connections; as did jazz and pop flavors long filtered through closed borders." Queens and Kings celebrates unity in diversity while standing as a testament to the vision of Ioan Ivancea, Fanfare Ciocarlia's clarinet-playing patriarch, who died in October 2006. To Ioan then, a true Gypsy King, this album is dedicated.

Handsome Furs
Sub Pop Records
The duo of Handsome Furs began as an idea in the winter of 2005, and currently consists of Montreal residents Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry. Boeckner also sings and plays guitar in Wolf Parade and before that did much the same in Atlas Strategic, while Perry maintains a career as a writer. Dark and minimal while noisy and earnest, the fabric of their record together was just as informed by late nights as it was by Scandinavian black metal. Truly, the point of creating Handsome Furs was to be as sparse and repetitive as possible with the help of little more than vocals, guitars, and a new drum machine. Through this, songs of earthbound captains, eggs made of gold and iron, and sleepless bodies were born. Boeckner’s affected vocals thinly resonate as they are ushered in by a frenzied undertone of fear and uncertainty, all punctuated by drum machine beats. Through the course of each track, a deep-seated sense of longing struggles with staunch realism as a restless disdain for both urban life and smaller towns collide.

Northern State
Ipecac Recordings
We are Northern State. We are pleased to announce that our new album Can I Keep This Pen? will be released on Ipecac Recordings this August '07. We were fortunate to have some talented friends like Mr. Murray Hill, Kaki King, and Katie Cassidy stop by and play on the album. One day we felt like our album was finished, and we named it Can I Keep This Pen? Can I Keep This Pen? pushes the limits more than anything we've recorded before in terms of what a hip hop song might sound like, what a rock song might sound like, and what Northern State might sound like. Our classic old school hip hop sound runs through the album, weaving its way through a new electro-rock current.

Shock Cinema
Kanine Records
The Shock Cinema debut, Our Way is Revenge, is largely born from songs the three recorded after getting together only once. The record includes six original tracks, a J. Clark (Pretty Girls Make Graves) reworking of "Howling Door," and a Subtitle (now the band's official guru) mix of the all-in-French "Art of Noir." For the rest of 2007, Shock Cinema will focus on touring and recording tracks for their next effort at Sitek's Stay Gold Studio with Chris Coady (Blonde Redhead, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Gang Gang Dance). Members of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead and Dragons of Zynth are adding additional instrumentation.

Maria Isa
Emetrece Productions
Born and raised in the Twin Cities to Nuyorican parents, emcee, singer, and songwriter Maria Isa is recognized for her dedication towards celebrating her cultural diversity through music and her political activism. Influenced by the traditional Afro-Boricua ritmos of Bomba and Plena, along with Soul and Funk of Motown and Fania’s fusion of Salsa and Bugaloo, Isa plants an organic blend of call and response with lyrical "Spanglish" rhymes through the various drumbeats and snares of Hip-Hop, Reggae, Dancehall and Reggaeton. Joining Emetrece Productions in 2006 to promote her music in the Twin Cities and in Puerto Rico, as well as to study the curriculum of Hip-Hop and Reggaeton, Isa recently released her first independent album M.I. Split Personalities in May of 2007.

Jade Mcnelis
Good Fences Records
Twenty-year-old singer-songwriter Jade McNelis was born in Taiwan, adopted by an American couple at age one, and began learning the piano at age five. Discovered when she opened for Stars in her hometown of Tallahassee, Florida, McNelis' raw talent made her an obvious standout. She was soon after approached by new Montreal label Good Fences, who quickly signed her. McNelis came to Montreal in the summer of 2006 to record All The Fables. On All The Fables, McNelis weaves her way through a collection of noirish lullabies, electronic verses and sexy preludes to form her own anthology of life lessons, childhood souvenirs and memoirs left untouched by neither fib or foe nor wild invention.

Los Campesinos!
Arts & Crafts
Arts & Crafts are pleased to announce the signing of Cardiff, Wales septet Los Campesinos! to their North American roster of artists. Los Campesinos! released their debut enhanced EP, Sticking Fingers Into Sockets on July 3. The six-song release features Los Campesinos! acclaimed UK single, 'We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives'. Gareth shares lead vocal duties with Aleksandra Campesino!, and their boy-girl exchanges give the music an extra, sweet frisson. Newfeld's treatment turns "You! Me! Dancing!" from a lo-fi rallying cry into an unstoppable force for converting spindly legs into dancefloor blurs. Some music should not be enjoyed sitting down in front of a computer.

Tiger,Tiger
An appreciation of all sounds and styles of music helps Tiger,Tiger create a diverse blend of alternative pop. Infusing repetitive elements based on an intrigue for electronica, adding hopeful and sometimes catchy pop stylings from a wide variety of influences, and testing a listener's patience with the mundane, Tiger,Tiger adds calm, quiet and layered vocals which sometimes function as just another instrument. While at the same time, brings about ambiguous lyrics and stories that lend themselves to any persons interpretation. Also, head on over to their website to get a free copy of their latest cd.


Orillia Opry
Ships at Night Records
Daniel Noble is from a small town rich with red brick buildings. Emma Baxter is from a valley on an island in the sea. Together they sing like crazy birds descended into the city from an opera house in a forest in the sky. Orillia Opry is like a comfortable old car. There's a real warm familiarity to their songs, kind of like that worn leather interior and broken turn signal. Hitting the Montreal music scene with their unique and intimate folk sound for some time now, their songs are fuller sounding and more infectious than you would expect from a folk duo. Having said that, they also rally together an impressive backing band of some of Montreal's finest musicians. With experience and balls to boot, an older and wiser Orillia Opry delivers folky (not folksy) rock music that is as catchy as it is timeless. Now set to release their second record, Lighthouse for Stragglers' Eyes, they certainly impress with a more confident sound, and strangely dark subject matter.

Meg Baird
Drag City
At the tail end of last year, Espers' Meg Baird released Leaves From Off the Tree, a collection of traditional English and Appalachian folk songs recorded in a trio with British singer Sharron Kraus and her Espers bandmate Helena Espvall. Casting aside Espers' baroque psychedelia and hushed electricity, Baird and her friends showcased a breathtaking affinity for this traditional material with their spare, homespun arrangements and bracing vocal harmonies. The relaxed atmosphere and spirit of that album now shines through again on Dear Companion, Baird's captivating new solo collection of traditional ballads, unlikely covers, and well-crafted originals. Recorded in her Philadelphia attic apartment between sessions for Espers II, the album features Baird using only her voice, guitar, and/or mountain dulcimer. For these deeply intimate recordings, Baird has clearly chosen songs that she knows inside and out, and is so able to treat each with an overriding empathy and affection.

Joanna James
Eclectone Records
Made up of equal parts soul, folk, and blues, JoAnna James is quickly becoming known as one of Minnesota's most promising performers. With a live performance that leaves any audience rapt with attention and yearning for more, James' voice is an instrument that would make any fan of Motown, Stax, or Sugarhill proud. While commanding an array of instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica and violin, JoAnna effortlessly blends musical styles to create a niche all her own—time worn, yet youthful. Her new EP, Back of My Mind, was recorded in Lexington, KY with renowned producer Duane Lundy. With a strong ensemble of area musicians, JoAnna James has captured a depth of emotion and sonic character that explores such universal issues as love, identity, and distance.


New Buffalo
Arts & Crafts
Clearing away the dreamy cinematic haze of her previous records, Melbourne singer-songwriter New Buffalo (AKA Sally Seltmann) returns with a second album that's as crisp as ocean air. The songs on Somewhere, anywhere., were written on a century-old piano by the sea, and convey a newfound directness to her music that is as frank as it is beguiling. "I love the piano. It's a solitary instrument where you can turn your back on the world, and it's just you and the piano – very comforting," says Sally. "I have a Thurmer piano, which has been in the Seltmann family for nearly 100 years. It's old, and very beautiful. I use this for writing and recording. I see the album as embracing the concept of opposite experiences, and contrasting moods: the innocent, naive and colourful, versus the dark, intimate and secret-like," she says.

Shout Out Louds
Merge Records
An escalating drum roll opens Our Ill Wills, the sophomore album from Shout Out Louds... and rightly so. It's been a few years since the release of their first full-length record, the critically acclaimed, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff, and anticipation is great. The title Our Ill Wills refers to secrets, why we need them and what makes us keep them. The collective aspect is vital for Shout Out Louds – they rely on and complete each other in the creative process and say they wouldn't want to make music any other way. Listening to the album you can sense that. Both their personalities and instruments interlocking like a team's group hug before a big game It is evident that Shout Out Louds share Bjorn's passion for drums and rhythms to create moods. Not only does the album start with a thunder, it ends in a hurricane, and shows no signs of stagnation along the way.