Echolocations 5.6: Problems, March/April 2008

White Hinterland
Dead Oceans
Casey Dienel’s wise for her age. Just twenty-two and already she knows when to put on her mittens, when to cover her flowerbeds, when to take out the chestnuts and Vince Guaraldi records. She made an album called Wind-Up Canary and released it on Hush in 2006, and it was full of swoops and smiles, small stories, and hooks—as her father had taught her every song ought to have. 'I don't write a lot of songs specifically about me,' she said. 'Autobiographical songs are about the last stop.' Casey's voice is more hidden on Phylactery Factory, crouching amid swish and drone and the wildflower jazz of her friends. But whereas Wind-Up Canary was short stories, little Salinger vignettes, Phylactery Factory is filled with dreams, memories, warning, reminders. There are songs of war—'Lindberghs + Metal Birds', 'Napoleon at Waterloo',--songs that ring of war's tragedy and of our breezy 21st Century apathy. There are songs of peace, and there are songs from private and uncertain places, vulnerable places. The songs are lovely and White Hinterland live should not be missed.

Yacht
Marriage Records
The beats might sound familiar from Echolocations 4.5 artist, The Blow, where his production skills melded with Khaela Maricich to create the fabulous album, Paper Television. The songs that make up Yacht's I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real. Travel well; they're wide and warm-hearted, not unlike Bechtolt himself. What makes these songs so accessible – apart from their undeniable vigor, or their fractured, crystalline pop sensibility – is the strength of their objective. Behind the beats and the choruses, which come from left-field and bloom into frenetic dance breaks, are big ideas about how positive thinking, optimism, and luck can replace blind faith in a world without a lot of white gloves, wands, or magic. Bechtolt has been a promiscuous genre-smasher since his adolescence, when he decided that playing drums in the touring punk band he formed with his older brother was more worthwhile than attending a single day of highschool. I Believe in You. Your Magic is Real. is a collection of songs committed to record, but they are not limited by it; if the anthemic choruses and stuffering beats are the protons and neutrons, then it's the ideas that make up the nuclei –those spinning building blocks of musical universe, where the real magic, Bechtolt urges, is what we're made of.

Tunng
Thrill Jockey
Tunng, another past Echolocations artist had to be featured again. Back in 2003, Mike Lindsay had a studio in a Soho basement below a clothes shop. Mike had been playing about with studio tech, making electronica and trying to make a living producing advert music, when he met Sam genders, who was a bit of a singer-songwriter, used to doing pub gigs by himself. As work on what was to become that first album went on, their songs leaked out via friends. Inevitably ears pricked up as more people heard them, and quickly they started getting asked 'would you like to do a gig'. Sam made the choice not to play live, so Mike found Becky and Ashley to do his vocals at gigs, and Sam remained – for the first couple of years of the band's existence – a mystery man in the shadows. Over time, Ashley Bates, Phil Winter, Becky Jacobs, and Martin Smith all became part of the band in one way or another – and have all contributed more to recordings as time passed. Tunng has just released, Good Arrows on Thrill Jockey Records.


Silje Nes
FatCat Records
Norwegian singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Silje Nes first caught the attention of FatCat Records in 2005 with her utterly charming demo. Immediately intrigued by the quirkily sprawling mixture of instruments, electronics and sweet vocals, the label remained in touch with Silje, as she slowly and gradually pieced together what would become her debut album, Ames Room. Silje Nes grew up in the tiny town of Leikanger, in Sognefjord, the largest fjord in Norway, before moving to the rainy, larger town of Bergen in 2000. She began making her own music in 2001, recording on 4-track demo software through a tiny inbuilt microphone on a laptop. Though she'd previously studied classical piano, when she started recording she decided to do so with guitars and instruments on which she had no playing experience. Guided by finding sounds she loved and the excitement of discovering new instruments without learned conventions, she made use of whatever equipment she could get hold of – an old synth, a cello, a drum kit, a laptop, loop pedals, etc. – to create the unique instrumentation and songwriting style evident on Ames Room.

Slaraffenland
Hometapes Records
Newly relocated to Portland label Hometapes have made their Echolocations debut with Slarrafenland (apologies for the misspelling on the sleeve). Slaraffendland. Say it. Sluh-raf-in-luhnd. It means 'the land of milk and honey' in Denmark. Many of the members of Slarraffenland are childhood friend (and Mike and Christian identical twins), they've spent years developing a sound that conjures everything from free jazz to noise to melodious addictive rock. The band began their own label, Honningmand, to release their self-titled debut album in 2004. Slarafefenland joined Hometapes in 2006 and began work on Private Cinema. Already hopelessly devoted, the label and the band set up a blind date: the CMJ Music Marathon. Late on that rainy Brooklyn night-after-Halloween, the five piece overwhelmed a crowd of fans, future-fans, and label mates. Slarrafenland will be touring the states in support of their newly released album.

17 Hippies
Hipster Records
What do you get when you take one ukulele and a Persian hammered dulcimer—played by a former heavy metal drummer—and add that to an acoustic Turkish take of the hip hop classic 'Apache?' The latest album by 17 Hippies. It sounds like a joke, but it's true. The Berlin-based group emerged after the Berlin Wall fell. 'It was like someone had opened a hidden door,' explains vocalist and lyricist Kiki Sauer. 'New and exciting music from Eastern Europe flooded into town with new grooves. All we could do was listen, learn, and try to find our own musical connections.' The band started with a simple concept, says vocalist and musical mastermind Christopher Blenkinsop. 'We said, ok, so you play an instrument? Well, don't bring it.' And off they went creating their own sound as they played on instruments they had never played before. Twelve years and 1200 concerts later, this renegade acoustic sound is captured on Heimlich.

Jeremy Jay
K Records
Jeremy Jay lives in Angel Town, next to Larchmont where he hangs out. He writes and plays piano and guitar. He says one of his favorite things to do is drive around with the moonroof open and listen to music with his friends. It seems that he's both a small town boy and a big city boy in one. Very excited about music, Jeremy's writing is influenced by dreams and the more fantastic surrealist sensibility linked with the French new Wave. There's also a strong '50s Rock n' Roll sensibility happening; Buddy Holly is one of Jeremy's favorite singers along, with Richie Valens and '60s era Yea-Yea Francois Hardy. On the surface, his performances seem like that a pop singer: dancing, singing and playing guitar. Yet he's so illusive. If you reach out to grab him you wouldn't touch anything; all you see is a character from the Dream World. Like Buddy Holly, Peter Pan and the John Hughes movies rolled into one. He's pure storybook.

Nada Surf
Barsuk Records
Lucky, Nada Surf’s fifth record and third for Barsuk, follows the successful and critically lauded let go (2003) and the weight is a gift 2005). The record is filled with songs of restlessness, longing and the elusiveness of love. Yet, in its inimitable way, the band beautifully counterbalances its signature lyrical wistfulness with its singular musical buoyancy. Intimate tunes become we're-all-in-this-together anthems, thanks to the chiming guitars, propulsive beat, and the ever-present yearning in singer Matthew Caws' voice. Lucky was co-produced by the band and John Goodmanson. It was recorded in Seattle at Robert Lang Studios.

School Of Language
Thrill Jockey
In April 2007, Sunderland trio, and previously featured Echolocations artist, Field Music announced in a round-a-bout way that they were clearing their diary of all band activity in the hope that a change of situation and expectation might help them to become as productive as they'd always hoped they would be. They tried to make it known that they had no intention of splitting up in the acknowledged sense, but would instead use Field Music as a tool to help the core members, individually and collectively, to get creative and produce more and better music, expanding on the ideas hinted at in their two and half critically-acclaimed albums. Since Field Music's final tour, David Brewis has been busily piecing together this first School of Language record, which can perhaps be seen as the first test of the above proposition.

Brad Laner
Hometapes Records
Brad Laner has been making and recording music for a long time. His bio is quite long so in short: He's played in more than 20 bands, formed more than six bands, been a part of at leasat 25 albums, released records on Island, Tigerbeat6, Astralwerks, Planet Mu, and on and on. In 2004 he had a son and made long distance appearances on records by Caribou, Brian Eno, and Vetiver. In 2007 he signed with Hometapes and released his first true solo album, Neighbor Singing and as one would have guessed it, it is good.

What Made Milwaukee Famous
Barsuk Records
What Made Milwaukee Famous may unashamedly wear their pop on their sleeves, but that new-wave sheen is stretched taut over a muscular frame of sweaty rock. Milwaukee's energetic, forceful, and impassioned music feels immediately familiar. Michael Kingcaid's laid-back vocals swoon and swagger in and out of the band's rolling melodies, and although sonically polished the music maintains just enough rough edges to keep things interesting. When the time came to cut a new record, Milwaukee holed up in an Austin studio with producer Chris Michaels. Having an objective, outside set of ears paid off, and with What Doesn't Kill Us they've managed to make a record that pulls together the band's disparate influences and from start to finish stands as a singular piece.


Mahjongg
K Records
Born into the great Chicago winter of '06 in the septic rivers of the Magikal Forest, the Water Babies used Kontpabs undivided and all seeing power to unlock The Sphere's greatest secret: improvisation. With these new teachings from the almighty Kontpab, Mahjongg was able to create a new church and recording studio for the Chicago Sect. Soon the tapestries of aural chaos were tempered and perfected. Software was upgraded and drums tuned. With nervous but relevant hair follicles and motley threads, Mahjongg hit the scene. Many eons of 'Warning Orbs' have since commenced, but the human race still chooses to 'funnel' into The Grid. It is because of this that Mahjongg is left with no choice but to invoke the name of our great God almighty itself. And it is with this name we proudly present to you our new album, Kontpab. For we are all Kontpab.

Woelv
K Records
‘Hello. My name is Geneviéve and I am a French-speaking person from Québec in Canada. When I was a teenager, living in a suburb of Montréal and going to the city a lot, my friends and I played loud music in our basements. I would write songs about obscene things, I was the singer because I couldn't play guitar fast enough. I listened to a lot of politically inclined music with yelling in it. Then I calmed down a little and opened up to other kinds of music from all over the world. All my life, I had drawn a lot, so I focused on making mini-comics and books for a while. Then, one day, I wanted to make a book with a record of songs to complement the drawings. Because I have very difficult and intricate though processes, as well as very precise needs, I ended up writing all the songs myself. Now I sing songs openly under the name WOELV. I will always sing in French because I wouldn't feel honest otherwise. I now live in the Pacific Northwest region of North-America and I have started to blast my punk tapes again.

Black Mountain
Jagjaguwar Records
Favorite psych-and-prog-spiritual pioneers Black Mountain are back with their second full-length album, In The Future. It resonates with the same epic ring, beloved deep rock touchstones and genuine folk fragility that made their self-titled debut full=length an instant classic. The new album possesses immense breadth, seamlessly showcasing short and classic folk-pop gems along with driving modern rock masterpieces.