One of the more promising experimental pop bands to emerge in recent years is Portland Oregon’s Au. They just released their third consecutive EP. It is titled Versions, and is made up mostly of reworked songs from their first two releases. I usually don’t like rehash/remix EPs, but Au completely transforms their older material into something entirely new and equally as tremendous. Here is the first track, an original:

Au : Ida Walked Away

Buy Versions

Au myspace

After At War With The Mystics I had completely lost faith in the Flaming Lips‘ future album making abilities, but it turns out I jumped off the bandwagon prematurely. Thankfully on Embryonic they took a sharp turn away from Mystics‘ stadium pop drivel and went back to where they really shine, being weird. Not every song on here is a home run, but even the misses at least contain some interesting components.

The Flaming Lips : Powerless

Buy Embryonic

The Flaming Lips myspace

Photo by Lauren Dukoff

Devendra returns with yet another extraordinary effort, magically weaved together from seemingly normal, conservative musical elements. While he continues to move into more accessible territory stylistically, he still manages to retain that special intangible gift that sets him apart from the other billion folky singer songwriters. Freak scene purists may not be digging this one, but take it for what it is and I think it’s hard not to love.

Devendra Banhart : Angelika

Buy What Will We Be

Devendra Banhart myspace

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Au, Devendra Banhart, Fuck Buttons

For this mix, I worked hard to pick out the very best holiday songs I could find from the artists we heart and put them together in a dreamy, surreal, maybe creepy sort of overall piece. For instance, Evangelicals have a Christmas song b-side from somewhere, but there’s something more special about “Snowflakes” from The Evening Descends that just sets the mood I’m going for much more appropriately. I hope you enjoy, and happy holidays to all of you!

Au : I’ll Be Home For Christmas
Bodies Of Water w/ No Small Kindness : O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Snowden : White Christmas
Atlas Sound : Requiem For All The Lonely Teenagers With Passed Out Moms
My Morning Jacket : Silent Night
Death Cab For Cutie : Christmas (Baby Please Come Over)
Evangelicals : Snowflakes
Deerhoof : Little Drummer Boy
Sufjan Stevens : O Holy Night
Low : Blue Christmas

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Atlas Sound, Au, Bodies Of Water, Death Cab For Cutie, Deerhoof, Evangelicals, Low, Mixtape, My Morning Jacket, Snowden, Sufjan Stevens

I just got finished listening to Oh No Oh My‘s new EP Dmitrij Dmitrij and it was pretty damn awesome. This was my first exposure to this Austin, TX band, and they are upbeat, poppy, and sound really, really good. I highly recommend checking it out. Cable And Tweed has been touting this band for a while, so thanks to Rich for the tip. Here is the single that is making its way across the blogosphere:

Oh No Oh My : Be A Star

Buy Dmitrij Dmitrij: [MP3]

I’ve been listening to the new Tobacco album a lot lately, it is such a chill jammer. It is a shame this album came out so late in the year, because it could have been the ultimate summer album. Anyway, instead of giving you another track from that, I’m going to go old school and give you a track from Tobacco‘s band, Black Moth Super Rainbow. As a bonus, the song is remixed by The Octopus Project:

Black Moth Super Rainbow : Drippy Eye (The Octopus Project remix)

Buy Fucked Up Friends: [MP3] [CD] [LP]

In a case of can’t-tell-if-it’s-ironic-or-not, Tobacco has hired the star of those anti-smoking “truth” commercials, Derrick Beckles, to direct and act in his music videos. Here are two to check out:

Au

Emusic is giving away a sampler album for CMJ 2008, going down in New York right now. To close out this trilogy, I give you a track from it called “Sleep” by Au, the closer of their amazing album Verbs. While many bands have been doing more conservative takes of Animal Collective this year (seriously, I can’t finish El Guincho‘s album without being bored, even though it sounds nice), Au takes the aesthetic and goes completely in a psychedelic direction that is fast becoming a favourite of mine from this year. David already talked about them a bit and dropped some tracks, but here’s one more (and go get this thing right now!):

Au : Sleep

Buy Verbs: [MP3] [CD] [LP]

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Post tags: Au, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Oh No Oh My, The Octopus Project, Tobacco

intro / new coke
permanent makeup
I collect things/pow-pow
little witches
don’t look up
my face her body
parallel eyes
that’s a moray
precious moments
hand-me-downs

Expect it to be available in the month of which it is named, and another Nomen Novum to follow.

The other correction is from my last “What The Hell Am i Listening to?!?” post. I claimed Sorry No Ferrari‘s EP The Get Down Syndrome had been released “recently”, when in actuality it had been released back in 2006. I had incorrectly thought that it was the new record they are currently finishing up, but obviously it is not.

So, in both cases, there is more great music coming than I expected.

Broken Social Scene will be at The Variety Playhouse November 19th.

My Brightest Diamond will be in Atlanta December 7th.

Phosphorescent will be at the Drunken Unicorn November 7th.


CONTINUE READING Friday Free-Style (140 words)

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Annuals, Au, Nomen Novum, Sorry No Ferrari, TV On The Radio

First up, we have Au.

These guys have an interesting sound reminiscent of the carnivalesque Elephant Six stuff coming out of Athens for the last decade. The band is the work of multi-instrumentalist Luke Wyland. Begun back in 2005 while finishing up his degree from the Massachussetts College of Art and moved across the country to find its roots in the thriving community of Portland, OR. It’s now a working live band with an ever changing roster of players. It’s sound is vast and “deftly treads a narrow bridge between the loose-associations of the backwoods freak-folk crowd and the more formalized concoctions of art-poppers like Brian Eno.” Here’s a couple tracks to get you going…

Au – Are Animals

Au – rr vs. d

Here’s a video, for their song Boute…

Next up, we have High Places.

High Places’ trunk-rattling impulses are juxtaposed with a spacious, almost tranquil atmosphere, with Rob Barber’s percussion chiming and floating rather than physically hitting, and Mary Pearson’s sweetly flat vocals layered to the point that her lyrics often become indistinguishable. They hail from Brooklyn, NY and are treading in some similar water as some other NY counterparts you might recognize called Animal Collective. The tracks below are off a collection of their EP entitled 03.07-09.07 but they have a full album dropping September 23 on Thrill Jockey which finds them finally in a studio delving into better recording techniques for their material.

High Places – Head Spins (Extended Version)

High Places – Banana Slugs/ Cosmonauts

And here’s a video of some new material from a concert in London…

Lastly, I have The Lord Dog Bird for you guys.

This is moniker for the debut solo album by Wilderness guitarist Colin McCann out now on Jagjaguwar, in all its four-track humbleness. “The guitars squeal, the drums clank and the vocals crackle, and the effect is an album that evokes the moods of a cranky, disillusioned living-room recluse.” McCann’s vocals match the mournful croon of Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s Will Oldham with the intense fervor of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum. The result is emotive lo-fi music that sounds gritty and biting. Here’s a slice…

The Lord Dog Bird – The Shedding Path

The Lord Dog Bird – The Gift of Song in the Lion’s Den

Hope you guys enjoy!

© David McLendon for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Au, High Places, The Lord Dog Bird