Sunset Rubdown

Photo by David Horvitz

Earlier this week I picked up a copy of Sunset Rubdown‘s 2006 album, Shut Up I Am Dreaming. I had never listened to it before, but now I am totally obsessed with it. Then yesterday the Interwebs surprised me with a ton of Sunset Rubdown news including a tour, a new album called Dragonslayer coming out June 23, and even a single from it got released. From the sounds of it, I think this new album is going to be yet another winner from my favourite Spencer Krug band:

Sunset Rubdown : Idiot Heart

Sunset Rubdown website

Swan Lake

Spencer Krug’s supergroup team-up with Dan Bejar (New Pornographers, Destroyer) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Blackout Beach) seems to have fallen victim to the sophomore slump. Where Beast Moans found their individual talent’s amplifying one another into something greater than the sum of its parts, Enemy Mine feels more like a collection of b-sides. The Bejar songs are particularly off the mark. But that’s not to say that there isn’t still some really great parts on this album, because even a mediocre release from artists of such overwhelming aptitude has its moments. One of which is the jam at the end of this short Krug piece:

Swan Lake : Settle On Your Skin

Buy Enemy Mine

Swan Lake Myspace

Handsome Furs

Handsome Furs is a duo comprised of husband Dan Boeckner and wife Alexei Perry. Their second album, Face Control, is my first entry point into this project and the more I listen to it the more I dig it. Combining indie rock with synthetic dance beats can lead to extremely varied results, but here it seems to work rather nicely. Fellow Wolf Parader Arlen Thompson recorded and mixed the album at Mount Zoomer. Here’s a taste:

Handsome Furs : I’m Confused

Buy Face Control

Handsome Furs myspace

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Handsome Furs, Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, Wolf Parade

The new TV On The Radio album sees the band taking their sound in a more pop direction, but the departure is nowhere near as large as say, Modest Mouse‘s Good News For People Who Love Bad News. While the album is certainly a good one, it doesn’t seem as interesting as their previous work, and even the “hit” songs aren’t quite as good as the ones from Return To Cookie Mountain. Now don’t get me wrong, Dear Science is very enjoyable and I do recommend it, but in a year as great in music as 2008, it doesn’t quite measure up to the best and brightest of the year so far.

TV On The Radio : Love Dog

After catching Sunset Rubdown last week, Random Spirit Lover is back in my listening rotation. The true test of an album is being able to return to it later on and become re-obsessed. Considering they were trying out new material on tour, a new album can’t be far away. Also, an album from the other Spencer Krug project I heart, Swan Lake, is already done and awaitng release early next year, so I’m excited. Get on the bandwagon:

Sunset Rubdown : Trumpet, Trumpet, Toot! Toot!

Finally, I realized I hadn’t posted anything about Air France yet, and i couldn’t let this great EP fall through the cracks. This band does post-rave sort of chillout stuff that doesn’t fall into the cliches you would expect. No Way Down takes 23 minutes and makes them epic, again proving the capacity for the EP format to be truly great. Enjoy:

Air France : No Way Down

© Davy Minor for Ohmpark, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Air France, Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown, TV On The Radio