Damion Suomi Has A Drink On Us

In listening to Damion Suomi's self-titled album the first thing that popped in my head is a drunken night at a pub somewhere with pint glasses in hand, cheering along to every song hoping that the night will never end. The songs on his Damion Suomihave a sing along quality about that them that make me think of a cross between the likes of Dropick Murphys, Love Spit Love, and Social Distortion.

Damion Suomihas loads of songs that are gritty, funny, and emotionally tug at your heartstrings continually until you can just about hold it all in. It's a fantastic album because of the folksy, homey, and warm sounding songs, that are held together by an abrasive undercurrent that give them just a bit of tension. Damion's songs are drinking songs, fighting songs, romantic songs and they all hit you at different angles depending on your mood. "What A Wonderful Game," is a perfect example of how he writes folky songs that are slightly rude and anthemic that are brilliant and will have you yelling, "I love you maaaan."

Damion doesn't lob anything complicated at the listener here. Instead, he uses acoustic instruments to the height of their effectiveness and he strums his guitar as if his life or next beer depended on it. With the sounds of breaking bottles in the background Damion's gravelly voice drags you along from bar to bar and story to story and makes you raise a glass in honor of his struggles. It's a toast well deserved, because he's come up with one heck of "blues-folk," record that's just about the most rock n' roll thing you could hope to hear.

Damion Suomiis the best night out you can have without ever leaving your living room. Damion Suomi's tales of heartbreak, drunkenness, and despair are just about legendary and he's done an amazing job of funneling those stories into songs that hit their mark repeatedly.

An Asa Ransom Release

Asa Ransom graced New York with it's presence in June of 2008. The band came together in Marion, Indiana a few years earlier, but it wasn't until Jacob Bills, Daniel Voivin, Darryl Specht met Bobby Gray in New York that the bunch of them banded together to form Asa Ransom. Not even a year into their existence and the band have already played the NY circuit to death and recorded their debut album, An Asa Ransom Release.

It's almost hard to believe that this band has only really been a band for nine months judging by the song craft on An Asa Ransom Release. This is clearly a band that has gotten itself together, organized, formed a plan, and adopted a gang mentality in an effort to create a really good record. By about the third song, it's obvious that this approach is working as An Asa Ransom Release is a superb debut from a band who are well beyond their err months (you can't even say years because this band is THAT new).

An Asa Ransom Release is something like a David Byrne record intermixed with Siouxsie and the Banshees guitar riffs, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds theatrics. It's an intense record that embraces a post punk philosophy and then shakes it up a bit into some strange concoction that doesn't seem right but sounds moody, dark, and bloody brilliant. It's a weirdrecord that somehow manages to be poppy while still being angular and a bit atonal. It's constantly changing it's atmospherics but keeps that philosophy of taking things that are accepted and turning them into something more. Check out the oddly titled, "Man With Tuba and Wife," or the rolling tribal drums and twisted story of, "Strangeways In Pale of Splendor," for shining examples of their philosophy.

With such bizarre titles, Asa Ransom might come off as a bit pretentious. But, in all honestly, when you have tunes that can back up the pretentiousness, who really cares if the songs read like twisted pieces of art work created by guys who smoke clove cigarettes? An Asa Ransom Release, doesn't care and as a result it's a brilliant thrill ride that plunders post punk, theater, kitsch, and rock and roll to create a heady stew of music that's completely over our heads but still finds a way to hit us where it hurts.

Asa Ransom might not even be a year old yet, but after listening to An Asa Ransom Release this is a band that sounds better than some of their veteran peers. They write fantastic pop songs that are twisted and dynamic and unafraid to try new things. By adopting such a philosophy so early on in their careers they might just make it past their debut...here's hoping anyway.

Harlem Shakes Checks It's Technicolor Health

Named after the bandmembers favorite dance move, Harlem Shakes is the latest and greatest band to fly out of the fertile hotbed of indie that is Brooklyn. I know it's hard to believe but with so many bands breaking out of the area, Brooklyn is once again becoming the center of the musical universe. I'm not sure what it is they put in the water, but Harlem Shakes must have been drinking it by the gallon up there because they're a brilliant band and their debut album, Technicolor Health is a fly out of the gates hit.

Mixing the sound of old New York with new New York, Harlem Shakes sound like a sloppy gooey mess of Strokesian guitars, MGMT worldbeat, and oddly enough Decemberists indie pop. It's a bizarre cocktail of sounds that's meaty beaty big and bouncy and is a jumpy, skittish pop treat that has a hard time sitting still long enough to be pinned down into any one sound or sub-genre. The result of this is an album that's all over the place but is united in it's desire to be stupendously melodic and incredibly catchy. The Shakes do an amazing job of combining their skittish mannerisms into something that has more pop sensibility than Simon Cowell could ever dream of.

Throughout, Technicolor Health  odd time signatures, strange sounds, pianos, weird choruses, and a host of other strange things come at you from different directions and collide in your eardrums at the same time. When your brain finishes sorting it all out, it's as if The Shakes have taken you on a sugar rush of epic proportions. Their frivolous and jolly tunes are made out of pure cane sugar that taste so good that repeated servings and cavities are expected.

Harlem Shakes are clearly a band that understands how to construct a melody and how to write a song that will linger with you like your in-laws. From the unbelievable chorus stuck in the middle of (SONG #3) to the drum machine beats and bits of horn on (SONG #5) Technicolor Health  is a non-stop party of harmonic goodness. They layer all that goodness in there and spread the melodies thick making a deliciously delightful concoction that's so simple but oh so effective that the phrase resistance is futile seems only appropriate.

Yeah, Harlem Shakes are from Brooklyn but with songs as good as the ones that are on Technicolor Health  who cares. This is a band that pretty much is the definition of what indie rock is all about in 2009; their fun, their melodic, their in tune to the musical world around them, and they have tunes by the tons. In other words, Harlem Shakes are one of the best new bands around this year and you should do yourself a favor and find Technicolor Health . Oh, and they're playing the Harvest of Hope festival March 8th in St. Augustine, if you're going be sure and check them out.

Mansions Come Of Age

What if, you know, there were good emo songs? A difficult concept to get your head around, I'll admit, but it's a concept that Mansions grasp and have created a record with that very idea in mind. Their album, New Best Friends, is filled with over emotional songs that are actually worth listening to.

Led by, Christopher Browder, Mansions create swirling walls of noise that are warped into melodic chaos that sounds as if someone threw a bunch of shoegazing records in with Mineral's greatest hits. New Best Friends is an album that has a sense of epicness about it while still having a strong sense of what a good short pop song is all about. Browder has clearly made a record that wants to be more than just a stereotype and despite having the occasional pitfall, he succeeds.

While there are moments on New Best Friends that sound as if they've been pulled from the emo handbook to writing songs for girls, there are also songs that are hilarious, and hit home in all the best ways; check out, "Talk, Talk, Talk," and "Gotta Be Alone," for some shining examples of this. In listening to New Best Friends, one can't help but wonder if Browder has ever had a really cool girlfriend. He seems so depressed throughout this record and so many of the songs on New Best Friends just make you want to take him aside like a brother and go, "Dude, it'll all work out...trust me."

Despite an overwhelming desire to help Christopher, his misery and suffering over relationships makes for good listening as New Best Friends is really a good record that grows on you over time. In the end, Mansions avoids the many pitfalls of so many other emo bands by keeping a smile on their face and writing music that yearns to be so much more than just emo. Mansions ethereal sound mixed with a touching record will either strike a nerve or remind you of what it was like growing up and that's a good thing.  New Best Friends is a coming of age record for Christopher Browder and if he's come this far at such a young age, his adulthood should be amazing, musically speaking.

Handsome Furs Cash In Their Sound Kapital

The Handsome Furs are a husband wife duo who channel their inner Reid Brothers, their inner goth, dabble with synths, and put it all together into the form of life changing pop songs whose distorted hooks will linger with you for an eternity. Their third album, Sound Kapital is a brilliantly put together work of pop that's slightly dark and yet optimistic. It's an album packed to the rafters with tales of innocence and experience that clearly lives for the moment.


Sound Kapital is a rich pop record whose hooks are far from subtle and manage to reel you in within seconds of their refrain. It's a sugar coated darkly delicious treat that sounds raw and rough but allows it's songs to shine through. This is the sort of record that begs the question, if Mates and States are the cuddly couple of indie rock, does that then make the Handsome Furs the dysfunctional, screwed up couple who are stuck in counseling?

Recorded exclusively on keyboards the album apparently forced the band's hand by challenging them to write songs outside of their comfort zone and after about fifteen minutes into Sound Kapital you realize this was a very good thing. In fact, this record is so good here's hoping that they never pick up a guitar again. Sound Kapital is a great record that probably shouldn't be but The Handsome Furs are so proficient at what they do, it can't help but be anything but good. From the pseudo-industrial hit, "What About Us," to the noisy disjointed nature of, "When I Get Back," Sound Kapital rarely disappoints. And that’s capital you can bank on!

Funeral Party's Bootleg

Funeral Party's three song Bootleg EP is a blast of post punk disco funk that will most assuredly light dance floors on fire where ever it is played. Sounding something like an Americanized Bloc Party meets old Moving Units and a vocalist who has strep throat, the Bootleg EP is a speedy, jaunty little record that is by far too short.

The three songs here, "Car Wars," "NYC Moves To The Sound of LA," and "Chalice," are raw, rough, and hardly produced just like the best post punk records of the 80's. Bootleg is an aggressive record that announces its presence, busts down the doors, takes over the DJ booth, plays what it wants to hear and doesn't really care what you think. In other words it's deadly and dangerous stuff just like rock and roll should be.

The Bootleg EP is a brilliant taster that only starts to hint at how brilliant this band is at creating dance floor bombs that rock as much as they roll. Highly recommended.

The Randy Bandits' Golden Arrow

The Randy Bandits aren't a roving band of crazy Scotsman singing raunchy songs and limericks. Oh no, they're nothing quite that windswept or exotic, but the Bandits do hail from that super trendy music spot known as Brooklyn, New York and sound nothing like the usual bands from that city.

Confused by all this geography? Don't worry about it because really all that you need to know is that the Randy Bandits and their new album, Golden Arrow, sound like an amalgamation of large doses of Americana mixed with a dose of California, and a sprinkling of blues and soul. It's a mixture of ingredients that leads to songs that sound soulful, countrified, dusty, and dear. Their album, Golden Arrow, is filled with violins, steel guitars, Hammond B3's (or organ in any case), and twangy vocals leaving a record that sounds more like it came from Memphis than the state of New York.

Golden Arrow at it's best is a countrified trip from the East Coast to the West Coast through the Deep South, the plains and prairies. It's a pastoral record that yearns for the simple life without a broken heart and it's songs are a constant reflection of this. From the banjo and countrified harmonies of, "Western Winds." to the bluesy Memphis horns of, "Loraine," Golden Arrow is the best soulful country record to ever come out of the northeast.

The Randy Bandits might not be British and bawdry or New Yorkers and hip, but they are good at what they do. And what they do is write songs that sound like they've come from another time and place. It's because of that separation of time and era that Golden Arrow is such a charming bluesy folksy little rock and roll record. They don't make many records like this anymore and they certainly don't make many in Brooklyn!

Suckers Are Anything But

The latest and greatest band from Brooklyn is the merger between the sounds and aesthetics of three one-man bands playing together.  Pan, Quinn, and Austin came together only to realize that their multi-tasking musicality was missing something and that's when Brian Aiken showed up, filled the gap, and united them all.  With the band solidified the band gathered up steam and hit their stride recording this little EP simply known as Suckers.


Picked up by the ever impressive IAMSOUND label, the band is the latest group to meld just about everything they can find into some sort of pop that's melodic and alluring without sounding too New York.  Perhaps sounding a bit like MGMT meeting a gospel choir in the church of the Cold War Kids, Suckers is anything but suckers as they don't fall for being just another indie rock band.  Weaving a hypnotizing blend of orchestral pop that's lush, swirling, and slightly psychedelic the four songs that make up Suckers are a spacey affair that rejoices at the fact that pop music can be so much more than just guitars, drums, and vocals.


At just four songs, Suckers is a tempting invitation in to the world of this Brooklyn band.  An invitation that's hard to deny because of their dramatic ethereal pop that shoots for the stars and just about gets there.   This is a great band in the making and here's hoping that a debut album is behind this short tease of a record.

White Denim Get Exposion

One of the hottest buzz bands, if not the hottest, in 2008 was White Denim. This Austin, Texas group came out of South by Southwest and essentially set the world on fire creating an uproar in the blogosphere and generating more press than a Chicago political corruption case. It really shouldn't have come as a surprise or undeserved as White Denim had been quietly toiling away since their inception in 2005 plotting their rise to fame.


Well here it is in 2009 and the time is right for White Denim to explode. Taking their popularity by the horns, the band have completed their debut album, Exposion and released it upon the world. Was it worth the wait and worth the hype? Hmm, I'm not sure about that to be honest, but Exposion is a good indie rock record that actually sounds more like the current crop of New York bands than anything that's come out of Texas recently.


Perhaps a bit like Vampire Weekend or a less keyboard driven MGMT, White Denim are an excitable hard to contain group that jumps around genres and song structures as if they were playing hopscotch. Despite the quick jumps and changes, this lack of self control and constant desire to switch gears mid song is what really makes them so entertaining. They are unpredictable and just quirky enough to make it seem as though all music is supposed to be like this. Amazingly, throughout all this foolishness, the band never loses site of it's pop sensibility framing all of this randomness into the form of melodies, harmonies, and songs you can't forget.


Exposion's rarely calm songs center around spiky or strummed guitars, horns, quirky rhythms, strange vocal chants, and a bit of a psychedelic vibe. On paper it reads and sounds like it wouldn't be all that appealing, but in actuality it does and White Denim do a good job of turning songs that should be bad into something addictively good. "Don't Look That Way At It," for example, should really be one of the most annoying songs ever with it's "Yah Yah Yah," refrain, but instead it's hypnotically effective as approximately fifteen different rhythms make up the song and keep it moving forward. It's an exhausting little tune and it's the first one on the album.  That being said, you don't even want to get me started on their instrumentals.


They might have been over hyped, but White Denim are a good band worthy of your attention. Exposion is a fine effort of quirky hard to pin down pop that jumps around like a boxer on defense. It's a bit weird and a bit off center but it's pretty good and definitely worth a listen or twelve.

Shearwater and The Snow Leopard

Last year, Shearwater were praised by blogs and the music press everywhere and their album Rook was rated as one of the best of the year. But after listening to the bands recent EP, The Snow Leopard I just don't get it.


Shearwater seems so melancholic and depressed they would put goths to shame. The Snow Leopard is a psychiatric session waiting to happen; it's a moany, whiny record that is so utterly boring I found it difficult to stay awake. Thank heavens this thing is an EP, as if it were an entire album there might have been some issues.


It's ashame because, musically this band has something to offer. They're intimate noodling and swoony guitar riffs could rival anything that Jason Molina has done, but instead they get lost in the prozac haze which makes up this record. What could have been a touching, pastoral and autumnal record becomes nearly unlistenable because of just how drawn out and agonizing the vocals are. It's painful to hear. In other words, some people can sing and some people can't and Shearwater vocalist, Jonathan Meiburg really shouldn't try as he sounds like a very, very old hound dog on his last leg.


At eight songs, The Snow Leopard will undoubtedly please those who find this band charming, but for the rest of us, it will simply be too much to handle. I tried to like this I really did, but it's just hard when what you're listening to gives you a headache.

The Real Tuesday Weld Has Read The London Book of the Dead

When you think of theatrical themed pop, The Real Tuesday Weld should be the first name you think of. Throughout the illustrious career of Stephen Coates, he's quietly perfected his crooning style of pop that while electronically based, harks back to the days when people could actually sing and there were bands to back the big voices up. He's a fascinating talent and writes some of the classiest indie pop you are likely to hear and when you add to that the fact you can dance to his tunes it's even more impressive.

While The Real Tuesday Weld released an album last year entitled, The End Of The World, for some strange reason 2007's The London Book Of The Dead has recently come across my desk. Is this a reissue?  Or am I safe in assuming that we here in the US are about two albums behind and that The London Book Of The Dead was previously only available on import. Regardless of the reason, at least we get to hear this record in some form instead of having to hunt it down online.

Anyway, The London Book Of The Dead is probably the most theatrical of all RTW's work to date. In fact, the album sounds as if it were part cabaret and part Klezmer; it's loungey, swinging, orchestrated, and frivolous in it's nature. It's fun stuff that will make you reach for you top hat and cane. Songs like "Kix," illustrate this point perfectly as RTW borrows from the classic, "I Get My Out of You," and loops it into a folksy waltzy big band tune. It's an alluring and fetching moment that hints at why The London Book Of The Dead is such an enjoyable listen.

To be honest, much of The London Book Of The Dead is superbly enjoyable. It's combination of kitsch and theatrics make the album a real treat to listen to. This is a campy, orchestral, lush record that's like a waltz back in time. From the piano ballad, "Into the Trees," and the lazy horns of, "Bringing the Body Back Home," to the orchestrated under water sounds of, "Blood Sugar Love," The London Book Of The Dead is like going to see the strangest but coolest musical you've ever seen.  It's one show you don't want to miss.

Little Joy Is A Joy

Little Joy answers the question of what The Strokes would sound like if they were stranded on a desert island. This trio made up of Binki Shapiro, Rodrigo Amarante, and Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti came together by chance. Through a random encounter at a Portuguese festival Rodrigo and Fabrizio began to chat and continued to chat for ages which led to the idea of working on music that was nothing like their particular band. A year or so later, the three members took a break from their bands, tours, and hometowns and headed to Los Angeles with the goal or making a pop record. With Little Joy now in the shops, and the buzz starting to build the band has obviously achieved their goal.

Little Joy is a laid back record that's a bit lo-fi and lo-gloss. It's an album filled with lazy pop that while hinting at being a bit Strokesian, lack the pretension and attitude of that band. You can hear the stress free nature of the Little Joy recording process as this record plays on and on, it's as if putting together Little Joy was the most fun the three members of the band had ever had. In other words, this is Little Joy getting to be just a band and having fun just playing songs together.

The songs throughout Little Joy shuffle along unobtrusively as if they couldn't be bothered with actually rocking out. The lo-fi instrumentation and barely there production makes this record charming as can be. A song like, "Don't Ever Watch Me Dancing," is a perfect example of the shy, intimate pop that Little Joy create. With muted horns, sighed vocals, gently strummed guitars, and an airy feel the song is absolutely adorable pop. Even the groups acoustic songs, such as, "Evaporar," hit their mark because they sound like Little Joy were on vacation and recorded them around a campfire on the beach. Being lazy or on vacation has never sound so good.

While Little Joy is nothing more than a side project for it's members, Little Joy manages to be far more than just a throwaway album. This is a group of musicians gathered together with no higher aspiration than to have fun and every song on Little Joy reflects that. It's unconcerned and carefree attitude makes it a joy to listen to. While most drummers rarely make good albums on the side, let be said that Little Joy is one of the few keepers out there.