Via: TwoThousand

Sure they’re called Animal Collective but do Brooklyn’s finest really love animals? Apparently so. Proving the band name is more than just lip service, Animal Collective have appeared in a new PETA produced seal-clubbing spot:

SAVE THE SEALS HERE

Dynamic duo The Mess Hall may be re-known for their guitar wailing and intense drumming, but after chatting with them yesterday, I found out that what they really want to do is get their groove on. “We really wanted this album to be a bit groovy,” Cec Condon, The Mess Hall’s drummer/vocalist told me. “We didn’t want it to be just flat out rock and roll. There are so many bands that are doing the whole rock and roll thing at the moment, and we’ve already done it.”

Exploring new sonic terrains of beatnik soul and rockabilly, and with production polished to the sheen, To The Birds eskews expectation. But, in the world of rock and roll, rules and expectations are made to be broken. “We wanted to head somewhere a bit more challenging and do something that we were interested in but not so used to. We wanted a break from the heavy and bombastic. We love all that stuff, but it’s good to change and experiment a bit.”

While stomping through the festival circuit in 2007 led by their AMP Award winning outing Devil’s Elbow, The Mess Hall spent a lot of time “listening to Bob Dylan recordings. We both have always listened to Nirvana and Mudhoney and grungy stuff like that, as well guitar bands like Black Mountain. But we started listening to a lot of older stuff from the 50s. I think that probably comes through on the new record.”

The slinky organ and upbeat synths on the single ‘Bell’ presage the mood of the album. Propulsive bluesy bass loops allow plenty of room for other treats though, including Jed Kurzel’s sluggish drawl twisted into a haunting echo, and layered female harmonies courtesy of Cec’s girlfriend Anna.

Singing about, among other things, the sun, the moon, stars, tree branches, river-banks and orthinology, To the Birds is aptly titled, evoking bird eye views of wide stretches of rugged terrain. “All our songs are written spontaneously. We grab our gear and start jamming. Nature references just kept coming up. I suppose it became a theme for the album.”

Song writing isn’t the only thing The Mess Hall does spontaneously. ‘Tijuana 500’ describes a drunken sojourn across the US/Mexico border. “We decided we wanted to have a bit of a night. I drunkenly exchanged 500 US dollars into Mexican pesos. We had to spend it all in one wild night.”

With arguably the world’s worst band name and a mountain of music critic jizz heaped in steaming piles all around them, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have found themselves in the comfortable position of being 2009′s first “it” band. What separates this group from other flavor-of-the-month indie acts is the simple fact that this record isn’t just another underwhleming fluff piece. Simple as they may be (and often masked by a healthy dose of fuzz) these songs are catchy as hell. Yes, this is not the most original thing you’ll hear this year. But, if you’re going to jack your sound from a bygone era, the sweet sounds of The Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, and Slowdive are great influences to draw heavily from.

The Mantles self-titled lp on Siltbreeze is, to my ears, the first record landing exactly between the otherwise widely separated worlds of indiepop and 60s garage. Other people have mentioned the similarity to Flying Nun bands and the Paisley Underground scene of early 80s San Francisco (two things that are suddenly hip again). But I think the garage element of their sound goes right back to Golden Dawn and The Mantles’ Californian predecessors The Seeds and The Chocolate Watchband. It’s a perfectly produced album and every song knocks me out.

Sorry Big Day Out, this line up surpasses your meager attempt by so far. The Black Lips, Daniel Jonhston and Echo and the Bunnymen! Yikes.

Velvet Davenport’s follow-up to Happy Endings (which they’ve put up for free here) is an incredibly awesome cassette. Released through Moon Glyph Tape, it might be one of my favorite things I’ve heard this year. Lemon Drop Square Box is a quick listen and will have you craving more, but the band accomplishes quite a bit in a short amount of time. The use of the sitar (or sitar effect, I can’t tell) and organ in ‘Drop’, and the slow moving melodies of ‘Lemon’ will have you closing your eyes watching the universe unfold on the back of your eyelids.

I’ve always been an unabashed fan of Broken Social Scene and the many splintered projects of the Toronto scene. But with the Canadian super-group’s incredible 2007 gig at Manning Bar still vividly etched on my mind, Emily Haines and Metric had big shoes to fill.

The first act of the night was Sydney’s Sherlock’s Daughter. With progressive song structures and multi-layered, harmonized vocals, they offered a swirling, psychedelic set to an appreciative crowd. Next up was flannel clad Mission Control, whose wailing guitars became tiresome after the first few songs. Ducking out for a glass of house red, the singer’s drawl still sounded like a lesser imitation of Wolf and Cubs’ from the bar.

Waiting for Metric to take to the stage, the newly rebranded “Virgin Mobile Metro” was a crowded sweatbox and I couldn’t help but think that much of this sold-out crowd were there purely based on recent Triple J airplay. When Emily Haines appeared, palpable electricity overtook the venue. Despite my initial cynicism, I too was enrapt. She oozed charisma, albeit as quiet, coy chanteuse or shaking out her blonde locks like a frenzied riot grrrl.

Opening Metric’s set was the whirring, metallic hum of ‘Twilight Galaxy’. Although a predominately Fantasies affair, old Metric favourites were littered throughout. Haines injected as much energy into the “Bam-chicka-bam chicka-boom-boom-boom chi-wa-chu-wa-boom chi-wa-chu-wa-boom” opening of ‘Monster Hospital’ as humanely possible. Along with ‘Dead Disco’, both remixed into club hits, it turned the Metro’s sticky, beer doused standing area into quite the d-floor.

The biggest crowd-pleaser however was Fantasies’ single ‘Help I’m Alive’. Opening with industrial drums pounding over Haines’ mock vulnerability “I tremble / They’re gonna eat me alive / If I stumble”, it’s wily, synth-heavy melody built up to an anthemic, sing-along chorus. For the encore, Haines pre-warned “I hope you don’t mind if I leave you with a lullaby”, before launching into an acoustic rendition of ‘Live it Out’. A subdued way to end a fun night out.

Delta-folk fuzz, spaced out psych wanderers and spirit ditties best describes the melange of sound Kurt Vile conjures up on his recent Matador release. On Childish Prodigy, Vile fits the ethos of Matador, home to both noisy punk rockers Jay Reatard and folk acts like Yo La Tengo and Cat Power, by synthesising the raw and the whimsical. Warming and hypnotic, Vile’s sophomore effort offers up a rich tapestry of sounds with many layers of discovery to reward the patient listener.

The album kicks off with the ragged Crazy Horse stomp of ‘Hunchback’. Crackling like coal on an open camp fire, ‘Dead Alive’ is a spindly finger pluck pastoral melody channelled through a broken amplifier. ‘Freak Train’ is a propulsive drag and driving number where Vile’s gritty Springstein-esque howl is heard in full force. ‘Blackberry Song’ and ‘Heart Attack’, dreamy lo-fi guitar tracks in the vein of The Microphones, flank ‘Monkey’ (a cover from Thurston Moore and Richard Hell’s 90′s Dim Stars project), which recalls the glory days of Gaslight Radio and The Go-Betweens.

Contrary to his name, Vile’s music is ghostly and gorgeous, from the soaring trumpet of ‘Amplifier’ to the quivering harmonica of ‘Inside Looking Out’, and all the reverb-drenched goodness in between.

It’s going to be called the Go-Between bridge. Yep. After The Go-Betweens.

… you think Olympia, Washington are going to be naming any of their walkways “Beat” Happening any day soon?