It's that time of year again: time for NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. Yesterday, Rudy Meier of Wetbrain shared a solo contribution. Filmed at Lampshade Studios by Kris Khunachak with audio handled by Connor Hanson, the video showcases Meier's virtuosity and the level of complexity it's possible to achieve with just one person and an acoustic guitar.
Check out "Two-Way Mirror." As a reminder, Bandcamp are waiving their fees for all artists today, March 20th; so it's a great day to purchase some of Wetbrain's (or any other band's) music over there.
NPR's "Tiny Desk Concert" series is a staple of the world of musical social media. Artists head into the Washington, DC offices of NPR and perform stripped down versions of their songs to the assembled NPR staff. There have been some great ones. Off the top of my head, I can think of recent performances by Beach Slang, Hop Along, and Mitski. T-Pain gave a particularly revelatory performance. Basically, if your favorite artist has been in the midst of an album cycle at any time in the last several years, they've probably played at the Tiny Desk.
Last year, NPR gave unsigned, undiscovered talent the opportunity to vie for a spot at the desk when they launched the "Tiny Desk Contest." Bands submitted a new video and were entered for the opportunity to perform their own Tiny Desk Concert. Fantastic Negrito took the title, but there were tons of great submissions. Just this past Monday night, as a matter of fact, I got a little misty watching YJY perform as I thought back on the fact that my first introduction to them was through their Tiny Desk Contest video for "Through Being Hip."
In that spirit of discovery, I figured I'd share a few of the local-ish submissions with you here. If you or your band have done a video for this year's contest, let me know and I'll try to post it up here. If you haven't done one and would like to, I think you have until February 2nd.
This batch includes the upbeat folk pop of Fun While You Wait, the amazing solar-powered, homemade prog of Homeless Apians, the hippy pop of The Porchistas, and the epic alt rock of Wyland.
Head over to the Tiny Desk Contest site to check out the rules and to browse through all the videos posted so far. You may find a new favorite band.
Without naming names, I'll let you know that I saw a little Twitter back and forth today that reminded me of some bands that have been circling the periphery of my consciousness. Whether it's through a mention at another site like our friends at Speak Into My Good Eye, a Facebook like, or a Twitter follow, I'll notice a band and say to myself, "Gotta check them out." I'm easily distracted, though, so it's kind of a best laid plans thing sometimes if you know what I mean.
Anyway, one of those bands is YJY, a New Jersey quartet who appear to be dabbling in some of the sounds I really like. They put out a video last week for their song "Through Being Hip" that SIMGE shared with us. I finally gave it the clickeroo today, and it's a good one.
On this song, YJY are doing that kind of Real Estate thing, winding and wrapping their single-coil guitar sounds around each other as they sing of retiring from the hipster lifestyle. The video is also an audition for NPR's Tiny Desk Contest. If YJY get enough shares of the vid with the hashtag #TinyDeskContest by January 19th, they'll get to perform a "Tiny Desk Concert."
Check out the video below, and maybe give the guys a share if you like it.
Now onto the next thing I probably should've mentioned by now.
I've pointed out before that Bergen County's The Front Bottoms have a loyal and rabid following. It's well-deserved as Brian Sella, Matt Uychich, and the rest of the band have this way of drawing people into their funny and deeply personal universe.
I reviewed their current album, Talon of the Hawk, earlier this year; and I think the band are beginning to deliver on that album's promise of wider success.
They have a sold-out show coming up at The Stone Pony at the end of this month. For those who missed out on those tickets, here's a live performance the band did at the Tiny Desk of All Songs Considered.
NPR used to be the place to get your early fix of the latest mindie music coming down the 'pike. Then Pitchfork Advance came along, and it felt like the well had gone a little dry over at public radio. Well, they're back on their game now, recently giving us the latest from Waxahatchee and now The Chronicles of Marnia from shredder extraordinaire, Marnie Stern.
So far, this latest album is sounding like Stern's most poppy and accessible yet. Stern's still got the same... ...unique... voice, and she continues to burn up the fretboard; but it all comes out sounding like some slightly off-kilter, joyous pop. The songs that grab me right out of the gate are "Noonan," "East Side Glory," and since I'm always a sucker for an Infinite Jest reference, "Year of the Glad."
Stream The Chronicles of Marnia via the NPR player. The album is due out March 19th on Kill Rock Stars.
Earlier this week, NPR published a piece on Joe Strummer to mark the tenth anniversary of his unexpected death. It's the only such article I've personally seen so far. I feel like there ought to be more.
Don't know how I missed this until now, but NPR has been streaming the upcoming second full-length from Brooklyn's Fang Island. I really enjoyed their self-titled debut, and Major appears to continue their mission of making everyone feel good. The combination of seventies-style guitar and keyboard freakouts and relentlessly positive lyrics is going to make for a good running soundtrack, I think.
Major is due out on July 24th and should be streaming until then. Check it out and see what you think.
While I was away, NPR started streaming what may end up being the album of the year for me. Single "The House That Heaven Built" has already been one of my favorites this year. At 8 songs, 35 minutes, the full album takes me back to some of the best of the Replacements.
Japandroids' Celebration Rock gets an official release on June 5th, just in time to blast from your car windows or to annoy your neighbors during your backyard barbecues.
NPR.org is piling it on this week, making "First Listens" of albums by two dream pop duos available. Both Beach House's Bloom and Exitmusic's Passage figure to place highly on many year-end lists this year.
I've finally listened to both of them, and I think I prefer the darker, more downbeat entry from Exitmusic. Though, check them both out for yourself. They figure to be available for streaming until the albums' official releases. Don't expect to be dancing in your bedroom.
Update: Forgot to mention that Best Coast's The Only Place is also streaming this week. Go check that out, too. Either via NPR or maybe you can just hear it being piped over the sound system at Urban Outfitters.
