Miss Derringer
June 18, 2008
June 16th, The Mercury Lounge (w/ The Muslims)
L.A.’s Miss Derringer is, as they say, a little bit country and a little punk rock and roll. The band has influences and aesthetics to spare: they’re John Cash and June Carter in a 60’s girl group with a penchant for murder ballads, alcohol and Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” The Derringer color palate is all White Stripes combined with a Rocket From the Crypt swagger. All the essential elements are there.
Musically, though, the band has some room to grow. What comes through as an interesting mix and ironically dark take on modern American music in the recorded format, falls a little flat live. The responsibilities of Miss Derringer hang heavy on singer Liz McGrath, who while perfectly balancing mascara and somber with stylish and pretty, seems a little timid and small on stage. Sure the outfit is cute, but the hushed croon that works so well in headphones is no substitute for a set of live pipes. (Maybe some back-up singers might add to the image and fill out the sound?)
Still, the Invisible Friends can’t help singing “black tears through eyeliner for you…” over and over and over. Check them out with Blondie this summer, and pick up their record on Staygold Records.
Miss Derringer – “Black Tears”
Listen: Miss Derringer – “Unchained Melody” (Righteous Brothers cover)
Mates of State
June 5, 2008
The Mates of State are all things cute and couple-y, playing domesticated and child-rearing indie-pop music based on keys and drums, inoffensive harmonies and affable pop sensibilities. They return with their new album, Re-Arrange Us, replete with multi-layered album cover and internet-based games. (Fun for the whole family!)
Re-Arrange Us sounds a lot like the Mates have sounded in the past. It’s an album you can dance around the kitchen with kids to, and you will certainly find yourself humming its ridiculously catchy “now now now now now now now… hoo hoo hoo hoo… dada da dada dada da’s” on the way to work. Play it on a rainy day, and you just might invoke sunshine; play it to Hillary Clinton, and she might just hug Obama.
It’s an album of lively pianos, upbeat drumming and boy-girl harmonies. And of course the warm fuzzies don’t stop there. The video for the first single, “Get Better,” features a multitude of friendly animal faces pasted on friendly human bodies riding scooters to cupcakes, balloons, streamers, and oops… suicide bombers.
Detonation, however, results in sparkles, choreography and children bearing flowers… the Department of Homeland Security is currently busying itself undertaking intensive arts and crafts courses focused on strategic woodland creature mask-making. Si se puede.
Listen: “My Only Offer” from Re-Arrange Us, available on Barsuk Records
“Get Better”
Invisible Songs vol. 17
June 5, 2008
Cansei de Ser Sexy
The invisible friends are back!
1. CCS – “Rat is Dead (Rage)“
2. French Kicks – “Abandon“
3. Annuals – “Sore“
4. Gentleman Auction House – “The Book of Matches“
5. Ladytron “Black Cat“
6. Vancougar – “Obvious“
7. Young and Sexy – “The Fog“
8. Robert Pollard – “Gratification to Concrete“
9. Flight of the Conchords – “Business Time“
10. My Brightest Diamond – “Inside a Boy“
Say Hi
March 4, 2008
The artist formerly known as Say Hi To Your Mom (secret identity: Eric Elbogen), currently shortened to Say Hi (as in to no one in particular, and particularly not your mother), returns in 2008 with The Wishes and the Glitch, released again on Elbogen’s Euphobia imprint.
One might speculate that the last three words in the band’s name were lost somewhere in the midwest, amongst a trail of Brooklyn artifacts and shards of the east coast on their way to the Pacific Northwest. It may also be a case of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah backlash, though we’ll never know.
Despite the change in name and backing personnel, Elbogen continues on the trajectory towards catchy lo-fi indie-pop greatness hinted at on last record, Impecable Blahs, and the Invisible Friends’ favorite, “These Fangs.” Gone is the obsession with vampires, as adjustment to his new base of operations is the theme of The Wishes and the Glitch’s opener, “Northwestern Girls,” during which Elbogen seems to have found his inner Will Sheff.
Elbogen’s songs remain compact and appealing in their sense of deceptive effortlessness. Despite dropping topics related to all things undead, the overarching tone of the record is a dusky melancholy, but somehow retains a sense of pop-likability (see “Toil and Trouble”). It’s like the seasonal affective disorder shows, but Elbogen can’t help but sing about it accompanied by cute falsetto back ups and clever hand claps.
Order the record directly on the bands’ website below.
Listen: “Northwestern Girls“, “Toil and Trouble“, “Zero To Love” from The Wishes and the Glitch, available from Euphobia Records.
