MIRACLES

From Clouds (N-Ron Stepping On Remix)

Brooklyn’s robber baron N-RON gives Miracles the dubstep treatment, frying the shimmering opening of this track to a crisp, hammering cymbals into clashing swords and cracking open the clouds, before the grimey bass drags it all off into the sweltering dark.

ANTIMAGIC

Trash Symmetry

Antimagic delivers weirdo vocal harmonies, driving beats played on broken down drum sets and bizzarro bass and guitar sounds as likely to be attacked for percussion as they are to suddenly morph into a groove inducing melody. Born of frustration with searching for the platonic ideal of the 3rd party (i.e. a drummer), this DIY-imposed and personalized minimalism has allowed them to embrace (or ignore) “traditional rock music group” conventions at their whim. Their songs are infused with the duo’s love of classic pop hooks, but are mutated through equal fascinations with danceable, unorthodox rhythms and tones, pre-war gospel vocals and melodies, negative space and sinew-lean arrangements.

MIRACLES

Ovum

Miracles divine a new center on this EP, moving inwards in order to radiate out. The band’s intensifying focus (and almost hermit-like reputation) might be starting to reveal the aim of their efforts – an attempt to marry the tautness and political directness of Fugazi with the spiritual introspection and homage to the infinite in the music of Lungfish. Though Miracles still cut ferociously to the direct attack more often than not, Ovum shows an increasing comfort with circling and repetition, finding alignment in the drone.  The vinyl LP, numbered and limited to 150 copies, comes beautifully packaged with a full color poster insert and covers silkscreened by the band.

LO MODA

Replica Watches

Once again making the Baltimore night seem like the dark wet streets of post-war Europe, Lo Moda’s drop-out soul sound returns with an international dance communique for the body politick. “Replica Watches continues the trail of tense, minimalist pop that falls somewhere between the Moles and Pere Ubu. Sparse organ swells, ominously crossed rhythms and percussive, scratchy guitar and viola tango around Lo ModA’s sound, with slightly Eastern European leanings that make me think of the late SF artrock combo Zmrzlina. Totally boss live (and hopefully on a somewhat sprawling stage, cuz there’s a bunch of ‘em.)”  - WFMU’s Beware of the Blog

THE VIOLET HOUR

The Violet Hour

“The Violet Hour’s (Andriana Pateris and Beth Varden) long-delayed debut CD is a strong musical manifesto: silky smooth vocal harmonies (weighty with mid-range) mixing with reverb-heavy, meditative guitar and measured drums into a hypnotizing brew. ”Peripheral Vision” is as smokily moody as its lyrics sung on “two hearts on fire.” ”Southern Cross” is remarkable for the twinkling luster of its arpeggiated opening (a likely homage to its astronomical namesake) and a stark contrast amidst a sea of more worn and foggy sounds. The track’s lyrics intertwine themes both spiritual and celestial.”   -Aural States, Baltimore

NOBLE LAKE

Heyday

Songwriter James Sarsgaard teams up with Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack of Wye Oak to produce sounds reminiscent of the dusty, string band dirge of Depression era American folk and country acts like the Carter Family and Doc Boggs as well as the bleak lyricism and bright harmonies of Richard and Linda Thompson. Firm devotees to the narrative song, Noble Lake builds a frame upon tales of itinerant travelers, drunks and self destructive lovers, environmental disaster and a shrinking world and uses it as a launching point for tightly wound acoustic tapestries that range from high lonesome, straightforward folk to ragged, pulsating drones that bring to mind the sonic terrain mined by the Dirty Three, Jack Rose and the like.

THE TALL GRASS

Look Out Clouds, Here We Come

The Tall Grass began to begin when they were asked to play, first at a screening of super 8 films, then in basements and living rooms. Having never performed a note together but protected by a longtime musical friendship and several feet of snow, songs were arranged, intentionally built on structures simple but solid, open to contribution, adjustment, push and pull by those involved. the music is constellations of instruments and voice, collections of sonic objects with collections of space between them. each song rebuilt at each playing by each player. guitar, piano, xylophone, accordion, organ, horns, aspiring to a balance of strength and fluidity, darkness and light.

“Tangled in spacey macrobiotic ambience, History at Our Disposal's Symbols in the Architecture blends organic acoustic instrumentation, bubbling electronic flourishes, warm quiet passages, jagged dissonant asides, seemingly unsystematic surges and carefully calculated movements with an expertly reserved hand. If The Books and Neutral Milk Hotel assimilated into a colossal Japanese fighting robot that performed funeral dirges for circus clowns, the sonic product might be almost as eerily wonderful as Symbols in the Architecture. Artful without being obnoxiously avant-garde, audibly accessible without compromising creative uniqueness, History at Our Disposal has created an atypical breed of album that is not content to simply add atmosphere; it constructs its own orbit.”   -The Dallas Observer