A few of months ago my friend introduce me to a band while we were playing the game Have you heard of this band? over email. The one that got my attention was an English band named Chapel Club.  I did my research on Youtube and was pretty much hooked from the beginning. Unfortunately I had to wait to download their album at the time, because they weren’t release here in the States yet. So I waited and waited and I finally got to download their album on Itunes last month and it was definitely worth it.

Have a listen.

Chapel Club -The Shore by Nadinchen

Chapel Club – ‘All The Eastern Girls’ by east city records

Here’s one of my favorite Christmas songs done by She & Him.

Here are two bands that really caught my attention over the past months. The first band is called Gentle Touch. They’re a Swedish band that plays more of the synth pop genre and reminds me a lot of a German synth pop band named Camouflage. If you can’t remember Camouflage, they had a pretty big hit back in the 80′s with their song “The Great Commandment“.  Here’s a sample video of Gentle Touch

The next band is Beach House. They’ve been around since 2004, and released three albums so far.  Teen Dream, their latest album, is one that I can not stop playing. Whether it’s the music, melody or Victoria Legrand’s vocals I’m not too sure, but I just keep coming back to this album.

Please have a listen.

Tell me that didn’t get your ears perked up. I know you want more, so here’s some more.

Hi Everyone. The  National posted their tour dates and you can find the list here. It looks like they’re playing at the Wiltern on May 21st and 22nd which is a Friday and Saturday. I need to find my way to one of those shows!

A couple of weeks ago the NY Times website had a pretty in-depth article about The National and their whole musical process. It seems to me after reading the story I would fail miserably as a band member. Not only because  I can’t play an instrument, but it seems pretty stressful at times and I’m a pretty no drama type of guy. Highlighting the article was all their songs off of the new High Violet album available for free streaming. I read on another forum that the NY Times took it down, but NPR now has it up, so go to their site and check it out. I believe you’ll find at least one song that you’ll connect with.

And last but not least, Pitchfork has a wonderful series called Castle Rock where bands would play live in abandoned castle that overlooks the Hudson River.  Here are the videos for your viewing pleasure.

This is going to be short and sweet. The National just released their single “Bloodbuzz Ohio“. You can also download it here for free.   That’s the sweet part. If this single is any indication of what their next album is going to be like, you can count me in.

One more thing, the band is going to be playing at The Wiltern in LA May 21 & 22 (Friday and Saturday night folks!) The new album drops May 11. Can’t wait.

The other night I was looking for new bands to listen to and I stumbled upon this gem of a band.  Taking their name from a character from the movie Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, the female trio from Brooklyn produces soft synth pop beats over laid with lovely female vocals.  Their music is described as hip, alt-folk, synth, soft electronic, and  you just can’t help  feeling really relax when listening to them. If you’re looking for something soft and poppy Au Revoir Simone might be the band you’re looking for. Check out this vid.

The first one is a band called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They’re an indie pop band from New York and I have to admit I was hesitant about them at first, but I couldn’t resist. I kept on coming back to them and listening a bit at a time (I mentioned awhile back that I’m weird like that). They have a self titled album which I suggest listening to it loud.  They are on tour and I believe they’re playing at the Echo in LA on the 20th of this month and in San Diego sometime in September. Here’s a couple of videos from their album (last video is some tribute I believe).

The other band is called The Bridal Shop. They’re from…wait for it…you guessed it, Sweden. They have a sound similar to Radio Dept, but I would say cleaner in the electronic side of things, but still kind of shoegazeresque. Have a listen to “From Seas“.

The Legends just released their new album Over and Over today and it has about 12 songs. I haven’t bought it yet, but what I’ve heard it’s not too bad (I know that doesn’t sound good).  Some songs are very distortion heavy and others are more on the regular  indie pop sound. I tend to listen to the songs and come back at another time and listen to songs again and then buy them. I know, I’m weird.

The Radio Dept. released a new single called “David” and I  found it on another music site called Brooklyn Vegan. Here’s the link to the song.  It sounds pretty cool and I hope they tour on the west coast when their album comes out.

Last week I saw Camera Obscura and I’m still not over it yet. For a fix I just watch the video below.

Tuesday night was a great kick off for the summer concert series with Camera Obscura. They were at the Glass House in Pomona and I was glad that it was only thirty minutes away.  Cara, my friend Rob and I got there around 7:30pm, which is pretty damn early to think of it.  We didn’t realize until later that they had two bands opening for them, actually a DJ and a band called Agent Ribbons.  Camera Obscura wasn’t going to play until 9:40, so we took our time and Rob bought tickets for the Band of Horses concert at the Glass House box office.  They’re actually playing at the newly restored Fox Theater in downtown Pomona in late August. I still got to get the tickets.

Hurry up payday.

After Rob and his girlfriend Suzie got a bite to eat (Suzie showed up later), we decided to finally show our faces at 9:00. It was an interesting scene to say the least. I overheard the singer say to the audience that they will cut their show short due to her voice, but that wasn’t the interesting point. It was a man with a bird mask hitting a tambourine against his left handed boxing glove which caught my attention. I felt like I was in a David Lynch movie. The stage was very Twin Peaks with the red drapes in the  background, so I guess it makes sense. I wish I had a picture to show you, but this might do.

Camera Obscura came out as promised at 9:40 and I believe they opened up with “My Maudlin Career”. I have to say they sounded really good live and Tracyanne’s voice just resonates so well. When she sings, it just pierces through the air. They played a couple of songs from their new album like, “James”, “Swans”, and of course the danceable “French Navy”.  They went back in the archives and played “Eighties Fan” which is off of Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi. They played many of their other songs especially off of Let’s Get Out of this Country, probably their most popular album. Of course they played “If Looks Could Kill” and their encore song of choice,  my beloved “Razzle Dazzle Rose”.  They did mess up in the beginning and had to start over, but I’m totally fine with that. They’re human after all and it was funny to hear Tracyanne joked that they played this song for two weeks and they still screwed the song up.  After they found their sync, the song was amazing live  just as I imagined it would be.  It was at the end of the song where it was a glorious chaos of instruments all playing at the same time with the signature horn keeping it all together.

If I had the time and money, I would definitely see them again in LA. They’re a great live band and I wished they would of played for another hour. I believed their set was roughly around a hour and fifteen minutes. If they would of gone more, I’m sure nobody would of complained.

I would say the only weird thing about the night, besides bird man, was the vibe of the crowd. Some people were getting into the music and I understand not all of their songs are danceable or upbeat, but it just felt like the crowd was not all there. It was like a group of zombies staring at the stage. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but you would think people would be more excited about a band who rarely comes out to the states to be more into it.  I’m pretty sure bird man was excited.

Here’s some videos for your entertainment.

Okay here’s a gem. This is their cover of “Some Guys Have All the Luck” by Rod Stewart. Golden.

“French Navy”

“Let’s Get Out of This Country” aka “Let’s Get Out Riverside” for my version.

Here’s the original Alternate video for Slowdive’s “Alison”

P.S. I mentioned on my last post about the latest Legends album being released on May 6th. Well, I messed up again and it’s actually being released here in the U.S on June 16th. May 6th was the released date for all the other cool countries I guess.  Sorry for the confusion.