Label: Mt. Fuji Records
Album: Wooden Bones
Artist: Follow That Bird
Genre: Alternative, Rock
"Ahhh"--a sigh of relief is what Follow That Bird's Wooden Bones is more than deserving of with Lauren Green's deeper-toned vocals separating the band from the genre's many oh-so-soprano counterparts. (ie. the female-lead mellow rock bands of the early-to-late 2000's: Eisley, Metric, Gregory and the Hawk, etc.) Feels like we haven't gotten our share of silky-smooth alto vocals like this since the days of Fleetwood Mac. Not only are they finally here, they're perfectly layered over variations of a guitar/bass/drums combo manifested into rockin' indie greatness. Matador Records President Gerard Cosloy called the trio "one of the best bands in the country for a couple years now." Wooden Bones is a single album that consists of two tracks: "Wooden Bones" and "Antlers." The full-length album is due to debut this fall and the band is embarking on a nation-wide tour that spans the rest of the year and then some.
Label: ant-zen
Album: slaves of capital
Artist: proyecto mirage
Genre: Industrial
Trance-endental would be the perfect word to describe the very new-age, very hypnotizing 11-track compilation that is slaves of capital. This is one to break out the best headphones you've got for. The rapid shifts in sounds from your right to left ear literally allow you to feel the music moving through your head. Don't know what I'm talking about? Trust me, prior to this record I wouldn't have either. And it's definitely an experience worth having. The sounds are so complex and so many that you give up even trying to keep up almost immediately and just succumb to the ridiculously stimulating meditative state it pulls you into. If you're feeling more extroverted than headphones would allow for, crank this one up (yeah... all the way) in your car and feel yourself submerged in high-intensity techno-industrial bliss--especially if you're looking to give those party nights a serious blast of electro-psychedelic energy. This is the sixth full-length album by the Spanish duo who released their first tracks together on the verge of the millennium.
Label: Triangle Earth
Album: Ohncet
Artist: Dino Felipe
Genre: Alternative, Pop, Rock, Dance
It's no surprise upon listening to Ohncet that Dino Felipe chose to name it after a slightly rearranged backwards spelling of the word "techno." His electro-dance pop really does sound like what you might imagine as techno's evil twin and what quickly becomes your new favorite guilty pleasure. There are a few mellow tracks thrown in here and there, but don't get comfortable because the next track will always yank you back up out of your seat. Just listen to the transition between consecutive tracks "Lipglossed" and "Body Shouts." It kind of reminds you of one of those nights in which, shortly after getting dolled up, your night takes a very wild turn. Not in a bad way, of course. This album is just fun, fun and more fun all the way through.
