Health
Instead of finding a quiet recording studio, HEALTH recorded their debut full length in one of their favorite places. The Smell is an all ages music venue in downtown Los Angeles. It is open and brick and dirty and dark, but when you sing a church hymnal or hit a drum as hard as you can the sound is beautiful. They did both of these things on their record. They also went out and found equipment born the same time as The Smell, mostly ribbon microphones designed by the BBC for radio broadcasts in the 1930's, things George Martin liked to use, and other things they didn't know about. The record is 11 songs in less than thirty minutes - on it there is new music with old sounds. Since its release in Mid-September, HEALTH's debut full length has garnered an unbelievable amount of praise and word-of-mouth success.
The Cribs
Having earned a reputation as one of the best British rock bands to emerge in recent years, The Cribs return with their Warner Bros. Records debut, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever. Produced by Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos, and mixed by the legendary Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Foo Fighters, At The Drive-In), the album captures the fraternal trio – twins Ryan and Gary Jarman on guitar, bass and vocals, kid brother Ross on drums blasting out perfect pop songs with provocative punk power. The melodies are brash and memorable, the hooks undeniable, with songs like "Moving Pictures," "My Life Flashed Before My Eyes," and the first US single, "Men's Needs," spiced with splenetic intelligence and a healthy cheeky cynicism.
"I think people sometimes think we're being brattish and slagging stuff off for the sake of it, which certainly isn't the case," says Ryan. "But our songs are always based on some real reason for being snotty."
The Black Keys
The Akron, Ohio-based duo The Black Keys is well known for its concentrated, hermetic approach to recording, hunkering down with rudimentary equipment in an unfinished basement or commandeering the floor of a vacant local rubber factory to create terse but soulful rock that seems to have time-traveled into the pair’s amps from some long-ago radio show. But guitarist-vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney now admit they were ready for a change of scene—as well as some company. So when they got the opportunity to work with Grammy Award-nominated producer-musician-provocateur Danger Mouse, a/k/a Brian Burton (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, The Grey Album), they agreed, for the first time, to leave their familiar environs. They weren’t quite willing to cross state lines yet, though.
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
In 1995 - From the ashes of cult band Union Carbide Productions (once hailed by Kurt Cobain among others) -The Soundtrack Of Our Lives has been floating around in our hemisphere producing 5 epic albums and are currently working on their sixth.
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives are now back with new material which is scheduled to be released this fall. The working title is "Origin 2" and
they will present some of their new songs live at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas. So stay tuned even if you happen to be deaf...
Photo by Holger Carlsson
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is looking forward to start work on their sixth release early next year. The new album will push their already pioneering and explosive sound further by focusing on creating a more anthemic record with homage’s to artists both obscure and well-known. The band is also planning a retrospective of “Not So Greatest Hits” or, as dubbed by the group, (s)HITS. In addition, Conrad Keely will be selling pieces of his original sketches – drawn entirely with ballpoint pens – in a project titled Blue Series, as well as past works, in the Spring of 2008 whilst on tour. …Trail of Dead is now embarking on a new journey and invite everyone to be a part of it.