If you had never heard Damien Jurado’s previous albums before going to his show at Johnny Brenda’s Sunday night, you would not have known that his performance did not reflect his typical style.  In listening to Caught in the Trees, his latest record Maraqopa, and a few songs from his earlier repertoire, I did not expect to hear such raucous, psychedelic jam sessions on the stage that night.  I was pleasantly surprised.

For the bulk of the set, Jurado played with a four-piece band, including a drummer, bassist, guitarist and keyboard player.  They started off with “Nothing is the News” from Jurado’s latest release, which was aggressively rocky and Zeppelin-esque, very jammy.  The tune that followed it, the album’s title track, sported high-pitched, ethereal synthesizer work, the keys dancing out a little melody like a butterfly flying against rhythmic guitar riffs.

Jurado’s voice was coming through clear, powerful and reverby.  His was one of the most passionate vocal performances I’ve seen from an artist in a while.  The high-end arpeggio-like lines in the synth keys made “Reel to Reel” sound celestial, almost out of place for a band that played such jam-based rock a mere twenty minutes ago.  But Jurado is a versatile artist, and that is warmly welcome in the world of indie/folk rock.  His echo-y voice was very cool contrast against the song’s percussive nature.  I felt vibrations from the drums in my knees.

“Everyone a Star” also proved noteworthy, and included a guitar solo that was not too intense but still loud and rambunctious.  The initially mellow song ramped up to a fairly high-energy brawl, in which Jurado turned his back to the audience and rocked, moving his guitar up like Steve Howe or Robert Fripp may have done during a performance.  The breakdown reconvened back to the main riff for just a second before ending.

“Museum of Flight” was a much-awaited performance, at least for me anyway.  It was delivered very passionately and was a particular point of intensity in the line-up.  However, the keyboard interlude composed of a nearly exact replication of the verse melody did not come through loud enough.  Other than that, the song was great.  “Horizons”, to follow that, was loud and jam-heavy, with interesting riffs, textures and colors, and otherworldly keyboard work.  It was like a jam session from the ’60s, and all that was missing were psychedelic drugs.

Just before Jurado played “Let Us All In” with the band, he said “This is a fun song before we go to the most depressing shit you’ve ever heard.”  He took the stage solo with low lighting, and appropriately started his mini acoustic set with “Sheets” from Caught in the Trees.  It was much more fluid solo than with the band.  He followed that with “Rachel and Cali”, then “Oh Nevada”.  The fourth and last acoustic song was monumental and almost eerie.  Its massive guitar hits interspersed with tonally ambiguous strumming startled, chilled and haunted.  Apart from the very intimate lyrics, Jurado sang “oohs” that sounded almost like a flute, like they were coming from somewhere else.

“Everyone a Star”

damienjurado.com

Featured above, is the lovely Emily Haines who is set to throttle Metric to the stratosphere.  And she will…

Metric has been treating their fans to early glimpses of the new album Synthetica, most recently with their new song “Speed The Collapse” on Soundcloud.  If you haven’t yet heard “Youth Without Youth”, check it out here.

“Speed The Collapse”, which is Track #3 on their new album Synthetica, features a quick rolling rhythm that doesn’t really leave a moment for any breathing room.  The tempo and harmony in the song is a fantastic showing of what’s to come in a few weeks.

Metric – Speed The Collapse

Synthetica Tracklist:

1. Artificial Nocturne
2. Youth Without Youth
3. Speed the Collapse
4. Breathing Underwater
5. Dreams So Real
6. Lost Kitten
7. The Void
8. Synthetica
9. Clone
10. The Wanderlust
11. Nothing But Time

Ianborg just dropped his remix on us yesterday and as of today it’s now available for free download via his Facebook Page.  Who is Giselle?  Not the supermodel, but a voice just as beautiful.  Her vocals are reminiscent of the glowingly popular Florence Welch from Florence and The Machine.  Borg’s tricked-out remix has a tint of dub-step, but focused on the warm synths and breezy backdrops.  This remix is out of this world.  Listen for yourself.

For more information on the Australian singer, Gisele Rosselli, check her out on her Facebook page.

Soundcloud: Giselle – Silk (Ianborg Remix)

I think we’ve got yet another successful week of our Weekly Download, a feature we’ve done this year where we feature tracks from artists who sent their music directly to our inbox and are listed here just for you   I really had no idea who to pick over the next.  Practically every genre is featured here, so if you don’t like one track, move right on to the next.  That said, let’s just start off with Mystery Pills who’ve got this slick sound incorporating a bit of dream-pop with some beats like that of The XX in their song “The Glass Traditions”.

If you’re looking for something just you just can’t pull your ears away from, Carousel is what you’re looking for.  “Let’s Go Home” is like a bedroom-pop version of Owl City.  The understating way the lyrics are sung just gets me.

We’ve got some great electronica tracks here, particularly with Alex Shadeed in his crafty track “Alleyway Forty”.  The song builds quite nicely.  Looking for more beats?  R.D.P. has a crazy remix called “Let’s Go Apeshit” and Long Courrier is mixed once again by the budding DJ – Wize.

Lastly, female vocalists such as the ‘temptress’ Gabrielle Wortman shows some skin as she promotes her new single “Ghost”.  Shannon Stephens takes a more mild approach with her track “Care of You”.

We could go on and on about each track, but go through yourself and let you know what you think of this week’s Weekly Download.

MP3: Gabrielle Wortman – Ghost [Artist]
MP3: Celldweller – Unshakeable (Radio Edit) [Artist]
MP3: Vir – Joy In Space [Artist]
MP3: Alex Shadeed – Alleyway Forty [Artist]
MP3: Long Courrier Ft. Carson – Arcane Man (Wize Remix) [Artist]
MP3: Carousel – Let’s Go Home [Artist]
MP3: VHS or Beta – Eyes Dub [Artist]
MP3: Fire At Night – Gravity [Artist]
MP3: Mystery Pills – The Glass Traditions [Artist]
MP3: R.D.P. – Let’s Go Apeshit (Calvin Harris x Carly Rae Jepsen x Miss Palmer x Jessie J) [Artist]
MP3: Shannon Stephens – Care of You [Artist]

The Weekly Download features completely free and legal MP3s sent to us by the artists themselves for download once a week, albeit more all at once! We hope you enjoy our weekly submissions.

We chose these songs for you to discover, download and explore more about the artists behind them. Please support the artists by visiting their artist links next to each of the MP3s.

We featured The Chevin’s brand new single “Drive” as our Song of the Week not too long ago and now we get a look at the video behind their first track.  “Drive” hit a wide audience from the UK and Ireland and the US is currently trailing those debuts as The Chevin aim to target their homeland as their main audience.  Your Vegas did much of the same marketing, when their self-titled release debuted in the US about six months after the UK.

At any rate, news of The Chevin’s first video is welcoming news to us.  It features videos of events, some involving cars (of course) with a fireworks-type effect which dislodges any train of thought you may be having.  But that may as well be the interesting way this video was shot – as if all of these clips were memories strung together, jumping from one to the next – much the way our brain displays information to us through recollected memories.  Those of you with ADD will love this video as it’s hard to stay focused on one video or instance for more than a half-second.  For the rest of you, there’s always the replay button.

Video: The Chevin – Drive

We’ve been all over the Scandinavian artists who have graced our inbox lately, but we’ll avoid it this week as it all pertains to death metal, so instead we have some much more pertinent stuff, mainly Exitmusic, Torches and Blue Foundation.

In a decided wind-torn, shoegaze rock, Exitmusic‘s Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church arrive on the scene with Passage.  Palladino’s voice quivers with a damaged macabre that Anna-Lynne Williams (Trespassers William) perfected with a get-on-with-it style like Matt Berninger (The National).  Passage should show up on year-end lists for all it has.

If some West Coast flavor whets your appetite, perhaps the latest from The Torches is your fix.  Head Full of Rust adds a UK rock kick thanks to some clear group cohesion, as dual vocals in a fast tempo, but it’s the rapping drums and re-repeated refrains that Cali-based bands have branded for years.

Blue Foundation also releases In My Mind I Am Free.  This dream pop vibe has the whimsical, smooth approach that Oh Minnows brought with For Shadows.  Worth a few listens at the least.  Check out the video for “Just A Hand” to see and hear them at work.

While this week is fairly thin, we also recommend Rec Center and Kimbra.  Enjoy the week in music!

Torches – I Want Something [buy]
Blue Foundation – Lost (Sun Glitters Remix) [buy]
Rec Center – No. 2 [buy]

Bam Spacey – Land EP [Artist]
Blue Foundation – In My Mind I Am Free [Artist]
Cold Specks – I Predict a Graceful Expulsion [Artist]
Craft Spells – Gallery [Artist]
Exitmusic – Passage [Artist]
Gossip – Joyful Noise [Artist]
Jesse Marchant – Stray Ashes [Artist]
John Mayer – Born & Raised [Artist]
Kimbra – Vows [Artist]
Jon McLaughlin – Promising Promises [Artist]
Rec Center – Tin Year [Artist]
Robert Francis – Strangers in the First Place [Artist]
Soulsavers – Light the Dead See [Artist]
Shannon Stephens – Pull It Together [Artist]
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Everybody’s Talkin’ [Artist]
Torches – Heads Full of Rust [Artist]

Two weeks ago, we premiered Passion Pit’s new single “Take A Walk” and today we’ve got a lovely remix from the Australian DJs Reuben Styles and Adam Hyde. The duo go by the name Peking Duk. You can really hear the grinding bass in this one.  Plus, they offer it for free!  What’s not to like here?

Passion Pit – Take A Walk (Peking Duk Remix)

While you’re getting your summer feel-good playlists in order, you can’t deny this track from BOY titled “Little Numbers”.  It’s one of those poppy tracks that you only need to hear once or simply just watch the band clapping their hands to their own rhythm 4 seconds into the song.

Boy, made up of two lovely ladies from Germany, consists of Valeska Steiner (Zurich) and Sonja Glass (Hamburg).  The duo recently released their debut album titled Mutual Friends via Decca Records.

BOY – Little Numbers [Soundcloud]

Video: BOY – Little Numbers

Zoon Van Snook‘s album The Nutty Tree has been remixed and released on April 24th. The remix album features remixes by Fujiya & Miyagi, Tunng, Daedelus, Kirkland (Super Furry Animals), Grasscut, Corduroi, Woos, Yppah, Ape School, Alka and Lost Idol.  For you remix addicts, this may be just what you were looking for.  Fujiya & Miyagi’s remix marks yet another remix with their signature bass and waveform.

Zoon Van Snook – Lomograph (Fujiya & Miyagi Remix)

Yet more important than all of these remixes is perhaps the video for Snook’s quirky track “Eem Yorn”.  The video’s stop-motion approach makes legos climbing a mountain look realistic and give playdoh an appetite for apples.  See for yourself.  The amount of time put into these videos is just mind-boggling.

Video: Zoon Van Snook – Eem Yorn

First off, we’d like to thank Russia for the loads of spam you’ve been delivering to us.  Surely your internet goods aren’t selling too well and link-bait is apparently going to help you do well on our site.

While we’re still on foreign subjects, perhaps that makes this the perfect segway to this week’s Song of the Week.  Fotoshop released their album Lifeforms on November 20th of last year and while that date may have come and gone, it gives us an opportunity to pull a track from a band we would have otherwise never known about.

Fotoshop are from Helsinki, Finland, a geographical location with an abundance of mountains unlike those around here.  Fotoshop is quite proud of that fact too as their cover for Lifeforms (above) gives us just a glimpse of what we aren’t accustomed to seeing on a daily basis.

Their track “Release” is unlike what you would expect from a Finnish band.  The rhythm is like Toto’s “Aftica, yet has a low-fi type of electronica like that of The Radio Dept.  For more about Lifeforms or to stream the band’s other songs, go to their Bankcamp page.

Fotoshop – Release (demo version)

Fotoshop – Release (album version)