I have had Jes Kramer on this blog previously, but I was reminded of Jes due to twitter when she started following me.  In all honesty, if I was more aware it would have been me following her first (follow her @Jes_Kramer).  Jes Kramer has always had a place in this sad bastard’s heart – a bit of a mellow ‘Casiotone’ place at that.

Well, a favourite of mine is her “Hermaphrodite” album from late 2008 – it’s chalk full of quirky, almost fun songs but still almost sad and introspective at the same time.  This is Manistee Michigan’s one woman band at it’s best.  I often call it “lo-fi” for lack of a better description, but when something apparently lo-fi has an encompassing sound it kinda seems like it isn’t quite so DIY after all.  This is how I feel about Jes and her ability to create what some people say is a stripped down electronic sound – it just seems (and is) like soo much more.  Some songs are so achingly honest they hurt and with her pixie-esque voice, it just clinches it for me.

While Jes might not be quite what some regular Slowcoustic readers looking for “folk/Americana” are really into, just stop and give it a chance as you just might find that “electronic” music ain’t the devil it is often portrayed as.  Sometimes a waning keyboard can take the place of a pedal steel…sometimes.

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Bonus:

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Another reason I am posting now is Jes has a Kickstarter to fund her next album “Nine”.  We are at 19 days to go and almost there – lots of great bonuses to donating (especially if you are in the Michigan area) – see the page HERE.

Visit Jes Kramer on her new website and on Bandcamp to purchase.

~Smansmith

The Pass are a band that might not normally find too much space on a blog like Slowcoustic – but know we can get our dance on once and a while.  So why not get some groove going on over here.  Yeah, I said it.

Well The Pass are a band with friends.  Friends with the blog We Listen For You (see the blogroll folks).  This leads to a fun and new video for the song “Vultures” that also comes with a bit of a contest to name all the references to music blogs ACTUALLY IN the video!!  When a music blogger is involved with making your band’s video and promoting it, you know you gonna have a shout out (or 30)….

You can find out more on the whole contest and situation over at WLFY by clicking HERE.  Whomever guesses the most (or all) of the music blog references in the video will receive $50 G/C to InSound as well as a copy of the debut album of which you hear in the video.  Make sense?  Let’s hope so – now start watching and submit your best guess to guesstheblogs@gmail.com.

Bonus:  “Trap of Mirrors” – The Pass, from the upcoming release “Burst”

Visit The Pass on MySpace or even on Bandcamp – pick up a copy of the previous EP at iTunes.
Visit We Listen For You

~Smansmith

~Admittedly I am not a true fan of this album, but there is still something about it that drags this old folky out into the light.  Keyboards?  Solid drum beat?  What is this?  Where are the acoustic guitars and lamenting lyrics of lost love on the dusty open road?  Well certainly not here, but still made me listen more than once.

Oh, don’t get caught listening to that horrible remix of this song that I heard about 45 seconds of (I think it was on Pitchfork as well – where this track came from originally for me).
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

~Smansmith

Two sides of the same coin. Six of one, half dozen of the other. You know what I am getting at, two versions of one artist’s music. For fans, it can be both genre “eye-opening” such as this one might be or create a polarization of those that have give someone a sound they are most comfortable with.

Okay, let’s just get it out there that I am a “folkie”, so this post is a reference to Withered Hand releasing a “dance” remix of “Love in the Time Ecstasy” so I might be biased. Regardless, for some it is just more output from an artist and if they are a fan, this is often a good thing. For others, when artists experiment (or hell, this example could be the real Withered Hand, I wouldn’t know) they feel almost betrayed as it isn’t the artist they thought they knew. This post is a scenario of essentially a fringe folk type releasing a pseudo dance track. This probably would never, ever, ever have happened prior to the “mash up/remix” craze that affects the music scene today, but we can’t reverse the evolution of music now can we? So where to we stand? Let’s take a listen shall we.

Withered Hand
“Love in the Time Ecstacy (Swimmer One Remix)“ (mp3)
from “No Cigarettes”
(SL Records)

More On This Album

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Withered Hand
“No Cigarettes” (mp3)
from “You’re Not Alone”
(SL Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album
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Just so we are clear, the above two songs are now together on this new single release as “No Cigarettes” is re-released from You’re Not Alone as the b-side to the remix. So? Do you feel like this is an evolution of an artist, a side diversion of an artist or simply something he did one day and thought it turned out pretty good (or the re-mixers did a good job and he thought it was worthy)? I obviously like the old school Withered Hand, but that is no surprise due to my limited tunnel vision (is that an oxymoron?). I don’t think the SL Records remix is bad, but it feels like something Bronski Beat would have released in the early 80s. Maybe it is another option to get more notice for Withered Hand…not a bad thing, but is it necessary?

What do you think?

~Smansmith

Balmorhea gets remixed.  But…

Okay, don’t get me wrong, I love Balmorhea and of the artists that I know that are doing the remixing they are impressive (Peter Broderick, Tiny Vipers, Eluvium…).  I am not sure I am completely sold on the full project.  Yes, it has some very nice ambient tracks, some a lot more ambient than others, but it is more like an alternate universe Balmorhea.  The Bizarro Balmorhea.

The thing about Balmorhea is that they are so achingly beautiful in the instrumental music that they make and it is the ebb and flow of the tracks, the harnessed energy coiled ready to be released.  All the while Balmorhea is ultimately atmospheric music – one that creates emotion and one that both soothes and gets the heart pumping at the crux of the track.  Not all Balmorhea tracks are overly dramatic and built to come to crashing crescendos, but that is the stuff that really hits home for me.  Maybe it is the fact that the remixes (mostly, at first listen) seem a bit too ambient and atmospheric – nice to listen to, but maybe I expected more.  It could be a remix project that grows on me, and it is slowly doing this each time I listen – but I really needed this one to come charging out of the gates.

Full track list below:

01. Settler (Eluvium Remix) 17:24
02. Harm & Boon (Rafael Anton Irisarri Remix) 4:48
03. Harm & Boon (Tiny Vipers Remix) 5:45
04. Elegy (Bexar Bexar Remix) 3:01
05. Remembrance (Machinefabriek Remix) 7:24
06. Coahuila (The Fun Years Remix) 4:17
07. Coahuila (Library Tapes Remix) 3:53
08. Night in the Draw (Jacaszek Remix) 4:21
09. Truth (Helios Remix) 3:45
10. November 1, 1832 (Peter Broderick Remix) 3:21
11. November 1, 1832 (Xela Remix)

Lets do some before and after, shall we!

Balmorhea
“Truth (Helios Remix)” (mp3)
from “All is Wild, All is Silent Remixes”
(Western Vinyl)

More On This Album

And previously:

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Balmorhea
“Harm & Boon” (mp3)
from “All Is Wild, All Is Silent”
(Western Vinyl)

More On This Album

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Balmorhea
“Baleen Morning” (mp3)
from “Rivers Arms”
(Western Vinyl)

More On This Album

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So yes, they are all in the same family, but I am sure you can hear it as I do.  So, the Bizarro Balmorhea – maybe that is the point of the remix album…Let me know your thoughts!

Visit Balmorhea on their Website and MySpace and over on their Western Vinyl Page.
Pick up a copy on eMusic (like me) or on iTunes and even at the Western Vinyl shop.

~Smansmith

It might not just be the color (or colour as I know it…sorry, inside joke) of clouds, but more so the weightless feeling you get while transfixed by the movement of them.  If the movement could be translated, it just might be the ambient indie pop that is “Color of Clouds”.

The new Color of Clouds EP “The Look” is now out and available at your finest online merchants (as of May 11th).  The release includes 5 tracks to wake up beside, drive to work along side of, kick back with and maybe just to float away with.  The music is gorgeous and includes harmonies that combine the vocals of the enchanting Kellie Scarr along with her counterparts Daniel Chen and Nate Greenberg.  There are orchestral leanings, indie pop hooks and the soundscapes that will definitely bring them to many wanting ears.  They definitely have an electro feeling as well – it helps the aura oozing from the EP – soft, floating songs emanate all around you the moment you press play.  The tracks are all of the same vein, but all feel separate – like chapters of this mighty novella.

Listen to them now as you will most likely find yourself listening to them without even knowing it (you may have already heard them on “One Tree Hill” a few weeks back (Kristy, settle down now! – sorry another inside joke).  While the sound is definitely “listener friendly”, it is still fresh, young and ready to become your new Summer soundtrack.  Think of Imogen Heap and crew doing a great Feist impression – ahhh, now you are thinking…

Look for Cloud member Daniel Chen’s influence on the upcoming Nicole Atkins record which he assisted in writing a few tracks as well as the much anticipated Ivana XL new EP (or possibly full length album)!

Visit them on MySpace HERE.  Friends over at Knox Road posted previously on CoC as well – check it here.

Click on the EP cover below to pick up a copy of “The Look” at iTunes.

~Smansmith

p.s.  See it isn’t always broken down cowboys on this blog…

Check out the video for “Green Meadow Island” below:

Also check out the latest release from the “Spring Tides” album with the track “Lives Apart”.  The sound is once again a production of shoegaze paced beats with electronic tinged slowcore.  It is both mesmerizing and intoxicating.  You also feel a bit of presence with the album and this song, there is an aura of grandiose included in it.  I personally dig it, especially for the 1986 New Order bass line that hits just prior to the 5 minute mark!

Enjoy the night, this track and video are a great start if I had to say.

Visit the crew on a slew of sites (see what I did there?)

www.jeniferever.com

www.myspace.com/jeniferever

www.monotremerecords.com

www.myspace.com/monotremerecords

~Smansmith

Sorry for the title, I had to.  Well, getting psyched to watch The Watchmen at IMAX this afternoon – should be quite good – lets hope at least.

So, something NOT Slowcoustic is needed.  So lets have some Electro and some Rock to get going.  Wish me luck at the show!

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Milke
“Love Get Out of My Way (Designer Drugs Remix)” (mp3)
from “Love Get Out of My Way”
(Gulp Communications)

More On This Album

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Ty Segall
“The Drag” (mp3)
from “Ty Segall”
(Castle Face)

More On This Album

~Smansmith