Park the Van

There is something almost overwhelming about Generationals’ debut record. A rush of pure energy wallops you with unabashed ecstasy that can barely be contained. From the sun-soaked vocal lines, static-tinged guitars, and warbling organs on “Angry Charlie” to the blasting horns and doo-wop harmonies on “When They Fight They Fight,” Con Law turns the ’60s and Motown revival (often ascribed to Mark Ronson’s productions) on its head with intricate whirls of synths that inject a New Wave nuance into the songs. Genre-bending and time-traveling aside, this New Orleans duo suffuses every chord of every song with a contagious ebullience — a summery glow even the most jaded would find hard not succumb to.

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Generationals – Angry Charlie

Renaissance Recordings

Brace yourselves, Hercules fans. While this valuable back catalogue of DFA DJ Andy Butler’s favorite disco and house cuts smacks of “Raise Me Up” (one of many highlights from Hercules’ self-titled 2008 debut), there’s only one Love Affair exclusive to be found on this double-disc set. “I Can’t Wait”, a sparse house track featuring the laconic femme vocals of neither Kim Ann nor Nomi (or for that matter, Antony), drags on through vibrating backing arrangements of dirty synths as the chorus repeats, “I won’t bear this cross, I won’t wear these chains.” The remaining tracks recount Butler’s love of Euro-dance, The Clash, and Italo-disco, a collision of styles that gets the party started. Take the boldfaced In Flagranti’s “I Never Screwed Around Before”, in which Butler decoupages Joe Strummer over a La Bouche-esque beat; punk meets house only to get sideswiped in drama. But while Butler wears his influences close to his chest (there’s no Aoki-ing around with these samples), Sidetracked remains a well-executed exercise in curation. Consider it Butler’s immaculate collection, closing with the lushest, pearliest confection of house disco yet: Rainbow Team’s “Dreaming”, which soars to heights even Antony can’t reach.

Formed just a year ago, this quintet has enjoyed a quick rise up the ranks of the Brooklyn buzz-bin — an almost meteoric ascendance that belies the band’s tender sound. Xylos’ fractured dream-pop gently brings to mind Yeasayer (who guests on a couple tracks) and the Flaming Lips. In fact, on opener “In the Bedroom” founding member Eric Zeiler’s voice evokes the wistful croon of Wayne Coyne while he bittersweetly sings about failed romance over tropical synths and twirling guitars. Meanwhile, the swooning harmonies on “This House We Built” virtually demand a coed campfire sing-along under the stars — that is, if the textured rhythms, boy-girl vocals, and ethereal strings throughout this debut EP didn’t sound so magical in stereo.
     Xylos will take a break from recording their first full-length album (due by early 2010) to headline New York’s Mercury Lounge on July 28. The Bedrooms EP is currently being offered as a free download at Xylosmusic.net .

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Xylos – This House We Built

DH Records / Mercer Street Records

Quiffs, pompadours, and ducktails. Skintight skirts. Super-high heels. Ill-fitting broad-shouldered jackets. It’s either a ’50s theme party or a Kitty, Daisy & Lewis gig. The three Durham siblings, all under 20 years of age, may not be sure who Nirvana is, but ask them about any of their three favorite Louises — Louis Jordan, Louis Freeman, or Louis Armstrong — and they can school you.
     Kitty, Daisy & Lewis tend to favor music from half a century ago. Their impressive multi-instrumental abilities (at their July 7th show at the Echo in Los Angeles, we saw guitars, drums, harmonicas, pianos, ukuleles, banjos, trombones, and accordions, not to mention a double bass, scattered about onstage) are dedicated to recreating sounds from a pre-digital time. These same instruments, plus a few more, will be found in their North London home where Lewis Durham has set up a recording studio. It is here that they completed their self-titled debut (out August 11). A combination of select covers spanning from the ’20s to the ’50s, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis’ track-list also features five original songs penned by one or all three of the siblings.
     Entirely analogue — as is expected — Kitty, Daisy & Lewis has the crackle of vinyl embedded in it.

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Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Going Up The Country
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Photography by Jim Newberry for Thrill Jockey

Here on Chicago’s west side, the streets are closed for Puerto Rican pride weekend. A swirl of festivities that could just as easily be celebrating a return to form for the pioneering avant-garde instrumentalists whose Beacons of Ancestorship, the follow-up to 2004’s tepidly received It’s All Around You, is just days away from hitting record stores.
     Tortoise has never been a full-time band, yet with all five members involved in countless side-projects – drummer Dan Bitney’s Isotope 217, for example – their many hiatuses have ensured an endurance that most indie bands from the ‘90s failed to cultivate. “High Class Slim Came Floating In”, the opening track on Beacons of Ancestorship, finds Tortoise embracing more playful and fuzzed-out sounds that Bitney admits might have been reserved for other projects in the past. “There’s always been a line with my ideas and stuff that I didn’t think was appropriate for Tortoise,” he says. “When I started 217 it was kind of a way to do what Tortoise was doing but more stripped down. It could be more funky or have hip-hop elements. So now I think that line of what was appropriate is gone.”
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Ghostly International

With three albums’ worth of music in just five years, 22-year-old Randolph Chabot has been producing his home-recorded electro-pop at an astonishing clip. This week, after much anticipation, the prolific prodigy from Detroit has released his proper full-length debut, Moondagger — a swirling set of twelve songs whose titular implement reportedly refers to a space-age myth about seeking “ultimate power.” Sci-fi fantasies aside, Moondagger indeed seems to herald a powerful voice of tomorrow, a voice that likewise befits today’s age of ADD. On “Toxic Crusaders”, Chabot’s swooning vocals over jaunty guitars evoke the wide-eyed wistfulness of Vampire Weekend mixed with the hyperactive futurism of New Order. Meanwhile, “Parallelogram” (stream below) launches the M83 model of lush, spacey synths out of this stratosphere with a frenzied rush of propulsive rhythms.

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Deastro – Parallelogram

Downtown Records

Baile funk, hip hop, electro breakdance, mash up, pop, and indie rock remixes – is there anything these guys can’t do? Diplo and Switch, two of today’s most innovative producers and the guys that brought you “Paper Planes” and Santigold, have once again proven there’s no genre they can’t conquer. After skating around reggae and dancehall on previous productions, Major Lazer is the duos’ headlong foray into the world of Jamaican music and also their first official full-length collaboration. Recorded at the legendary Tuff Gong Studios, the album not only captures some of the original reggae magic left there, but succeeds in forwarding that sound through deft integration of programmed beats and sampling. At times, electro takes over and relegates Rasta to mere words (like the frenetic lead track “Hold The Line”) while others, like the great “Can’t Stop Now”, take a more traditional approach to classic reggae with occasional “peek-a-boo” hip hop samples and dub effects. And credit is due to the vocalists showcased throughout (including Santi, Turbulence, Mr. Vegas and Amanda Blank), who take these productions even higher. It’s almost unfair how prolific and versatile Diplo and Switch are, and Major Lazer demonstrates they’re not only on point but one step beyond.
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Daptone Records

Even though The Budos Band hails from Staten Island, you’d swear their eleven members are a mixture of Detroit and Nigerian tribes. Their sound is a fantastic confluence of Afrobeat and classic American soul that never forgets its ultimate goal of filling the dancefloor. This EP collects seven lost grooves recorded between the band’s two albums, and while standing on its own as a great listen, it also shows the crystallization of the their unique sound (self-described as Afro-Soul). The standout track, “The Proposition”, (stream below) could even be taken as a Budos aesthetic manifesto. Driven by blazing horns, electric organ, and funky guitars, it evokes Booker T. and the MGs, memories of Fela and even Boogaloo. Just another step in the right direction from our friends at Daptone. And for you New Yorkers, catch The Budos Band at Central Park’s Summer Stage next month.

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The Budos Band – The Proposition

Zee Avi has not had breakfast. She has not had lunch. At twenty minutes to 6 p.m., she is wolfing down her first meal of the day. This is not a good start on the eve of a tour that is going to last until the end of summer. Sounding like Avi is 73 rather than 23, the Malaysian native’s self-titled debut has an old world jazz and lounge feel to it. Strums of acoustic guitar drive sparse songs showcasing Avi’s crackly vocals.
     Avi takes cues from all the music she has been exposed to over her limited years—from classic rock and oldies to hard rock to jazz. She also bears the influence of her various places of residence. Starting her life in Borneo, at 12 she moved to Kuala Lumpur, at 17 to London, and then at 22 to Southern California. While London may be an obvious musical reference point for Avi, the singer/songwriter circuit in Malaysia must not be discounted.
     “We get big acts back home, mainstream stuff, boy bands, pop bands,” says Avi. “But people underestimate the local music scene. We have an amazing local music scene, which quite surprised me when I first got into it. They are such amazing people and they make amazing music. They’re all different from each other, really unique. And they all ended up being my friends.”
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Hermas Zopoula is an artist we just got turned onto by our friends at Asthmatic Kitty, which is putting out his debut album this month. His music is simple, warm, and heartfelt. In this video, shot in the front yard of his home in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, he plays a song from his debut, Espoir, called “Attention”. What I love about this video is how naturally the music fits into his environment, with the sound of the wind rustling the tree leaves, the faint noise of children playing nearby, a bird squawking, a storm brewing in the distance. It’s about as authentic as things get. Hermas is set to play a show in New York on June 12, at Sycamore in the Ditmas Park area of Brooklyn – that is if the U.S. of A. comes through on his visa. Fingers crossed.