If you’re not already paying attention to Rival Sons then you’re missing out on the slow, steady evolution of a present day rock great. Don’t blame us. DI has been pushing these guys HARD since day one. If you like rock you can feel down in the meat of you – we’re talking vintage Black Crowes kinda hum – then the Sons are for you. And one of their best attributes is a knack for midtempo ballads the likes of which we haven’t seen Chris & Rich started talking to angels. To wit, the Rival Sons’ latest video (and a nifty live version from German TV we included as treat). And you if you haven’t already picked up their latest album, Pressure And Time (an Impound Album of the Year for 2012), there’s a sweet new edition that comes with a bonus DVD of live footage from the 2011 High Voltage Festival. Pick up a copy here.
Archive for the ‘In Your Eye’ Category
One beautiful thing about the Internet is how it allows great ideas to blossom by providing a hitherto unknown means of communicating and sharing them with others. Where before an artist needed a gallery, a movie studio, a publisher, etc. to share their ideas, now, with a little elbow grease and vision anyone can offer up their inspiration to anyone else willing to pay attention. It is an endlessly exciting dynamic and one whose true social impact is only partially becoming clear.
Which brings us to Knock & Rock, the brainchild of Kalen Egan, a filmmaker who is literally taking music door-to-door. The concept behind Knock & Rock is bands stroll a neighborhood and ask total strangers if they can set up in their house for an impromptu concert. It’s a simple, brave idea and the participating musicians, Egan and his partner at K&R Noelia Estrada execute the whole thing with serious charm and no little amount of artistry. Part of the appeal of the segments on K&R is the reactions of the people they play for and how they get involved in the music experience. It’s a happy reminder of when music was something people made in the flesh in real time instead of consumed as a finished, polished product. Spend a little time exploring the site’s archives and one discovers a wealth of sweet music made by sweet people engaged in bringing some surprise and song to strangers – a random act of kindness executed without randomness.
Here’s the latest installment from Knock & Rock with Radars to the Sky, and Kalen tells DI they are working on a number of segments captured at this year’s SXSW. We’ll be paying attention and so should you – a good idea like this deserves to be watered with proper attention and enthusiam.
Few things tickle the Impound like garage dappled stomp rock performed in inappropriate outfits. So, we were simultaneously delighted both by the cool new song and the Moneybags Q. Richdude tuxedos in the latest video from Sweden’s enduring true rawk torchbearers The Hives. The tune comes from their new album, Lex Hives (arriving June 5 via the band’s own Disques Hives label), followed by a short North American tour (a longer one is planned for the fall) that begins June 19 in Washington, D.C. (see the full gig itinerary here.
And since we’re on the subject of non-rock outfits in a rawk setting, we’re including an old fave from those Louis XIV lovin’ lads The Upper Crust to further flip yo’ wigs.
These United States and Trampled By Turtles is a combination as flavorful as chocolate and peanut butter – a blend one is happy to come across though might not have put together on their own. While each orbits different moons in their respective bands, there’s a semiotic overlap that feels right, particularly when they’re exuberantly honoring Levon Helm on one of his signature tunes. Like The Band, TBT and TUS are great lovers of the American musical buffet and they serve up the harvest with as much Rolling Thunder aplomb as a soul could want. Thanks to DI bud Jake Krolick for capturing this moment. And he tells us he’ll have some more juicy tidbits to serve up from this evening, too.
In just a few years, San Francisco’s The Stone Foxes has shown themselves to be one of the hardiest new classic rock outfits going, exhibiting a heartfelt dedication to making music that breathes, shakes and sweats in that “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” way associated with prime 70s Rolling Stones, The Faces, and like-minded cornerstones. Like these greats, their work continues to evolve after it’s released into the world, and one of the best examples of this is “Passenger Train” from 2010′s Bears & Bulls, which has become an off-mic, hand clapping, wistful road tune that brings the boys out into the crowd and often elicits some of their most nakedly impassioned singing & playing. Dirty Impound is hella pleased to premiere this intimate performance from one of our absolute favorites these days.
And do these boys (and rock in general) a favor and consider investing in their next album, which the Foxes are currently raising funds for here. Their pledge video is below the acoustic performance, so take a gander and see if you don’t have a few coins kicking around your piggy bank to spare.
There’s more than a touch of the hazy, shambling sway of Sun City Girls and Velvet Underground to Maine’s Coke Weed, a late night, feelin-no-pain buzz that’s psychedelic sans the bombast and too-conscious echo-manipulation. Nope, this stuff is just stoned, which befits a debut album [Nice Dreams - released April 17] birthed in a studio in a barn at Chickadee Hill, a flower farm on Mt. Desert Island. We have no idea where this place is but we get a contact high just reading the names. Speaking of names, this band’s moniker happens to be the Impound’s favorite recreational combo (and we’re usually up for a three-way if whiskey comes along…), and their quietly brazen pill poppin’ and cruisin’ around video further marks them as our kinda people [people y'all can catch on an East Coast tour that kicked off this week - dates & details here]. We hope this song is playing on a good sound system wherever Nico currently flies.
Remember when Beck used to share lollipops with sailors and talk sexy in his tricked out Hyundai? Remember when Prince used to rock a leather g-string and play punk-funk? Well, we’re picking up some of the same appealingly strange funk-i-ness from Athens, GA’s Reptar, whose Oblangle Fizz Y’all EP became a fast fave at DI HQ after our hipper chums, well, hipped us to it. Reptar’s full-length debut Body Faucet arrives next Tuesday, May 1st (on the reliably great Vagrant label). You can listen to it now in the player below, and you can pre-order the album on iTunes (with a bonus track) over here.
Do yourself a favor and peep this bangin’ live clip captured with aplomb by our Philadelphia operative Jake Krolick a couple weeks ago when they came through Philly. Such a sweet groove, such nifty psych-touched lil’ digressions, and what a cool crowd. This band clearly puts their backs into it, and that counts for a bunch in our book. We’ll have more on Reptar and their debut in the coming weeks, too, but for now, prepare to start feeling free, f-f-free, free free, f-free. Yeah!
Style, vision, appealing tunes, an abundance of raw talent and grinning passion – Chicago’s Van Ghost possesses all these traits. Where many young acts choose to distinguish themselves with wild sonic assaults or whispery retreat, Van Ghost goes after it the old fashioned way – strong songs built with universal appeal in mind delivered with polish. While still building a core fan base, this is a band ideal for big crowds, perhaps opening for say Counting Crows or the Dave Matthews Band, and showing those well-established audiences that there are folks who still excel at the same kind of craftsmanship and showmanship. It’s easier (and safer) in 2012 to hide behind veils and fog, and it’s fun to see a band so forthrightly after everybody and anybody who will listen. It’s to be hoped a few program directors in radio still have the balls to work this band into regular rotation instead of just dutifully adding only what the mainstream industry tells them to. They can enjoy bragging rights when Van Ghost breaks big one day.
Moreover, the bones of their work are very sturdy, as evidenced by this new acoustic version of one of Van Ghost’s staples. We’ve included the electric original for comparison purposes, and be sure to download their free EP over here.
