Audio By Carbonatix
Welcome to Staff Trax,
the weekly feature here on DC9 where we shed some light on the music
we’ve been enjoying of late, regardless of the touring or album release
schedules that tend to bear the focus of most of our coverage. Consider
it a chance for you readers to get some more insight into our own
personal tastes. Maybe you’ll find something good.
Suuns – “Up Past The Nursery”
Originally known as Zeroes, Montreal’s Suuns play a dark version of electro that also features elements of shoegaze and dub. The band’s debut EP, Zeroes QC, pokes fun at the legal snafu that forced the band to change its name. But that’s about the only moment of levity that one may find in the music of the Suuns. Check out one of the EP’s best cuts, the tense and terse “Up Past the Nursery” in the above clip, and see if you can find a happy core we’re missing. Also: Check out Suuns when the band plays The Nightmare on October 16, opening for another fine Canadian band, Land of Talk. –Darryl Smyers
Bobby Bare Jr. – “The Heart Bionic”
With ACL right around the corner, it’s hard for me to not think back to
one of the greatest sets I’ve ever witnessed at the annual festival. In
2008, Bobby Bare Jr. played an afternoon set on one of the smaller
stages, and simply tore it to shreds. Bare’s recently released yet
another superb record, but it’s his 2006 release, The Longest Meow, that
will likely always grab my attention. Jewels such as the above “The Heart Bionic”
and “Stop Crying” are insane live tunes. And yet they lose none of their
shine on record. –Kelly Dearmore
Phil Selway – “By Some Miracle”
You’ve probably heard of that a band from Oxfordshire, England, that goes
by the name Radiohead? Well, drummer Phil Selway finally mustered up his
courage and put out a solo album titled Familial. And while Thom
Yorke’s voice is uniquely beautiful, Phil’s voice holds its own as does
the album. The songs don’t break any new barriers or satisfy an itch
for new Radiohead tunes, but they are very nice and well executed with some
very tasteful drumming from Glenn Kotche of Wilco. And like any good
endeavor with Radiohead genetics, the first single “By Some Miracle” has
a respectable video. –Doug Davis
Puscifer – “Momma Sed”
It doesn’t sound like Tool or Maynard James Keenan–or even a rock band at all. It
sounds more like something you’d hear slither up in a David Lynch film.
Oliver Stone would have totally ripped it off for Natural Born Killers
if it was around back then. But then again, Stone just wanted to be David
Lynch when it come to that movie, anyway. Back to the song: It’s dusty, cool, subtle, and lyrically, it’s a message that basically
says to grow up and grow a pair. It’s about change, and how change is
always uncomfortable, but usually a really good thing in the long run.
Brave songwriting, and bloody clever, non-boring production. –Alan Ayo
Disfear – “Firey Father”
I’m finally catching up to Disfear from Sweden. Frontman Tomas Lindberg
is best known from his time with metal legends At the Gates, but I’m
glad he’s involved with something similar–and yet also quite different. I keep
thinking of the fun that Turbonegro has with their music when I listen
to Live the Storm. I don’t know if a new record is in the pipeline for
next year, so here’s hoping that there is. –Eric Grubbs
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yelstin – “Back in the Saddle”
This little Springfield, Missouri, band has been a favorite of mine since first
hearing its song “Oregon Girl” a few years ago. Since their first
album, Broom, to their latest effort, Let It Sway, the band has grown from the lo-fi sounds of its debut to indie pop-rock perfection, and
that growth is particularly noticeable on the above album opener “Back in the
Saddle.” From the song’s hushed beginning to the progressive rock-leaning sound at the song’s peak, “Back in the Saddle” is just another
example of how SSLYBY are one of indie rock’s most underrated bands. –Lance Lester
