It’s a Bear!

It’s a real bear finding any information on the group(?) Pandatone. After searching the net, about all I could find is that Pandatone is a project of Trevor Sias and that he lives in New York. His music mixes found sounds, electronica, acoustic guitar and occasionally, voice. The singer Julianna Barwick has a soft, understated voice and adds to the relaxing, quiet atmosphere of the CD “Happy Together, Pandatone’s latest release. The music is perfect for a late-night conversation over a glass of wine. Everything I’ve heard from Pandatone is gentle, smart, and lush. If you could describe it in one word, I guess I’d call it folktronica. While it's slow triphop, it’s also very organic.

P.S. If anyone has more information on Pandatone, please let me know.

A Magical Experience

The group Here We Go Magic is the concept of Luke Temple and is definitely hard to describe. Musically, the New York based quartet is all over the map—from Afro-Pop to Trance to Psychedelia to Indie-Rock. Despite the wide-ranging influences, all the songs on their self-titled debut album have one thing in common—they all have a hypnotic edge to them. The vocals are superb and uniformly beautiful. The guitars are repetitive which adds to the hypnotic effect. I must say, these songs are very addictive. On first hearing, you might find them boring. But give them a couple listens and I think they’ll make their way into your current play list.

Attention Nick Drake Fans

Did you ever wish he were still alive? Or at the very least, someone would discover a huge cache of his unreleased music? Well, I recently made a great discovery. I was watching the film “Away We Go” and noticed a blurb on the DVD box that read something to the effect of, you’ll enjoy the beautiful, original soundtrack. As I listened I thought to myself, hey, all they did was lift a bunch of Nick Drake tunes. How the heck is that original? Well, lo and behold, after doing some research, I found out the soundtrack was actually by a newcomer, Alexi Murdoch. The Scottish folky has a soft, tender voice and his songwriting reminds me of where Nick Drake would be if he were still around. He only has two releases, “Time Without Consequence” and “Away We Go.” They’re both excellent.

These Guys Are Nuts!

I discovered the Canadian indie group, The Acorn, about a year ago and I just love their sound. Their music sounds like what the Talking Heads would be producing, if they were still around. The Acorn is very percussive and features excellent, slightly off-beat vocals. The title of their first full-length recording, “Glory Hope Mountain” is an approximate translation of the singer Rolf Klausener’s mom’s name--Gloria Esperanza Montoya. Several of the tunes including “Flood” have a definite Honduran influence. But, uniformly, the whole album is outstanding. I’d have to give it a five out of five star rating. If The Acorn was an American group, I’m sure they’d be riding the charts.

Genre Bender?

When I first listened to The Antlers, I thought they sounded like Noise Rock. Then as I got further into the recording, they sounded more folky. So I guess they'd have to be called Noise Folk (have I coined a new term?). The lead singer, Peter Silberman, has a sweet falsetto voice, which reminds me of Jeff Buckley. And the songs are frequently quiet and gentle, with the occasional infusion of blistering layers of guitar and various noises. But overall, the music is very contemplative and peaceful, and is usually fairly stripped down with a minimal amount of instrumentation. The Brooklyn-based singer started recording solo in his bedroom, but has expanded to include a full group. (He actually made a recording “The February Tape”, in a bathtub in just an hour.) I haven’t heard it, but I do enjoy his more recent music.

Little Jackie=Big Fun

I’m not into rap. Okay. That said, I’m a huge fan of Little Jackie. I’d classify them as a combo of rap, R&B, and dance. They’ve got great vocals, excellent back-up musicians, and nice sense of humor. Listen to “The World Should Revolve Around Me”, and I think you’ll hop on the proverbial bandwagon. Here is a sample of their lyrics: "This kind of knowledge can cause a depression_So I bide my time with philosophical questions_Not for nothing, but what came first?_The chicken nugget or the Egg McMuffin?" I'd just like to know, when are they coming into town. They'd be great to see live!

Got stories?

James McMurtry has, that’s for sure. The Texas singer/songwriter is the son of novelist Larry McMurtry and an English professor mom. While that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a good singer, it does lend him some songwriting skills. At first blush, he sounds pretty country. But if you’re not a huge fan of the genre, like me, you have to look beyond the southern twang of his voice. His songs are like finely-crafted short stories. They range from kids bragging about leaving their small town, to depictions of a visit to his grandparents on Memorial Day. All imbued with a wry sense of humor. Think of him as sort of a Texas version of Bruce Cockburn. And his voice has a homey, old pair of boots sound to it. It does grow on you.