Beach House

Wouldn't you know it, just when I'm about to throw up my hands, drop to my knees and unleash my angst and frustration to the heavens in a desperate cry, screaming 'Why Animal Collective? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!' I am pointed in the direction of music perfectly suited to my purview...Things are on the decline when your emotional state is akin to that of a piece of cheap lunchmeat slapped gleefully onto the bathroom wall in favour of Cheezies and a Coke. That's why when Michael at The Face Guide asked me if I'd ever heard of Beach House and I hadn't - gasp! - I had a peek. Turns out that they sound nothing like he described. I imagined myself hearing the music and instantly being transported to a paradise in which the intoxicating scent of plumeria and hibiscus blossoms hang in the air, the sky above is illuminated with the pinks, violets and oranges of a magnificent tropical sunset, lovers delight in the taste of coconut on each other's skin and Harry Belafonte is on the turntable...

Nope. Wishful thinking. Sigh. But never fear, there is good news for Hope Sandoval fans! What Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally serve up as Beach House is a less soporific, though nonetheless entrancing, Mazzy Star of ghostly charms and incantations. Legrand's vocals are what I imagine La Llorona would sound like if she sat down at a lamplit organ in an echo chamber with a guitar-slinging mariachi. Each verse of layered vocals is joined in conversation by Scally's sensual accents, dancing synchronously in rhythm with the barely there percussion...You Came to Me, a bossa nova reverie with the slightest echo of steel drums on the keyboard, is a nice starter (love the video!) but the beauty of the bunch is Gila , heavy on the Victorian parlour room organ and spliced with minimalist high notes on the guitar, Legrand informs her subject matter-of-factly:

Sure, you’ve got a handle on the past
It’s why you keep your little lovers in your lap
Give a little more than you like
Pick apart the past, you’re not going back
So don’t you waste your time
No, oh, oh, oh

Their second album Devotion, released 2008, has them actively touring at present...So peel the lunchmeat off of the wall and get busy!

www.beachhousemusic.net

" Oh, My Heart... it's a fish out of water"

Wow! Was I ever shocked to discover that, not only does Perez Hilton listen to music, he actually knew enough to credit the Canadian group Mother Mother as "One of the most exciting bands coming out of Canada". Then again, I wonder if Perez knows that Sarah Harmer, Wolf Parade, City & Colour and the Arcade Fire are also Canadian. That's right Perez, we're not just a bunch of "gay Nader fans for peace" living in the U. S. of A's attic. We polar bears can make music *and* we have indoor toilets. Eh!

Mother Mother's latest album Oh My Heart, released last fall, is the kind of viral masterpiece that knocks you on your back faster than you can grab the DayQuil. The word on the street is they're pop/rock or alternative. As echoes of Billy Corgan, Metric, The Andrew's sisters, wedding reception jazz quartets and a foghorn revealed themselves I lost any hope of nailing them to anything but alternative. Maybe. Charmingly infantile at times as you'll witness in Hayloft (vid below), achingly sweet in Burning Pile and perfectly orchestrated in Wisdom and Ghosting...This album is original, superbly crafted and full to the brim with surprises. If you like a band that can combine instrumental innovation with clever arrangements, striking vocals and a solid rhythm section - who the hell doesn't? - get on the snake and ride this baby. It's hot.



Mother Mother Official Site

Angus & Julia Stone: The Beast

An Australian brother-sister duo, that began breaking native ground back in 2006, caught my ear recently when I heard the track The Beast from their 2007 EP of the same name. Maybe it's the Neil Young guitar trot reminding me of Horse With No Name, the chipper timbre, or the tragic lyrics:

Retrench me because of machines
Kids trading roses for guns
Track mark under the sleeve
I can't talk I need to run
Loves thrown away the ring
Not knowing what to say
Mama won't you sing
It's like you're cut by the blade

After 15 listens I'm still hooked.

Angus' voice lulls with Donovan-like pacing while Julia's sadly murmured harmonies seal the serenade. As the accompanying video's black and white sketch of a bleek society reemerges in colour, we are assured that not all hope is lost in this childlike depiction of the deterioration of humanity (is there any other subject these days?).


www.angusandjuliastone.com
www.myspace.com
/angusandjuliastone