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Dusted Features
Every Friday, Dusted Magazine publishes a series of music-related lists compiled by our favorite artists. This week: a very special Tuesday edition featuring Junior Boys and Peter and the Wolf.
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Listed: Junior Boys + Peter and the Wolf
Junior Boys
Few modern electronic acts are able to create songs with such immediate appeal and warmth without sacrificing substance and envelope-pushing. The Junior Boys broke loose in 2004 with the release of Last Exit (followed by its rerelease on the relatively massive Domino imprint). Their smooth grooves picked up some heft and sallied forth with So This is Goodbye, their recent, and equally tasty/beloved long-player. The second record is also out on Domino, and the Toronto duo are on tour now and probably for awhile.
1. Kode 9 - "Curious" from the new album Memories of the Future
The only album you need this year
2. Tensnake - Around the House
Tensnake sent an email to us, just as we were talking about how amazing this track was.....weird synchronicity.
3. DJ T - Body Language Volume 2
Speaking of Tensnake, basically every track from this comp will make our top ten of the year....check it.
4. Ike Yard - 1980-1982 Collection
Another great release from Acute. This is essential. We found a used Ike Yard record a few years ago, and were hooked ever since, totally abstract, totally amazing...
5. The Radio Dept - Pet Grief
Underrated record from an underrated band. Great things are happening in Sweden.
6. Caribou - secret stuff you haven't heard
I've heard the new stuff he's working on....best stuff he's ever done, I can't wait till the new album is released and he takes over the world.
7. Cassie - Me and U
If John Foxx produced r&b....like a dream come true.
8. Alex Smoke -Paradolia
"No Consequences" is my all-time fave. And hey he did a great remix of us, too.
9. Morgan Geist - Most of All
OK so I am on this release, so that's a bit cheez...but seriously I had nothing to do with this track. I showed up and he coached me through every syllable, it's all morgan...and so I can say with no ego, that it's amazing
10. Skream - Tapped the Arpeggio
Skream tracks are total minimal perfection....I never want them to end....just keep em looping forever....
Peter and the Wolf
Veterans of the indie miniverse, Austin thinker Red Hunter (aka Peter and the Wolf) has recently released a full-length that seems destined to break out into larger pastures. Their "proper" debut, Lightness, on the relatively new, and sure to be influential Workers Institute label. Staying true to their past (and present), Peter and the Wolf just completely a big tour, and are gearing up for the next one. Detailed info, tunes, and tour dates are available at their Myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/whiskeyandapples.
1. The Shivers (I think there's more than one Shivers, but I'm referring to the GOOD one out of NYC)
I have been into this music for about three years now, since the night Keith Zarriello and I met as newcomers and played to an empty Brooklyn dive bar. The minute he started singing I knew I would want to hear every record the guy made til the day I die, and that feeling hasn't changed. We ended up becoming friends, went through hell together on the road, got to know each other as fellow broke-ass writers, and shared those early touring experiences that remind you just how many dues you're going to pay. A true artist who challenges his audiences, goes to success-hindering extremes keeping his art protected from bullshit and bullshitters, and gives people something extraordinary if they're sharp enough to find it, Zarriello is one of the unknown greats, and I'm thrilled that there's a new record coming from him soon on Outer Borough Records. Until then I cheezily refer you to cdbaby.com/cd/shiversmusic which is his only current online presence, I think. There's really no point in me trying to say how fine a writer he is when folks can listen for themselves.
2. Eric Shaw Design
Like many of my broke-ass friends, Shaw jumped on tour with me for over a week after he got booted from American Apparel ("Frankly, son, you're just not the 16 year-old girl we're looking for.") The only thing he had to keep afloat were some shirts he'd drawn that he now sells. He'd hang out at the shows wearing one of his shirts, and by the end of the night somehow he'd have met every person there and sold enough shirts to party, eat, and all the other things you do on tour every night. I was stoked to see rad artists like Jana Hunter and Lexie Mountain wearing his shirts with pride the day after meeting him; his style is immediately his own. You can even find his shirts in some of the nicer spots around the country now, as well as check out his weird art at ericshawdesign.com.
3. The Lottery/Steve Chevez
The mad worker bee who runs Moonshine Studios out of LA (a huge task) in addition to fronting his wild party band The Lottery somehow manages to go way beyond the call of duty to support the local music scene and help his friends when they're budgetless because he believes in their art. Example? This week he agreed to the mammoth task of studying Morricone's orchestration with me so we can really get a handle on what instruments he used, what equipment he used, and what makes his recordings sound so damn good as we prepare for a project in December 06. If you meet Steve Chevez, all I can say is take him out for coffee and get him talking. (www.moonshinestudios.com) And do not miss the Lottery if you're anywhere near LA. www.ilostthelottery.com
4. Josh Duke
Here's a reclusive kid from Austin who I'd see doing interesting things at shows, filming, talking about cool ideas he had. Eventually he let his guard down enough to play me some of his music and it was astounding, this major talent writing rad songs and recording them alone, never performing! But his recordings were so good I asked if he'd want to be involved on Lightness (our new release) and he ended up hanging out, recording, and even coming on the road with me to finish it over the next two months. His solo projects in various incarnations can be heard at myspace.com/jaiseevava and we've got a new project together called Sun Chasers where he composes a lot of instrumentals that I put lyrics to, in addition to us arranging some of his songs. An incredible new writer!
5. Wax Museum Pandemonium
Clem Poole and his brother Noah in Austin just blew my mind the other night when they led a small, masked orchestra in an unamplified performance of these haunting, gorgeous choral songs about drinking, willow trees, and heartbreak. Imagine Edward Gorey set to music; that's the best way I can describe it. Clem is also an animator and artist, and you can learn more about the music and everything at myspace.com/wmpandemonium, naturally.
6. Deer Tick
John McCauley is still under 20, I believe, and already he's toured, recorded, or collaborated with Viking Moses, Jana Hunter, Nat Baldwin and a whole bunch of major musicians earning international acclaim, and with good reason. The kid is somehow writing songs that you'd swear only a seasoned vet could cook up, and that's because in a weird way he already is a seasoned vet. He's booked tours across the country for himself and friends, recorded 3 albums in 2005 and beats the hell out of some drums for a rad grunge band called Engine Knock. McCauley has already spent plenty of time out there getting kicked around, shivering, declaring his love, etc. He once joked that he skipped right over the "success" stage and went directly to the "drunken-old-man" stage (I'm paraphrasing; we were drunk.) myspace.com/deertick
7. Sparrow House
Austin's Jared van Fleet has a solo project, Sparrow House, which will release an EP quite soon, I hope. His meticulous writing and recording of unpredictable, chilling melodies has had a huge influence on me. I don't know why, but you can listen to his music again and again and it just keeps sounding new. In addition, the guy supports the hell out of his friends via his collective called Tonewheel (tonewheel.org) in Austin, and inspires people to get off their asses and go out adventuring. Myspace.com/sparrowhouse
8. The Weird Weeds
One of my closest friends in Austin happens to lead one of the best bands in the world; and I say that without bias because I was a fan long before we became friends. Nick Hennies is the kind of drummer that ruins you for all other drummers. His instincts and his true love of experimental music shines through in his hopeful, surreal writing, and the other Weeds (Sandy and Aaron) are always on the same page; every sound they make is new and beautiful. www.weirdweeds.com
9. Lexie Mountain Boys
Voted most likely to get naked for midnight beach swims, Lexie and her crew of 2 Amys, a Sam, and a Katherine toured this summer in the Baltimore area and played a bunch of unforgettable shows I was lucky enough to catch. Often ending up in the street in front of the club, halting traffic, shrieking, showing their asses to passing gangstas, and all kinds of other hair-pulling good times, the Lexie Mountain Boys are a carnival of oddities, a rare insight into the minds of girls, and a one-of-a-kind American phenomenon you'd better catch before they befriend Beck and turn into the Spice Girls or something. Myspace.com/mountainlex
10. Possessed by Paul James
Here's another artist who will up-and-disappear to some small Colorado town just to protect his art and write honest songs, despite having signed recently to Shake Your Ass in Italy and toured Europe with explosive shows and an unbelievable Howlin' Wolf style presence. This guy's energy, his shrieking fiddle, his stomping bass-drum feet, and his spitting, hollering preacher's lyrics are deeply tied into his real life story: Konrad Wert grew up in an Amish community, came out into the weird America he'd been sheltered from, and somehow channels the explosive freedom he felt into his writing and performances. Myspace.com/possessedbypauljames -- If this guy performs within 500 miles of you, start planning the road trip.
By Dusted Magazine
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