Skirts

Craig Smith  //  

 
Feb 27 / 9:06pm

The Magnetic Fields, "Love At the Bottom of the Sea."

by Craig Smith

(download)

The Magnetic Fields's newest offering of taut pop jams has arrived, and it's pretty good. Their last few have been a little disappointing but this one's at least half good songs, which is a ratio I'll live with. The songs are more like their old stuff, synthy and cheaper sounding, not as pristine. Download Love At the Bottom of the Sea by clicking on the art below.

 
Feb 18 / 10:44am

Teen Suicides, "DC Snuff Film."

by Craig Smith
I follow Coma Cinema on twitter and it's usually sorta depressing (sample tweet: "Drunk at this show i know everything is devoid of meaning.") An hour ago though he came up with a gem, posting a link to this new Teen Suicides album. Seven tracks of fuzzy garage pop, DC Snuff Film is well worth a listen. I especially like track 3, "Bad News"-- you can download the whole EP for free at their bandcamp.

 
Feb 18 / 9:36am

Treefort, "Très Fort."

by Craig Smith
This is a dandy little album, 10 tracks of well-executed college rock from Treefort. The group is comprised of the guy from Slow Loris, who we covered a while ago on Skirts, and his girlfriend. The first track "Hideout" is the best one but it's decent all the way through. Nothing revolutionary here but if you like 90s-style indie rock give Treefort a shot.

 
Feb 16 / 7:55pm

Gremlins, "Gremlins EP."

by Craig Smith

My little brother started playing bass when he was 12 or so and I, as a good older brother, handed him a copy of Parliament's Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo System. "Listen to 'Flash Light' dude, the bass will melt your belt," I said.

That was in like 2001. If it were to happen today though, I would skip "Flash Light" and instead hip him to "Maim My Bitch" off of this new Gremlins' self-titled EP. (take a moment to scroll down and click on that track below). That strutting bassline is killer, right?

Gremlins is a super-group of bedroom-pop luminaries-- Mat Cothran (Coma Cinema, Elvis Depressedly), Katie Lee (Braids), Patrick Jeffords (Toro y Moi, Kid Trails) and Sam Ray (Ricky Eat Acid). The EP lives up to the pedigree, three tracks of slinky pop music bookended by an intro and extro.

Listen to the album below and download for 'name your price.' I gave 'em five bucks but if pressed would have gone up to eight, I think.

 
Feb 14 / 3:00pm

Funeral Home, "Funeral Home EP."

by Craig Smith
I'm at school, in the middle of a micro-economy lesson right now but I have a few moments so I figure I'll share this album. Funeral Home plays solid shoe-gaze jams and their new EP is available for stream and download at bandcamp. Check out the first track below and click on the link for the rest of the EP. Happy Valentine's Day!

 
Feb 13 / 10:28pm

Grimes, "Visions."

by Craig Smith

(download)

I'm about to fall asleep due to tiredness so I'll make this write-up quick, but man oh man is this new Grimes album good. You should download it. Grimes is a young lady from British Columbia, Visions is her third full-length, and it's chock-full of tasty stretched-out synth-pop. I could write more description but I don't really need to-- this is the kind of album the internet eats up so you're going to be hearing about it all year long. Download it by clicking on the art below. EDIT: the first file was removed for copyright violation. Try downloading it here.

 
Feb 13 / 9:48pm

Sleigh Bells, "Reign of Terror."

by Craig Smith

(download)

I think this new Sleigh Bells album sucks but who knows, perhaps you'll like it. Give it a shot by clicking on the art below. Note: this version doesn't sound very good but I can't tell if it's a low quality rip or if that's how it's supposed to sound.

 
Feb 9 / 9:21pm

Islands, "A Sleep & A Forgetting."

by Craig Smith

(download)

Islands is back with a whole new album of their wacky indie-pop, only this time it's not so wacky. Lead songwriter Nick Thornburn has (as participant in various projects including the Unicorns, Mr. Heavenly and Th' Corn Gangg) devoted tracks to Halloween, the sea, a haunted arm and a whole album basically about ghosts. A Sleep & A Forgetting, though, seems to be focussed on the eternal, and eternally serious, subject of love. 

It's not bad but I think I prefer the silly stuff, and not because I prefer songs about ghosts over songs about love. Well, I do actually, but mainly I prefer uptempo cool hooks over piano jams and string arrangements, and the latter is what we have here. It's not as bad as that description makes it sound but not great either. Download the album by clicking on the art below.
 
Feb 1 / 10:16pm

Air, "Le Voyage Dans La Lune."

by Craig Smith

(download)

Look, a new Air album! The album functions as a soundtrack to some old 1902 movie, presumably about dancing on the moon (as opposed to safariing on the moon, which these guys are also into). Since it's ostensibly a soundtrack the tunes are mainly instrumental, a pretty good mix of laid-back and funky. I don't think this album's great but it's a decent listen. Download it by clicking on the art below.

 
Jan 28 / 10:26pm

Liam the Younger Discography.

by Craig Smith

(download)

I was hipped to Liam the Younger on Thursday by this article on Prefix written by my brother. That's an actual music review site and he actually gets paid to write for them so if you're looking for an analysis with a lot of description that's the link to check out. Here's my amateur analysis though: Liam the Younger has made some very good music here. He's Liam Betson, an off-and-on guitarist for awesome band Titus Andronicus, and over the past few years he's put out a few self-recorded CD-Rs of his acoustic folk songs. He comes off like a combo of Woody Guthrie and Jeff Mangum's sparser moments, with an unadorned and compelling style. 

Now the label Underwater Peoples is remastering the early albums and putting them out on vinyl so everyone can hear them. The first two were posted for free download by Liam for a long time but now are sorta hard to find. You can get the first one, Clear Skies Over Black River, here. The second, After the Graveyard, is here and the third, Revel Hidden Worlds, here. If you only feel like grabbing one first make it After the Graveyard.