never fully dreaming

Cloud Boat – Carmine

Cloud Boat first caught our attention with the lovely “Youthern.” More recently they’ve released “Carmine,” complete with a weirdly compelling video where nothing much happens but a lot of intense eye contact and lyric-mouthing in a laundromat. The video is somewhat reminiscent of the ever-mysterious “Just” by Radiohead in the coloring and that I don’t understand why the person involved decided to lay on the ground, but is quite a bit different in tone. If you can figure out the secret to either, let me know.

the rhythm section: great drum beats – a mix by california wives

When I first heard California Wives, I thought I was in love. Then I went to see them live, and I knew it. After their excellent set I hit up singer Jayson Kramer and guitarist Graham Masell and chatted about touring, communicable disease, and the excellence of hair metal. Since we got on so well I thought I’d invite them to make a mix, and with the help of their lovely manager Tom got this love letter from the band to the rhythm section in return. Ranging from sleek new wave to shimmying soul, this mix has wide appeal. If you get the chance to see California Wives on tour, do, but until then check out their SoundCloud page to see how their musical tastes influence their own work.

The Rhythm Section: Great Drum Beats
01| Human by Human League

02| Race: In by Battles
03| Rosanna by Toto

04| Jazz (We’ve Got) by A Tribe Called Quest

05| He Would Have Laughed by Deerhunter

06| Solitude is Bliss by Tame Impala

07| Peg by Steely Dan

08| Myxomatosis by Radiohead

09| Pictures of You by The Cure

10| I Will Possess Your Heart (Album Version) by Death Cab For Cutie

11| I Wanna Be Adored by Stone Roses

12| The Payback by James Brown

sun-fed shapes

As the sun set on Lake Mendota, Brooklyn’s Inlets played a cozy show at the Gates of Heaven Synagogue in Madison, Wisconsin on April 29, 2010. The tiny venue, featuring not much more than an altar and a lofted area, created a complete immersion of sound for the crowd and decimated the barrier between listener and performer.

Inlets’s recent release, Inter Arbiter, features rolling guitars, tapped percussion, and orchestral touches. It’s as if the first two-and-a-half minutes of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” got stretched out and developed into its own album (and that’s a good thing). Live, songs like single “Bright Orange Air” were a little bit darker and heavier than their recorded counterparts, but it worked and made for a unique experience.

Opening the show was Wisconsin one-man show Yellow Ostrich. The charmingly awkward Alex Schaaf used a guitar, tom, and loop pedal to create lush layers of sound and choir-like vocals appropriate for the synagogue setting. In addition to his own material, he also did a lovely cover of “Androgynous”, prefacing the song by saying that “it’s by The Replacements – they’re a band.” Truth.

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Visit the Inlets website here.
Visit the Yellow Ostrich Facebook page here.
View photos from the show here.