Portland’s Dave Depper has yet to release any material of his own, but has spent his years playing live and in the studio with many well known artists including Mirah and The Decemberists. Stuck in a creative rut, Depper decided to take on a project to keep him going: recording Paul McCartney’s Ram album in its entirety by himself at home. Posting tracks to his blog as he completed them, Depper has since finished the project with only the help of Joan Hiller taking on Linda McCartney’s vocal parts of the album, completing the whole thing in 30 days. The Ram Project will be released on vinyl on May 3rd and “Dear Boy” is the first sample from the album. Completely faithful to the original, I’m not sure if the reason I like this is because “Dear Boy” is one of my favorite songs or it’s a genuinely great cover. The whole project is an interesting one, I’m looking forward to hearing what he does with the whole album.

-Adam

Dave Depper – Dear Boy

The Ram Project

Pittsburgh sample maestro Wise Blood has been generating quite a bit of buzz over the last year, and based on the single “B.I.G. E.G.O.” I am beginning to see what its all about.  The track was released last year off of the artist’s debut EP and, like all of his work, it is entirely contructed of samples of other artist’s music, while Wise Blood (Chris Laufman) sings over the orchestrations.  Might be gimmicky, sure, but its one I haven’t quite soured on yet.

     — Jon Behm

   Wise Blood – B.I.G. E.G.O.

Wise Blood:          Site

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Another taste from the upcoming sophomore record In Love With Oblivion from the Crystal Stilts. Not too much has changed with these songs from their excellent debut record Alight the Night, which is a good thing. Their spooky, reverb soaked pop music sounded by timeless and wildly inventive, and I am glad they are further expanding the sound on their 2nd record.  I Can’t wait to hear the whole record.
Crystal Stilts – Through The Floor by Slumberland Records

-Josh

Boston songwriter Marissa Nadler never fails to impress me with both the haunting depth of her vocal ability as well as her forward-thinking approach to folk.  While last year’s amazing “I Love My Man” was a bit of a throwback towards more traditional country music, her newest effort “Baby, I Will Leave You In The Morning,” is definitely a bit less conventional.  While Nadler’s beautifully sad vocals haven’t changed, she’s added some interesting synthesizer parts as well as a slighly more rock-oriented song structure.  I haven’t decided if I love it yet but time will tell.  regardless, I’ll definitely be looking forward to hearing Nadler’s newest album which she just finished recording in February. No news on the release date yet.

– Jon Behm

Marissa Nadler – Baby, I Will Leave You In The Morning

Marissa Nadler:          Site

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Photo by Kelly O

Brand new track dropped today from Seattle hip hop collective Shabazz Palaces from their forthcoming Sub Pop release Black Up (5/31). “An Echo From the Hosts that Profess Infinitum” is a slow burning, dread-filled jam on paranoia.  Shabazz Palaces are one of the forerunners in a vibrant new dark, experiemental rap scene burgeoning on the West Coast. 

     — Jon Behm

Shabazz Palaces:         Site

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Experimental California outfit Railcars’ frontman Aria Jalali recently unearthed a bunch of old tunes from his abandoned “basement raga” project and he’s now releasing via Not Not Fun under the title “Buried Goods.” The first single from said project is “Stray Dogs Of Wroclaw,” an epic, droning mix of warped electronics and twangy, shimmering guitar strings.  It sounds a bit like a gypsy caravan might if they wandered down into southeast Asia, did copious amounts of opium, and then discovered psychedelic Cambodian electro-pop.

– Jon Behm

You can purchase the entire limited edition tape here.

Band:           Site

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I’ve been listening to Detroit experimental/pop outfit Prussia’s new EP recently Four For Attention and I gotta say I am kind of into some of the weirder sonic textures the band creates on the new tracks.   While generally more pop oriented, Prussia also employs some outside-the-box musical techniques – the most obvious on Four being “Girl Cops”‘ slow morph from wet-mucous sucking to guitar/synth pop.  My favorite, however, is fuzzy dreampoop gem “This House Boat Is Making Me Sea Sick,” which sounds a bit like a dub beat fully saturated in a sea of reverb in which the poppy vocals float merrily along. I hope that Prussia continues to explore their more experimental sides – compared to their more pop oriented work it is far more interesting.

– Jon Behm

Prussia:          Site

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Julianna Barwick’s “Prizewinning,” off of her recent (tremendous) record The Magic Place gets remixed here by experimental duo Alias Pail.

– Jon Behm

Julianna Barwick: “Prizewinning” (Alias Pail Remix)

Julianna Barwick:          Site

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Last year when Thao and Mirah came through town, even though I am not that into their new collaborative music, I was still charmed by the duo’s infectious live energy. And I am generally a big fan of Merrill Garbus (tUnE-YaRdS).  Still, I still am not quite sure how I feel about their syrupy sweet new  single together.  “Eleven” strongly features Garbus’s electro-funk, experimental influence on the other two ladies’ more pop rock oriented sound, with Thao and Mirah balancing out Garbus’s weirdness with their nice, if conventional ,vocals. I think in the end though I just prefer my Garbus unfiltered, without the mitigating effects of the other two musicians. 

     — Jon Behm

Thao & Mirah – Eleven (feat.  tUnE-YaRdS)

Thao and Mirah:      Site

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