On the road with d: Cassettes Won't Listen

One of my favorite albums that I've been listening to this month is Cassettes Won't Listen's Small-Time Machine. Now, this isn't a particularly new release; the album came out in March, but I hadn't given it a listen yet until earlier this month and I'm glad I checked it out.

Cassettes Won't Listen is Jason Drake and he's a one man band blending electronica and indie rock. When he started, he was just having fun with it and he wanted to trick people into thinking that it was a full band. He fairly effectively did this with his early songs including the first song he had written under the name Cassettes Won't Listen, Cutting Balloons.


Cassettes Won't Listen - Cutting Balloons

Cassettes Won't Listen - The Freed Pig


Cassettes Won't Listen - Change

In 2007, Cassettes Won't Listen released a free EP called One Alternative, his most recent in a string of EPs that were released only in digital form. This 5-track EP consists mainly of covers of songs that Drake used to listen to growing up and two songs on the site are from this EP: his cover of Blind Melon's Change and his cover of Sebadoh's The Freed Pig.

Cassettes Won't Listen - Paper Float

Small-Time Machines is the first physically released album that Cassettes Won't Listen has made. Small-Time Machines shows Drake's skill in layering putting many instrumental lines together and making the countermelodies work. The site already has one of the album's strongest songs, Paper Float, layering electric guitar, piano, and synth with his vocals into a catchy song. Below is another track from this album.


Cassettes Won't Listen - Large Radio

Cassettes Won't Listen also has various remixes to its name such as one of Pela's Lonesome Hearts. On his remixes, Drake has said, "I approach a remix from a hip hop producers mentality. I rarely use anything other than the vocal track and I usually don’t listen to the original song much. I feel it would have a negative effect on the outcome. I usually scrap the chord progression and song structure and create the music from scratch. I often look at it as a puzzle where I have to unlock the music within the vocals. I can usually listen to music and hear a completely new song underneath the vocals. That's usually how I start."


Pela - Lonesome Hearts (Cassettes Won't Listen remix)

Cassettes Won't Listen website
Cassettes Won't Listen MySpace

On the road with d: The Virgins

Annie's interview with André Anjos of RAC last week reminded me that I wanted to talk about The Virgins, whose new album I've been listening to a bit recently. The Virgins are a New York City-based band formed in 2005. Frontman Donald Cummings and guitarist Wade Oates met on a photo shoot. They became friends with Nick Zarin-Ackerman and met final member Erik Ratensperger when they were auditioning for a drummer.

I'd really been looking forward to the LP (released June 3) after hearing the EP that they released last year. They released that EP back then because they wanted something to give out on tour and they didn't have enough songs properly recorded to make a full length album.

The new album is full of fun danceable rock with a taste of funk and disco. Their songs don't cover much ground lyrically focusing on the rock staples of girls, sex, and drugs, but the songs themselves make up for it permeated with brash energy and fun choruses while maintaining a catchy groove throughout.

The Virgins - Rich Girls

The version of Rich Girls that appears on site is actually the version from the EP. When I was first listening to the new album, I was actually caught a bit off guard because I hadn't realized that the songs on the EP had been noticeably redone. For instance, my favorite thing about Rich Girls off the EP had been its fun bass line and this was in fact the most noticeably changed aspect of the song. In the earlier version, the bass line is repeated a lot more throughout the various sections of the song than in the newer version, but I really liked that because that bass line really got under my skin. I did find that I liked some of the other updates to the song such as shortening of the song, but at the end of the day I actually preferred the EP version over the version on the new album.

Rich Girls isn't the only song where I preferred the version off the EP, I felt the same way about Love Is Colder Than Death, which was slowed down on the LP. This isn't to imply that I dislike the LP; this album is still one of my favorites so far this year.


The Virgins - Love Is Colder Than Death (from EP)


The Virgins - Love Is Colder Than Death (from LP)

Another song from the EP is below.


The Virgins - One Week of Danger (from EP)

The Virgins' website
The Virgins' MySpace

On the road with d: Russ Chimes

There are a lot of Chromeo remixes floating around so I was a bit caught off guard a few weeks ago when I clicked to listen to yet another remix and found one by Russ Chimes that totally wowed me. In Russ Chimes' re-envisioning of the song, he makes it into an epic-sounding retro electro number. Quite frankly, it's one of the best remixes I've heard of any song in quite a while.


Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (Russ Chimes remix)

Russ Chimes - She’s Got The Heat (Cryptonites Remix)

Russ Chimes is all about that 80s electro house sound. He started his involvement with music as a guitarist while in school, but eventually he moved to London to play before he got interested in synth and producing. The song on site of his is actually a remix the Cryptonites did of his song She's Got the Heat. You can compare it to the original below.


Russ Chimes - She's Got the Heat

Below is another of his songs that I like.


Russ Chimes - Mulsanne

Chimes has been working on a number of remixes lately. His most recent are the aforementioned remix of Fancy Footwork and a good one of Sam Sparro's Black & Gold.


Sam Sparro - Black and Gold (Russ Chimes remix)

Chimes recently returned from a tour in Australia and he's working on new original material for his first official release.

Russ Chimes' MySpace

On the road with d: The Black Ghosts

When Simian broke up in 2005, two of its members went on to form the more dance-oriented group now known as Simian Mobile Disco. Simon William Lord didn't; he ended up joining forces with Theo Keating of The Wiseguys in 2006 to form the electronic dance pop group The Black Ghosts.

The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose To Give It (Fake Blood Remix)

The Black Ghosts first came to my attention thanks to their cover of Olivia Newton John's Let's Get Physical. However, they really captured my attention with what I consider their strongest song, Any Way You Choose to Give It, with its catchy synth-bass line. Keating has admitted that when they were getting started that they got a bit over-excited in getting people to remix their music so there are a lot of remixes of this song floating around. The remix by Fake Blood is on the site, though I do prefer the original (Boy 8-Bit's is my favorite of the remixes, but there are a number of other good ones).


The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose to Give It


The Black Ghosts - Any Way You Choose to Give It (Boy 8-bit version)


The Black Ghosts - Let's Get Physical

Their lyrics are often a bit darker than the sound of their songs and that's intentional. On the choice of lyrics to put over the music, Lord's said, "Part of it is a reaction to the inane lyrics usually used in dance music, ‘oooh baby, make me dance, 1234, yeah yeah yeah, sweat, love, shake it oooh’ etc. I just see it as lazy and unadventurous, there’s no reason that lyrics in dance music can’t be more interesting and tell proper stories."

Two remixes of their song I Want Nothing and a mixtape of theirs are also on the site and worth a listen.

If you're interested in music videos, they have an interesting one in their video for their modern take on a torch song Some Way Through This that is worth checking out (the video is done all in LEGOs, which offsets the sort of dark material that the video covers).


The Black Ghosts - Some Way Through This

The Black Ghosts are releasing their self-titled album on July 8, their first full-length.

The Black Ghosts' website
The Black Ghosts' MySpace

On the road with d: Delta Spirit

Delta Spirit really caught my attention when I first heard them with their brand of high-energy blues-rock. Four of the band's members used to be drummers, so it shouldn't be a surprise that they have such high-energy rhythmically driven music. When Delta Spirit formed, they wanted to sound thoroughly American, so they anchored their music in the soul of American roots music.

Their song Trashcan is actually about how singer Matt Vasquez was found by the other members of the band. Drummer Brandon Young was in downtown San Diego when he heard Vasquez playing guitar in the trolley station. Then when the band Young and bassist Jonathan Jameson were in broke up, they got in touch with Vasquez.

Regarding how the band writes music, Young's said "We don’t sit down and write, it all comes from jam sessions. It starts with a cool lick or a couple chords, and then the lyrics of the song come from Matt or Kelly."


Delta Spirit - Trashcan

Delta Spirit - Gimme Some Motivation

The band makes an effort to give their recordings the sound of being played live; they're excited by how The Libertines sound like their recordings were done in one take and the band wants to retain that sort of feel in their own music. You can definitely hear that in songs like Gimme Some Motivation off their EP I Think I've Found It!

Delta Spirit - Children

Children is off their album Ode to Sunshine, their first full-length. They recorded the songs for this CD up in a cabin in Jullian, California and released it in 2007; it's going to be re-released later this year under Rounder Records. Delta Spirit is currently on tour with Matt Costa; you can find details of locations on their MySpace.

Below is one more song from I Think I've Found It! and one from Ode to Sunshine.


Delta Spirit - Streetwalker


Delta Spirit - People C'mon

Delta Spirit's MySpace

On the road with d: Grand Archives

When Band of Horses left the city of Seattle for South Carolina after the release of their first album Everything All the Time, guitarist and co-founder Mat Brooke didn't follow. Instead Brooke stayed behind in Seattle and founded the indie rock band now known as Grand Archives (formerly known just as Archives).

They released some demos in March 2007 announcing their presence and quickly were signed and ended up opening for Modest Mouse in April before heading to the studio to record their full-length album that summer. Earlier this year, they released that album The Grand Archives. Included on the album are the four songs previously released as demos, but reworked and recorded with a fuller instrumentation and a crisper sound. Brooke's said that one of the rules that his band set up was that they wouldn't use any synthesizers; every instrument recorded is the real deal.

When asked about how the band's music differs from his prior work with Band of Horses, Brooke's said "I feel like I still played the guitar the exact same way and I usually go with the same chord changes but the only difference was that we added a lot more vocal melodies and try to play in a few less minor chords and in a few more majors." It shows. The overall sound of the album is brighter and more upbeat even if the lyrics have a tendency towards the melancholy.

Grand Archives - Torn Blue Foam Couch

Torn Blue Foam Couch is the lead track off the album and the version on the site is the album version. The earlier, demo version is worth listening to, though. If you compare the two songs, you can hear the difference primarily in the introduction and in the tempo.


Grand Archives - Torn Blue Foam Couch (demo)

Grand Archives is in the middle of a summer tour currently performing along with Sera Cahoone (Cahoone sometimes used to drum sometimes in Carissa's Wierd and in Band of Horses). Below are three more tracks from The Grand Archives.


Grand Archives - Sleepdriving


Grand Archives - Miniature Birds


Grand Archives - Index Moon

Grand Archives' website (not really active as of now)
Grand Archives' MySpace

On the road with d: Maritime

One of my favorite bands that I came across last summer is indie pop rock band Maritime that hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They're currently a quartet though the band formed initially from former members of The Promise Ring (singer/guitarist Davey von Bohlen and drummer Dan Didier) and The Dismemberment Plan (bassist Eric Axelson). The song that drew me in was the first song of theirs I'd ever heard: For Science Fiction.


Maritime - For Science Fiction

From its opening drums and bass riffs to its catchy chorus, I was instantly hooked.

Maritime - Guns of Navarone


Maritime - Boy from School

This song is off of Maritime's third album Heresy and the Hotel Choir released this past October. Also on this album is lead single Guns of Navarone, which appeared on the site in February. Maritime's other song on the site, a cover of Hot Chip's Boy from School, is a bonus track only on the Japanese version of the album and it's definitely an interesting play on the original keeping the melody but changing the mood of the song.

The third album actually represents a shift in how the group writes its music; it's the first album that the band actually sat down and wrote together as a band. Original member and bass player Eric Axelson didn't live in the same city as the others so the band had previously primarily worked via demos online. However, Axelson was tired of touring and left the group before the band went on tour after the release of its second album forcing the band to rely on temporary replacements until they made bassist Justin Klug and guitarist/keyboardist Dan Hinz permanent members of the band. This paved the way for the band actually being able to work together on writing the music for the third album from the very beginning. This led to a more cohesive record written in a shorter amount of time.

Below are two songs from the band's second album We, The Vehicles released in 2006.


Maritime - Parade of Punk Rock T-Shirts


Maritime - Tearing Up the Oxygen

Maritime's website
Maritime's MySpace

On the road with d: Matthew Ryan

I was reminded of Matthew Ryan earlier this week when I got my contest prize. See, One Little Indian Records who sent us our prizes also is the label that Matthew Ryan is currently signed to in the UK and honestly, I would have loved to have gotten something of Matthew Ryan's as an extra.

Matthew Ryan's a singer-songwriter from Nashville who has been making albums for just over a decade now. He released his first album May Day in 1997. Last month, he released his eleventh album Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State.

Matthew Ryan - Everybody Always Leaves


Matthew Ryan - And Never Look Back

Two of Matthew Ryan's songs appeared on the site in March. These were both from his tenth album From a Late Night High Rise released in 2006. The songs came together at a time in his life right around when two pivotal events occurred: a close friend died of cancer and his brother was sentenced to a 30 year prison term. Ryan's said that he wanted this album to sound like sorrow; "'High Rise' is about all the thoughts that haunt you when you lose someone and you realize that there will never be enough time." His music on this album is actually markedly different from much of his previous work with a more electronic sound and more use of synth.

His eleventh album Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State in many ways represents him recovering. The music moves back out of the electronic phase of his last album back towards a more roots-oriented flavor, but again he produces music that examines emotions in moving ways. Below are two songs from this album as well as one from his 2003 album Regret Over the Wires.


Matthew Ryan - Meet Me by the River


Matthew Ryan - Jane, I Still Feel the Same


Matthew Ryan - Return to Me

Matthew Ryan's website
Matthew Ryan's MySpace

On the road with d: Jim Noir

If you haven't heard of Jim Noir, you may be a bit more familiar with his music then you think since his music has graced TV shows and commercials. Most recently his song My Patch was adapted for use in a commonly aired 2007 holiday commerical for Target.


Jim Noir - My Patch

The plucked descending scale was what really drew me into this quirky and fun number that has about as repetitive lyrics as could possibly be imagined. He simply repeats the same line of words over and over again. However, the way he plays with the music really keeps the song fun and upbeat and anything but repetitive.

Jim Noir is a singer-songwriter from Manchester and his music sits in that realm of psychedelic electro-pop using a lot of those electronic effects that were popular back in the sixties. He makes great use of melodies and hooks as well as making good use of counterpoint in his layered vocal lines. His first album Tower of Love (which My Patch was on) released in 2006 was a self-made effort; the songs were recorded at his home in Chorlton and he played all the instruments that you hear in his songs.

Jim Noir - Don't You Worry

Don't You Worry, which appeared on the site in March, is off of his self-titled album that was released last month. He hit the road and recorded this album at Abbey Road, but he still played all the instruments himself and did all the finishing work himself.

Below are two more songs by Jim Noir: one more from his first album and one more from the new one.


Jim Noir - The Key Of C


Jim Noir - Happy Day Today

Jim Noir's website
Jim Noir's MySpace

On the road with d: Jukebox the Ghost

My favorite of the Andrew Maury remixes is the one of Jukebox the Ghost's Good Day. However, I'll admit that when I first heard it on the site, I'd never heard the original so I wasn't sure whether I was responding to the remix itself or whether the strength of the song lied in the original. So I went looking for more about Jukebox the Ghost and I'm glad I did.

Jukebox the Ghost is a trio from Washington D.C. playing a brand of piano power pop that's gotten them compared to Ben Folds a lot. Their generally upbeat music is fun and playful and generally features both quirky lyrics and interesting dynamics. Plus, they can really play those instruments.

Good Day with its piano riffs and its catchy chorus definitely stands out as a strong song on its own, but I ended up having to say that I actually prefer Andrew Maury's take on the song a tad better. The differences between the two primarily lie in the addition of a driving beat as well as more subtle touches on the vocal and piano lines. To me, the additions give the song a tighter sound, though one thing I do like about the original is how different various sections of the song are and I think this is lost a little bit in the remix.


Jukebox the Ghost - Good Day

Anyway, it's a good week to talk about Jukebox the Ghost because their album Let Live and Let Ghosts just came out this past Tuesday. Here are a few more songs by Jukebox the Ghost to listen to.


Jukebox the Ghost - Hold It In


Jukebox the Ghost - Under My Skin


Jukebox the Ghost - Where Are All the Scientists Now?

Jukebox the Ghost's MySpace

On the road with d: Teitur

Teitur - Catherine the Waitress

I want to take a moment to talk about Teitur. You may remember the song Catherine the Waitress, which appeared on the site at the end of March. This song is actually off of Teitur's newest album The Singer released in Scandinavia in February. The album's currently available for digital download though the album isn't widely released in the States and Canada until May 13.

Teitur's a singer-songwriter from the Faroe Islands and he has an amazing tenor voice that I don't think can be really appreciated in a song like Catherine the Waitress. The instrumentally stripped down song All My Mistakes from his second album Stay Under the Stars is a different story, though. When there's just a piano accompanying him, his voice really shines. This was the song that won me over.


Teitur - All My Mistakes

Teitur's especially known for his song writing. "I know some writers make a point about having a complete story: beginning, ending, moral, everything. I just do my best to describe it, and leave the rest up to mystery. I like it open-ended to freeze a moment in time. Sometimes you write it right out of your head, then you see what you were saying when it's finished. Sometimes, at that right place and time, there will be a key that unlocks our feelings," Teitur has said about his song writing.

Below are two more songs by Teitur that I enjoy.


Teitur - Louis, Louis


Teitur - Rough Around the Edges

Teitur's almost finished his current tour in the UK; he hits the United States and Canada starting this coming week going from coast to coast to promote his new album. You can see the schedule on either site below.

Teitur's website
Teitur's MySpace