New Violators don't have an album out just yet, but the Norwegian quintet -- sextet, if you count the phenomenal female back-up singer accompanying them last time out -- should be a hit when they set foot on U.S. shores early next month.
We've heard a number of their recordings, most in demo form, and have three times: They're the only Norwegian band to truly knock ours socks off two festivals in a row. 120 Days, who?
Beyond straight-up great songwriting, vocalist/songwriter/frontman Per Borten packs more charisma than a dozen fledgling new wave crews, hearkening to a less rouged, Scandinavian Ziggy Stardust -- macho, fey, theatrical, romantic, icily removed .
.. and sporting boxy glasses.
Despite his blonde pompadour, a crooning Morrissey voice, and the Violators' stadium-sized chops, the day after a Trondheim gig a bemused UK journalist spent 3/4 of an article in the by:Larm festival newspaper analyzing Borten's skin-tight pants, and the effects they had on local teenage population. Very Footloose, no?
Well, okay, the pants are skinny, but as even Sir Project Runway had to admit, the band's also, well, equally tight: New Violators can echo the Hold Steady in their frantic, technically sick keyboards and Springsteen-style lighter-lifters, but also add a "Bizarre Love Triangle" or two and some
Knowing we're fans, the band gave us one mixed and one unmixed demo from their most recent recording session as well as an older version of "Burma" -- all destined, in one way or another, for a future platter.
A handful of bloggers picked up on this 22-year-old Chicagoan when he released the single "Jacket" as a welcome-to-my-world ice breaker, but there will be much more movement around and his music in '07. Chalk that up to a virtually self-recorded, kick ass album; a throw-back, Ziggy-era Bowie, T. Rex-y, ELO-loving, glamified sound; a theatrical vocal, poised beyond its years (part Bowie part Bolan says his one-sheet, presumptuous if it wasn't spot-on); all while using the same gear that appeared on Wilco's Yankee Foxtrot Hotel (and recorded in Jay Bennett's studio ta boot).
Fun facts make for good press, but when we picked his debut LP out of a pile of promos late last year, we couldn't believe how full-on '70s revival it was, let alone how fully realized. Here's the premiere of the swirling, double-tracked vocal rocker that opens the album. We love it.
And here's a refresher from David's welcome kit, another quality cut from his debut:
He's the one in the middle.
More cool shit about the record? Vandervelde plays almost all the instrumental parts, aside from Bennett's basslines on these two tracks.
But David can't take credit for arranging the strings. That's courtesy of David Campbell, whose past credits include arrangements for Elton John, Leonard Cohen, and his son, Beck -- and the weeping violins make "Corduroy Blues" something special. Our other fave track is "Feet Of A Liar," which you can grab (among others) from his session with .
And we admit, we're as impressed as the next blog when it comes to young gun artists ...
but when they sound more like icons of decades past -- rather than the fads of last year -- we can't help but get gushy.
The Moonstation House Band is out 1/23/07 on Secretly Canadian. Get it.
Mark Ray Lewis, the smoky-voiced leader of the dark and hypnotic folk outfit Trilobite, comes with an impressive literary pedigree: dude was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford and won the O. Henry and Pushcart awards for his short fiction piece Scordatura -- which featured an introductory note by Dave Eggers, and was nominated by Joyce Carol Oates. So, as you can imagine, the lyrics on his debut musical release are, uh, "deep.
" (We'll be winning no such awards anytime soon, we know.)
You won't need a thesaurus and a lyric sheet to appreciate Trilobite, though; cue up "Pumpkin Farmer" and see why we fell in love with this record last week. Mark's voice melds beautifully with that of Michelle Collins, the violin and acoustic being all the accompaniment they need.
Sometimes innocent, sometimes spooky (ala "Hunky Kentuckian"), always a great listen.
Enjoy.
One of the albums getting steady spins around Stereogum HQ these days is The Asteroid #4's fourth release An Amazing Dream.
The Philadelphia-based rockers have covered vast stylistic terrain over the course of their records, but this one refines the psychadelic space-rock formula to great results; Dream shows that, over a decade in, they're just getting started. Songs like "Shoot Out The Stars" mix spare and tuneful country-folk with underwater-bunker guitars, while "Here We Go" is a big ol' dose of Brian Jonestown psych-bombast, with the requisite curling guitar bends and dousing of reverb. We're also in love with the half-time swagger-and-yearn of record-closer "Belong.
" Here's the premiere of another great album cut:
The band is letting you have a few more, so if you dig, get busy downloading!
An Amazing Dream is out 1/2/07 on Rainbow Quartz Records.
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