Fresh Track + Video: The Bears of Blue River “MES-44”
The Bears of Blue River is a Midwest project for whom Indianapolis serves as a home-away-from-home. The Chicago band stops through Indy frequently, and our humble music scene is all the richer for it. Last week, The Bears of Blue River released a beautiful, limited edition 7″ for their new single “Flamingo”, available via Nashville’s Rhed Rholl Recordings. The 7″ features a technique that Rhed Rholl has dubbed “ice scream splatter” which gives each hand-pressed copy of the clear vinyl a unique splash of pink color.
The b-side of the release is entitled “MES-44“. Listen to the studio version below and watch a stripped-down house performance from one of The Bears of Blue River’s recent Indy visits. The release is limited to 250 copies, so act fast!
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Written by Rob Peoni
Video: Blouse KEXP Session
The warm souls over at KEXP dropped a previously recorded session with Portland’s Blouse late last week, adding yet another gem to their collection. Blouse’s self-titled LP was released earlier this year via Captured Tracks and, in my eyes, has to be one of the most underrated releases to hit the indie scene over the past 9 months. The performance shown in its entirety below is intriguing in a multitude of ways, mainly being that it does not feature member Jacob Portrait (also of Unknown Mortal Orchestra) and was performed at a time when, according the lead singer Charlie Hilton, the band has only played live about 15 times. Despite the short list of rehearsals in front of breathing human beings, the group’s sound is pretty spot on with the album, especially during hit “Into Black”.
Track Listing:
1. Roses
2. They Always Fly Away
3. Nights & Days
4. Into Black
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Written by Greg Dahman
Fresh Track: The Cactus Channel “Budokan”
Last month, I featured The Orwells – a group of high school kids from the Chicago burbs, hell-bent on reminding us what rock n’ roll is all about. To kick off September, I would like to introduce another set of teenage misfits with a vintage sound: Melbourne’s The Cactus Channel. The 10-piece funk orchestra released its debut LP Haptics on August 3 via HopeStreet Recordings. The album features a funky, big brass sound that is reminiscent of a bygone era. The word “timeless” reverberates throughout each track of this debut release. Listen to “Budokan” below, a song that relies more heavily on the rhythm and guitars than the swing-centered brass sound that dominates rest of the release. Grab your copy of Haptics on CD or vinyl.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Thought on Tracks 