Fresh Track: How to Dress Well “Ocean Floor for Everything”
Hauntingly beautiful. That is how I describe the sound that comes from Chicago-based Tom Krell, AKA How To Dress Well. A mix of R&B undertones, fuzzy lo-fi, falsetto vocals, and electronica, it doesn’t follow any structure other than that of heart and soul. When listening, you suspend your immediate reality and live in a world of memories, both memorable for their bliss as well as pain. Its nostalgic core reminds me of listing to the crackle and fuzz of a record spinning in place or watching leaves blow in the wind; it let’s me see and notice the grandeur in the small things that exist all around us in life.
“Ocean Floor For Everything” is latest single from the next album entitled Total Loss due out later this year. The album is the follow up to 2010’s ridiculously fantastic Love Remains record which featured one of my personal favorite songs ever written in “You Won’t Need Me Where I’m Going”. Here, Tom’s creative ingenuity gives us a breathtakingly beautiful R&B feel over drippy keyboards. Enjoy it below.
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Written by Greg Dahman
Video: Tedeschi Trucks Band “Everybody’s Talkin'” (Harry Nilsson Cover)
Veteran readers of this blog (all three of you) know that I am a big-time Derek Trucks fan. My proclivity for the blues, particularly the slide variety, has led to a belief that Trucks is the greatest living guitarist. He wields his instrument as an extension of himself in a way that’s unlike any other artist that I’ve had the pleasure to witness first hand. Below, watch Tedeschi Trucks Band‘s rendition of the Harry Nilsson classic “Everybody’s Talkin’.” The song is featured as the title track of the band’s new live album, released today. Grab tickets to Tedeschi Trucks Band at Murat Theatre on May 30 in Indianapolis.
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Written by Rob Peoni
Band to Watch: PAPA
Los Angeles four-piece PAPA is a band that I have been unable to put down the last few weeks. My buddy Scott Watson from The Fridge offered the introduction via their stunning cover of Nick Lowe’s “(I love the sound of) Breaking Glass.” This proved an apt starting point, as Lowe’s records have remained in frequent rotation since I caught the singer-songwriter’s set in support of Wilco last year in Indianapolis. PAPA sticks to the script, but why fuck with such a delicious pop groove anyway?
PAPA recently wrapped up a month-long stint at The Echo on Sunset Blvd. Last week, Daytrotter dropped their SXSW session, which also features the cover of “Breaking Glass.” To say that PAPA is gaining traction amongst the independent music scene is an understatement. Thus far, it appears warranted. The band released their addictive debut EP A Good Woman is Hard to Find last October. The five tracks prove a cohesive batch of vintage pop, with Darren Weiss crooning and keeping time at the heart of it all. Listen to “Collector”
Somewhat of a rhetorical question here, but can anyone name a drummer/singer that is not a complete and utter badass? I’m sure my memory is selective towards the talented, so feel free to shatter this theory in the comment box. Rest assured, Weiss is one of the good ones. On the surface, PAPA offers concise songs featuring bright guitar flourishes and familiar key changes on piano. Just beneath, Weiss paints these vignettes of ordinary characters wrestling with the same pangs of love, self-doubt and uncertainty of the future that plague the rest us. Even those moments of chaotic, internal rage when we just want to scream, as Weiss does at the end of “Collector”, “I JUST WANT IT TO BE QUIET NOW!” It’s at these moments, when Weiss unearths a bit of humanity that PAPA’s sound elevates beyond an ordinary pop quartet. Watch their video of “Breaking Glass” below.
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Video: Surfer Blood “I’m Not Ready” (Live in L.A.)
Written by Rob Peoni
Thought on Tracks 