Posts in the Pop/Alternative Category at Rock Torch, Page 3

Britta Phillips of Dean and Britta carries a torch for Papercuts

November 9, 2010 by admin

Britta Phillips of Dean and Britta and Jason Quever of Papercuts

Britta Phillips and Jason Quever of Papercuts

Britta Phillips’s recommendation: “Papercuts are from San Francisco and will be opening for us in L.A. & SF next week! (Nov. 11th & 13th – tour details here). They have a gorgeous, lo-fi retro sound that is both beautiful and sad. There is an edgy melancholy to it that is bittersweet in the way Galaxie 500 is, but they sound like themselves, like they’re transmitting from their own far-away planet. I wasn’t sure if it was a boy or girl singing at first which was cool.”

If you are new to Papercuts, Britta recommends you start with the You Can Have What You Want album.

MP3: John Brown by Papercuts

About our guest author, Britta Phillips: Britta Phillips is the beautiful female half of Dean and Britta. Both Britta and her band partner, Dean Wareham, were members of critic fave Luna and the duo has been doing very cool things since they formed in 2005. Most recently, the band was commissioned by the Andy Warhol museum to perform while Andy’s silent screen tests were projected. The songs from that record are now available as a double CD titled 13 Most Beautiful. Equally cool is the duo’s appearance on Nick Jr.’s Yo Gabba Gabba! (awesome video below). Be sure to check the Dean and Britta web site for tour dates and know that on some of the dates, the band will be doing exclusive sets of Galaxie 500 tunes or the Warhol inspired tunes. AMAZING.

Steven Page carries a torch for John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats

October 19, 2010 by admin

Steven Page and The Mountain Goats (Steve photo by David Bergman)

Steven Page’s recommendation: “I’m a huge fan of The Mountain Goats and I think John Darnielle is one of the best writers out there. He’s one of the most detailed song writers that I’ve heard and I found that very inspiring when I was writing this record.”

New to The Mountain Goats? Steven recommends you start here: “As much as I like most of their albums, I’d probably recommend Tallahassee or The Sunset Tree. Although they might not necessarily be my favourites, you’ll more quickly understand what it is that I’m talking about when you hear them.”

MP3: Lion’s Teeth by The Mountain Goats from The Sunset Tree album

About our guest author, Steven Page: After co-leading The Barenaked Ladies for 20 years, Steven Page set off on his own and has since been quite prolific as he composed the score for three productions at Canadaâ€™s Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Before the amicable split with BNL, he released his first solo album, Vanity Project. Five years and several collaboration records later, Steven Page recently released an album of cover songs, A Singer Must Die (we love his take on Elvis Costello’s I Want You) and another solo recording, Page One, both which are available on http://www.stevenpage.com/. Be sure to check that link for a list of tour dates. Don’t miss the chance to see one of the great pop vocalists of our time.

Ritzy Bryan of The Joy Formidable carries a torch for The Smiths and Goldheart Assembly

October 10, 2010 by admin

Ritzy Bryan of The Joy Formidable and The Smiths

Ritzy Bryan and The Smiths

Ritzy Bryan’s recommendation: “It would have to be The Smiths and particularly The Queen is Dead which, for me, is a really emotionally charged album. It’s a combination of how it relates to me on a personal level, nostalgically and the memories it evokes and undeniably by it’s own volition. It’s a brilliantly crafted body of work, tracks like I Know it’s Over and There is a Light that Never Goes Out which are so moving and beautiful, lying besides sardonic classics like Bigmouth and Cemetry Gates. And then they went onto to write Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me….”

Ritzy’s bonus pick: “We came across Goldheart Assembly at Reading and Leeds Festival this year. They were great live and their debut album Wolves and Thieves is a real find. It opens boldly, with lead track King of Rome, is charming throughout, great melodies, great harmonies and a real sense of the band behind the album. Got to love the live steam engines motif too, seeing as the album was recorded at a Steam Museum in Norfolk.”

About our guest author, Ritzy Bryan: Ritzy is the lead vocalist and guitar player for the trio from Northern Whales, The Joy Formidable. The band was officially anointed ‘cool’ when the Guardian tagged them as a band to watch in 2008 after the release of their debut mini-album, The Balloon Called Moaning, but music buffs will know that Ritzy and bassist Rhydian Daffyd had already made some very pleasing pop in their previous band, Sidecar Kisses. The Joy Formidable is working on their first proper full length album, but in the mean time you can pre-order the single I Don’t Want To See You Like and check their NME European/upcoming US dates on their web site.

Matt Bishop of Hey Marseilles carries a torch for Damien Jurado

September 17, 2010 by admin

Matt Bishop of Hey Marseilles and Damien Jurado

Matt Bishop and Damien Jurado

Matt Bishop’s recommendation: “One of the first seminal moments of my development as a songwriter occurred while watching Damien Jurado on public access television while I was still in high school in suburban Seattle. My parents had just bought basic cable and I was spending a solitary Friday evening flipping through the variety of undiscovered channels when I caught Damien and his guitarist, Eric Fisher, doing an in-studio on UWTV. As I watched his songs unfold for the first time, I was entranced by his ability to use pretty simple chord structures as a foundation to highlight the strength of his melodies and evocative lyricism. I spent the rest of that evening writing and trying to recreate that formula for myself, and a couple days later, I bought Rehearsals for Departure, fell in love song by song, and never looked back as a Damien fan. Heâ€™s evolved and experimented since that releaseâ€”heâ€™s well-known as a prolific writer so heâ€™s had plenty of records since to demonstrate that trajectoryâ€”but each album heâ€™s put out has spoken pretty powerfully to me. Perhaps itâ€™s the romanticism of first love, but Iâ€™m pretty confident in saying heâ€™s one of the best songwriters of today.”

New to Damien Jurado ? Matt suggests you start here: “His last two albumsâ€”Caught in the Trees and Saint Bartlettâ€”are a couple of my favorites, but Iâ€™d recommend starting with Rehearsals for Departure, if only to experience how sorrow can be consistently articulated in such different ways. Winning tracks: Ohio, Curbside, Honey Baby, and a number of others.”

MP3: Paperwings by Damien Jurado

About our guest author, Matt Bishop: Matt is the lead singer and guitar player for Hey Marseilles, the Seattle based 7 piece ensemble that has been aptly labeled as the ‘Lil’ Decemberists’ by Seattle Weekly. The band’s 2008 release To Travels & Trunks caught the attention of Sound Magazine as they named them one of the “Top 10 Bands to Watch for 2008.” The band most recently re-mastered and re-released their rookie record, performed at Bumbershoot and landed a spot on the Starbucks Sweethearts compilation. Be sure to check their website for news and tour dates.

MP3: Rio by Hey Marseilles

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