WGRE Music Blog

From: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

First significant recording: Infiniheart (2004)

Most recent album: Soft Airplane (2008)

Genre: Reflective, home-made indie rock with electronic elements

Recommended if you like: Broken Social Scene, Black Bear, Destroyer

Chad VanGaalen’s Skelliconnection was nominated for a Polaris award last year.  He is also an animator and illustrator and has animated music videos for many of his songs.

Chad won’t be in our neighborhood any time soon.  Still, you can catch these soothing tunes on WGRE for now.

MP3: Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree

Links:

Chad VanGaalen on Flemish Eye Records

Chad VanGaalen on MySpace

“Molten Light” Video (animated by Chad himself)

Deerhunter are a hypnotic indie-rock, minimalist-ambient group based out of Atlanta. Their newest album, Microcastle, is their third album, and won’t be released until October 28th. Of their new music, frontman Bradford Cox said “I’m more interested in the micro-structure. I want things to be a lot shorter, I don’t want there to be as much long-windedness to it.” Although the songs are shorter, they’re beautiful and finely constructed bits of goodness.

Upcoming shows:

November 15 Chicago, IL Metro

Links:

Deerhunter Myspace

Deerhunter Blog

This Denver indie pop band debuted in 1999 with their first full-length album, Pink Hearts Yellow Moons.  Four albums later, they’re still churning out the cute and sassy pop gems.

Dressy Bessy is Tammy Ealom (temporarily of The Minders), boyfriend and Apples in Stereo guitarist John Hill, Darren Albert, and Rob Greene.

Their new full-length album Holler and Stomp was just released by Transdreamer, home of Arab Strap and The Delgados.

MP3: Dressy Bessy - Simple Girlz

Upcoming Shows:

November 2   Chicago, IL        The Abbey Pub

November 6   Columbus, OH  Bernie’s

November 8   Lexington, KY  Al’s Bar  
Links:

Dressy Bessy Official Site

Dressy Bessy on MySpace

Buy Holler and Stomp

Noah and the Whale are a London pop outfit that specializes in good-natured indie pop love songs.  Most of their tunes are fun and jangly with a hint of melancholy humor.

They’ve just released their first full-length album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, on Interscope Records.  It features their first two hit singles, “5 Years Time” and “2 Atoms In a Molecule,” the more subdued title track, and eight other pop gems.  If you like what you’ve heard on WGRE, buy the album and support the artist!

Noah and the Whale won’t be in Indiana any time soon, but they do have a few upcoming Chicago shows:

September 25   Chicago, IL   Av-aerie

September 26   Chicago, IL   The Empty Bottle

MP3:  

Links:
Noah and the Whale Official Website

Noah and the Whale on Myspace

Buy Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down

Everthus the Deadbeats are a local band based out of the budding musical hub of Indianapolis. They started their career as artsy college students at Ball State, and put out their first CD, “Addicts Stuck in Traffic” in 2006. At the beginning of this year, they released their follow-up, “John Kill & the Microscopic Lullabye” on Standard Recordings. Now living and working in Broad Ripple, the band has made strides in the Midwest. Their sound is an eclectic mish mash of playful harmonies, carnival-like melodies, and psychedelic instrumentation. When they play live, they elevate that quirkiness to new heights, creating a care-free atmosphere replete with fun dance moves and silly gestures. They evoke a youthful excitement that hits you right in the gut — there’s no escaping their infectious melodies.

If you’re interested in seeing this musical extravaganza, be sure to check out one of their following shows:

9-19-08 in Bloomington, IN at Bear’s Place

10-18-08 in Muncie, IN at Doc’s Music Hall

10-24-08 in Indianapolis, IN at Vogue Theatre

10-27-08 in Fort Wayne, IN at Mid City Grill

Links:

Everthus the Deadbeats Official Website

Everthus the Deadbeats on Myspace

Check out H-29: Jamie Lidell.

Jamie Lidell is a British singer and producer (half of Super Collider) who, to risk sounding like I’m inventing genres, creates top-shelf neo-soul. His newly-released album Jim is ten very rich tracks that range from gospel and soul to R&B and disco. It is the perfect accompaniment to both a sunny day and a dance-tastic night.

This deserves a lot of play before the end of the year, so get on it. You really won’t be disappointed by the quality of this music. Not only does Lidell have exceptional vocal and beatboxing talent, but this album has been very carefully produced.

 MP3: Jamie Lidell - Another Day

Free Yr Radio Showcase: Times New Viking, Yeasayer, Simian Mobile Disco

This is the only showcase we got to on Wednesday, but it was a great way to kick off the week.  Although the sound was a little shaky during Times New Viking (or maybe we were just standing right in front of the speakers?), they put on a great show.

Times New Viking is best seen live, I think.  Their rapid-fire punky songs are well-complemented by their thrashy stage performance.  Drummer and lead vocalist Adam Elliott was entertaining, at least, as he shouted out “Punk Song Number 156!” to announce the songs.

Yeasayer put on an amazing live show.  Going into it, I was a little skeptical about their reproducing their studio sound for a live audience, so it was really refreshing to see how comfortably they pulled it off.  I fainted during the second song (Sunrise), so Chuck will have to fill in the blanks on the specifics of their set, but I was elated by what I heard.  Thanks for bringing me a cup of water, Chuck.

Simian Mobile Disco is just a ball of burning gas, as it turns out.  This is what we caught from the back.  The two James’s faced off and blasted us with wonderfully robotrontastic sheets of sound.  The lighting effects were great.  I don’t know how to describe this.  Just look at the picture and imagine the loudest and most crowded of Scholartrons, but this time Public Safety doesn’t show up.

WGRE music department is in da house!

To celebrate the blog’s unveiling we wanted to share with you a sneak peak at what adds to expect within the next few days:

El Guinch0- Cuand0 Maavilla Fui

.El Guincho - Cuando Maavilla Fu
i

Plants and Animals - Feedback in the Field

Lykke Li - I’m Good. I’m Gone.