One To Watch In 2010 - Flotilla

Flotilla - One Hundred Words For Water (November 2, 2009)

(Indie Pop/Classical/Chillout)

Canada, as a music scene, is definitely doing something right; the sheer volume of incredible female vocalists coming out of there in recent years (particularly its major cities, Montreal and Quebec) might be quite shocking, but remains warmly welcomed by people such as myself. As you may have guessed, I'm quite a sucker for dreamy chamber pop bands with female vocalists like Stars, The Most Serene Republic and Feist. Another of my favourite female vocal styles originates from across the pond in Bristol, UK where in the 90s, Portishead and Beth Gibbons started out the wave of trip-hop and quivering female voices that aided the popularisation of bands such as Massive Attack. Flotilla, hailing from Montreal themselves, do a good job of combining the two styles into a chillout pop album of light classical indie, with occasional progressive and trip-hop influences.

As a five (and occasionally six) piece, headed by Veronica Charnley, Flotilla create a layered and minimalistic selection of well-placed riffs and sounds - giving the unnervingly intertwined organic sounds of piano, harp and strings an individuality which they themselves produced in recording. Certain songs (notably Charlie, I'm Through) do break convincingly into a full band sound, but at all times the voice remains the focus of the arrangement. There's even an erratic disco piece towards the end of track Clouds. However, never does an instrument break out of the background, and even amongst such an accomplished set of gifted musicians every single one knows well his or her place and boundaries. They manage to provide an ecletic backing to a confident singer - with an experimental edge reminiscent at times of Portishead, occasionally parts of the more experimental side of Radiohead, but more often than not of bands like The Most Serene Republic, Feist and St. Vincent.

Although their album came out in 2009, I count Flotilla as a band to watch in 2010; their first album never really caught on, and for that reason such a stunning follow-up will take its time to be appreciated. They have touring planned for next year in the USA, where if they don't start to take off, something is seriously wrong.

File Next To - Joanna Newsom, Kings of Convenience, St. Vincent

Flotilla - Charlie, I'm Through (MP3)
Flotilla - Meet Me Outside (MP3)

Buy One Hundred Words For Water Direct Via Flotilla.

Odawas - Harmless Lover's Discourse

Odawas - The Blue Depths (Feb 17, 2009)

(Dream Pop/Ambient/Folk)

Odawas have three albums to date, ranging back as far as 2003's Aether Eater, and as far forward as February 2009, where The Blue Depths became Jagjaguwar's third full length Odawas release. Its an album of swirling post-folk music, with electronic string arrangements and airy, synthesized euphoria. Filled with Sunday night sounds, this is a concise yet trippy album of awe and childish wonder, revealing more about itself with each listen.

Michael Tapscott mans the microphones and the guitar, and his musical partner Isaac Edwards deals with the experimental backing through everything from synths to keys to setting the structure. The sound on the synthesizers isn't far off from that of M83, but the way it is used is quite different - whilst the latter operate with a determined purpose and grand execution - Odawas appear more concerned with what doesn't feature than what does. The music constantly keeps you wondering what is still to come - and what does come is beautiful. Their execution is grand in an essentially different way.

The feel of these songs is predominantly choral and folky; Odawas most of the time sound more like an early morning Fleet Foxes drug trip than an indie pop band. Their music, particularly on this album, falls quite comfortably within the realms of psychedelia, and at no point does it look back. Occasionally Edwards will add some hazy percussion to the mix - driving forward his songs to step out of their comfort zone to grab your attention. It is only then this album looks for you. Harmless Lover's Discourse (MP3 below) is about as proactive as Blue Depths gets.

Finally, the Virginia born duo recently recorded an acoustic (well, minus the electronics) daytrotter session in October, featuring live versions of new tracks in the studio. Take a listen and download them via the daytrotter website.

File Next To - Fleet Foxes, The Blue Nile, Slowdive

Odawas - Harmless Lover's Discourse (MP3)

The Blue Depths on Amazon

NEW TRACK - Broken Bells - The High Road

Broken Bells - Broken Bells (due March 2010)(Indie Pop/Alternative/Indie Rock)

Broken Bells is the project between James Mercer (the main man behind The Shins) and producer Danger Mouse (famous for his work with Gnarls Barkley, The Black Keys and Beck) . They have announced plans to release a debut album in early 2010 - and to mark this announcement, have given us a taster track from the upcoming debut, by name of The High Road. Supposedly the project is far more than just another production trip by Danger Mouse - the two of them are in it for the long run, and already have plans beyond the first album.

The genre of the music (judging on just the one track) doesn't appear to tie itself down to anything, it's slow-paced indie pop with a relaxed and very slight bluesy edge to it, with some pretty chilled out crunching synth sounds behind. You can quite clearly hear the Shins' influence from Mercer's end, and DM (as the brilliant producer he is) brings it out and plays on it. They've made no pretences by dropping us a killer lead single first - and I judge that to be a good sign, a sign that there's a lot more to come from this exciting future collaboration.

File Next To - The Shins, Danger Mouse, Beck

Broken Bells - The High Road (MP3)

from the forthcoming debut album 'Broken Bells' , due March 2010

One To Watch In 2010 - Wild Nothing.

Wild Nothing - Untitled LP (due April 2010)(Shoegaze/Dream Pop/Lo-fi)

Wild Nothing is the latest form of one-man-band Jack Tatum (also of surf pop band Facepaint), whose February formed shoegaze project signed on to the Captured Tracks label this year. He's just released his sun-soaked debut single Summer Holiday on 7" (which you can order here) and announced plans for an as of yet untitled debut LP next April.

In terms of genre, he slots in nicely next to all the bands i've been featuring recently - he has the airy dream pop vocals of projects like Toro y Moi and Small Black, combined with the pop sensibility of Girls, and the lo-fi pop sound of Best Coast and Dum Dum Girls. Everything about his music has the dreamy laid-back feel of late summer nights and careless evenings with warm, fuzzy guitars, sleek distorted vocals and buzzing synths.

There's a feeling of quiet optimism and content in and amongst every element of the lo-fi recording - and its that which turns Summer Holiday into such a song of the summer. The track is a carefree anthem and epitomises everything both Tatum and his label are about. He's signed on amongst some of the finest Lo-fi artists last year had to boast (Woods, Dum Dum Girls, The Mayfair Set) and is all set to become next years equivalent. The new LP is definitely one to watch in 2010, and Wild Nothing should be all set to sustain musically what his label-mates started. Pick up Summer Holiday, plus his cover of Kate Bush's Cloudbusting below.

File Next To - Toro y Moi, Best Coast, The Mayfair Set

Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday (MP3)
Wild Nothing - Cloudbusting (Kate Bush Cover) (MP3)

Order the Summer Holiday 7"

Introducing.. Warpaint

Warpaint - Exquisite Corpse (December 7, 2009)(Ambient/Folk/Shoegaze)

Warpaint are a band whose name is being increasingly dropped around the internet, and upon my first listen through their EP I decided that it needed to be dropped some more, so here goes. Warpaint are a Los Angeles based psychedelic/shoegaze band formed in 2007, who have under their belts notable press from the late Heath Ledger, Billy Zane, and also from John Frusciante - who produced their debut release Exquisite Corpse for Manimal Vinyl earlier this year. Their drummer/keyboardist Josh Klinghoffer is known for his numberous collaborations with Frusciante, and has played as a session musician for a whole host of bands including Neon Neon, PJ Harvey and Frusciante himself. The resulting album is not quite such a morbid affair as its title suggests, but does deal with some quite negative themes through some dark, ethereal instrumentation.

The music is beautiful and most of the time very downbeat - I call it shoegaze mainly because although the songs never melt down into a total haze - a typical Warpaint track starts off at almost silence, before the ethereality ascends and surrounds. The music verges on ambient, and aside from the drums, the only piercing noises in the whole arrangement are the stunning vocals of Jenny Lee Lindberg, Emily Kokal, and Theresa Wayman. Time rolls along and tracks, which typically stand at about 5 to 6 minutes in length, feel like lo-fi summer folk songs draped in the cold of the autumn and onset of winter. The more you listen to this band the more you are drawn in, and what might seem like nothing particularly engaging, works extremely hard for your appreciation. Like many bands of this year, Warpaint are doing more with less. You can file this one next to Holly Miranda (review) in terms of sound - and keep an eye on both artists in terms of 2010 success. Warpaint are playing dates early next year in the US with Yeasayer (previous posts) and Akron/Family. So if you're lucky enough to live in Texas - paying a visit to one of these shows is a must.

FILE NEXT TO - Holly Miranda, The Antlers, Mercury Rev

Warpaint - Billie Holiday (MP3)

Exquisite Corpse on Amazon