Bahamas Shouldn't Be a "Sad Hunk"

photo: dave gillespie

Alfie Jurvanen (Bahamas) shouldn't be, and he probably isn't, living in beautiful Nova Scotia and raising a young family. So, perhaps he's a Happy Hunk? Though, I'm not the best at judging my fellow man's sex appeal. But, music on the other hand, I have no problem judging, and I bring my gavel down, hard, on the verdict: guilty. Guilty of twisting the tiniest, fattest, slinkiest, most melodic guitar notes into three to four minute gossamer songs. His soft, half-spoken vocals ground the more delicate song fibres, his voice being the heavy bones as his guitar notes sway in the air like a model's hair on a commercial for Clairol Herbal Essence. 

The fellow artist who comes to mind, easily, as Alfie's overlapping guitars take flight, is Fleetwood Mac alumnus, Lindsay Buckingham. 

Canadian artist, Bahamas, released their latest, Sad Hunk, on October 9 2020. 

 Stream on spotify. His record label, Brushfire.

The Notwist - Vertigo Days

Six years since The Notwist have released a new album. Six years? It was something like seven years since I had posted about music here on this blog.

I've loved this band for close to twenty years. Not all of their stuff, but bits and pieces have glued themselves to me over the years. Take a look at their output here at Alien Transmission, and pick your way through the label roster for your own sticky bits. Here's a chance to hear a new track from the band's latest, Vertigo Days, with vocal by Juan Molina. And below that you can stream an old favourite, 'Off The Rail', from Neon Golden 2002

Is anyone out there? I'm back.

So, it's been a while (years). How are you? Things have changed, life kicked me hard. But, still... there's music to listen to (and to fall in love with). In fact there's years of stuff to discover and to start with I want to point you toward the melodic pop of Andy Shauf. There's beauty in sadness when it's conjured with minor chords, a lonely voice, and the masterful arrangements of Andy Shauf's. 

Andy's Arts & Crafts page. 

His page at Anti Records. 

You'll find all his music on his bandcamp page. 

Forrest Gump Given Wes Anderson Treatment?

Robert Zemeckis's classic starring Tom Hanks has been, in a tiny way, given a Wes Anderson style make-over. Louis Paquet has wondered what the film's opening credits would look like Anderson-ified. Here they are and I like.

 

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: New Album and Preview featuring Matt Berninger

June 3rd will give us the new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album titled Only One and with a invigourating taste of what will be offered is this track, "Coming Down", with help from The National's Matt Berninger.



The band has supplied us with tour dates and they also need some assistance with their EU tour. Check it out you might just get Alec Ounsworth to play in your living room.

4/9 : Denver CO - Ogden Theatre
6/2 : Washington DC – U Street Music Hall
6/3 : Carrboro NC – Cat’s Cradle
6/4 : Columbia SC – New Brookland Tavern
6/5 : Ybor City FL – The Orpheum
6/6 : Orlando FL – The Social
6/7 : Atlanta GA – The Masquerade – Hell Stage
6/8 : Louisville KY – Zanzabar
6/10 : Iowa City IA – The Mill
6/11 : Minneapolis MN – Triple Rock Social Club
6/12 : Madison WI – Majestic Theater
6/13 : Chicago IL – Taste of Randolph
6/14 : Cleveland OH – Grog Shop
6/16 : Toronto ON – Horseshoe Tavern
6/17 : Montreal QC – Il Motore
6/18 : Allston MA – Brighton Music Hall
6/27 : Philadelphia PA – Johnny Brenda’s
6/28 : Brooklyn NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg More shows will be announced soon.

HOSTS NEEDED UK & EUROPE LIVING ROOM TOUR!

Alec spent the last 3 months traveling across America playing sold out solo shows in fan's living rooms. The shows have gone so well, we've decided to do a tour like this in Europe. Each show is limited to 40-60 tickets, totally acoustic, no stage, no sound system... just Alec and a guitar. We’re looking for hosts in the cities below between May 10 – 25.

London
Manchester
Glasgow
Nottingham
Birmingham Brighton
Bristol Cardiff
Paris
Leon
Brussels
Luxemburg
Amsterdam
Rotterdam
Milan
Copenhagen
Hamburg
Berlin
Cologne
Munich

Please read everything at this LINK to get details about how the shows work. Then email the requested into to cyhsy@undertowmusic.com if you can host a show.

Todd Terje 'It's Album Time'

If any of you have wondered why this blog has slipped away into one of the millions of dusty corners of the internet, today I came upon a prime example of 'what' caused this... Pitchfork's current golden boy, Todd Terje.

 All electronic, all disconnected... his songs off of  It's Album Time exhibit a lack of nature, a lack of skin and bone, of fingers hitting, plucking, striking an instrument of wood and skin...they are disconnected from nature. The copper wires, circuits and binary codes only strengthen the wall between natural and unreal. Oh, yes, there are rhythms and melodies, but no matter how sharp and clear they still carry a sterility borne of science's clinical heart and the cradle of technology from which they came. There are more than enough robots and computerized circuits in our lives today, just let music breathe on its own.

Will someone just pull the plug on this binary music and see if it can breathe on its own... Please?

Todd Terje's album is the sound of kidnapped acoustic music trapped in an iron lung of motherboards and drivers. Sounds to make the robots dance... I'll sit this one out.

Alice Boman: New Song "What" with Video

 It's fantastic to hear new Alice Boman music, fantastic as it hasn't lost it's unique personality while still being a more 'hi-tech record' (she's moved on from intimate home recordings to a cabin in the woods).

 Alice came to us as a soft baby bird you gather in your hands, watching it easily settle into it's new nest of fingers, skin and bone. That soft baby bird is still there, you can almost feel the feathers blossoming from her lips with a voice of quiet aching and wanting. Buttressed by an everpresent piano, her new song,"What", will give you shivers, blue shivers, up and down your willing spine. And feathers to tickle your blues away, or keep it company until the sun comes up.

 

 Alice's new EP, titled simply EP II, will be available June 3 via The Control Group in North America, Adrian Recordings in Scandinavia and Happy Death throughout the rest of Europe.

The Listening Post No. 14