Statuesque - Meltdown Disney

Look Back In Anger: One of the least well known, and probably most under appreciated acts I've ever been turned onto is Statuesque. One man virtuoso, Stephen Manning, has been producing delicately intricate guitar pop since the mid 90s, yet a simple Google search yields almost nothing about him and his music. Statuesque is Manning's transcendental passage through early 80s College Rock to early 90s fuzz. Like a super combo group of The Field Mice and Starflyer 59, or something. Whether this is for you or not, the dude's riff game is on point. Don't have a cow, just meltdown Disney style w/ Statuesque.

Whistlejacket - March Hare (video)

Never heard these guys before, but if you believe in listening to things for like the first time then listen up. Whistlejacket have a swirling Chameleons meets a spacier Holograms sort of sound that the really keys me up. Its like gaze-d out Darkwave, from London where the only that matters is a muthafkn phaser. Dig:

Summer Camp - Fresh

Long have I been in the Summer Camp camp, knowing the Londoners were capable of producing another strong single, after those first few mysterious tracks they released a few years back. Welcome to Condale, their first proper LP was a significant step above the production level of their early material, yet unfortunately it was a complete misstep. The songs were still licked with a familiar 80s-pop sheen, but they lacked the warmth and ear pricking quality one experiences when hearing something new and interesting for the first time, that you could find on something like Ghost Train. Fittingly titled, Fresh, has a reinvigorated sound, that sheds the group's drab dabbling into plasticized pop production, and returns them to more a original tonality. Laying on a heavily orchestrated string sample, Summer Camp have created their first true dance single, with an excellent combo of their usual echo-y vocal cooing and a joltingly funky bass-line (reminiscent of Tango In the Night-era Fleetwood Mac). This is easily one of the best songs of this summer, and one of those wonderful Indie-pop gems that you won't soon forget.

Sigur Rós at the Psychedelic Palace

Last week I mentioned I went and saw Sigur Ros at Alexandra Palace and it was Uh-mazin, so I wanted to follow up that mention with some sweet pics and a saaweet vid! Yeah the show was great. Opener, For A Minor Reflection are an Iceland based band as well and they killed it with an all instrumental set featuring guitar work reminiscent of Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky. Check em out here if you want: http://www.myspace.com/foraminorreflection ..After they ripped it up for awhile the Choir Boy and Co. finally hit the stage. They opened their set with an amazing rendition of "Svefn-G-Englar," followed by "Glosoli," and "Ný Batterí." "Gobbledigook" and "Hoppípolla" were in there too, but what really added to the show were the amazing psychedelic visuals, the sheet/wall of rain during some crescendo, and the confetti canons during the encore. Yes it was a quite a night and to give ya a good sense of it all here are some nifty shots I nicked from another blogger who likes to be referred to as crazybobbles, theres also a couple of my own as well...So thanks for the pics bobbles it was indeed a hot gig!






















And just for good measure heres an awesome vid of "Svefn-G-Englar," with good sound quality as well: