the national – Page 4 – Indie Music Filter

What Am I Doing Now??

I’m:

-still catching up.

-downloading Creatures by Modernage. Reminds me of The National doing Joy Division. Check out the Sirhan Sirhan EP.

-putting together a song pitch for a movie

-thinking about what tomorrow night’s Band Of Skulls Toronto show might be like? Heard of them yet? Check iTunes free download this week (US and Can from what I can tell). It’s called I Know What I Am and somehow makes me think its Black Mountain doing a Franz Ferdinand track.

-stopping by YANP for a quick listen of Gliss. Like it.

-scratching a spider bite? wtf?

-checking out Conor Oberst’s new single Nikorette. Never been the biggest fan of the next Bob Dylan, but I’d throw this tune on a road trip playlist. Look for a documentary about him and his band.

-remembering Stellastar* while listening to their new song ‘Graffiti Eyes‘, set to launch as a single (April 20th), air on Gossip Girl that night, then ramp up to a new album (July 7th). Its on their myspace.

-looking at the snow on the ground.

-realizing that Cars by Now, Now Every Children has really grown on me. Glad I don’t delete everything I don’t get right away.

-liking those keys in Dare by The Mary Onettes. Labrador is putting out their first single in two years on the 29th.

-surfing Said The Gramophone to hear Sister Suvi’s Golden.

-tapping my foot while Lissvik‘s remix of Fever Ray‘s ‘When I Grow Up‘ plays in the background. Find it at Pasta Primavera.

-rocking out to Alan Wilkis‘s remix of Phoenix‘s ‘1901‘. Expect a new EP (Pink and Purple) around late May. Check him out on myspace.

-embedding the Eulogies ‘Anonymous‘ Widget. Check it out.

The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit

The sophomore record is always the tricky one right? Isn’t that the way it goes? A band does something great, can that band do something great again?

I believe this is the case with Frightened Rabbits’ newest record The Midnight Organ Fight (TMOF).

If you’ve been on this site, you’ve probably seen that I’ve been watching these guys for a while. I’ve had time absorb their newest record and I’ve become quite a bigger fan of these three Scots from Selkirk. 2007 had the band touring tirelessly on the re-release of Sings The Greys (FatCat), the bands first record and smash introduction. Songs from Sings the Greys were written over a 2-year period while the new songs off TMOF were comprised quite quicker as a whole, with more time spent on preparation for recording. The record was produced by Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon, The National).

The new album is best described as a ‘series of filmic vignettes, snapshots of self-destructing relationships and self-destructive behaviour, dark snippets sewn together into an ultimately uplifting drama of the everyday.’ Its optimism with an underlying darkness to it. True honesty and intrigue in these stories.

Still a three piece with Billy Kennedy and Scott Hutchison playing guitars, Kennedy’s dropped an octave to add weight to a bass-player-less band. Grant Hutchison’s drums add the necessary texture to make this three piece sound like many more. Head Rolls Off is not only a killer video, but my best guess at grabbing the attention of the masses. Old Old Fashioned is a, like the name, old fashioned foot-stomper. Poke (head to Sound Of Marching Feet to get it) is on the softer side, but truly beautiful.

Definitely a solid record, you’ll see it again on my best of this year list for sure.