Songs About Knives

Posts Tagged ‘Sub Pop’

One Hot Minute With Wolf Parade

Monday, April 14th, 2008

UPDATE: Pitchfork hosts the full track here.

Sub Pop is keeping the new Wolf Parade album under lock and key, as they let NPR post exactly one glorious minute of a new track, “Call It A Ritual,” on their site, which apparently aired on All Songs Considered as well. Is the Parade really so high-profile a group that such measures are necessary? The album drops in June, so it’s time to seed those blogs proper with’n some mp3s, lads!

Some other fine lads at a music journalist hobby site called Pitchfork are reporting that the album title is not yet definitive, though your SAK correspondent isn’t clear how Krug & Friends could possibly improve upon Kissing The Beehive.

The Helio Sequence Remind Your SAK Correspondent That, Lately, He’s Untimely

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

As far as I am aware, “Lately,” the lead track of off Keep Your Eyes Ahead, which Portland, Oregon-based The Helio Sequence dropped a little over two months ago on Sub Pop, is not available as a single. But it’s shifting drums, jangly melodic guitar, and narrator-in-denial have all the makings of an indie anthem. The lyrics starts melancholy and dishonest–”Lately, I don’t think you of you at all”–and get better from there, often echoing ominously in the background in an almost unnoticeable way. “I don’t think about our face, or anything you said,” croons singer Brandon Summers, composing a small hymn to heartbroken denial.

Sadly, when I caught the two-piece at SXSW this past March, an audience member kindly informed me they had already played “Lately” before I arrived. I stayed nonetheless and was treated to an excellent performance for a thrilled, word-mouthing crowd. For having just two members, The Helio Sequence has a lot going for them on-stage: tight-knit playing, pedal antics, and even occasional harmonica.

Photos after the jump. (more…)