http://music.for-robots.com/ en-us dbrusie@gmail.com 2010-03-12T07:50:41-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002631.html There's rain in the forecast here in Boston, which doesn't make me want to play the usual TGIF song. (It's Phil Collins' "That's All", if you must know.) Holly Miranda - Waves. This one fits the bill just fine. It's atmospheric without being too dreamy, and the production - by TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek - is grounded enough to let the song levitate a bit. The Magician's Private Library is a good listen for a day like today, or any time you need a record to remove you from the here and now. The album's title comes... 2631@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-03-12T07:50:41-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002630.html Percussion! Electric President - Safe and Sound. When it comes down to it, that's what I enjoy most about the work of Electric President. It's all so tangible, with acoustic guitars and drums like gears, all of it grinding away to keep the whole enterprise in motion. Electric President hails from Florida, and they've put out two other LPs on Morr Music. This is their first record on Connecticut-based Fake Four Inc. The Violent Blue is a good album, full of what we've come to expect from Electric President and member Ben Cooper's solo project, Radical Face. You can... 2630@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-03-10T08:07:30-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002629.html We here at Music For Robots are pretty big fans of Titus Andronicus, if only for the crazy amount of enthusiasm with which they attack everything. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union. Their new record The Monitor has a Civil War theme, but it's rooted in everyday life - which is a funny comparison, but one that makes perfect sense in context. "A More Perfect Union" is the first track from this album, and it's a great introduction. This album is as epic as they come, but it somehow feels intimate, too. I don't know how they pulled... 2629@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-03-02T07:48:52-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002627.html Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Anxiety. The funniest thing about the Eddy Current Suppression Ring is that they spent six hours and two hundred dollars to record their new album, and spent 800 dollars and just as much time flying their name on a banner behind an airplane for their album cover. It never occurred to them that they could just photoshop it in. And that tells us everything we need to know about Brendan and the rest of the guys. Without a doubt one of my favorite bands, I couldn't be more excited about this new record, Rush... 2627@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-02-25T12:45:48-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002626.html I don't know why I'm writing about Minneapolis so much these days. I think a lot of Twin Cities music has just come my way, for some reason. Dosh - Subtractions. When I lived in Minneapolis, I never fully looked into Mr. Martin Dosh and his amazing drumming, sampling, and looping abilities. I knew he was around, working with Andrew Bird and playing the Triple Rock, but I never listened as closely as I should have. Time to remedy that. "Subtractions" is from Dosh's new record Tommy. (I can't be the only one hoping this was a concept cover... 2626@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-02-23T19:19:54-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002625.html Anyone else going to see Free Energy at Spaceland tonight? I hear their set at the Echo last night was the jam... Album drops digitally on the 6th, and physically in May. It's definitely worth the wait.... 2625@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-02-23T13:44:17-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002624.html Efterklang - Modern Drift. "Modern Drift" is the first song from Efterklang's new record Magic Chairs, out today in Europe and tomorrow in the US. As opening statements go, it's a good one - the piano starts quietly, then more piano, then those thumping drums, then it all breaks open. This track makes the record sound like a gradual incline, which it is. The album is an increasingly ornate piece of pop music that uses its bells and whistles wisely and sparingly. Efterklang hails from Copenhagen, and Magic Chairs is their third full-length. There's a lot to be said... 2624@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-02-22T08:30:28-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002623.html I first heard singer Maggie Morrison in the late, lamented Minneapolis band Digitata. (Well, they maybe broke up? This July interview with Digitata drummer Drew Christopher makes it unclear. But it's funny.) Morrison's new band Lookbook keeps some of Digitata's essential elements: bloops, bleeps, synthdrama. Lookbook - Yesterday's Company. This track comes from Lookbook's first full-length, Wild At Heart. It's a good record, and as much as I love Digitata, it's interesting to hear Morrison front a band more interested in keeping things on steady ground. (Digitata simply isn't designed for that, in my opinion, which is one reason... 2623@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-02-10T09:32:20-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002622.html One For The Team - Every Little Thing. I've been a fan of One For The Team for a while now, and it's been really interesting watching them change over the years. Their sound has deepened and darkened, and on Ghosts, their third full-length, an instrument that sounds like a Mates of States distorted electric piano adds some murkiness to the mix. It all still pops, of course, underneath Ian Anderson's lighter-than-air vocals, and it all clicks along as if no one can stop it. This band is from Minneapolis, and even though I moved from that scene about... 2622@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-02-03T08:00:59-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002621.html S. Piliso & His Super Seven - Kuya Hanjwa. Look, I'm not the guy to sort out all the political, social, sociopolitical, and other implications of the indie fascination with South African, and specifically Sowetan, music. There's a lot to say about it, especially when it comes to the long American history of appropriation, and there are no easy answers. I will say this: I love that first Vampire Weekend record, but I think the band's characterization of their music as "Upper West Side Soweto" was pretty obnoxious. And when I saw Tune-Yards in Boston last fall, their bassist... 2621@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-01-21T11:32:41-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002620.html Bobby Charles - I Must Be in a Good Place Now. And so we lose another one.... 2620@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-01-14T19:24:12-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002619.html This is a great recording of one of the many Jay Reatard shows I was lucky enough to see. Even from the back of the room it was a bloodbath. We're gonna miss him like crazy.... 2619@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-01-13T17:33:14-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002618.html Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose - Younger. Like many songs I post on here, this is a song for the in-between times. It's not triumphant. It's not a celebration of success. It's not a shoulder to cry on or a call to move on. It's not about the boys being back in town or the girls having a night out. It's not about love or hope or rock 'n roll. It's about breathing, in and out, as we move along in our day. It's about deciding to make another cup of coffee because it's raining, or deciding to eschew... 2618@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-01-13T12:26:34-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002617.html Can Numero Group do no wrong? T.L. Barrett & Youth For Christ Choir - Like A Ship. The newest release from the archival label is Good God! Born Again Funk, out January 30. It's the 30th record from Numero, and the third in their Good God! series, which collects rare religious music from small labels. I've been a fan of Numero since their amazing Yellow Pills power pop release back in 2005, and I've tried to check in with their output since then. Their CDs and LPs are immaculately presented, with slipcases and extensive liner notes, and the music... 2617@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-01-13T10:25:48-05:00 http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002616.html Clogs - Three Two. Up here on the second floor with a windless view through palm trees to the hills of the park, the only sound is the faint hiss and woosh of the carwash on the backside of the building. Over on this side it's an idyllic portrait of southern california life. Pink flowers hover over tiled rooftops as the lush scrubs of the desert slowly surround everything. And into this mix we bring Clogs, the long-standing project of Padma Newsome and Bryce Dessner from the National. They have always worked more in the realm of musical ideas... 2616@http://music.for-robots.com/ 2010-01-12T13:43:23-05:00