I’m always hesitant when I see an artist compared to another artist so frequently. And my hesitation was at a pretty high level when I hit play on the James Vincent McMorrow album for the first time. I’m a big fan of the work Justin Vernon has done in the past few years under the Bon Iver guise. I know most of you are as well. So when most if not all of the press I read about James Vincent McMorrow either called him the “next Bon Iver” or made some mention of Bon Iver, I was both curious and skeptical.

After hearing the first couple songs on the new release from McMorrow however, it made perfect sense. The comparisons are accurate, at least at the start of the album, and while McMorrow has his own distinct sound and approach, it’s not a stretch to make the comparison and I hope that helps get others ears open towards his sound. The new album, Early In The Morning is McMorrow’s debut, but has been available in the UK for awhile already. He holed up in a home by the Irish Sea in early 2009 and emerged with the ten songs that make up Early In The Morning.

While the album starts with a ‘morning’ feel, it takes some dark turns and twists that help give it the distinct flavor I’ve come to enjoy. Try the first song from the record “If I Had A Boat” on for size and then be sure to grab the whole album when it gets an official US release tomorrow from Vagrant Records.

James Vincent McMorrow – If I Had A Boat

If you like your guitars thick and drony, you probably will love Surf City. The New Zealand based band has just released a new record, and it’s flying way below the radar. Maybe it’s the timing of the release, but it seems like Surf City never gets mentioned when it comes to lo-fi psych pop that is starting to become incredibly popular in indie circles.

While bands like Cloud Nothings, Wavves, and Sleigh Bells get the recognition, and deservedly so, Surf City seems to be slept on. So, lets do our part in attempting to change that by letting you know about one of the better albums of the year called Kudos.

We became fast fans last year when Morr Music put out the debut EP from Surf City, which was oozing with potential, and now the debut full length is upon us, and we can’t help but love it. Try out a free MP3 below from the album, and

Surf City – Crazy Rulers Of The World

The album just landed from Fire Records this week, snag it here.

Welcome to a new feature on Each Note Secure we like to call “Reclaimed.” This feature will focus on an album of the past, maybe 30 years ago, or maybe 3 years ago. With the onslaught of new music that is thrust upon us everyday, it’s fun to look back at something we really loved and getting reintroduced to it.

Today we look back at the self titled debut from the band Loose Fur.

In 2003, things with Jeff Tweedy’s band Wilco were about as crazy as they can get. The guys had just released their monumental Yankee Hotel Foxtrot after their label dropped them and then essentially bought them and the record back after the band released it themselves. (see I Am Trying To Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco)

But the beginnings of Loose Fur actually pre-date the YHF story. Tweedy and drummer Glenn Kotche, who later joined Wilco during the recording of YHF in 2001 along with Jim O’Rourke, who was brought in to mix YHF to form Loose Fur. The groups roots go back to 2000 when the trio collaborated for the first time. Tweedy was in New York for the Noise Pop festival and was given the choice of artists to perform with and chose O’Rourke. Jeff was a fan of Jim’s work, and had most recently been enthralled by Bad Timing, O’Rourke’s 1997 album that mostly consists of Jim playing acoustic guitar.

O’Rourke brought drummer Glenn Kotche to the party and the trio performed for the first time at the Double Door in May of 2000. The performance went so well that Tweedy suggested they record together, and the following summer they put down the six songs that would be the debut Loose Fur album.

The Wilco references are obvious because Loose Fur 2/3 Wilco, or maybe more if you count O’Rourke’s Wilco role on YHF and A Ghost Is Born. But Loose Fur was different from Wilco in many ways, and this album still stands out as an experiment that could have easily been nothing more than a demo of jam sessions, but instead turned out to be the weirder, cooler cousin of YHF.

O’Rourke’s production that won so many over on YHF is present here as well, but we get to hear Jim sing throughout the album too. In addition, there was only one overdub per song on the album as opposed to the multi-layered approach on YHF. Tweedy and O’Rourke share vocal duties on the six song jaunt and the mix of Jeff’s rusty flow combined with Jim’s honey soaked vocals made for an impeccable balance of styles. On Tweedy penned songs like “You Were Wrong” and “Laminated Cat” (a reworked version of a well known Wilco demo “Not For The Season”.) Showcasing his varied and talented writing ability and pushing the limits on tunes that would most likely have failed under the Wilco banner.

O’Rourke’s standout moment of the album has to be the song “Elegant Transaction”, a song he penned and Tweedy contributed to with backing vox. The song soars above the muck like the clouds parting temporarily to reveal a beautiful sunset before it ducks back behind it’s cover minutes later. Of course, the percussion skills of Glenn Kotche cannot be ignored either. Not only are his contributions the steading force behind this untraditional collaboration, but his ability to adjust on the fly and bring new elements to Loose Fur is what ultimately got him his job with Wilco.

Loose Fur was recently re-issued on vinyl and is a must for any Wilco fan or Jim O’Rourke fan. Especially if the last two albums have not inspired you the way YHF might have, giving this album a spin is a breath of fresh air and I know was happy to rediscover it’s merits.

I remember the first time I listened to Horse Feathers. I was driving south on I-71 heading to Louisville, Kentucky and it was the kind of morning where when the sun rises, it immediately wakes you up to the day. I was awoken to Justin Ringle and his unique and soothing vocals that morning, with their second album House With No Home.

It’s only natural that my anticipation for a new Horse Feathers album would be high after that memorable experience. After all, I not only fell in love with House With No Home, but I went out and bought it and it’s predecessor Words Are Dead on vinyl and became a full fledged fan. So I have to admit, my expectations for Thistled Spring, the latest album from this Portland band, were pretty high. Maybe a little too high, because after all, I had an unreal expectation for the new album, expecting another awakening I guess, or at least something to shake the funk I am currently in when it comes to new music.

Thistled Spring may not be able to meet my admittedly unfair expectations, but deserves it’s share of praise as well. After all, the new album seems to be an awakening for the band in many ways. The songs of despair that we fell for on House With No Home, with it’s hollowed out winter landscape on the cover, seem to be reborn on Thistled Spring, which in many ways feels like the sprouts of green popping up in early March throughout the midwest.

And the progression instrumentally is obvious as well, as Ringle’s supporting cast not only backs his beautiful voice with the proper support, but adds layers to the songs that were seemingly more simple on previous albums. The symmetry between Ringle and violinist Nathan Crockett, cellist Catherine Odell, and multi-instrumentalist Sam Cooper is represented on songs like “Cascades” and the upbeat and hopefull “Belly Of June.”

So while the darker material may have been what drew me to Horse Feathers, it’s hard not to appreciate the steps forward the band are taking with this more hopeful and layered album. Thistled Spring might just be the perfect album to soundtrack your spring, and we suggest you give it a try.

Thistled Spring is out April 20th from Kill Rock Stars.

Horse Feathers – Belly Of June

When The Besnard Lakes first crossed our radar back in 2007, it seemed like the hip thing to do in indie rock was to sound like a drugged out version of The Beach Boys. Bands like Panda Bear did it and when folks got their first listen to The Besnard Lakes, they lumped their sound in with Panda Bear and other groups of the moment who discoved their parents old Beach Boys albums and added a dark veil to the approach.

And sure, the harmonies are really a nod to Brian Wilson and the sound he is most known for, but to simply stamp that label on a group like The Besnard Lakes and walk away is really not fair at all. Their 2007 album, …Are The Dark Horse was just that, a underdog type of record that gained quite a following over time. The record seemed to reward fans for patience as it payed off in a big way if you actually took the time to listen to it and discovered all it had to offer.

And now here we are in 2010, and The Besnard Lakes are back. Although this time, they won’t creep up and surprise, but instead are placed on the crowded shelf along with other bands we fell for and then were disappointed by when they followed that effort. However, I’m here to tell you right now, that not only is the new album from The Besnard Lakes not a disappointment, but it’s an album that very well could separate them from the underdogs and push them to the front of the pack.

All the things that made the last album great are present, but there is an epic quality to tunes like “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent” as it builds and crescendos and then builds right back again. The press release claims the album is more Dennis Wilson than Brian, and I tend to agree after repeated listens. It just carries that quality that makes me want to hear it again, and again. And in this age of new music every minute to distract the listener and create a fickle attention span, ..Are The Roaring Night makes me want to put on the LP and only move to turn it over when it’s done playing.

The album gets an official release from Jagjaguwar Records on March 9th, but you can listen to and download the excellent song “Albatross” right now.

The Besnard Lakes – Albatross

When it comes to Sonic Youth, it’s not easy to write a review the same that it might be for a band that is new and breaking onto the scene. After all, the New York band has been a rock stalwarth for over 20 years now, releasing some incredible albums during that span. The list of bands they have influenced, and continue to influence is too long to mention here and I would imagine they are a band that will continue to find favor with future generations of musicians and fans alike.

Because of all that, it’s no simple task to tackle a new Sonic Youth album, but we just write opinions here anyway, right? There are those that feel they have not released much worth caring about in 10 years, and others that lap up every song on every album with the SY name splattered across it. Well, take into account first that I am a Sonic Youth fan, but have only considered myself a fan for a handful of years. I mentioned in a review for their 2008 biography Goodbye 20th Century that “casual fan” was a good way to describe my respect for Sonic Youth. That said, the book caused me to dig into more of the back catalouge and go from “casual fan” to “avid fan” pretty quickly, so this release was high on my list of anticipated albums this year.

Not only had Sonic Youth broken ties with longtime label Geffen Records after fulfilling their historic contract with their last Geffen release Rather Ripped in 2006, but the band jumped to “biggest fish in the indie pond” Matador Records for album number 16.

The Eternal is not that different from several other recent Sonic Youth albums, at least in the past 10 years or so, or since Murray Street, which seemed to be a return to form for the band whos renewed energy has carried them fairly consistently since. John Agnello is once again behind the decks, retained after his excellent work on Rather Ripped, and new to the fold is former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold, who has been playing live with the band since 2006, but contributes to a studio recording for the first time.

There is still plenty of stunning guitar work, mostly courtesy of Thurston Moore. Lee Ranaldo writes and sings quite a bit on this album, and his influence is probably the underrated, yet essential heartbeat for the entire thing. And Kim Gordon once again provides the sex appeal and very necessary grit that every Sonic Youth album needs, especially on here call and response “Anti-Orgasm” with Thurston. I still have a hard time with Gordon’s voice the first few times through, then I can’t imagine the song without it.

There are even moments of mid-tempo beauty on tunes like “Malibu Gas Station”, which shows a bit gentler side of Gordon and is driven by the always precise beat of percussion wiz Steve Shelley. Moore pays homage to the late punk pioneer Darby Crash (aka Booby Pryn) on the stunning tune “Thunderclap” and all three band staples take their turn on “Poison Arro”w, which has that desert rock punk feel to it that would fit comfortably alongside anything from the SY back catalog.

It could be one of the best albums I have heard so far this year, what do you think? Decide for yourself by grabbing the record June 9th from Matador. Until then, enjoy the albums first tune, “Sacred Trickster.”

Sonic Youth – Sacred Trickster

There is something about a band with a rich backstory that just makes the transition from holding the album in your hand to having it on repeat a bit quicker. While I could care less about most PR releases telling me about the next great band for fans of Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, Wilco, & The Beatles, every now and then, a story makes me want to hear the album right away.

Such was the case with Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, whos name I had heard a couple times, and with a name like that, you kinda remember it quickly. So when I got hold of the full length album recently, I paid attention. And I am really glad I did, because this is quickly becoming one of my favorite new albums this year.

As for the aforementioned back story, well the gist is that the band started to release PSA’s via myspace before they even had music to offer and in a strange way caught the attention of some in their hometown of Seattle. We find out a bit more about the band just after this, when they revealed that their drummer, is the adopted brother of the lead singer, Benjamin Verdoes , and is 13 years old. Ben also has enlisted his wife to be in the band, and she sings backing vocals. And oh yeah, the album was co-produced by Scott Colburn (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective). Not a bad little story eh?

And now, we know that Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band will be releasing their debut full length album on the Dead Oceans label March 10th, and touring with Bishop Allen this spring. So, what about the music? Well, its not ground breaking, but as far as indie rock goes, it hits the sweet spot. With some great guitar work and pleading vocals, there is no reason that these guys won’t be a blog darling before long (if they are not already).

Get a taste of the new record right now with this tune, “Anchors Dropped”….

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band – Anchors Dropped

Tour dates listed after the jump…

02/26/09 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Shop w/ Goblin Cock and Warship
02/28/09 Salem, OR – IKE Box
03/06/09 Seattle, WA – Neumos w/ Visqueen and Say Hi
03/12/09 Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church w/ Bishop Allen
03/13/09 Washington DC, – The Black Cat w/ Bishop Allen
03/14/09 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 w/ Bishop Allen
03/15/09 Asheville, NC – The Rocket Club w/ Bishop Allen
03/16/09 Memphis, TN – Hi-Tone w/ Bishop Allen
03/17/09 Little Rock, AR – Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ Bishop Allen
03/18/09 Dallas, TX – House of Blues – The Pontiac Garage w/ Bishop Allen
03/23/09 Los Angeles, CA – Troubador w/ Bishop Allen
03/24/09 San Francisco, CA – Rickshaw Shop w/ Bishop Allen
03/26/09 Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court w/ Bishop Allen
03/28/09 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive w/ Bishop Allen
03/29/09 Lawrence, KS – Jackpot Saloon w/ Bishop Allen
03/31/09 Chicago, IL – Subterranean w/ Bishop Allen
04/01/09 Grantham, PA – Messiah College – Larsent Student
04/02/09 Northhampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall w/ Bishop Allen
04/04/09 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Bishop Allen
04/05/09 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom w/ Bishop Allen

Iran is the type of band that has always been a bit of a mystery. The band put out two albums Iran & The Moon Boys which both were very cool at times, but mostly experimental and hard to fully grasp for me. The band consists of Kyp Malone (TV On The Radio), Peter Hoffman (The Mendoza Line), Aaron Romanello (Grand Mal) and Aaron Aites, but is primarily the handiwork of Aites, who handles all of the songwriting duties, and has been the man responsible for what is now an all-star lineup.

Fast forward to 2009, some seven years since The Moon Boys, when the new Iran album shows up in my mailbox, and I casually put it on a day or two later to hear what new sounds and experiments the boys have cooked up in the lab for this go-round. What I found though, is nothing short of an excellent overall record. Dissolver still has the sounds and eccentricities that the previous records had, (see “Digital Clock & Phone” for proof) but seems to really be more focused on lyrics, and just feel more fleshed out overall than anything I have heard from Iran.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have another TVOTR member helping with production in Dave Sitek, who seems to bring some of the focus to the recordings, while not sacrificing everything that made Iran edgy, which, as artists, is right where they want to be.

Songs like “I Can See The Future”, “Airport ’79′”, & “Buddy” feel a bit disconnected at first, but after a couple more listens, it just clicks, and in a big way. The shifts in musical sound and direction nothing short of sharp but feel like a ride in a luxury car. This is not something that is achieved easily and is a testament to the talent of the parts that make up Iran and this album.

Dissolver is out tomorrow from the Narnack label and should not be ignored.

Iran – I Can See The Future

(article originally appeared on The Futurist)

(all photos courtesy of Keith Klenowski)
I miss going out to shows, the life of a family man can make that difficult at times. Add to it the winter touring schedule that has come through Cincinnati, and it becomes quite a drought for live music for me personally. So it did not take much to get me outta the house and over to Newport to check out Royal Bangs last week.

Royal Bangs are one of the bands from the midwest that I am most excited about of late. It started with their debut album, We Breed Champions, which caught the attention of Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, who re-issued it on his Audio Eagle label last year, and gave it the stage it deserved to turn some more heads, and that it did. But I was really won over during their session at WOXY.com last fall, when the band played a great set full of energy, rock, funk and new material. So, I figured, if they could pull it off like that in front of 3 of us, I’m certain it would translate to something special in concert.

So, despite Cincinnati on a Thursday night in the dead of winter, which can be tough for the most established bands in town, Royal Bangs was mostly unfazed by a small crowd, half of which had come along just to see the two openers, Come On Caboose and Vanity Theft.

The boys launched into their set, which included lots of new songs, and a couple favorites from their debut, like “New Scissors” and “Cat Swallow.” My personal favorite though is “Brother”, and judging the the fact that the band closed their set with it, some others must be addicted to the song as well.

Royal Bangs is the type of band that is every bit as exciting as the hip bands starting to turn heads on the coasts that get so much blog love, but for some reason being in the midwest seems to be holding them back a bit. I look forward to a new record from these guys some time in 2009, and if you get a chance to catch them live you should, thank me later.

In addition to the great photos by Keith Klenowski in this post, check out a very amatuerish video I took of the sets closing song below.

View Keith’s entire photoset here.

Royal Bangs – Brother Live @ Southgate House from Joe on Vimeo.

When it comes to singer / songwriter types, the other guys here know to pass an album my way for consumption. So when music from Pennsylvania’s Damien DeRose crossed our radar, I was an obvious choice to give the album a spin. Damien goes by the guise ‘Peasant‘ on stage and on his album, and within his songs weaves an intricate story within each song.

I can’t help but be drawn in to the storytelling qualities of lots of solo songwriters, but artists like Peasant stand out a bit for me because their songs reveal so much about them as people, whether they intend to do so or not. You get a real person with a very thin space between himself and you, the listener. But like most artists who fall into this category, don’t expect to be blown away one pass through the album. To truly appreciate a record like On The Ground, you need to follow a “apply, rinse and repeat” method of listening.

Of late, Peasant has drawn comparisons to Bon Iver, whose own style of delicate songwriting won many over last year, but I think he lands alot closer to Elliott Smith, who I have always been a big fan of. Even so, maybe Peasant can be the Bon Iver of 2009?

Peasant put out his second full length album last year, On The Ground, a great follow up to his debut long player, Fear Not, Distant Lover and the album is getting a more official release this month. I’m hoping it reaches lots more people and they can appreciate the talent that Damien possesses.

Listen to Peasant below in a recent WOXY.com session…

Peasant – Live On WOXY.com