Picastro in Belgium

For the first time, Picastro will tour in Belgium next week and most importantly they will be one of the two attractions (for me) of the Rhâââ Lovely Festival (along with This Is Your Captain Speaking).

With two albums already released on two of my favorites record labels, Pehr and Polyvinyl, they have already built an intriguing and very powerful discography, somewhere between early Victory at Sea and Movietone, developping progressively their own dark ways.

It will be the occasion to experiment this deep trouble and powerful melancholic sensations with live conditions, viscerally, as a possible transe.

picastro @ myspace
picastro @ derives
rhâââ lovely festival

Seaplane Harbor meets Chapter

Due to geographical incompatibilities, the Swiss post-rock band Seaplane Harbor broke up some time after the release of their magnificent first album : 'music when soft voices die vibrates in the memory'(2001).

The good news are that this problem has been recently solved and that Alexandre Müller and Aleksandr Thibaudeau are back together behind Iskander III, with Alexander Craker (Chapter) as drummer and singer. They plan to record again this summer after this four-year hiatus.

More good news are that before the end of Seaplane Harbor they had recorded an ep which was lost in limbo. They are giving it now for free as a mp3 ep download. So go to listen to their "Posthumous ep" (2002) (not rightly titled in fact considering the new evolution).

seaplane harbor "posthumous ep" download
seaplane harbor @ derives
chapter @ derives

Podcast : Exposed Radio

Exposed Radio is a new indie podcast from South Carolina.

Shane Boone prefers to explore new us indie rock bands instead of giving us a pitchforkmedia point of view. And so he heard about Sundays in Spring through an interview he did of Jamie Barnes

And now, more and more, SiS releases are featured in his program, from Chauchat to Incredible Shrinking Man, from Jamie Barnes to Sun Cancelled. A good place for refreshing discoveries

exposed radio

Worrytrain

Joshua Geissler is one of these very few musicians you fall instantly and deeply in love with the first time you discover his music knowing that it will haunt you and being the v.o. of some of the most important coming moments of your life.

Of course we can try the Kranky comparison, and a litany of names : Labradford, One Mile North, July Skies, Stars of The Lid, Greg Davis, RF, Cinq or Third Eye Foundation. But it’s probably already stronger leaving the same impact that some records of Harold Budd or Richard Youngs.

Pure genius is in action, and it reminds you how much instrumental music can be powerful at the same time so many bands have made the genre boring

worrytrain @ myspace
worrytrain @ derives

Mezzanine Owls (ex-The Few)

I was deeply in love with The Few, their self-titled album is one of the very few 00’s indie pop rock classic for me, mixing the best parts of Bright Eyes, early Good Life and Desaparecidos stuff with the same melodic dexterity and an undeniable talent.

But all good things must come to an end and if you except an obscure self-released ep available at show, this album will be the sole memory of this band sadly so much under the radar even if they have some fans here far away from their country, with so many kilometers spent driving here with their music

Good news, their leader is already back with a new project, in fact The Few kind of morphed into Mezzanine Owls. And even more, a yet-to-be-titled album has just been recorded with Andy Lemaster (Now it's Overhead, Bright Eyes, Azure Ray). So let’s hope 2006 will be the year where they finally break the roof.

mezzanine owls @ myspace
the few
the few @ derives

Gareth Dickson

Gareth Dickson is a young musician from Glasgow who plays acoustic guitar with effects and sometimes add lyrics lines to his folk ambient landscapes.

And we can use the names of Nick Drake, Greg Davis, Aerial M, Roy Montgomery, Labradford, Marilyn Decade, Flying Saucer Attack, Songs of Green Pheasant or Movietone to give him a large family.

But this first cd is simpler than those bands, more austere as ‘Spruce Goose’ is clearly a beginning, the first steps in defining a style. Though it’s very promising and you lose yourself very easily in his world. Just try his myspace page

Gareth Dickson homepage
Gareth Dickson @ myspace
Where to buy

Thomas Méry

photo Laurent Orseau

The process of rebuilding yourself artistically is a slow and difficult process and this one thing Thomas Méry brilliantly and progressively achieved so far. His first album – after two solo eps - out soon will probably confirm our big expectations.

He was the leader of Purr, for me the most important band of the French post-rock scene of the late nineties with two classical albums. He will back next week at Louvain-la-Neuve for a show during Les Fêtes de la Musique. He played there two times in the past with Purr. It will be nice to see him again in this context a few years later. Everything changed in the meantime, except the high quality of his songwriting

Thomas Méry
Thomas Méry @ Sundays in Spring
Thomas Méry @ Derives.net
Fêtes de la Musique
Purr

Mièle & Humpty Dumpty

I will admit, I’m not completely satisfied by this record. Not because of some production or songwriting problems, but mainly because I completely stopped listening to French records a few years ago. But the history of Mièle and a part of my musical past are closely linked as the band is on three of the four First Steps & False Alarms compilations, so here we are.

But I still like a few songs a lot, even if most of them are too much orchestrated, nervous or ‘french pop rock’ for me: ‘Jesus II’ is quite lovely, ‘Je vous avoue’ is their old classic, the first version was on FSAFA vol 2 and ‘Les méfaits’ is just perfect (à la Jean-Louis Murat)

This first long awaited album by this Belgian band is also the occasion to celebrate the birth of a new promising indie Belgian label called Humpty Dumpty and run by the same guy (Christophe Hars aka NOONI ) behind the Dictapop events that brought new life to Brussels indie shows these last years. And when you know that the next release will be the first Loobke album and that maybe Sepia Hours will be part of the adventure too, you can only be quite happy and already give to Humpty Dumpty the same sympathy you have for Matamore Recordings or Own Records.

Mièle
Humpty Dumpty
Dictapop
First Steps & False Alarms

Soccer Committee

Mariska Baars is a young songwriter from Netherlands playing soft, troubled and tense melancholic folk songs somewhere between early records by Rivulets and Julie Doiron but already something more also which makes the difference. Extremely moving and subtle. ‘Moi & Mon Coeur’ is already my favorite song of 2006. Fans of Loobke, Half Asleep and Annelies Monseré, this is for your heart.

Let’s hope someone will soon invite her to play here in Belgium.

soccer committee @ derives
soccer committee @ vpro

Chauchat - SiS n°18

Tyler Whitney is one of these very few songwriters that have the capacity to change durably the way you interact with music, this full length (SiS n°18), the first one on the so far in our strictly mp3eps limited catalogue, was along with the album of The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers my favorite record of the last year, so it’s an unbelievable honor to have the chance to introduce you to this dramatically underestimated treasure.

If you like Carissa’s Weird, early Bright Eyes or Pedro The Lion records, prepare yourself to be blown away again.

Listen to ‘Eyelash’, ‘Addict’s song’, ‘Young & drowned’, ‘Sick’, ‘Slayer Bitch’,… or ‘When I was young I wanted to do great things’ and then fall unrelentingly in love.

chauchat @ sundays in spring
chauchat @ derives.net

Last night at Integendeel

A nice, small, lovely and new place for shows close to Brussels. And last night was the occasion to see Sipmplesongs, Drekka, Annelies Monseré and Rivulets.

I prefer not to talk about Simplesongs, I was mostly outside for my own mental health. Drekka was nice, as always, more a happening than the regular singer / songwriter show but really disturbing and moving.

Annelies Monseré was really the queen of the night. The fifth time for me to see her but without hesitation the best one, smiling during the show, warmer than ever, more song oriented, deeply fragile and intimate. If it announces the evolution for her next lp somewhere at the end of the year, I'm quite happy.

Rivulets was almost perfect too, as perfect as you can wait from him, some new songs, as good as the older ones but not very different. But I'll be curious to discover his new aesthetics choices when Acuarela will finally release his third album here.

annelies @ derives.net
drekka @ derives.net
rivulets @ derives.net
integendeel @ myspace

This is your captain speaking

This is the band I’m waiting the more to see at the next Rhâââ Lovely Festival. One of the most impressive post-rock bands I’ve ever heard with their minimalist, austere but so much efficient, subtle and meaningful approach

And It’s a long story, James McGauran (from Season) gave me their name at first. I contacted them and it finished with a review. Then I introduced the band to Andy from Resonant Records who soon decided to sign them, and end of the story Mika was also seduced and invited them to the festival. I’lll be incredibly happy to meet them finally. My success story of 2005.

resonant @ derives.net
this is your captain speaking @ derives.net

last.fm groups to join

Last Fm groups have recently being created for Matamore, Sundays in Spring and Derives.
So please don't hesitate to join these groups if you are a last fm user!

matamore @ last.fm: 
http://www.last.fm/group/matamore
sundays in spring @ last.fm : 
http://www.last.fm/group/sundays%2Bin%2Bspring
derives @ last.fm :
http://www.last.fm/group/derives.net