Celebrate Halloween with Peter Squires's New Video, "Witch"

I don't usually do festive or holiday posts. In fact, the closest I get is writing some kind of seasonal bent against a track, and only then when I've had too much coffee and can't find any relation to a song other than what the weather is doing. I just think holiday-themed posts / articles are lazy. But Halloween is different. Why? Because Halloween, to paraphrase Wesley Willis, whips a horse's ass. So when Ryan from The Musebox put me on to Peter Squires a few days ago, I knew it was going into the annals of Duck & Cover (that's right, I said "annals" on the Internets).

From the Press Release: Peter’s direct and honest vocal delivery is reminiscent of contemporaries such as Kimya Dawson and Luke Temple. The album is all heart, laid bare for our aural pleasure. Woe Is Me was recorded in Peter Squires’ Brooklyn bedroom and is available on his website for fans to download at no charge. The first video from the album is “Witch” and it was just released in time for the Halloween season.

So there you go. A song for the most wonderful time of the year. Happy Halloween, readers.

Little Girls :: Concepts

Sounds Like: you need to be careful how you phrase the question

RIYL: Psychocandy, Joy Division, A Place to Bury Strangers

A Few Words: It's raining. So guess what? You get droney new wave noise pop. It's actually a miracle you don't get this kind of music more often considering my geographic location. Meteorologists only appear on TV here when the forecast is NOT overcast and drizzly. Needless to say, I haven't seen one for weeks.

So yeah. Little Girls and their album Concepts. I was joking with a good friend of mine recently that it's difficult to profess ones love for this band. Not that it has anything to do with their sound (which I do, indeed, love), just their name. Imagine, if you will, the awkwardness arising at the daycare center when a shabby, bearded man exclaims to his pal, "Oh, I LOVE 'Little Girls'!" Gasp! Horror! And a dozen yoga moms are on their iPhones Face-apping and camera-phoning the perpetrator. Uh oh. One-way ticket to the sex-offender list.

I'm going to start a band and call it "Licking Bike Seats." Or maybe just "To Fuck"--as the girl behind the bar if she likes that band.

Oh, check it out: they're on tour:

11/06 - Philidelphia, PA - Swarthmore #
11/08 - Columbus, OH - Summit &
11/09 - St Louis, MO - Billiken Club &
11/11 - Lawrence, KS - Jackpot Saloon &
11/18 - Windsor, ONT - Phog Lounge +
11/19 - Waterloo, ONT - Bombshelter +
11/20 - Toronto, ONT - Phoenix ++
11/21 - Sudbury, ONT - Townhouse +
11/25 - Winnipeg, MB - Royal Albert +
11/26 - Saskatoon, SK - Amigo's +
11/27 - Edmonton, ALB - New City +
11/28 - Calgary, ALB - Hi-Fi +

^^ w/ Japandroids, You Say Party! We Say Die!
+ w/ You Say Party! We Say Die!
++ w/ Think About Life, You Say Party! We Say Die!
# w/ Blank Dogs
& w/ Nurses

Band :: Little Girls

Album :: Concepts

Song :: Concepts

The Swimmers :: People Are Soft

Sounds Like: thankfully, the music overshadows the cover art

RIYL: Phoenix, New Order, The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand

A Few Words: I took one look at their cover art and very nearly wrote off The Swimmers altogether. It seemed like it would be an album full of derivative synth pop tunes that bounce from cliche-laden verse to chorus and back again. Yet into the player it went. Considering my patience is thinner than Donald Trump's hair plugs, the fact that I listened to the entire disc says something. There are just enough surprises on People Are Soft to keep the album interesting. Just. Let me just say this: if a track from the album popped up on shuffle, I wouldn't skip it.

That's a good thing. Seriously.

Band :: The Swimmers

Album :: People Are Soft

Track :: What This World is Coming To

Swim Party :: Pixie Dust on the Blood Range

Sounds Like: dancing to the great indie waltz

RIYL: Calla, Maritime, 764-HERO, Band of Horses

A Few Words: Some of my favorite bands are the ones unknown to others. Obscurity lends a particular allure. Of course, sometimes these little-known bands are off the radar for a reason--and by all accounts should remain buried. Yet I can hardly describe the excitement I feel when I'm introduced to a band who is very clearly about to get a break (or at least deserves to get bigger). I felt it when Flake Music became The Shins, and when Duck and Cover got a hold of a little EP by Vampire Weekend two years ago. This giddiness is welling up again as I listen to Pixie Dust on the Blood Range.

Hailing from California, Swim Party employs smooth, calculated riffs reminiscent of American Analog Set, but isn't satisfied with moody grooves alone. Instead of sinking easily into the musical equivalent of a rainy Sunday, they quickly pick up the tempo. Power chords pose for transitions rather than stand up as songs themselves; hooks are as tight as hipster stovepipes. And although it sounds clean and controlled on the stereo, I get the impression this is a band who rocks the floorboards of any venue. The energy and complexity of Pixie Dust contributes to create an album I've returned to many times.

I recently received a few tracks of their album, Pixie Dust on the Blood Range, in a frantically worded email from a friend in San Francisco. The tone was typical of a girl in possession of great music: she was eager for everyone else to listen. Therefore, I'm passing it on to all of you--all 30 of you avid Duck & Cover readers.

Band :: Swim Party

Album :: Pixie Dust on the Blood Range

Song :: Said the Captain

Hot Cha Cha Releases Debut Full Length LP: The World's Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars

Listen to "Ticket Away From Prague"

Sounds Like: Ohio is the new black.

RIYL: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yo La Tengo, The Dodos

From the Press Release: The World’s Hardest Working Telescope and the Violent Birth of Stars is the much anticipated debut full-length from the ladies of HotChaCha, and follow up to 2008’s critically acclaimed EP, Rifle, I Knew You When You Were Just a Pistol, which provided the band with accolades from the press and shows with bands such as the Vivian Girls, The Coathangers, and more.

The full-length finds HotChaCha expanding upon many of the ideas laid out on their debut EP and adding new instrumentation and sophistication to their arrangements. Consequently, the 11 songs presented here coherently run the gamut from staccato sing-a-longs to slowly building atmospheric explorations.

While many of HotChaCha’s songs are incredibly danceable and high energy and come in at under the three-and-a-half minute mark, it would be an oversimplification to classify them solely as adherents to the punk / new wave formula. HotChaCha creates a medium that is both pop and profound, infectious yet informed, and entertaining without being feigned.

Sin Fang Bous :: Clangour

Sounds Like: not quite winter

RIYL: Animal Collective, Cloud Cult, Samuel Flynn Scott, Belle & Sebastian

I waited until Autumn to post Sin Fang Bous, the solo moniker for Seabear founder Sindri Mar Sigfusson, because listening to it makes me reach for a sweater. Or a hoodie. Or a jacket. Anything to keep in the warmth. And, surprisingly, this has little to do with Sigfusson's Icelandic origins.

Clangour, the debut Album out now, is laced with eccentric loops and melodies easily mistaken for chill winds howling through Autumn's exposed hollows. Equal parts Animal Collective and Belle & Sebastian, Sin Fang Bous is the music of scarves, fading light, and the sliding saturation and hue of maples. Even the music seems to match the changing season, as Sigfusson begins lightly with a voice and guitar only to re-layer his own singing, add textures, and over-color what he leaves. And although each track could easily be a single release, songs grace from one to the next to create an album that works better as a whole than as a disc of individual tracks.

Download "Catch the Light" to get an impression of Sin Fang Bous.

Lucero Video for "Darken My Door"

Darken My Door from Lucero on Vimeo.

It's good to see that a serious band doesn't have to take itself seriously. Even better when a band's fans don't take them too seriously. "Darken My Door" off of Lucero's latest album, 1372 Overton Park, is a song about losing stuff--girlfriend, money, dignity. In fact, a lot of Lucero's songs are like that, but I'm not getting into that now. I'm talking about the video, which has so much to love. Obviously, I love the fact director Alex Mecum has used a puppet as the protagonist. But it's what the puppet does that makes this video so much fun. Puppet eating chili dogs, puppet drinking whiskey, puppet giving blow jobs . . . Hell, there's even puppet vomit! It's ridiculous, yes, but also tragic. By the end of the video, if you don't feel a little sorry for the scruffy faced whore puppet, then you have no soul.

Here's a little more about the videos for Lucero's new album:

To promote Lucero’s new album 1372 Overton Park, the band commissioned a music video for each song on the record -12 videos total. While these videographer’s level of experience ranged, some holding only handy-cams, others with years of training under their belt, they sought out videographers with one thing in common: they’re all huge Lucero fans and wanted to make a video.

The last thing Lucero wanted was a slick video for a major label record. Or even worse, a cheap video trying too hard. And, they wanted something off center...something you wouldn't expect from a Lucero video.

This project was meant not only to promote Lucero's amazing new album, but also their remarkable fans who, time and time again, prove their strong dedication to the band.