Cool Band: Plastic Crimewave Sound

Suzy Poling

I posted about Plastic Crimewave earlier but I feel like this band deserves more than just a blip. PCWS is seriously good. I mean what more can I say about this stuff? It’s simple music: loud, spazzy, solid goodness spanning from cavern-aged punk to lonely, hollowed out psych/folk. Music for every mood and moment of youth.
You can stream PCWS solo tracks at this site and listen to even more music on their myspace page.

Also, in true mid-west punk spirit, PCWS serves as a historical site for unsung heros from their hometown Chicago. You can find detailed and beautifully hand-drawn trading cards of the “Secret History of Chicago” as well as his psychedelic magazine “Galactic Zoo Dossier” on the PCWS site. From a kid who got his musical backbone firmly established by the Kent, OH punk scene I get a warm and fuzzy feeling about that kind of stuff. Community is very important to me and, obviously, to PCWS as well. Dig it.

Cool Band: Tambouri

Evan Richards is one of my best friends in the entire world. He has been my partner in crime since middle school and together we’ve discovered a lot about our musical voices. Evan is honestly one of the most creative human beings living on this planet. The way he can take sound and turn it into something so different yet comfortable blows my mind. His way of using new technology to create familiar musics is impressive. You all should take some time and visit his blog. Download his music and enjoy what he has to give you.

Tambouri Blog

Cool Band: The Compressions

Mark Himmel is somewhat of an amazing character. Outstanding drummer, great song writer, hauntingly powerful vision and, probably, the most powerful used car salesman smile in rock n roll music. Don’t believe me? Just talk to him for 10 minutes.
Mark was the drummer of The Slide Machine. My first backing band and the people who helped me kick-start Sinkane nearly three years ago. He also has been a pinnacle element in the recording sessions of both Color Voice and my latest self-titled record. Besides playing some drums, percussion and singing on both records he also co-produced them with me and engineered on both of them.
Anyway, his new project is called The Compressions and it is good. It’s very very good. Mark has always had a great understanding of melody and It’s always easy working with him because we approach music in a similar way. The Compressions is a very simple project that incorporates standard instruments to create classic rock and roll. It is, probably, one of the most refreshing musics that I have heard in a while. It seems like a lot of people (including myself) are trying to incorporate so many different elements into their music so as to create something new. Mark isn’t doing that at all. He conjures up the spirit of Neil Young with this band in such an amazing way. His voice is haunted by his words but seems optimistic. Listen for yourself:

The Compressions on Myspace.

Cool Band: Julia Holter

Julia Holter

I don’t really remember how I stumbled upon Julia’s Myspace page but I’m glad it happened. Julia Holter’s music hints at some of  my favorite themes in music: John Cale drones, fragile, glass-like vocal melodies, soft drum machine and bits and pieces of eastern sounds dubbed on an old, sun-damaged Klymaxx and Vanity mix tape that you stole out of your older, cooler sister’s Panasonic boom box.
Her contemporaries (Ariel Pink, Nite Jewel) have been receiving loads of praise and I continue to wonder why Julia’s music hasn’t received the same. In my opinion it’s the cream of the crop.

Listen to Julia Holter on Myspace.

Cool Band: Michael Vallera

Michael Vallera

Michael Vallera is a very close friend of mine. He played guitar in Sinkane for a little while and we spend the majority of our time together geeking out about guitar pedals and drone records. He’s a fabulous musician and currently resides in Chicago, IL where he studies sound at the Art Institute of Chicago.
His music is best described as a sea of sound. Melodies constructed by many instruments, swimming together crafting a dense sonic experience. The music breathes and moves like waves and eventually evaporates into the sky. Reminds me a lot of early avant-garde sound experimentalists like Terry Riley and Charlemagne Palestine with the density of chamber music. It’s some of the most beautiful music that I have ever heard and you all need to listen to it.

Michael Vallera on Myspace

Cool Band: Gabe Schray

 

Good Enough for Jazz

Yes, indeed: Gabe Schray is a band. In fact, he’s the best band. Gabe is also in several bands: the meticulously fun pop band Houseguest, the avant graduate Genetically Yours and dub band Intelligent Knives (my favorite). That said, to say that Gabe Schray is a one trick pony would be, not only absurb, but just incredibly ignorant. For as long as I have been playing music I have never seen anyone as musically versatile and aware as Gabe. He has inspired me endlessly to challenge myself musically. Every time I think that I have something to challenge his insanely beautiful music catalogue he gives me something new that trumps any of my efforts. 
His most recent record, Chronicle of Nonevents, is available for purchase on his website. Do not hesitate to pick it up! It is an incredibly sculpted piece of pop music: concise melodies primitive enough to just get straight to the point (I’ve been very into that lately).  

Check out Gabe’s Myspace.

Cool Band: Reading Rainbow

 

Levar!

I don’t really know how Rob and I became friends but it happened and I’m very happy for it. His band with his friend Sarah is called Reading Rainbow. They play music so rich and saturated in reverb and bright, sun drenched psychedelia that it will make your headphones sweat like a cold soda can in the summer time.  

Rob and I have exchanged records back and forth a few times and every RR tape or CD that he gave me would come continue to blow me away. Outside of the awesome silk screened artwork the music kept on getting better and better. Simple pop melodies, repetitive rhythms, short, sweet and to the point. Reminds me of when I first started listening to punk music when I was 13. Check em out and keep them on your radar. These guys slay.

Reading Rainbow Myspace