Introducing: DECADES

Posted on | November 14, 2011 | No Comments

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I want to welcome Emily to the AGDFA fold. A California native who currently resides
in New York City, she will from time to time tell you what’s the happy haps in
hipster central a.k.a. Brooklyn.

For my first AGDFA contribution as your Brooklyn correspondent, I’m excited
to present to you one of my favorite new bands, DECADES. Over the past few
months, this dance-rock band has been playing tons of shows in the city.

I’m sure I’m not the only New Yorker who’ll say that it takes a lot to rile up
a NYC crowd, and this band has done it consistently. Their music is beat-heavy,
filled with catchy guitar hooks, and driven by vocalist Max Vernon’s soulful pipes. Any cleaning company NYC would get down to business cleaning up the clubs after a Decades show.

I recently spoke with Max, who describes DECADES’ sound as “indie dance rock with
disco and funk influences.” Their music always makes the crowd move.

Max added, “I think what sets us apart is that lyrically and vocally I’m not a typical
frontman for a band that makes our kind of music. Normally dance songs are about
‘get drunk and party,’ not about Nabokov novels or Josephine Baker.”

This sentiment was re-iterated by a recent bio that I read about the band:

“Usually, a band either makes you dance, or they make you think, but very rarely both. DECADES is an uncommon hybrid of intellect and soul. Fronted by a rail thin white boy who sings like a black woman, DECADES songs deal with Paris in the 1920’s, Russian lit, and sweaty disco sex. In short, it sounds sinister and catchy as fuck.”

And “catchy-as-fuck” is right. Their songs tend to play on rotation in my head.

I asked Max if he felt pressured to fit in with the “Brooklyn music scene.”
He responded, “I think it would be nice to be a part of the indie scene, but if
I’m honest with myself, of the Brooklyn scene right now, the bands and artists I
like really sound nothing like us. It’s more solo artists, and when I do listen
to music that sounds vaguely like us, it’s usually from an entirely different era,
like the 70s. My bread and butter is really soul and disco. So, I’m more interested
in being true to the kind of music I love, and if people dig it, then great.”

I couldn’t agree more. As long as they stick to their disco-inspired sound, I will
remain a loyal fan. While there is a strong intellectual quality to their lyrics,
there’s also a rawness about DECADES that I love. Their music is anything but
pretentious; they allow their audience to let go and dance, and sometimes
that’s all you want.

Last Friday, DECADES played as a part of the Brooklyn Electronic Music Festival
at Music Hall of Williamsburg, alongside Fischerspooner (DJ set) and Diamond Rings.

Don’t miss them if you have the chance to catch a show.

Currently DECADES is working on an EP due out in late December.

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Category: Decades, Interview, Introducing
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MVs Collection #55

Posted on | November 13, 2011 | No Comments

Class Actress – “Weekend”
Directed by Bek Andersen.

Kimbra – “Settle Down”
Directed by Guy Franklin.

Emika – “Professional Loving”
Directed by Park Bennett.

Duologue – “Push It”
Directed by Babanuki.

Anna Rose – “My Body Is A Cage” (Arcade Fire Cover)
Directed by Moh Azima.

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Category: Music Videos, MVs Collection
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AGDFA 133

Posted on | November 11, 2011 | No Comments

80 mins : 15 secs | 45.9 mb

Jason Moore And The Lost Pages “Sunset’s End” ( indie release )
Steps EP [ soundcloud ]
website | myspace | facebook

Solids “Whatevers And Neverminds” ( machette records )
Generic Dogs EP [ bandcamp ]
website | myspace | facebook

Kestrels “Ridicule” ( noyes records )
Primary Colours [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Sleeper Agent “Force A Smile” ( mom + pop music )
Celabrasion [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Real Estate “It’s Real” ( domino recording co. )
Days [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Quiet Company “We Went to the Renaissance Fair” ( indie release )
We Are All Where We Belong [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

The Golden Awesome “Astronomy” ( m’lady’s records )
Autumn [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Popstrangers “Happy Accidents” ( shoot the freak )
Happy Accidents EP [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Gauntlet Hair “I Was Thinking …” ( independent release )
Demos EP [ free download ]
website | myspace | facebook

S.C.U.M. “Amber Hands” ( mute )
Again Into Eyes [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Veronica Falls “Beachy Head” ( slumberland records )
Veronica Falls [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

The Soft Moon “Total Decay” ( captured tracks )
Total Decay EP [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

True Widow “Bathyscaphe” ( kemado records )
I.N.O. EP [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Florence And The Machine “No Light, No Light” ( universal records )
Ceremonials [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Modeselektor Feat. Thom Yorke “This” ( monkeytown records )
Monkeytown [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Evenings “Friend [Lover]” ( independent release )
North Dorm EP [ bandcamp ]
website | myspace | facebook

Gem Club “Black Ships” ( hardly art )
Breakers [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Mazzy Star “Common Burn” ( rhymes of an hour records )
Common Burn (Single) [ amazon ]
website | myspace | facebook

Download ( MP3 ) | RSS Feed ( Subscribe )

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Category: Podcasts
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MVs Collection #54

Posted on | November 5, 2011 | No Comments

We Were Promised Jetpacks – “Human Error”
Directed by Michael Sherrington.

Sleeper Agent – “Get It Daddy”
Directed by Ryan Reichenfeld.

Real Estate – “It’s Real”
Directed by Weird Days.

S.C.U.M. – “Whitechapel”
Directed by Tim Noble & Sue Webster

Pepper Rabbit – “Murder Room”
Directed by Morgan Krantz.

Modeselektor Feat. Thom Yorke – “Shipwreck”
Directed by Tony “Truand” Datis.

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Category: Music Videos, MVs Collection
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SXSW 2012: Are We There Yet?

Posted on | November 2, 2011 | No Comments

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South By Southwest time already?

If already means 5 months away (or 132 days) to you then yes, we’re almost here.

Back to hot, Texan sunshine right in the middle of our usual cold and dreary Marches, the thought of delicious breakfast Tacos in my belly sustaining me in the mornings and seeing bands 12 hours a day, for 5 days straight, appeals to my music nerd sensibilities.

Lest we forget, spending a few hours in my favorite movie theater in the whole wide world, the Alamo Drafthouse.

So many good times ahead.

It is already that time of year where the very preliminary lineup of artists who will show their faces on 6th street from March 13 – March 18, 2012 is revealed to us in small doses.

Akina Adderley & The Vintage Playboys (Austin TX)
Against Me! (Gainesville FL)
Agent Fresco (Reykjavík ICELAND)
Ambition (Halifax CANADA)
ANR (Miami FL)
Antoine Reverb (Guadalajara MEXICO)
Avalanche City (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Balthazar (Gent BELGIUM)
Bare Wires (Oakland NY)
BeatauCue (Caen FRANCE)
Bestial Mouths (Los Angeles CA)
Big Deal (London UK-ENGLAND)
Big Scary (Melbourne AUSTRALIA)
The Black and White Years (Austin TX)
Black Books (Austin TX)
The Black Ryder (Sydney AUSTRALIA)
Michael Guy Bowman (Los Angeles CA)
Cashier No.9 (Belfast UK-N. IRELAND)
Class Actress (Brooklyn NY)
Cloud Nothings (Cleveland OH)
Com Truise (Princeton NJ)
Delay Trees (Helsinki FINLAND)
Delhi 2 Dublin (Vancouver CANADA)
Marianne Dissard (Tucson AZ)
Duck Fight Goose (Shanghai CHINA)
The Ettes (Nashville TN)
Fanzine (London UK-ENGLAND)
Fat Tony (Houston TX)
FEAR (Los Angeles CA)
Free Blood (Brooklyn NY)
THE GRANNIES (San Francisco CA)
Guadalupe Plata (Andalusia-Ubeda SPAIN)
He’s My Brother She’s My Sister (Los Angeles CA)
Howler (Minneapolis MN)
Ice Choir (Brooklyn NY)
I Got You On Tape (Copenhagen DENMARK)
il abanico (Bogota COLOMBIA)
Matthew Perryman Jones (Nashville TN)
Jonquil (Oxford UK-ENGLAND)
Just A Band (Nairobi KENYA)
Marit Larsen (Oslo NORWAY)
Letting Up Despite Great Faults (Los Angeles CA)
Library Voices (Regina CANADA)
Love Inks (Austin TX)
Maxim Ludwig & The Santa Fe Seven (Silverlake CA)
Mahogany (Chicago IL)
Marmalakes (Austin TX)
The Men (New York City NY)
Mind Spiders (Forth Worth TX)
Motopony (Seattle WA)
Mujeres (Barcelona SPAIN)
Musikanto (Chicago IL)
My Education (Austin TX)
Niki & The Dove (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Not In The Face!! (Austin TX)
Of Monsters and Men (Reykjavík ICELAND)
120 Days (Oslo NORWAY)
Outfit (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)
The Parlotones (Johannesburg SOUTH AFRICA)
Parlovr (Montreal CANADA)
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Waitsfield VT)
Pure Love (Brooklyn NY)
Molly Rankin (Charlottetown PE)
ROGe (Rio De Janeiro BRAZIL)
Peter Rosenberg (New York NY)
Rosie and Me (Curitiba BRAZIL)
Royal Canoe (Winnipeg CANADA)
Gabriel Santiago Quintet (Rio de Janeiro BRAZIL)
Sauti Sol (Nairobi KENYA)
Say Hi (Seattle WA)
The Scoundrels (Las Vegas NV)
Shout Out Out Out Out (Edmonton CANADA)
Skewby (Memphis TN)
Skinny Lister (London UK-ENGLAND)
Soft Metals (Los Angeles CA)
Some Community (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Something Fierce (Houston TX)
Sore Losers (Lancaster TX)
SPEAK (Austin TX)
Spectrals (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)
Spycatcher (London UK-ENGLAND)
Sudakaya (Quito ECUADOR)
Talking To Turtles (Leipzig GERMANY)
Team Me (Elverum NORWAY)
Telebit (Bogotá COLOMBIA)
Thee Oh Sees (San Francisco CA)
THULEBASEN (København V DENMARK)
Timbuktu (Toronto ON)
Truth Universal (New Orleans LA)
Turbogeist (London UK-ENGLAND)
Uncle Bad Touch (Montreal CANADA)
Uncle Lucius (Austin TX)
UV POP (Doncaster UK-ENGLAND)
Vampillia (Tenjinmachi JAPAN)
V for Volume (Bogota COLOMBIA)
VHS or Beta (Brooklyn NY)
WAX (Dunkirk MD)
We Are The Ocean (London UK-ENGLAND)
We Barbarians (Brooklyn NY)
The Wedding Present (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
Chelsea Wolfe (Los Angeles CA)
Young Magic (Brooklyn NY)
Yukon Blonde (Vancouver CANADA)
Yuksek(Paris FRANCE)
The Zoltars (Austin TX)

Now, crossing my fingers the flight prices to Austin will drop back down by Christmas
and for me personally, getting my hands on a badge and or wristband.

That would be the cherry on top of the SXSW Sundae.

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Category: Festivals, SXSW
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