05 Jul
Whim is a collection of media focused on independent rock/pop/garage and everything surrounding it. This week gives us a new Thick Shakes single, tracks from Arc In Sound and Pure Bathing Culture, and the announcement that Girls might be done.

Thick Shakes

Boston's best kept secret isn’t some hole-in-the-wall diner or hidden cabaret, but a four garage rock outfit led by bassist and vocalist Lindsay Crudele. Thick Shakes have been thrashing the east coast for a few years now, originally breaking onto the national scene with early 2011's raucous Why Buy the Cow 7". On French Dyppe, the group’s newest single, the band refines their brand of wall-smashing thrash pop, creating even more buzz on the east coast and beyond. French Dyppe is out on cassette via Aurora 7 on July 7th.

 

26 Jun
"Pop music shouldn't always get a bad rap," says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles. Hella indie pop today.

YAWN

YAWN's singles are usually joyful celebrations bearing resemblance to a more stripped down and straight-forward Animal Collective (to name bands that people in such genres hate/love being compared to), with color barf videos to match. But their latest track, "Ganymede", is twinkly without being too energized; it's like a glorious, vocally harmonized lullaby. Cool album art too, bros. The EP came out earlier this month on FeelTrip Records.

 

Watch music video for YAWN's "Yum Yum"

 

25 Jun
Remix City Sifting through mountains of remix trash so you don't have to, in an attempt to find the ones that contribute to their originals. Portland's Radiation City and Denmark's Fallulah both get their indie turned dance.

 

Fallulah

Fallulah's solo material definitely lives more in sultry Feist territory than on dance floors -- and "I Lay My Head" is almost much too obvious an example of that -- but Shook's remix of the track turns it from a hand-clapping, foot-stomping kind-of good time into one you want to wiggle your elbows, bend your knees, and get down James Brown style to. Fallulah, aka Maria Apetri, has her debut full-length, The Black Cat Neighbourhood, coming out August 21st on MBM Records. Fallulah - "I Lay My Head" (Shook Remix) Fallulah - "I Lay My Head" (Original)

 

 

29 Mar

Multicultural Sounds travels the world for contemporary reinventions of cultural staples.  Earlier this week, Portland-based electronic musician Jeffrey Jerusalem has put together a 60-minute mix of global dance sounds. 13 Months Of Sunshine: New Rhythms From Africa And Around The World comes just in time for the beginning of spring, sunshine,...

06 Mar
London-based indie rockers Post War Years have teamed up with amazing Philly director Tobias Stretch to create this muppet-filled blue-tinged world of weirdness. Stretch, known for his stop-motion animations and work with puppet characters, took the time to answer a few questions, which you can read below the video.

 

 

How was the concept for this developed? You and the band jointly? Mostly you? Mostly the band? The band presented me with an idea of an image, a playground swing descends in slow motion towards the head of an alien creature. From this powerful image I was able to create a world around it that also reflected the meaning of the song which dealt with the trials and tribulations of a young person trying to find their way in the big bad world.

 

This video feels and reads like a nightmare which then comes to show itself as light-hearted. Is there any truth in that kind of reading? Yes, nightmares can be quite funny at times despite the fear they usually elicit. Nervous laughter is the surest sign that an object of fear has now passed. To me, the celebration of life is also about being free of fear, even if it is only for moments. People who have endured traumatic events tend to have a blacker sense of humor, so the lines between humor and fear are always blurry for me.
01 Mar

"Pop music shouldn't always get a bad rap," says Top Pops!, a recurring selection of pop music highlights across a selection of styles.  Hunting Club Using only cascading drums, drawn-out synths, and extremely minimal pop vocals, Hunting Club don't need much to stick a pop song straight into your heart-brain. Their latest...

27 Jan

UK companies may have invented a earplug for you to shine directly into your brain to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder, but in Seattle, an exciting group show (featuring some REDEFINE favorites like Mandy Greer and No Touching Ground) is here to create warm fuzzies and give Seattlites a place to...

26 Jan
Finding an artist like Seth Haley, the man behind the electronic project Com Truise, is quite refreshing. Rather than trying to downplay the ‘80s artists and aesthetics that have inspired him -- for fear of being constantly compared to those references -- Haley venerably turns his influences into transfixing and educational works. "I love to expose my sources; my favorite thing is the source," Haley says. "It's really what drives me or anyone to do any certain thing, whatever that source may be."

 

12 Jan

Much better known in Europe than in the US (thanks in large part to John Peel), France's Herman Dune have been around for over a decade, busy pioneering the "anti-folk" movement that has had a mutually influential relationship with countless bands, from Belle & Sebastian to The Mountain Goats to...

09 Jan
If you live in NYC or are visiting it soon, get to New Museum by the end of the month if you know what's good for ya! Closing January 2nd is this amazing, amazing enveloping psychedelic sculptural Experience, presented by Germany's Carsten Höller (now living and working in Sweden). Where else will you see giant life-size multi-colored hippos? Nowhere. Where else will you be presented with giant tri-shroom composites? Nowhere.
new museum carsten holler This is, according to the New Museum website, "the most comprehensive US exhibition to date of the artist’s engaging work." They continue by saying:
"The current show gathers together a number of the artist’s signature works in an arrangement that transforms the viewer’s experience of time and space. Originally trained as a scientist, Höller is frequently inspired by research and experiments from scientific history and deploys these studies in works that alter the audience’s physical and psychological sensations, inspiring doubt and uncertainty about the world around them. His work often draws on social spaces outside of the museum such as the amusement park, zoo, or playground, but the experiences they provide are always far from our usual expectations of these activities. Höller’s art takes the form of proposals for radical, new ways of living by creating sculptures and diagrams for visionary architecture as well as transportation alternatives, such as his renowned slide installations. These concepts may seem impossible in the present day, but suggest new models for the future."
22 Dec

Xhurch, a repurposed church in North Portland, has decided to take last year's live reenactment of the Nativity one step out of the terrestrial and into a more cosmic direction, with this year's Alien Nativity. See full slideshow of last year's Nativity. Last year's Nativity had the usual characters -- Mary, Joseph,...

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