Coming Soon: New Cory P. Coleman

Five Videos From Five Friends

Tons of good stuff has been piling up in the inbox in our little two-month absence. Check out five recently released videos below from friends of SubEx, three of whom we've interviewed and two of which have hung out with us at our pad.

Oberhofer - "Away Frm U" from Time Capsules II


Kentucky Knife Fight - "Love the Lonely" from Love the Lonely


David Liebe Hart - "Reba McEntire" Violitionist Session (original track from Split EP)


Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. - "We Almost Lost Detroit" from It's a Corporate World


The Staves - "The Motherlode" from The Motherlode EP

In Case You Don't Know // Now You Know

www.centraltrack.com

Charlie Megira & The Modern Dance Club // Beach Bums Must Die

As we discovered last last year all truly great garage rock sounds, for the most part anyway, largely indistinguishable in when and/or where it was made. If we had been told that the 60s Japanese group sound bands we wore out in December were current we'd never have been the wiser, and had it not been for thick Asian accents we'd have been clueless on those bands' origins.

Recently upstart Oakland label Guitars and Bongos issued their first release in Charlie Megira & The Modern Dance Club's double LP Love Police. The immediate standout track is the surf-tinged "Beach Bums Must Die," while the rest of the disc could just as easily have been b-sides from various Goner Records releases or many a Tic Tac Totally 7" in that case.



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Mdou Moctar // Music From Saharan Cellphones

Perhaps it might have something to do with my own history of playing in a band that historically relied almost entirely on acoustic instruments that first endeared me to the band BRAINSTORM. There's something about the rogue nature of being able to set up anywhere at any time and perform an impromptu set that seems so spontaneous and pure. My absolute favorite moment from last year's 35(fill-in-the-blank) festival in Denton was BRAINSTORM's set in the middle of the street that delayed Big Boi's start time.

I'm not sure if it was the sheer amount of noise those two scamps could make being just a two-piece with but one extension cord, the fact that the small-time duo could so effectively fuck with the set of someone like a Big Boi, or just how furious the whole ordeal it made a certain festival co-organizer who shall remain nameless, but I've been hooked ever since. The way doors were slammed, pizza parlor employees were screamed at, cords violently yanked out of walls was in and of itself entertaining enough to watch, but the fact that even without their power source the pair carried on for one more song was sheer joy-inducing.

Recently the band discovered contemporary Nigerien musician Mdou Moctar via the Sahel Sounds label who took it upon themselves to release a compilation of some of his works. Per the label:

Mdou Moctar (pronounced “M”-”Doh”) is from Abalak, Niger. A few years back, he traveled to Sokoto, Nigeria to record an album. A curious feature was addition of Autotune, something the studio engineer suggested. The resulting eight songs, all spaced out Autotuned Tamashek guitar (quite possibly the first time ever) were never official released but disseminated throughout West Africa through that subtle network of cellphone SIM cards.

BRAINSTORM have subsequently covered a pair of Mdou Moctar tracks which are available via their BandCamp page. The original versions of these tunes can be found at Sahel Sounds.



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The Zoltars // The Perfect Girl

Austin lo-fi outfit The Zoltars may have doubled in size since they first came onto our radar, but as previews of their upcoming debut full-length Should I Try Once More? reveal they haven't strayed far from their earlier no-frills offerings. The official drop date is April 10th via Sundae Records, but a few of the tracks are already up for grabs at the Zoltars' BandCamp page.

Per the band: The 10 song album will be available on vinyl, digitally on Itunes and Bandcamp, as well as a small run of CD's (a first for Sundae). Should I Try Once More? tells the story of someone falling in love again, with each song acting as a scene in the story. Main Zoltar, Jared Leibowich has made a music video for each song with Super 8mm footage. We'll be releasing these videos once a week as the release date grows closer.

MP3: The Zoltars - The Perfect Girl

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The Darcys // Peg

As bad a wrap as the jazz-influenced smooth rockers get from the hipster generation, as witnessed by the portrayal of Donald Fagen as a mush-mouthed buffoon on the popular Yacht Rock shorts. Under the high-gloss sheen of studio innovator Roger "The Immortal" Nichols, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker assembled intricate progressions interlaced with brilliant lyrical moments of dark witticism, in the process achieving a level of perfectionism that may never again be matched.

That being said, the task of covering one of their tunes is in itself one of the most daunting undertakings a band can attempt, and the reworking of an entire album a la the Bird and the Bee's nod to Hall and Oates is akin to an indie band death wish. Nonetheless, last week Toronto's The Darcy's released their free reinterpretation of Steely Dan's seminal effort Aja, which features one of top 3 Dan tunes "Peg".

As well-executed as these tracks are, especially in their effort to re-imagine the tunes as sinister prog numbers, it's hard to listen to such well-known tunes objectively with fresh ears. So are the pitfalls of most covers, I suppose. But it's a fresh take that I can see myself really liking had I never heard of Steely Dan before, which should serve some black-hearted hipsters rather well me thinks.

MP3: The Darcy's - Peg
Full Aja Downlad: here

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