One of the best indie rock bands to come out of Seattle in recent years is Grand Archives. Now, after what may have seemed like forever in the minds and hearts of die-hard fans, the band has released two brand new songs from their forthcoming SubPop Records sophomore album Keep In Mind Frankenstein.

Thanks mostly to a 2007 Pitchfork feature of the band's demo tracks, Grand Archives, led by former Band of Horses guitarist Mat Brooke, were picked to open for Modest Mouse on a seven show West Coast tour.

The success of that tour paved the way for signing a record deal with SubPop Records which released Grand Archives' masterful debut album in 2008. In addition to Brooke, other band members include Curtis Hall, Jeff Montaño and Thomas Wright. Ron Lewis left the band earlier this year to join The Shins.

The new album will drop on September 15th. The band will kick off a month-long North American tour on September 22nd in San Francisco.

"Oslo Novelist" - Grand Archives from Keep In Mind Frankenstein (2009)

"Silver Among the Gold" - Grand Archives from Keep In Mind Frankenstein (2009)


Grand Archives on MySpace
Grand Archives on SubPop Records

Labels: Grand Archives, New Releases, Seattle Bands

Seattle indie folk pop band The Soft Hills blend dreamy melodies and sublime harmonies wrapped around introspective lyrics and seductive, rich vocals. While not completely obscure within the indie music circles, The Soft Hills' new EP, Painted World, has somehow slipped by the more popular music sites and blogs.

Painted World features five solid songs that demonstrate the best of the ethereal possibilities of experimental indie folk mixed with pop. The EP is not overly produced or reliant on musical gimmicks - an increasing, and often unfortunate, trend in pop music over the past decade.

The raw talent of The Soft Hills is evident on the opening track, "Apples," an airy and meandering ballad that takes to heart the power of original songwriting and production. The next song, "Spent," is smooth and sublime, graced with low-key acoustic guitar and piano, almost absent of extraneous percussion. As the song flows gently along, singer and songwriter Garrett Hobba unveils the somewhat ironic lyric, "you've been drifting too far."

Hobba draws inspiration for his lyrics from 20th century literary artists, Eastern philosophy, and symbolic dreams. Fans of Mark Kozelek, the prolific singer and songwriter of San Francisco indie folk bands Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters take note; the likeness of The Soft Hills' sound and story-telling is, at times, remarkably similar, whether intentional or not.

The sprawling track "Wandering" features ambient, rich harmonies, and the Belle & Sebastian-esque song "Hills Like White Elephants" is easily the EP's most up-tempo song. The record's last song, "Diamond Road," paints a lush Mojave 3-like sonic experience with hints of the folksy charm of Band of Horses. The only draw-back is that the song is a bit too long, clocking in at just under seven minutes long.

The Soft Hills began their journey in 2007 when Hobba moved to Seattle and met up with drummer Caleb Heinrich. Soon the duo were joined by fellow Seattle musicians Brittan Drake on piano, guitar and bass and Brett Massa on guitar, bass and vocals.

"Apples" - The Soft Hills from Painted World

"Hills Like White Elephants" - The Soft Hills from Painted World

Official website: http://www.thesofthills.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thesofthills


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Labels: Bands to Watch 2009, Seattle Bands, The Soft Hills

The Seattle garage rock-pop band The Lonely Forest is set to release their third album, We Sing The Body Electric!, on April 21 via Burning Building Recordings. In the interest of full disclosure, I was unaware of the band until their latest album came in dee mail.

As I listened to We Sing The Body Electric!, it became apparent that I was hearing one of the best albums so far this year. Song after song reveals rich, raw, sophisticated, emotional, party-ready and wonderfully crafted music; there are no gimmicks or cookie cutter rock here. What worries me about bands that are this good is what can happen to them if they become too popular.

Music producer Jack Endino, who worked with Nirvana, Mudhoney and Soundgarden said of The Lonely Forest: "These guys came out of no where...and blew my mind!"

For reals. We Sing The Body Electric! may likely be on some best rock album lists for 2009 by year's end. Band members include Eric Sturgeon (bass and vocals), John Van Deusen (piano, lead vocals), Braydn Krueger (drums) and Tony Ruland (guitar).

Some of the bands The Lonely Forest have played with include The Velvet Teen, The Thermals, Appleseed Cast, Mates of State, Viva Voce, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Cloud Cult, YACHT, Maritime and many others.

MySpace has become one fairly reliable measure of a band's popularity. The Lonely Forest opened their page in July 2004 and have since racked up 265,824 profile views and amassed 5,958 friends in the extended (and sometimes over-extended) MySpace network.

"We Sing In Time" - The Lonely Forest from We Sing The Body Electric!
"Stars and Moons" - The Lonely Forest from Nuclear Winter (2007)
The Lonely Forest on MySpace

Both songs are currently available via Burning Buildings Recordings

The gorgeous Pacific Northwest has played a major role in popularizing alternative and indie rock music for nearly two decades now, and The Lonely Forest are clearly one of the big shots in modern Seattle rock.

Labels: Best Indie 2009, Garage Rock, New Releases, Seattle Bands, The Lonely Forest

I must admit that there are many indie artists and bands that fly under my radar for months after they've received the so-called "blogger buzz". This is no more so the case than with the Washington state band The Fleet Foxes.

Drawing strongly off influences from The Beach Boys, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young and The Zombies, The Fleet Foxes are one of the most exciting new indie bands of 2008.

Fleet Foxes' debut, self-titled album is nothing less than a masterpiece woven with carefully-crafted songs about longing and lost love lavishly laden with pop harmonies and melodies.

"They are, for lack of an imminently more marketable descriptor, a group trafficking in baroque harmonic pop," the band's profile on Sub Pop reads, highlighting "traditions of folk music, pop, choral music and gospel, sacred harp singing, West Coast music, traditional music from Ireland to Japan, film scores."

Heather Phares wrote in the All Music Guide: "[Fleet Foxes] mix and match British and American folk and rock from the far and not too distant past that makes the band's music so refreshing. While this mix could be contrived or indulgent, Fleet Foxes use restraint, structuring their flourishes into three- and four-minute pop songs full of chiming melodies and harmonies that sound like they've been summoned from centuries of traditional songs and are full of vivid, universal imagery: mountains, birds, family, death. "

The band comprises Skyler Skjelset on guitar, Bryn Lumsden on bass, Nicholas Peterson on drums, and Casey Wescott on keyboards. Following some solid shows in Seattle, the band was was contacted by producer Phil Ek, who produced The Shins and Built to Spill.

Ek produced the bands spring 2008 EP release, Sun Giant, and the band's debut full-length album for Sub Pop Records.

MP3: "White Winter Hymna" by The Fleet Foxes off the self-titled album on Sub Pop Records, released in June 2008.

Sub Pop also has in its lineup of artists many great indie bands and artists like Grand Archives, Iron & Wine, Foals, The Go! Team, Bands of Horses, The Postal Service, Sleater-Kinney, CSS, Mudhoney, The Rapture, Wolf Parade, Low, Rogue Wave and dozens more.

Seattle is etched in rock history as the birthplace of alternative rock, most especially in respect to "grunge" - a musical genre that captivated a generation for half of a decade thanks in large part to the explosive success of Nirvana.

For the baby boom generation, The Beatles were band that defined a generation. For the mislabeled "Generation X" there is no other band that can compare to the enormous influence and success of The Beatles except for Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.

But in recent years, the caffeinated city of Seattle, has been the breeding ground for new, more mellow indie rock and pop that draws heavily off musical trends established during the baby boomers heydays. The Fleet Foxes definitely appeal to a wide audience because of their amazing range in styles and sounds and introspective lyrics.

Upcoming Fleet Foxes shows from their 2008 concert tour:

Thursday, June 26 - Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco CA
Friday, June 27 - Casbah, San Diego CA
Saturday, June 28 - Echo, Los Angeles CA
Sunday, June 29 - Spaceland, Los Angeles CA
Monday, June 30 - Solar Culture, Tucson AZ
Wednesday, July 2 - Mohawk, Austin TX
Thursday, July 3 - Loft, Dallas TX
Saturday, July 5 - Drunken Unicorn, Atlanta GA
Sunday, July 6 - Local 506, Chapel Hill NC
Monday, July 7 - Black Cat, Washington DC
Tuesday, July 8 - First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia PA
Wednesday, July 9 - Bowery Ballroom, The, New York City NY
Monday, July 14 - Middle East, Cambridge MA upstairs
Tuesday, July 15 - Le Divan Orange, Montreal Canada
Friday, July 18 - Terrace, Madison WI
Saturday, July 19 - Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago IL
Sunday, July 20 - 7th St Entry, Minneapolis MN
Tuesday, July 22 - Hi-Dive, Denver CO
Wednesday, July 23 - Kilby Court, Salt Lake City UT
Friday, July 25 - Doug Fir Lounge, Portland OR

View the MySpace page for The Fleet Foxes and listen to their studio session on National Public Radio.

Labels: Fleet Foxes, Seattle Bands, Subpop Records