Twi the Humble Feather

Twi the Humble Feather  photo by Juliana Barwick

Twi the Humble Feather is an all acoustic guitar based trio lead by the direction of Anthony Lebron with his cousin Hektor Fontanez and long time friend Bryan Doring.  Their sound is hard to describe but experimental, minimalist space folk comes to mind. They don't use any "drums", but there are percussion sounds made from hitting the strings and wood of the guitars. No effects are used, but there are some interesting string scraping sounds that sound like they're coming from an electronic device. The falsetto, wall of sound vocals with imaginary languages tell the tale of Twi the Humble Feather. 

The band came together when Lebron's classical guitar skills became a new direction.  Each member had their own experimental projects going on at the time and collaborated on recordings in the past. Fontanez was composing under the Liek moniker, and Doring is the founder of experimental electronic/pop band Alias Pail.  Doring says, "I knew Anthony way back from my Oklahoma days actually, through my friend, Brian Hall. Eventually I moved to NYC, and we became friends again. It was apparent that we were both serious about our passion for music and I started helping him and Hektor realize what would become Twi the Humble Feather".

The trio's latest release "Music for Spaceships and Forests", is a character driven concept album composed for three acoustic guitars. They apply classical and flamenco guitar techniques to an avant-garde, experimental song writing formula. Released through the non-record label Friendly Ghost, "Music for Spaceships and Forests" will delight fans of Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear as well as folks who dig Phillip Glass and Steve Reich. 

Recently the band has been has opening for some pretty great acts such as Death Vessel, The Sea and Cake, Shugo Tokumaru, and they toured with Jose Gonzalez as well.  2009 will bring a single and new album from Twi, and some more great shows.  They're even talking about opening the tracks from "Music For Spaceships and Forests" into a remix album. 

You can catch them live at The Stone on Feb. 5th. 

• Download the track "Higher Than the End" 

Banjo or Freakout 7" single out now.

Mr. No / Someone Great by Banjo or Freakout

Banjo or Freakout is the alter ego of Italian native Alessio Natalizia who is currently living in London England.  He began crafting his loop based deconstructive tracks in a Hackney flat while waiting for his girlfriend to come home. Armed with some cheap mac software, loops, and a shit ton of d.s.p. this cat makes some of the most beautiful atmospheric noise I've heard in a long time. Each track shimmers and crackles like a warm campfire. Banjo or Freakout has only one rule to follow amidst the chaos of composing and that is to record every track just one time with no second takes. But he does allow himself to adjust sounds and add as many effects as possible.

He garnered most of his attention from a bunch of lo-fi cover songs from bands such as Battles, Radiohead, Amy Winehouse and Vampire Weekend. But his most striking cover is the version of the Burial track Archangel. It's a blissful haunting mass of sounds including a Joy Division drum sample. 

On his first proper release for a record label, Banjo or Freakout serves up one of his earlier original tracks Mr.  No, and a James Murphy approved cover of L.C.D. Soundsystem's Someone Great. You can order the record directly from No Pain In Pop by clicking on the link below.  Keep yours eyes and ears on this guy, as hopefully he'll venture across the pond soon. 

• Order Mr. No / Someone Great Now! 
• Download the track 72 (Everything Fast) from RCRD LBL
  

Mix Tape #1 - January 2009

Every month I plan to bring you a downloadable "mix tape" of songs I think are awesome. Songs that I've listened to over and over, songs I've been obsessed with for a while, and hopefully some new stuff you've never heard before. There is no theme to this first mix, but maybe in the future there will be themed mixes. Anyway, download this, put it on your iPod, and bliss out. 

• Download - Blissful Music Blog Mix Tape #1 - January 2009 *
  

1. Pale Horse by John Vanderslice

2. Silence by Takka Takka

3. Good Lies by The Notwist

4. Corner Phone by Land of Talk

5. My Girls by Animal Collective

6. From Stardust to Sentience by High Places

7. Grounded by Pavement

8. The Company I Can Get by The New Year

9. The Drummer Goes Berzerk by Velveteen

10. Darkness And The Silver Spoon by MK Ultra

11. Rooks by Shearwater

12. Couleurs by M83

13. Campaign  by Russian Circles

14. The 3rd Time We Opened The Capsule by Kitchens Of Distinction

15. Ears Ring by Rainer Maria

16. Comfy In Nautica by Panda Bear

* download available for limited time (so get all up on it)

Heliotropes

Heliotropes are a brand spanking new band from Brooklyn who formed in the summer of 2008. Iféoluwa Babalola,  Jessica Numsuwankijkul, and Amber G. Myers got together for the sole purpose of playing some Brian Eno songs with no synthesizer -- just guitar, drums and harmonium. With a sound ranging from psychedelic folk to the '90's indie girl groups, it'll be exciting to watch Heliotropes blossom in the new year.

I had a chance to catch an off-the-cuff performance at an open mic night at Matchless and I was blown away. They performed the song "Unadorned" which consisted of beautiful harmonies, haunting lyrics, and whistling standing in for a missing harmonium. Listen for yourself using the link to their Myspace page below.

2009 will find Heliotropes writing and recording songs and hopefully putting out a full length. Jessica says "We're trying to make an effort to just go with what comes up and not really fight what comes easily." They just played their first show in Washington DC on New Years Eve.

Check them out Jan. 21st at Public Assembly in Williamsburg.

• http://www.myspace.com/heliotropesband
  

---