I recall Women, upon first listen, as being sparser, stranger more grating on my sensitive ears.  But this skirts the edges of classic rock, painting it gently with a coating fuzz and daubing it with a few colored sprinkles of oddity.

Jagjaguwar you continue to make me smile.

Women - Eyesore

The Cave Singers ::: photo by Abbey Simmons

Just in case you missed it when Reverb scooped this a couple weeks ago, it was confirmed yesterday that Seattle’s own Cave Singers have signed to Jagjaguwar. The label officially announced the new partnership yesterday and promised we can expect a new Cave Singers record early next year.

Anything that gets us a new Cave Singers album quickly is a good thing. But beyond our impatience for more of Peter Quirk’s foot-stomping folk songs we love the pairing with Jagjaguwar, a label that is responsible for a few of our favorite and some of the most distinctive sounding bands today, including: Bon Iver, Besnard Lakes and Bowerbirds. We can’t wait to hear what comes from this new pairing.

If it has not been properly proven before this point, as a whole, I attempt to expose you, the fine readers of Sound on the Sound to music you might not stumble upon in your own searching.  I know I seem to miss out on plenty of big, beautiful music, but I do so intentionally.  Though it may spinning on repeat on my record player, I want this blog to be a place of undiscovered treasures, both for your sake (you snappy folk you) and for the sake of the undiscovered (some of them not snappy at all, downright dirty if you ask me).

With that said, The Besnard Lake’s, huge spinning asteroids of indie love that they are, debut behemoth of an album floors me each and every time it’s droned out Beach Boy’s sound tickles my stirrup.  Even though these musical masters reside on the impressively curated Jagjaguwar and are known by legions of fans the world over, I am a puddle of khaki goo whenever I even think of their flaming horse imprinted first record.

Thus, this, this epic bit of brand new Besnard Lake’s style Beach Boy’s rock turned chamber ballad is not me selling out, it is me effectively and quite quickly blowing your mind.

Press play, lose mind, repeat.

The Besnard Lakes - Albatross

I scour the web for Black Mountain related news.  I have seen Black Mountain five times, and each and every time I am hypnotized (for non-medical purposes) by Amber Weber’s voice.  I remember pulsating blue light and a sea of people and thinking I’d probably consumed a few too many beverages with Matt Sullivan.

I am happy this morning because Eric Deines of Jagjaguwar sent me this, the new single/album from Lightning Dust, Amber Heard’s Black Mountain offshoot, and I played it and it reminds me again of pulsing lights and audio hypnotism and a few too many drinks.

Lightning Dust - I Knew

When I was first introduced to Parts + Labor, many years ago (read: two, maybe two and half) for whatever reason I was absolutely predisposed to dislike them.  The name, Parts + Labor, made me think of grinding gears, and churning steel, and due to me passing through a sentimental acoustic phase of my musical life (short lived, believe me) I wanted nothing to do with it.  At the time I also believed they were from Washington D.C. (they’re from New York) and I instantly associated their “harder” name with Dischord and that whole punk-hardcore-metal scene.  To say the least, I was not inclined to enjoy.

But, because, at the time, I was a rabid Pitchfork sycophant, and they had listed it as “Best New Music” I couldn’t stop myself from purchasing it.  I thought, “Well, maybe if it’s hard enough I can run to it.”  And that’s just what I did the very next day, and this music was hard, but it was also so many other things.  It rang out with sharp driving, almost primal rhythms, and Dan Friel’s voice was a melodic beaut; a soft, at times delicate knife that cut through the rumbling guitars, creating a shocking relief of balance.  I was hooked.

Now, I haven’t listened to their recent Sick Of It All style Escapers series, but I have been pretty obsessed over the first single of their forthcoming album Receivers, “Nowheres Nigh”.  It completely captures my entire feeling of the band, a driving hum of distorted power, neatly controlled by Friel’s surprisingly pretty voice.  It reminds me of my junior high days moonlighting as a punk kid, standing to close to the speakers, smiling when the music gained melody, faux-moshing when it screeched in to distorted wails.

I am over joyed that my initial predispositions about Parts + Labor, probably as happy as one can get with being completely, one hundred percent wrong.

Parts + Labor - Nowheres Nigh

If you know me, and you know my musical taste, which you good readers of Sound on the Sound are slowly staring to, well, know, you’ll also know this: I love Black Mountain. I was turned on to them late last year, during a marathon bout of, er, “medicating” and through the hazy light of my friends basement, somehow these kings and queens of stoner-rock intertwined with my very brain waves, ascending time and space to create a love unknown prior. Again, I was pretty high

Yet when my THC-induced haze had briefly receded my love for Steve McBean and all things Black Mountain remained. I’ve been slavering at the bit for a chance to proclaim this unbridled passion - some bit of news, some tasty digital morsel - and now I have it. The Bastards of Light EP started as a tour only 7″, and though this prime taster of Black Mountain goodness no longer exists in any physical format, the two-track (two dollar) EP can be snatched over our favorite musical overlord, I-TUNES.

Either track off this must-have for Black Mountain fans is just another reason why I love them so, but I’ve decided to chat up the b-side “Thirteen Walls”(You would be able to stream the fucking thing, but Lord I-Tunes encodes their music differently, so you’ll have to jump over to the below link to listen). The presence of a slowly pulled congo beat and a hovering near-sitar sound, one may think Mcbean and company may have sneaked their recording equipment in to the smoky back room of a Middle Eastern hookah bar for this joint. If anything, it seems “something” was smoked in the process of creating this song, as it leisurely unwinds, sauntering from sitar to stoner-solo mid-way through before transcending both sounds with a traditional minute-long, McBean face-melter.

Tattoo it on my forehead: I love Black Mountain

Official Homepage: BLACK MOUNTAIN

LISTEN TO IT … HERE

BUY IT RIGHT HERE!

I can’t think of an independent record label, er, triumvirate I enjoy more than the Secretly Canadian-Jagjaguwar-Dead Oceans group. This delightful little trio continues to sign a varied slate of new bands in an more varied range of musical stylings. Be it the stoner-rock of Black Mountain (a personal favorite), the somber folk of Bowerbirds or the drunken frat-rock of Ladyhawk, these three vastly different little sub-groups manage to cover a shit ton of ground.

Take one of Dead Oceans’ newer signees, The Explorer’s Club, a fivesome from South Carolina who invoke comparisons to the five part harmonies, falsetto vocal solos and snappy drum kicks of a certain Brian Wilson-led group of crooners. This is brilliantly composed summer music with all the top-down, cherry red convertibles, feathered blond hair, and romantic-walks-with your steady that the definition implies.

Hands are held, hearts are broken, gentle kisses are snuck in the back seats of parent’s cars. This is excessively enjoyable music created by a group having a near terrible amount of fun, thus, haughty conversations about the post-modern lack of originality, and the thin line that exists between homage and imitation can be left in the trunk alongside the rain poncho and your sense of humor.

The Explorer’s Club will be playing Chop Suey on June 17th with Lightspeed Champion and Flowers Forever.

Myspace: www.myspace.com/explorersclub

MP3: The Explorer’s Club - Last Kiss