Lady Lovelace and the Calculator Death Machine, the duo now turned three piece, are about to release their new album Music for Two Musicians. David Kant, singer and multi-instrumentalist, tells me that the new project is “one large piece. So, in that sense, it’s not really an album at all. The album is divided into sections where new ideas emerge and where we thought track breaks would be convenient.”
Performing live, Lady Lovelace is a surprisingly dense experience, showcasing Charysse Redwood’s hard hitting drum beats and percussion behind Kant’s frantic sampling, saxophone playing, and guitar noise. Echoes of free jazz and folk rock are the biggest underlying themes, at least to most ears.
These new recordings are surprisingly similar to the live sound, and they no doubt show a rare attention to detail, which is especially impressive considering the improvisatory nature of the compositions’ formation. The whole album can be streamed on their MySpace, but Parts V and VI can be downloaded here, and only here my friends.
After rejecting yet another talented and unheard band because that little box on their MySpace profile had a label name in it, The Hippodrome will now officially accept musicians for feature consideration who are signed to a label. Before you file The Hippodrome under the “generic mp3 blog” header in your reader, consider this: even though we’re now accepting “signed” bands, the focus on unknown and previously unpromoted musicians will now by stronger than ever.
This is because, as many of you have pointed out, being “signed” means almost nothing in this day and age. We feel that by not considering artists on unknown labels with little or no commercial backing, this blog was perpetuating an aspect of the music industry that it had (at least nominally) disparaged. Truly independent labels can be a wonderful community and resource for fledgling musicians, and The Hippodrome, of all blogs, doesn’t want to discourage this.
So while this change in operating procedure may take a few weeks to hammer out, we’re all looking forward to hearing music that we had previously forbade ourselves from considering. As always, email editor[at]thehippodrome.org with music to be considered. If you have any questions or suggestions about this, please also don’t hesitate to get in touch. And of course, artists with no label association will still be treated with the respect and consideration of those who are signed.
Rarely in indie-pop do you see an artist using their name as the band. That appears to have disappeared long ago in the early to mid 1990s. But, with artists like Shawn Fogel rising up, it may be making a comeback. But wait! Jeremy Sparrow is not in the band. Is it a made-up name? Or is it a moniker taken from a novel, as that of Harper Lee?
Jeremy Sparrow is a made up name and a fairly new discovery. The band messaged me several… err… months ago about writing a little feature on them, but I never got around to it other than sticking it on my “things to do” list. When I finally checked them out, I found their music to be the hefty style of pop I tend to associate with countries like Denmark (their home) and titles like “experimental” (well… slightly experimental).
While it’s nowhere near as monumental as fellow Denmark cohorts Mew, or not nearly as experimental as The LK side-project Fredrik, Jeremy Sparrow does know a thing or two about crafting a good pop tune. There’s an 80s element to the music, often found in the guitar riffs, bass lines, and jumpy percussion. Just listen to “The Rent’s Due” and you’ll hear it.
Tyler Griffith moved to Queen Creek, Arizona, six years ago, and has been making mostly laid back instrumentals ever since. A bassist by trade, he grabs whatever he get his audio hungry paws on quickest.
Most of Griffith’s tracks are wonderfully postmodern in their self-referential DIY ethic… “Timers” takes the ubiquitous chair creek found in homemade demos and turns it into a fleeting beat. This is even better considering Griffith’s bedroom production tool — Garageband. “Property Ownership” (or P___O) is a super relaxed lounge piece that uses some nice bells, panning, and a false coda to achieve its unpretentiously beautiful effect.
Griffith also has a few interesting videos up on his MySpace, which make sense considering the soundtrack quality of his work.
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Lady Lovelace and the Calculator Death Machine, the duo now turned three piece, are about to release their new album Music for Two Musicians. David Kant, singer and multi-instrumentalist, tells me that the new project is “one large piece. So, in that sense, it’s not really an album at all. The album is divided into sections where new ideas emerge and where we thought track breaks would be convenient.”
