FRESH BAKED
Woods
At Echo Lake
2010 | Woodsist
B

It’s been a little over a year since Woods released their last album, 2009’s well-received Songs of Shame, a record of lo-fi folk that garnered the group some pretty significant attention and made them standouts among the rest of the fuzz-heavy Woodsist family (e.g. Wavves, Vivian Girls, et al.). Still, Woods has wasted no time following up Songs of Shame. Their fifth record, At Echo Lake, bears many similarities to the group’s previous releases (not that that’s necessarily a bad thing), but also finds them toying with their rustic-Brooklyn sound.

“Blood Dries Darker” kicks off the record with a sunny guitar lick and a distant tom-and-snare beat that’s right out of 1960’s San Francisco, before floating into an acoustic melody that would make Crosby, Stills, & Nash jealous. “Suffering Season,” one of the record’s highlights, sways effortlessly and cheerily, balancing James Earl’s fuzzed-out vocals and an overdriven electric guitar with steady acoustic strumming and crisp background chimes. “Who knows what tomorrow might bring?” Earl sings, his Neil Young-like falsetto still strong under the heavy bedroom production.

It’s songs like these that show Woods undoubtedly growing as musicians and songwriters. The melodies on At Echo Lake are infectious and never hard to distinguish amidst the wide range of instruments and noises that fade in and out of every song throughout the album. “Time Fading Lines” is, for the most part, hauntingly clean and open, but sporadically the song swells with clatter —“As the hours let go / Time fading lines creep into control” sings Earl, his voice stoic, as the drums grow and a wail of feedback crawls out of nowhere.

More on Woods | At Echo Lake

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UK Charity, Warchild, Announces Tracklist for David Bowie Tribute Album, Which Features Vivian Girls Doing “John I’m Only Dancing” and A Place to Bury Strangers Covering, “Suffragette City,” Neither of Which I’d Expect to Have Ever Actually Listened to David Bowie, But Most Likely Enjoyed His Frequent Appearances on Wes Anderson Soundtracks [NME]

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http://www.nme.com/news/nme/48674

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THIS WEEK IN SHOWS

At first I was thinking that this week would be a real bust for shows, but the few I’m looking forward to look like they’ll be all-consuming events. Chinese indie rock marathon, electronic music gods, and a ramshackle rock ’n roll supergroup? Perhaps we haven’t hit a post-CMJ, post-Halloween slump after all!

THURS, NOV. 5

Fucked Up, Andrew W.K. (keyboards), Vivian Girls (backup vocals), Titus Andronicus, Katie Stelmanis
Brooklyn Masonic Temple
7:00 PM, $18, All Ages
Toronto hardcore band Fucked Up performs their 2008 album The Chemistry Of Common Life with Andrew W.K. and Vivian Girls as their backing band. Sounds noisy and weird, and sounds like a party

FRI, NOV.  6

The Chinese Underground Invasion Tour:
BEIJING vs. BROOKLYN edition
These Are Powers, Soft Circle, Carsick Cars, PK 14, Xiao He, & DJ Zachary Mexico
Glasslands
9:00 PM, $TBD, 21+
Honestly, I don’t know anything about the Beijing indie scene. I first thought to list this because the concept – a couple of Brooklyn bands playing with a bunch of indie bands from Beijing –  sounded cool. I figured that These Are Powers might’ve played with these bands on their recent trip to China, and if These Are Powers approves, I’m game. After listening to these bands further, I’ve decided I have to see this show. This’ll be a great opportunity to hear some sounds that could never come out of Brooklyn. From the more mainstream P.K. 14, whose immodest Myspace bio reads: “P.K.14 occupies a space in Chinese music that might be analogous to that of Talking Heads or Television in the New York of the 1970s” – pretty lofty statement, but you can hear the influence anyway – to Xiao He, whose songs range from the sweet, unusually instrumented indie rocker “mama,” to the airy 49-second minimalist “Rain” to the ten-minute long “macerata,” which sounds like the score to a barnyard spy-movie, complete with torture scene.
More on This Week In Shows

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC photo by Daniel Araujo

It’s hard to go for long in Brooklyn without hearing news from Vivian Girls; from the constant touring to Pitchfork Music Festival to Pool Parties to their new LP, these girls are keeping busy. JM.com’s Tricia Patterson talked to guitarist Cassie Ramone about Vivian Girls’ number-one fan, what “lo-fi” means in 2009, and the “can’t get better than this” moments they’ve had in their rapidly skyrocketing career.

JM.com: Ok, burning question, pick a tattoo any tattoo and explain.

Cassie: We all have a tattoo of a feather that we got in London at this guy’s flat for 10 pounds each. He had the hardest hand of any tattoo artist we’ve ever gotten tattoos from and it hurt like hell. I like this tattoo because it’s the first matching tattoo all of us had gotten together.

JM.com: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned since you first released your demo back in 2007?

Cassie: We’ve learned a lot about how the music industry works and how touring works. Before Vivian Girls those were both vague concepts to us but now we have a handle on both those things.

JM.com: What kinds of things did you learn about the industry and touring? Seedy underbelly?

Cassie: Not as many seedy stories as you would expect – we work with people we trust, so most of the time we are able to avoid the bullshit. When we started the band, we had no idea how the industry or touring worked at all, and now we’ve done everything from punk tours to playing huge festivals. It’s cool to know firsthand how everything works, how to book a tour, how to release a record. It’s really interesting.
More on Vivian Girl (That’s Right, Just One)

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC

photo by Aubrey Stallard

The Beets are a Jackson Heights-based band currently pumping out some of the most charming and loveable 60s-inspired garage rock we’ve heard in a while. Their new 12 song 12” LP, The Beets Spit in the Face of People Who Don’t Want to Be Cool was hot off the vinyl press in March. And now they’ve packed up their hand-drawn banners and are touring the Ole U.S. of A. with Vivian Girls and Air Waves. JezebelMusic.com’s Tricia Patterson spoke with bassist/vocalist Jose Garcia about the New York scene, touring and Nickelodeon.

JM.com: So your name, “The Beets,” any relation to that fictional band from the Nickelodeon cartoon “Doug”?

Jose Garcia: Absolutely not. Juan named the band The Beets cause he was in his kitchen and saw a can of beets. Juan is from Uruguay, so I don’t think he watched Nickelodeon. None of us had cable, so we never watched.

JM.com: How did the band form?

Jose: I met Juan at LaGuardia Community College about five years ago in art class. We formed two bands, but they didn’t really go anywhere. Then we decided to try again and it was called The Beets. It was just me and him. We didn’t have a drummer, but then we met Jacob at a show, and we asked if he wanted to play with us. We’ve been playing together for a year and that’s the history of the Beets.

JM.com: I saw on one of your stage banners you said “We are the Beets and we are from Jackson Heights”. It seems like you have a lot of New York pride.

Jose: Yeah definitely. I think anyone should be proud of where they’re from. Once we started playing the Brooklyn music scene especially, we just wanted to let everyone know that we’re representing Queens. I grew up in Jackson Heights. And its Juan’s and Jacob’s home away from home.
More on Jose Garcia, The Beets

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compiled by Max Sebela