Little Arrow

Slipping blades of grass between her toes. She’s draped across the lawn, twirling the pen from pinkie to thumb, sundress lying gently beside her. She sits up; looks up; puts the pen to paper.

The clouds refuse to move today. Time stops for just this once, she writes. Just this once, she hopes.

[…]

Brother John

Brother John is the artsiest of the artsy. And I don’t just mean that in a dumb music blogger statement way. Everything about them screams ART. Note:

– They are a 14-piece Avant Folk Orchestra.

– They were started by a composer and a social psychologist.

– Their recently released debut EP is […]

The Peasant Dramatic

The Peasant Dramatic is one of those folk pop collectives we seem to love around here. Nine members, trombone, cello – the works. They live in Vermont, saying they’re “stuffed like a mute in a bell into the northeastern tip of the American States.” Hey, come on, Vermont’s got a lot going for […]

[MP3] The Cascade: “Super Television”

After hearing that our good friends The Scarlet Ending will be sharing a D.C. billing with The Cascade, I naturally needed to find out more. And by more, I mean anything at all.

The Cascade began early this year in D.C. and quickly turned into a FIFTEEN piece musical collective. The leader of the pack is James Wolff, who sings and composes the music. He’s backed by horns and a variety of other orchestral instruments (for your sake, and mine, you’ll find a listing of everyone after the jump.) “Super Television” is a cathartic anthem of a song, slowly building until the final full-on crescendo with essentially every instrument in play.

The Cascade – “Super Television” [MP3]

You can hear another song on their MySpace called “Make This Night Ours”. The promise of these couple tracks leaves me hoping for more in the near future, and I think I’ll get my wish as they’re looking to play more often and quickly picking up steam.

See the full band after the jump.

Continue reading [MP3] The Cascade: “Super Television”

Clean Equations’ sublime dream-pop

Clean Equations could easily be Messy Equations with seven band members. But in the age of the indie-pop collective (at least for me), they pull off a solid and tempered group dynamic. Musical hysteria be damned, you’re losing in the big bands battle!

Minimalist percussion and layers upon layers of rippled keys and […]

Loch Lomond

Wake up, ceiling stare, hurriedly dress and walk with the wind to work. Hear something. Stop. Gate off to the right. Press your ear to the door. Echoes, bouncing sounds. Eyes to the hole. Kids running around, innocence abound. Flowers in full bloom. Weeping trees. Afraid someone will see you watching. Realize you’re […]

The alt-folk of Boca Chica make me body weaka

You know I have this thing for female singer/songwriters. And musical collectives. And folk music. So, it kinda figures when you put all that stuff together and toss it in the oven, the finishing product will be nothing less than delicious. I get Boca Chica; Boca Chica gets me.

Led by […]

Still Flyin’

Still Flyin’ actually just took off for me – another band I hadn’t previously known that has me excited. Their debut album, Never Gonna Touch The Ground, dropped April 7 on Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Still Flyin’ mixes catchy 70’s-ish pop rock with newish boy girl filled out harmonies […]

Evening Magazine

We received an email a while back from Evening Magazine, a Philadelphia folk pop collective (9 members..whoaa), about their recently released 5-song debut EP, The Ride Across Lake Constance, but I just got around to listening to one of the songs, “18 Wheels” recently. And how I regret not listening sooner. […]

Hello, Broken Arrow (with mp3)

The latest wonderful sound to grace our inbox comes from a new Seattle collective of several established musicians. The supergroup is called Hello, Broken Arrow and they just began the process of making music together (despite past individual experience). There’s a lot of vagueness and mystique surrounding Hello, Broken Arrow – […]