InRadio 5.1: Opportunity, May/June 2007

To hear these and other great artists, order now.

The Prototypes
Minty Fresh
Formed in 2003, Prototypes have already landed a top ten single in France and released their self-titled U.S. debut via Minty Fresh Records last year. I caught them in Austin this year and they were fantastic for dance lovers. Electropunk, merging the emblematic aesthetic elements of electronica with their obsession of folk music. Prototype founders, Stephane Bodin and Francois Marche previously played together in French band, Bosco and are joined by the explosively compelling vocals of Isabel Le Doussal. With pounding beats, commanding vocals, and demanding synthetic pop grooves, Prototypes hand you a cigarette, buy you a shot, and pull you by the hand to the dance floor.

The Finches
Dulc-I-Tone Records
Human Like a House is the debut album from the San Francisco duo The Finches. Singer-songwriter Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs along with Guitarist Aaron Morgan have created a beautiful album that gracefully rides the line between folk and pop. Chiefly recorded by Morgan's father David, Human Like a House features both band members' mothers singing harmony. It isn't surprising that the making of the album was a family affair for it evokes feelings of comfort and home. If you're on the West Coast keep a look out for these two as they make their way from California to Canada this Spring.

Tumi and the Volume
District Six Music
South African rapper Tumi Molekane knows the power of words. Raised by his mother, in exile at an African National Congress base in Tanzania, Molekane was surrounded by books, poetry and politics. At age 18 he and his mother were able to move to Johannesburg where he found it hard to fit into a place he had never been but had spent his life living the struggle to get back their. Tumi states, 'Then I got there [Johannesburg] and there was a type of black people and white people I'd never experienced my whole life. White people were very overtly racist and xenophobic, and black people were very submissive and cautious. That really freaked me out, and when I went to high school, I was black, Muslim and liked hip-hop so I had the odds stacked against me.' Sparked by this period a stronger focus on expressing his own voice through hip hop emerged. Five years ago he met Dave Bergman, Tiago C. Paulo and Paulo Chibanga who became his backing band. They have since released two albums on Canada's District Six Music.

Bodies of Water
Self-Released
Bodies of Water are a quartet from Los Angeles, CA. They are made up of two men (David & Kyle) and two women (Jessie & Meredith). They play loud, intricate songs and sing very emphatically, usually all at once. They draw from a number of disparate traditions, combining the metaphysical intensity of gospel, the primitive gusto of punk rock, the earnest idiosyncracy of american folk, the sonic inclusiveness of tropicalia, the planned jamming of prog, and the sincere melodrama of musical theatre. From their site: 'Bodies of Water don't make music in order to express themselves, to comfort or challenge those who listen, or even to augment the canon of American song. They only strive to make a noise pleasing to the divine ear in a way that is smiled on by the face of the godhead to which it is attached.' The album will be available in the Spring, they don't know what day yet.

Au Revoir Simone
Self-Released
Brooklyn's Au Revoir Simone - Heather D'Angelo, Erika Forster and Annie Hart - are specialists in bringing out the heart from within the machine, conjuring a gorgeous, child-like effervescence via pieces of plastic, metal and wires. And while their music is created through the medium of electronics, their songs resonate with a natural warmth that defies their instruments of choice: three keyboards and a drum machine. The Bird of Music is an album steeped in hazy dreams, thoroughbred horses, soft winter snows, dusty rays of sunlight and lovelorn wishes. It is a record of dichotomies, carefully marrying cold beats with warm voices, joy and sadness, the human and the machine. Retaining the band's signature sound, they endeavored to expand their arrangements beyond what they had done on Verses..., thus bringing a more organic touch to their songs by including some strings, vibraphone, cymbals, and more. The result is a gorgeous reverie of sound.

The Shaky Hands
Holocene Music
I am always excited when a debut album shines. It marks the emergence of something new and previously unknown and it produces hope in the continuation of that music. The debut album from four-piece Portland band, The Shaky Hands, conjured that emotion in me. Its 13 tracks glow with a sloppily romantic warmth that's equal parts summer sunshine and candlelit mellow, pre-party buzz and scruffy day-after fuzziness. The result is a starry-eyed bear hug of a record, full of youthful energy and tumbling vigor, just waiting to back new adventures and comfort old friends. Music blog, Said the Gramophone reflects on InRadio featured track, 'Summer's Life': 'This song has the replay value of an old station wagon. The rhythm of a much-tar-stripped country road. A melody like the sun poking under the pulled-down visor. Lyrics like an old Babysitter's Club book, the only thing to read in the glove compartment. It's a car trip, a Sunday, warm when you close your eyes. And the air is much easier to move through than to breathe.'

Horse Feathers
Lucky Madison
From folk songwriter duo Horse Feaathers, Words Are Dead, is another stunning debut album. Justin Ringle's voice fills out a room with startling results, carrying a strength and confidence that elaborates on the burdens of broken relationships and estranged personal dealings. The album's stark honesty and open-wound vocal deliveries are as personally effecting as they are orchestrated musically, and for that credit is due to prodigal multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick, who's also been known to play with Norfolk & Western, Dolorean, and Loch Lomond. By using a variety of instrumental arrangements including guitar, banjo, percussion, piano, musical saw, and strings, Horse Feathers draws from a palette of sounds that is old in approach yet fresh in execution. Relying on an unusual mix of stark arrangements with dynamic accents, their sound glistens with efficiency. Simultaneously dour yet beautiful, they offer the listener an unflinching glimpse into moments of personal reflection, evoking the sound of being optimistically broken.

Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective
Cumbancha Records
Andy Palacio is not only the most popular musician in Belize, he is also a serious music and cultural archivist with a deep commitment to preserving his unique Garifuna culture. Long a leading proponent of Garifuna popular music and a tireless advocate for the maintenance of the Garifuna language and traditions, Palacio has recently undertaken a new and ambitious direction with the formation of the Garifuna Collective. 'It was a conscious strategy. I felt that music was an excellent medium to preserve the culture. I saw it as a way of maintaining cultural pride and self esteem, especially in young people.' The Collective unites elder statesmen such as legendary Garifuna composer Paul Nabor, with young Paranda star Aurelio Martinez from Honduras. While the traditions provided the inspiration, the musicians also added contemporary elements that helped give the songs relevance to their modern context. Recently, DJ Fatboy Slim traveled to Belize to produce and record some tracks with the collective, these tracks will appear on Fatboy Slim's upcoming album. In 2007, Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective will be embarking on an ambitious worldwide touring schedule in an effort to bring the beauty and power of Garifuna music to a wider audience.

Panda Bear
Paw Tracks
Animal Collective member Panda Bear (a.k.a. Noah Lennox) boldly returns with his long-awaited third solo record Person Pitch. Years in the making, Person Pitch makes a dramatic departure from Panda Bear's previous solo record Young Prayer. The acoustic instruments of Young Prayer have been replaced with samplers and electronica. Fusing Panda's dramatic life changes over the past few years (marriage, moving to Lisbon, becoming a father) with his ever-increasing sonic palette, Person Pitch is suffused with the kind of feel good modern toe-tapping pop that seems harder and harder to find these days. Person Pitch is deservedly receiving much praise in the media, Pitchfork's Mark Richardson states, 'Person Pitch as a whole-and 'Bros' in particular-evokes the sunshine of Lennox's adopted Lisbon, Portugal home. But it's the kind of light best experienced with eyes closed-with the rays filtered through eyelids, turning the world int various shades of red and orange.' Panda Bear and Animal Collective will both be touring North America in the spring and summer.

Jeremy Messersmith
Princess Records
Drawing from classic songsters like Brian Wilson to basement recording mavericks like Elliott Smith, Jeremy Messersmith writes small, thoughtfully crafted songs. Based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, Jeremy's latest record, The Alcatraz Kid, features memorable lyrics and irresistible melodies in a bargain basement wrapper. Originally hailing from the deserts of southern Washington State, Jeremy moved to Minneapolis in 1999 and studied music at North Central University, eventually graduating in 2002. An audit of a songwriting course sparked Jeremy's interest in songwriting and soon he began to experiment with styles and genres. After playing in a few local bands, Messersmith started playing solo shows in the fall of 2004 and handing out free copies of his music: intriguingly packaged in a brown paper bag. The Paper Bag soon caught the attention of Minneapolis based Princess Records, who released the long awaited full-length record in the Fall 2006. Jeremy is currently touring to support The Alcatraz Kid as well as working on a follow up record with local producer Dan Wilson (Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare).

Zaki Ibrahim
District Six Music
Zaki Ibrahim is the daughter of the legendary South African percussionist, activist and storyteller Zane Ibrahim who among many other things founded one of that country's first community radio stations: Cape Town's Bush Radio. All throughout the tumultuous years of her childhood, music remained an important component of her family life; from the traditional rhythms and dances of her grandfather to the work of her father. Like Tumi, Zaki's family was exiled during the Apartheid regime and while in Canada began to connect with local artists. Shö (Iqra In Orange) is a six-song EP featuring a nice blend of soul, jazz, and hip-hop. The woman sings with an extremely moving voice, sharing the spirit of her elders, passing it to those willing to stop and listen. Her plans for the future include expanding her musical horizons and working on various community improvement projects both in Canada and in South Africa: 'I want to continue to develop youth workshops on visual arts, music, appreciating and discovering your talent, self-expression, art for social change, music for social change. If you're able to express yourself, it's like therapy almost, to be able to put your talents to use.'

You Say Party! We Say Die!n
Paper Bag Records
Lose All Time is the sophomore album from Vancouver's demented post-whatever freak-popsters You Say Party! We Say Die! and the first for their new label Paper Bag Records. The album is a brilliant, spastic celebration of hyperactive outbursts and meditative moments. Like Lose All Time's concept, the bubbling joy of this music strives to touch something unrestrained by time. Self-styled pioneers and genre-warriors alike are noticing that this is a band taking on the world on their own terms. But their relationship might have ended with late night skate park odysseys or the formation of a browbeating bicycle gang had Stephen Oshea (bass) not overheard Becky Ninkovic (vocals) singing to herself and asked her to join the band. Time and circumstance have since streamlined You Say Party! We Say Die! Into its reigning, laser guided incarnation, an anthemic, stomping, post-everything insistence that if you are doing what you really love then life feels like a party.

Signal To Trust
Modern Radio
Minneapolis band, Signal To Trust, have just released their second album the long awaited, Golden Armour on Modern Radio. I am not familiar with their previous album, but I do know that they are a very respected band in the twin cities. Judging from golden Armour with good reason. The four piece consists of, two guitarists, Dave and Brian, bassist, Pete, and drummer Ben. Rather than being chord heavy, the two guitars mostly meld pleasing melodies together while the bassist keeps the beat steady. This allows the drums to move in and out of different patterns. Due to the nature of the vocals and the guitar I was often reminded of a heavier Marnie Stern while listening to the album.

Palomar
Misra Records
Named after an observatory in California, Palomar formed a few years ago in Brooklyn. After touring and the release of an EP, they began writing and recording a new LP with producer Britt Myers. All things, Forests is the fruit of their labor and marks a major step forward for Palomar. Palomar demonstrate a distinct clarity on All things, Forests, expressing the tangled feelings of loss, doubt, joy, wistfulness and the struggle to keep going. They do so with what sounds like, after many years of toil, the all-too-rare self-revelation that 'We are a band. Not a collective, not some pseudonym for a cagey and eccentric auteur, not a high-concept performance troupe. We are a BAND.' The band is at a new height with their powers in terms of musicianship, songwriting and lyricism and they have crafted a rock album of enduring quality.

Bonde Do Role
Domino Records
Bonde Do Role formed two years ago and signed to Diplo's Mad Decent label in 2006 and quickly released, Diplo Presents Bonde Do Role EP. Their increasing popularity and rave show reviews caught the attention of Domino Records which will release, ...With Lasers, a debut album which bangs through 13 songs in half an hour. It is not exactly an album that beats around the bush. Nor do the band's members pull their punches. 'Bonde Do Role is the ultimate, stupid party,' Marina announces, defiantly. 'It's not music which is there to make you want to break something.' In 2004 Gorky met another DJ - Pedro - and they moved in together. Within weeks the pair had formed a dodgy electro rock duo (referred to within the band as The Electro Rock Band That Never Happened) and, when they wanted a girl to sing, they called up Marina. Pedro sent her the CD, chucking on some of his and Gorky's throwaway baile funk tracks to fill up the CD. Marina phoned back to say she got the CD and hated everything except the stupid stuff at the end. Marina came round. They drank vodka all night and Bonde Do Role was born. And I am happy that they were.

Mirah
K Records
In her waning teen years, Mirah moved to Olympia, Washington to attend The Evergreen State College and found herself, four funny years later, with a diploma in her hands and a festoon of flowers about her neck. Continuing to reside in Olympia following graduation, she began making music by default, teaching herself to play guitar and composing 'songs', releasing her first album Storageland on Yoyo Recordings in 1997. Proudly joining the roster of other fine artists on the K record label in 1999, she began to experiment with recording, producing some material by herself and also working with her close friend and favorite person to record with ever, Phil Elvrum. Since then she has released a handful of fantastic albums on K Records. The latest project, from which 'La Familia' was taken, is a two-disc set of Mirah remixes. Guy Sigsworth, U.K. electronica producer and member of Frou Frou, is responsible for the particular remixe. Other remixers include, Khaela Maricich (The Blow), Yacht, and Anna Oxygen, making an eclectic and perhaps not always agreeable but always interesting musical adventure. What makes the records work is the base that Mirah's music provides. With each new track with its drastically different beat, the strength of Mirah's songs create a stable commonality that enables the album to flow together.