Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Coupla more good ones…Drunken Barn Dance and Beep

I missed the boat on Drunken Barn Dance, the full-band, psychedelic country pop side project of David Dondero, whose Grey Buried LP came out last fall on Quite Scientific. Which is to say that I was too late to review it, go to a show or interview the band, at least on this album, but I’ve been listening for the last couple of weeks and liking it. It’s a strummy, jangly, high energy take on alt.americana, with big fuzz-heavy guitars. It’s not as wordy as the Decemberists, but maybe in the same family, on some tracks, on others much meatier and more rock.

Here’s the opening cut, performed live:


Beep, on the other hand, is anything but rock, and by anything, I include categories like electronic music, dance, noise and jazz. Like so many weird and wonderful outfits, they’re from San Francisco and apparently share members or at least personal ties with Tune-Yards. Merrill Garbus from Tune-Yards guests on “Wolftone Pantalones”, which you can download here.

That’s fine, but what I love about this record is the stand-up bass, which figures very prominently on “Today Is Your Birthday.”


City of the Future has been out since last week on Third Culture Records.

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