New Music: Tall Firs, Grand Archives, The Field

More new good tracks I came across, ones that will have to do until artists start releasing actual albums again. January is always so musically depressing. Anyway....





Tall Firs - Hairdo

This one is off of Too Old to Die Young, the band's forthcoming album. Tall Firs are on Thurston's Moore's Ecstatic Peace! record label, and the band sort of has a folk-oriented Sonic Youth thing going on. First heard them last year through the song "The Woods" on a South by Southwest festival promo, which kicked ass, so I jumped on this one when I saw it over on Paper Thin Walls.

Grand Archives - "Miniature Birds"/"A Setting Sun" (stream)

Anticipation is building for Grand Archives' self-titled debut (on Sub Pop, February 19), the band fronted by ex-Band of Horses/ex-Carissa's Wierd member Mat Brooke. Last year, we got a few stellar demos (posted below) of calm (save for the back half of "Torn Blue Foam Couch"), harmonious indie pop, and these two are just as good, despite taking the sound in a bit more country-tinged direction. Particularly strong is the whistling/harmonica hook on "Miniature Birds"...addictive, I must say.

Grand Archives - Sleepdriving

Grand Archives - Torn Blue Foam Couch

Grand Archives - George Kaminsky

The Field - Sound of Light EP

First off, clarification: this thing is an hour long, so calling it an "EP" is, you know, completely ridiculous. Of course, that has no bearing on the music, which is really quite fantastic. Opener "Morning" suggests a simple rehash of From Here We Go Sublime's winning formula, thriving on the alternating-octave synth trick (listen to it, you'll know what I mean) that worked wonders previously. Still, after the first ten minutes, I got a little tired of it all, which made the invigorating second track, "Day," that much tastier. Certainly sounds like the loop-obsessed The Field of old, but, I don't know, it sounds more fun, more alive, more dynamic...bounding forward instead of just gliding by. "Evening" and "Night" close the record out, two more precise, shimmering electronic arrangements that probably go a bit too long but burst with energy and freshness nonetheless. This one is i-Tunes only, which sucks, but go and download anyway if you were a fan of From Here.