Dead Moon - 13 off My Hook

There's been much talk of Dead Moon lately, with the resurrection of Pierced Arrows recently, who are basically Dead Moon with a different drummer. Reminded me that i had heard this band, once upon a time, and had appreciated their murky, bluesy jams. Made a point to check out one of Pierced Arrows' SXSW performances, at the Encore Patio, and was glad that i did. They were raw, rough, and ready (Toody Cole, the bass player, actually had to stop the action to make Fred Cole, guitar player and husband, tune his axe!) Age and experience were dripping from Fred and Toody's exchanged vocals, joy and pain the likes of which a 20 year old just can't fathom.
Dead Moon have always been about the basics, the essentials, delivering their stripped down garage-punk message with as little fluff as possible. Not trying to be hip, slick, or cool. Seems real, seems honest, to me, and besides that, it FUCKING ROCKS. Rather curiously, listening to these guys and the like has re-ignited my blazing love for Rock 'n Roll, garage, heavy metal, and otherwise. It takes my mind off my problems. It takes my mind off my mind. Dead Moon strike me as essentially a Garage Rock band, with punk rock attitude, and a lo fidelity aesthetic, (most likely by necessity). There are also elements of surf, rockabilly, and country buried beneath the fuzz, as well. Even when they are ripping out good times party music, (like the track Milk Cow Blues i am listening to right now, which sounds like an early Stones outtake, when they were still a blues band), there still seemed to be a beating heart there. Some humanity, some honest to god emotional communication, which makes them more intriguing to me, and worth repeated investigation. I'm not much interested in 2 dimensional music, superficial even. So i am bringing Dead Moon - 13 off My Hook, for your appreciation.

enjoy. sorry 'bout the rapidshare link, still fixing my ul. Thanks to whatsthatnoise.org for the link.
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Tree Sound

Tree Sound is a solo, lo-fi bedroom folk pop project from a girl named Natalie, living in California. She got in touch with me before i left for my trip, so i packed up her album to keep me company on the road. What we have here is a short, sweet collection of songs that are strongly reminiscent of The Moldy Peaches and the synthpop, indie-pop moments off of Beirut's The Gulag Orchestra. The mood here is mainly of childlike wonder and innocence, with plenty of ukulele and glockenspiel, 8 bit synth and bird-chirping (!). The vocals and lyrics are rather accomplished, focusing on a lot of nature imagery; sea and sky, birds and bananas, and fishes! There is the occasional moment of heart-ache, on What Happened to the Fishes?, but even that is cloaked in innocence. To be honest, it kind of blows my mind a little bit, i'm so used to living in a world of nocturnal melodrama. I can be too heavy and serious sometimes, and music like this reminds me of that.
The only thing i would like to see is more of an emotional range, dealing with other strains of the human experience. No one is full of wide-eyed wonder all the time. Also, i'd like to see her bring in a wider range of influences, as the main influences show through very clearly. Maybe bring in some other instruments in the future, some electricity perhaps. I'd just like to see more variety on her future releases. The album comes across as a rather accomplished EP, being rather short and sweet, or a bedroom demo showing a lot of potential. Curious to see what comes next. Many thanks to Natalie for getting in touch, and connecting.
Tree Sounds