The Battle of Land & Sea - The Battle of Land & Sea

The Battle of Land & Sea - The Battle of Land & Sea

It's a record that i have heard little about since its release but one of those that has constantly remained on my less than generous 4gb ipod, resurfacing every now and again and each time as refreshingly pleasing on the ears as the play before. Here we find lush folk songs, songs that recall the excellent The Finches, yet more like them had they joined forces with the Charalambides, everything soaked in reverb and sounding magical for it. Obvious references would be Josephine Foster and Marissa Nadler, maybe Beach House too but really references and influences are unecessary in this case as The Battle of Land & Sea have produced something beautiful enough to be recognised in their own rights.

The Battle of Land & Sea - Saltwater Queen mp3
The Battle of Land & Sea - The Beautiful Ones mp3

Myspace
Sources: 78s

Last FM: Spooky and beautiful…calling out all the old ghosts from past recordings on beautifully warbled vinyl. The Battle of Land and Sea recreate an old jazz club atmosphere but with a little sawdust on the floor. The Battle of Land and Sea was formed in early 2006 by long time musical partners Sarah O’Shura(vocals/guitar) and Joshua Canny(guitar). They self released their first recording - a home recorded 6 song mini-album produced and engineered by Jacob Golden in February 2007 - to a growing passionate fan base. In April 2007 they became part of the Notenuf Records family, Notenuf is an indie label based out of Brooklyn, Berlin and Bloomington. With a DIY attitude and work aesthetic that reaches past their music, they are believers in creating a complete creative musical life - living rooms tours, tee shirts, hand painted 7 inch sleeves, these all fit in comfortably among the music.


Norman Records:
The Battle Of Land And Sea have been compared to Marisa Nadler, Songs Of Green Pheasant and Cat Power. I couldn't really argue with that listening to the haunting sounds of their self titled CD on Notenuf Records. The acoustic guitar has a real magical quality that draws you straight in. Then the enchanting female vocal sounds of Sarah O' Shusa are both sexy and fragile and ultimately seduces you into what's the most tender, absorbing, deeply personal, spectral music I've heard all day. Phil has made a comparison to Christina Carter which is also a worthy reference point. Gentle beautiful music that comes heartily recommended.

Lavender Diamond & Charalambides Reviewed

Lavender Diamond - Imagine Our Love (Rough Trade)
Following much in the footsteps of what is already one of my favourite releases of this year, The Finches "Human Like A House" comes Lavender Diamond with what i believe is their debut album, Imagine our love, a collection of honey sweet country pop songs that stay just the right side of pop, instead of veering off into full on country. The vocals are a joy, taking on the almost yodled chorus of the very country Garden Rose, like Joanna Newsoms This Side of the Blue played at 10rpm, as glorious as you'd imagine. "i love how the garden grows/ and i love love the garden rose" soaring over sweeping violins and occasionally over excitable pianos. Open Your Heart is the albums obvious pop songs, pianos bashing out and hooks so instantly loveable you'd swear this was the work of the New Pornographers, the almost wordless chorus of "oh, oh oh" 's will instantly store itself in your subconscious mind, popping out at every possible opportunity.
Here Comes One carries the same instantaneous hooks, immediate and direct, near perfect pop. Side of the Lord and My Shadow is A Monday similarly are worthy of mention with their lovely Carpenters pop feel.
A worthy contender to the New Pornographers, Neko Case and Rilo Kiley.

MySpace

Lavender Diamond - Open Your Heart MP3
Lavender Diamond - Oh No MP3
Lavender Diamond - You Broke My Heart MP3


Charalambides - Likeness (Kranky)
I first stumbled over the Charalambides in the late summer of 2002 care of an article in what i can only assume no longer printed Ptolemaic Terrascope, an amazing magazine, all psychadelic in appearance and in tiny print, so keen was it to stack as much information about all these amazing bands it knew of. In fact sitting here with the one copy that I had chance to get hold of, it is little more than a fanzine with a colour cover, much like the also missed Bees Knees, yet all the better for its simple appearance.
They described them Charalambides, pronounced Shar-a-lam-ba-deez as follows:
"Throughout the last decade, Tom and Christina Carter (occasionally augmented by Jason Bill) have created some of the most harrowing, mournful, sophisticated, soul-searching, and brutally honest music in the comfort of their home" the ensuing interview revealed a long history of albums released by obscure labels and featuring lengthy songs rotating around Christina's haunting vocal solo's whereby her voice became more of an instrument than a "voice" in the most traditional sense of the term.
However it was only last year that i began to seriously pay attention to them with the release of the excellent A Vintage Burden and now they're back with another fine release on the much revered Kranky label. They are clearly an acquired taste but certainly a rewarding one given the chance.

Kranky

Charalambides - Do You See MP3

Charalambides - Walking Through The Graveyard MP3

Bosques De Mi Mente & Serafina Steer Reviewed

Bosques De Mi Mente & Serafina Steer Reviewed

Posted on 2007.09.18 at 22:18

Current Music: Talkdemonic - Beat Romantic

Tags: bat for lashes, bosques de mi mente, cat power, cocorosie, eluvium, joanna newsom, kate bush, meg baird, serafina steer, sparklehorse, the finches, whistler

Bosques De Mi Mente – LoFi
With the first signs of the winter bearing down us, they bring with them a terrible feeling of loneliness and a bleak reminder of the harsh weather set to follow in the steps of what has yet again been a poor summer. Yet the winter also brings with it a tragic beauty, one that can pull you from the deepest of setbacks and sprinkle you with hope.

The music of Bosques De Mi Mente is your perfect partner to such feelings of melancholy and despair, like the scene from Far & Away when Nicole Kidman gets shot and Tom Cruise hands her back to her former lover and takes the slow walk through the snow, brutal and unforgiving it beats against your bare face, its gets in through any means possible and bites at your defenceless skin. Yet against the odds it’s hard to deny the beauty of snow and its icy mischievousness, its ability to hold a moment in time, the way you sometimes feel the need and occasionally elongate a time and period of sadness, finding comfort from your sorrows and wallowing in your misery, its unhealthy yes but sometimes it serves a purpose yet eventually like Tom you just have to let her go, just walk away from the situation. You try not to look back yet when you do all you see is footsteps slowly disappearing in the snow as the fresh snow covers them up and severs all former ties.

Bosques De Mi Mente is the music to soundtrack your latest tragedy, the music that will bring beauty to the most tragic of happening, solo piano has rarely captured such feeling, this was last done so well by Eluvium and if that’s not a recommendation then I don’t know what is.

Bosques De Mi Mente LoFi - MP3 Album Zip File

MySpace

Serafina Steer – Cheap Demo Bad Science (Static Caravan)
You may have guessed that I have a little more than an appreciation for the female vocal and more than a chip on my shoulder about how highly rated Cat Power is and yet again I find myself stumbling over a stupidly talented female that far exceeds anything that I’ve heard from Chan Marshall.

Serafina Steer will appeal to anyone who has been wowed by the likes of Bat for Lashes, Whistler, The Finches, Meg Baird, Cocorosie or Kate Bush and yes I hate lame comparisons but it’s not just because she owns a harp that I find myself thinking of Joanna Newsom, however it’s not that simple, this is Joanna Newsom gone back in time, a medieval Joanna who at the same time mixes her folk styling’s with modern technology and electronics, as if she’s half stuck in the past and half in the future, maybe the common, poor servant girl who creeps into her mistresses room and jumps grubby handed onto the harp at every opportunity, bashing out beautiful songs that no one will ever hear until now. As creative and original as Cocorosie, as lyrically weird as Sparklehorse, yet as accessible as the girl next door, the girl living on a council estate fighting to hear her harp over the arguments that overpower her playing

Catch now before you regret having to stand at the back of a packed out crowd, next to burger king at next year’s ATP, Serafina is a delightful discovery.

MySpace
Static Caravan

Sadly I can’t find any MP3’s so give her Myspace a try