Browse by Label: DEAD OCEANS

Artist:	CITAY
Title:	Little Kingdom
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DOC 008CD

"An otherworldly place, full of psychedelic swirl, soaring harmonies and grandiose jams. Little Kingdom is the second album from San Francisco's Citay. It's an epic journey, and an album that sounds out of place in 2007 -- a classic in the purest sense. Like Citay's 2006 self-titled debut, the '70s rock sensibility is intact; Thin Lizzy, acoustic Led Zeppelin, Big Star and The Byrds all remain touchstones. But Little Kingdom moves further into ambitious composition, referencing Popul Vuh, Animals-era Pink Floyd, the Fripp-Eno collaborations, and early Mike Oldfield. The twin leads are still huge, the ballads still sweet, but Citay is reaching for more on Little Kingdom."

Artist:	MT. ST. HELENS VIETNAM BAND
Title:	Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DOC 011CD

"On March 10th, a promise from big brother to little brother will be realized. Benjamin Verdoes (vocals, guitar, percussion) hoped to motivate his younger brother Marshall to push forward in his drum lessons. Once Marshall got good at drums, Benjamin vowed, they'd start a band together, and now-13-year-old Marshall would have naming rights. That promise is officially made good with the release of Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band's self-titled debut full-length. Co-produced by Scott Colburn (the Arcade Fire, Animal Collective), the album at first blush recalls Wolf Parade; the band's frayed melodic sensibilities and Benjamin's urgent, driven vocals in particular. Of course, Wolf Parade borrowed a few ideas from Modest Mouse, whose beginnings were indebted to the Pixies. This is the sort of musical lineage that creates the foundation for Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band's debut LP. But Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band are not solely inspired by their contemporaries; dig a little deeper and strains of Queen's over-the-top epic rock peers through, while exhilarating guitar work that nods towards Thin Lizzy appears in more than a few songs."

Artist:	AKRON/FAMILY
Title:	Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DOC 012CD

"Opening with a groove unlike anything Akron/Family have ever laid to tape, the first track on Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free kicks off a new chapter for the band. The percussive thunder and anthemic electric guitars of 'Everyone is Guilty' make a bold statement, touching on everything from Fela Kuti to Sly and the Family Stone in under six psychedelic minutes. This is not the Akron/Family you think you know. As 'Everyone is Guilty' fades into 'River' the band returns to something they have always been known for: writing a timeless hook. 'River' delivers Ali Farka Toure-like guitar work, but this song is all about the infectious vocal melody. As the album unfolds, Akron/Family's musical explorations are virtually without limits. Whether it's the celebratory sing-along gospel of 'Gravelly Mountains of the Moon,' the lush folk sounds of 'Sun Will Shine (Warmth of the Sunship Version),' or 'MBF,' which lies at the intersection of primal punk rock and heavy free jazz, Akron/Family are a band boiling over with ideas. Their musical vocabulary runs deep -- it's not just Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and the Grateful Dead that inform Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free. Akron/Family feel at home on this album, confident and self-assured. Following a year of making things bigger and wilder live, the band returns to something simpler on Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free. With limited outside assistance, this trio has made a focused, powerful and unified work. Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free maintains the communal spirit of the big band that won audiences over throughout the world, but it showcases Akron/Family at its core - three musicians, equals, creating music from deep within. Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free is something undeniably special and immensely powerful. Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free is the new psychedelic rock."

Artist:	BOWERBIRDS
Title:	Hymns For A Dark Horse
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DOC 017CD

"'Only once every ten years or so does one hear a new band this good, this bursting with ideas, this audibly in love with music. It is beyond stunning. This band is the complete package.' Ears tend to perk up when a record review sings praises like these, especially when the praises come from the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle, as they did recently on his Last Plane to Jakarta web site hailing the Bowerbirds' debut album, Hymns For A Dark Horse. Dead Oceans is overjoyed to be sharing the sounds of Bowerbirds with listeners worldwide. Hymns For A Dark Horse was originally released in July of 2007 on Burly Time Records, and is now issued in an expanded form featuring two bonus tracks. Upon the initial release of the album, Pitchfork graced it with an 8.4 and 'recommended' stamp of approval, saying: '[Bowerbirds] churn out deceptively pleasing folksongs about plants and animals and the unforgivable things we do to them... hypnotically pretty and a little bit weird, characteristics of the very best kind of Americana music. Bowerbirds do for backyards what the Hold Steady's done for parking lots -- translated place into sound.'"

Artist:	BOWERBIRDS
Title:	Upper Air
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DOC 018CD

"Upper Air is the product of months spent away from nature and away from home, touring endlessly with the likes of Bon Iver, Phosphorescent and John Vanderslice and on their own, on both sides of the Atlantic. The fodder for songwriting has changed, and so have the songs. Upper Air moves away from the singular sound and sentiment; each and every song on Upper Air is a journal entry that stands on its own, each a unique, beautiful piece. The arrangements are subtle: acoustic guitars, organ, piano, autoharp, violin, percussion, upright bass and more are used throughout the recording. Usually though, it is just a few of these instruments delicately supporting Moore's voice, the anchor of every song. Everyone struggles when they try to describe this music, including us, but we'll try: it has the spirit of Richard and Linda Thompson, the currency of Devendra Banhart, the addictively sweet melodicism of Iron & Wine, but it churns with an underlying energy closer to a Beirut or something farther out, more raw, more wild. The most notable part is this: The songs don't hide behind the instrumentation, the deontological conviction, or, frankly, anything; and that is what makes Upper Air undeniable, simple, and breathtaking."

Artist:	VANDERSLICE, JOHN
Title:	Romanian Names
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DOC 026CD

"The most noteworthy thing about John Vanderslice's new album is this: Romanian Names is the best record he's made to date. The 12 songs represent a career-defining moment, a pitch-perfect collection written and recorded with the utmost care and attention. Vanderslice is certainly not the first artist to make such a leap several albums into a career - think Guided by Voices on Bee Thousand, Spoon's Kill the Moonlight or Of Montreal's Sunlandic Twins. JV's newest, his first for Dead Oceans, makes that colossal step and separates itself from an already top-notch body of work. Throughout Romanian Names, JV sings with a newfound, unwavering confidence. He gets right at you with the sing-along choruses and punchy hooks of album opener 'Tremble and Tear' and the poppy gem 'C&O Canal.' The songs know when to patiently step back with subtle gestures and knock-out atmospherics like those on display in 'Forest Knolls' and 'Summer Stock,' and the album is glued together with the stripped-bare title track Romanian Names and the gorgeous Arthur Russell-esque album closer 'Hard Times.' Romanian Names is a symphony of sounds both subtle and lush, and as an album it provides the perfect backdrop for JV's deft and fully-realized songwriting."

Artist:	CALIFONE
Title:	All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DOC 028CD

"In an underground music landscape where 140 characters equals 'journalism' and lone MP3s propel bands to momentary internet stardom, bands are here today and gone tomorrow. Califone is a band that defies this blueprint. Their albums are full of layers and textures, offering endless depth, entire universes to lose yourself in - and beyond the thick spectrum of sound, they do something even more important: They write great songs. Califone is a band that will stand the test of time. The band is at the peak of its powers on All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, its sixth song-based album. The long-awaited follow-up to 2006's acclaimed Roots And Crowns, the album is the strongest collection of songs in a career with no shortage of strength. The subtlety and detail of Califone's previous work is present here - the atmospheres are carefully nuanced, the percussion is both rattling and melodic, the melodies are rich and soulful, interspersed throughout softly strummed folk and electrified blues. All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is a dense collage of sounds, expertly formed into fully realized pop songs."

Artist:	NURSES
Title:	Apple's Acre
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.50
Catalog #:	DOC 029CD

"To immerse yourself in Nurses' Apple's Acre is to delight in a certain mental unravelling. These are songs where the vulnerability of pop with its heart on its sleeve engages in a double-dutch jumprope match with the euphoric surrender-to-the-weird that is essential to psychedelia. And Nurses is a band that scavenges beauty and wonder, uncovering Technicolor where others see somber hues. Their off-kilter psych-pop is driven by ever-swelling vocal harmonies, adventurous electronics, some serious wheelin' and dealin' on the Rhodes piano, and the kind of new-primitivist percussion that may or may not involve a standard drum kit. Apple's Acre is a record full of dysfunctional, hushed love, laced with elegance and grace and without angst and regret. But the plain courage of their songs is the secret ingredient that's already turning heads and blowing minds all over the Northwest-and if you think about it, in pop music, courage is always at a premium. Fans of Yeasayer, Deerhoof, Danielson and wild minded pop music should pay close attention."

Artist:	WHITE HINTERLAND
Title:	Kairos
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DOC 034CD

"On Kairos, we find White Hinterland exploring the edges of minimal pop, accomplishing a delicate but lively seduction through deep, patient bass throbs, prismatic synth textures, and direct, intimate songs sung with an empowered gravitas. Here Casey Dienel tailors the acrobatics of her former songwriting into a slender focus, folding it into deeper grooves. Beneath the baroque arrangements and intellectual lean of Dienel's previous musical efforts was a sexiness that Kairos exposes, showing the artist for what she is: powerful and comfortable in her own skin, with a glittery voice weaned on pop R&B. With a sound so modern, so contemporary, Kairos fixes White Hinterland's gaze firmly on the future. Using just one mic, electronics, programming and an arsenal of percussion and instruments, the minimal, washy 'Art & B' of Kairos was born. Dienel compared making Kairos to swimming in a cave, trusting only the instinct to just keep swimming. This image perfectly embodies the enchanting and blue-lit atmosphere of the album. Sean Michaels of Said the Gramophone captured it well, after he witnessed a White Hinterland performance where they performed the bulk of Kairos live: 'The jazz has been taken out, simply removed. And what is left is so, so, so much space; so much space in which she and Shawn add dark beats, deep bass, dubstep stuff. And she sings in looped curlicues, ivies and gold rings, sampling and re-sampling. They were all new songs and they were utterly astonishing. Here are some names of things it was & wasn't merely: The Dirty Projectors, The Xx, Burial, Tune-Yards, School Of Seven Bells, The Neptunes, Thom Yorke, Arthur Russell, Giovanni Pierluigi Da Palestrina. Any half-samples so far do it no credit at all. What a rediscovery.'"

Artist:	TALLEST MAN ON EARTH, THE
Title:	The Wild Hunt
Label:	DEAD OCEANS
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.00
Catalog #:	DOC 040CD

"When fans lined up to see the sold-out Bon Iver performances at New York City's Town Hall in late 2008, few of them went with any expectations of the opening act. But the audience that night, and on every other night of Bon Iver's tour that December, were introduced to something special, something unforgettable: The Tallest Man on Earth. This was the first of several tours for the Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson), with obsessive crowds growing each step of the way. With unbridled excitement, we bring you The Tallest Man on Earth's second LP, The Wild Hunt. It is all here: The words. The voice. The melodies. Ten perfect songs. The Wild Hunt picks up where 2008's Shallow Grave left off, with Matsson doing what he does best. It is unmistakably The Tallest Man on Earth, from the urgent strums of 'You're Going Back' and the sweet melodies of 'Love is All,' to the playful lyricism of live favorite 'King of Spain' and the subtle hook on 'Burden of Tomorrow.' The Wild Hunt isn't just another folk album; this is acoustic rock 'n' roll from a man with a story to tell. It is impossible to discuss The Tallest Man on Earth's music without acknowledging Bob Dylan. The seemingly effortlessness, the melodic sensibility and the deft lyricism all recall Dylan's early years. But when you witness the Tallest Man on Earth perform live, you are watching a man possessed. The energy pours out with every word. Full of intensity and raw emotion, he paces the stage, bringing the audience into the palm of his hand, completely lost in his songs."

Previous Page Index of Labels Next Page