Cloud Becomes Your Hand
To my knowledge, there aren't very many bands that both a) feature a MIDI miramba & b) rip so hard it's difficult not to headbang. Such is the case for Brooklyn's own Cloud Becomes Your Hand.
The band's rubbery jams are impossible to classify. After repeated listenings I still can't figure out if these tunes are avant-garde songs with rock arrangements or rock songs with avante-garde arrangements. Not that any of that really matters when a band is this fun to listen to. There's an extremely satisfying cartoon energy you'd be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. Not to mention they have some of the best sounding synths in town.
If you missed them at their past outing at Shea you can catch them on Saturday (6/28) with legendary noise artists ONO and more. Their new record "Rocks Or Cakes" is out now on Northern Spy & Feeding Tube Records.
-Luke Chiaruttini
Hank May
Some well-deserved attention has been bubbling up around singer-songwriter Hank May as of late.
He's been at it for a while, first catching the attention of the internet in 2006 for his cover of Polaris' "Hey Sandy" at the tender age of 16. In those days of the mid-2000s he was well-known in the house show scene of his native Los Angeles playing with his band Rock Dove. Eventually he left his band and the golden coast behind to attend college at Bard. Over the years, he still played the occassional solo show with acts like Jeffrey Lewis and Porches.
In his two outings at Shea it's clear to see why he captured the attention of those sweaty basements back in LA. Hank is a uniquely intimate performer as made evident in these two warts 'n' all recordings from our archives. His songs are quiet, midnight bedroom musings - a reflection of too many late hours spent at the kitchen table, too many drinks and too many thoughts. It's a rare thing than an artist can form a fully realized world around their music. In Hank's case that world is one of restlessness, an alternately idyllic or burdensome past, and an uncertain future.
Word around town is Hank is gearing up for a return to full band arrangements and working on some new recordings - both are being anxiously awaited around these parts
-Luke Chiaruttini
Parenthetical Girls
Parenthetical Girls may be as much of an art project as it is a band. Solitary permanent member Zac Pennington intends their music to be specifically anti-nostalgic and unsentimenal, standing in stark contrast to not only other "baroque" outfits but most bands in general. There's a charming power in Parenthetical Girls' hyper-literate chamber pop. And whether or not you buy into the band's philosophies you have to admit that there's a confrontational quality to the tunes that you wouldn't expect from most others warbling phrases like "cowering complacence proves there's greatness to you." The band contains that idiosyncratic, unapologetic germ that makes bands great, and it's only highlighted in their live performances. Take a listen to their live set at Shea from 2011, and maybe have a dictionary handy. -LC
Calvin Love
Fans of Edmonton's Calvin Love might be a bit surprised when they take a first take a listen to his set at Newtown Radio's showcase. Atypical of what many might expect, Calvin arrived with a full band for his first outing here this past October. For those less familiar: to date Calvin's been a one-man lo-fi recording machine for restrained and synth-laden tunes that capture the restlessness of those wee small hours of the morning. The songs take on a new life with their new, full arrangement, and show how flexible well-crafted tunes can be. And even with the guitars taking the place of methodical synth they still retain the pervasive loneliness that's characteristic of Calvin's studio work.
Calvin recently put out the aptly named "Highway Transmissions" - a cassette featuring this Shea set along with some deep cuts and live tracks from the past seven years, available via Hit City USA. -LC