[Ex]Band of the Week: Arrah and the Ferns

[2005-2008]
Arrah and the Ferns
Sounds Like: Indie-Pop / Folk
Drinking Buddies: Slow Club, The Boy Least Likely To, Math and Physics Club
Synopsis: Coy whispers between young lovers.
Makes You Want To...: Daydream; Smooch; Walk through the park
Evolved Into:

the bears of blue river
council, idaho
the native young
prayer breakfast
see orange
whoa bro awesome/sleeping bag
woodlands

[Myspace] / [Website] / [Last.fm]





This month is one of old and new.
Voilà! is featuring bands that have broken up.
This week, the featured artist is Arrah and the Ferns.



Tea. It's simple. Tea is simply tea. Coffee is complicated: it makes your entire body buzz from head to toe, if you drink it too fast you'll burn your mouth and tongue, and with contemporary coffee shops (which shall remain unmentioned), they have behemoth mutant coffees decorated with icing and ice, with all nameless sorts of names. Coffee is complex. There's not a lot to tea, really. Heat up some water, toss some leaves in it, let it steep for a bit. That's all there is to tea; you've got to love something that's just so pure, easy to understand, and simply made; no complications, just what you expect it to be. It's a comfort, tea is. And it's very personable, as there is no one way that people are required to drink tea. Have it hot with milk, have red tea straight and bitter, have white tea subtle and calming, have icy cold and extremely sweet black tea. Tea can be whatever you want it to be, and there's a taste for about everyone; it's because of tea's simplicity that it's so relateable.

Simple is calming, and simple is delightful, as are Arrah and the Ferns. It's soothing to listen to something so clear and easy to understand; so unpretentious and fun; so relaxed and jubilant. These cools cats Indiana are a gem rested gently in the midwest for four years, quietly making a huge musical difference for those ever-so lucky enough to be apart of their miniature movement.

Arrah and the Ferns made a lot of friends in their short creative musical group; this was a family of friends, all based on their own unique brand of friendships. And through these bonds, a quaint, unique brand of music was created. All that love for each other and music just flowed in the way streams are meant to, and streaming out the musical instruments were lighthearted, easygoing songs about love, and all the silly things that follow in its wake. Everything is light, from the guitars to the gentle keyboard, to the tap-tap rhythm on the drums.

It's hard, to sell some bands that break up, especially so soon in their musical career. Most bands have a long history, and well defined personalities, which makes for longwinded, thrilling essays that stretch for miles with the wasteful syntax of sentences strewn about careless defining their musical prowess. But Arrah and the Ferns really doesn't need that flowery language to define their sound, because their sound defines itself. It's earnestly one of a kind, drawing you in with the aforementioned simplicity and malleability. Arrah and the Ferns carry themselves as if they were your favourite band all along, and their album simply got lost amongst your record collection until you found it one day, rubbed all the dirt off, and became reacquainted with old friends. Old friends, good friends.

These friends in Arrah and the Ferns made their claim to fame with their debut album, Evan Is A Vegan. The album flows as a low-fi peace of genius, eclectic yet simple; easy to understand, yet it calls you back constantly to re-listen and re-indulge; it draws you back in eagerly to smile with each melody, with every witty lyric, with every bouncy note. Their sound is comfortable, and cool, and make you want to make friends with shy folks to see how thrillingly interesting they are once you get them talking. This is an album for friends, by friends. Lackaday, friends may stay friends, but some things change. During their work on their sophomore album, Bad in One Place, Arrah and the Ferns unfortunately went their separate ways. Now across the musical world, in many a number of different bands, Evan Is A Vegan and Arrah and the Ferns are a cute, memorable musical photo on the shelf, reminding us all how simply and fun music can be. Arrah and the Ferns are a nostalgic snapshot that reminds us to look for those hidden gems, because they are the most valuable.

Arrah and the Ferns still live on! They are featured in a song on Standard Records Christmas compilation, A Very Standard Christmas, with their song, "Merry Christmas Not X-Mas." And of course they have Evan Is A Vegan! If you want to catch a glimpse at the album, you're free to log on your Last.fm account, and visit Arrah and the Ferns' page, where you can hear the entire album for free. When the limited play count kicks in, you can rush straight over to iTunes or Standard Records' online store and buy your very own copy of Evan Is A Vegan, a diamond that no proper collection should be missing. Or, if you're just cheap, and want to see fond memories from better days, check out Arrah and the Ferns on their Myspace.

Band of the Week: Franz Ferdinand

[August 24 - 30]

Franz Ferdinand
Sounds Like: Indie Rock
Drinking Buddies: Bloc Party, LCD Soundsystem, Mando Diao, The Wombats
Synopsis: The hip, artistic exploration of dancing and foot tapping.

Makes You Want To...: Sing; Dance; Party.
[Myspace]

One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is Franz Ferdinand.


In the moment, in the groove. Somewhere deep within the rythmn of life, of culture, of fashion, of society, of music, beats this ethereal essence of something-or-other that invigorates the soul. This strange, inexplicable pulse is a fabulous thing, because it is the driving force that inspires to do their own things - to be themselves - to act without restriction and inhibition. It whispers in these adventurous folks' hearts, and tells them they need to act atypical. And why? Well, just because someone has to. And one can argue this fate-granted aspect that can be endowed upon anyone. But if you walk in time, if one were to walk in rhythm, to that perfectly orchestrated beat-pulse-thing, one would wonder why they didn't follow the beat of their own drum a long time ago. One could wonder why everyone else isn't following this same beat.

We speak so frankly about this odd surreal motivational factor on Voilà!, today, because it may or may not be this odd factor - this inane, insatiable drive - to act different that inspires some of our favourite musical artists to do that thing they do. And the more entwined they are with this certain something - the more their musical interminglings intertwine with the aspects of culture, such as those mentioned prior, the more fluid the musicians styles glide along, ever so effortlessly. There are plenty of artists who are masters of this cultural symbiosis, but today, we're focusing on a quirky quartet out of Glasgow, Scotland.

They may be named after famous arch-dukes of Austria. Maybe it's because they wanted some effect in their name, or maybe it's because the name had so much affect on them. But regardless how you take it, Franz Ferdinand is certainly an iconic moniker in the contemporary rock scene these days. Having the often recounted history of being the latest and greatest art school rock bands - brimming with eclectic lightheartedness, and unpretentious funloving - to come out of left field in the earls 2000s. But the addicting rhythms and catchy choruses from these stylish Scots caught the ear of many a keen-minded music listener.

Using a powerfully unique blend of many generations of rock music, with their own twist on every single note, Franz Ferdinand easily perks people's attention. Their style involves steady, flowing electric guitar and very bass centric song structure, all orbitting the perfect distance in complement to Kapronos' poetic talent. With tight, close, perfectly timed beats that give every song a danceable quality, Franz Ferdinand has crafted themselves a style that's truly one of a kind; in fact, the only time another band has even approached a similar to style to Franz Ferdinand was with the debut release of fellow UK band, Bloc Party, on their album Silent Alarm.

Franz Ferdinand has a further qualities that can be attributed to them. While Bloc Party's Silent Alarm did share certain moods and styles with Franz Ferdinand's eponymous debut, it is Franz Ferdinand is the one who excels by launching themselves into further expansions of their own sound. With the release of their second album, You Could Have It So Much Better, Franz Ferdinand took everything their listeners loved off of the original release, and refined it into an even more pure form than its original. Furthermore, with the release of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, in the beginning of 2009, Franz Ferdinand once again harnessed their musical prowess to once again evolve their unique style into something powerfully unique, with out at all detracting from their original sound that their fans loved so much. So you see, Franz Ferdinand a band which merely changes, solidifies, only to morph again; their sound is fluid, and ever evolving, never losing its learned benefits, only gaining more, growing and increases in wonder and intrigue. An ever evolving musical experiment that will have any listener entranced to keep listening and shaking their hips to the groove laid down on the record.

They've got the groove, Franz Ferdinand does. They've been laying it all down for quite some time now, with their three studio albums, every which one is a powerful defining mark on Franz Ferdinand's belt. Franz Ferdinand, You Could Have It So Much Better, and Tonight: Franz Ferdinand can be purchased just about anywhere these days, and all are worth every dollar you can spare for them.

When these boys aren't being featured on Pitchfork or NME - being hailed with thousands of well deserved musical accolades - they're probably busy showing up in Nylon or FashionTV for their fabulous fashion sense. If you're hoping for a more personal touch of Franz Ferdinand, you're in luck! Our faithful quartet is presently touring their hearts out! While presently wandering about the North American continent, following up with a UK tour, followed again by some stops in Russia and Japan, all before a return to the lands of Europe... Well, let's just say they're busy. For a musical treat, tour dates, and much more, check out Franz Ferdinand's Myspace. And while you're grooving, may you happily have a great week.

Modest Mouse, B-Sides, Heath Ledger, and Whale Poaching

Voilà! hasn't made mention of Modest Mouse before. Which is a very curious event, seeing as not only are they one of the greatest experimental, wild, quirky, and unique artists of the past decade and a half, but they play their own style flawlessly, every time. They're by far one of the most influential indie rock outfits of the past sixteen years, and certainly aren't going anywhere. And with such records like The Lonesome Crowded West and The Moon & Antarctica under their belt, they don't really need to. They can sit on their throne built of off-kilter rock music, and watch the rest of their musical peers dance in circles, like little bemused rats pretending they can compare.

Speaking of rats, have you heard of "King Rat" yet? I hadn't, even though it has been released for almost a month now. After getting the hook-up from Oney T. via the Lookbook.nu forums, I had to explore, and boy, did I find a proverbial treasure trove of intrigue, all under Modest Mouse's heading.

Firstly, and most importantly, Modest Mouse have released a new mini-album, as of August 4th, under the title No One's First and You're Next. The album was released somewhat quietly (considering Modest Mouse is such a big player in the contemporary music scene), unless you were paying specific attention to Modest Mouse or their Myspace. More like a long EP, this 30 minute long collection was assembled from the bits and bobs that were left lying about the musical floor of Modest Mouse's recording studios over the past six years, including b-sides from both Good News for People Who Love Bad News and We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. How these songs didn't end up on either album is a mystery to both you and I. But now that we have them, I don't think we should do much complaining.

No One's First and You're Next flows like you'd expect any Modest Mouse record to, all filled with twisted pop songs gone wrong, and crazy rock songs gone just right. The sextet holds firm to their somewhat rollercoaster stylings, songs going a bit in every direction at once, both confusing while making perfect sense at the same time. But while they got some help with the music video for "Satellite Skin" (directed by Kevin Willis, who's normally responsible for Tool's music videos), it was Modest Mouse's video for "King Rat" that really stuck out. Not only is this the most bizarre song off No One's First..., part of the intrigue is no doubt due in part to its original director, the late Heath Ledger.

Oh yes, that Heath Ledger, your acting friend who haunted Brokeback, and haunted you as Joker; he was the original director of the video for "King Rat," prior to his passing. It was animated While co-directed by Daniel Auber after Ledger's exuent, and animated by Norris Houk and Jade Taglioli, the story is credited to Heath Legder himself. In mutual coordination between Isacc Brock and Heath, Ledger invisioned a twisted, derranged video in protest to illegal whale poaching practices in our modern day. The video is a must see before the turn of this decade.

You can snag yourself a copy of No One's First and You're Next by Modest Mouse right now wherever you can find it (including iTunes). You can catch the extremely weird video for "Satellite Skin" here, or you can stick around Voilà! a bit longer, and watch "King Rat" right here (or here for a really sexy hi-def version). Listen, reader, and open that mind to the strife in the world around you.

Modest Mouse - King Rat

Hailing a Cab to a Festival

You've got to get around. We all do. Ever since the dawn of time, we've been forced to deal with our necessity for travel. Whether for demand or for leisure, some of our greatest exploits - from the first invention of the wheel, to steam powered automobiles, larger locomotives, gasoline powered cars, planes, et cetera - are defined by our desire to get from one place to the other.

Musicians travel, oh yes, they certainly do. Here, there, everywhere; whether it's touring around their home country, traveling abroad, or just romping about around their town, music is constantly in motion as our favourite artists gadabout. And where music is, vehicles of transportation follow. And where musical modes of transportation are concerned, the best of them all would undoubtedly be the hailed cabs taking the team of the Black Cab Sessions all around England.

Oh, those cooky blokes from the London are getting well know for their mobile live performances of all wondrous sorts of musical troubadours, performing grandiose, unique, catch-it-now-or-you've-missed-it live performances in the back seat of the good ol' fashioned English cabbie-car. But Black Cab Sessions has lately been all about expansion. Besides a huge shift in website design, the Black Cab Sessions has extended the reach (and no doubt the price of their fares that they rack up) beyond the limitations of London.

The Black Cab Sessions has been debuting several special festival-styled Sessions, as they guide their cabs to some of the great English festivals, still featuring some of the most eclectic and wonderful musicians you could ever hope to hear performing live in a car. They started a year ago by attending the Green Man Festival. But this year, Black Cab Sessions is going mental by following the music to the Secret Garden Party, Field Day Festival, and The Big Chill. At every event, they met some great musicians, who all offered very wicked performances, as only you could expect. Besides some unique bands I haven't caught wind of, including Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Official Secrets Act, and Wildbirds and Peacedrums (who somehow fit an entire drum kit into the cab...), there are many acts that fall straight into Voilà!'s listening range, including Au Revoir Simone, Calexico, Final Fantasy, Bombay Bicycle Club, and Noah and the Whale.

Unfortunately, because of that aforementioned recent update on the part of Black Cab Sessions, I'm no longer able to feature their videos on Violà!. But, that shouldn't stop you from checking out any of those wonderful musicians' performances for the Black Cab Sessions festival recordings! As consolation, I'll provide links below to every festival performance on the Black Cab Session, so you can visit them all at your own pace. I'll also post Fanfarlo's old performance, because it's just so cool, and Voilà! ♥'s Fanfarlo (as if that weren't made extremely obvious). Let excitement ensue, readers!


Hafdis Huld | Bombay Bicycle Club | Brute Chorus | Speech Debelle | Au Revoir Simone | Official Secrets Act



Wood Pigeon | Final Fantasy | Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs | King Charles



Sweet Billy Pilgrim | Tom Hickox | Wildbirds and Peacedrums | The Laurel Collective | Calexico | Noah and the Whale

Band of the Week: Nightmare Of You

[August 10 - 16]

Nightmare Of You
Sounds Like: Indie Rock
Drinking Buddies: Dear and the Headlights, As Tall As Lions, Kevin Devine
Synopsis: Progressively back to basics.

Makes You Want To...: Sing along; Read fiction; Daydream amorously.
[Myspace]

One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is Nightmare Of You.


There's a certain joy in simplicity. We constantly search it out, and for good reason. Because as flambouyant and contrived as so many things in our life can become, there's nothing more refreshing than catching glimpses at where it all started. You have to be open-minded though, not so restrictive with your opinions. You can't judge modern things that harken toward that of their predecessors. You must be able to appreciate the old, while embracing the contemporary.

It's the simple stuff, the sort of rock music you're used to and crave at a very basic level, that makes Nightmare Of You so intriguing. I've been following these guys from New York City have been rocking their a simplified four-piece band since 2005, and since then, they've gaining quite the fan following over the years. Representing the town they're from, Nightmare Of You sings imaginative love tunes and cynical snaps to their over-pretentious peers in the music scene. And now freed of their music label chains (as if they could've been chained to begin with), now running their own indie label themselves, they're evermore free to represent themselves how they choose.

The music Nightmare Of You plays is what's more retrospective. Sticking to basic guitar chords, drawn out and steady - or twangy plucks mixed with electronic keyboarding reminiscent of The Cure - along with the ubiquitous guitar solo; their adhering to a more farmiliar rock trends further opens them to more creative song crafting avenues. Unfortunately, my verbosity as a wordsmith can't seem to do Nightmare Of You their proper justice, as they truly are a unique entity in music. While everyone else is busy with their fashion, their scene, or their gimicks, Nightmare Of You is content to relax, while playing they dig. It's very creative, and flows perfectly; what more do you need to enjoy some wicked tunes, eh?

Nightmare Of You is finally back home in New York, after some extremely extensive touring all throughout the beginning of summer. They have one more fête to throw in their hometown though. That is to say, their fantastic record release show tonight! After the releases of a few EPs, most notably their BANG! EP in 2007, and their eponymous debut back in 2005, Nightmare Of You is finally making their sophomore release a reality. Their independently released, brand new full-length album, Infomaniac, is presently on sale through digital outlets, including iTunes, while its physical brethren was introduced into stores as of yesterday. You can catch their tunes... literally all over the place... So I'll just give you their Myspace, as expected, and let you hunt down their purevolumeimeemfacebooketc yourself.

Nightmare Of You has been an old favourite of mine since high school, and I certainly hope you folks enjoy. Ah, hearing "I Want To Be Buried In Your Backyard" and "Dear Scene, I Wish I Were Deaf" bring back tonnes of memories. I hope you love them. For those in Chicago, hope you haven't been passing out due to the heat at Lolla. For everyone else, peace.

When It Comes To Saving Animals, Nevershoutnever!

Awww, look at this. Then this. Lastly, this. Aren't they absolutely adorable? Don't you just want to hug them? Okay, well, maybe they're a little dirty... but if they were clean and/or you had access to a shower, wouldn't you want to hug them and let them know exactly how cute they are? You've got to love animals, from kittens to endangered species to adorable kittens and puppies; that includes the humble livestock populating our world's farms as well, like those cute critters aforementioned.

Unfortunately, as the way our world operates, those cuties that I showed you are destined for some sad fates. It isn't a future of rolling around in the dirt, chirping away with their avian buddies, or relaxes out in a nice pasture. No, the way us more intelligent folks (humans) will have it - since we're up at the top of the food chain and all - we'll probably have those lovely souls slaughtered for the meat consumption of our omnivorous stomachs.

The sad truth is that despite it being extremely cruel to innocent, defenseless animals, and being inexorably costly from an environmental standpoint, we - as humans - eat tonnes of meat. Okay, maybe this is drifting a bit toward wagging Voilà!'s finger at you, dear reader, to be more conscious of animals. But there's a point to all this, I assure! There are plenty of folks out there trying to save animals by choosing not to eat them. I'm a vegetarian for one, but their are plenty of respectable folks in the music scene that follow the same dietary path: Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, Jón Þór Birgisson of Sigur Rós, half of Fanfarlo, and don't even get me started with Morrissey.

Well as it happens, there's another faithful vegetarian to add to the ever-growing list of musical masters who stave off meat: Christofer Drew, AKA, Nevershoutnever!. As it also happens, he's doing some great things to try to get the word out about how smart an idea vegetarianism is! Besides his personal self-promotion, Nevershoutnever! is now rockin' a contest with the animal advocacy group PETA2. The winners will get some Nevershoutnever! albums and original artwork! If you're just in it to learn a little more about Mr. Drew, well you can wander over to PETA2's interview of Nevershoutnever! back during SXSW. Or, of course, check out Nevershoutnever!'s Myspace.

Band of the Week: Ponytail

[August 3 - 9]

Ponytail
Sounds Like: Art-Rock / Experimental
Drinking Buddies: Deerhoof, Times New Viking, The Moi Non Plus, Pterodactyl
Synopsis: There's a fine line between insanity and genius, and we're jumping rope with it.

Makes You Want To...: SUGAR RUSH!; Wild out; Random play
[Myspace]

One week, one band. You know the drill.
This week, the featured artist is Ponytail.


Call it what you will, call it what you may. Call it whatever you damn well please, but whether you like it or not, music is not just music. It's not just well orchestrated sounds put on pieces of plastic. It's not just a tremendously ingrained cultural aspect within our society. No no, not in the slightest. Music is more. Music is a river a creativity, flowing through the audiovascular system to the cerebral vortex of the minds of musicians and listeners everywhere. My friendly readers, music is more than music. Music is an artform, every bit as much a creative adventure as anything you'll find in some sterile museum.

But whereas regular art is confined to canvas or a podium for visual display, music has no limits except those of your mind. You make what you wish of music by your own interpretation, and all you have to base it on is exactly how tightly wound the guitar strings of your mind are. And believe me, the more you loosen up those strings, the more fun you can have. You can quickly realize some music doesn't need words. Hell, you'll learn some songs don't even need structure. You can learn feedback sounds beautiful, screaming sounds pristine, and your voice is not just an outlet, but an instrument. Music is art, simple as that. And Ponytail is Ponytail, simple as that.

Yes, you heard me. Ponytail is Ponytail - duh - didn't know? Do you really need to judge this crazy quartet from Baltimore? Not particularly; they have two guitars, a drum set, and a few microphones. But they're just a band of folks who like making some neat music. But there's so much more to discover when you're not judging, so stop while you're ahead. Ponytail is all about loose guitar strings and just jammin' around all day. Their music doesn't really have to make sense to anyone else, because it certainly makes sense to them. Ponytail is well contented to play however they want and let you tie all the rest of the knots if you're interested enough to follow them on their auditory exploration.

They play fast, they play loud, and they play without inhibition. Ponytail dips their feet directly into that swimming pool of creativity; but they don't linger, rather, cannonball straight in and start splashing anyone who hasn't joined them. Forgoing and bass guitar, they concentrate all of their music on duel guitars, shredding away in two opposite direction before crashing back together. As if the guitarists weren't a show enough, their singer dances and sings along with inane energy seeping out of every inch of her skin, wildly yelping and rocking out to every disjointed yet harmonic note, all whilst deafening blasts of malleable beats blare from the drums backing up the whole affair. Many of my writing peers frequently described Ponytail's crazed eclecticness as a musical "sugar rush," and they couldn't be speaking more of the truths. Turn up your speakers, down a few pixie stix, and listen to "...,,,;;;:::!" by Ponytail; you might understand.

The wicked folks of Ponytail aren't very busy right now. Besides a local show scheduled in the somewhat near future, they're chilling. It's well deserved though, after heaps of touring following the release of their sophomore album, Ice Cream Spiritual, a celebration of all things huhwoahreallythat'ssocool. You'll understand what I'm talking about if you listen to "7 Souls." If you're further intrigued, you can also catch their freshman release, Kamehameha, which you can stream off of Last.fm if you're cheap and strapped for cash at the moment (like me). Or you can wander over to Daytrotter, and catch their very spontaneous acoustic session.

And all I can furthermore I hope that you enjoy.