Thursday night White Rabbits and The Antlers played a sold out show at Bowery Ballroom. Sadly, I was unable to attend, but I still wanted to write a little bit about both bands, as they are both semi-new discoveries for me and they have quickly risen to stand amongst my favorite bands.
I have to admit, for a music blogger, I'm a little less proactive in seeking out new stuff than I probably should be. I get so much stuff sent to me now, and I have enough trouble going through that, that I just haven't really had the time. So, even though I apparently had a few songs by them in my iTunes that I didn't realize, the first time I really discovered
White Rabbits was when their awesome
music video for "Percussion Gun" was emailed to me a few weeks ago. Ever since, I've become completely obsessed. For the hour between receiving their music video and receiving their album,
It's Frightening (came out May 19th) via email, I played the music video on repeat in the background of my computer and listened to the song over and over. Their album has been at the top of my playlist since that day. "Percussion Gun" is aptly named, but all of their songs are very percussion-driven and dramatic, making this a great album to listen to when you want to get pumped up about something. I can't believe I didn't know about them before a few weeks ago and I feel like my life was not complete before I found them.
I first discovered
The Antlers when I was going to go see them perform at
Music Hall of Williamsburg with Here We Go Magic in early April. I really liked their album
Hospice after the first few listens, but I didn't enjoy their performance all that much - largely due to the environment, which wasn't really their fault. However, I didn't let MHOW get in the way of my feelings for The Antlers. I kept listening and
Hospice quickly climbed the ladder to land amongst my favorite albums of the year. There is more tragedy in that one album than I would hope anyone has experienced in an entire lifetime, much less a guy of Pete Silberman's tender age, but the album is also full of such astonishing, heartbreaking beauty that I literally get chills. I normally only truly enjoy sad music when I'm in a sad mood, but I Hospice is so breathtaking that I find myself craving it all the time, even when I couldn't be merrier. The song below, Sylvia, is my favorite song on the album. I love the dramatic choruses contrasted with the quiet, timid verses (which perfectly fits what the song is about if you're listening to the lyrics closely). The Antlers recently signed to Frenchkiss Records and they will be re-releasing a remastered version of Hospice on August 18th. Honestly, I think it's pretty perfect as it is...
No comments:
Post a Comment