Just Plain Good – Page 9

Neat Tracks / Spanish Prisoners “Knows No Violence” and “That’s When I Froze”

By Amanda DK

I’ll be honest, Spanish Prisoners isn’t the standard fare that makes me take stand up and notice. They are dreamy, hazy and meandering, and from Brooklyn – usually a lethal combination for me. Much of their debut album Gold Fools, doesn’t accomplish anything I haven’t heard before, but yet…is strangely pleasant and compelling.
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Neat Tracks / Elle King “Dancing On Graves”

By Amanda DK

The fact that she’s only in her early twenties can only mean that we will be hearing about Elle King for a long time. A combination Adele and Fiona Apple, the Brooklyn-raised musician started posting songs on SoundCloud and MySpace about a year ago. Now most of them have thousands of stream counts upwards of a thousand.
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Neat Tracks / RACES “Big Broom”

By Amanda DK

Los Angeles band RACES has been blowing up on the local scene over the past few months. Pun intended. They dropped their debut EP of only three songs in November, managing to grow a rabid fanbase (and deal with Frenchkiss Records) based largely on a dynamic and compelling live performance and insistent buzz. And buzz well-deserved. While the songs are polished and rich (with six members, you are expected to make a lot of noise, and they do) the co-ed indie rockers really sell it on stage, filling whatever space they play to the brim with riffs and harmonies.
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Neat Tracks / Quilt “Cowboys In The Void”

By Amanda DK

Artist: Quilt
Origin: Boston, MA
Label: Mexican Summer
Latest Release: Quilt (November 2011)

There is something about Boston quartet Quilt that is strange and yet familiar. Both immediate and nostalgic. I can’t quite tell if my instant connection with their particular brand of indie folk is due to their sonic kinship with current artists, like Mountain Man or The Barr Brothers, or some borrowed yearning for an era I never experienced. The latter is more likely.
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Neat Tracks / Empress Hotel “Here Comes The New Challenger”

By Amanda DK

Artist: Empress Hotel
Origin: New Orleans, LA
Label: Park The Van
Latest Release: Empress Hotel EP (February 2011)

It’s not often that I stumble across new bands from New Orleans. I’m not sure why that is. I’m certainly not avoiding the state. I never realized that was even the case until I began investigating Empress Hotel.
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