Top 10 of 2010: Jesseca’s Picks

Spoiler alert ...

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of making these lists. In fact, I despise them. But, as a music journalist (well, a blogger with a journalism degree, at least), I am more or less obligated to write at least one.

Now, I could make a list of the albums I think are the “best” or “most important”. I could list the ten most popular albums in indie music. But I decided not to. I didn’t come close to listening to all of the new albums that 2010 had to offer, which is one reason I hate making these types of lists. I’m sure when I hear more releases from this year, my list will change quite a bit.

Anyway, my list is purely made of the new releases that I listened to the most this year. Most of them are artists I’ve loved for years, but a few are new favorites, including a couple I never thought I’d like. (Note: I provided individual downloads for tracks from most of the albums on the list, but you can download all of them here.)

Giveaway: School of Seven Bells at Hailey’s

Hey, kids. I hope you’ve enjoyed our recent influx of free tickets. Or I guess that would be an efflux since we aren’t keeping them … Anyway, this week we have a pair of tickets to see School of Seven Bells at Hailey’s on Friday, October 8, from our generous pals at Vagrant. I’ve written two Tracks of the Day on SVIIB this year (and DBB alum Melissa Crowe interviewed Benjamin Curtis exactly a year before the date of the show) and I’m excited to see them for the first time this week.

If you’d also like to see them (for free), just send the title of your favorite SVIIB song, along with your full name, to giveaways@daybowbow.net. Entries must be received by 11:59 tonight and we’ll notify the winner tomorrow.

School of Seven Bells plays Hailey’s on Friday with openers Active Child and Eyes and Ears. The show starts at 10 and tickets are $12 for over 21 and $14 for under 21.

Track of the Weekend: School of Seven Bells–I L U (Phantogram Remix)

(Note: Due to the sheer number of submissions we receive, there is no way we can give each and every album the attention (and word count) they deserve, but we can devote time to at least one song from each. So we started this feature to give worthy bands, and their music a spot to shine. We hope this helps you discover new and exciting acts, and as always if you enjoy the music please make an attempt to support the artists by either attending a show, or buying a record.)

We’re pretty psyched about the School of Seven Bells show at Hailey’s in a couple weeks (and we’ll have an exciting post about that in the near future). I, for one, have kept their latest album, Disconnect from Desire, in heavy rotation. And I wrote about “Babelonia”, the first single from the album, back in May.

Now we have another SVIIB track. This time it’s a remix of “I L U” by New York electronic rock duo Phantogram, from the recently released “Heart is Strange” EP. We could only embed a streaming player here, but you can download the track or purchase the digital EP if you want to hang onto the tune.

School of Seven Bells – I L U (Phantogram Remix) by VagrantRecords

Verdict: I prefer the original. It’s one of my favorite songs on the album. But I can appreciate the mellow take. Phantogram took something akin to a low-key 80s dance tune, complete with handclaps and drum machine, and turned it into a soothing, ambient soundscape. Basically, I want to dance to the original, but I want to get a massage to the remix. Come to think of it, I would get massages a lot more more often if masseuses would all throw out the Enya and play some SVIIB …

School of Seven Bells will play at Hailey’s, with openers Active Child and Eyes and Ears, on October 8. Phantogram will play two nights before that at The Loft.

Track of the Day: School of Seven Bells–Babelonia

(Note: Due to the sheer number of submissions we receive, there is no way we can give each and every album the attention (and word count) they deserve, but we can devote time to at least one song from each. So we started this feature to give worthy bands, and their music a spot to shine. We hope this helps you discover new and exciting acts, and as always if you enjoy the music please make an attempt to support the artists by either attending a show, or buying a record.)

Today’s track came from our pals at Vagrant Records (OK … they aren’t our pals, but they were kind enough to add us to their press list and that’s pretty friendly). I generally associate the label with rock, punk and emo, but School of Seven Bells (aka SVIIB) does not fit into any of those categories.

The NYC-based band consists of Benjamin Curtis (former guitarist for Secret Machines and former drummer for Tripping Daisy) and twins Claudia and Alejandra Deheza (formerly of On! Air! Library!). The members left their respective bands to focus on SVIIB and moved into a home together, where they have a recording studio. It’s in that studio that they recorded Disconnect from Desire, due out June 18. “Babelonia” is the first single from the album.

School of Seven Bells–Babelonia

Verdict:This song is like a harmonious marriage between Stereolab and the Happy Mondays, had the marriage occurred in India or some other part of the Far East. The twins’ vocals add a magical, dream-like element to the music. Listening to this band is an otherworldly experience. I highly recommend it.

Q&P(hilosophy) with School of Seven Bells

Benjamin Curtis, of School of Seven Bells, met up with DayBowBow for a little phone interview Tuesday afternoon. Curtis, who spent his teen years in the Dallas Metroplex, spoke with an air of optimism and mystery. He is an interesting guy, for sure.

First off, tell me about this amazing artwork!
We did it in collaboration with this artist Bryan Collins from Brooklyn that we’ve known for a long time. He’s really amazing. We basically sat down with him and I guess we just played the music; talked to him about it and about scenes in the music, titles, and where we were coming from; inspiration and the feeling we wanted to invoke.

It’s really strange, nine times out of 10, that’s such a recipe for disaster. The artist will usually end up trying to do something to appease you or it won’t be inspired because they’re just trying to fulfill criteria. But it’s actually really great collaboration because he felt it too. Everything that has come out has been kind of first draft stuff, it’s just been perfect.

How does the artwork introduce, as well as influence, SVIIB’s music?
We wanted it to be really colorful. There are a million different ways it could have been presented. I think it could have been really somber and I guess there are all different contexts you could listen to this music from. We felt the vibe being really warm and colorful, really human, very…Exactly what the cover is, that’s how we wanted people to approach it. We didn’t want this dark minimalist affair, which would have been the easy choice to make. I was really surprised at how much the context of the art is important to the music. It changes the way people listen to it.

…We put this album together and I saw how much people responded to an image and how they approached the music, they just fell in love with the album all together. Quite a nice surprise.

ACL Friday

by Jaime-Paul Falcon

These were originally supposed to be longer pieces going in depth on who to see at what times, but it being a down year for the fest (the nightly closers are pretty terrible), combined with the fact that none of us are going we decided to just giving you highlights from each day.

Who to catch:

The Low Anthem

My love for this band is well known, so all I can say is they play an early slot, and would be a wonderful way to start your day.

The Low Anthem- To Ohio

School of Seven Bells

You’re going to read over and over about how Ben Curtis was once in another band, and how his new project isn’t so much a departure from the band, as a reinvigoration of the sound. Truth be told the new direction pays off as SoSB attacks you with lush walls of sound that are both all-consuming, and endearing.

School of Seven Bells- Iamundernodisguise (alternate version)