Unplugged, literally

I love a cappella. There is something incredibly beautiful about the purity of the human voice filling a room, the inherent silliness of beat-boxing and making background noises, the lengths to which the art form makes the voices of a dedicated team stretch. One of the best ways to experience this is through college a capella, which brings to it the promise of a hopefully unpretentious gathering of college kids who just love to sing and perform. This weekend, I got to witness the yearly "JamFest," hosted by Drew University's 36 Madison Avenue, and such glories as Coldplay's "The Scientist" sung by an all-female group, a rambunctiously-done "Brown-Eyed Girl," and many instances in which the voices of my peers soared, dazzled, shocked, and delighted. A cappella under the right conditions is captivating, inspirational, and makes the audience feel like they can do anything. It's alternately bouncy and powerful, ridiculous and brooding, and this mix makes for ideal weekend entertainment.

Inspired, I did some searching online to see if a cappella had any life outside college, the place where most people are introduced to it to begin with. And lo and behold, I came across something appropriate for the indie editor to throw out there. Indie Blockedapella does covers of various independent rock acts, including The Arcade Fire, Ben Folds, The Decemberists, Belle and Sebastian, The White Stripes, The Magnetic Fields, Sufjan Stevens...

It's fun. Lots of emphasis on the quirky background noises, a bit too much for me at times and at the expense of tapping into the beautiful sweeping terrain the form can cover. I'm not so thrilled with all of their arrangements as much as glad that a group covering indie songs exists. And hey, it's essentially just two guys having fun, so there's lack of pretension for you.

What I'm most interested in, though, is groups doing a cappella covers of their own songs. I'm not sure if this happens, but if not, it should. It could be the new acoustic. Does anyone have any examples, or contributions of the ideal songs they'd like to see done up with only the voice?

Slanted Spotlight: Winterpills

If you have a sharp attention span and have been following us here at Above The Din for a long time, you may remember Slanted Spotlight. I return almost sheepishly with the intent of reviving this feature after its hibernation period.

It's an overcast day in Northern New Jersey, and the air is grazed with a chill that makes the rain more severe. I don't want to leave the room very much, and it's one of those days that reminds me of Winterpills. Their rich brooding melodies seem to seep into the laid-back, reflective atmosphere of the day.

These guys (and girl) were entirely unknown to me until a trusty copy of Paste Magazine came with a CD that featured "Pills For Sara," from their first and then-only self-titled album. It was haunting. It told a fragment of a bitter story, it was literary, with striking lines such as "Biting hard and crushing flowers, sleeping through my superpowers". I was intrigued.

And then, after a hibernation period in my appreciation for them, RyTunes and I explored 2005's "Winterpills" only to find a plethora of interestingly written and textured songs. "Laughing" has a nice cruising melody, "Found Weekend" is artsy cafe waltz meets epic insistence in the repeated "You will live forever." "Looking Down" is melancholy in a thoughtful, understated way. "Portrait" paints a scene we can visualize and contains the deliciously descriptive line "There's honey in my chemicals." The band uses both acoustic and electric guitars, both male and female vocals, and "Winterpills" is an album for days when time stands still. It feels like folk, and like music that doesn't take itself too seriously while at the same time having brilliant lyrical and melodic moments. Some of this may have to do with its humble origins in the home of singer/keyboardist Flora Reeds.

“Our original idea for the first album was to casually record some demos at my house, but before we knew it we were making a full-length record,” says Reed.

"The Light Divides," Winterpills' latest album, was just released on February 27, and I've heard sporadic bits so far, thanks to their official site and their MySpace posting two songs. "Handkerchiefs" is precious, with Reed's voice carrying crystal-clear and the calm-endearing "We need a place where we can talk." I'm reminded of Jewel's early work, with an indie edge and more maturity. "Broken Arm" is more direct and straightforward, accusatory even. The raw start, marching tempo, and profanity (is this their first time?) shows they took it up a notch. It's different, but it's fun.

There seems to be a certain timelessness involved, and the sense of this group as a band of dreamers is conveyed nicely in drummer Phillip Price's explanation of the latest project's name:

"I was thinking how, in the dark, we’re all one unrevealed event, a miasma. It's only when we are hit with light that we are separate. In a way, perhaps this collection of songs is my way of cursing the light and, for better or for worse, avoiding lighting any candles."

Worth delving into on any given rain-day.

Shins Take MSG

On Wednesday, March 14 at Madison Square Garden, NYC, James Mercer of the Shins could be heard humbly thanking the crowd for coming, marveling over and over at the number of people sprawled out before him, but not until after a breathtaking, energetic opener of "Sleeping Lessons." The clearly sung line "You're not obliged to swallow anything you despise" set the tone for the show and felt like a statement in defense of going against the grain, even when that grain is the "indie" image, and a timely message to old fans and curious new listeners alike. It also set the stage for some powerful rockouts, classic Shins goodness, and a few surprises.

The set was fairly minimalistic, with hanging strands of simple white lights standing out like makeshift stars. A single spotlight zoomed in on Mercer for calm, evocative performances of "A Comet Appears" and "Pink Bullets". The set was a mix of songs from "Wincing The Night Away" (including, of course, "Phantom Limb"), "Chutes Too Narrow," and "Oh, Inverted World." There was even an encore cover of a song by obscure late-seventies band The Modern Lovers. Openers Viva Voce (a male / female duo who projected folk vibes along with guitar wailing and repeatedly assured the audience that they "don't f*ck around") accompanied them onstage for instrumental work and some singing. The Shins showed off the energy that's only hinted at in their albums by giving some of their well-known classics a harder, faster edge and bouncing around onstage. At the same time, claim-to-fame "New Slang" was softened and slowed down, given an almost-acoustic feel. "Pressed In A Book" was given a momentous, stretched-out beginning and, like "Girl On The Wing," sounded delightfully different from a straight listen off "Oh, Inverted World."

Mercer's interactions with the crowd included the aforementioned endearing, incredulous thanks and an introduction of new Shin Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats. The Shins are also apparently able to marry couples, or at least condone a makeout session and then dedicate "Turn On Me" to the participants. Not overly talkative or stone-faced, Mercer communicated well with the gathered fans, although it was clear that his main focus was on the music.

The only drawback of the show in my opinion was the lack of "Sea Legs" from the new album, which would have fit perfectly as an encore, and someone a few seats down showed agreement by shouting out the song title. Perhaps the more pop-influenced song would have been too much of a departure from the norm too soon.

Still, the Shins proved they can rock, rock a big crowd, and rock with a true integrity and sense of themselves and their work. I'd very much recommend seeing them live!

More On The Shins

Following up Joyful Girl's marvelous post below, I wanted to share a bit more on these indie rock darlings. They are blowing up, you see, and here's the goods so you can say you knew the band back when they were still (relatively) small:

The band will release their studio effort "Wincing the Night Away" on January 23 in the U.S. The first single, "Phantom Limb," is all over the Internets, but we'll get come back to that in a minute. First, be sure to check out one or several of The Shins' upcoming appearances and events over the next few weeks:

January 13: The Shins are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live! SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE! It's my dick, in a box!

January 18: Starting on this day, and running through Jan. 21st, you can stream Wincing the Night Away, in its entirety, on Myspace!

January 22: The Shins will be performing live at midnight at the Virgin Records in New York's Union Square. Buy a copy of the record at Virgin and you get in to see them play!

January 23: Not only does Wincing the Night Away come out on this day, but also the band will be playing on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman! DAVID LETTERMAN!

January 26: In the morning, The Shins will be playing on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. And, in the evening, at 8:00pm, they'll be playing a free in-store at the Amoeba Records in Hollywood.

Head on over to their site for a run of February tour dates.

Back to "Phantom Limb". Check out a video segment from ABC News with Charles Gibson about the fan shot video for the single. For those not in the know, here's the skinny on what that's all about:

The only Audience Created Concert Film featuring The Shins performing “Phantom Limb” – the first single from the band’s new album. Over 200 hundred video clips from fans cell phones and digital cameras were blended together to produce Part 1 of “All Eyes On The Shins!” – The Performance Of “Phantom Limb”.

Sweeeet. You can also take a look at the commercial video for the track, now playing at music video outlets everywhere. Or if you'd rather not deal with that, you can always Hype it. In fact you can hype a whole lot more than that, but you didn't hear that from me. Seriously though folks, you're going to be one of the many who proudly own this album and then boastfully informs your friends how you were on the beat while The Shins were still indie. Of course their fans probably hope they always will be, but as The Seattle Weekly points out, that can be difficult when prepping for possibly the biggest independent record release of all time. The article is a fine read for exploring that age-old conflict about independent vs. mainstream (a topic that has also been explored on AtD).

In a last droplet of Shins news, Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats is the newest member of the band. And word from The Shins camp is that he is "Great."

What indie bands are you listening to right now?