Griff says: Strew palms where they advanceth

Back in February of this year I wrote a piece on Holiday Records (see 'here'), a US netlabel offering free downloads of some rather fine indie-pop music. In particular, they seemed to have cornered the market in exciting garagey surf-pop à la The Drums, but a little rougher. Unsurprisingly, really, as one of the co-founders of Holiday records is Jacob Graham, The Drums guitarist. In that article I wrote:
"I first came across Holiday Records in 2010 via the music of sublime Russian indie-surfpop band Palms On Fire (more of whom in a future blog)."



I intend to fulfill that promise tonight as Palms on Fire have lately released an excellent new single, 'Birds in a Supermarket'. This lovely little slice of indie-pop is backed by the equally appealing 'Simple Perfect Life'.



Both tracks are available as free downloads from the band's soundcloud and last.fm pages. At both of these sites, latecomers to the Palms on Fire experience can also freely download their two previous EP's. So what are you waiting for? Here are the two latest tracks to whet your appetite:



Excellent stuff, I hope you'll agree. The band line-up is;
Anna Kislova
Max Kislov
Konstantin Korolev, and
Anton Bochkarev.

Rather interestingly, for purveyors of a surf-pop influenced sound, they hail from Izhevsk, Russsia - hundreds of miles from the sea but home of the AK-47 rifle, fact fans.

I should also mention at this point that there are no links to the Holiday Records site in this article as my anti-virus has been refusing to download that page for over a week now. I'm not sure why, all I know is that I keep getting a severe-looking red-edged warning whenever I try to do so. I suggest you tread there with caution yourself.

Griff
xx

Griff says; Holiday in the sun

You'll hopefully remember, providing you don't have some sort of memory impairment brought on by over exposure to loud indie-pop, last week when I wrote about Soda Shop, featuring Drew Driver, one half of Horse Shoes. The other half of Horse Shoes is, of course, Jacob Graham, sometime guitarist with The Drums and part founder of tonight's blog topic; Holiday Friends Recording Company.


Holiday was formed in the Spring of 2009 by four old friends: Justin Jolley, Joanna Tillman, Jacob and Caleb Graham. I first came across them in 2010 via the music of sublime Russian indie-surfpop band Palms On Fire (more of whom in a future blog). At that time Holiday were a fledgling online record label who, to my joy, were intent on giving away a free mp3 release every Friday. I started with the Palms On Fire EP and soon came back for more. The old free singles club releases can still be found at the original Holiday records website 'here' and it's well worth a visit. Since then Holiday have realised their dream of becoming 'a real record label' and this month sees the release of 'Keep Dreaming Baby', the debut EP from Margate's Two Wounded Birds (pictured).


The C.D. is available right now on the new Holiday website, and if you live in the U.K. and don't like buying things online it is available in all Rough Trade stores. Rather like The Drums, Two Wounded Birds sound has a heavy surf-pop influence but they give the classic 60s pop template a twist by adding an individual, darker, sometimes almost sinister, edge. My favourite track on the EP is the poignant and evocative 'My Lonesome', which at times sounds like a young Morrissey backed by The Tornadoes. Have a listen:



Fantastic, I think youll agree. Now here are two more tracks from the EP; the upbeat 'Summer Dream' and the eerie 'Night Patrol'.







Not content with giving us the best in contemporary surf-pop, Holiday are also simultaneously releasing the latest offering from their free singles club.


Holiday 0068 is 'Plans For My Future Life In Vermont' by Victory VIII. Victory VIII is yet another of Jacob Graham's musical projects (does this man never sleep?) and can be described as lo-fi, down-tempo, indietronica. The two songs featured on the single are 'Vermont' and 'I Thought I Loved You'. Holiday describe them as;

"Two songs that were meant to be pleasant but ended up as tragic and pathetic as usual."

As a lover, and onetime purveyor, of lo-fi melancholia, I would say that that's a recommendation I just couldn't resist. 'Plans For My Future Life In Vermont' can be downloaded 'here'. In the meantime here's a video of one of Victory VIII's previous Holiday releases; Lonesome Places. Enjoy!



Griff
xx