@ In Review Online: Unheard of #4

Once again, if you follow this blog, some of these picks may seem redundant, but my Unheard Of series over at In Review Online is a chance to get some of my favorites a little more time in the spotlight. Check out a small bit on the bands below or head to the full article for free tunes and more info.

Full Article

Bands Featured:

The Lonely Forest - "We Sing the Body Electric...is one of this year's most overlooked rock albums."

A Grave With No Name - "Mountain Debris may seem slight to those who find the band's eccentricities to be less compelling, but for the more adventurous, the finely crafted details of the music become wholly absorbing..."

Boomsnake - "On their upcoming release, the duo embellish and improve upon their best material with additional layers of instrumentation and cleaner production, expanding their sonic palette and capitalizing on teh promise they've exhibited on past recordings."

Keegan DeWitt - "DeWitt has already earned praise for the music he's created for various indies, but this time around he's showing his chops as a singer/songwriter, which, it turns out, well-compliment his compositional skills."

Little Tybee - "Little Tybee stand out amidst the throng of similar experimental indie bands vying for our collective attention."

Introducing...BoomSnake

Perhaps the title of the post shouldn't imply that I know much about the experimental indie pop duo BoomSnake, because I'm a little hazy on the details. I do know that the group consists of Gabriel Rodriguez (vocals/guitar/sampler) and Nathan Aguilar (bass/vocals/keyboards) and was formed in the Fall of 2008. It's the California duo's music, however, that clearly deserves the attention. The band has released two long EPs (or perhaps short LPs) in the last year and a half, Give and Take and Vitamins, both of which offer a consistently great set of offbeat indie folk tunes.

Vitamins is raw and simple, with acoustic guitars and dark, lonely melodies filling the majority of the 27 minutes. Songs like "Totem tale Blues" and "Ritual of Union" are a little reminiscent of Bon Iver or the more gentle side of Yeasayer, with high harmonies and subtly sinister lyrics shining through the rough production. Give and Take isn't far removed from the Vitamins spare folk sound, but the production is clearer and the sound fuller, giving the boys room to show off a bit more. "Be Where How" is a delightfully strange pop song while "Honey" is a folk ballad on the more accessible side of the group's spectrum. Other highlights include the bizarre, upbeat "In Da Ground" and the shimmering "Excuses (Ghost Toast)."

I highly recommend checking out the band's MySpace page to get a better idea of what I've described as words obviously won't do the trick. I imagine it won't be long before we start hearing much more from BoomSnake, so you might as well get yourself introduced now.