Review: Agony Aunts – Greater Miranda

Agony Aunts: Greater Miranda (Mystery Lawn, 2010)

I found Agony Aunts from David Bash’s gigantic end of the year list and it was certainly a mighty good find. Agony Aunts is a new pop group from Bay Area, but this isn’t the first time these people are making awesome pop music. Members of the band have previously played in such fine pop outfits as The Corner Laughers, Preoccupied Pipers, The Orange Peels etc.

Agony Aunts debut Greater Miranda is a delightful pop album. Psych pop meets California pop in perfect manner. Beautifully arranged, 60’s influenced pop songs and a whole lot of great singing. I totally adore the male-female harmonies. I just love that male voice. KC Bowman sure can sing, but I suppose it’s easy if you have a voice that is lovelier than the baby panda sneezes video on youtube. I bet lines like “We’re shaken and shocked / Finding your broken and bleeding and bloated remains / I’m waiting to talk, waiting for Amity Police to be cordoning the scene” have never sounded more beautiful. Night Circling Sharks, Reap The Plains Down and Linus’s Fist Of Death is a perfect song trio in the middle of the album. The Linus in the song title probably doesn’t have anything to do with Linus Of Hollywood, but this album actually reminds me of those early Linus Of Hollywood albums here and there. The same California pop influences I suppose. Greater Miranda is a great pop album.

Listen to Night Circling Sharks
[audio:http://onechord.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/agony-aunts-greater-miranda-04-night-circling-sharks.mp3]

Greater Miranda at Bandcamp
Agony Aunts at Facebook

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Reviewshine part #1: Truckstop Darlin’, Greater Pacific, White Pines

I’ve gotten a bunch of greats album through reviewshine.com, but the problem is that I will never have enough time to properly review all of them. Therefore I thought that instead of completely ignoring them here at onechord.net, it’s better that I at least say a few words about the ones that I really enjoyed.

Truckstop Darlin’: Truckstop Darlin’ (2010)

Truckstop Darlin’ comes from Portland, Oregon and their self-titled debut album is full of great countrified rock’n’roll. If you are into groups such as Drive-By Truckers, Lucero and Glossary, I’m pretty sure you are going to love this. The whole record is thoroughly enjoyable and then there’s a couple of really stunning songs like Bluegrass State and Broken Valentine. Oh and the drummer’s name is Eric Kotila, so it feels like they are part Finnish.

listen to Bluegrass State:
[audio:http://onechord.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/02-bluegrass-state.mp3]

Truckstop Darlin’ Website

Greater Pacific: Rainfall EP (Yer Bird, 2010)

And then something little or whole lot different, but equally brilliant. This is the comfort deluxe. This is atmospheric and captivating americana from southern California. Greater Pacific makes music that will take care of you and bring you home safely, if stress & anxiety are lurking behind the street corner. What a lovely EP. These guys also have a great folk rock / country band Travel By Sea. I’ve been listening to their latest album Two States and the Blindness that Follows on Spotify and it’s also pretty fabulous (I really should buy it asap).

Greater Pacific, Distance (2011) from Henkydory on Vimeo.

Greater Pacific at Facebook

White Pines: The Falls (Yer Bird Records, 2010)

If it’s on Yer Bird Records, I’m going to love it. That’s the new rule here at the onechord.net headquarters and so far I haven’t found any exceptions to that rule. White Pines is Joseph Scott from Ohio and his debut album The Falls came out a couple of month ago. It’s certainly a pretty amazing album full of delicate and magical folk sounds.

Listen to Woods:
[audio:http://onechord.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/03-woods.mp3]

White Pines at Facebook

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Video of the Day #36: The Olympic Symphonium

Tonight Video of the Day section takes us to Fredericton, Canada and it’s time to introduce my latest musical love affair, The Olympic Symphonium. My first date with The Olympic Symphonium was about an hour ago, but I’m already ready to introduce them to my mom. The excellent Southern Souls video blog have captured them playing their whole new album live and I’ve been watching those videos over and over again. Three guys playing beautiful folk songs and singing their hearts out. My kind of stuff and I’m definitely going to buy their new album The City Won’t Have Time To Fight that came out a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s one of those wonderful videos. I won’t post them all, because you really should visit the fabulous Southern Souls website that contains huge amount of amazing videos. I know I will be spending a huge amount of time there during the next few weeks.

A Lot To Learn by The Olympic Symphonium:

The Olympic Symphonium Website
Southern Souls Website

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