The dreamy Philadelphia swirl-pop outfit A Sunny Day In Glasgow put out the record I most often cited as “most overlooked” last year with Ashes Grammar, a 22-track portrait full of soft vocals floating in lush soundscapes and shifting rhythms, stitched together by scene-setting, gauzy, often synthetic interstitials. It requires a full listening, but is worth it. Despite a list-season reappraisal that brought them a little more notice, it still sits on the under-appreciated side of things. Maybe Ashes hasn’t gone as far because it is a true album at a time when blogs (yes, like this one) have sights set on “key tracks.” (Which, “Failure“btw.) So the band announcing a quicktime followup to last year’s LP with the forthcoming EP Nitetime Rainbows is great news in terms of timing (capitalizing on year-end movement) and in terms of offering a manageable amount of new material (three previously unreleased tracks, in addition to the title cut which comes from Ashes and its three remixes by various artists). “So Bloody, So Tight” is one of the new ones, and considerably brighter (or as the band put it, “more hopeful”) than what we’re used to hearing from them. In turn, the video is much goofier than anything we’d expect from them.

Read More...

Last year Ben Daniels and his Philly dream pop brethren in A Sunny Day In Glasgow decamped to a dance studio in rural New Jersey to record Ashes Grammar, the follow up to Scribble Mural Comic Journal. Before he could lay down his parts, a leg injury sidelined bassist Brice Hickey along with his girlfriend, vocalist Robin Daniels, who helped him recover. Meanwhile ASDIG’s other key vocalist, Ben and Robin’s sister Lauren, was attending grad school in Colorado. No problem: this was just an opportunity to expand the recording crew with singers Annie Fredrickson and Beverly Science. The results can be heard on their gorgeous, dense then bright LP standout “Failure.”

Read More...

We can’t catch all the hot CMJ show shows on our own, so Stereogum asked Abbey Braden to send in pics and video of notable sets from days one and two. According to this post title, her itinerary favors bands with Adjective Noun names. On Tuesday evening, before our laaaate night shinding, Abbey caught Violens and Amazing Baby at The Annex in the LES, and Lissy Trullie opening for Lykke Li at the V party. The next day A Sunny Day In Glasgow, Motel Motel, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart were highlights at After The Jump at Knitting Factory. Back in Tribeca, Friendly Fires and Little Boots rocked the GrandLife/Fixed shindig.

Read More...