Leah Callahan: Curious Tourist

Boston indie singer Leah Callahan has picked an apt title for her new album, Curious Tourist. She started out as New Wave artist, but she loves to explore (and master) other genres as well. In the title track she brushes shoulders with late night jazz, Ordinary Face is a spot-on baroque pop song, and she gets the party started with a slice of country in Nowhere Girl. Bubblegum pop for grown ups can be found in Super. Fellow Bostonians Pixies get a nod with a hint of surf in Social Climber. The album's sole cover, You Don't Love Me (No No No), is turned into late night jazz meets ska song.

Callahan is like a kid in a candy store, who can't settle for just a couple of treats, but that is not a problem at all. Her enthusiasm is contagious and she created an album where each song could have been a single. Don't sleep on the piano ballad Duras or the post-progressive instrumental All's Fair in War as the dark horse to be cherished by serious music fans and adventurous DJ's who don't give a fuck about corporate formats.

Words about music (732): Irmin Schmidt

Calling what composers did in the second half of the 20th century a revolution adds too much pathos. We simply invented something new. Electronic music resulted from a scientific and extra-musical development. The arts took advantage of that. Just like Dan Flavin turned neon lights into art. Every scientific revolution brought forth an artistic movement. Composers like Beethoven, Wagner and Stockhausen were true revolutionaries, they got rid of all existing rules.

Irmin Schmidt

Seb Zukini: Honestly

Dutch indie band Seb Zukini goes for mainstream rock on their new single Honestly. And while some it feels a bit like connecting the dots in a true-and-tried fashion, they have grown significantly in getting it right in the studio, feeling more confident that using hills and valleys is a far smarter move than putting all the faders up. It could have been a bit rougher to do justice to their live sound, but then again that would probably scare radiofriendly playlisters.

Live date:

• O5/05 Assen, The Netherlands @ Bevrijdingsfestival

» sebzukini.nl

HCTF review of The Devil You Know.

Golden Alphabet: I Found Love, But I'm a Hater

Brooklyn based psych folk band Golden Alphabet are dealing with some kind of reality check on their new single I Found Love, But I'm a Hater. Things that were considered to be decidedly uncool turn out not to be as bad after all. Propelled forward by a catchy, almost country-alike backbeat, they lock into a groove, with Garrett Weinholtz's trombone as the icing on the cake: "I found love, but I'm a hater // I'm vacant of all pain // I push a broom, but i'm a painter // I have no room for shame".

Subterranean Street Society: tour dates

Danish/Dutch grunge-tinged folk trio Subterranean Street Society will be on tour in the UK and The Netherlands to promote their Bleep album.