Wymond Miles guitar player for the awesome Fresh and Onlys makes his solo debut (on B3 at least) w/ new track “Passion Plays”. Somewhere between the music of his day job band and early Interpol “Passion Plays” is the sort of guts-driven post-punk we can only dream that Banks & Co. are capable of now. Very very nice.
Wymond Miles 
(Purchase)
Rating 8.2
Shy Nature a newish London band do the singalong-able UK effects/fuzz rock thing quite well w/ new track “Washout”. Equal parts blister and dreamy (almost Parachutes-era Coldplay-esque), Shy Nature work a nice balance between the track’s two very different dynamics and score a very strong song in the process. Look for a self-titled EP from Shy Nature due September 16th.
Shy Nature 
(Bandcamp)
Rating 8
Picture the scene; Mac Demarco has one too many beers at a sweaty London show and slips off the stage into the loving arms of his girlfriend Kiki. Meanwhile, a forgotten London music maker like Jamie T (2007) is in the crowd and senses for a moment to come out of hiding. He tears the mic from Mac’s hand, steps up on stage to join the band and suddenly, Only Real is born.
No…this never happened, but still Niall Galvin just might have you (at least) sonically fooled with this new track “Get It On” from Only Real’s forthcoming EP Days In The City out on 7th October. Check it out below. By Nathan Hetherington
Only Real 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.1
Photos by Russ Ramos
Here’s a photo recap of LA rock duo Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards a/k/a Deap Vally kicking some ass during their sold-out homecoming gig at the world famous Troubadour in West Hollywood this past Tuesday night. Enjoy and read more on Deap Vally here.
Deap Vally (Facebook)
The new look Yuck knock another A+ single between the posts w/ the superbly executed romantically detached gazewave of “Middle Sea”. The Yuckers new record is to be titled Glow & Behold and will get a release via Fat Possum on Oct. 1st.
Rating 8
The Phoenix hommes link up w/ their bro Robert Kelly (you may remember their impromptu collab at Coachella) for this new “Trying To Be Cool” remix and as you may have suspected, it’s awesome. Nobody gets rich off the remix like The R.
Phoenix 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.2
The Foals’ festival of raves have continued throughout the Summer of 2013: Coachella, Bonnaroo, Download (which they headlined), Glastonbury, Lollapalooza–all of which have lauded Foals as weekend highlights. This past Friday night we witnessed a relatively more intimate show from Foals at The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. The band did not disappoint, as they brought their festival game-faces and intensity to the smaller capacity venue. Their energy was off the charts, the playing was precise, and the lighting during the show was equally excellent. Guitarist Jimmy Smith raised eyebrows with heavier sounds on their most recent Holy Fire album and make no mistake about it… this was a serious rock show.
Garage-punk Drowners from the UK opened the night with a high energy blast. The sound didn’t do them any favors, but this band’s long-term potential did shine through. Leader singer Matt Hitt (great name) has star qualities. I also loved that they covered Love’s hit from the 60’s, “My Little Red Book”. LA’s Cayucas filled the middle slot on the evening, having gotten nice traction with their “High School Lover” single. Based on that track, one would expect a rather festive set. They were mostly low-key in a breezy, tropical, pina colada kind of way. A style that works well for those wanting the vibe of a mellow afternoon at the pool, but I wouldn’t have minded a little more espresso in the mix.
What seemed like a beefed up version of their “Prelude” song opened Foals’ performance and perfectly set the tone for the remainder of the evening. Holy Fire highlights included “My Number”, “Providence,” and “Inhaler”. The crowd also responded warmly to “Late Night”. The band added a surprise extension to “Providence”, which doubled the pleasure for a song that deserves more profile than it has received from most North American press. The guys played a nice blend of old and new songs. “Spanish Sahara” from Total Life Forever provided a sweet change of pace on the night. Lead singer Yannis Phillippakis was not a man of many spoken words, saying very little until he thanked the crowd for being “fucking awesome” before the band finally launched into “Inhaler”. “Two Steps Twice” perfectly closed the festivities.
The 2013 festival blitz for Foals may be further indication that the band is positioning themself to be headliner status for most major events. And I’d argue that there is a dire need for such fresh blood atop these mega line-ups. What we saw on Friday night at the Wiltern Theater indicates that Foals might be ready to attain that elite status if their next album is equally killer as its predecessors. A friend of mine remarked that they might be the next Muse. I wouldn’t yet go that far but I have to admit that their machine-like intensity did make me think of Muse on a few occasions.
Review and Photo by Bruce Rave
Foals (Official)
* Links and playlists from Rave’s weekly new music show can be found on his blog and be sure follow Bruce on Twitter too!
We recently interviewed (totally by e-mail by the way, we didn’t fly to Russia for it!) new favorite of the site, the Far Eastern Russia-based artist Parks, Squares and Alleys. Among other things we talked about being a musician from and in such an exotic place and the varying degress of impactfulness that being from such a remote geography can have. Check out our conversation below and sample PSK’s brand new (and awesome) track “Forest”.
B3SCI: Being from a bit of a remote part of the world (Khabarovsk in Far Eastern Russia), is it freeing at all as a musician? What are the expectations like of bands from your part of the world? Describe what it’s like to be a musical artist from Khabarovsk, Russia…
PSA: There are a many cons of being musical artist from Far East. Actually, a lot of people from Western Russia do not really know where Khabarovsk is. It’s quite sad. Truth be told, this area is isolated from the rest of country. Sounds bad, but the internet solves geographic problem. Also many people like far eastern music and they find it very charming and mysterious as the sounds from the deep of forest.
B3SCI: The intentional obscuring (or at least omission) of a newcomer musician’s background and biography has become a bit of a trend in the last couple years. In that way, not much is known about Parks, Squares and Alleys, was this intentional, accidental, a result of the band’s exotic geography?
PSA: I don’t try to hide any information about me or Parks, Squares and Alleys. I think it’s mostly result of the band’s exotic geography. I understand why an intentional obscuring has become a trend, but it doesn’t really work in my case.
B3SCI: The quality of the melodies and arrangements and writing on songs like “Youth” indicate quite a bit of songwriting skill. How long have you been writing? What inspires you as a writer? Is there a particular place or instrument or set of sounds?
PSA: I started writing songs 5 years agо, and it was always very exciting process. But I didn’t care about lyrics, I thought that melody is much important. Now I’m trying to write a gentle poetry and express my feelings in songs. I get inspiration from everything: music, places, people, books, films and especially my memories.
B3SCI: What, for you, defines a great song? What makes for a great melody?
PSA: I like songs that touch me from the first notes. You can always hear if artist puts his soul into the song. That’s why not only sequence of notes makes great melody.
B3SCI: What’s your impression of the current state of independent music in the English speaking world? (US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc) Any trends or particular sounds or artists that are particularly special to you right now?
PSA: Every day I discover new artists, but there are few bands that have a big influence on me. I’m huge fan of twee-pop bands of Bristol record label “Sarah Records”. I do love old Manchester groups like The Stone Roses, New Order and The Smiths. Also I always get inspiration from young modern bands like Gauntlet Hair, Chad Valley, Yung Life, Washed Out, The Mary Onettes, etc. And, of course, where I would be now without music of “Captured Tracks” label.
B3SCI: What’s next for Parks, Squares & Alleys? Any definite plans to release any new music? Any particular direction the writing of newer material has been taking?
PSA: I’m recording material for new LP that includes singles “Youth” and “Forest”, newer tracks sounds like dream-pop of 90s, you know, with old fashioned synths and chorus guitar. Also I have some plans to featuring with chillwave project “Sugar God” from Moscow.
B3SCI: Do you have plans to tour and perform any time soon?
PSA: There will be gig in Khabarovsk very soon, and I have plans to perform in Vladivostok in autumn. There was a lot of talks about tour, but I don’t even know when it will happen. Maybe in winter. I want to visit Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and other European cities.
B3SCI: We here at B3SCI are hooking you up with a roundtrip ride on our very real time machine. Where are you choosing to travel to and why?
PSA: I would travel to NYC in 1985 to get in avant garde community, work with Sonic Youth and meet other talented artists of that time. The people of art are foundation of human freedom.
Parks, Squares and Alleys 
(Facebook)
The great Misun return today w/ a kinetic, Morricone-as-distilled-through-a-mirrorball new song “Hills and Trails”. On the track, a country & western-inspired two-step buoys reverbed-out guitar strums and melodic 8-bit synths and singer Misun Wojick’s great multi-speed vocal stylings. A++
Misun 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.4
