THE VELVET ANTS
Virginia-based alternative-rock unit The Velvet Ants was always mostly Ian Margolycz, but this time around he insists it’s different. With new recruits in the form of drummer/producer Jordon Zadorozny and bassist Eric Sakmar, Margolycz has teamwork down pat. Stream SOLT OLIO, the product of co-operation and The Velvet Ants’s third album to date.
THE FOREIGN FILMS
“Fall of the Summer Heart” is a bit like the foreign film of this week’s offerings: familiar with folk, jazz, and psychedelic influences; structured unfamiliarly as an eight-part song cycle; refreshing in its musical fusioning; and ever so sophisticated for whatever reason. 9:30 to the oven ding at 10:05 is particularly endearing. Bill Majoros, aka The Foreign Films, has embedded a very good story in the 13-minute track, if you look for it—full plot and everything. It might even leave you wanting a sequel, in which case, you’re in luck: “Fall of the Summer Heart” is the lead single from much-anticipated The Record Collector, his first album since Distant Star (2007). The full-length will be available come April, but until then:
HEADACHES
Headaches is Brooklyn’s Landon Speers. Landon Speers is Headaches. Headaches isn’t bad like headaches, but Landon Speers is also a photographer. Actually, Speers is mostly a photographer. Namely, he photographs other musicians, like Purity Ring and Chrome Sparks and Stefaloo. “Snacks”, his latest casual music endeavour, is a percussive polyphonic symphony. I daresay it’s excellent.