DEAD OCEANS

A feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition, a gushing review in Rolling Stone, and more blog attention than your average political scandal—not many bands pull off all three without benefit of a record label. With their 2003 self-released debut, Charm School, Bishop Allen did just that. And arguably, that’s not even what’s most impressive about the band.

That would be this: In 2006, the members of Brooklyn’s Bishop Allen took it upon themselves to record and release an EP every month of the year. Twelve months and 58 songs later, they’d completed one of the more ambitious recording projects we can think of. Further, the EPs are impressive in quality as well as scope. Charm School was a hooky indie-pop gem, but Bishop Allen’s EP material proves far more sophisticated, no longer relying on sugar-coating to be addictive. From the first notes of January’s opener, “Corazon,” it’s clear that Bishop Allen has evolved into something grand. The EPs capture a band taking chances, expanding their musical vocabulary and writing unforgettable songs.

A musical partnership between Harvard grads Justin Rice and Christian Rudder with an ever-rotating cast of musical collaborators, Bishop Allen has lived up to the promise of its early press, paid its dues on the road and in the studio, and is ready for the next challenge. Working with a label for the first time, they are gearing up for the release of a new album—just one this time—a follow-up to Charm School due in summer of 2007.

DIRTY PROJECTORS
"Fucked for Life"
(from the Marriage Records release "New Attitude EP")

There’s a reason artists like Xiu Xiu, Final Fantasy, Prefuse 73 and Grizzly Bear all sing the praises of Dirty Projectors. Dave Longstreth is a mad genius. Splicing together everything from opera to African funk, electronic music to skewed pop, minimalist composers to soul crooners, it seems just about anything can be mortared together convincingly in Longstreth’s overarching vision.

Dirty Projectors’ ever-changing cast—whether a dozen-musician ensemble or a touring quartet—follows Longstreth’s musical direction. Formed in 2002 while Longstreth was an undergrad at Yale, Dirty Projectors have made some of the most visionary and original recordings in recent memory. Currently residing in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Longstreth and his Dirty Projectors are some of New York City’s most vital sound creators.

Dirty Projectors’ most recent full-length, 2005’s The Getty Address, was hailed not only for its musical accomplishments, but also for its conceptual genius. The Getty Address is a narrative inspired by Aztec mythology, the Eagles, and the aftermath of September 11, 2001. It’s equally ambitious in execution – a wholly innovative, awe-inspiring musical creation. Praising The Getty Address’s ambitious approach, Pitchfork raved that it “tosses verse-chorus-verse out the window and relies on stuttering, repeated musical themes. Longstreth indulges the classical influences he first explored on last year's Slaves' Graves and Ballads, but the instrumentation (strings, woodwinds, a female choir) is sampled musique concrete-style and infused with electronic R&B beats. This isn't just opera with a little thump for flavor, though—Longstreth comes at modern R&B just as he does folk and classical, with a deep appreciation and an outsider's flair.”

In 2006, Dirty Projectors released the acclaimed New Attitude EP, which forgoes the narrative approach of The Getty Address, focusing instead on summarizing—in just 30 minutes—Longstreth’s incredibly varied musical imagination. It’s not everyday that Prince, Fela, Animal Collective and Alan Lomax work their way into reviews about the same record, but press about New Attitude managed to name-check all four.

Currently, Dirty Projectors are completing a new album slated for release in mid-2007, and have plans to tour this winter and beyond.

EVANGELICALS
"Snowflakes (Demo)"
(previously unreleased)

Evangelicals’ So Gone was an oft-talked-about debut in 2006, with critics praising the album’s hyperactive, over-caffeinated, frantic pop brew. After its release in June 2006, the band hit the road, touring with the likes of Serena Maneesh and Annuals, and quickly gained a reputation for their potent live act. So Gone was recorded before the band existed, at home, primarily by main Evangelical Josh Jones with the assistance of a few broken-down four-tracks and some rudimentary computer technology. Originally formed in 2005 in Norman, Oklahoma, lead Evangelical Josh Jones quickly recruited bassist/keyboardist Kyle Davis and drummer Austin Stephens to join in the fray, turning his homespun creation into the live sensation that it is today.

Now an established trio, Evangelicals are readying their sophomore effort, pulling their trademark jittery sound into a focused, coherent vision that’s an obvious evolution. This is clearly a band that spent the bulk of the year either playing shows or recording in the studio, and the follow-up to So Gone is a masterwork in the making.

IRAN
"We Could Go Away For Awhile"
(from the Tumult release "The Moon Boys ")

Iran’s first two albums, released on the venerable Tumult label in 2000 and 2002, are by now stalwart favorites. Recalling the buzz and fuzz of lo-fi pioneers like Dead C, the Grifters, Swell Maps, Trumans Water and Westing-era Pavement, these early Iran recordings contain blasts of homemade noise and psychedelic chaos, all laid over the sweetest of pop hooks. Released in the pre-Best New Music era, these albums are much loved by the lucky ones that heard them, including the Pitchfork reviewers who gave the albums Arcade Fire-worthy scores of 9.6 and 8.9.

Since 2002, Iran’s founding members have been busy: songwriter Aaron Aites spent two years living in Scandinavia working on Until the Light Takes Us, a feature documentary on Norwegian black metal that is currently in post-production, while Aites’ musical accomplice Kyp Malone has been consumed by work with TV on the Radio.

2007 marks the return of Iran with the release of The Same Song Over and Over, in which the band proves it’s left the bedroom and opted for the high fidelity of a full-fledged recording studio. The sizzled haze of Iran’s four-track-recorded early records may have obscured their pop sensibility, but no more. Shedding much of the crackle, hiss, and detuned guitars, Aites’ pop songs are at the fore on Same Song Over and Over; he’s joined by Malone, as well as a full band, bringing their lo-fi dementia into full bloom.