There are two questions Sacramento, Calif.’s Ganglians say they’re asked all the time: Is the band named after ganglion cysts? (Those are gross and kind of cool, frontman Ryan Grubbs said Tuesday, but no.) Also, what’s it like to trip on ayahuasca?

Grubbs said he loves talking about psychoactive drugs almost as much as taking them. But he and his bandmates have never ingested that particular one, which is hard to find outside of South America. (Not that he wouldn’t, he said.)

“We definitely talk about acid experiences a lot,” said Grubbs, whose band opens for Wavves tonight at the Rock & Roll Hotel. “I think it was Rob [Enbom] of Eat Skull who told some guy from The Agit Reader that when we were on tour with him we were finding psychoactive stuff along the road like ayahuasca and ingesting it.” Which is true, Grubbs said, except for the ayahuasca part. “Our bass player Adrian [Comenzind] is a botanist. He’s like the hippie of the group.”

Read More ““What’s the Question, Again?”: A Trippy Interview with Ganglians” »

Weezer: “(If You Are Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To”
If ever there was a rock star who needed to get back in touch with his lowly teenage self, it’s Rivers Cuomo. Weezer’s best moments were driven by nostalgia for D&D, heavy metal, and awkward romance–all things the singer has been unable/unwilling to access during the band’s last three records. “(If You Are Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” from the Weezer’s as-yet-untitled seventh record, is auspiciously geeky, though. There are power pop riffs, at least one mention of a Slayer t-shirt and that’s enough to fuel the faint hope that Cuomo’s nerd-mojo has been reignited.

Radiohead: “These Are My Twisted Words”
So, the blogs were wrong. Who would have thought? Instead of a new Radiohead EPall we get are some nasty words and an official release of “These Are My Twisted Words,” a song that the band leaked last week onto a fan-operated message board. Hey, that’s better than nothing. And it’s not like “Twisted Words” is some sort of tossed off b-side, either. This is Radiohead at its jammiest, with hypnotic guitar arpeggios morphing together for over five minutes as if Johnny Marr were paying homage to Meddle-era Pink Floyd.

Wavves: “Cool Jumper”
San Diego-based scuzz-pop prodigy Nathan Williams has had his name floating all over the blogosphere recently, largely due to a drug-fueled mid-concert meltdown. There’s a better, more productive way, to maintain that hype level, though: release good music. “Cool Jumper” finds Williams doing just that. The chords/grit/drums formula that drives Wavves songs is cleverly expanded using Hella drummer Zach Hill to drop in jarring off time fills over Williams’ bubblegum “ooohs” and “ahhs.”

The Flaming Lips: “See The Leaves”
For the last 10 years The Flaming Lips have been rock’s leading purveyors of PMA, cutting one inspirational anthem after another. But “See The Leaves,” from the band’s upcoming record Embryonic, strikes a darker tone. In fact, between the song’s stumbling groove and bleak outro, there’s nary a confetti blasting/fist-pump-appropriate moment to be found here. “Without hope/ without love/ she sees herself from below and above,” sings front man Wayne Coyne. The Flaming Lips do paranoia pretty well, though, and “See The Leaves” is no exception. It’s hard to say what triggered the epic come-down, but it might not be a bad thing.

A weekly roundup of unreleased songs, new singles, and assorted musical detritus as it trickles out to the Web.

Camera Obscura: “My Maudlin Career”
The other Scottish indie-pop band paddles down a river of reverb with a lone buzzing guitar hook to guide it. But like similar minded Glasgow-based peers Belle & Sebastian, Camera Obscura is at its best when it’s feeling worst (see “Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”), and the song benefits from Tracyanne Campbell’s convincing melancholy. “This maudlin career has come to an end/ I don’t want to be sad again,” she sings.
Read More “Leak Proof: Camera Obscura, Reading Rainbow, R.E.M.” »

In a good way, indie rock got smaller in 2008.

D.C. rediscovered its love for vinyl (the story of the year is the resurgence of the mom-and-pop record store). A neighborhood—Mount Pleasant—stood up against anti-live-music NIMBYs. Even a local band or two seemed to surprise all of us (Deleted Scenes).

There’s a new underground, a real underground, working overtime in a group house in the District, and Iowa City, and every place in between. This new underground doesn’t have much of an Internet presence (no standard wiki page, packages sold via checks-in-the-mail). This underground has started releasing hand-made tapes (again). Its fuzzy folky CD-Rs were this year’s mix tapes.

Some of the year’s best music couldn’t be labeled. Some of the year’s best music couldn’t be found on Pitchfork. I wish I could have digested all of it. I wish I could have given a deeper listen to Wet Hair, Children’s Hospital, Kria Brekkan, Ducktails, Mark McGuire, and so on. But here’s my favorite indie releases of the year so far:

1. Ruby Suns: Sea Lion (Sub Pop)

In a year where everyone copied a bit from the New Zealand sound all over again—kiwi pop was almost as big as afropop as a selling point this year—the Ruby Suns are one of the few who didn’t fall for either the tribute to Paul Simon (Vampire Weekend) or plunder the Flying Nun catalog. Leader Ryan McPhun, a Californian who has made New Zealand his home for years, combines Afropop congas, ‘80s dance beats, and even a tribute to the Mojave Desert (now, well, a tribute to Mojave, some new Microsoft thing). It’s what Neutral Milk Hotel would sound like now. I wrote about the band’s live show at the Black Cat a while ago and filmed a bit of its performance.

Listen to “Tane Mahuta”

2. The Woods: Some Shame [Tour-Only Cassette]

Here is a band that scores zero mentions on Metacritic, has gotten no reviews on Pitchfork. They release cassettes, CD-Rs and limited runs of vinyl. They put so much stuff out, they seem like an empire. They are a band for message boards and word-of-mouth. None of this means anything except that these Brooklyn DIY tapeheads aspire to real-not-virtual audiences, not hegemony or to be heard on a Gossip Girls episode. The Woods produce music that actually feels personal, and maybe even truly free sounding. Listening to Some Shame is like what it felt like to discover Weed Forestin’: ­woozy psych, bursts of noise, secret knowledge. It’s a feel-good weirdness you decode only when you can’t sleep. (For me, that’s a lot of the time.)

Listen to “Military Madness”

3. Yoro Sidibe: Yoro Sidibe (Yaala Yaala)

A Towson professor, Jack Carneal, finds himself mesmerized by the plunky, preachy sounds of ancient Malian hunters music. So he seeks out the master. What he brings back is trance music, story songs for the dance floor whether centuries ago or right now. You’ll want to crank this up. I wrote about the record for the Post.

Listen to “Track 3″

Read More “Music 2008: Indie Rock Rediscovers The Joys Of Tape Hiss” »