The Boggs Forts

Forts is quite possibly a modern breakthrough in the use of fusing modern sampling and eclectic songwriting. The Boggs create a stirring soundscape of both cut-up and collage and multi-cultura pop songs around foreign noise with traditional rock elements (guitar, bass drums etc). There are elements of '60s influence in tunes like the left field "Kinkesque", "Little Windows" and bouncy glam rock ala "Arm In Arm". However, the album really starts going towards the end where we find the band in more reflective moods such as "The Passage" and "So I So You". The album reaches an apex with "Poor Things" and "If We Want (We Can)", which sounds as if Nick Cave went to Nigeria for an afro beat holiday. The later songs uses melodies and rhythms of main man Jason Friedman's homeland of South Africa. The more traditional elements sound a bit more personal than the sonic experiments. Overall, Forts is definitely worth a listen.

The Boggs:[myspace] Gigantic Music [Official]

A Sunny Day In Glasgow Scribble Mural Comic Journal

The strange beauty of Philadelphia's A Sunny Day In Glasgow sets the imagination aflame with their full length debut Scribble Mural Comic Journal; a shimmering eruption of shoegaze melancholy and avant-garde dream pop. As the brainchild of les enfants terribles Ben, Lauren, and Robin Daniels, ASID combines the twee pop aesthetics of British influences such as The Field Mice and American noise terrorists The Swirlies to create a silver cloud blanket of metallic haze. The trance inducing vocals of the Daniels sisters recall early Ecstasy And Wine era My Bloody Valentine, and The Cocteau Twins in their prime. However, the album's homemade DIY production style in combination with overall otherworldly songwriting gives the band a persona and sound all of their own. The spellbinding "C'mon" and "Wake Up Pretty" are examples of this new take on '90s fuzz pop. Elements such as static and tape hiss are used in dazzling effect, with tidal waves of treated guitars and synths giving the songs an underwater quality. The rhythms sound like thundering industrial quakes on tracks like "5:15 Train" and "Ghost In The Graveyard".

A Sunny Day In Glasgow have single handedly updated a genre and have created an atmosphere of wonder; a dreamscape where imaginations run wild across dismal skylines. The album is released on the former Austin now Transcontinental imprint Notenuf Records.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow: [MySpace]
Notenuf Records:[Official]