The Tape

2009 has been a fantastic year for music. While you all know that, I’ve noticed a rather interesting trend on top of that. Many of the artists that have released or are going to release albums this year have topped their previous works, taking their band to an entirely new level. Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, J. Tillman, and countless others have all put out (or are going to put out) absolutely stellar albums, solidifying their respective places in indie rock super stardom. Of course some are more popular than others, but each artist/band has taken their music to a new level with their respective 2009 releases. After all that rambling, you’re probably wondering what the point is. If I haven’t made it painfully obvious enough, my point is that Victoria Bergsman aka Taken By Trees has now reached that plateau, with her upcoming release, East Of Eden. East Of Eden is due out September 8th, on Rough Trade Records.

East Of Eden is a very unique album in the sense that the entire thing was recorded in Pakistan. Victoria, her engineer, and sole accompanying musician Andreas Soderstrom, took Pakistan by storm, scouting out local musicians to help contribute to the album. The result is a beautifully constructed album, rich in authentic middle eastern sounds. Victoria Bergsman has an absolutely beautiful voice, which is elegantly put on display throughout this album. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to talk about a few of my favorite tracks.

The second track on the album, “Anna” starts with a chant, which sounds like it was created by children on the street in Pakistan. The raucous street noises slowly fade out, while a soothing synth and hand percussion enter. An acoustic guitar plucks along, really setting a tone for the track. Victoria’s voice enters the track, with beautiful harmonies following her voice’s every move. The song floats along rather uneventfully, but any other way would make this track sound too unsteady. The beauty of this track is the simple song structure, which when executed well, always makes for a great song. The very next track, “Watch The Waves”, is the first single, and rightfully so. Starting with a middle eastern woodwind instrument, the song suddenly takes a twist, when some handclaps and a strumming acoustic guitar part enter. The guitar line really reminds me of that HIGHLIFE song, or something by Sleep Whale. This song follows a similar pattern to “Anna”, which once again proves successful. The song just sort of unfolds without ever changing too dramatically, but once in a while a new part is added, just to keep us from getting bored.

Skip a few tracks, and you’ll arrive at the next track to take the blog world by storm. Anytime someone covers Animal Collective, they’ll get some love, but if you cover it well, people really notice. Victoria does her interpretation of “My Girls”, conveniently titled “My Boys.” An absolutely charming cover, this is the perfect track. If you’re sick of banging synths or male vocals, try this alternative, it may suit you. Hell, even if you’re still digging Animal Collective, I’m pretty sure you’ll love this. The last track on the album, “Bekannelse” is a really nice closer. A melodic drone is layered upon various instruments, all rotating, playing one note each. While this is happening, Victoria gently sings over it all, adding a perfect layer to a song already thick with parts. The track goes on like this for a while, with some hectic percussion being thrown in just to make sure we don’t get too comfortable. This track perfectly captures the ebbs and flows of the album, and sums it up in one final track. I really wish more artists would consider ending albums like this, but if everyone did it, it wouldn’t be so cool now would it?

If you know what’s up, you’ll pre-order it right here (LP or CD).

Taken By Trees- Watch The Waves

Taken By Trees- Watch The Waves (Memory Tapes Version)

Swirling guitar lines accented by various items used as percussion describes Sleep Whale’s Western Vinyl release, Little Brite. The Texan duo layer their tracks with guitar lines, violins, cellos, music boxes, shortwave radios, tape machines, and field recordings. The band is made up of guitarist/cellist Joel North and violinist/sequence programmer Bruce Blay.

I’ve been listening to “Josh Likes Me” non-stop, being drawn in by the looping guitar line that never goes away, just being built upon by various instruments. These two men are extremely talented musicians, who make fantastic music to relax to. Enjoy “Josh Likes Me” below, and watch a rad video for “Skipping Stones” as well.

Sleep Whale- Josh Likes Me

Two mega-hits for you today! First up is an Islands first, a recorded version of Where There’s A Will There’s A Whalebone, one of my personal favorite Islands songs, but sans guest rapper. As some of you may remember, the coachella performance of the song was bolstered by the guest appearance of Busdriver, but in the Daytrotter studio there were no such surprises. You can grab the song and the others from that session at

Islands Daytrotter Session

More importantly, the smash wondermega#1hitmagicfuntime track of all time; it’s

Wonderwall (Jeremy Katzentstein Cover)

Often considered the greatest home-recording of all time and recorded when the artist was a mere ten years old, this rare cut highlights the vocal ingenuity and technical prowess that would launch him into the stratosphere with successive #1 albums  At the Sleepover and For Harold, Forever Ago