Monday Music Muse: Anathallo

What a flugelhor has to do with the existential quest of twentysomethings.

We’ve had our eye on Anathallo ever since their fantastic Coachella 2007 performance. Their brand of chamber indie-pop is simply unlike anything else out there — vocals that blend the lightness of youth with the intensity of life and lyrics that speak to the troubled enlightenment of the quintessential twentysomething, all wrapped in superb multi-instrumentalist percussion.

This year, we were delighted to find Anathallo equally fantastic at SXSW — be your own judge with this free copy of The River.

Taken from Greek, anathallo means “bloom again” — a fitting allegory for the band, which was conceived in 2000 only to live through several line-up changes over the next six years, until it was finally reborn in 2006 as the current 7-member neo-orchestra.

Anathallo‘s latest album, Canopy Glow, is a captivating cascade of vocal harmonies, chamber magic, and lyrical sensibility that makes you want to go out and just live. It’s part Vampire Weekend, part Kings of Convenience, part Fleet Foxes, part something else entirely.

So give Canopy Glow a listen — if for no other reason, then just because it’s not every day you hear a trombone, a flugelhor AND an autoharp in an indie band.

Monday Music Muse: The Botticellis

Why SoCal and Sweden are closer than you think, or how to take the speed lane to SXSW glory.

With harmonies that give Fleet Foxes a run for their money, vocals reminiscent of The Magnetic Fields, and cinematic beats that channel Scandinavian favorites like Sambassadeur, indie popsters The Botticellis took the speed lane to our (disappointingly short) best-of-SXSW-2009 list. 

Their sun-drenched sound and dreamy guitars come, unsurprisingly, from Southern California. And while a clear nostalgic connection with surf culture oozes from their music, deep lyrical sensibility and unique analog production make The Botticellis a delightfully unclassifiable force of their own.

Their debut album, Old Home Movies, is every bit as excellent as their eponymous SXSW track, which you can snag for free right here.

You can also spot The Botticellis (and a ton more free downloads) on Daytrotter, easily the best up-and-coming music site around, and one we’ve been enamored with for a long, long, long, long time.

Monday Music Muse: Kat Edmonson

From Paris to London to Southern California, by way of Austin, Texas.

We’re still making our way through 140+ hours of SXSW music, having found less than twenty 5-star-worthy tracks to date. But but with foot planted firmly among them is Kat Edmonson — a refreshing oasis of raspy, jazzy goodness among the barren landscape of indie punk-pop-rock mediocrity.

Her latest album, Take To The Sky, is a delight from start to finish, including the best cover of Summertime we’ve heard in quite some time. In fact, it’s the best new jazz vocal we’ve heard in quite some time, period.

Part Duffy, part Madeleine Peyroux, Edmonson blends the magnetism of French jazz with the British school of raspy vocals, intertwined with notes of social responsibility reminiscent of the California indie scene — all by way of Austin, Texas.

You can download her excellent SXSW single, Just One Of Those Things, free from the festival website. And take our word for it — the entire Take To The Sky album is every bit as good.