Three of the finest US bands swing by as part of the now legendary Shred Yr Face tour..
The Shred Yr Face tour will be hitting the UK for the third time this November, following two previous jaunts around the country showcasing upcoming bands like F*cked Up, Rolo Tomassi, Los Campesinos, No Age.. You get the picture. Well this time it’s some bands from across the pond and they’re all pretty much amazing…
check out the Shred Yr Face blog
WOODS
“Woods’ latest album, Songs of Shame, is their most cohesive collection, and it’s not only quickly lifted them to front of the Woodsist crew but positioned them to be the group that appeals to those who’ve previously been uninterested in the 2008-09 crop of lo-fi. As with the best lo-fi albums, Songs of Shame performs some sleight-of-hand by sounding private and homespun yet also not just accessible but immediately lovable. Along the way, Woods can evoke any number of their lo-fi ancestors, from early Guided by Voices to the murkier depths of the Siltbreeze or Flying Nun back catalogs, but they’re still able to retain their own immediately recognizable off-kilter character… Despite Woods’ humble production values and their fondness for living room ambiance, Songs of Shame has that almost subliminal ability to make one want to move in to listen more closely. And once you’ve been drawn in for a good listen, it becomes difficult not to want to come back for many more.”— Matthew Murphy- PITCHFORK, April 24, 2009
www.myspace.com/woodsfamilyband
ESPERS
Espers is a neo-psychedelic folk band from Philadelphia. They formed in 2002 as a trio of singer-songwriter Greg Weeks, Meg Baird and Brooke Sietinsons but later expanded to a sextet including Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall and Chris Smith. Their music is reminiscent of late-sixties british folk such as that of Fairport Convention, Pentangle and The Incredible String Band as well as many contemporary folk acts such as Six Organs of Admittance, Marissa Nadler and Nick Castro and as such their work is often lumped in with the so-called new weird america movement or naturalismo as Devendra Banhart preferred to coin it in 2006.
www.myspace.com/espers
THE CAVE SINGERS
Despite their name, The Cave Singers do not actually hail from any physical cave that we’re aware of – though Seattle can be a dark and mysterious city, with its share of stalactite-esque hangers-on. Metaphysically, however, said Cave Singers have filled a cave-like void in Matador’s collective musical consciousness this summer. Here is the mystery of Seattle’s Cave Singers: They never listened to much folk music, they never intended to play folk music, and more importantly, their guitarist never picked up the instrument until recently. Yet, this strange trio is writing and performing some of the most hypnotizing folk music we have today.
www.myspace.com/thecavesingers