Jim Carroll hears two new releases.
TICKLEY FEATHER
Tickley Feather
Paw Tracks
Annie Sachs is Tickley Feather, a Philadelphia resident specialising in scratchy, scuzzy lo-fi pop. There's a lot of it about this weather, but Sachs makes a better fist than most of getting a lot out of very little.
It's apt that her slender, brittle songs are appearing on Paw Tracksbecause she takes a similar approach to sonic recycling and reverb as label kingpins Animal Collective.
With Sachs, though, the magic is not just in the details. While the tracks are very simple to deconstruct - a sliver of keyboards, minor-key vocals and a rub of hiss to mess it all up is what she's largely working with - Sachs still makes great emotional play from these ingredients.
Tracks such as The Pythonor Tonight Is The Niteeven throw some surprises into the works by finding unexpected melodic depth (the former) or showing some well-honed electronic heft (the latter).
[ www.myspace.com/tickleyfeatherOpens in new window ]
JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: The Python, Tonight Is The Nite
JAMES PANTS
Welcome
Stones Throw
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After button-holing label boss Peanut Butter Wolf at a prom dance in Texas, James Singleton landed an internship at Stones Throw, which, in time, led to a record contract for the one-man band from the sleepy streets of Spokane, Washington.
As apprenticeships go, Pants obviously learned a lot watching acts come and go at the label and there's a dashing exuberance to his sound which is hard to dislike.
Throwing down a welterweight selection of diverse slo-mo funk, disco and hip-hop beats and rhythms to coax you closer, Pants relies on the textures of his sound rather than the strength of the track to make an impact.
There are times, though, when you wish he'd follow an idea through to its conclusion, rather than switching mid-stream. Such quality control and belief in his own abilities will, no doubt, come later.
[ www.myspace.com/jamespantsOpens in new window ]
JIM CARROLL
Download tracks: Green Rivers, Theme From Paris
