Thanks to The Snitch’s awesome BetterKnowanSFBlog feature we just learned about the excellent Nascent music blog. We were wondering where the big time music bloggers were. Found! And he’s looking for writers.

By Tyler Corelitz

It seems like only months ago that I first heard about San Francisco duo the Dodos. I felt cool for listening to what I thought was an extremely awesome, but relatively obscure band, that just happened to be playing in my college’s cafeteria. Now, after a year on the road, these Bay Area starlets are gaining national attention on the eve of their sophomore full length release, Visiter, which comes out March 18th on Frenchkiss Records.

The Dodos’ passion for their music is undeniable by the amount of energy they put off in their live shows, which the band has tapped as a major influence for Visiter. Live, it can be hard to tell who is driving who, as the airy vocals and finger-picked guitar of Meric Long mesh with the hyper-rhythmic drumming of Logan Kroeber. Maybe Animal Collective covering Mississippi John Hurt or The Velvet Underground with chops? This formula is showcased on their single “Fools,” as the song alternates between pulsing rim clicks, catchy guitar riffs, and undeniable vocal hooks; all of which can and will be independently stuck in the listener’s head.

As an album, Visiter is truly a nod to the talent of Kroeber, who bills himself as an experimental percussionist. While the experimental nomenclature — for a drummer — can lend itself to self indulgent beats and sounds, Kroeber shows maturity in his ability to play for the song. For the Dodos, this often means creating moments of immense space and tension, by simply alternating accents or textures to highlight Long’s guitar and vocals. This attention to detail can be heard at the end of “Fools,” as Long begins chanting “I’ve been, I’ve been silent,” the listener realizes that the drums have suddenly stopped, only to return in a beautiful pop build that climaxes over Long’s continued chanting.

Through a twist of fate I ran into the Dodos as they were about to film for super-hip French video blog La Blogoteque. As my friends and I followed them through the relatively deserted streets of San Francisco, clapping and singing into a BART station, I realized that I was standing very near to Long; not out of lust or for lack of hearing, but because the Dodos have managed to make music worth getting close to.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2008/02/local_music_blog_calls_for_wri.php

We won’t pay you, but we’ll think you’re pretty cool. You’ll also get valuable writing experience, the chance to chat with some great local musicians, and even some free CDs and concert tickets. You’re also guaranteed to learn more about all the fantastic shit going on right under our noses.

All you need is a love of music, an interest in the Bay Area music scene, and some writing skills. What you’ll write and how often is something we can work out together.

If you’re interested, drop Nate a line at info@nascentmag.com.

ADDENDUM: Some empathy for our position in The Snitch, a news blog at the SF Weekly.

Or, read the short version here.

Featured Review

The Bad
The Good
The Inexplicable

Contribute to Sound by Its Cover

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The Bad

4/11/07 John Ashfield

3/2/07 Mirror Snake

2/15/07 Smoke or Fire

12/11/06 The Size Queens

11/27/06 Sufjan Stevens

11/2/06 Rachel Ray’s Too Cool for School Mixtape for Kids

10/26/06 Pillow Pusher

10/26/06 Charles Xavier

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The Good

3/22/07 The Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound

2/21/07 Alexi Murdoch

1/8/07 Radio Moscow

12/18/06 The Welcome Matt

12/4/06 Shapes and Sizes

11/15/06 Easy Star All-Stars’ Radiodread

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The Inexplicable

3/29/07 Lynn Marie & the Boxhounds

3/7/07 Altar Boyz

2/5/07 GoodWord

1/29/07 A Date With John Waters

11/7/06 Cerrone

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Featured Review

Sound by Its Cover: John Ashfield’s Love Is Blue

This is, without a doubt, one of the goofiest album covers ever. It’s a joy to behold, really, because it’s so damn genuine. I’m sure John Ashfield is a stand-up guy — totally nice, committed to his craft, a talented singer even. And that’s nice to see. But his pose on the cover of Love Is Blue is a character unto itself, a look that supersedes the man. You could spend the next five years of your life with John Ashfield and never shake this image from your head. That’s how profoundly goofy it is.

Something about a big guy like John dressed up in khakis and a baby-blue ribbed sweater while mimicking the playful pose of a schoolgirl is irresistible. He leans back, hands planted at his sides on an aluminum bench, mouth partially agape as if to say, Hey, I’m just having some fun here, legs extended out in front, feet crossed so that we can see the treads of his boots. Can’t you just picture a ten-year-old girl dressed in her Sunday best making the same pose?

In addition to being frontman for SF-based power-pop group the Bobbleheads, Ashfield teaches music to elementary schoolkids, which explains why he’s seated in a schoolyard, perhaps in front of his classroom. Has he adopted the innocent look of the children he teaches, or is this just a coincidence?

Maybe this will shed some light: Love Is Blue is a remake of a 1968 Johnny Mathis record of the same name. Ashfield borrowed that title as well as all of the song names in the original sequence — including standards like “Walk on By” and “Moon River” — but wrote all new music. The cover image, in fact, is also inspired by the original art, in which Mathis perches likewise on a fence wearing an almost identical outfit. So the look is the same, yet the substance is new. Perhaps this explains why a grown man would pose like a little girl. Totally postmodern, man. Or maybe just goofy as hell. – Nate Seltenrich

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Contribute to Sound by Its Cover

We’re looking for new contributors to Sound by Its Cover. You don’t necessarily need experience writing about music or reviewing records the “normal” way, but you should know how to write and have a good sense of humor — the idea is to have fun with this. If you’re interested, please send a couple writing samples and a jpeg of the album cover you’d like to review to info@nascentmag.com. Relatively recent albums are preferred (within the last few months), but if you’ve got an older one in mind, feel free to sell us. We look forward to hearing from you and checking out some killer — or hideous — new album art.