Norman WongEven though he coined it himself, I often wonder if Joel Gibb regrets encouraging the use of “gay church folk music” as a description for the music of The Hidden Cameras. Certainly they got a lot of mileage out of it in the band’s earlier days, as it was both attention grabbing and accurate, but now, four albums in, it probably deserves to be retired.

It’s not that it’s no longer descriptive – Gibb is still gay (one assumes), it’s still music and it’s still built on foundations of folk and church traditions – but it doesn’t give them due credit for evolving from record to record and shedding some of the Cameras’ more titillating/explicit facets in exchange for more musical and lyrical sophistication. Case in point, their latest album Origin: Orphan. It remains unmistakeably a Hidden Cameras record – Joel Gibb’s muse is simply too distinctive for it to be anything else – but there’s a clear effort to broaden the definition of exactly what a Hidden Cameras record is. I’ve always found past albums to feel a bit static, so the ranginess Origin: Orphan is a real eye-opener.

MP3: The Hidden Cameras – “Walk On”
Video: The Hidden Cameras – “In The NA”

The Magnetic Fields will take the theme of their next album Realism to heart by playing songs from it in the flesh on a North American tour that kicks off shortly after the album’s January 26, 2010 release date.

Beach House have released the first MP3 from their third album Teen Dream, due out January 26. I kinda think I like this song better than anything they’ve done yet.

MP3: Beach House – “Norway”

Paper Bag Records is celebrating seven years of not going under with a special covers compilation featuring their artists entitled 7 Year Itch and available to grab for free.

Half-Handed Cloud – “To Fill”

Indie Music Filter put together an online mixtape to showcase Toronto’s Hand Drawn Dracula, a label founded by artist/designer James Mejia and Holy Fuck’s Brian Borcherdt. The roster includes Borcherdt himself, By Divine Right, Julie Fader and a number of others– you can check them all out on the mixtape, but be sure to visit the Hand Drawn Dracula website as well, to check out the wonderful cover art/design aesthetic (which I assume Mejia is responsible for).

Download/Stream: Hand Drawn Dracula Records Mixtape

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Alvin Band - “Tijuana” “The beach is the most vulnerable place, but it's the place of most access. It's horrible to think about attacking a beach, about war on a beach. About all those people with their hot dogs and portable stereos and colourful towels and suits, and sunglasses and lotion and near-nakedness, getting attacked. Do people bring portable stereos to the beach anymore, or maybe did they ever? But I suppose that attacking that part of the land makes the most sense, it's the softest place. Like they know the dark truth of the matter, and they exploit it. I feel that way about my love, like he attacks the beach of my heart. The beach of my body. The softest place, the most vulnerable, innocent, reckless, and unexamined. I am devastated, bent on revenge, but understanding that strategically, it was the smartest move.”

Ratatat
Decoder Ring, 2009

Check out the sweeping, full-screen cinematic preview for Shearwater’s new album The Golden Archipelago at Matador Records dot com.