Download + Review – Headless Horseman / Mitchell Museum

Headless Horseman – 5songs
HH are a Brooklyn-based duo of Fareed Sajan (Bottle Up & Go) and Conner O’Neill. In September the band is going to play their first show, opening for Crocodiles, Avey Tare (Animal Collective) and Kria Brekkan (formerly of Mum). So the question is – do they sound anything like aforementioned bands?
Well, yes and no. There’s certainly a lot of parallels with Mum and Animal Collective – lots of plinky noises, glitches, pops, heavily modified vocals and a melody buried somewhere in there. In general, however, HH don’t sound much like anybody but themselves (and they just might be the first ukulele baritone band) and anyone into experimental pop is highly recommended to visit the band’s Bandcamp page and listen to their debut.
While much of the album is available only in streaming form,  Wavlngth is available for download.
Further Info: MySpace

Mitchell Museum – Peter’s Port Memorial Service
And now we’re moving from US to Scotland…
“Memorial” is a debut full-length by a Glasgow quartet Mitchell Museum (although the band also offers plenty of other material for download via their Bandcamp page).
While their music is a tad less experimental than that of Headless Horseman, two bands still share the same kind of approach – its an unconventional take on conventional pop structures/songwriting. In terms of influences, “Memorial” certainly brings to mind Smile-era Beach Boys and Flaming Lips and the way that those bands played around with the idea of dissecting pop music and turning it into something else.
Further Info: Facebook / MySpace / Bandcamp / Twitter
Also – check out this excellent track-by-track guide to “Memorial” from Peenko blog and an interview that the band did with Favorite Son blog.