She Keeps Bees – “Saturn Return”
The Brooklyn-based duo that I love oh so much has announced a new album due out this spring called ‘Dig On’ – their third album. ‘Saturn Return’ will be the opening track. If you’re unfamiliar with their work don’t deny yourself the pleasure any longer. Pick up the album ‘Nests’ and find out what you’ve been missing.
Alberta Cross – Broken Side of Time
“Rise from the Shadows”
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
“Ready Able”
Tape Deck Mountain – Ghost
“Scantron”
Atlas Sound – Logos
“Quick Canal”
Flaming Lips – Embryonic
“The Ego’s Last Stand”
Woods – Songs of Shame
“Rain On”
Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth
“You Do You “
Amazing Baby – Rewild
“The Narwhal”
Band of Skulls – Baby Darlin Doll Face Honey
“Death by Diamonds and Pearls”
Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains
“And The Hazy Sea”
The XX – The XX
“Crystalised”
She Keeps Bees – Nests
“Gimme”
Girls – Album
“Lust for Life”
Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
“The Prowl”
Fever Ray – Fever Ray
“If I Had A Heart”
Foreign Born – Person to Person
“Vacationing People”
J. Tillman – Vacilando Territory Blues
“First Born”
Leopold and His Fiction – Ain’t No Surprise
“Broke”
Papercuts – You Can Have What You Want
“Future Primitive”
Speck Mountain – Some Sweet Relief
“I Feel Eternal”
Shadows on a River – Shadows on a River
“In Business”
The Veils – Sun Gangs
“The Letter”
The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
“Velvet”
Jeff the Brotherhood – Heavy Days
“U Got The Look”
Electric Tickle Machine – Blew It Again
“Blew It Again”
She Keeps Bees, “My Last Nerve”
“…I’m your punisher/ I’ve got nerve. I’ve got some nerve, don’t I? “
I’m still obsessing over this album and particularly this song. I just love how the imagery of this portrait by Richard Avedon, called The Beekeeper (one of my favorites in the Avedon exhibit happening currently at SF MOMA – a must see!), fits so well with with everything about this post. I’m feeling very satisfied and complete right now. Get the album “Nests” by She Keeps Bees and you might too.
Artist: She Keeps Bees
Album: Nests
File Under: Lo-Fi Indie Rock
Recommended if You Like: Heartless Bastards, Cat Power, Nina Simone, PJ Harvey, Jack ‘n Meg
Featured Tracks:
No frills, stripped down, raw, lo-fi, bluesy indie rock. You like that kinda music? Me too. And this Brooklyn-based duo, comprised of Jessica Larrabee (vocals, guitar) and Andy LaPlant, gives it up in spades. The first hit I got when I heard their album was a stripped down version of the Heartless Bastards. Like Erika Wennerstrom and Cat Power, Larrabee’s voice has a similar bluesy, soulful quality. And given their relationship status (boyfriend/girlfriend) and blues rock vibe, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to The White Stripes.
Oh, and then there’s the songwriting! Powerful and seductive, it’s hard not to get caught up in Larrabee’s conviction on “Gimme” as she pleads “Gimme, gimme, give it to me daddy/ Work me like my back ain’t got no bone.” And my personal favorite, “My Last Nerve”, where she growls “Lord, I am tired of this same old bullshit…” just gets me every time.
Nests, originally self-released by the duo in 2008, has been reissued this year under Names Records along with their Revival EP. Go get it. You won’t be disappointed.
Thanks See What You Hear for turning me on to this one!
the OCMD 