Once upon a time, Normandy was awesome. Then Normandy ceased to be awesome. Then, Normandy was awesome again—some would even say, “awesomer.”

Or: Normandy is one of the most talented bands in Brooklyn. The band is the brainchild of songwriter & producer Vincent Dee. The music, fittingly, comes out sounding like his favorite bands—the Pixies, Guided By Voices, Wire, Joy Division, the Soft Boys and the Beach Boys.

Normandy is comprised of journalist rock star Andrew Romano (Newsweek), rock star rock star Tim McCoy (Savoir Adore), industry vet Jordan Melkin, and design rock star Evelyn Lee. It’s a veritable firestorm of egos.

The band has graced the stages of NYC venus like the Mercury Lounge, Cake Shop, Bruar Falls, the Knitting Factory, and Bar Matchless.

The band recently released its second effort, “Loiterer,” to rave review, singular. (It’s only been out a week.) The record is streaming in its entirety at http://normandyband.tumblr.com, if you’re curious as to what the modest amount of fuss is about.

_Normandy MySpace

A riddle for our times: When exactly did it become “bad” or “cause for dismissal” when a band releases a record that explores a style disparate from what preceded it?

Coming out of the gate in the early part of this decade as an all-things-not-Panthers outlet for Kip Uhlhorn, that band’s guitarist (and former guitarist/vocalist for those legends of deregulated late-90’s hardcore, Red Scare), for swapping musical ideas with a German named Simon Wojan (of King Khan and his Shrines), Cloudland Canyon spent several years immersed in an enigmatic interpretation of the many things these two minds found fascinating, including but not limited to the more structurally-challenged (therefore specialized) examples of OG Krautrock, 70’s (not really 60’s) psych of the drone-discovering variety, spots of unnerving (in a good way) improv here and there, and the wonderful 90’s bands that started out as head-scratchers and ended up as innovators (first-wave Siltbreeze and Kranky highlights).

Kip issued a parting wave to Panthers, an LP/CD was released on Tee Pee in 2006, and it was titled “Requiems der Natur.” Then a succession of EP’s and splits most of which have been released by Holy Mountain since 2007. Then, in 2007 Cloudland popped up on Kranky Records (Deerhunter, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Growing etc.)

Kranky was a good fit for the final sounds of Cloudland Phase I, issuing the EP “Silver-Tongued Sysiphus,” two lengthy tracks of all that stuff mentioned up there…and more. The second proper full length named “Lie in Light,” found Kip and Simon creating an album of Cloudland’s most succinct compositions to date, there’s even some drone-pop with an emphasis on the “pop” part of that stupid term. They kicked it off with a track spoofing the Krautrock influence that most music writers’ used as a review hook, or simply overstated and misunderstood. They titled it “Krautwerk” for fucks sake.

To initiate Cloudland Canyon Phase II, the inaugural album (but third full-length overall) revisits the “actual-band” treatment, but mostly in theory. Joined once again by Kelly and what is more-or-less a rotating cast (when needed), Kip has made an album that is immediately recognizable by a unique take on really, really goddamned loud and noisy. But if that was it…why would we be here? The most important quality – one hinted at on Lie in Light – is big, unavoidable pop hooks clawing their way out of a pulsating, throbbing thickness of guitar, bass, who-knows-what-type-of-effects, and understated but omnipresent drumming. Imagine, if you will, a Flying Saucer Attack foundation and a level of noise on par with the first two Iran albums, or maybe even Jesu every now and then. Then imagine flowing vocals-as-another-instrument providing one of the major pop-hook components for each song, mixed at a level that couldn’t be more perfect in this era of vocals getting mixed right up front and in your face.

Put simply, the influences are there, but they are great influences, and to shun influence is to walk a dishonest walk. Cloudland Canyon have reached a new creative level with their own sound that demonstrates a care and craft that won’t be going away anytime soon. Fin Eaves will be released on Holy Mountain records September 7th.

Cloudland Canyon has previously toured with Lichens, Singer, Earthless, No Age, White Rainbow, Valet and on and on. The band will embark on an extensive US tour this Summer.

_Cloudland Canyon MySpace

PLEASE NOTE THIS IN-STORE IS ON A MONDAY AND NOT THE USUAL FRIDAY

One of the most distinctive and influential figures on the vital southern new wave scene of the late 1970s and 1980s, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and self-styled “guitar egghead” Kevin Dunn has not performed in New York City in over three decades. As a producer, Dunn’s credits include the B-52s’ “Rock Lobster” 45 and the first 45 and LP by Pylon, while as a performer (both under his own name and as a member of the revolutionary Fans) he crafted startling music that bristled with invention, melodic wit, and exploratory zeal – a uniquely southern refraction of the textural and lyrical possibilities of avant-garde pop. Dunn was recently the subject of No Great Lost: Songs, 1979-1985 (Casa Nueva), an acclaimed anthology of his early work that included the entirety of his 1981 cult-classic album The Judgement of Paris, fully restored from the original master tapes, along with rare and essential single, EP and LP tracks.

“But while Dunn’s No Great Lost: Songs, 1979–1985 (Casa Nueva) features only one track by his mid-‘70s Atlanta band the Fans, it still embraces rock ‘n’ roll enough to include insanely fuzztoned covers of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and “Louie Louie” amid all the herky-jerking Eno loopage.”
-Chuck Eddy, The Village Voice

“…a smart, engaging, innovative artist whose groundbreaking work has been unjustly overlooked – until now.”
–Anthony DeCurtis, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone

“… a must for fans of the idiom, revealing Dunn as a key link in the chain between British and American new wave. Don’t believe me? Then toss out all your R.E.M., dB’s and Feelies records and see what’s missing.”
-Nashville Scene

“Snotty, literate pop from this underground master of the post-punk era, sounding like the missing link between Brian Eno circa Tiger Mountain, and XTC circa Drums and Wires – while also truly ahead of its time, like it could have been recorded by kids today. Oozing with angular hooks, synth bleeps and fuzz guitar wizardry, a compilation of songs that should be – and will be, and already are – classics.”
–Robert Schneider, The Apples in Stereo

“By blending electronic music with an art-rock palette, Dunn crafted a small but precise body of work, revolutionary in its own right, while fronting bands with such names as the Regiment of Women and the Radical Centrists. But he was too far ahead of his time for the new wave scene…”
-Creative Loafing

“An art rocker with a sly sense of humor, Dunn combines wry lyrics and guitar flash…Check it out if you like: Brian Eno’s pop albums, Sparks, early Robyn Hitchcock.”
-Mother Jones

_Kevin Dunn MySpace