Following their much-blogged festival performance at last September’s ATP New York — during which Bradford Cox informally announced that his band Deerhunter were going dormant for awhile — we were anxious that he was referencing a premeditated, significant hiatus for the best guitar-rock band around.

Wrong. We’re already getting a steady trickle of Deerhunter action from their current tour supporting fellow-greats Spoon, so here they are performing new song “Revival” at Carrboro, NC’s legendary Cat’s Cradle. Other new titles include “Fountain Stairs” and “Primitive 3-D.” There’s an awesomely truncated false start on this one (“The song was so good I had to stop,” Cox says), and then it’s pure Deerhunter, building tension with a galloping, moaning guitar chorus before leveling out into an ecstatic finish. All in two minutes, which suggests that the extreme pop precision of their Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP could represent a new holding pattern.

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deerhunter // game of diamonds

As we mentioned last month, our newest feature here at skipster, Parallax Views, exists solely to give voice to those whose opinion is usually ignored in the “indie scene”. People like my mother, the lady down the street that walks her cat, the elderly bus driver I encounter each morning, my 9 year old cousin, etc. As Mike so eloquently stated, “we want opinions from people who have never browsed websites like Pitchfork and Hype Machine, people whose musical interests operate outside the influence of South by Southwest. If there’s anything we dislike about the state of independent music, it’s that cliqueish behavior that keeps so much behind closed doors.”

With that said, we’d like to introduce our first reviewer, Jurene.

Jurene hails from the South, and although she now lives in the ‘burbs of Rochester where she raised her two children and  resides with her husband- her Southern charm and no-nonsense sass is still prevalent. When Jurene isn’t catching up with her kids on Facebook or working (she’s a school nurse, aww!) she can be found playin’ bunco with the girls or spending time outdoors!  We asked the lovely Jurene to take a listen to Sleigh Bells‘ “Crown on the Ground” and answer a few questions..
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400 times better than the original: here’s Lissie performing Lady Gaga’s 2010 anthem “Bad Romance”

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Lissie // Little Lovin’

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Lissie // Bad Romance (Lady Gaga Cover)

Sub Pop dropped the long-anticipated Dum Dum Girls debut I Will Be earlier in the week, and the leather-clad foursome will be celebrating with a visit Upstate this weekend. And lest we need to remind you of the attraction of their live show, take a few minutes to revisit this video of the band performing instant-classic “Rest of Our Lives” in Brooklyn last October.

Last year’s Captured Tracks releases showed serious promise, but I Will Be finds them embracing the next level, armed with a new producer and spotless professionalism. It’s a remarkably concise and inviting record, lacing Spector-ish devotional anthems with a jolting tartness on tracks like “Lines Her Eyes,” where singer Dee Dee bemoans that her enemy’s “fangs dig deeper than I realized.” Most essentially, the whole thing is played without irony or casual boredom. Its feelings are laid bare through skittering drums and breathless verse, shaped into songs so precise and direct that they’re almost threatening.

Dum Dum Girls play Sunday night at Buffalo’s Soundlab, which provides a perfect excuse to sneak away from your family’s requisite Easter buffet. Given the band’s penchant for feminine synchronicity, we can only hope they jump on the opportunity to appear in matching rabbit costumes.

Dum Dum Girls – “Jail La La”

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(All photos @ Mike Grippi)

setlist after the jump:
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Watch Brooklyn’s Tanlines perform their mega-jam “Real Life” at Green Label Sound’s SXSW showcase. Meanwhile, Settings continues to be one our favorite releases of 2010, EP or otherwise.

Our recent favorites Twin Sister have thrown their latest Color Your Life EP up on their website for your downloading pleasure.  Following the “free is the new black” business model, you can obtain this baby for $0.00. Alternatively, you can smugly pat yourself on the back and pre-order the CD or vinyl. For twenty-nine minutes of their trademark spacious, groove-oriented pop, it’s a bargain either way.

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Twin Sister / Lady Daydream

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Twin Sister / Phenomenons

Citay make their Ithaca debut at the Wildfire Lounge thanks to Automatic Buffalo!

This week the tundra of Western New York is thawing and music is being swept across its land! Due to the overwhelming amount of events skipster is here for you to outline everything worth knownin’ about. In our humble opinions emphasis should be placed on the Dum Dum Girls in Buffalo, Citay in Ithaca, and Air Waves in both Ithaca and Rochester.  There’s truly a bit of something for everyone this week, so go on and  get out of your house!

ITHACA:

Citay and Awesome Awesomes at WildFire Lounge
Tuesday, March 20 at 10 PM

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The Books at Cornell Cinema
Tuesday, March 30 8 PM

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Air Waves with special guests Tropical Punk .
Wednesday, March 31 at 9:10pm

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Shearwater and Wye Oak at Castaways
Friday, April 2nd

ROCHESTER:
Javelin the Bug Jar
Tonight, March 29th at 9PM

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Air Waves and Past Lives at the Bug Jar
Tuesday, March 30th at 9 PM

Autumn in Halifax at the Bug Jar
Wednesday, March 31st at 9 PM

BUFFALO:
David Gray and Phosphorescentat UB
Tonight, March 29th at 8PM

Dum Dum Girls  at Sound Lab
Sunday, April 4th at 9PM

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Trumansburg’s famed GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance has finally announced its 2010 schedule! While I don’t see a show stopper as great as last year’s Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, I can certainly vouch that it is destined to be a great time.  This year the festival takes place on the weekend of July 25th! (July 22-25) and tickets are already on sale, so go get your early bird specials folks!

Check out the full line up below!
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Zola Jesus, Photo: Pitchfork Media

This whole week I’ve been infatuated with Zola Jesus, a name I’ve heard  before yet never actively researched. A friend recently handed me a copy of Zola’s new EP, Stridulum, and it blew me away – Zola (real name Nika Roza Danilova) has a deep voice that paints pictures with tar- it’s almost like listening to a Vampire  themed opera (and not the kind with hot 35 year olds playing 18 year olds). It’s heavy music with a heavy mood that grabs your heart and gives it a giant Indian burn. Keeping the amazing EP artwork in mind, it kind of reminds me of Beach House’s atmospheric vocals and sound dipped in a giant barrel of oil. Danilova’s voice definetly has the Victoria Legrand orbital pull, that’s for sure, which is impressive considering her young age of 20!

Nonetheless, check out the song “I Can’t Stand”, off the aforementioned EP below.

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Buy! // Download Song!

See Zola Jesus’s NY tour dates after the cut:
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