Here’s the third installment of the “What the mailbox brought in” series, that’s selected from emails sent by groups and labels to undomondo.

“The sound of The Autumn Project is something of a familiar one, reminiscent of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Isis and Mogwai but still original, fresh and unadulterated. Dynamics, melody, and emotion are the three most important qualities of an Autumn project performance. Also the use of original film projections, filmed and edited by the project’s founder Mike Gustafson, bring the crowd into a deafeningly meditative state”. Quality Post rock from a 3 piece band.

I don’t know why I haven’t acted sooner to post about Under Byen. This Danish band formed by Katrine Stochholm and Henriette Sennenvaldt amazed me with their arrangements and creativity which is definitely more complex and genrebending than many similar artists who strive to achieve this in their entire career. This is some kind of rock/post-rock variant with Henriette’s soft and mesmerising vocals and clinketing drums and violins but no guitars!. Many influences here like folk, jazz and classical, the songs are highly accessible despite the genrebending, the lyrics are supposed to be poetic (however in Danish!) and the music full of melancholia. A unique musical creation and a complete product which is top notch from vocals to music and the sound.

Carrying on the female vocals trend from the previous band is Kristin Page Stuart’s NYC outfit Sleepwalker’s Parade. They have done shows at the highly respected Knitting Factory and The Cutting Factory and gotten some rave reviews. Their music is hard to describe but it’s definitely a rock/jazz fusion. “Naked and Naive” begins with slow piano touches but finishes with fullblown drum attacks and Kristin’s shouting vocals. Kristin’s classically trained vocals shape most of the songs but the 6 piece band is not short of making her voice shine through. Go here to their official page to sample 3 more streamed songs, including my favorite “The More Loving One for a bluesy treat.

Fronted by Singer-songwriter Joel Gibb, The Hidden Cameras, sound like a 70’s uptempo bubblegum pop rock song with a galloping beat and catchy vocals but the real treat comes with the violin parts after the second minute. Their live shows are supposed to be performances that are elaborate, and high energy, featuring go-go dancers in balaclavas, a choir and string section. Anti-folk?

Finally, here’s some youtube stuff from Ithaca, NY’s Dufus, the band that is fronted by a white rastaman named Seth Faergoalzia, which creates a eclectic, cacaphonic and weird anti-folk music that takes its influences obviously from weed, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa. These videos feature some live performances which shows the band on stage with 10 people, however Iron Man Records’ factsheet states that, the band is between 2 and 20 people at different times. They’ve recently released their 10th album, which is a highly experimental blend of different genres.

Dufus - Dufus on Youtube

The Autumn Project - Between the Smoke and Mirrors
The Autumn Project - Of Memoriam
Under Byen - Samme Stof Som Stof
Under Byen - Det er mig der holder træerne sammen
K. Page Stuart and Sleepwalker’s Parade - Naked and Naive
The Hidden Cameras - Death of a Tune
Dufus - Babylon.com