Bellafea - Cavalcade
After roughly four years Bellafea has finally returned with their brand new debut album in hand titled Cavalcade. Just released at the beginning of June through Southern Records, the band spent two years of that time off between the release of their EP Family Tree and now recording the nine songs that make up Cavalcade. The time has proved to work in the bands favor though as the album is simply a great piece of work that should have fans of nineties inspired indie-rock smiling from cheek to cheek.It’s not really a surprise to find that Bellafea is based out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Although I’d say their sound doesn’t necessarily reflect that as much as some might want you to believe. Sure there are parts that can be picked out of the scenes past, but Bellafea are looking to continue to push it forward and I’d say Cavalcade does well in separating them from the past just as much as it intelligently takes from it. There will always be a special place in my heart for the jagged and tumbling guitar sound that made up a lot of the past decades prime indie-rock, Bellafea work within that territory to present a lively set of songs that are bursting with noisy free falls for Cavalcade. At the same time though, and this was a more so particularly on their previous EP Family Tree, Bellefea contain a small beauty within their music that is mostly due in part to singer/guitarist Heather McEntire. With vocals that have no trouble meeting the expectations of the bands varying moods, whether it be a cacophony of strings and guitar or just the power dual punch of bassist Eddie Sanchez and drummer Nathan Buchanan. It doesn’t matter as McEntire’s voice fits the bill for each and every moment on the album.
Bellafea – Depart (I Never Knew You) [MP3]
For anyone that is interested in picking up Cavalcade then head on over to Amazon to do so. It definitely comes recommended.
Labels: indie-rock, math-rock

Coming out of Philadelphia during the early 90’s was the band
Starting out in the early 90’s with a single on Compulsiv records the band soon after found them sharing a split single with indie stalwarts
Anyway, the band returned to the Complusiv label in 1994 to release their debut full-length
After the Chicago based
While Dirty Old Man River traveled down the same dark murky paths of that of Mills’ previous band, they were still two completely different beasts. This wasn’t the same raucous guitar attack that Drunk Tank was. Still though, one of the center points of the band was the raspy and chilling grate of Mills’ vocals. However, picture those to the backdrop of a menacing piano and the random clinks and buzzes, that of which remind you of the sounds that a larger older house makes when you’re sitting alone in it late at night trying to convince yourself it’s nothing but the house itself. Dirty Old Man River operated on the same level of “spooky” I suppose. Doing away with most melody in favor of the tension mounting random oddball noises and bringing together the seedy red lighted sound of a late hours dive bar. Dirty Old Man River is essentially what “creepy” music should sound like. It’s basically every long drunken walk home alone in the dark you’ve ever taken…
I didn’t even realize it until I sat down to type this, but this will be the second time I’ve written about a solo artist from a notable shoegaze band in just barely over a week. This time we get an album from
Four albums in 10 years, the Tarragona based 



