Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: "Some Loud Thunder"

[That Skipping Rope.]

One of my new favorite bands returns this January 16th with their sophomore album. Pitchfork adores this band and basically gave them their big break by starting huge internet buzz about them. On their official site, you can download two new tracks off the album called "Love Song No. 7" and "Underwater (You and Me)."


1. Some Loud Thunder
2. Emily Jean Stock
3. Mama, Won’t You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning?
4. Love Song No. 7
5. Satan Said Dance
6. Upon Encountering the Crippled Elephant
7. Goodbye to Mother and the Cove
8. Arm and Hammer
9. Yankee Go Home
10. Underwater (You and Me)
11. Five Easy Pieces

MYSPACE:
www.myspace.com/clapyourhandssayyeah

OFFICIAL SITE:
clapyourhandssayyeah.com/news.php

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

Thanks for the link.

Looking forward to getting this, their debut was great. Although I didn't think it was quite as good as it was hyped to be (Certainly not as good as Bloc Party's debut IMO).

[RedDragon]

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Bring The 'Thunder'

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the New York indie rock act that scanned nearly 120,000 copies of its 2005 self-titled debut without the help of a label, will return Jan. 30 with its second set, the Dave Fridmann-produced "Some Loud Thunder."

"Dave was unfamiliar with our new songs, so I sent him some demos," frontman Alec Ounsworth explains. "So we played some of the songs for him [and] he made some suggestions. The approach remained very similar. He challenged me and us. The idea of the suggestions, that's why one album is distinguishable from another -- and that has to be a result of a collaboration of six people rather than five."

Fans of the first album will notice a slightly different direction. The songs are slower at times, and according to Ounsworth, the project revolves around "thunder, and whether or not it is loud. I had a relative idea of how the songs were going to come off. But I like the surprise factor [of the studio]. It's hard to explain to how a song might come off, and then the readjustment period with all of us."

The opening title cut has a nifty acoustic riff, cowbell and a danceable bass groove, "Emily Jean Stock" is a mostly drumless number with a vaguely girl-group vibe and on "Mama, Won't You Keep Them Castles in the Air and Burning?," Ounsworth reminds, "I hope you notice/I'm no hare/You're no tortoise."

CHYSY rose to indie stardom thanks to a series of favorable online reviews and a crescendo of blog chatter, but Ounsworth calmly states that he didn't let any pressure get to him. "I don't really pay attention to attention," he clarifies. "It gets invasive."


The band's only U.S. live show for now is a New Years Eve bash at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, in advance of a February European run. Ounsworth has more on the back burner, too. "As soon as I get time to work on something, I'll put out an album," he says. But I find it a miracle that I have time to go to the bathroom. There are definitely projects in the works."

[Deleted]

I really got into Clap Your Hands last year, especially Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth, but they put on the worst live show I have ever seen and I've been turned off ever since.

[That Skipping Rope.]

Blender listed the band as the #3 reason to look forward to 2007.

[RedDragon]

I don't like this guy's voice at all.

[duh5]

reddragon said:

I don't like this guy's voice at all.

[That Skipping Rope.]

An LQ version of the album leaked, but I'm holding out for HQ.

[That Skipping Rope.]

HQ leaked. It's getting mixed reactions, but I personally love it. "Yankee Go Home" is my favorite at this point.

[Dance In The Dark]

I love their first album, so I can't wait to listen to this one.

[That Skipping Rope.]

I unfortunately saw them at Lollapalooza. After the lead singer sang the first few lines, everyone erupted in laughter. He has the most feminine, nasal, whiny voice live. I left four songs into the set.