Artist Of The Day: Julia Brown

It's admittedly weird to see my local music scene begin to get quite a bit of coverage in recent months. After the dispersal of Teen Suicide, Sam Ray and Alec "Torts" Simke joined together with Dan Collins, John Toohey, and Teen Suicide collaborator and Infinity Crush leader Caroline White to form Julia Brown, a band that's given my home of College Park, Maryland some hype this year. The group's first release to be close to you was recorded directly to tape, an obvious fact after just moments of listening, as the little crackles and muffled sound are indicators of the low budget recording. However, the production and short length didn't harm the record from receiving relatively widespread acclaim, most notably from Pitchfork. However, the band's latest 7" truly displays what the band can do. It features the band entering a studio for the first time, recording a hi-fi version of personal favorite track "Library," as well as a rerecording of Teen Suicide track "I Wanna Be A Witch." The band does not need to rely on the fuzz and lo-fi ambiance to create good music; they should embrace the studio and continue creating well structured tracks that are both catchy and substantial. The band is going up the east coast with friends Coma Cinema, so be sure to catch them if they come near you. You can check out the dates on Facebook, and order the 7" from Birdtapes.