Dent May's unique vocal style-part crooner, part falsetto, and all showman-reflects the influences of some of his favorite singers (Prince, Serge Gainsbourg, and Lee Hazlewood, to name a few). His love of various song styles results in an infectiously enjoyable combination of ukulele, drums, pedal steel, violin, horns, and bass. One second his songs hint at Brazilian Tropicalia, the next at a '50s barbershop quartet or an early-20th-century country swing.

Also performing: L.A.'s own DJ Nobody takes the stage as part of dublab's 10th anniversary celebration, making the last Saturdays Off the 405 of 2009 a not-to-be-missed event.

DENT MAY & HIS MAGNIFICENT UKULELE

10/10 - Los Angeles, CA - Getty Center
10/18 - Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
10/19 - Athens, GA - Caledonia Lounge
10/20 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
10/21 - Washington, DC - DC9
10/22 - Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie $
10/23 - Brooklyn, NY - Cameo Gallery
10/26 - Nashville, TN - The End
10/27 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Cafe
10/31 - Oxford, MS - Proud Larry's #
11/04 - Hoboken, NY - Maxwell's @
11/05 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street Nightclub @
11/06 - Troy, NY - Revolution Hall @
11/07 - Toronto, ON - El Mocambo @
11/10 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's
11/11 - Ferndale, MI - The Magic Bag @
11/12 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall @
11/13 - Madison, WI - Majestic Theater @
11/14 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club @
11/17 - Vancouver, BC - The Red Room @
11/18 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey @
11/20 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's @
11/21 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre @

$ = w/ Tickley Feather
# = w/ Colour Revolt
@ = w/ Cryptacize and The Fiery Furnaces

UK art-rocker duo Omo, featuring Berit Immig of The Chap (Ghostly International/LOAF) and visual artist David Muth has just released a brand new video for their song "Oversized." The song is featured on the band's debut, The White Album, as well as a split 7-inch with The Chap for "Oversized"/ "Well Done You." Both releases are available now on UK label LOAF.

Omo's The White Album is an album full of spiky little pop gems. A little like Laurie Anderson jamming with the Tom Tom Club, or a collaboration of Laurie Anderson and Young Marble Giants, mixed by Ricardo Villalobos, occasionally joined by Enoch Light on vibes and Raymond Scott on synthesiser. This is a surefire chart hit in a parallel universe where all TV programmes are made by David Lynch and every household owns a hover car. If you're looking for music with depth and character, that is fun and wants to get to know you, meet Omo.

Omo's 7-inch split is done with the kings of school teacher Dada pop that never fail to entertain, The Chap. "Well Done You" is as smooth as baby food, spiky as a sea urchin and as fruity as Leslie Nielsen. Their tribute to achievement is a '"top notch'"slice of noughties pop that will have you grinning all the way to the Bill Gates motivational speech.

“To start again, we’re the lucky ones” opens “Shelter,” the first track on The Swimmers’ People Are Soft, and with it rings the sound of the band reinventing itself. On November 3, 2009, MAD Dragon Records (ADA) is proud to release the sophomore album from this Philadelphia quartet—a staggering, vulnerable recording that distinguishes itself as a debut in its own right.

Following the success of 2008’s Fighting Trees—The Swimmers’ first release on MAD Dragon, which garnered rave reviews from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Magnet, The Tripwire and Time Out Chicago—Steve and Krista Yutzy-Burkey, Scott French and Rick Sieber decided to start fresh by building a home studio from the ground up and recording a new album entirely on their own. The hard-won results feature intensely personal songwriting couched in distorted synthesizer hooks, crushing electric guitars and dark reverb swells. “It was a very focused and isolated time in the studio, and much of the grit was in the mixing process. These songs were darker and more intricate than the last record, and they demanded a very affected, refined sound,” says lead singer/songwriter Steve Yutzy-Burkey.

From the opening track “Shelter” to “A Hundred Hearts”— the insatiably catchy gang vocal about the competing pulls of the human heart—to “Drug Party”—a dream sequence of social disconnection propelled by overblown distorted guitars and brash snare hits—to “What This World Is Coming To”— a diffuse, tender verse that collapses into quirky keyboard lines, handclaps and epic choruses—the sounds begin to form the fractured and sentimental cast of characters that make up this record. The apocalyptic electro-pop of “Give Me the Sun,” “Nervous Wreck’s” triumphant chorus (“sing without and hold together”), and the nostalgic spoken lyric of “Try To Settle In” all converge with the rest of the songs to flesh out the full meaning of the album’s title—in their isolation and comfort, allure and fragility, resignation and transcendence: People Are Soft.

Yankee Reality. What does it mean? Does it portend that there is some unique, other plain of existence for northerners and / or city folk? Something perhaps alien to, well, everybody else? Virginia cum citizen of London / rambling man Keith Wood knows all about it. Several years ago, he relocated to the city of crumpets and tea, where he, among other things, secured a gig playing guitar for notoriously intense death folk legends Current 93. In the midst of all this excitement, he has managed to write and record a brand new Hush Arbors album, his second for Ecstatic Peace!, and it's his finest to date. With a full band in tow - multi instrumentalist Leon Dufficy, bassist Jason Ajemian, and drummer Ryan Sawyer - and none other than J Mascis in the producer's chair, Yankee Reality continues Wood's winning streak while introducing an embarrassment of riches in the way of surprises and curveballs along the way.

"Day Before," featuring J Mascis's unmistakable lead guitar, immediately elevates this triumphant opening number to 'classic Hush" status. No one mixes sad sac 90's indie with sun-baked 60s pop like Wood, and "Day Before" serves as a brief reminder. Next up is "Lisbon," a bouncy, folk rock number reminiscent of the Byrds, punctuated by a searing solo. "Fast Asleep" is a distended, plaintive dirge that evokes wooziness and wispiness over a stoned guitar drone. "So They Say" picks up where "Fast Asleep" leaves off, a languid tune built around slo-mo guitar drenched in reverb and Wood's gentle voice singing lines like "Down this gap, it divides us / The hanging rock, the sun flare / I'm taking the longest route to the bottom / But I know my way around there." Think the third Velvets album distilled to its essence, without all the shit about drag queens. "One Way Ticket" is up next and one of the most adventurous Hush Arbors songs since dude started singing actual words. Built on a wonderfully apprehensive-sounding piano line and druggy atmosphere, "One Way Ticket" compulsorily recalls Movietone if they'd backed up Neil on his Elektra demos.

As for "Coming Home" - well, that one's another curveball. Easily one of the finest songs Wood has written to date, this beautifully arranged number features a gorgeous strings-approximating mellotron every time the song radically changes gears from two step country / Creedence boogie to its out-of-nowhere chorus, which oughta have the girls in Band of Horses t-shirts swooning in no time. If "So They Say" is Wood's take on the Velvet's third album, surely "Sun Shall" is his "Venus in Furs," compete with a propulsive, insistent Moe Tucker beat (provided by Mascis) and ominous ostrich guitar jangle.

"Take It Easy" may be the album's best track. On this easy, breezy country number, Wood plays it relatively straight, owning up to his hillbilly roots and mixing 'em up with more than a little Norman Greenbaum (Oh, who are we kidding? No one knows more than one Norman Greenbaum song. It's totally "Spirit In The Sky," folks). "For While You Slept," again featuring Mascis, quotes Petty's "American Girl" before lifting off into what could only be considered a wedding song - if the reception was held at Roswell City Hall.

Just when you think Wood's mellowed out too much, "Devil Made You High" ends things on a serious art-punk tip. From the sounds of it, Wood probably agrees with me that The Smiths were best when they tried to rock out - "Shakespeare's Sister," "London," Handsome Devil" - those were the jams! Yeah, so the albums ends with this unabashed garage pop tune which, by the conclusion, has gone totally off the rails, like the boys are trying to give Kawabata a run for his money. Maybe you were expecting something else from an album that thanks a wood chopper ghost in the liner notes and is dedicated to Link Wray? "Ride the tubes back home," indeed.

Yankee Reality is a credit to Keith Wood's vast talents as a songwriter and performer, but also, stands as a shining example of his breadth of focus and versatility. How many fools out there love Merle Haggard, The Dead and Dinosaur, Jr equally? I know one.

LIVE DATES
10.8 The Slaughtered Lamb London, UK
10.17 Post Romantic Empire Final Fest Rome, IT
10.23 London Forum London, UK supporting Sonic Youth.

Since January 2009, Pretty Lights has sold out 33 shows including Bowery Ballroom in New York, Fox Theatre in Boulder, Georgia Theatre in Athens, Subterranean, Congress, and The Metro in Chicago.
His fall tour is already in gear and off to a great start!

Don't miss Pretty Lights when he comes to your city.
08.09.09 – The National – Richmond, VA **SOLD OUT**
09.02.09 – Lyric Theatre – Oxford, MS **SOLD OUT**
09.03.09 – The Sky Bar – Auburn, AL **SOLD OUT**
09.04.09 – Athens Arena – Bogart, GA **SOLD OUT**
09.05.09 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO **SOLD OUT**
09.12.09 – Trinumeral Festival – Horseshoe, NC
09.18.09 – Symbiosis Gathering – Groveland, CA
09.21.09 – Bama Theatre – Tuscaloosa, AL
09.23.09 – Rhythm & Brews – Chattanooga, TN
09.24.09 – Amos’ Southland – Charlotte, NC
09.26.09 – Diesel – Wilmington, NC
10.01.09 – Fox Theatre Boulder – Boulder, CO
10.02.09 – Aggie Theatre – Ft. Collins, CO
10.03.09 – Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
10.12.09 – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA
10.14.09 – Key Club – West Hollywood, CA
10.15.09 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
10.16.09 – Nocturnum – Eureka, CA
10.17.09 – Nectar Lounge – Seattle, WA
10.18.09 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, OR
10.21.09 – The Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN
10.22.09 – Miramar Theatre – Milwaukee, WI
10.23.09 – Park West – Chicago, IL
10.24.09 – Majestic Theatre – Madison, WI
10.25.09 – Bluebird Nightclub – Bloomington, IN
10.27.09 – Headliners Music Hall – Louisville, KY
10.28.09 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN
10.29.09 – The Valarium – Knoxvile, TN
10.30.09 – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC
10.31.09 – Ann Street Shed – Charleston, SC
11.03.09 – Crowbar – Tampa, FL
11.04.09 – Vagabond – Miami, FL
11.05.09 – Engine Room – Tallahassee, FL
11.07.09 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA
11.10.09 – Granada Theater – Dallas, TX
11.11.09 – La Zona Rosa – Austin, TX
11.12.09 – George’s Majestic Lounge – Fayetteville, AR
11.13.09 – Newby’s – Memphis, TN
11.14.09 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
11.17.09 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
11.18.09 – 9:30 Club – Washington D.C.
11.19.09 – Fillmore NY @ Irving Plaza – New York, NY
11.20.09 – The Note – West Chester, PA
11.21.09 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
01.03.09 – Jam Cruise 8 – Fort Lauderdale, FL

Pretty Lights' third album, Passing By Behind Behind Your Eyes, will be available for FREE download starting October 6 on his newly revamped website, PrettyLightsMusic.com.