12.21.05
The Seldon Plan
Making Circles
[OTPRecords]
I found out about this totally amazing indie poprock band called The Seldon Plan the other day. Well, I wish I could say I’m the first to discover them but they’ve been reviewed in any number of online and print magazines already. Still, what a great find. The Baltimore, MD quartet plays energetic and powerful pop that has an immediate catchiness but includes enough melodic quirks to make their music really shine.
It’s interesting that they are called The SeldoN Plan instead of The SeldoM Plan. My brain keeps want to say Seldom, hehe.
When I first put their album Making Circles on, I thought immediately of Nada Surf, and then looked at their one sheet and saw that band was in the “Sounds Like” list already. Well, I would certainly say that if you liked Nada Surf you should give Seldon Plan a shot. As I listened to the album I found a number of resemblances to the great Texas band Subset with a bit of Teenage Fanclub-iness thrown in for good measure. I would say that The Posies might be another music reference point.
Standout tracks include the power-pop overtures of the opener “A Rhyming Dictionary” and the DeathCab-like title track “Making Circles”. They are also capable of slower tracks filled with no less tension like “Top Left Corner” and “Holding Patterns Are Slow”. With such awesome hooks, musical tightness and great melodies I wouldn’t be surprised if they became the next buzz band on the O.C….
The Seldon Plan website is at: www.theseldonplan.com
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Oren Lavie
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December 28th, 2005 at 6:00 pm
What a great review, you are right on! I checked these guys out and they as good as DCFC! Is OTP a real record label though? I can’t tell-these guys need to be on Barsuk and the OC! The real question is-why aren’t they? Thanks for turning us on to new GOOD music.
December 28th, 2005 at 6:35 pm
john - you’re welcome! Sometimes we aren’t as accurate w/ the reviews but we try. Yeah OTP is a real label (www.otprecords.net) though they are pretty small. I actually like The Seldon Plan’s CD better than the latest DCFC…
January 8th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
Yes, we are quite “real”! (Eleven releases, from seven different artists, so far.) We operate on a pretty small scale, but we’re happy to help our friends in The Seldon Plan as much as we can — There’s no one who’d be happier to see them “graduate” to a bigger label, though, than us! (Go support ‘em and help make it happen!)
January 8th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Small indie labels are cool though… we all like ‘em a lot over here and try to promote them when possible. Indie artists usually have to come up from somewhere and smaller labels provide a way for them to experiment with their sound and music philosophy if they haven’t already, without the pressure of having to sell billions of records.