Summer still lingers in the musical meanderings of one of today’s best new indie releases. The long-awaited debut LP from New Jersey ‘buzz’ band Real Estate is out today, and for those who received an advance copy last month, we can tell you that it’s one of the best indie rock debuts of 2009. That’s saying a lot in a year in which there have been so many impressive debuts. Band members Martin Courtney, Matthew Mondanile, Etienne Pierre Duguay and Alex Bleeker got the ears of music bloggers and others as far back as last March during Austin’s South by Southwest conference, and they haven’t let go since.
As their ‘buzz band’ status – an admittedly overused term, but which is quite fitting of the band’s warm, hazy sound – increased with the temperatures throughout the summer months, Real Estate began to draw big crowds wherever they performed, and were were one of the most talked, and blogged, about bands at last month’s CMJ ‘fest’ in New York City. Music lovers and others sought them out to soak up some of Real Estate’s summeresque sounds; a blend of carefully baked, ethereal psychedelic pop mixed with a constant slow flow of folky vibes, booming drums, muted, unassuming vocals and ambient electric guitar jams.
The band’s themes and lyrics combine the dreary monotony of castaway suburban life (“Suburban Beverage,” “The Mall,” etc.) with endless aquatic references (“Pool Swimmers,” “Let’s Rock the Beach,” “Green River,” and so on), tie-dyed harmonies, glo-fi reverberations and lazy, understated melodies.
“Beach Comber” – Real Estate from s/t debut (2009)
It is no surprise that Real Estate have been frequently compared to The Clean, The Beach Boys, Galaxie 500 and Jersey’s own The Feelies. Real Estate may be dumped on by some indie lo-fi purists (yes, a contradiction in terms), but hey, Jersey is used to being dumped on. (Real Estate remind us much of Blind Man’s Colour, a trippy Florida psych pop duo we featured earlier this year as a band to watch, and who were quickly signed to Kanine Records only weeks later).
“Fake Blues” – Real Estate from s/t debut via Stereogum (2009)
“Green River” – Real Estate from s/t debut (2009)
Bonus: “Beach Point Pleasant” – Ducktails (the moniker of band member Mondanile’s musical side project)
Other new releases today include the much anticipated debut from the indie rock supergroup Them Crooked Vultures – featuring Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones – plus a B-side leak of an upcoming Arctic Monkeys‘ EP, and bands we think you should hear, including Globes on Remote, Bloodsugars, A Grave with No Name; The Chairs; Mark Matos & Os Beaches and 10 great songs from recent LP and EP releases that you may have missed, but we think you’ll enjoy.
“New Fang” – Them Crooked Vultures from s/t debut (2009)
“Fright Lined Dining Room” – Arctic Monkeys from Cornerstone EP (2009)
“D.T. Lipps” – Globes on Remote from The Woo Hoo Hoo (2009)
Double-shot: “Space Camp” – Globes on Remote from The Woo Hoo Hoo (2009)
“The Light at the End of the Tunnel” – Bloodsugars from I Can’t Go On, I’ll Go On (2009)
“Open Water” – A Grave With No Name from Mountain Debris (2009)
“Charlotte Pipe” – The Chairs from Nine Ways (2009)
“High Priest of the Mission” – Mark Matos & Os Beaches from Words of the Knife (2009)
Double-shot: “Hired Hand” – Mark Matos & Os Beaches from Words of the Knife (2009)
Random Recent Releases You May Have Missed But Should Probably Hear:
“Terminally Chill” – Neon Indian from Psychic Chasms (2009)
“Day Glo” – Brazos from Phosphorescent Blues (2009)
“Free Energy” – Free Energy from s/t debut (2009)
“In Steps” – Letting Up Despite Great Faults from s/t debut (2009)
“The Sun Ain’t Shining No More” – The Asteroids Galaxy Tour from s/t debut (2009)
“The Economic Chastisement” – Kinch from The Economic Chastisement EP (2009)
“Tunnelvision” – Here We Go Magic from s/t debut (2009)
“Cold Floors” – The Steps from Take It All In (2009)
“Wohlwill” – Friska Viljor from New Beginnings (2009)
“Invisible Forces” – The Fresh and Onlys from Grey-Eyed Girls (2009)
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