Month: January 2011

The S-25 Songs Mix, Vol. IX: Egypt with Sufjan Stevens, The Animals, Bob Marley, John Lennon, The Kinks, Cat Stevens, The Doors

Posted on by Max Hammer
Egyptian demonstrators in a fog of fire smoke and U.S. supplied tear gas

Due to the unprecedented demonstrations and protests in Egypt, this week we are dedicating the Sunday 25 Songs mix to the people of Egypt. All songs in today’s mix have some kind of relevance to the events in Egypt over the past five days. Therefore, we have songs about Egypt, peace, violence, democracy, the people, cities and figures of the ancient land. We can only hope that there is a peaceful transition from the 30 year dictatorship of Egypt to a new, open and democratic society.

Over the past few days, demonstrations have sprung up in Cairo, Alexandria (Egypt’s capital), Memphis and Suez, among others. Sadly, there are many reports of protesters being beaten, jailed, tortured, and murdered. (continue reading)

Note: Regardless of lyrics in some of these songs, we wish only a peaceful transition to democracy for the Egyptian people. As freedom lovers, we’re all for peace and freedom throughout the world. The youth of Egypt, and many other countries, deserve a better future than life under a brutal regime and murderous secret police organizations.

*Note: Please visit all the site’s that contributed tracks to this playlist

“Power to the People” – John Lennon

“Get Up, Stand Up (For Your Rights)” – Bob Marley

“All Good Naysayers, Speak Up! Or Forever Hold Your Peace!” – Sufjan Stevens

“Sunday Bloody Sunday” – U2

“Peace Frogs” – The Doors

Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his new vice president Omar Suleiman

“Peace Train” – Cat Stevens

“Better Things” – The Kinks

“I’m Gonna Change The World” – The Animals

“Warm Heart of Africa” (w/ Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend) – The Very Best

“Freedom Hangs Like Heaven” – Iron and Wine

“Pyramids Float” – Chad VanGaalen

“Pyramid” – Wolfmother

“Memphis, Egypt” – The Mekons

“Changes” – David Bowie

“We Are Free Men” – Bright Eyes

“Egyptian Love” – The Metros

“Egyptian Shumba” – The Tammys

“My Egyptian Grammar” – The Fiery Furnaces

“Keep On Rockin’ in the Free World” – Neil Young

“This Is A Rebel Song” – Sinead O’Connor

“Out of Egypt, Into the Great Laugh of Mankind, and I Shake the Dirt From My Sandals As I Run” – Sufjan Stevens

“Pyramid Song” – Radiohead

“Sheets of Egyptian Cotton” – Jessie Spencer

“Skies Over Cairo” – Django Django

“Give Peace A Chance” – John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band

Bonus Tracks: Dedicated to the People of Egypt

“Egyptic” – Unknown Artist

“Egyptian Tomb” – Mighty Baby

“The Revolution Will Be Streaming” – Saxon Shore

“Pharaoh” – The Church

“As I Rise” – The Decemberists

“Letter to Memphis” – The Pixies

“Freedom” – Tea Leaf Green

“Cobra” – My Morning Jacket


– continued from above –

The stakes are high in Egypt for the nation’s citizens, Israel, the Middle East and U.S. foreign policy. Two-thirds of the citizenry are under the age of 30, but it remains one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. The events that occurred in Tunisia are having a ripple effect across the region, with reported demonstrations in Algiers, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia.

Across the Middle East, a generation of young people under the age of 30 are standing up against the dictators that have for decades been oppressing – often in violation to human rights treaties – millions of people and denying their people the most basic rights we often take for granted. It is not crazy to wonder, that in coming weeks, young people may begin to rise up across the Middle East, from Egypt to Yemen, and Jordan to Iran. The consequences could have a disastrous effect on the United States, especially in regards to keeping Iran subdued, Israel safe from attacks, a broader Middle East instability, and of course, the price of gas.

The U.S. government has two major strategic concerns in Egypt, the replacement of the Mubarak regime with a government not friendly to the United States and the disruption of oil coming from the Suez Canal. America’s addiction to oil not only is threatening the future of the country, but it forces us as a country to make friends with, and give aid to, regimes like Mubarak’s. But Americans need to stand up and support for elections and a democratic government in Egypt, and hope that such a movement sweeps across the Middle East with the least amount of bloodshed. However, there is very little possibility that large scale democratic movements in the region will be successful without massive cost of life. As Americans, we believe that we have the responsibility to advocate and support democratic movements in the Middle East because it is central to our own future.

Best New Indie Rock 2011 – The Radio Dept, Woodsman, Cloud Nothings, Iron & Wine, Gang of Four, Deerhoof, Destroyer, Veils, Grouplove

Posted on by Max Hammer

This week’s Best New Releases includes new singles from new LPs and EPs from bands all across the indie spectrum. We’ve been loving The Radio Dept.’s work for about three or four years, so it’s just fitting to include a great track from their new singles collection, available now.  Following TRD is a terrific, minimalistic, psychedelic track from the new Woodsman LP; a riveting, epic track from Cloud Nothings’ debut LP. Ironically, there are two tracks titled “Bloom” in this playlist, each from a different artist. Also loving the John Vanderslice song, and can’t help but to think how much it sounds like a Sufjan Stevens song.

“The One” – The Radio Dept. from Passive Aggressive: The Singles 2002-2010

Also, check out new singles from releases by Com Truise, Iron and Wine, Gang of Four, Cold War Kids, Deerhoof, Wanda Jackson with Jack White, Destroyer, The Veils, and many others. The self-titled debut EP by the band Grouplove has renewed them as a band to watch in 2011, as they were in 2010 (listen to tracks below). One of the reasons we renewed Grouplove is because they are so incredibly talented, and have still not received the recognition we think the band deserves.

The Papercranes deliver a dreamy, even melancholy, sound on the fantastic new single from their latest release, and Paper Diamond throws it down with impressive electronica work on the track “From Now Till…”.

“Synapses” – Papercranes from Let’s Make Babies in the Woods

We could go on and on about all of the new releases this week, but, once you listen to this mix, you’ll see that the music speaks for itself. Played in one continuous stream, you’ll notice at some point or another that this playlist is just packed with awesome songs, including other artists like Say Hi, Monotonix, The Ex, Delicate Steve, Exray’s, I Was King, Lia Ices, Fujiya & Miyagi, Duke Garwood, Greater Pacific, The Chicharrons, Metal Mountains and more.

“Insects” – Woodsman from Rare Forms

When you want all the best new songs from new releases, come to IRC regularly, since we post about four features and playlists each week stuffed with music from some of the most popular ‘indie’ artists to lesser-known, but talented bands. But even if you miss a post that is a few days, weeks or months old, most of the MP3s do not expire like they do on most other sites. Use the Comments to tell us what you think about these songs or the artists that make them. Click on album titles to make a purchase from Amazon – which has more MP3s at lower prices than iTunes.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BxSWS7I5L._SS500_.jpg

“Understand At All” – Cloud Nothings from Cloud Nothings

“Under The Gun” – Apex Manor from The Year of Miracle Drinking

“Give Me More” – Monotonix from Not Yet

“Slow Peels” – Com Truise from Cyanide Sisters EP

“Tree By The River” – Iron & Wine from Kiss Each Other Clean

“Louder Than Ever” – Cold War Kids from Mine Is Yours

“The Merry Barracks” – Deerhoof from Deerhoof vs. Evil

“Colours” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP

Bonus Track: “Naked Kids” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP

“The Distance” – Greater Pacific from Rainfall EP

“My Father’s Eyes” – Ben + Vesper from Honors
Bonus Track: “Knee-Hi Wall” – Ben + Vesper from Honors

destroyer-kaputt

“Chinatown” – Destroyer from Kaputt

“You’ll Never Pay For The Farm” – Gang Of Four from Content (MP3 Exclusive)

“Thunder On The Mountain” – Wanda Jackson (feat. Jack White) from The Party Ain’t Over

“The Piano Lesson” – John Vanderslice from White Wilderness (MP3 Exclusive)

“Bloom” – The Veils from Troubles Of The Brain EP

“Bloom” – Duchess Leo from Golden Gray

“From Now Till…” – Paper Diamond from The Levitate EP

“Devils” – Say Hi from Um, Uh Oh

“Sixteen Shades Of Black & Blue” – Fujiya & Miyagi from Ventriloquizzing

“Lemoncholic” – Stripmall Architecture from Albino Peacock EP (self-released)

“Ma Do Nar” – Los Chicharrons from Roots of Life

“Life Coach” – Phil Manley from Life Coach

“If I Had a Boat” – James Vincent McMorrow from Early In The Morning

“Structures in the Sun” – Metal Mountains from Golden Trees

“Equestrian” – U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (self-released)

“Bon Kum” – Sidi Touré from Sahei Folk

“1-2-3 Bad” – Thank You from Golden Worry

“Equestrian” – Anyone know who this is?

Other Releases This Week

“Cold Weather Is Back” – The Ex from Catch My Shoe

“You Forgot” – Exray’s from Exray’s

“Butterfly” – Delicate Steve from Wondervisions

“Nightwalking” – I Was a King ‒ from Old Friends

“Grown Unknown” – Lia Ices from Grown Unknown

“Jesus Got a Gun” – Duke Garwood from dreamboatsafari

Best Indie Rock Songs 2010, Vol. II: Foals, Deerhunter, Wolf Parade, Titus Andronicus, Andrew Bird, No Age, Warpaint, LCD Soundsystem

Posted on by Max Hammer

A few days ago, we popped out the first volume in this series of the Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010, which we expect to have at least another few volumes. So, you’ll have plenty of songs from 2010 to stream and add to your own MP3 player playlists.

In the interest of time (since there’s so much 2011 music already out and in the pipeline to keep us busy bunny rabbits), we’re not writing out any reviews. The music speaks for itself. In some cases, you can click on the artist or band name to see the original article they appeared in 2010 (which often have even more songs), and in other cases, you can click the album title if you’re interested in making a quick and easy purchase of the album for which the song appears.

In fact, many of the albums presented in this series constitute Best Albums of 2010. And in case you want to get any of them at 320kbs MP3 no lock quality, the album titles are linked directly to purchase via Amazon.  In fact, many of the best albums of 2010 are on sale for only $5.00!  You can get four albums from Amazon at $5.00 for the same price of one new CD release. Five dollars for a great album is less than some fancy coffee drinks go for at Starbucks. But, the music you will have forever, and do whatever you want with it, copy it to all your MP3 devices – iPod, iPhone, Mac or PC, iHome, car stereo. Plus, if you ever lose your MP3s, you can re-download the originals. We receive a tiny commission for every album you purchase with the album links below. Enjoy.

“Black Gold” – Foals from Total Life Forever

“Glitter” – No Age from Everything in Between

“All Delighted People” – Sufjan Stevens from All Delighted People EP

“Knockout” – Air Waves from Dungeon Dots

“Revival” – Deerhunter from Halcyon Days

“Black Eyes” – Shearwater from The Golden Archipelago

“Ghost of Syllables” – Admiral Radley from I Heart California

“Out of Tune” – Real Estate from Out of Tune/Reservoir 7″

“Home” – LCD Soundsystem from This Is Happening

“Dirty Thing” – Telekinesis from Parallel Seismic Conspiracies EP

“Cruth & Cane” – Peter Crier Wolf from Inter-Be [+Digital Booklet]

“You & Me” – Elizabeth & The Catapult from The Other Side of Zero

“Undertow” – Warpaint from The Fool

“Glitter” – No Age from Everything in Between

“Something Else” – Diamond Rings from Special Affectations

“Bermuda” – Kisses from The Heart of the Nightlife

“What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had To Go This Way)” – Wolf Parade from Expo 86

Note: Many of these awesome releases are on sale via Amazon for great prices, including many for just $5; that’s better than iTunes. Just click on the album title to go right to that page in Amazon.

“Shake the Shackles” – Crystal Stilts from Shake The Shackles 7′

“The History of Plastic” – The War on Drugs from Future Weather EP

“Vendela Vida” – Dinosaur Feathers from Fantasy Memorial

“Fresh Hex (featuring Beck)” – Tobacco from Maniac Meat

“Sunglasses” – Whiplash from The Sunglasses

“ooOoooOoo” – Oberhofer from o0O0o0O0o

“Cloudy Shoes” – Damien Jurado from Saint Bartlett [+Digital Booklet]

“The Gaudy Side of Town” – GAYNS from Relayted [+Digital Booklet]

“Don’t Touch My Hat” – The Queers from Back To The Basement

“Sex With An X” – The Vaselines from Sex With An X

“The Smoke” – Home Video from The Automatic Process

“Big Escape” – Pearly Gate Music from Big Escape 7′

“Hot Math” – Andrew Bird from Useless Creatures

“Doesn’t Shake Me” – The Goodnight Loving from Goodnight Loving Supper Club

“Bright Lit Blue Skies” – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti from Before Today

“Tiny Circle” – Wolf People from Steeple

“I Will Live on Islands” – Josh Rouse from El Turista (Bonus Version)

“Four Score and Seven (Part One)” – Titus Andronicus from The Monitor

Don’t miss Vol One of the Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010

Brooklyn based resident CMJ producer Sane Smith drops new album entitled
“Robots Will Kill”, featuring funky electronic dance groove samples and old
school raps interlaced with ambient synths and driving beats, then further
spliced and glitched with the help of a monome and recorded live (riyl:
RJD2, DJ Shadow, Pretty Lights).

Sunday 25 Songs Mix – The Clash, Arctic Monkeys, The Shins, Tripmaster Monkey, Kinks, John Lennon, The Replacements

Posted on by Max Hammer

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time for the Sunday 25 playlist. In case you are new to The Sunday 25 Songs (S-25) mix, each week we put together 25 songs we love from any genre and any time period; a chance for us to take a break once a week from bringing you the best new indie rock songs, bands, albums and live events.

[zbplayer]

At the core of the S-25 mix is the band profile, in which we feature a band we love (and hope our readers do/will as well). In addition to a general overview of the featured band’s members, first big breaks, best songs and albums, influence on music, etc., we also include five to seven songs from their discography in the weekly S-25 mix. Today’s featured band is The Clash.

The Clash remain as one of the most influential and popular rock bands in British music history, and they were, for all intents and purposes, the first high-profile to combine ska, punk, rock pop and reggae into their songs, giving the band a unique identity in the annals of pop music.

“Train In Vain” – The Clash from London Calling (1979)

With unforgettable hit songs like “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and “Rock The Casbah,” The Clash swayed in between underground music and the mainstream (especially in the U.K.), while staying true to their roots.  Every day, new Clash fans from around the world are discovering the band’s music for the first time; whether it’s a 14 year old boy in Birmingham, U.K. playing his Dad’s old Clash vinyl records or a Mom with two kids in Des Moines, Iowa discovering the band for the first time listening to classic rock radio station, The Clash are definitely in the Top 100 Best Bands Ever, and for good reason.

The many different ways that music lovers are discovering The Clash is interesting, but if you really want interesting, and you enjoy the five Clash songs in this mix, we strongly recommend these Clash LPs: their self-titled debut (1977); Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978); London Calling (1979).

theclashcombatrock

In London during the late 1970s and early 1980s, The Clash, in many ways, would eventually surpass The Sex Pistols as the U.K.’s most popular punk rock band. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote in the All Music Guide: “Where The Pistols were nihilistic, The Clash were fiery and idealistic, charged with righteousness and a leftist political ideology. From the outset, the band was more musically adventurous, expanding its hard rock & roll with reggae, dub, and rockabilly among other roots musics.
Furthermore, they were blessed with two exceptional songwriters in Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, each with a distinctive voice and style. The Clash copped heavily from classic outlaw imagery, positioning themselves as rebels with a cause.”

Joe Strummer and Mick Jones were the heart of The Clash during their glory years (1977-1982). Even after they finally broke through in America in 1982 with the release, and success, of Combat Rock, the band began to implode only months later. Despite line-up changes, worldwide tours, heavy promotion, and stops and starts, The Clash officially disbanded in 1986. But, we still have their awesome albums to play for the rest of our lives.

“Should I Stay Or Should I Go” – The Clash from Combat Rock (1982)

“Weird Divide” – The Shins from Oh Inverted World (2005)

“For Agent 13” – The Besnard Lakes from The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse (2007)

arcticmonkeys

“This House Is A Circus” – Arctic Monkeys from Favorite Worst Nightmare (2007)

“He Said He Was A River” – Tripmaster Monkey from Practice Changes (1996)

“Rock The Casbah” – The Clash from Combat Rock (1982)

“Boys Are Back in Town” – Thin Lizzy from Jail Break (1976)

“Better Things” – The Kinks from Give The People What They Want (1981)

“Just Like (Starting Over)” – John Lennon from Double Fantasy (1980)

“Spanish Bombs” – The Clash from London Calling (1979)

“Lovers On Our Backs” – Bird By Snow from Lovers On Our Backs 7″ (2009)

“Ghost of Syllables” – Admiral Radley from I Heart California (2010)

“Got To Get You Into My Life” – The Beatles from Revolver (1966)

“The Guns of Brixton” – The Clash from London Calling (1979)

“Here Comes A Regular” – The Replacements from Tim (1985)

“Shake It Up” – The Cars from Shake It Up (1983)

“Don’t Bring Me Down” – Electric Light Orchestra from Discovery (1979)

“Hurricane” – Neil Young from Decade (1980)

“Someday” – The Silent Years from The Silent Years (2005)

Best New Releases from The Decemberists, R.E.M., Smith Westerns, Tennis, Braids, Oh No Oh My, among others.

IRC Readers Pick Two Door Cinema Club as Best Break Through Band of 2010 Over Local Natives, Broken Bells and The Drums

Posted on by Max Hammer
IRC Readers' Choice for Best New Band of 2010: Ireland's Two Door Cinema Club

In the latest IRC Readers’ Choice Awards poll, Ireland‘s hot alternative rock and electronic band Two Door Cinema Club edged out other top indie rock bands for the title as the Best Break-Through Band of 2010.

The rising band took 21% of 1,761 votes cast by readers and visitors on IRC during the past two-weeks that the poll has been running. Some people may dispute the validity of Two Door Cinema Club as particularly suitable because their music is definitely electro and dance pop oriented, and therefore, not the traditional four-piece bands that came close, but not close enough, to beating TDCC for the No. 1 slot.

The band’s 2010 release, Tourist History, is what really allowed them to break-through to a much wider audience in 2010.  In 2008, TDCC released their self-titled debut album, that got a lot play in Ireland and England. Even though the band were popular overseas prior to 2010, they didn’t really hit critical mass – and penetrate the American alternative music scene until recently.

“This is the Life” – Two Door Cinema Club from Tourist History

If you don’t have Tourist History, you can click here,   purchase it and download it to your computer, phone or MP3 player for only $5 on Amazon. The $5 deal is a limited time offer and worth four or five times as much in pure talent and ambition.

The Beginnings of a Fascinating Band

Two Door Cinema Club is an alternative/indie rock band from Northern Ireland. The band members – Alex Trimble,
Kevin Baird, Sam Halliday – formed the band in 2007, and soon after, signed to French record label Kitsuné Music.

Trimble and Halliday first met as kids at Bangor Grammar School, and later became friends with Baird. But it wasn’t until just a few years ago that the friends began to put together what would become Two Door Cinema Club. Interestingly, the band got their name after one of the members mispronounced the name of a local cinema, Tudor Cinema. Throughout 2008 and 2009, the band’s profile steadily increased as the number of views and plays skyrocketed on the band’s MySpace page.

Local Natives took the No. 2 spot in the final breakthrough band poll of 2010

“Hands Off My Cash, Monty” – Two Door Cinema Club for Two Door Cinema Club

Having decided to leave their college studies in pursuit of their dreams, the band focused on getting into a studio and getting out a debut EP. In January of 2009, the band released the EP, Four Words To Stand On, and from there on out, it was a wild ride upwards as bloggers and music critics and fans got their hands on the EP and shared with others. The buzz for Two Door Cinema Club was on, and during the ensuing 12 months  they toured, wowed fans and cynics with their well-honed live shows, began getting bigger billings, festival invites, growing record sales and a serious following throughout Ireland, the UK and United States.

In July 2009, TDCC began recording their debut album with Eliot James (The Futureheads, Bloc Party, The Kaiser Chiefs) at London’s Eastcote Studios; by September, the band were mixing the record at Paris studio of Cassius member Phillipe Zdar (Phoenix, Cut Copy, Chromeo). While anticipation built for the completion and release of the band’s debut LP, some details were revealed in January of 2010 when the band provided a track listing to the NME, a popular UK music mag that was obviously keeping tabs on the Irish band.

On February 26, 2010, Tourist History was officially released in the Republic of Ireland; March 1st in the U.K.; and April 27th in the U.S..  Much of the anticipation, and subsequent praise for the album was based on the fact that many singles had been released months before, including alternative radio singles like “Something Good Can Work”, “I Can Talk” and “Undercover Martyn.”  Additionally, the tracks “Something Good Can Work” and “Undercover Martyn” were featured on television advertisements for Vodafone and Meteor.

“Undercover Martyn” – Two Door Cinema Club from Tourist History

View all five polls representing 50 bands that eventually, through the voting process, were whittled down to the Top Ten, and then, of course, the winner. Poll One, Poll Two, Poll Three, and Poll Four, and Poll Five.

breakoutbands2010

Following not too far behind the No. 1 Two Door Cinema Club was one of the most popular bands of 2010, Local Natives, who took 18% of the vote, followed by Broken Bells (14%), The Drums (13%), and to round out the Top 5, Freelance Whales (8%).

“Sunhands” – Local Natives from Gorilla Manor

“The Ghost Inside” – Broken Bells from Broken Bells

“Forever and Ever Amen” – The Drums from The Drums

“Enzymes” – The Freelance Whales from 7″

It does say volumes, we think, that Two Door Cinema Club beat out wildly popular, and American, bands like Local Natives, Broken Bells, The Drums and Freelance Whales, among others. But the poll results reflect who the poll takers picked. We even blocked repeated votes by cookie and IP, so the polls that the margin of error would be as low as possible. Nevertheless, by the time the first 200 votes were in, TDCC was in the lead, and at that time, right ahead of Broken Bells. As the poll progressed to over 1,500 votes, the only thing that remained a constant was TDCC’s lead over the other nine bands.

localnativesband[/caption]In five separate polls, featuring a total of 50 bands, readers whittled down the best break-through bands of the year to the Top Ten. Back in June of 2010, we published the first break-through bands of 2010 poll. In that poll, readers, and visitors, overwhelmingly picked Local Natives at 23%, followed far behind by Surfer Blood, who garnered almost 14%. The dynamic musical duo Sleigh Bells garnered 13.2%, and Canada’s Crystal Castles – another duo – and Brooklyn electro-haze pop artist, Neon Indian, pretty much tied (CC taking it by one vote) to round out the Top 5.

See more results, and listen to and download MP3s from all 10 nominees, including the bottom half, which included big-time buzz bands of 2010 like Philadelphia’s Free Energy and New Jersey’s Real Estate. It was stunning to see Free Energy only grab 8.7% of the vote, and Real Estate only taking 4%.

The many wonders of polling

We love polling for many different reasons, but the two biggest reasons are one, the results are always fascinating, and often surprising, and two, it helps us tailor our coverage of bands and music in some part to what the various polls indicate our readers and visitors want more or less of.  That’s an important element, as it has been since we started the Top Ten Songs page in late 2009.

This final poll comprised the No. 1 band, plus the runner-up, for each of the five polls of this particular polling series, with a total of 50 breakout bands that we selected with some help from the trends of which indie bands were more popular than the rest, based again, on the Top Ten Songs page, plus other metrics, such as number of page views for an artist profile, reTweets and Facebook ‘Likes’, hearted favorites on our Hype Machine page, and so on.

To browse all 50 bands, visit the following poll result pages that include each individual poll result, band profiles and overviews, plus a free MP3 from each nominee : Poll One, Poll Two, Poll Three, and Poll Four, and Poll Five.

Best Indie Rock Songs 2010, Vol. I: Deerhunter, Freelance Whales, Broken Bells, Arcade Fire, Fang Island, The Walkmen, Caribou

Posted on by Max Hammer
Deerhunter's 'Halcyon Digest' LP was one of the best albums of 2010

In the end, 2010 turned out to be another blockbuster year for indie rock (and its many related and sub genres) music. So much so that many people, including us, are still catching up, digesting, listening to, and analyzing 2010 releases. We don’t feel any necessity to follow the packs and get out best-of, year-end list by a certain date, but generally, we like to get the majority of it wrapped up no later than Valentines Day, or about the time that the Noise Pop Festival in San Francisco starts – in the third week of February. Therefore, as many of you have probably already noticed, there are lots of ‘best of’ and ‘top 2010’ band playlists and polls that have been running, and now it’s time to focus on songs.

So far, we’ve published the Top 50 No.1 Songs of 2010 of the songs featured on IRC throughout the year, which were tallied each week via the popular Top Ten Songs listings.

“Helicopter”– Deerhunter from Halcyon Digest

The same concept will continue in 2011, wherein we tally the songs that were listened to, and downloaded, the most the week previous, and then we list the Top Ten Songs for that week based solely on whichever songs we posted during that week – such as the Best New Releases weekly series, and other common posts to provide readers and visitors a reliable place to go every week, or a few times a week, to find, stream and download the best new indie rock music, get cool deals and interesting news, view artist and band profiles, stream special playlists and mixes full of carefully chosen tracks, and find terrific, but rare new releases that are often times no where else on the web.

“The Suburbs” – Arcade Fire from The Suburbs

We hope that you find this first volume of our top songs of 2010 enjoyable, and that perhaps you will discover some songs that you really dig but had never heard before.  As much as possible, we have avoided duplicating songs that are currently featured in the popular post, The Top 50 No. 1 Songs of 2010 playlist and poll. and hopefully, you voted for your favorite song. Because the No. 1 song of the week for the weekly Top Ten Songs list means that hundreds of other great 2010 songs were not included in that poll.

“Hannah” – Freelance Whales from Weathervanes

Stayed tuned also for our Best Albums of 2010 series. Yeah, we know, everyone else has already put out their top albums of 2010. We don’t think that means we should put out ours at the same time as everyone else. Plus, it takes time to put such lists together – especially since there were so many amazing releases in 2010, from Arcade Fire and Broken Bells to Deerhunter and Fang Island. Another reason we wait to put out a Best Albums of 2010 list until January, is that we think it’s a bit pretentious to be releasing best of lists before the end of the year.

In the meantime, enjoy the best songs of 2010.

“The High Road” – Broken Bells from Broken Bells

Over the next few weeks, we’ll analyze the number of times the songs in these playlist have been streamed, downloaded, and “favorited”. Sometime later this month, we’ll collect those statistics for our top songs of 2010, and then publish a final list that will be separate from the No. 1 Songs playlist/poll. Hopefully, we’re not confusing you.  The bottom line is that we love the fact that our regular visitors and new visitors help determine what are the most popular songs of those that we post on IRC.

It will be very interesting to see which songs all you guys like the most. We also encourage you to leave comments about; it only takes a few people to start the ball rolling on interesting comment threads about the songs in this special post. The songs are not in any particular order of importance.

Note: This songs are not in order of importance; they are random. Also, many of the albums that these songs appear on are among the Best Albums of 2010. Even better, many are on sale from Amazon for $5, just click on the album title to order.

“Round and Round” – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti from Before Today

“Photojournalist” – Small Black from New Chain

Brooklyn's five-piece band are one of our break-through bands of 2010

“Life Coach” – Fang Island from Fang Island

“Dynomania” – The Vermicious Knids from The Vermicioius Knids

“Automatic” – Twin Tigers from Gray Waves (special: $5)

twodoorcinemaclubcover

“What You Know” – Two Door Cinema Club from  Tourist History

“Golden Haze” – Wild Nothing from Golden Haze EP

“This Is Real” – Best Coast from When I’m With You/This Is Real 7″

“Leave House” – Caribou from Swim

“Hot Sprawl” – Man/Miracle from The Shape of Things

“By and By” – Lay Low from Farewell, Good Night’s Sleep

“Communion” – Maximum Balloon from Maximum Balloon

“Huffy Ten Speed” – Body Language from Speaks

“Stranded” – The Walkmen from Lisbon

“Sunhands” – Local Natives from Gorilla Manor

“Swim Until You Can’t See Land” – Frightened Rabbit from Swim Until You Can’t See Land 7″

“Bloodbuzz Ohio” – The National from High Violet

In The Sun” – She & Him from Volume Two

“I Walked” – Sufjan Stevens from The Age of Adz

“Blood” – The Middle East from The Recordings of The Middle East (see Note 1)

“A More Perfect Union” – Titus Andronicus from The Monitor

“Stranger” – Dr. Dog from Stranger

“Rather Be Dead” – Bottle Up & Go from Bottle Up & Go EP

“Latin America” – Holy Fu*k from Latin

“Drunk Girls” – LCD Soundsystem from This Is Happening

“Passive Idol” – Twin Tigers from Gray Waves

“Everyone’s Hip” – Jaill from That’s How We Burn

In this list, the main difference between the IRC Readers’ Choice Poll for the No. 1 song (out of 50 No.1’s through the year) and our choices for Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010 is that here we are not including any of the No. 1 songs from the Top Ten Songs weekly feature. Obviously, one is the readers’ choice, and the other (this one) is our choice for top songs that didn’t place No. 1 for one reason or another. The purpose of this poll/playlist is to segregate the all of the non-No. 1 songs of 2010, and instead use the songs that appeared in the No. 2 – No. 10 positions throughout the year.

Note 1: This album was originally released in October of 2009, but didn’t really hit popularity until early 2010; therefore, we’re making an exception for an exceptional album.

New R.E.M. Single Builds Anticipation for Their 15th Studio LP, Out in March

Posted on by August W. Zander

remsmellslikehoney

One of the world’s greatest rock bands of the past 30 years, R.E.M., have just made available the first single from their first album in three years, Collapse Into Now. The legendary band’s 15th studio album is set to drop in March.

The new single, “Mine Smells Like Honey” (purchase via AMZ for 99 cents) is R.E.M. in true fashion – upbeat, hooklicious pop rock with a catchy beat, soaring, jangly guitar work from Peter Buck, the ironic lyrics and unforgettable nasaly and grumbling voice of Michael Stipe, and the sweeping chorus heights, preempted by the wild “call-and-response” backup vocals of Mike Mills.

Best New Releases – The Decemberists, R.E.M., Smith Westerns, Tennis, Braids, Oh No Oh My, Dolorean, Modern Skirts, Eulogies

Posted on by Max Hammer

It’s safe to say that among the biggest new releases this week The Decemberists‘ follow-up to the success of Hazards of Love in 2009, The King Is Dead. The band turn towards a more American folk style rather than the more-English folk that propelled the band from the fame within the indie rock world to the Billboard charts and the ‘mainstream’ rock world.

“January Hymn” – The Decemberists from The King Is Dead

However mainstream The Decemberists are, or how much they don’t deserve to be ‘indie’ anymore (since signing with Capitol Records in 2009), are legit discussions, but the point is, they have managed to keep their branded sound uniquely their own, and continue to release awesome, ballad-heavy folk pop songs that appeal to a wide audience of music lovers.

The first single release, “Down By The Water”, was played live for the first time last September when we saw the band performed it at their sold out performance in Pioneer Courthouse Square during NWMF, Portland‘s biggest annual musical festival.

“Down By The Water” – The Decemberists from The King Is Dead

R.E.M.’s Welcomed Return to Their Pop Roots

One of the world’s greatest rock bands of the past 30 years, R.E.M., have just made available the first single from their first album in since 2008’s Accelerate. The legendary band’s 15th studio album, Collapse Into Now,  is set to drop in March.

The new single, “Mine Smells Like Honey” (purchase MP3 via AMZ for 99 cents) is R.E.M. in true fashion – upbeat, hooklicious pop rock with a catchy beat, soaring, jangly guitar work from Peter Buck, the ironic lyrics and unforgettable nasaly and grumbling voice of Michael Stipe, and the sweeping chorus heights, preempted by the wild “call-and-response” backup vocals of Mike Mills.

You can pre-order the master CD for Collapse Into Now for a discounted $14.99.

The Debut Album from Husband and Wife Duo, Tennis, Officially Out Now

By Emma Majerus

After creating a buzz with the single, “Marathon,” college sweethearts turned husband and wife duo, Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore, along with band mate James Barone, have just officially released their debut LP, Cape Dory.  The songs on Cape Dory are not a departure from the summery sound of “Marathon,” as Tennis demonstrates a knack for the beachy pop music that so many bands have attempted to perfect over the past year or so.

“Marathon” – Tennis from Cape Dory

In fact, with their breezy vocals and jangly percussions, Tennis seems to have made themselvess fore runners of setting the tone for the indie beach sound of 2011.  And that seems only fitting; afterall, the husband and wife duo spent seven months sailing on the Atlantic Ocean. The sounds and musical influences of the ocean, the wind and the sun are well within  their grasp.

In large part, Cape Dory is reminiscent of an earlier, simpler time, while maintaining a refreshingly relevant sound.  With all of Moore’s “Oh oh’s” and “sha-la-la’s”, there are songs that conjure up images of 1960’s girl groups, but this time around, singing on a sailboat.  With rhetorical lyrics like: “Do you wanna go where it never snows and the mid-60s are the extreme lows?” from the album’s title track, Tennis doesn’t attempt to go far beyond the realm of beach music, but they do it so well that it would be difficult to fault them for it.

“Take Me Somewhere” – Tennis from Cape Dory

Chicago’s Smith Westerns Announce Debut LP for January Drop

The year 2010 was a grand year for Chicago’s rising band, Smith Westerns, whose name recognition and fan following grew by leaps and bounds, due in part to a wildly successful cross-country tour and plenty of blogger and social media love.

Today the band released its sophomore album, Dye It Blonde. Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House), produced the new LP.  The short indie film, Friends Forever, features a performance of the band playing the track, “All Die Younger”.

“Weekend” – Smith Westerns from Dye It Blonde

The film was shot by popular indie artist and photographer, Ryan McGinley, who captured Smith Westerns’ performance at this year’s Pitchfork Festival. In addition, the film also features footage from San Francisco rising indie band, Girls‘, gig at Pitchfork. Interestingly enough, both bands will be featured in IRC’s Best Bands of 2010.

“Imagine Pt. 3” – Smith Westerns from Dye It Blonde

braidsband
California indie band Braids are an IRC band to watch in 2011.

New Releases from Braids, David Gergen, Oh No Oh My, Modern Skirts and others

In addition to the new and terrific debut album from Tennis, other recommended releases include  Braids, Dolorean, Seafarer and Modern Skirts. After a four year recording hiatus following their indie-hit debut, the band Oh No Oh My just dropped their sophomore album, People Problems, and the lead single below, just makes it more probable that we’ll get around to listening to all of People Problems.

Also, check out other recommended releases, including two DIY from Seafarer and David Gergen, plus LPs from Dolorean, Eulogies, Modern Skirts, Only Sons, Fergus & Geronimo, and others.

In addition to this week’s highlighted releases, you can also still stream and download singles from our first Best New Releases of 2011, last week’s installment that we were admittedly a couple of days late with.

“Plath Heart” – Braids from Native Speaker

“The Streets I’m Walking” – David Gergen from The Nearer It Was…The Farther It Became

“Walking Into Me” – Oh No Oh My from People Problems

“You Hide” – Eulogies from Tear the Fences Down

“The Unfazed” – Dolorean from The Unfazed

“Magic” – Only Son from Searchlight

“Noise Floor” – Seafarer from Hiding Places (self-released)

“Bumper Car” – Modern Skirts from Gramahawk

“Powerful Lovin'” – Fergus & Geronimo from Unlearn

“Superstition” – Disappears from Guider

Other New Releases – Hip-Hop, Country, World Music, Trip Jazz

Tracks that are rarely heard, but not forgotten

“Arrivederci” – Sane Smith from Robots Will Kill

“Dark Road – Daniel Martin Moore from In the Cool of the Day

“Wolf Pantolones” – Beep from City of the Future

“Tio Sam” – Aurelio from Laru Beya

Posts and Playlists In the Pipeline on IRC

We didn’t do any other real reviews this week other than what’s on this page. The reason why is because we’re so busy still compiling and rolling out ‘best of 2010’ playlists. In fact, on Wednesday, we’ll publish the first installment of our top songs for 2010, which will be different from the Top 50 No.1 Indie Songs of 2010 that you guys all voted for throughout the year on the Top Ten Songs page.

Since 2009’s Best Songs series was such a big hit, we had to put one together for 2010, right at the same time that the first best new songs of 2011 are coming out.

Also, don’t miss our Winter/Spring 2011 Anticipated Releases Guide, hopefully to hit the site next weekend. In the meantime, enjoy. When you run out of great songs, just remember that all you have to do is click around the site a little to find hundreds of more songs to stream and listen to online and/or download to your MP3 player.

Essential Indie Winter Songs Mix

Posted on by indierocker

Originally posted in Jan. 2011 – Spotify playlist below has been updated to 200 CHOICE winter-focused songs from indie artists and bands across the spectrum (many who were ‘indie’then are more ‘mainstream’now)

Last week, we shared our first winter mix, the second most viewed and streamed page right behind The Best Break-Through Bands of 2010 of the past week. Obviously, yall wanted more so we felt compelled to create a second indie winter songs playlist.

This follow-up to last week’s playlist features a pretty solid selection of ‘wintery’ (or close enough) songs from big hitters like Beach House, Sufjan Stevens, The Arcade Fire, Galaxie 500, Joy Division, and other favorites, like The Answering Machine, Little & Ashley, School of the Seven Bells, Sambassadeur, and so on.

There are certainly plenty of people along the east coast (who’ve struggled through three major blizzards in the past three weeks) and other regions of the U.S. who are not happy about the cold, ice and snow. Perhaps it’s just best to accept the reality of winter, and embrace what we think is a great collection of songs, regardless of their subject matter.

For people who live in the usually coldest parts of the country, and who just plain loathe or hate winter to no end, we can only hope that some of these tracks will warm you up. There were many otherwise relevant songs that we decided not to include over others in this playlist mix. For you seemingly rare folks who like, or absolutely love, winter, there should be an extra tinge of specialty, one may assume, to these songs.

And yet so far this winter, the line drawn in previous years for the coldest regions on a U.S. map has moved south considerably, to include unlikely cities like Mobile, Atlanta and Jacksonville. There have been record breaking low temperatures and snowfalls from Florida to Virginia, where snow and below freezing temperatures are conditions that people in those regions are not accustomed to, and used to be rare events compared with recent decades.

And, of course, the dark comedy that puts the cherry on the winter drama of recent weeks, is provided by none other than the political and media idiots who spout out loud that it all proves there is no “global warming”.

All things considered, January seems the most appropriate time to share as many “winterish” songs that we have in the bins. With a sleigh full of theme appropriate songs, the following are the second mix of 25 winter songs, making 50 altogether. In case you missed it, you can access the first S-25 Winter Mix from last week.

Great Rarely Heard Songs – Chris Merritt, Caw Caw, Kid Bombardos, Hopewell, Lemon Sun, The Hush Now, Living Things, Benji Cossa, Deastro, Adam and Darcie

Posted on by August W. Zander
The Hush Now are perhaps the 'best known' of these rarely heard bands

For those of you not familiar with our new ‘Quickies Blog,’ this is a supplement only of Indie Rock Cafe main site, a place where we drop songs from bands and artists that we either don’t have time to write about, who have been previously featured on IRC’s main site (the ‘www’), and stuff that doesn’t fit into a particular post on the main site.

One difference you’ll notice between here and the main site, is that we don’t really write reviews of long playlists like this, and we don’t take the time to find related information, like the album title the songs are from and where to buy them. That said, we hope you dig these tracks, and even find some new favorite songs or artists.

“Hoping And Waiting” – The Hush Now

*“Sugar” – Chris Merritt

“Codinome Dinamite” Garotas Suecas

“Sometimes Single” – Leo Nise

“Love Is Like Lightning” – Benji Cossa

“Cars” – Now Now Every Children

“The Shaded Forests” – Deastro

“Hands/Mind” – Adam & Darcie

“Tales That I Tell” – WHO?

“Runner” – The Laughing

“Organisms” – Caw Caw

“Oxygen” – Living Things

“Harmless Lover’s Discourse” from The Blue Depths

“I Round The Bend” – Kid Bombardos

“Island” – Hopewell

“Open Letter To Once A Friend” – Boo Boo Cousins

“Your Reverie” – Kelley Stoltz

“Run With The Faithless” – Lemon Sun

You Tell Us – Evaline, Quitzow, The Decks, Wheels on Fire, Ravens and Chimes,

Posted on by August W. Zander
Detroit indie rock band The Decks - photo via motorcityrocks.com

This playlist features bands and artists that we’ve only heard one or two songs from so far, but based on these songs, we’d love to know which of these tunes you like the most, and any other thoughts you might have. You can help us decide which, if any, of these bands become Bands to Watch in 2011 on the main Indie Rock Cafe site (or the www).

For those of you new to blog.indierockcafe.com/indierockcafe, it does not in any way replace Indie Rock Cafe main site. This blog is simply a supplemental blog of the main stie, or as we like to call it – ‘the quickies blog,’ where we post songs, news, videos, etc. that are quick, more blog-like items. And, in some cases, like this post, we try something different to see how it goes.

So if you are a fan of our main site, you’ll probably want to make a habit of checking out this ‘quickies’ blog, where we post stuff in faster bits, with less reviews or analysis, whereas the main site has more detailed and in-depth posts about songs, albums, bands, events, the music industry, and so on. We’re gonna watch the numbers on this blog so we can tailor it more to your preferences over the long run.

“Final Song” – Evaline

“The Cut” – Quitzow

“What You Said” – The Decks

“Turning Into You” – Wheels on Fire

“Hearts of Palm” – Ravens and Chimes

“Pale Blue Dot” – Solar Temple Suicides

“The Moon and Me” – The Loomis Fargo Gang

“A Bus Called Further” – Heroes of Popular Wars

“Tammie” – The Do

“Connect The Dots” – Michael Geddes

Add Your Own Review: We really want to hear what you have to say!. Write a review of one or more songs in this mix using the Comments section, and we’ll publish it.  Just know that your comment will be potentially seen by 25,000 a day!

Best New Releases from Cage The Elephant, British Sea Power, Cake, Tapes N Tapes, Tape Deck Mountain, Minks, Broken Records

Posted on by Max Hammer
Cage The Elephant
Cage The Elephant are off to a spectacular start for 2011 with Thank You Happy Birthday

This is the first Best New Releases of 2011. Most of these records were officially dropped on 1.11.11. There are some really exciting, interesting releases this week, good ones to use those left over iTunes or Amazon gift cards on.

The newest album from Cage The Elephant is already on our best albums of 2011 list, and doubt it will come off by the end of the year. If you’ve not yet one of the wicked, it’s time to turn on to CTE. Also, British Sea Power‘s new LP is something else; listen to the lead single here. Plus, Cake drops their first album in seven years today, Showroom of Compassion, and new releases from Tapes N Tapes, Tape Deck Mountain, Broken Records, Birds of Avalon, and many others. Short on the words this week, but there’s a bunch of posts lining up on the runaway, waiting for their turn to bring you sah-wheat music.

“Around My Head” – Cage the Elephant from Thank You Happy Birthday

“Living Is So Easy” – British Sea Power from Valhalla Dancehall

“Sick of You” – Cake from Showroom of Compassion

“It Goes Down” – Tape Deck Mountain from Secret Serf

“Cemetery Rain” – Minks from debut LP, By The Hedge

“Freakout” – Tapes N Tapes from Outside

“A Darkness Rises Up” – Broken Records from Let Me Come Home

“Invasion” – Birds of Avalon from Birds of Avalon

“A World From Our Sponsor” – Heligoats from Live Free and Let Loose

“Zulu Bounce” – Georgia Anne Muldrow from VWETO

“Discipline Your Hands” – Dearling Physique from DeadEye Dyealer

“Don’t Know About You” – Bardo Pond from Bardo Pond