The music month of March 2011 was dominated by the build-up, and release, of The Strokes‘ first album in four year, Angels. The band appeared on Saturday Night Live and for South By Southwest, where thousands of concert goers converged at Lady Bird Lake in Austin for a free night show on the Auditorium Shores Stage across the river from downtown.
While not every critic was fully on board the love train of praise for the new Strokes’ album, the majority of bloggers, music writers, and fans, have welcomed the new release with great enthusiasm and reverence.
“Under Cover of Darkness” – The Strokes from Angles
Even though the buzz around the mid-February release of Radiohead‘s new LP, The King of Limbs, was still on-going well into March, there seems lately to be much more of a s0-so, even ho-hum, reaction to the new RH album. It’s still a superb record, but just maybe not a masterpiece.
“Bloom” – Radiohead from The King of Limbs ($5.99)
Our initial review of King was that it was good, but not great – certainly not on the level of brilliance as 2007’s In Rainbows. Then, we kind of backed off from our initial impression, realizing that it takes many, many listens to get a fair view of a Radiohead album. And yet, since then, we’re just not jumping up and down on King, and we’re not alone. In recent weeks, the take-a-step-back view of King is more revealing, and less enthusiastic. Pitchfork‘s 7.9 review of King proclaims: “the band’s signature game-changing ambition is missed.” New York Magazine‘s music critic Nitsuh Abebe wrote: “The whole album’s very, very understated…Either you find it gorgeous or you don’t much notice it at all.” We’re sympathetic to both views.
On Collapse Into Now, one song after another testifies to the fact that the band has not run out of energy or ideas. If you haven’t heard the latest R.E.M. album, we strongly recommend buying a copy – it’s brilliant.
“Discoverer” – R.E.M. from Collapse Into Now
As part of the new Music Month in Review series, we’re highlighting Best New Releases, Top Ten Songs, Fresh Tracks, Bands to Watch, SXSW 2011 Coverage, Top Tweets, your comments, and much more. Basically, this is a compendium of everything we published during March whether on the site or via social media.
Best New Releases – Playlist Mixes – March 2011
Best New Releases, Vol. II – Wolf People, Kurt Vile, Starf*cker, One in a Googolplex, Jamaica, Buffalo Tom, The Sound of Growing Up
Week Three: Best New Releases – The Dodos, Lovett, The Idle Hands, J. Mascis, Joy Formidable, Mathew Sawyer & The Ghosts, Alex Turner
Week Four: Best New Releases – The Strokes, Boat, Belong, Soundtrack of Our Lives, Dangerous Ponies, Algodon Egipico, Parenthetical Girls
Week Five*: Best New Releases – Broken Bells, Generationals, Peter Bjorn & John, Mountain Goats, Obits, Funeral Party, AFM, Secret Cities
* In March, there were five Tuesdays, the day most new releases officially drop.
Top Ten Songs of The Week for March 2011
Week One: No. 1 Song of the Week – “Queer Eyed Boy” – Rumspringa from Sway
Other top tracks in order were songs from David Lowery, The Notes, In These Woods, Generationals and more. Listen to all ten now.
Week Two: No. 1 Song of the Week – “Calyer” – Beach Fossils from What A Pleasure
Other top songs of the week came from Starf*cker, Jamaica, R.E.M., Wye Oak, and more. Listen to all top ten songs now.
Week Three: No. 1 Song of the Week – “Black Night” – The Dodos from No Color (Bonus Version)
The Dodos also scored the No. 2 spot, and The Strokes took No. 3 and No. 4. Get them all here.
Week Four: No. 1 Song of the Week – “Ego” – Thom Yorke + Burial + Four Tet
Taking the No. 2 spot for the week was The Strokes, followed by another Yorke/Burial/Four Tet track, Cults and many others – play/download all ten.
Top 20 Songs for March 2011
While we’ve been doing the weekly Top Ten Songs listings for 19 months now (and admittedly sometimes late; sorry), we thought it would be interesting to start providing the top twenty songs of the month, based on the number of times you and hundreds of thousands of others stream and download the songs that we publish in various posts and playlists for the month in question.*
However, unlike the Top Ten Songs of the week list, this particular list will include singles that are regularly posted on IRC, mostly via the regular Fresh Tracks (aka, advanced singles) playlist series , aka Advanced Singles. However, songs from other regular playlist mixes – like The S-25, Bands to Watch, Recent Releases We Almost Missed, to name a few – will not be included in the Top 20 Songs of the Month in order to keep the list focused on new releases.
“Black Night” – The Dodos from No Color (Bonus Version)
“Don’t Stop” (with Neko Case) – The Dodos from No Color
“Ego” – Thom Yorke + Burial + Four Tet
“Taken For A Fool” – The Strokes from Angles
“Silbury Sand” – Wolf People from Silbury Sand B/W Dry
“Helena Beat” – Foster The People from Foster The People EP
“Calyer” – Beach Fossils from What A Pleasure
“Machu Picchu” – The Strokes from Angles
“Mirror” – Thom Yorke + Burial + Four Tet
“Jesus Fever” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo
“To Like You” – That Ghost from Songs Out Here
“You Know What I Mean” – Cults
“Helplessness Blues” – Fleet Foxes from Helplessness Blues
“Austere” – The Joy Formidable from The Big Roar
“Four Letter Word” – Beady Eye from Different Gear, Still Speeding
“L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” – Noah and the Whale from The Last Night on Earth
“The Roller” – Beady Eye from Different Gear, Still Speeding
“Under Cover of Darkness” – The Strokes from Angles
“Jericho” – Jamaica from No Problem
“Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” – Acid House Kings from Music Sounds Better with You
Fresh Tracks Mixes for March 2011
Each month, we try to run a couple to a few Fresh Tracks editions. The purpose of this particular playlist series is to highlight new songs just released. Most of the time, they are advance singles for upcoming releases, and therefore not the same as the weekly Best New Releases.
Other times, the Fresh Tracks mixes include songs that are not from an upcoming release, like ‘unreleased’ singles, demos, cover songs, sessions and live tracks, plus songs from special collaborations. But the majority are advanced singles from future releases. The three editions published in March include nearly 100 MP3s from bands like Ponytail, Wild Beasts, Generationals, The Strokes, Yuck, The Dodos, Fleet Foxes, Vivian Girls, Secret Cities, The Strange Boys, Thom Yorke with Burial and Four Tet, Natural Child, Thurston Moore, Cults and many others.
3/15/11: Fresh Tracks from Ponytail, Ken Seeno, Wild Beasts, Matthew Friedberger, Edward Sharpe, Let’s Say We Did, Vivian Girls & 1, 2, 3
SXSW Showcases and Bands – March 2011
With the goal of providing SXSW attendees and visitors who weren’t sure of which showcases to go with a mega-guide of recommended shows, as well as tons of MP3s for people who weren’t at SXSW, but wanted to hear music from some of the popular, and more obscure, bands and artists at SXSW 2011, we put together an exhaustive string of posts with band photos, profiles, songs, free samplers, and location and time of shows. We were happy to see a combined total of over 150,000 page views for IRC’s coverage of SXSW 2011. Altogether, there are something like 800MP3s for free in these four posts.
– 500+ Free MP3s from SXSW 2011 Bands – Samplers from Record Labels, Spinner, NPR, Spin, SXSW and IRC – 3/22/11
IRC’s Album Buyer’s Guide – Recommended March Album and EP Releases for Your Collection
Also you probably know, we recommend dozens and dozens of albums each month, most through the Best New Releases, In Dee Mail and Fresh Tracks series. At the end of each month, we’ll going to put together an Album Buyers’ Guide for all of you busy people that highlight our top picks for albums that you really want to have as part of your record collection or your MP3 collection.
Most of our recommendations have album title links that will take you right to Amazon where you can purchase a physical or digital copy (or both) in just a couple of minutes (or faster if you’re already signed in as an Amazon customer). We prefer Amazon because their album prices are cheaper than iTunes. Plus, with the free (up to five gigabytes) and brand new Amazon Cloud service, you can put the albums you purchase on Amazon to your cloud location easily so that you can access your music anywhere, anytime you want. Amazon is currently the only major music service offer cloud streaming for your Amazon music.
We’re including the lead single from each recommended release to help you decide which you want to purchase. You might also want to follow IRC on Twitter or Facebook as we send out recommended releases on a regular basis. That way, you won’t miss a thing, plus we include special, limited time sales frequently.
Unless otherwise noted, all prices listed below are for the MP3 download version; simply click on the album title to purchase.
“Greenleaf” – Generationals from Actor-Caster – $7.99
“Bloom” – Radiohead from The King of Limbs – Limited Time Offer: $5.99
“Under Cover of Darkness” – The Strokes from Angles – $9.99
“Black Night” – The Dodos from No Color (Bonus Version)
“Discoverer” – R.E.M. from Collapse Into Now (Deluxe Edition) – $11.99
“Windows” – Broken Bells from Meyrin Fields EP – $4.99
“Calyer” – Beach Fossils from What A Pleasure – $7.92
“Second Chance” – Peter Bjorn And John from Gimme Some – $9.99
“Birth of Serpents” – The Mountain Goats from All Eternals Deck
“In My Time” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo – $7.99
“Belong” – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart from Belong
“Death As A Fetish” – Starfu*ker from Reptilians – $9.99
“Me Me Me” – Middle Brother from Middle Brother – Limited Time Offer: $1.99
“The Roller” – Beady Eye from Different Gear, Still Speeding – $7.99
“To Like You” – That Ghost from Songs Out Here – $7.99
“Do What You Will” – Papercuts from Fading Parade CD – $12.57
“Song for Bob” – Raised By Tigers from Reunion Parts – $8.99
“Esa Nena Nunca Regreso” – Davila 666 from Tan Bajo – $9.99
“Running With Insanity” – Alcoholic Faith Mission from And The Running With Insanity
“Proud” – Easter Island from Better Things EP – $4.95
“Bon Koum” – Sidi Toure from Sahel Folk – Jan. 25th
“Socialite Death Squad” – The Idle Hands from Life Is Beautiful
“Not Enough” – J Mascis from Several Shades of Why
“Giant” – Funeral Party from The Golden Age of Knowhere
“Lord Knows Best” – Dirty Beaches from Badlands
“Too Young to Be in Love” – Hunx and his Punx from Too Young To Be In Love
Also, browse around Amazon’s 100 Albums for $5.00 section. All choices were s as selected by the music staff. Trust us, there is a stunning amount of terrific albums crossing all genres and eras of music. That means you can get four MP3 320kbs albums for the price of one new CD.
Best New Music Videos & Trailers – March 2011
“Not Enough” – J. Mascis via Subpop
“Get Away” – Yuck via Fat Possum
“Bizness” – Tune-Yards via 4AD
“Heart In Your Heartbreak” – The Pains of Being Pure At Heart via Slumberland
The Dodos performing at SXSW 2011
Watch more of IRC’s favorite new music videos and subscribe to IRC’s new YouTube channel, IndieRockTV, which we are planning on giving some juice boosts to soon to offer more and exciting new video content, including band performances, interviews, IRC guest videos, animations and cartoons, indie film trailers, viral videos, festival sets and more. In the meantime, check out the various channels for some of our favorite music videos, including the just-ramping up 2011 music video playlist.
Sunday 25 Mixtapes for March 2011
Miscellaneous MPFree Playlists and Posts
In Dee Mail Special Edition 2011, Vol. I – Secret Knives, Lisa Savidge, Charlie Khan, Indie Folker, Michael Silversmith, Jangula, The Hollow
Recommended Free Albums and EPs for Download
Every couple of months, our file holding free albums for download, starts to overflow, and so, we gather them up, check if the links are still working – and the music is still free – and publish them for our regular readers and new visitors to download. These are in addition to the hundreds of free and legal MP3s we post each month.
If you dig warm, floating synthesizer keys and dreamy soundscapes, check out the three-track EP, Empty House by FIRS. The EP was recorded in two days using an Ensoniq ESQ-1, a vintage, rack-mount Ibanez analog delay, and a floor tom on an 8-track. Also recommend checking out the debut LP, Man In Space.
The R&B and folk inspired music of Nijae Draine is interesting to say the least. Download her LP Spring Cleaning for free. The album’s title track is particularly good. The LP was released on March 9th.
Free 2011 Lujo Records sampler featuring new songs from Yourself & the Air, Bluebrain, A Lull, Pomegranates, Firs, John Lamonica, and more.
Check out Baby Teeth‘s free MP3 EP Boss – Originally released Jan. 21 – RIYL: R&B, Luther Vandross.
500+ Free MP3s from SXSW 2011 Bands and Artists – Samplers from Record Labels, Spinner, NPR, Spin, SXSW and IRC – March 22nd
Note: check back in this section as we have a few more to add soon. April’s Music Month in Review will have a particularly large selection for this section.
IRC’s Most Popular Twitter Messages for March 2011
For those of you who follow us on Twitter, you know that we don’t use it to tell you what we had for lunch or other annoying, useless information. We send out Tweets to inform you of new posts and playlists mixes we published on the main IRC.com site, but we also send out many things via our Twitter account that you will only hear about on our Twitter feed, with frequent cross-posting to Facebook, which is a more preferred format by some segments of our audience.
Our philosophy for using Twitter is to try and make every Tweet we send out something worthy and relevant to most “music people,” if you will. As some of you may know – especially if you follow a lot of active Tweeters – you can easily miss Tweets that get inadvertently ‘buried’ but contain information or links that you would otherwise be really interested in. With that in mind, and for those of you haven’t joined on us Twitter, we’ve decided to add a section to the monthly review highlighting the Top Ten Music Tweets of the Month. We determine this by viewing our Bit.ly statistics and retweets. Maybe in the future, we’ll do more than ten, just depends on how this experiment goes.
March 6th (168) – Today’s mixtape: 25 Red Songs – http://bit.ly/red-songs
March 10th (113) – Best New Releases Part II: Wolf People, Kurt Vile, Buffalo Tom, One in a Googolplex, Starfuc*er, &more
March 11th (188) – @SpinMagazine offers free 33-song sampler of bands playing at next week’s #SXSW 2011 – http://on.fb.me/sxsw-sampler
March 14th (178) – Songs About Cars with Arcade Fire, Built to Spill, Iron & Wine, The Kinks, The Beatles, Snow Patrol
March 16th (705) – Get the free Tunecore SXSW 2011 Sampler
March 19th (220) – SXSW 2011 Bands Playlist Mix and Reviews for Days 2 to 5; Get over 75 stellar tracks #sxsw
March 20th (187) – Get 17 free new indie tracks from iTunes via this link from Spin magazine –
March 20th (127) – The Top 50 Dance Tracks – http://bit.ly/top-50-dance-tracks #dance
March 22nd (302) – Do you have room on your MP3 player for 500+ free songs from SXSW bands?
March 30th (110) – Hear Ye, Hear Ye – View Radiohead’s newspaper, The Universal, on your computer screen,