Last week, we launched the first mixtape of IRC’s Best Songs of 2011 to a relatively strong response from regular readers and visitors. The first volume includes more than 30 top songs originally released in January of this year. They were chosen from dozens upon dozens of tracks emailed directly or that we found surfing a variety of music sites and blogs.
During the planning for this series, we wanted to do things differently than all of the other music sites and blogs. So, there will be a total of 12 Best Songs mixtape editions – one for each month of 2011, appearing chronologically from January to December. We asked a few other trusted advisers, and they all liked the concept.
If you felt like 2011 just flew right by, or simply fancy reliving it all over again organically, this series is a great way to experience the best indie rock songs of 2011 as they were released month to month. We’ve looked and this is the only ‘best of 2011’ playlist series that we know of that published chronologically.
More importantly, all of the songs for the Best Songs of 2011 playlist series were chosen by listeners and visitors based on the tracks that literally millions of people worldwide streamed and downloaded the most on IRC. So far, the first edition, highlighting the most popular songs of January 2011, has received tens of thousands of visits since it was published last week
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Whether it was songs like “Umder Cover of Darkness” by The Strokes, or “Bloom” by Radiohead, two hot tracks, “holing Out” and “Rubber” from one of the best new bands of 2011, Yuck. Plus, IRC exclusive release of Opus Orange’s new single, “Crystal Clear,” was one of the four number one songs of February 2011.
The No. 1 Songs of February 2011 – Reader’s Choice
The shortest month of the year was jam-packed with hot tracks that are still among the best songs of the year, eight months later. IRC regular and new visitors also approved of lead tracks off new albums by The Dodos, Panda Bear, Beach Fossils, Fleet Foxes, Generationals, Cut Copy, Holy Ghost, Real Estate, Datarock, Scattered Trees, Akron/Family, The Go! Team, Times New Viking, In These Woods, Class Actress and more.
In case you missed it, you might want to start first with Volume One, published last week, with the focus of songs released in January 2011. From all of the eventual 12 volumes, we will use the same concept to reveal the IRC Reader’s Choice for the Top 50 Songs of 2011.
* This single was originally released in late 2010, but the album, one of the best of 2011, was released on Jan. 11, 2011. Therefore, this track should have been ideally featured in Volume One of Best Songs of 2011.
For decades, it has been common practice for new singles to be released weeks, even months, before the album itself to help promote album sales. In the heyday of vinyl, advanced LPs and 45’s were sent by record labels to deejays at thousands of radio stations across the country and the world.
Nowadays, it is common for singles to be released as MP3 links, files and scripted embeds that can be streamed, and sometimes downloaded, from the web. While much has been lost in sound quality during the transition from master tapes to vinyl and especially to the common MP3 format, singles are more significant than ever before because more music consumers cherry-pick singles and buy fewer albums in the age of digital formats, iTunes and MP3 players.
As far as the quality of the individual lead singles from this week’s Best New Releases, this is a great mix of fantastic tracks – the type of singles that make you want to hear the whole album. In fact, we partly put them in the order we have below to highlight the best singles. Of course, Wilco’s “I Might” gets the top spot for all of the obvious reasons, but more so because it’s such a killer song. Listen to a few other tracks live from Wilco via Yahoo.
Not only are we stoked to finally have Wilco‘s fantastic new album, The Whole Love, but there are a bunch of new releases this week from so many hot indie bands, like Dominant Legs, Young Lagoon, Twin Sister, Young Man, VHS or Beta, and Warm Ghost. At the end of this post, don’t miss new singles from lesser-known bands who sent their tracks to us directly.
It’s practically impossible to contain yourself listening to Dominant Legs‘ incredibly uptempo track, “Hoop of Love,” from the band’s sophomore album, Invitation, which you can stream in full for a few more days via Spinner. Next, blaze it for a few minutes with the dreamy, hazy verses of Youth Lagoon‘s ode to the ‘silver and gold’ state on the lead single, “Montana.”
Radiation City channel the sounds of 1960’s girl-group blues choruses with a heavy bass line and tambourines on the lead track “The Color of Industry.” Plus, the Dum Dum Girls offer up two singles from their latest album – the power pop song “Bedroom Eyes” and the more somber, fittingly named “Coming Down”. Interestingly, the next two tracks from Vanish Valley and The Gift both revolve around the central theme of racing, and each is a fantastically upbeat song, perfect for listening to while you’re driving, jogging or biking. While we have heard, and covered, before The Gift, this is our first exposure to Vanish Valley, and we’re guessing the same is true for most of you as well.
Dan Mangan‘s new single, “Post War Blues” continues to add value to his talents as a well-respected songwriter and musician. The track is almost spoken prose for the first half of the song, but the choruses and climaxes are gorgeously uplifting and delivered with gusto. You can listen to the entire album via Spinner for a few more days.
The mood mellows out a bit for the next single by Alessi’s Ark, but not for long because Kasey Anderson and The Honkies rip it up with a blistering, Kills-style garage rocker, “The Wrong Light.” But that’s not all, this mix also features lead singles from
Double-shot: “Bedroom Eyes” – Dum Dum Girls from Only in Dreams
“Races” – Vanish Valley from Get Good
“Race Is Long“ – The Gift from Explode
“Post-War Blues“ – Dan Mangan from Oh Fortune
Wire – Alessi’s Ark from Time Travel
“Nothing” – Young Man from Ideas of Distance (album stream)
I Found a Reason– VHS or Beta from Your Light Like White Lightning, Your Light Like A Laser Beam (album stream)
The Wrong Light– Kasey Anderson and The Honkies from Heart Of A Dog
Geeshie – The Mekons from Ancient & Modern
Double-shot: “Space in Your Face” – The Mekons from Ancient & Modern
“Breakers – Gem Club from Breakers
“Gone, Gone, Gone”– Nikki Lane from Walk of Shame
“Opium” – The New Division from Shadows
“Whatever Leads Me To You” – Geoffrey O’Connor from Vanity Is Forever
“Come Rain, Come Sunshine” – Pallers from Sea of Memories
” I’ll Down” – Sóley from We Sink
“Bad Street” – Twin Sister from In Heaven
Double-shot:“Peaches” – Twin Sister from In Heaven
“Eyes Like Pearls” – Van Hunt from What Were You Hoping For? (album stream)
New Releases from In Dee Mail – The Janks, Little Fish
Los Angeles indie rock band The Janks sent us a couple of tracks from their new release this week, Hands of Time. The band has been featured in People magazine, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications and blogs such as The Deli, The Acorn, and now, Indie Rock Cafe. The Janks have opened for bands such as Hot Hot Heat, The Shivers, Carney, and Fishbone.
“Dead Man” – The Janks from Hands Of Time
“You Can’t Give Up” – The Janks from Hands Of Time
From Oxford, UK, Little Fish dropped a new single this week, “Wonderful,” with engineering help Gaz Coombes of Supergrass. The B-side “Invisible Dreaming” was also sent out by the band just for IRC Best New Releases mix. Little Fish have opened for some rather big fish in the music world, including Blondie, Them Crooked Vultures Placebo, Hole, Alice in Chains and Eagles of Death Metal. They’re major influences include Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Velvet Underground, and Jack White in his many incarnations.
Today we kick off our Best Songs of 2011 series, albeit a bit early – but there are hundreds and hundreds of songs that we have to post in the coming months, so, no sense in waiting too long.
Afterall, with the kids back in school, and summer over, 2011 is hurdling to conclusion. So, with all of that in mind, it’s not too early to start putting up IRC’s Best Songs of 2011. We decided this year to do it chronologically, that way it’s that much easier to manage.
Plus, for each best songs of the year mixtape, we’re listing the four (only three for January) No. 1’s from the Top Ten Songs lists at the very top, with a link back to the original post they were featured in. At the end of each of volume, we’re including a poll so that readers can vote for their favorite song in each of the 12 volumes. Also, look out for the Best Rarely Heard Songs of 2011 playlist series, coming soon.
Note: Some of the Top 10 Songs lists include advance singles that were released sometimes months before the official album itself dropped; many of those come from the popular playlist series, Fresh Tracks.
The No. 1 Songs – January 2011
Interestingly, the No. 1’s for January came off of some of the best albums of the year – albums so good that they remain among our favorites, and many other people’s as well, even this late into the year.
“June Hymn”– The Decemberists from The King Is Dead
“The One” – The Radio Dept. from Passive Aggressive: The Singles 2002-2010
Note: There was no Top 10 list for the first week of January due to the holidays
So quickly that time has come again – where it’s time to put together the Best Songs of 2011 mixtapes series. From now until the end of the year, on a near weekly basis, we’ll be publishing playlist mixes highlighting the songs in 2011 that IRC readers and visitors have been listening to, and downloading, the most.
There were also plenty of other terrific tracks from 2011 besides the No. 1 songs that will be included with each 12 volumes of the Best Songs of 2011 mixtape series. We will be balancing between songs that made the Top 10 Songs lists, and other favorite songs of 2011 that didn’t make the Top 10 lists – for one or more reasons. We hope you agree; just remember to vote for your favorite song below, and bookmark this page so you can see how the vote count is going – these polls we be closed four weeks after they are published.
So, without further delay, here are more of our favorite songs of January 2011 – great tracks that were either released as advance singles, or as the lead track of new albums that dropped in January. These songs are totally in random order, and are not listed as most favorite to least favorite. Here’s the first of 12 volumes for the Best Songs of 2011.
“Around My Head” – Cage the Elephant from Thank You Happy Birthday
“A Darkness Rises Up” – Broken Records from Let Me Come Home
“Understand At All” – Cloud Nothings from Cloud Nothings
“Equestrian” – U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (self-released)
“Insects” – Woodsman from Rare Forms
“Colours” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP
“Synapses” – Papercranes from Let’s Make Babies in the Woods
“It Goes Down” – Tape Deck Mountain from Secret Serf
This mix was created with songs published in the Best New Releases mix for January 11th , followed by the Best New Releases for the week of January 18th , and January 25 . There was no BNR mix for the first week of 2011.
Vote For Your Favorite January 2011 Song
Best Rarely Heard Songs of 2011
Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the upcoming Best Rarely Heard Songs of 2011 mixtape series as well. It’s been some time since we put out a rarely-heard mix, which often turn out to feature some of our, and your, favorite mixtapes because they highlight bands, songs and albums that are not as well-known as many other artists we feature on IRC.
It’s hard to believe that this is the last week of new releases for the summer of 2011, but time just flies right by. So it’s good that there are a number of notable albums for the final hurrah of summer.
Not surprisingly, there is plenty of buzz around the newest offering from the ‘blog darlings’ (as NME once wrote) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The band’s new album, Hysterical, is available to stream in its entirety via Spinner.
The blistering rockabilly of the Jim Jones Revue‘s 2010 self-titled debut album is finally available in the U.S. this week. Plus, check out the tropical pop of the cliche-titled song “An Argument With Myself” off Jens Lekman’s new EP, and Megafaun makes a statement once again with their self-titled debut album.
“Same Mistake” – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah from Hysterical (stream album)
“Elemental” – The Jim Jones Revue from The Jim Jones Revue
Two of Slumberland Records‘ top rooster bands dropped new albums this week. The sly, funky lead track, “Trying to Reach You,” from Portland‘s indie rock trio Nurses is an appropriate intro to the band’s new album, Dracula. England’s lo-fi beach pop band Veronica Falls lay it down with the lead track “Bad Feeling” from their self-titled debut album. There just one of a number of noteworthy debut releases out this week.
“Bad Feeling” – Veronica Falls from Veronica Falls
There are also a few noteworthy releases this week from another indie label, Drag City Records‘ recording artists, most notably the marvelously blissed-out electropop track “Adam Roberts” from CAVE’s new album, Neverendles. Drag City’s Social Climbers‘ self-titled, debut album is also out this week with the playful, melodic lead track, “Chicken 80,” plus the soft, sweet folk ballad from Meg Baird‘s latest album.
“Adam Roberts” – CAVE from Neverendless
“Chicken 80″ – Social Climbers from Social Climbers
San Francisco indie band Weekend return with a new EP as the follow-up to the band’s wildly popular 2010 debut LP, Sports. Plus, check out fresh tracks from new albums by Chris Letcher, The Pack A.D. and a double-shot from Portland-via-Madison band Southerly.
“Hazel” – Weekend from Red EP
“Phone Booth” – Chris Letcher from Spectroscope
“Sirens” – The Pack A.D. from Unpersons
“Without A Cause” – Southerly from Youth
Double-shot: “Suffer” – Southerly from Youth
Next up, WATERS‘ have released the lead single, “For The One,” from its new LP, Out In The Light, followed by White Orange‘s self-titled debut (this is a big week for debut albums), and Halloween Alaska‘s All Night The Calls Came In.
“For the One” – WATERS from Out In The Light
“Dinosaur Bones” – White Orange from White Orange
“Dance By Accident” – Halloween, Alaska from All Night The Calls Came In (stream album)
“By Song Through the Americas” – Blessed Feathers from From the Mouths of the Middle Class
“Rock of Calvary (featuring Laura Veirs)” – Cataldo from Prison Boxing
“A Sail”– Lisa Hannigan from Passenger
“Arson, You Let Me Down”– IfIHadAHiFi from Nada Surf + 3 EP
Other Releases That Didn’t Make Our CD/Vinyl ‘Listen To’ List
This is one of the best weeks for new album releases in a while – the list of bands with fresh drops reads like a line-up for Coachella. With at least a dozen popular artists like The Drums, The Kooks, Grouplove, Blitzer Trapper, Neon Indian, Girls, Mates of State, St. Vincent, Robbers on High Street, and Memoryhouse releasing new albums this week, it means that you have quite a number of albums to add to your collection, and/or to add to your wish list for Christmas.
For the past week, we’ve already heard some of the most anticipated LPs, like those from The Drums, The Kooks, Mates of State, Grouplove and Neon Indian. The fantastic singles from these albums make for a great mix that you can stream or download. Plus, there are other noteworthy singles below from lesser-known, new-to-us, and radar love bands.
Right out of the gate, we wanted to start off with one of the best debuts of 2011 from IRC Breakout Band of 2011, Los Angeles indie/alt rock band, Grouplove. We have so much to say about them, but we’re saving it for the upcoming Breakout Bands of 2011 feature series wherein IRC readers, like they did in 2010, will pick the top “new” bands of 2011.
The band’s lead single, “Colours,” is one of the best songs of 2011. If there is one band we think of when listening to Grouplove, it would have to be the Pixies. That’s not to say at all that Grouplove are comparable to Pixies in any way other than Grouplove have obviously been influenced by the alternative rock icons.
“Colours” – Grouplove from Never Trust a Happy Song
Next, The Drums keep it rolling, and demonstrate a musical and creative maturation, with their sophomore album, Portamento. The first single, “Money,” pretty much follows the anthemic summer pop sound that made them a buzz band in 2010. But the band also reveal a completely different sound with the track “Searching For Heaven.” If we hadn’t known it was The Drums, we’d never have guessed. What do you think about this bold step in a new direction for the band?
“Money” – The Drums from Portamento
Double-shot:“Searching For Heaven” – The Drums from Portamento
Up next is the Konk Studio recording artist, and one of our favorite U.K. indie bands, The Kooks, who don’t disappoint with their newest LP, Junk of the Heart. In addition to the widely circulated lead track, “It Is Me,” we also threw in the title track for good measure.
“Is It Me” – The Kooks from Junk of the Heart (stream album)
“Junk of the Heart (Happy)” – The Kooks fromJunk of the Heart
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a double-shot of Neon Indian, and two standout tracks from their sophomore album, and of course the lead single from Blitzen Trapper‘s new LP, American Goldwing, which is available to listen to in its entirety at the stream link below.
“Polish Girl” – Neon Indian from Era Extrana (stream album) Double-shot:“Fallout” – Neon Indian from Era Extrana
If you’re at work, fair warning: the wonderfully energetic track “Maracas” from Mates of State might cause you to get up in your cubical and dance. The same can be said for the following track from Robbers on High Street. It just made sense those two tracks where back to back in this mix.
Then the Shimmering Stars jump in the time machine back to 1965 British Invasion tracking on their new single, plus Girls, Pajama Club, Barn Owl, Big Harp and many others.
“Maracas” – Mates of State from Mountaintops(album stream)
As summer begins to melt away like a brilliant setting sun, the weather will soon turn more brisk, the leaves on the trees will die a flashy, colorful death and the air will become more crisp. The first week of September is a seminal time of the year – millions of kids are back in school, adults are back at work, college students are getting to know new roomies, football season is just getting started and baseball playoffs are not far off.
It’s always sad, at least for us, when summer starts to fade. Luckily, in northern California we have great weather that can last into November, but by the time December comes, the days are short, chilly and wet, but it’s better than freezing cold and snow and ice everywhere.
Want more? Check out these summer mixes from 2011 and 2010 – hundreds of more great ‘summer’ songs just like this mix waiting for you to enjoy. You can just click play on the first track in each mix, and just like a radio station – but with no commercials or interruptions – all the songs in the mix will stream one after the other so you can enjoy them as they were meant to be heard.
“Mogwai and Summer at Shatter Creek” – Mogwai (1999)
That Beautiful Clear-Blue September Day in 2001 Changed The World
Today’s mix also has a duel purpose on this 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack on America. For all of us who were witnesses to that horrible day, we seek to find peace and solace in these relaxing, calming, dreamlike tracks, and maybe somewhere in between the words and the notes, between the soothing synthesizer keys and angelic choruses, there are glimpses of love, not hate, of courage, not fear, of happiness, not despair.
Although it should not take a catastrophic event to bring us closer together, Americans of every background, religion and race pulled together in the weeks and months following 9/11; now, with new challenges that test our will, Americans need to re-ignite that sense of team spirit, of looking out for our family, friends, co-workers and neighbors, and fighting for the values that we hold dear while also doing everything possible to thwart such acts in the future, and most importantly, not to let a handful of clandestine plotters and willing mass murderers stop us from pursuing our dreams to make the world a better and safer place for all. Sure, it sounds unrealistically optimistic – and there is no utopia on earth – but what’s wrong with trying to get as close to it as possible.
This week’s Fresh Tracks features some sah-weet new advanced singles from upcoming albums due out this month, plus the freshest singles were liking the most right now. There’s just so much: so, this mix should keep you going for a while. There are just released new singles, lead tracks from anticipated albums, songs that were sent directly to us, and a few that we found on other blogs and websites.
Counting The Days for Wilco’s New LP to Officially Drop
First, though, we wanted to see how many of you were able to catch the exclusive 24 hours-only stream of Wilco‘s new album, The Whole Love, last Saturday? As probably is the case for most other Wilco fans – and that’s millions of music lovers around the world – we missed that golden opportunity to stream the band’s eighth studio album last weekend via the band’s website.
The Whole Love, which is set to drop on Sept. 27th, is our No. 1 the most anticipated album of the month – now we’ll just have to wait two and a half weeks to hear it in its entirety, unless we get lucky and NPR or Spinner get the golden honor of being allowed to stream the album before the 27th. Back in June, we were treated to the first advance single from the album, “I Might” – a bright, uptempo rock song that is mostly absent of the band’s signature country rock sound that have been so prevalent in the band’s recordings since they released their debut album, AM, in 1992.
“I Might” is one of the catchiest rock songs we’ve heard in 2011 – complete with a heavy rhythmic bass, 1960’s psych rock keyboard infusions, an addictive melody accented by a oo-hoo-oo choruses, riveting guitar licks, Jeff Tweedy‘s one-of-kind vocals, a steady drum beat, and even a sprinkling of xelophone notes throughout.
“I Might” – Wilco from The Whole Love
“I Might” is just impossible to ignore; don’t be surprised if you find yourself playing it again and again. Without yet having the luxury of listening to the entire album, we can say that just based on “I Might” itself, Wilco sounds better than they ever have, and that’s saying a whole lot for a band that have been the top of the heap for years.
Let’s sweeten this post even more with the band performing another track from The Whole Love, called “Born Alone.”
“Born Alone” – Wilco from The Whole Love
Hot, New Track from Wavves and Best Coast Drops; Plus, It’s “Weekend”
A couple of months ago, we posted the first single from the collaboration between lo-fi rocker Wavves and one of the top indie pop groups of the past couple of years, Best Coast. The upcoming release of Wavves’ self-released EP Life Sux will include a number of tracks featuring Best Coast’s front-boo Bethany Cosentino on vocals. Also listen to the first track the pair released a couple of weeks ago, “I Wanna Met Dave Grohl” – we think the chances of them actually meeting the Foo Fighters‘ frontman, and former Nirvana drummer, are higher now that it was put into a song. It’s almost like Dave Grohl is obligated at this point.
The collaborative has just made posted another single called “Nodding Off”; unfortunately, it is only available right now via Soundcloud.
Class Actress Releases Advance Track from Debut LP
In case you haven’t already heard of the blogger buzz artist Class Actress, here their newest track, suitably named “Weekend.” With a constant computerized drum pop beat and new wave style keyboards oozing about, combined with the sultry and sweet vocals of Class Actress’ Elizabeth Harper. As she sings again and again in the track, “bring on the weekend.”
For good measure, we are also including the July release of the track, “Keep You,” to help provide a contrast for romantic electro-pop music lovers who may be hearing Class Actress for the first time. Earlier this summer, the band dropped its debut EP, Journal Of Ardency, with the keeper tracks “Keep You” and “Careful What You Say.”
“Weekend” – Class Actress from Rapprocher – out TBD
“Keep You” – Class Actress from Journal Of Ardency
Christ Letcher’s New Album Is A Musical Spectroscrope
After we Twitted and shared the terrific advance track from London songwriter and film composer Chris Letcher‘s upcoming album, Spectroscope, last week, it attracted a huge amount of spins. In case you don’t follow us on Twitter or Facebook, we have included the track, “Phone Booth” again, providing for us another excuse to play it again. Letcher is one of the most talented ‘new’ U.K. songwriters in our book; it was his fantastic 2007 debut LP, Deep Freeze, that put Letcher on the radars of so many bloggers and mainstream music critics as well.
“Phone Booth” – Chris Letcher from Spectroscope – Sept. 20th
Megafaun Prep for Release of Self-Titled Album out September 20th
Another anticipated album coming out this month is Megafaun‘s self-titled album slated to officially drop on September 20th. Not much has come out in advance of the album, which is understandable in one respect – any music that has some connection with Bon Iver (aka, Justin Vernon and band), is going to get a lot of attention and interest just based on the popularity of the Bon Iver brand itself.
Megafaun‘s new record reportedly has much of Phil Cook’s banjo work in it, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem as the other elements – like guitars, keys and a variety of other instruments – will likely compensate for any annoyance the banjo might pose for Megafaun fans. For those of you who may not know, Megafun’s members are former band members of Bon Iver.
“State/Meant” – Megafaun from Megafaun – Sept. 20th
IRC BTW Hospitality Sign to Merge; Drop New Track
A band that will soon be featured in an upcoming Bands to Watch feature, and which will likely also make our Breakout Bands of 2011 list is Brooklyn indie pop quartet, Hospitality (harder to find information quickly in Google with such a name, but oh well, it’s the music that matters). Yesterday it was announced that the band signed to Merge Records to record their self-titled debut LP set for release in early 2012. The album is being produced by Shane Stoneback, who has produced Vampire Weekend and Sleigh Bells, among others. So, we are thrilled to present the brand new advance track, “Friends of Friends.” More on Hospitality in the next couple of weeks.
“Friends of Friends” – Hospitality from Hospitality
Princeton’s New Track, “Clamoring For Your Heart”; Mwahaha Drops Debut LP
Next, one of our favorite breakout bands of 2008-2009, Santa Monica indie pop band, Princeton, jump back into the Fresh Tracks bucket with a new song that the band sent to us earlier this week. “Clamoring For Your Heart” is Princeton’s second seven-inch single of 2011, but there is still no word of whether a new album is even in the works, let alone set to be released.
The band’s last album, and of the best of the years altogether, was 2008’s Cocoon of Love. There is no doubt that the wonderfully jangly and uptempo “Clamoring For Your Heart” puts Princeton back in the arena after their hiatus. In another way, the track sounds like Magnetic Fields if they took happy pills.
But before spinning more advance tracks from anticipated September album releases, let’s listen to a few newly minted singles from albums scheduled for release between now and December (more from these months soon). The track “Rainbow Diamond” from the self-titled, debut album by Mwahaha, has been on replay since it hit our mailbox earlier this week, even though it doesn’t drop until right before Christmas.
Nevertheless, it’s an impressive debut single from a band that almost no one has heard of before. “Rainbow Diamond” is a sprawling, psychedelic rock opera that has put Mwahaha on our Radar Love list – and who will be profiled in a new Radar Love mix once we are able to get our hands on more of the band’s songs. As long we are talking about debuts, we are also digging the interestingly titled indie rocker, “Chicken 80,” from Social Climbers, who will release their self-titled, debut album later this month.
“Chicken 80” – Social Climbers from Social Climbers – Sept. 20th
For those of you who are fans of the band The Rest, you probably already know about the bands’ upcoming new LP, set for official release in February 2012. The good thing is you can download two advance tracks from The Rest’s Bandcamp page, or just listen to them right here. The Bandcamp page also has details about ordering some of the special vinyl editions the band is creating for this release.
The album, Seesaw, which took more than a year to record, almost never made it out of the recording studio – more accurately, all of the songs for the album, the band tells us, were erased from a computer hard-drive after a “glitch.” So the band turned to a well regarded data recovery firm, and five months later, the specialists were able to recover every song.
These are two really fine tracks, “Always On My Mind” and “The Last Day,” demonstrate a band that has the gift of writing and recording music that is so wonderfully fuse styles from shoegaze and soul to tropical and indie pop.
“Always On My Mind” – The Rest from Seesaw – Feb. 2012
“The Last Day” – The Rest from Seesaw – Feb. 2012
These are all singles from upcoming albums that, in most cases, we haven’t heard yet, so the focus is on the singles – with everyone being so busy nearly 24/7, singles are a great way to be introduced to a band. In October, dream-pop breakout band Braids will release a split 7″ with the band Purity Ring via Fat Possum Records. Here are both tracks.
“Peach Wedding” – Braids from split 7″ with Purity Ring – Oct. 10th
“Belispeak” – Purity Ring from split 7″ with Braids – Oct. 10th
It used to be that a great single would mean that people would go out and buy the record or CD, which the record companies loved. But with the cherry-picking age of the singular MP3s, people now increasingly opt to pay $.99 cents or less for only the tracks they want to own; thus, the album, as a concept, is all but dead.
Another thing the record industry doesn’t like are long songs – bands are consistently pressured to avoid writing and recording songs that run over three to four minutes. A five-minute song is pretty much the longest duration that many radio stations are willing to play – and that has been the case for decades of pop music.
Royksopp’s 13-Minute Single Out Now Ahead of New LP
But it’s not quite the same for electronic and dance music – two genres (that often overlap) where longer songs are the norm. However, even by that definition, 13 minutes is considered a long haul, but for fans of the popular Norwegian dance duo Royksopp, it’s unlikely they’ll fault the duo for a song that is five times as long as the typical radio hit. That said, this brand new track from the duo, “Shores of Easy,” doesn’t really get the junk funking until about eight minutes in, but then again they are not primarily a dance duo anyways.
Either way, for hardcore fans of Rokysopp, the release of “Shores of Easy” is just a tease for the new album, which was indicated by a note on their website that read: “new material is brewing.” Since they threw that buzzword in there – “brewing” – we must admit this track sounds more fitting for the after hours party on Halloween.
“Shores of Easy” – Rokysopp from TBA
Although we had already covered Gold Beach‘s new album in this week’s Best New Releases MP3 mixtape, we did not know at the time that another track from the album, oddly titled, “Gold Beach,” was available for posting. So, we had to include it in this post because it’s a crazily addictive track. Photo by Laura Zalenga
“Gold Beach” – Gold Beach from Habibti
Along similar lines, we also almost missed the newest release, Constellations, from the band, Grand Atlantic. We’ve had the band on our radar screens for a couple of years now, so it is a nice surprise to have found out after the fact that their new album already on September 2nd. The track below, “Carved from Stone,” is the first single from Constellations.
“Carved from Stone” – Grand Atlantic from Constellations
Fresh Tracks from Warm Ghost, Dum Dum Girls, Pajama Club, The Caseworker, Blessed Feathers
Other choice picks off albums out this month include singles from bands we already have in our collection, like Warm Ghost, Nurses, Dum Dum Girls and Wiretree, as well as new-to-us bands like Pajama Club, The Caseworker, Blessed Feathers, and others.
“GTWS” – Warm Ghost from from Narrows – Sept. 27th
It’s a rather thin week for new releases, most likely because it’s too late for summer releases, and too early for fall releases. Still, there are definitely releases we recommend, including new albums from Peter Wolf Crier, Gold Beach, Wiretree, Balmorehea, and many others.
What can we say about Peter Wolf Crier that hasn’t already been said? The Minneapolis-based duo of Peter Pisano (formerly of Wilco) and Brian Moen have definitely gone beyond the band to watch status we tagged them with in 2010. The release of the duo’s sophomore album, Garden of Arms, marks a maturation of their sound, and offers fans a set of 11 fresh tracks that are marked by experimentation, wonderful songwriting, a growing appreciation for music and a seriousness towards making music that gets people’s attention – and they are sure doing a good job at that.
The restrained intensity of “Setting It Off” and the experimental romp “Right Away” exemplify the contrasts the duo are involving more in their music. There is no question that the duo’s touring experience in 2010 has propelled them towards a more lively and intricate sound that includes organ foot pedals, looping effects, stronger drumming, reverb and dubbing. When we saw them live for the first time during South By Southwest 2010, the duo were one of that year’s biggest buzz bands, and they subsequently showed just why that was the case.
“Right Away” – Peter Wolf Crier from Garden of Arms
Following PWC, we are loving the new album, Habibti, from the band Gold Beach. When we heard the first few verses from their new single, “Diving Bell,” we could not help but to think how much it reminded us of The Shins. That said, Gold Beach makes the track all his own, with all of its chillwave, lo-fi charm, in the first minute with barely any instruments except for a quiet guitar and synthesizer. As the track progresses, it opens up into new territory, complete with a steady drum beat, reverb vocals and a merging of various synth and guitar dubbing.
“Diving Bell” – Gold Beach from Habibti (self-released)
And if that wasn’t thought-provoking enough, we also thought of Paul Westernberg (The Replacements) while listening to the rock pop-oozing track, “The Year Things Fell Apart,” off the album Increase the Sweetness from the band The Golden Seals.
“The Year Things Fell Apart” – The Golden Seals from Increase the Sweetness
“Eat Yr Heart” – HTRK from Work (work, work)
“Shimmy Shimmy Dang” – The Ladybirds from Shimmy Shimmy Dang
“Letter To A Friend” – Pregnant from Life Hard: I Try
Next is a title track, “Make Up,” off of Austin band Wiretree‘s third album, plus, singles from Steven Hephter, Sea Pinks, AM & Shawn Lee, Balmorhea, and St. Even.
“Make Up” – Wiretree from Make Up
“Dreams/My Rope”– Steven Hephter from Spirit Animal
“Fountain Tesserae” – Sea Pinks from Dead Seas
“Dark Into Light” – AM & Shawn Lee from Celestial Electric
“Untitled” – Balmorhea from Live at Sint-Elisabethkerk
Artist Spotlight: Andrew Adkins
Andrew Adkins, a roots rock singer and songwriter based in Nashville, is better known as the other half of the duo Mellow Down Easy. The duo’s 2010 album, Cosmisutra, has been praised by critics from Rolling Stone, Outlaw Magazine, and Vintage Guitar magazine, which described their sound as “the most original style in the last decade.” Adkins’ music has also been featured on ABC, MTV, and USA networks. With his solo album officially out, Adkins is taking to the road for a cross-country tour. Here are two tracks Adkins sent to us to share with you.
“We Knew It All Along” – Andrew Adkins from Troublesome My Love
As we face a growing queue of hundreds and hundreds of music submissions, we’re experimenting with new ways to get through the enormous backlog. So, we decided to start a 5 to 1 poll. We present five tracks, and each of you choose the track of the five that you like the most.
Listen to the five tracks below and then pick your favorite at the end of the post. Please use the Comments section to let everyone know which track you picked and why. Whichever track receives the most votes, we’ll follow up with a post about the artist or band with the most votes and include a profile of the band, plus another track (when applicable). We are purposely not revealing the band names, although you can probably figure some of them out.
For many people, Labor Day weekend is the symbolic end of the summer, even though summer doesn’t officially end until the fall equinox on September 23rd. So, that means that we officially have 18 days left to celebrate summer, and that can only mean three things – that we’ll be dropping three more (two after today) summertime mixtapes.
We obviously can’t speak for most people, but we’re not ready to let go of summer just yet. We are also not ready to admit that another summer has gone by way too fast (while not fast enough for folks in the south and mid-west). Here in northern California, and throughout the Pacific Northwest, summer has been evasive for much of the past three months, with the average temperatures coming in below average throughout the region; it’s even been a common topic of conversation and chit-chat in many parts of the western U.S. since June.
For the next three Sundays, in place of the Sunday 25 Mix, we’re going to post three more summer songs mixes for 2011. Our archive of summer-theme tracks dating from the 1950’s to today is stacked with ‘keeper’ tracks, and we will be adding one hundred or so more over the next few weeks.
Since 2009, Indie Rock Cafe has created the largest collection of summertime mixtapes on the web. As time passed by, this mix series has become very popular with folks who have been following IRC for years, plus the thousands of new visitors everyday who are discovering the site for the first time thanks to friends, other blogs and sites, search engines, and social networks like Twitter, Facebook, The Hype Machine, Elbows and so on. Altogether, there are some two dozen summer mixtapes, and more than one million listeners.
So, with that kind of demand, we are happy to provide the supply side by searching the vast music archives for more great summer songs. If this mix is not enough to satisfy your appetite, the links in this post lead to dozens of more summer mixtapes published in the past few years.
Almost all of songs in all of the mixtapes, even the oldest ones, still work; in fact, we play them in the cafe all of the time because they’re just that good, and are among some of the most popular mixtapes of the hundreds on IRC. The largest collection is the extensive2010 Summer Songs Mixtapes series.
Today’s summer mix comes out just in time to enjoy it on this Labor Day 2011. By Tuesday, millions of people will be back in the office or in school, and for the vast majority of people, summer will be all but over. Yet, we still have three more (including this one) summer-themed playlists to share with you in the next few weeks – they are today’s mix – which we’re calling “Labor Day 2011 Summer Mix,” next Sunday’s mix “Chill Summer Songs” (Sept. 11th), and the last IRC summer mix of 2011, “The Last Blast of Summer 2011” (Sept. 18th).
This special Labor Day summer mix kicks off with some sweet summerish Fresh Tracks that have only been released since the last two summer mixes (“Summer Songs Mix” and “Heat Hot Summer Songs Mix”), featuring awesome new songs from Turf War, Princeton, Crystal Antlers, Male Bonding, and Butch Walker and The Black Widows, plus other 2011 summer songs from Josh Rouse, The Lawsuits, The Novel Ideas, Sons & Daughters, She’s Spanish I’m American, and dozens and dozens more.
We’ve also included a block of 80’s and 90’s post punk, alternative rock, pop and new wave summer songs from Pavement, Husker Du, Modest Mouse, Starlet, The Sea Urchins, and Sublime. And of course, there are plenty of stellar indie songs within the Indie Summer Gold section. We hope you enjoy this playlist as much as we have putting it together.
“Summertime Booze” – Turf War from Years of Living Dangerously – out Oct. 18th
“Clamoring For Your Heart” – Princeton from 7-inch single – Aug. 30th
“Tame The Sun” – Male Bonding from Endless Now – Aug. 23rd
“Summer Solstice” – Crystal Antlers from Two-Way Mirror – July 19th
“Summer Lea” – The Lawsuits from Darleen – June 1st
“Summer of 89” – Butch Walker & The Black Widows from The Spade – Aug. 23rd
“Cool Vapors” – Jacuzzi Boys from Glazin’ – Aug. 16th
“The Beach” – Sons & Daughters from Mirror, Mirror – July 12th
More Recent Summer Tracks from Indie, Synth and Rock Artists
We hope that you enjoy all of the summer mixes as much as we’ve enjoyed putting them together, and as much as we’ve listened to them again and again. There is no other website out there, among the millions, that offers as large, and still active (meaning the MP3s are not expired or taken down), of summer songs mixtapes as you will find on IRC.
Next Sunday, we’re going to publish the “Summer Chill Mix,” as we like to call it, which will contain only chill, mellow, dreamy summer songs, perfect for laying back and relaxing, aimed at washing away the trials and tribulations of modern life, letting for a couple of hours everything else just drift slowly into the background while you immerse yourself in 40 or so mellow summer tracks by bands ranging from Belle and Sebastian and Fruit Bats to Built to Spill and The Raveonettes.
Here are a few advanced tracks to give you idea what the “Summer Chill Mix” will be like. All of these summer mixtapes are ones that we hope you will want to keep forever, whether you download the tracks, or just bookmark this and other mixes. As with the vast majority of our mixes, they will still be here weeks and months and years from now, and unlike most other older-than-a-month mixtapes on the web, ours will still be working, and ready to stream at anytime. Enjoy.
“Sleep All Summer” – St. Vincent And The National (2009)
“These Long Summer Days” (Josh Rouse) – She’s Spanish, I’m American (2011)
It’s still kind of hard to believe that summer will turn to autumn in the next few weeks. For many kids and teens, the first day of school marks the end of summer.
For adults, Labor Day weekend usually marks the end of summer. Whatever the case, it has gone by way too fast. Remember when you were a kid and summer felt like it lasted forever?
For millions of people, music is as symbolic of summer time as baseball, hot dogs and trips to the beach. No matter your age, music has always been part of the culture of summer – whether it means spinning golden oldies of summers past at a barbecue; sharing new, but lesser-known, summer-theme tracks from obscure artists with others; listening to a radio station countdown of the top 200 songs of all time; going to a concert or festival with friends.
As you may know, we put out quite a few summer mixes this summer (see below), and currently working on a couple of others, in addition to today’s mix. The future mixes will include one more generic summer songs mix, plus a mellow summer songs mix to symbolize the waning energy of the summer sun.
2011 Summer-Themed Playlist Mixes
Songs for Summer Mix – Blackbird Blackbird, Brian Wilson, AM Syndicate, Apples in Stereo, Kinks, Beach Fossils
Best Beach Songs Mixtape – Wavves, The Vaccines, Best Coast, Com Truise, Mazes, Triptides, Film School, Kinks, Radiohead
Songs For Fourth of July, Vol. I – Songs for 4th of July Mixtape, Vol. I – The Stills, Pavement, The Shins, Elliott Smith, Tragically Hip, Animal Collective, Ray Charles
Ganglians have been on our radar for a little over a year now, there new album proves why.
Isn’t it just crazy how fast one week blends into another, and then another, and before you know it, another month is almost over?
It’s likely that some of you have missed the Best New Releases for either week one, two and/or week three of August, and as unreal as it seems, August is quickly leading way to September.
The good thing is – as is the case with more than 90% of our playlists mixes – that you can always go back and listen to, and download, the previous Best New Releases playlists. Just in August alone, there have been so many fantastic tracks from a whole range of bands who recently released new LPs, EPs and singles.
Anyways, no time for in-depth profiles of this week’s Best New Releases, but, all in all, it’s a pretty good week for new stuff, but nothing like last week’s BNR mix.
For those of you who have been following and enjoying the Fresh Tracks mix series, it’s been a little over a week since we have put one up, but there is no shortage of noteworthy new advanced singles from upcoming releases to share with you, so we’re going to invest our time in putting that together, as well as getting out another edition of In Dee Mail, and Recent Releases We Almost Missed.
Oh yeah, due to some scheduling problems, and the realities of “real work” responsibilities and busy “life stuff” (excuses, excuses), we were only recently able to actually finish our post for Day Two and Three of San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival – which ended 10 days ago. Yes, lame that we’re so late with that, but we’ll make it up to you.
This week we are starting right off the top with select tracks from the new album by Ganglians.
“Drop the Act” – Ganglians from Still Living
Double-shot: “Sleep” – Ganglians from Still Living
Ahhh, so you want more Ganglians? Well, you’re in luck because we don’t have just one or two tracks from their new album, Still Living, but rather, altogether, three free singles courtesy of the band, and their record label, Lefse Records.
“Jungle” – Ganglians from Still Living
We are digging Little Gold so much that we would have to say they are one of our favorite new-to-us bands of the summer, and the more we listen to their debut album, Weird Freedom, the more we’re convinced that they should be on our upcoming breakout bands of 2011 (view and listen to the Breakout Bands of 2010 series).
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks return with a new LP and a cool lead track about a senator, in a way that only Malkmus could write and sing about a senator. Although the song kind of flattens out at mid-point, the band recover to make it a memorable track for sure.
“Senator” – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks from Mirror Traffic
Plus, the magnificent singer and songwriter for one of our favorite bands – The Magnetic Fields – is back with his newest solo album. Stephin Merritt delivers yet another satisfying, mellow dreamscape from his never-ending well of song ideas – even if he does seem to recycle melodies from long ago, he always has the lyrics to forgive him for playing it safe.
“Forever and a Day” – Stephin Merritt from Obscurities
“Playing House” – Active Child from You Are All I See
“Daylight Moon” – Tim Cohen’s Magic Trick from The Glad Birth of Love
“Swell Window” – Zee Avi from Ghostbird
“Hits Me Like A Rock”(Feat Bobby Gillespie) – CSS from La Liberación (stream)
“2012” – Young Circles from Jungle Habits
“Nevada” – The George-Edwards Group from Archives
“Warm Winter “ (download) – The Moor from The Moor
“Book of James” – We Are Augustines from Rise Ye Sunken Ships
“Nytt Pa Nytt” – Razika from Program 91
“Bicycle Spokes” – Kid Icarus from American Ghosts via BeatTheIndieDrum.com
For fans of esoteric and jam band music, we strung together these last four tracks from new-to-us artists and bands because they just flow so well together, starting with the Beach House-sounding band, I Break Horses, beautiful synth-driven track, “Hearts.”
We’ll definitely be keeping our ears open for more of their music (the only bummer is the song ends way too soon – it’s really strange to us when a band has a great groove, melody or instrumental going and then truncate it. We want to say, “Dude, noooo. Don’t stop you idiot, I was just getting into it. Why are you stopping?” (imagine Jerry Seinfeld saying it)
Anyways, following the too-short but stellar track, “Hearts,” enjoy the nine-minute jam, “Crete,” from Sun Araw, another new-to-us band that we’re really impressed by, followed by P.G. Six‘s “January.” The final track of this mix, “Familiarities” from Albert Swarm‘s EP, Held, seems like a great way to wrap up this week’s Best New Releases. Tell us what you think of this mix in the Comments section below – we read ALL comments, and love it when you guys chime in.
