Slim pickings is about the best way to describe this week of new releases. In fact, this is one of the thinnest weeks for new albums that we’ve seen all year. So far, 2011 has delivered a steady flow of one week after another of terrific new releases from virtually unknown bands to the most popular ‘indie’ and alternative rock artists of the day.
Traditionally, releasing new albums right after a holiday is not a smart strategy because so many people’s attention is divided up between vacationing, catching up with work after the holiday, visiting with friends and family, and so on. So, not surprisingly, the offering of new albums out this week is rather thin compared to most other weeks so far this year.
While there are no “big” or highly-anticipated releases out this week, coming close to that would be the newest LPs from popular artists like Brian Eno, Kaiser Chiefs (who are not ‘indie’ anymore), Memory Tapes, and the Old 97s. In our opinion, the album that we look most forward to listening to from this week is the newest offering from the legendary Brian Eno, whose influence on indie music – especially synth pop and rock – is unmistakable.
There are also some other new ‘bands on the radar’ this week, most notably the dreamy lo-fi synth sounds of Big Spider’s Back, and the shoegazey electro-pop of Digitalism. Plus, while we generally stopped posting remixes some months (because, as we see it, the remix craze has gotten out of hand; but mostly, because there’s simply too much good original music to focus on already). Nevertheless we make exceptions, such as this remix from Arc in Round of A Sunny Day in Glasgow‘s “II.”
And there is also the new track from the self-titled debut from Gardens & Villas, which sounds more like the title of an elitist magazine then some rock band – so, hate the band name, but the track “Black Hills” is alright. (Hint: Guys, change your name now rather than later; trust us; it’s hard to market and publicize a band name “Gardens & Villas” – hello).
Secret Chiefs” – Big Spider’s Back from Memory Man
“2 Hearts” – Digitalism from I Love You, Dude
“II (A Sunny Day in Glasgow remix)” – Arc In Round from || EP (self-released)
If you are a fan of female pop singers, then you may enjoy the singles below from Bright Archer, and a melancholy track from Circuit Des Yeux. And if you like a little bit of indie country/folk from time to time, then check out the new single from The Express.
We also included a track from the new album by The Glorious (via the site ThisBonusTrack.com), but it’s not exactly going to prompt us to buy the album (which you can stream here). We’re including it mainly to see what you guys think of it. While we don’t share the enthusiasm (not even close; we hear far better bands no one has ever heard of all the time) that the writer at TBT does for the Americana folk band’s debut album, we’re pretty sure some of our readers and visitors will appreciate the inclusion.
“Carry Me Home This Way” – The Glorious from Stories from A Fractured Youth
“Hidden Systems” – Bright Archer from Hidden Systems
“3311” – Circuit Des Yeux from Portrait
“Nobody Knows” – The Express from The Express (self-released)
Yesterday, we published Volume One of 50 Fourth of July Songs, a playlist compilation, that features a wide range of artists, genres and time periods.
Each track, in its own way, reflects an aspect of the American identity, touching on themes such as patriotism, freedom, fireworks, summertime, baseball, and others that are fitting for a 4th of July playlist series.
For most Americans, Fourth of July is an important day – it’s the American holiday, and many people look to it as the official kick-off to the summer season (even though summer began on June 22).
So, we set out to first pick keywords that exemplify the Fourth, including fireworks, beach, barbeques, picnics, parties, surfing, baseball, food, parades, the Constitution, freedom, carnivals, flags, and, you get the picture. With those keywords in place, we started searching the vast music collection for fitting songs.
Originally, this post (now being updated on July 3, 2012), was part of the discontinued S-25 Mix series, a Sunday mix in which we pick 25 songs from various artists, genres and time periods to highlight a particular theme, or in some cases, no theme other than that of good music.
And then there are the songs that have “America” in the title, and sometimes just based on that, we think they are a good fit for this mix. Such tracks include “American Pie” (Don McLean), “American Girl” (Tom Petty), “American Music (Violent Femmes) and so on.
[zbplayer] “Fireworks” – The Tragically Hip from Phantom Power (1998)
Want more? Check out Volume Two with tracks from Galaxie 500, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Iron and Wine, Wavves, Titus Andronicus, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, Beastie Boys, The Strokes and many others.
“America The Beautiful” – Ray Charles from Ray Charles Greatest Hits (2005)
Our favorite release of the week is not a new album from an artist or band, but instead a tribute album of cover songs titled, Rave On Buddy Holly.
Among the terrific tracks on the Buddy Holly tribute LP are covers of many of his best songs from a diverse range of artists and bands like Paul McCartney (“It’s So Easy”), Modest Mouse (“That’ll Be The Day”), Lou Reed (“Peggy Sue”), Julian Casablancas (“Rave On”), The Black Keys (“Dearest”), Cee Lo Green (“(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care”), She & Him (“Oh Boy”), and many others (see album cover to left).
“Rave On” – Julian Casablancas from Rave On Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly was one of the most influential rock songwriters and performers of all time – a 1950’s cultural icon who died much too young at 22 in a plane crash (as told in the classic song, “American Pie” by Don McLean). But Buddy left the world with a collection of timeless classics that people in every corner of the globe have enjoyed for a half century-plus. If there’s a time capsule somewhere with a playlist of American classic rock, there’s got to be at least one Buddy Holly song on it or it doesn’t representative – plain and simple. You can listen to the stream of the LP via NPR.
“It’s So Easy” – Paul McCartney from Rave On Buddy Holly
NPR music critic Stephen Thompson wrote of the tribute album: “…Rave On Buddy Holly does more than just throw big names against the wall over the course of a generous 19 tracks. It also adds up to an impressively diverse collection of takes on the innocence of another era.”
Seattle band Black Whales tops this week’s Best New Releases, and is officially a Band to Watch, thanks to their totally new DIY release, Shangri-La Indeed. We liked the band from the first time we heard their Origins EP in 2009, but like them even more thanks to their newest album. One of the band’s strengths is the fine fusion of styles like garage rock, psychedelic rock, and jangly indie pop (with tinges of country and rolk).
The lead single, “Lately,” has the elements of a perfecct summer indie hit – with it’s upbeat tempo, reverb vocals, shimmering guitars, thumping bass and solid drumming. In fact, don’t be surprised to see it pop up on one of this year’s Summer Music Mixtapes.
The title track of the album really has that rock show classic sound to it. And if you love Wilco, the track “The Wild One” is very much reminiscent of the Chicago band, but with the BW’s own special touch – not a copy or rip-off at all, just that we wouldn’t be surprised if Wilco isn’t in their record collection. But you may also hear some Arctic Monkeys in the BW’s sound, especially on the 8-minute track, “Serpent in the Water.” (Listen to that track, and the others not included here via BW’s Band Camp page).
And then there are other awesome tracks like “Rattle Your Bones,” a fantastic blues, psychedelic rocker that has that raw feeling that Top 40 radio will never go for – which makes us like the former even more. Black Whales are talented and have a splendid diversity of styles infused into their sound.
When we first heard the Black Whales in 2010, we knew they’d be a band we’d be interested in hearing more from, and we’re really glad to have heard Shangri-La Indeed. If you like uptempo indie rock, we think BWs might just end up on your bands to listen to (again and again) too.
Some other BW reviews you might want to read include a recent post in the blog When You Motor Away
With the anticipation building for the August 30th release of Beirut’s newest album, Rip Tide, there’s plenty of buzz on indie blogs and mainstream music sites worldwide.
We actually have a little bit of a surprise regarding the album that will announce in the next few days, so make sure to check back. In the meantime, however, Beirut do have a new cover song out this week on the second volume of Red Hot + Rio, a compilation of various artists performing Latin music, both traditional and modern.
“O Leãozinho” (Caetano Veloso) – Beirut from Red Hot + Rio 2 via DayDreamStationMusic blog
As has been the case for the last couple of months especially, there are many artists and bands with impressive singles out this week that we dig within the new-to-us realm, and who are definitely at the least worth inclusion in this week’s Best New Releases. We don’t expect everyone to agree, but hopefully you’ll hear a couple songs you like and add a few albums to your summer music listening list because of this mix.
For some of the albums below, we’ve listened to more than one track, usually on an embed song, or via album streams, usually from Spinner, but for the most part, many of them we are just going on the singles. We’ve also included those stream where applicable.
One of the first new-to-us artists that caught our attention was Chucha Santamaria Y Usted, who dropped their self-titled debut on Tuesday, with the lead track below, “Fiebre Tropical.” We have also taken note of followed by DMA‘s industrial/electronica track, “Riding Holiday,” from their new album, in addition to Shabazz Palaces.
“Fiebre Tropical” – Chucha Santamaria Y Usted from Chucha Santamaria Y Usted
Also, there were a fair, but lesser, number of artist and bands that we are familiar with that released new albums this week, including Montreal indie pop band Handsome Furs, who released their third album this week since signing to Subpop in 2006. This is the lead single “Repatriated.” The sound is definitely heavy on electronica and new wave synths and dance beats.
On the other side of that perspective is the indie band King Louie’s Missing Monuments, who definitely have potential, but they could use someone to help them better hone their sound, and add a bit better mixing for their tracks to bring out the instruments more and work on the vocals and choruses. We’d love for a great producer to mentor KLMM, because there is talent there – it’s the execution that needs the work.
“The Girl of the Nite” – King Louie’s Missing Monuments from Painted White
“We’ll Never Work In This Town Again” – Paul Dempsey from Everything Is True
“Crushing“ – Blithe Field from Two Hearted
“The Making Graceful” – Pillars & Tongues from The Pass and Crossings
“Hermit Crab” – The Island of Misfit Toys from Bear Hair
“Ain’t Dumbo” – The Night Beats from The Night Beats
“The Woods” – Small Sur from Tones (self-released)
“Tunguska” – Wax Museums from Eye Times
Other Releases We Don’t Necessarily Endorse
We include this section because some listeners may enjoy these songs more than we do. We don’t think they’re terrible, just not preferred songs, in our opinion (certainly don’t expect everyone to like our ‘tastes’ in music, if you will. LOL) Anyways, we’ll watch the number of plays and downloads to see which we were wrong about.
“Same Mistakes” – The Echo-Friendly from Same Mistakes
“Like a Coat” – Efren from Rise On Up And Melt
“Quantum Leap” – John Maus from We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves
“Why Did We Have To Part” – Marianne Faithful from Horses and High Heels
“I Forgot the Fall” – The Fruit Tree Foundation from First Edition
“Queen of the Minor Key” – Eilen Jewell from Queen of the Minor Key
Note: For those of you who enjoy our Best New Releases because you could click on album titles and buy them right away from Amazon, we’re sorry to inform you that Amazon has ceased allowing sites in California to sell their music because of a new law in the state that will place a sales tax on Internet sales. After being big Amazon fans for years, this feels like a stab in the back, and the reasoning they gave for this decision falls a bit short of the over-ridding responsibility to allow publishers easy access to sell albums online through Amazon.
June 28
America – Back Pages BoDeans – Indigo Dreams Dave Stewart – The Blackbird Diaries David Cook – This Loud Morning Eilen Jewell – Queen of the Minor Key Jill Scott – The Light of the Sun Jolie Holland – Pint of Blood Marianne Faithful – Horses and High Heels (U.S.) Mighty Clouds – Mighty Clouds Various – Rave On Buddy Holly Various – Red Hot and Rio 2
Summer hit parts of the country from the west to the east early this year. In fact, we are reminded of how many people have said recently that it seems to get hotter earlier each year. And the scientific facts support these observations. But who really cares any more? When the economy was humming along in the late 1990’s, and the first half of the last decade, Al Gore and his slide shows on global warming were hot items. But nowadays, with a world economy still flirting with disaster and an uncertain future, concern over global warming has cooled down considerably.
That said, if we’re all going to burn up, we might as well do it listening to some hot ( and rarely heard) songs about summer. Over the past few years, we have put together and published dozens of the most accessed and popular summer songs playlist mixes on the web, featuring hundreds of great tracks that you can stream all day long, download and Tweet, Share, Digg, Stumble and blog so that even more people can enjoy these playlists.
Another summer has arrived in a few blinks of an eye, and that means it’s time to post even more mixes of summer-themed, even ‘summer-sounding,’ songs to share with the world. We will reveal later in the week which of the songs in this mix were listened to, and downloaded, the most.
“Sunspray” – Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart (2010)
“Trampolines” – Yourself and The Air from Who’s Who In The Zoo (2011)
“Summer Of Love” – The Fresh & Onlys from Play It Strange (2010)
“Clinton Eastwood” – Gorillaz
“Summer Girl” – White Wires from WWII (2010)
“Celebrate Summer” – T. Rex from Greatest Hits (1986)
“Sunshine” – Brian Wilson from Imagination (1998)
“The Rainbow” – The Apples In Stereo from The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone (2000)
“All The People Under The Sun” – AM Syndicate from Liberation (2007)
“The Other Summer” – MiniBoone from MiniBoone (2011)
“Rainbow, Puddle, Children” – American Green from Roof To Roof EP (2009)
“Lazy Day” – Beach Fossils from Beach Fossils (2010)
“Coppertone” – Hellogoodbye from Would It Kill You (2010)
“Golden Girl” – Therapies Son from Over The Sea (2011)
“All Summer” – Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend (2011)
“Summer Showers” – Brown Recluse Evening from Tapestry (2011)
“Sink or Swim” – John LaMonica from Lujo 2011 Sampler (2011)
“Rainy Day In June” – The Kinks from Face To Face (1966)
“Summer Hits Or J Plus J Don’t Like” – Mazes from A Thousand Heys (2011)
“It Always Rains On A Picnic” – Modest Mouse from Sad Sappy Sucker (2001)
“Sunshine Baby” – Reamonn from Beautiful Sky (2003)
“Vacation Vacation” – U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (2011)
“Dream Home” – Unouomedude from Marsh (2010)
“Touched By A Cloud” – Alberto Arcangeli from Dreamsongs (2009)
“English Summer Rain” – Placebo from Once More With Feeling (2004)
“Swimming” – The Smiles from Hermosa (2010)
“Sunshine Delay” – Barcelona from Simon Basic (1999)
Because there are so many noteworthy releases out this week, we divided up what would otherwise be one long post into two different playlist mixes that feature lead single MP3s (free and legal to download) from an exciting and diverse range of artists and bands who dropped new albums this week.
Just as we did for Part Oneof this week’s Best New Releases, we’ve listened to the mix below (Part Two) between three and four times all the way through. Naturally, we placed some of our favorites at the top of the mix, but really, we think all of the tracks below are worthy of inclusion, especially considering that, just like many of you, we’ve never even heard of most of these artists until this week.
Although we don’t have the time or resources right now (there’s just so much material coming from so many talented bands) to research, review and write up about all the promising bands and artists in this mix, we will definitely take note of the artists and songs that get played and downloaded (as well as hearted in Hypem) the most.
Along with Part One, it is likely that some of the songs from this mix will end up on the Top 10 Songs page, and some of the top bands – according to your ‘votes’ – will be featured in subsequent posts, and perhaps even end up on a Bands to Watch feature.
After listing to this mix a number of times in the cafe before deciding on which songs would make the final cut for Part Two (and combined with part one), we can say definitively that this is one of the best weeks of 2011 for terrific new singes from mostly new-to-us artists and bands, including Butcher The Bar (recommended for fans of Sufjan Stevens), Centro-matic, and Bobby.
“Bobby” – Butcher The Bar from For Each A Future Tethered
“Only in My Double Mind” – Centro-matic (courtesy of Aquarium Drunkard) from Candidate Waltz
“Sore Spores” – Bobby from Bobby
Indie newbies Wonderful deliver bliss pop unabashedly; the White Hills rock out; the Grown-Ups go to “Business School;” Rubblebucket demonstrate great potential their terrific new album. Plus, Cassettes Won’t Listen (who were featured in Part One) got us to listen, by sending another track to share from their album Evinspacey. The album was originally titled Kevinspacey, but the actor sued the band to stop them from using his name. That’s a little bit of interesting music trivia for 2011.
“Rainbow Colors” – Wonderful from Wake Up To Dreamland
“The Condition of Nothing” – White Hills from H-p1
“The Night Shines” – Cassettes Won’t Listen from Evinspacey (Stream)
Plus, we are also enjoying note-worthy songs from Diva, Priory, Barn Owl, Chelan, Grieves, Helms Alee, The Mast, Motorboater, Superhumanoids, Through The Sparks and Barbie Hatch. We are so interested in which songs and bands you guys and gals like the most, so please leave Comments. Your feedback is much appreciated and available to be viewed by 30,000 people a day, not to mention it helps us in deciding what to cover in the future.
Bon Iver are one of the hottest folk indie bands. Justin Vernon (with the banjo) is the band's frontman.
This is the week of Bon Iver. From the top music sites and blogs, to airplay on various television shows and movie soundtracks, and an appearance on Comedy Central‘s The Colbert Report Monday night, the band have been on a roll for the past four years, and have performed at some of the biggest musical festivals, including Bonnaroo, Sasquatch and many others, including fests in the U.K.
Bon Iver is the moniker of musician, singer and songwriter Justin Vernon. In 2007, he self-releaesd the fantastic debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, and became almost an instant ‘indie sensation.’ Interestingly, Bon Iver’s new album, which officially dropped yesterday, is self-titled. Ordinarily, artists and bands use the self-title treatment for a debut album. Perhaps it’s a statement from Vernon, the artist – a deliberate and clear message to indicate this album is what he considers to be his true debut as an artist and musician. During a brief interview before his performance Monday night on The Colbert Report, Vernon told Stephen Colbert that he secluded himself for three months in a remote cabin in the Wisconsin wilderness to write the songs that ultimately became the tracks for his two albums. Bon Iver’s other members are Michael Noyce, Sean Carey and Matthew McCaughan.
Bon Iver is available for streaming via Spinner for a limited time, and can be purchased from Amazon (#2 on Amazon charts) as a 320kps MP3 download. It’s definitely one of our top albums of 2011, and we won’t be surprised to see it listed in Top 10 albums of 2011 on music sites and blogs later this year. Here is the excellent lead single, “Calgary.”
But, first, we want to introduce you to two bands that is on our list for break-through bands of 2011; they are 1, 2, 3 – a Pittsburgh duo who dropped their debut album this week. The second band is a group of teens from Copenhagen who call themselves Iceage, and they are raising eyebrows in Europe as well as the U.S. They will be featured in an upcoming edition of 5 Break-Out Bands of 2011. Iceage dropped their debut album, New Brigade, this week. And the prospects keep piling up – another band that is new to us in 2011 is JEFF The Brotherhood; if you haven’t heard of this band in our previous posts this year, check them out. They are on fire, especially after packed performances at SXSW in March. Plus, don’t miss the new track from the latest album by Ty Seagull, who recently released an EP of T. Rex cover songs, titled Ty Rex.
The Copenhagen teenage band Iceage are an IRC Break-Out Band in 2011. Their debut LP is out this week.
“Broken Bone” – Iceage from New Brigade
“White Rune” – Iceage from New Brigade
Here’s the title track via Soundcloud: “New Brigade” – Iceage from New Brigade
“Mellow Out” – JEFF the Brotherhood – from We Are The Champions (Stream)
You Make the Sun Fry – Ty Segall from Goodbye Bread
There are many other great albums out this week that we either have already approved internally, or that we’ve put on our Summer Music Listening List (we’ll be sharing the list soon), including terrific bands like Witches, Cassettes Won’t Listen, Dananananaykroyd, FM Belfast, Yacht, Paleo, Viva Voce, and Gomez. The albums further down in the mix are simply listed because we like the lead single, but, we have not heard them, and will probably not have time to listen to (got to draw the line somewhere:). Also, make sure to check out the In Dee Mail section, which includes new releases that were sent directly to us through the submission form by the artists themselves.
“Creature of Nature” – Witches from Forever
“Perfect Day” – Cassettes Won’t Listen from Evinspacey (Stream)
“Muscle Memory” – Dananananaykroyd from There Is a Way
“New Year” – FM Belfast from Don’t Want To Sleep
“Dystopia” – Yacht from Shangri-La
“In the Movies” – Paleo fromFruit of the Spirit
“Analog Woodland Song” – Viva Voce from The Future Will Destroy You
“Options” – Gomez from Whatever’s On Your Mind
Albums to Stream and links to purchase albums
(don’t miss Part II of this week’s Best New Releases that will be posted in the next couple of days)
– 1,2,3 – New Heaven – Blood Orange – Sutphin Boulevard EP – Bobby – Bobby (Stream) – Bon Iver – Bon Iver (Stream) – Cassettes Won’t Listen – Evinspacey (Stream) – Digitalism – I Love You, Dude (Stream) – Gomez – Whatever’s On Your Mind – Grieves – Together/Apart – JEFF The Brotherhood – We Are The Champions (Stream) – Laurel Halo – Hour Logic EP – Liam Finn – FOMO – LMFAO – Sorry For Party Rocking – OK Go – 180/365 (Live) – Seun Kuti – From Africa With Fury: Rise – Skrillex – More Monsters and Sprites – Ty Segall – Goodbye Bread – Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Unknown Mortal Orchestra (Stream) – Viva Voce – The Future Will Destroy You (Stream) – Weird Al Yankovic – Alpocalypse (Stream)
Cover for Beirut's upcoming new album, 'The Rip Tide'
This week’s S-25 Mix features a random pick of 2011 songs that we really like – some are well-known, others are new material from established indie and alternative rock bands – like The Strokes, Beirut, Peter Bjorn and John, and Bon Iver – but many others are songs that we refer to as ‘rarely heard,’ because so few people – with the exception of indie music enthusiasts – have heard them. This also feels like a mix that is a good kick-off to summer. On that note, stay tuned for our Summer Songs 2011 series; in the meantime though, check out the smash hit series Songs of Summer 2010 if you want to load up your iPod with ‘summer’ songs. We hope that many of you come away with new songs that you really love from this mix. Let us know which are your favorites in the Comments section.
“East Harlem” – Beirut from The Rip Tide – out August 30th
“Breaker Breaker” – Peter Bjorn and John from single release
On their awesome 2004 album, 'Rubber Factory,' The Black Keys covered The Kinks' "Act Nice & Gentle"
We absolutely love cover songs. It’s probably because, most of the time, they are like something that is familiar but new, which is an interesting dichotomy in and of itself. Plus, recording cover songs can be a risky venture for almost any artist; the more well-known and beloved the original song, the more scrutinized any cover song will be. On the most part, at least in our experience, most cover songs just do not work, and others are absolutely dreadful. But there are others that stick out.
We have two different types of cover songs playlist mixtapes that we’ve been posting for years. We’ve put together playlists of classic cover songs, but mostly new, and lesser known, cover songs. This installment includes cover songs (except for music fanatics, of course) by The Black Keys, The Golden Bloom, The Laureates, My Jerusalem, The Afghan Whigs, Sun Kil Moon, Nada Surf, Guards and others.
Note: Many covers were not officially released, and therefore, we don’t have an album link to offer, but where they’re available, we have, including the album links for the originals as well. Enjoy.
The rather little known band, The Motion Sick, are covered by indie musician, The Golden Bloom
The original: “30 Lives” – Motion Sick from The Truth Will Catch You, Just Wait… (2008)
“Baby’s On Fire” (Brian Eno) – Shearwater from unreleased single (circa 2008)
“You Got Lucky” (Tom Petty) – Setting Sun from single release (2009)
“Call Me (Blondie)” – Franz Ferdinand from War Child – Heroes Vol.1 [+Digital Booklet] (2010)
The original: “Call Me” – Blondie from Best of Blondie (1983)
“Kaleidoscope World” (The Chills) – People Press Play from Not Given Lightly – A Tribute To the Giant Golden Book Of New Zealand`s Alternative Music Scene (2009)
“66” (The Afghan Whigs) – My Jerusalem
The original: “66” – The Afghan Whigs from 1965 (1998)
As summer approaches, you’ll see a spike in posts and playlists on IRC, not to mention plenty of new releases. This week’s Best New Releases, don’t contain any big 2011 anticipated drops, but there are still some terrific singles and albums from bands like Vetiver, Dark Mean, PlanningtoRock, Woods, and many others.
But, first, we wanted to kick off this edition of Best New Releases by recommending new albums from a few bands that we featured years ago, before they broke out, and who are still satisfying; in fact, they’ve only gotten better. For example, Vetiver, who we are excited about kicking off this mix with a doubleshot of new singles from their sophomore album, plus we are digging Dark Mean‘s new DIY release. The official CD release of Woods‘ new album, Sun & Shade (just in time for summer), is out this week.
Next up, is a band we featured not long ago called PlanningtoRock (but, they’ve gone beyond planning, we should say), followed by a free EP download from Junior Boys, and the standout title track, “The Fox” from Niki and The Dove‘s new album, and loving the dream pop of 13 & God’s “Old Age” very much here in the cafe. Plus, listen to and download new tracks from Thee Oh Sees, chill out with Brice Randall Bickford and get all tranced with Botantical Bullets.
Also of interest are some fresh tracks from albums by bands that are new to us, such as the catchy electro-pop/psychedelic rock track “Walking on Eggshells” by King Post Kitsch from The Party’s Over, and the almost equally awesome new-to-us artist Joel Plaskett presents “When I Go’ from the impossibly long titled album (see name believe). Plus, there are other great singles from new releases in today’s mix that we hope you enjoy.
Every few months or so, a music publication or blogger will tag a certain overseas country, region or city as “emerging” or “up and coming” or “place to be” for new indie and alternative rock music, and the gazillion sub-genres that branch outwards from that trunk. For a while it will be one overseas area, like, say, Manchester in the U.K., or Stockholm, and then some other critic will crown some other location, like Prague, while another insists only weeks later that it’s all happening in Melbourne.
We thought it would be much easier, and more interesting, to expand the new and wildly popular playlist series, 7 Bands You’ve Gotta Hear (or 7 Bands for short), into sub-categories, since there are so many bands and songs that we have posted and will be posting for weeks and months to come. Due to the positive response to the first installment of 7 Bands, and after we reviewed reader comments and web stats, we decided to expand the series into geographical categories.
Some people may be understandably skeptical that we have received over 1,200 submissions from bands and artists in the past six months, but it’s true. So, we’ve been going through them one by one, which can be draining and tedious at times, but it’s all worth it when we come across a fantastic artist or band that we never heard of before. In fact, we’re almost sure that this is the first “big” exposure on a U.S. indie rock music site for many of the artists in today’s 7 Bands installment.
Little by little, we’re getting through the approximate 1,200 submissions (and counting), and sorting out the bands we like the most by first listening to the songs they submitted, and if they get our attention, we then put them into a playlist which we listen to numerous times over a couple of weeks time. In that process, more songs are omitted, and others rise up, until we have a robust mix of just the songs that impressed us the most.
From there, we then go and review each chosen band’s complete submission. Really, it doesn’t change anything at this point – we don’t care where they’re from, if they’re DIY (which most are) or signed to a label, who they have opened for (or if they’ve opened for anyone before), what their bio says, and who are their biggest musical influences. All that really matters to us is the music, and that’s all we’ve ever cared about.
We don’t expect everyone to like every band we feature, but if most people come away with a couple songs added to their MP3 player, or even a new favorite overseas band, then we feel like it was a success and worth the great deal of time it takes to make these featured playlist posts possible. We can’t wait to see what all of you think of these bands, and we’ll be keeping count of which songs are played and downloaded the most. And there is SO much more to come, so stay tuned to IRC. The bands in this issue of 7 Bands are:
Last Dinosaurs – Brisbane, Australia The Black Atlantic – Groningen, Netherlands Street Chant – New Zealand Bodies of Work – London, England I Only Date Models – Nottingham, England Genuine Hamony – Karlstad, Sweden Luciano Sprovieri – Los Angeles via Sao Paulo
[zbplayer]The Last Dinosaurs are an indie rock band from Australia
Last Dinosaurs – Brisbane, Australia
In their native Australia, indie rockers Last Dinosaurs have been selling out shows all over the continent. No wonder. The band serves up brimming, energetic, blazing indie pop rock that is perfect for a summer barbie party, and even more, for live shows. We expect to see and hear more from this band in coming months, and are very interested in how IRC readers will respond to the band.
We think that others who stop by the cafe and hang out to listen to the two singles we’ve included from the band will wonder, as we have, why we haven’t heard of this band before. One would think that a band with this level of pure talent, splendid songwriting abilities, and near perfect execution would be a big deal. Maybe we can change that right here and now. What do you think? As far as we can see, they’ve only be previewed before on a couple U.S. based blogs.
It’d be great to get this band to SXSW 2012 and see what the reaction is from the attendees. Hopefully they can get visas and get booked at U.S. and European venues and festivals. It’s basically a no brainer that Last Dinosaurs have the potential to be hugely successful to an international, rock-craving populace, which has a huge appetite for new and talented bands. And the same can basically be said for most of the bands in this series. If you enjoy the music you hear in today’s post – most of which is likely new to most of you – then you will really enjoy what we’ve got in the pipeline for upcoming editions of 7 Bands Overseas.
Now, back to Last Dinosaurs. This first track, “As Far As Your Concerned,” was the band’s debut single last summer, and it really struck a chord in the land Down Under. Their debut EP, Back From The Dead is out now and the band has embarked on an extensive Australian tour.
The Black Atlantic is an acoustic indie folk pop band based out of Groningen, Holland. The Black Atlantic’s music is an introspective and intimate affair of story-telling that relies heavily on vocal harmonies, and melodies via soft strummed guitars and banjos, pianos and minimal percussion. The band often evokes natural imagery to express their stories on love, death and family.
The Black Atlantic has toured in various incarnations around the world, mostly in North America, the U.K. and Europe, and have opened for bands such as Nada Surf, Patrick Watson and Saturday Looks Good to Me. In 2009, the band released their debut album, Reverence for Fallen Trees , most of which was recorded during the autumn of 2008 in a log cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. TBA are recommended if you like Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Sigúr Ros and Patrick Watson.
“Fragile Meadow” – The Black Atlantic from Reverence for Fallen Trees
“Heirloom” – The Black Atlantic from Reverence for Fallen Trees
Over the past couple of years, New Zealand indie rock band Street Chant, have made quite an impression in their homeland, and little by little, outside their Down Under domain. In fact, their mini blog hit, “Scream Walk,” made the rounds, but less so in the U.S. In fact, the single appeared on some blogs’ and music sites’ top singles of 2010 lists.
Now based in Melbourne, Australia, we think Street Chant is the only band in today’s post that has performed at CMJ. Their appearance last fall at New York‘s famous CMJ was one of the most anticipated out of hundreds of artists and bands vying for any piece of territory where they could plug in and jam. For each of Street Chant’s performances during CMJ week, the venues were packed with lines waiting outside. The track included below, “Scream Walk,” was one of the songs that propelled the band to a position of being chosen to perform at CMJ.
A few weeks ago, the band’s publicist sent us a new single, “The Fatigues” from the band’s April album release, titled Means. So, we have a newer and older track to offer. The raw talent, overwhelmingly positive press and word of mouth about Street Chant have definitely earned them a place among our 7 Overseas Bands You Gotta Hear.
“The Fatigues” – Street Chant from Means
“Scream Walk” – Street Chant from Street Chant EP (2009)
Bodies of Work – London, England
Since forming in 2009, London DIY band, Bodies of Work ,have created a small discography of dark and glittery alternative pop music, capturing melodrama with flashbulbs and sequins. Lead by compulsive frontman, Martin Bjorck, Bodies of Work has found common ground alongside Lizzie Holdforth (synth/vox), Chris Morgan (drums), and Andy Wright Becker (bass), thriving on musical extremes, as evidenced on the band’s EP debut, Flyers, which features soaring synths and gritty guitars intertwined with a powerful and sophisticated rhythm section.
The band’s musical skills and talent are showcased throughout Flyers. On the stand-out track, “Feathers”, by the second time the chorus came around we found ourselves singing along and tapping our feet. But the EP’s most accomplished track, “Flyers,” features a minor, catchy synth riff accompanied by the Interpol-esque guitar driven chorus.
We think Bodies of Work are just waiting to be discovered by indie fans everywhere, including the all-important U.S. market. Surprisingly, not much has been written about Bodies of Work on music sites or blogs in the U.S., and their band name is not particularly search engine-friendly. But, we’re hoping that today’s post will bring the U.K. band more interest from across the pond.
What others are saying: “Expect big things from Bodies of Work” – Richard Bowes, London Tourdates
“With songs of this caliber they won’t be quiet for long” – Record Collector
“Bursts with vim and vigour and unabashed catchiness… performed with conviction and passion” – God is in the TV
I Only Date Models – Nottingham, England
In October 2010, the Nottingham UK indie pop band I Only Date Models dropped their debut LP, This End Tomorrow. It’s no surprise that less than a year since forming they’ve become one of the most popular new bands in Nottingham and were recently featured on the BBC, the all-important foot-in-big-door broadcast for aspiring young UK bands since the 1960s. Based on these two songs alone, we’re listing I Only Date Models as a UK Band to Watch in 2011.
The track “This Ends Tomorrow” is almost immediately an instant indie hit if there ever was one, so we would not be surprised if it ends up on the upcoming Top Ten Songs mixes. Since today is Saturday, the track doesn’t quite qualify for inclusion on this week’s Top Ten, so we’ll have to wait a week to see, but we’ll be watching the numbers all week and will let you know via our Twitter Glitter.
In edition to “This Ends Tomorrow,” the boys also sent us the riveting guitar-drive rocker, “Tunnels,” another track that is not hard to imagine as a hit single. While the argument could be made that the sound is a bit too polished to be “indie” we beg to disagree – the band are unsigned. That makes them much more indie-legit, if you will, then many other bands that are labeled indie.
We can hear the comparisons already (so we won’t even mention them), but we were surprised to find out that no one in the cafe has ever heard of I Only Date Models before, especially for our readers in the U.K., where IODMs are building a growing audience of fans.
“This Ends Tomorrow” – I Only Date Models from This Ends Tomorrow
“Tunnels” – I Only Date Models from This Ends Tomorrow
IODM list among their musical influences deadmau5, Skrillex, Biffy Clyro, Phoenix, and Phil Collins.
Genuine Harmony – Karlstad, Sweden
From the city of Karlstad, Sweden, the four-member, unsigned indie pop outfit, Genuine Harmony, formed in 2008 and recorded their first demo in the autumn of 2009. About a year later, after winning two music contests and playing at different venues around Sweden, the band released their EP, A Thousand Times Before.
The band has had some good press coverage in Sweden and in scattered areas across Europe, but not much at all in the U.S. Maybe we can help change that. While most bands do not list their band members’ names in their submissions, even though we highly recommend it, Genuine Harmony did; the band is made up of Simon Öman (vocals, guitar, songwriting), Christoffer Zetterlund (guitar, vocals, songwriting), Ola Nilsson (bass) and Jakob Bäckman (drums).
Genuine Harmony have opened for bands we’ve never heard of like The Fast Forwards, Magnus Weideskog, Starboys, Snowstorm, and Jacks n’ Jokers, and consider among their biggest musical influences bands like The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, The Kooks, The Kinks, The Libertines, First Aid Kit, Those Dancing Days, Mando Diao, and more.
“Flowsnakes” – Genuine Harmony from A Thousand Times Before
“You, Me & Coco” – Genuine Harmony from A Thousand Times Before
From São Paulo, Brazil, DIY singer/songwriter and pop musician Luciano Sprovieri wrote his first song when he was only eight years old. As a self-proclaimed lover of melodies, Sporvieri continued to pursue a passion for music, and a penchant for songwriting, from that moment to the present day.
In 2005, he fulfilled a personal dream to move to California. Since then, he turned his attention to releasing a debut album last fall called Drifting By. In the box on the submission form for ‘Bands Opened Up For,’ Sprovieri indicated none, but did not elaborate. His personal musical influences include Return to Forever, Weather Report, Marisa Monte, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, George Benson, Luis Gonzaga, Jethro Tull, Eric Clapton, Air, Marvin Gaye, Pearl Jam and many others
The Black Keys rocked the packed crowds at Bonnaroo on Saturday. Photo by David Hall for OC Register.
Rap rules Bonnaroo? That was the headline grabber from ABC News’ coverage for Day Tree of the popular music festival located on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee.
But, we hardly think that, in a musical context, or any other context we can think of, that rap is ‘ruling’ a music festival where the majority of bands and artists fall within the realms of alternative rock, indie, folk and a hodge podge of other genres like blues, jazz, funk, gospel, country, electronica, pop, and world music. Just because a couple of the world’s most famous rappers, Eminem and Lil’ Wayne, to be precise, performed as headliners this weekend does not make Bonnaroo a rap festival.
One of the things that is so magnificent about Bonnaroo is it’s eclectic and all-inclusive theme, which runs true through everything from the line-up to the participants. So, we thought this Sunday’s S-25 playlist mix should celebrate and reflect the diverse line-up of Bonnaroo 2011. This is the final day of the famous four-day camping fest, which is now in its tenth year, and one of North America’s most popular music festivals.
It wasn’t easy to pick just 25 artists to represent some 200 bands at Bonnaroo this year, but that’s the point of the weekly S-25 mix, so we have to stick to it (even though we’ll sometimes go over the 25 quasi limit as you’d see if you browse through the S-25 archives).
“Modern Art”– The Black Lips from Arabia Mountain
“Under Cover of Darkness” – The Strokes from Angles
“Little Kin” (Live 2008) – Widespread Panic
Cover art for the new single by Beirut, "East Harlem" from The Rip Tide, out Aug. 30th
“East Harlem” – Beirut from The Rip Tide – due out Aug. 30th
With the anticipation building for the August 30th release of Beirut’s newest album, Rip Tide, there’s plenty of buzz on indie blogs and mainstream music sites worldwide.
