It’s another strong week for new indie rock releases with fresh albums from the Black Lips, Arctic Monkeys, Cults, F*cked Up, Dawes, Hooray For Earth, Almost Free, Hospital Ships, Givers, and many others. There’s no shortage of great indie releases this week, so we hope the singles will help you decide which albums you want to add to your collection.
We liked the Cults the first time we heard them, but here’s where the proverbial ‘indie question’ comes into play. Now that the Cults have signed to Columbia – one of the major record labels (considered for years as the ‘enemy’ by some musicians and music lovers, and as result, helped spawn the indie, or ‘independent,’ music movement, even though few people agree nowadays exactly what is and isn’t ‘indie’) – some fans are not exactly happy with the band’s decision.
The same question can be applied to so many bands. The Decemberists started out really indie, if you will, and then signed to Capitol. But some people still consider them to be ‘indie,’ while others have called them ‘sell-outs.’ It is a bit hard to ignore the fact that one of the most popular indie bands of the past decade have signed to a major record label.
That aside, here are the top 25 MP3 singles from new releases out this week. It must be said that we are not really ‘feeling’ the new Arctic Monkeys‘ of recent years – we absolutely love the old guitar-blazing riffs, roaring drum playing, excited bass thumping and overall rawness of AM pre-2009 back. Also, the album cover for The Coathangers‘ new album is definitely likely to turn some heads and get people talking, but we’d rather not showcase it prominently because it is a bit scandalous. If the band or label intended to do so to create some chatter regarding the band, then, kudos to them.
“Modern Art”– Black Lips from Arabia Mountain
“Don’t Bother Me Now“ – Almost Free from In/Out (self-released)
“Trailer Park Boneyard “ – The Coathangers from Larceny & Old Lace
The Strokes rocked Mt. View, California, Sunday night at the BFD Festival. Photo by Philip E. Daoust
Tens of thousands of festival goers packed into the Shoreline Ampitheatre Sunday to mark the annual Bay Area BFD Live 105 Music Festival in Mt. View, California.
Crowds were treated to headliners that included The Strokes, Snoop Dog, Linkin Park, Cage The Elephant, Bad Religion, Neon Trees, Manchester Orchestra, Foster The People and many others. By the time the famous New York City rockers, The Strokes, took the main stage, the ampitheatre, from the box sets all the way to the top of the lawn, was packed with people.
Once The Strokes broke into “Under Cover of Darkness,” from their latest album, the crowd was cheering, applauding, yelling, standing and dancing. The energy was thick and it got even thicker as the band broke into hit after hit. Julian Casablancas and the band also banged out “Take It Or Leave It,” among other classic Strokes’ hits, and a few other singles from their recent, highly acclaimed album, Angles.
However, the biggest disappointment came when The Strokes ended their set almost 10 minutes before the scheduled end time. For folks who paid upwards of $80 to see the band, that wasn’t very cool, especially without explanation.
But the entire place really went wild when the hiphop icon himself, Snoop Dog, took the stage, complete with his MCs and some old guy who danced around the stage the entire set. In addition, the stage was set up with two drummers, dancing girls, a live DJ, a keyboardist, and the wafting waves of smoke.
Snoop Dog and his crew hopped the house Sunday night in Mt. View, California at BFD Festival.
This made for a big extravaganza in true Snoop fashion, complete with the hand bling, shades and apparently smoking of marijuana on the stage during the set. Snoop Dog fired up some of his old skool classics, including “Gin and Juice,” “Sensual Seduction” and “Nuthin But A G Thang” during the hour-long set.
Snoop Dog and crew also busted out covers of legendary hiphop songs like the classic, “Jump Around,” which got tens of thousands of people up and jumping and dancing. There were also two tributes during the show. The most notable was Snoop’s tribute to Tupac, our personal favorite hiphop artist of all time. In tribute to Tupac, Snoop Dog broke into “Gangsta Party.” The other tribute went to Nate Dogg, who passed away in March at the age of 41 from complications stemming from a stroke.
“Gin and Juice” – Snoop Dog from Doggy Style (2009)
“Jump Around” – House of Pain from House of Pain (2005)
Snoop and his crew wrapped up their set with “Who Am I (What’s My Name)” before the stage was set up for the festival’s closing act, Linkin Park, who rocked through a set of older classics and newer songs from their latest album. Throughout the band’s hour-long set, the still going festival goers – some of who had been there for nine-plus hours, were still rocking and having fun.
Thankfully, even with uncommonly damp conditions – including a day-long rainstorm on Saturday – the rain held out on Sunday at the Shoreline, situated only a few hundred feet from Google headquarters.
Throughout the day, there were also terrific performances from Cage The Elephant, Bad Religion, Manchester Orchestra, Foster The People, Airborne Toxic Event, and many others. Wish we had more time to write about them all, but need to update the Top Ten Songs page. Get more information and photos from San Francisco’s Live 105 website.
Thanks to Jess Cluster and Live Nation for their assistance in making this event possible.
The Flaming Lips brough the extravaganza to Sasquatch Sunday night. Photo from KEXP.
Day Three of Sasquatch Festival started with overcast, windy and cool weather, and big, dark clouds that seemed impossibly calm; and while they threatened rain, just like Saturday, the rain stayed away. However, the skies soon turned from mostly cloudy to partly cloudy just in time for the first shows of the day.
Note: Because we, and some other media outlets, were unable to get a reliable signal at Sasquatch, we were unable to blog from the festival as we had planned.
On the main stage, Smith Westerns got things going with a rocking set, even though the crowd was light. But that’s typical at music festivals. It’s almost impossible to draw a large crowd at noon-time.
However, as their set winded down, the crowd began to grow larger fairly fast apparently with many showing up to see The Drums, who we saw later on hanging out in the media room not long after we had spotted Wayne Coyne giving an interview.
The Brooklynindie pop surf rock band (they are given so many genre labels it’s ridiculous), The Drums, delivered their typical mix of sixties jukebox pop mixed with elements of new wave and rock with the same energy and enthusiasm they’ve put into every show we’ve seen them perform during the past 18 months or so.
The Drums whipped up the crowd as they plowed through one after another of their popular songs that have become recognizable to music fans around the world, most especially the anti-anthem “Let’s Go Surfing,” a great track that has gone a long way in making The Drums so successful, but, at the same time, a song that we’re sure they must be sick of playing knowing that thousands of teeny boppers are waiting to hear that one song in particular.
We’ve seen it – the teeny boppers are barely listening while the band plays their other tracks, but when “Let’s Go Surfing” starts up, they all stop talking and texting and start screaming and singing. OMG. But still, The Drums always put on a good set and their Sasquatch performance was no exception.
“Let’s Go Surfing” – The Drums from The Drums (2010)
“I Felt Stupid” – The Drums from The Drums (2010)
Up next was the band Fitz and the Tantrums, but we needed to head out to get some food and drink, and catch some other artists on smaller stages, like the unexpectedly large crowd for Basia Bulat, who we’ve featured previously on IRC. But we only had about 20 minutes before we needed to head back to the main stage for the stellar afternoon and evening line-up: Tokyo Police Club, Beach House, Cold War Kids, Flogging Molly, The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse.
Modest Mouse closed out Day Three of the SasquatchFestival. Photo for Brooklyn Vegan by Josh Darr.
The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse Headline Day Three
For fans of 1990′s alternative rock, Sunday’s two big headliners – The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse – were quite the treat, and the fact that they played back-to-back was simply golden.
Once The Flaming Lips hit the stage, and predictably so, Sasquatch got it’s first showy extravaganza, as balloons, confetti, stunning video screen images and pink and purple lights came together all at once as Wayne Coyne emerged in his famous plastic bubble to roll over the audience. Meanwhile, the band played the first minute or so of “Race for The Prize” to huge roars and cheers from the quickly expanding crowd.
“Race For The Prize” – The Flaming Lips from Soft Bulletin (1999)
In fact, Lips fans would have no idea until the first few songs in that the band were indeed performing their blockbuster 1999 album, Soft Bulletin, nearly from start to finish. Next, the band ripped through “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton” and then “The Spark That Bled,” both delivered with the predictable spectacle and glam. Yet, when the band broke into “The Spiderbite Song” the Lips seemed to lose a good amount of the festival goers, at least from our vantage point up on “the hill.”
As Coyne went on and on talking about spiders and hands, the folks far from the stage could not really understand what he was saying anyways, and we watched as dozens and dozens of people just got up and left. That was hard to see for dedicated Lips fans. In fact, we heard people – just as we had with Bright Eyes the night before – say things to the effect of “shut the f**k up and play,” and even some scattered boos as Coyne went on for what seemed like 15 minutes of babbling about the anecdotes behind the song’s lyrics.
The Flaming Lips performed most of their legendary LP, Soft Bulletin, at SasquatchFestival.
But, just in time, the Lips broke into “Buggin’” and the crowd came back to life, and from then on, the set moved along nicely afterwards, including “What is The Light?” and “Waiting for a Superman.” The Lips also paid tribute to the icon Elliott Smith and were graced with the task of honoring Sasquatch’s 10th birthday, that even included cake. By the time they finished with “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate,” the crowd quickly grew more and more packed in for the night’s closer from alt rock legends Modest Mouse.
“Buggin’” – The Flaming Lips from Soft Bulletin (1999)
Modest Mouse were more than a half hour late (as Das Racist were earlier in the evening on the Yeti stage) which didn’t go over well with some folks, especially those who were visibly cold as the wind picked up and the temperatures dropped across the wild badlands of central Washington.
In true fashion, Modest Mouse delivered a bristling and energized set that, with the exception of a few newer songs, was chock full of alt-indie hits from the band’s first three albums. During their one hour and 40-minute set, the band ripped through track after track, opening with a trio of songs – “Sh*t Luck,” “Gravity Rides Everything” and the iconic “Dashboard” that really got the huge crowd of tens of thousands of festival goers really going.
“Dashboard” – Modest Mouse from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank [Explicit]
It didn’t take long for people to forget that one of the Pacific Northwest’s most famous bands of the past two decades got a late start. At the other end of the set, the band closed with songs like “Poison,” their classic “Float On,” “Here It Comes,” and the show closer, “Spitting Venom.”
“Dramamine” – Modest Mouse from This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About(1996)
“Float On” – Modest Mouse from Good News For People Who Love Bad News (2004)
Tokyo Police Club put on one of the best indierock sets of Sasquatch. Photo from Beatcrave.com
Tokyo Police Club, Beach House and Cold War Kids
One of our favorite Canadian indierock bands, Tokyo Police Club, kicked off the marathon of terrific bands on the main stage with easily one of the best all around performances of SAS 2011 that we experienced.
After performing their opening track, “Nature of the Experiment,” which simply sounded amazing, singer and bassist Dave Monks shouted into the microphone proudly, “We’re from Canada,” and the presumably mostly Canadian crowd roared in approval.
During the early part of TPC’s set, the crowds around the main stage and adjoining hillside filled up fairly fast. In between the two-second pauses of the infectious track, “Elephant Shell,” the crowd screamed and applauded, which is no surprise since the track is easily one of the songs that catapulted the band to international indie acclaim and fame. The band also played “Breakneck Speed” and “Your English Is Good.” We think that TPC have been one of the best Canadian indie bands of the past decade.
“Breakneck Speed” – Tokyo Police Club from Champ (2010)
“Your English is Good” – Tokyo Police Club from Elephant Shell (2008)
One of the lighter moments of the entire festival occurred when a friend of the band, Taylor proposed to his girlfriend Emma, on stage. An interesting note about that was we never heard Emma say ‘yes’; she simply embraced Tyler and the two walked off stage arm in arm.
Following Tokyo Police Club were the warm, mellow and fuzzy pop sounds of Beach House, who delivered a predictably laid-back and beautiful performance, sailing steadily through songs we love so much, like “Walk in the Park,” “Norway,” and “Zebra.” After Beach House, California popular indierock/blues Cold War Kids came on and picked things up with their predictably uptempo, crowd-pleasing set that included “Robbers & Cowards” and “Hospital Beds.”
We are not really fans of CWK’s new album, but definitely dig their earlier records. Unfortunately, there are no streams available from NPR for Tokyo Police Club, Beach House or Cold War Kids. If anyone hears of any from somewhere else, please let us know using the Comments.
“Norway” – Beach House from Teen Dream (2010)
“Zebra” – Beach House from Teen Dream (2010)
“The Soloist in the Living Room” – Cold War Kids from Mulberry Street
“Hang Me Up to Dry” – Cold War Kids from Robbers & Cowards (2006)
Gold Panda performing in the Banana Shack at Sasquatch, Day Three. Photo by Brittney Bush Bollay for KEXP
Das Racist, Flogging Molly, Reggie Watts, Gold Panda and More
While we needed to leave for other events – most notably Das Racist and Archers of Loaf – we did catch the last couple of songs from Flogging Molly, who predictably delivered their uptempo, Celtic-centric Irish-American punk as thousands of people danced around from the top of the hillside to the pit in front of the stage. Flogging Molly warmed up the crowd for the top two headliners of Day Three of Sasquatch – The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse (see above).
Other performances that we did not get to see but really wanted to on Sunday included sets from Other Lives, Reggie Watts, Gayngs, Gold Panda, MSTRKRFT, City and Colour, and many others. As many people we talked to expressed, the line-up was so amazing all day on each stage, and just about every day of the festival (with the predictable exception of Day One), that it was really difficult sometimes to decide which to attend.
We were able to catch a little bit of Yeasayer and Flying Lotus in between The Lips and Modest Mouse, and earlier in the day, The Moondoggies (who were camped right next to us).
“Snow and Taxis” – Gold Panda from Lucky Shiner (2010)
“Ambling” – Yeasayer from Odd Blood (2010)
“Piece” – Reggie Watts and Yungchen Lhamo from Antibabel (2006)
“The Gaudy Side of Town” – Gayngs from Relayted [+Digital Booklet]
“Black Tables” – Other Lives from Other Lives (2009)
Canadians Don’t Get Cold and Other SAS Observations
One of the things that was so evident to us by Day Three was the fact that many festival goers – especially teens and young adults from Canada and northern states like Washington, Idaho, Oregon and even Montana – appear to be mostly impervious to the cold wind blowing and the near freezing temperatures that the later evening hours brought. Another impossible thing to miss at Sasquatch was the huge numbers of Vancouver Canucks fans celebrating as their team advanced to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
We were a bit surprised by the amount of trash that festival goers left all over the place each day of the festival; not sure why that was so, but maybe Sasquatch folks need to put out more trash and recycling bins and emphasize more during the festival to keep the grounds as clean as possible. It’s strange to us, because at other festivals, most notably Outside Lands Fest in San Francisco, there was very little litter and plenty of focus from the organizers and the festival goers on keeping Golden Gate Park clean and using the recycle bins.
Another thing that must be pointed out is the food issue. We think there is plenty of room for improvement on supplying better food vendors at Sasquatch in the years to come. Oh, yes, and then there were the hugs: total strangers would just come up and hug you, and there were even long lines for “free hugs.”
We also recommend checking out KEXP’s Sunday Sasquatch photo post.
Check back as we will be adding more songs, photos, links and other goodies.
Coming Up: Day Two and Day One of the 10 annual SasquatchFestival 2011.
Already posted: Closing Day of theSasquatch with headliner Wilco, plus stream full streams, view photos, and MP3 Mix of artists for Day Four.
Between returning from the trek up to Sasquatch in central Washington, and catching up with everything since then, we are a ‘lil late with this week’s Best New Releases. Apologies on that. That said, of all the week’s new releases, The Vaccines‘ What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? is definitely our top album pick, and one of our favorite LPs of 2011, so far. We’ve already spun the whole disc about five or six times. The Vaccines are one of the biggest breakout bands of 2011, and their debut album, out now, proves over and over again why that is so true.
And, there are some really excellent singles this week from new releases by Kids on a Crime Spree, Mando Diao, Robert Pollard, Seapony, and others. Plus, don’t miss new releases this week from artists and bands you’ve probably never heard of before. Each of the artists featured in the In Dee Mail section sent their music to us directly via our submission form. We think you might be surprised at how good some of the music that you probably haven’t heard before really is. :)
“If You Wanna” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
“Norgaard” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
“Sweet Tooth” – Kids On a Crime Spree from We Love You So Bad
“Dance with Somebody” – Mando Diao from Give Me Fire!
“In A Circle” – Robert Pollard from Lord of the Birdcage
“Dreaming” – Seapony from Go With Me
Double-shot: “Blue Star” – Seapony from Go With Me
“Goodnight Trail” – Miwa Gemini from Fantastic Lies of Grizzly Rose
When applicable, we include new releases from relatively unknown artists and bands that we like who specifically sent us their music via the submission form on the About page. It will be interesting to see how listeners react to the songs below. We’ll be looking at the number of downloads to gauge which of these bands people seem interested in, and please definitely leave some comments. The artists below, including Nashville’s I Believe In Hotpants, San Francisco band Charlottesville, Swiss band Costa, Inc., that get the largest overall response will be featured in upcoming posts of In Dee Mail.
The first thing we thing we thought of was Arctic Monkeys when we heard the following two tracks from Manchester rock band The Stand. Could be a band to watch?
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performs Monday night at Sasquatch Fest - Photo by James Bailey
Wilco ceremoniously closed the 10th annual Sasquatch Festival Monday evening after four days of one of the best line-ups we’ve seen so far for a 2011 music festival.
Jeff Tweedy and the band rocked through a two-hour set in front of a crowd of thousands of weary, chilly and wet Wilco fans who were nonetheless enthusiastic and visibly enjoying the final performance at the Gorge Ampitheatre in Quincy, Washington.
The celebrated Chicago alternative rock band (even though they covered so many genres over the years), and one of America’s finest musical exports of the past 15 years, Wilco was the final performance of a festival that is increasingly one of the top U.S. festivals along with the more recognized fests like Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. Here are a couple of the original tracks the band played on Monday night, plus a full stream of Wilco’s entire set.
“A Shot In The Arm” – Wilco from Summerteeth (1998)
Hear Wilco’s entire Sasquatch set via NPR.
Note: Make sure to check back for more of our post Sasquatch coverage during the next couple of days.
Colin Meloy of The Decemberists performs Monday night at Sasquatch Festival in Washington state. Photo by James Bailey
Previous to Wilco, The Decemberists rocked and swooned the crowd with a set list featuring indie classics from their earlier folky maritime-themed albums to songs from their latest, and number one album, The King is Dead, which has clearly catapulted the band out of indie realm and into the world of mainstream rock. But labeling did not matter to the thousands of festival goers who were treated to an electrifying performance, starting off with the dramatic saga, “The Infanta.” After The Decemberists, catch some of Deerhunter‘s set on the Bigfoot stage.
“The Infanta” – The Decemberists from Picturesque (2005)
“June Hymn” – The Decemberists from The King is Dead (2011)
Surfer Blood were one of the big attractions on the Yeti stage on Monday during Sasquatch
Part of what made Sasquatch so amazing, and yet so challenging, was the fact that the line-up was smoking hot nearly all day and all of the night on each of the four stages. For example, prior to Deerhunter, the Bigfoot stage hosted performances on Monday from !!!, Surfer Blood, Black Mountain, Noah & The Whale, Twin Shadow, Givers and others.
“Druganaut” – Black Mountain from Black Mountain (2005)
“I Have Nothing”* – Noah and The Whale from The First Days of Spring (2009)
Note: As much as possible, we only use .mp3 links from record labels, publicists, box.net and blogs that make there own .mp3 links available to Hype Machine and other music services. If we have a song link to your own blog but you want us to remove it, please leave a comment and we’ll get it much faster than our email, which is spammed to kingdom come.
– Stream and download partial sets from Black Mountain, City and Colour and Foster The People.
Best Coast performed the last show on the Yeti stage for Sasquatch Fest on Monday. Photo via Line Out.
Meanwhile, on the Yeti stage Monday, festival goers were treated to sets from indie artists like Jaill, The Young Evils, White Denim, Foster The People, and Best Coast. The latter two bands drew good-sized crowds as the afternoon wore on. In and of itself, that line-up on just one rather small stage is a winner for any indie festival.
“Boyfriend” – Best Coast from Crazy For You (2010)
“The Stroller” – Jaill from That’s How We Burn (2010)
“Houdini” – Foster The People from Torches (2010)
Wavves lit up the Yeti stage on Monday to kick-off Day Four of Sasquatch. Photo from James Bailey
Earlier in the day, on the main stage, Sasquatch, a gigantic platform set far down the bottom of a hillside, and , there were awesome performances from Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (stream), Guided By Voices, Chromeo, Old 97s, Young The Giant, and Wavves (stream) kicked it off with the first show of the day on the Yeti stage at lunch time.
“Diablo Rojo” – Rodrigo Y Gabriela from Rodrigo Gabriela (2007)
“June Salutes You” – Guided By Voices from The Official Ironmen Rally EP (2006)
“King of the Beach” – Wavves from King of the Beach (2010)
If you are a fan of Guided By Voices, Major Lazer, Noah and the Whale, Old 97s and Rodrigo Y Gabriela you can stream via NPR to hear parts of their sets from Sasquatch on Monday.
Check back, and refresh this page, for further updates, plus, don’t miss our Sasquatch Festival reviews for Sunday, Saturday and Friday, featuring coverage of even more performances and songs from Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie, Tokyo Police Club, Beach House, J. Mascis, Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells, The Radio Dept , The Globes, The Head and The Heart, Local Natives, Sharon Van Etten, Wolf Parade, Wye Oak, The Antlers, Iron & Wine, The Thermals, Washed Out, and it simply goes on and on.
Big releases this week include Thurston Moore‘s newest LP, rising band Foster The People‘s debut, British punkabilly artist Art Brut‘s latest album, plus new tracks from new albums by Friendly Fires, Yourself and the Air, Bird Call, Devil The Whale, Cold Showers, Boris, David Bazan and others.
“Benediction” – Thurston Moore from Demolished Thoughts
“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People from Torches
“The EMI Song (Smile for Me)” – Fan Modine from Gratitude for the Shipper
“Julu Road” – Fan Modine from Gratitude for the Shipper
“Live Those Days Tonight” – Friendly Fires from Pala
“Lost Weekend” – Art Brut from Brilliant! Tragic!
“Anvil Everything” – White Denim from D
“Sick Days”- Yourself and the Air from Who’s Who in the Zoo
” Lose My Mind “ – Kate Maki from Moonshine
“Wolves At The Door”- David Bazan from Strange Negotiations
Lost Cause (Beck) – Bird Call from Other Creatures EP
“Bombs Away, She Is Here To Stay”– Bird of Youth from Defender
“Hope” – Boris from Attention Please
“Riot Sugar” – Boris from Heavy Rocks
“Barracudas”- The Devil Whale from Teeth
“Breakin’” – Baby Baby from Money
“I Don’t Mind” – Cold Showers from Highlands
“Horse Fury”– Scarlet Season from The Taxidermist (self-released)
After a blockbuster week of new releases last week (so many that we had a part one and two), this week’s lot of new releases is also impressive, just not as jam-packed as last week. But, don’t fret – there is plenty to listen to, including new music from:
Danger Mouse Bahamas – Pink Strat Chad VanGaalen Zachary Cale Point Juncture, WA Thee Oh Sees Glasvegas
13 & God Metal Mother Bachelorette PlanningtoRock Big Scary Damon & Naomi
Witches Falcon Ryan Garbes Gold Bears Sargent Garcia Yellow Dogs
The best part of this week’s new releases – and which is actually true many weeks throughout the year – is the fact that the mix we’ve put together introduces so many people to talented, but hardly known, artists and bands, whether they are DIY or signed to a label. Some are completely new to us as, which is likely to be the case for most people listening to this mix.
One of the things we cherish and enjoy the most about putting together all kinds of playlist mixes (more than 800 since 2007) is sharing them with the 25,000 or more visitors who come to IRC every day from around the world.
The lead track for this Best New Releases comes from the new album from Grammy Award-winning producer Danger Mouse and the Italian film composer, Daniele Luppi, who collaborated to create an epic ‘movie’ soundtrack (for a movie that doesn’t exist) with help from heavy-hitters Jack White and Norah Jones on guest vocals.
The project arises from Danger Mouse’s life-long admiration of Italian film soundtracks. The album isn’t anything like his solo work or his work as a founding member of Broken Bells, but it’s a must-have for Danger Mouse die-hard fans and other lovers of old Italian film soundtracks.
“Two Against One” (featuring Jack White) – Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi from Rome
Toronto musician and singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen, aka Bahamas, has finally released his 2009 acclaimed debut album, Pink Strat, via Brushfire this week. In 2010, Jurvanen was nominated for a Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year – Solo.
Bahamas is the touring guitarist for the band Feist. If you enjoy these two tracks from the album, then you’ll really want to add it to your music collection. We absolutely love, love the lead track, “Already Yours,” and “Hockey Teeth,” besides its great title, is also a splendid song, as is the entire album, which after you’ve listened to it a few times, is not hard to see why it was nominated for a Juno Award.
“Already Yours” – Bahamas from Pink Strat
“Hockey Teeth” – Bahamas from Pink Strat
(these two tracks are featured at CurrentDirectMusic.com for this compilation)
Multi-Award Nominated Artist Chad VanGaalen Releases LP and Introducing Zachary Cole
Another Canadian singer-songwriter that we have admired from the get-go is Subpop recording artist, and Calgary resident, Chad VanGaalen. And also like fellow Canadian Jurvanen was also nominated for Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2008 album Soft Airplane, which was also shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.
Two year previously, VanGaalen’s second album, Skelliconnection, made the shortlist for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize, which in the end went to the band Patrick Watson. If the rest of dDiaper Island is as good as the single, “Sara,” then VanGaalen will have managed again to write, record and mix another fantastic album. He has also released a 2009 album Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz under the moniker Black Gold, and produced the first two albums from Canadian indie band Women.
Another singer-songwriter that we are loving right now is Zachary Cole. His acoustic sensibilities, wonderful songwriting and excellent vocals are at the heart of his music, and we hope to eventually get to listen to all of his new album, Noise of Welcome, via the free, but temporary album stream from Spinner before deciding to purchase it or not.
“Hello Oblivion” – Zachary Cale from Noise of Welcome
New Releases from Point Juncture, SF’s Thee Oh Sees and Scotland’s Glasvegas
Fans of Best Coast and Generationals are most likely to dig the sounds of Portland band Point Juncture, WA and their third album, Handsome Orders. Also, the band of many incarnations, San Francisco experimental garage-rockers, Thee Oh Sees, release their 11th album, Castlemania, this week, spin the new single from the latest album from Scottish indie rockers Glasvegas.
“Boston Gold” – Point Juncture, WA from Handsome Orders
“I Need Seed” – Thee Oh Sees from Castlemania
“Euphoria, Take My Hand” – Glasvegas from Eurphoria
Whether it is music we receive from publicists or record labels, recommendations from other music blogs, or songs we receive directly through our submission form, it never ceases to amaze us just how much fantastic music flies in largely under the radar.
A perfect example is the band 13 & God, a collaborative music project between the bands The Notwist and Themselves (plus Dax and Antonionian from Subtle). This marks their first album in six years. The lead track, “Old Age,” from their new release, Own Your Ghost, is a richly melodic indie electro-pop keeper track that is simply quite addictive. We haven’t heard the whole album yet, but the first single from the album is compelling enough that we’re going to purchase the album.
If even half of 13 & God’s new LP is as good as “Old Age” – easily one of our favorite singles of the month – it’ll be well worth the investment. (Also, on a separate matter, we can’t be the only ones to notice the frequency of which the word “ghost” has appeared in band names and song and album titles over the past couple of years.)
“Old Age” – 13 & God from Own Your Ghost
This next song was another welcomed surprise from an artist that we’ve never heard of previously. The track, “Billy Cruz,” from Oakland’s one woman band Metal Mother (aka, Tara Tati), is not the sound you’d expect from a band with such a suggestive name. Rather than being anything close to metal, “Billy Cruz” is a mysterious, haunting and exotic tune – almost as if a traditional Far East song was mixed with a steady rhythmic beat, horn inserts and even some funky sound effects, not to mention the meat of the song which is a compelling chorus. We will definitely add Metal Mother’s Bonfire Diaries to our listening list solely based on the hypnotic lead single.
“Billy Cruz” – Metal Mother from Bonfire Diaries
Bachelorette, PlanningtoRock and Big Scary Drop New Releases
The next single we’re digging this week comes from a new-to-us band called Bachelorette, whose richly layered, forward-driving, yet spacious, electronic track, “Blanket,” from the band’s self-titled, debut album, is bound to gain some new fans this week, most of whom will likely want to hear the entire LP to discover what other gems may be waiting for them. Chances are that people who like “Blanket” will also enjoy the entire LP; so we’re also including a second track. Put Bachelorette on the list of bands to watch.
“Blanket” – Bachelorette from Bachelorette
We’re also including the lead track from Planningtorock‘s new LP, simply titled W, which may or may not have something to do with former president Bush, junior, sometimes referred to as “W” for his middle name, Walker. Perhaps the Depeche Mode style track “Doorway” is another presidential metaphor. Following right behind Planningtorock is a similarly dark, escapism track from the new album, Dead Horse, by Screens.
“Doorway” – Planningtorock from W
Up next, Big Scary isn’t scary at all, In fact, as far from it as you can be with a song – on their cheery, almost 2nd-grade class chorus arrangement, “Autumn” which is a bit too enthusiastic for it’s title, but one way, perhaps, to think of it is like the sounds of leaves on fire in the later days of October – an interesting, maybe clever, dichotomy?
“Autumn” – Big Scary from The Big Scary Four Seasons (self-released)
Damon & Naomi, Witches, Falcon, Ryan Garbes, Gold Bears and Sgt. Garcia
Another newbie for us is the duo Damon & Naomi, whose lead single, “Walking Backwards” is a chill, almost floating track characterized by the vocal harmonies of the duo and spiked with fuzzy guitar licks. Plus, check out fresh tracks from new releases by more new-to-us artists, including Witches, Falcon, Ryan Garbes, Gold Bears, Sergent Garcia, and Yellow Dogs.
“Walking Backwards” – Damon & Naomi from False Beats and True Hearts
“Creature of Nature” – Witches from Forever
“Say Goodbye” – Falcon from Disappear
“Boys Are Back” – Ryan Garbes from Sweet Hassle
“Record Store” – Gold Bears from Are You Falling In Love?
“Gastronomic Meal” – Yellow Dogs from The Kennel EP (self-released)
Stay tune for Part II of this week’s Best New Releases, featuring semi-super group Amor de Días Miracle Fortress, Glorie, Company of Thieves, Almost You, Mercury Rev, plus talented bands you’ve probably never heard of before who also have new albums out this week, accompanied by free MP3s.
Spring is fretting, but we have indie rock spring songs for you. These are our original playlists for Vol. I and II of Indie Songs for Spring. Plz like if you do.
Fcked Up leads off this installment of Fresh Tracks with two new tracks from their upcoming release, David Comes to Life, the second part of a series about an imaginary town called David. OnRecord Store Day, Fcked Up released David’s Town, a compilation of fictional bands.
“The Other Shoe” – F*cked Up from David Comes To Life – out June 7th
“A Little Death” – Fuc*ed Up from David Comes to Life
Here’s a complete list of all 27 bands and artists with new MP3 singles in this installment of Fresh Tracks:
Fuc*ed Up Here We Go Magic Tape Deck Mountain Motorboater 1,2,3 Thee Oh Sees Crystal Antlers Thurston Moore Craig Wedren (with Conor Oberst and Janet Weiss)
YACHT Okkervil River Ledbellies Country Mice Eternal Summers Ming Ming John Lamanica Fan Modine Blithe Field
Ghostly Dust Machine Virgin of the Birds White Belt Yellow Tag Pat Jordache Other Lives The Morning Birds Buxter Hoot’n Chilly Gonzalez Seapony
Following F*cked Up, we just got in some new tracks from upcoming releases by Here We Go Magic and Art Brut. Even though they just released a very good LP a few months ago, next week HWGM will release The January EP, which features a collection of songs produced at the band’s upstate New York recording studio. These songs clearly demonstrate the band’s expanding talent, by now well known within the indie music realm, for creating a musical world with Luke Temples vocals soaring and spinning from track to track. Here We Go Magic are currently touring the U.S.
We just got this tour-only single from Tape Deck Mountain. The song, “Kellies,” will be limited to only 100 cassettes to be sold during TDM shows. On June 2, the band kicks off a multi-city tour with indie band, Woodsman. Plus, here’s a new track, “Left Limb” from Motorboater, from his upcoming debut due in June via The Record Machine.
“Kellies” – Tape Deck Mountain
“Left Limb” – Motorboater
Next up, are a couple of bands that we’re watching closely as they really start to rise in popularity. They are Pittsburgh duo 1,2,3 have sent out the lead single from their upcoming June 21st debut, New Heaven, and San Francisco indie psych-rock band Thee Oh Sees, a band that has been climbing up on the ladder of ‘indie’ recognition, if you will over the past year or so, will release their sophomore album, Castlemania, on May 17th. (Pre-order here)
“I Need Seed” – Thee Oh Sees from Castlemania – out June 14th
Note: You can click on the album titles to order or pre-order most of the tracks in today’s post mixtape. Plus, you’ll get 20 gigs of free (no hidden charges) of cloud space from Amazon.
We’re digging a brand new song, “Summer Solstice,” from Crystal Antlers upcoming new album, Two Way Mirror, set to drop on July 12th. The track, which is the first single from the LP, starts out with a few mellow synth keys and then breaks out into an earnest, melodic semi-rocker with an uplifting rhythm and horsed vocals only to quickly fade away and fizzle out much like it started.
Our criticism of the song is that it is much too short (right as we were getting into it, the track winds down). We really wanted them to exploit the opportunity of a song that had it going on, and set off on a blazing jam with high octane synth and guitar licks, but instead, as we said, a great song ended way to soon. The track comes to us by way of Consequence of Sound, which has a nice piece about the new album by Crystal Antlers.
“Summer Solstice” – Crystal Antlers from Two Way Mirror
“Benediction” is a fresh track from Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore‘s up-coming solo album, Demolished Thoughts. Also, don’t miss Fresh Tracks from YACHT‘s upcoming album, Craig Wedren with Conor Oberst and Janet Weiss, plus, the lead single from Okkervil River‘s new LP, I Am Very Far, and new songs from Country Mice, Ledbellies, and Eternal Summers.
“Benediction” – Thurston Moore from Demolished Thoughts – out May 24th
“Are We” (featuring Conor Oberst and Janet Weiss)” – Craig Wedren from Are We single
“Dreaming” – Seapony from Go With Me – out May 31st
“Dystopia” – YACHT from Shangri-La – out June 21st
“Morning Son” – Country Mice from Twister – out June 7th
“Cog” – Eternal Summers from Prisoner
Ming Ming
Lefse Records just sent us this somewhat dark, and at times, chaotic, instrumental track from Ming Ming‘s upcoming album, set to be released on June 28th. Also, check out Art Brut‘s “Lost Weekend,” the first track from their May 23rd album release Brilliant Tragic! The lead track is as menacing as its title, “Eater Of The Dead.” Plus, check out a fresh track from singer/songwriter John Lamanica and a lead single from an upcoming releases by Fan Modine.
“Eater Of The Dead” – Ming Ming from TBA – June 28th
“Heartling” – John Lamanica from Volunteers
“Julu Road” – Fan Modine from Gratitude for The Shipper – May 24th
Blithe Field, Ghostly Dust Machine, Virgin of the Birds
Blithe Field is Spencer Radcliffe – a 19 year old producer from Ohio, specializing in messy sample based electronic music. A label promoter said his sound is “like if Gold Panda ditched Ableton to record outdoors on an old sampler that didn’t work at speeds above 120 bpm.”
We’re definitely digging this first track, “Crushing” from Blithe Field’s debut album, Two Hearted, due out June 28th.
“Crushing” – Blithe Field from Two Hearted
Bad Panda Records just sent in two new tracks – one from the classy down-tempo of the Ghostly Dust Machine project, inspired by Canadians J. Dilla, Nujabes and D.J. Krush, plus, a new track from Virgin of the Birds that has a 1960’s vibe that straddles between lo-fi folk and the occasional grandeur of early art rock.
White Belt Yellow Tag, who are gearing up for their May 21st U.S. EP release, You’re Not Invincible, won critical acclaim in the U.K. last year for their debut album featuring unashamedly big, anthemic, booming pop tunes mixed with their own brand of distorted, fuzzy rock. The band are often compared to The Doves. The NME proclaimed White Belt Yellow Tag possess “the artistic solemnity of Elbow or Doves” and The Fly said “they are confident, moody, atmospheric and armed with glacial, killer tunes.”
“146 Ways To” – White Belt Yellow Tag from You’re Not Invincible – May 21st
The group is now performing in China, an inspiring tale of western music traveling across the barriers of music and culture, similar to the story of western rock breaking through the Iron Curtain of Soviet Russia in the early 1970’s.
From the rising band, Tuneyards, founding member Pat Jordache has recorded a new album, Future Songs, that was just released two weeks ago. Here’s the lead single, “Phantom Limb,” which we already think might end up on one of our Halloween Mixtapes in just less than six months from now.
“Phantom Limb” – Pat Jordache (Tuneyards) from Future Songs – April 26th
Plus, Oklahoma indie band Other Lives have presented a marvelously introspective, somewhat melancholy single that has been part of our in-cafe mixtape for the past few days. The song is the title track from Other Lives’ upcoming LP, Tamer Animals, set to officially drop on May 17th. The LP will be the band’s sophomore album on TBD Records, which released Other Lives’ official, self-titled debut in 2009. Check out an instrumental track from The Morning Birds that includes thunderclaps as percussion and the chant-sounding vocals of Thorington and Samuel Markus.
“For 12″ – Other Lives from Tamer Animals
“Quickening” – The Morning Birds
Buxter Hoot’n is an unsigned indie “roots rock” band from San Francisco, California. Buxter Hoot’n will release their third, self-titled album at the end of the month, and we have the lead single from it. The album displays the band’s “Americana roots, Rolling Stones’ swagger, pop sensibilities and honest lyricism,” according to their publicist.
Over the past five years, the band have opened for Jackie Green, Los Lobos, Builders and the Butchers, The Stone Foxes, The Devil Makes Three, and many others, and include among their top musical influences Bob Dylan and Allman Brothers. Their sophomore album, In Another Life, debuted as the #5 most added album for the Americana Music Association in September and has remained on their charts every week since.
“Blue Night” – Buxter Hoot’n
Claiming to be the world’s first orchestrated rap record (hmmm, oil and water?), Chilly Gonzalez is prepping to release The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzalez on June 7th. Without going into more details, the following track features a medley of ‘songs’ from the album. The main reason we are featuring this is to see what people’s reaction is to this experimentation. We are fence-sitting, but if we were to pick one of the most daring and bizarre albums of the year, this would be up in the top of the list. Maybe we’ll do that – a playlist mix of the weirdest albums of 2011.
“The Unspeakable Medley” – Chilly Gonzalez from The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzalez
Seems like April just sprinted in and dashed right by like a blur; but hey, we’ve got May flowers, Mother’s Day has passed and Memorial Day is coming up soon. If your April was as busy as ours, and seemed to go by as fast as it did for us, chances are that you missed some of our posts and mixtapes for the month. But no worries, that’s why we do the Music Month in Review.
We’re a few days late with this installment of the month in review, but there are hundreds of selected free MP3s to enjoy, plus band profiles, new artist spotlights, interesting mixes (like Coachella and Time Travel), the weekly Best New Releases and the Almost Missed mixtapes, plus perhaps the most extensive coverage of Record Store Day 2011 that we’ve seen on the web (and we’ve looked) – a three-part series that we put a lot of work into – and enjoyed every moment of it – not to mention the inclusion of rare MP3 versions of tracks that are found almost nowhere else online.
If you’re a vinyl collector, and you were not able to get to a participating record store on the official RSD (April 16th), we have covered appoximately 45-50 of nearly 300 special, limited-edition vinyl seven, ten and 12 inch records, EPs and LPs, compilations, cover songs, previously unreleased tracks, RSD-only singles or samplers, and much more, to make the task of hunting them down on sites like eBay easier, and listening to special MP3s. Also, check out the Top 20 songs of the month, and many other special mixtapes.
It’s a lot harder to play catch up, that’s why we recommend you check out IRC a few times a week, since we post anywhere from four to six posts a week. You might also wish to follow us on Twitter and Facebook since we regularly post goodies to those places that we don’t put on the main site, and vice versa.
Best New Releases for April 2011
In the new releases department, our favorite albums dropped in April include Panda Bear, Foo Fighters, The Kills, The Raveonettes, Tuneyards, The Head and The Heart, I’m From Barcelona, Scattered Trees, Crystal Stilts, Times New Viking, TV On The Radio, Painted Palms, and many others.
So, here are the four Best New Releases mixtapes for April featuring MP3s from all of those bands and many other bands’ new LPs. Just click on the post mixtape title link and go crazy. Additionally, we’ve included the subsequent most played/downloaded song from each week’s Best New Releases mix.
Song of the Week: “This Moment” – The French Horn Rebellion from The Infinite Music of the French Horn Rebellion
Recent Releases We Almost Missed – April 2011
For those of you not familiar with the Recent Releases We Almost Missed series, we hope it’s pretty straight forward. It refers to a specific series that focuses on our favorite new singles, EPs and albums from artists and bands who recently released a new record, but for one reason or another, we were not able to feature it in the regular weekly Best New Releases series.
This mix is a snapshot of just the Top 20 songs were streamed and downloaded the most on IRC for the month of April. Unlike the weekly Top Ten Songs, the Top 20 is not restricted to the week the songs were featured on the site, but instead, it’s just whatever the top 20 songs are overall regardless of when they were originally posted to the site.
“Helena Beat” – Foster The People from Torches – out May 24th
“Get In Line” – I’m From Barcelona from Forever Today
“Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” – Acid House Kings from Music Sounds Better with You
“Great Pan Is Dead” – Cold Cave from Cherish the Light Years (Bonus Track)
“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster The People fromFoster The People EP
Top 10 Other Posts and Mixes for May*
Does not include the weekly Best New Releases mix, nor the Recent Releases We Almost Missed. Some results are skewed by the fact that other posts have been out longer, or were published on a day when web traffic is normally higher (Mon-Wed.).
Instead of writing anything up about the tracks in this mix, we’ll just let the music speak for itself. There are some really sweet songs here, most especially from Here We Go Magic, The Shivers, Other Lives, The Wilderness of Manitoba, Sloan, Sam Roberts Band, The Sea and Cake, The Sewing Circle, Sleepy Rebels (not to be confused with Sleepy Viking from part one), Ben Sollee, and others. Plus, check out ‘What’s Coming Up on IRC’ at the bottom of this post.
“Orono Park” – The Wilderness of Manitoba from When You Left The Fire
“Up on the North Shore” – The Sea and Cake from The Moonlight Butterfly
“Follow the Leader” – Sloan from The Double Cross
“Lead Star” – The Sewing Circle from I Saw Stars
” Longitude (with Elizabeth Powell)” – Sam Roberts Band from Collider
“You Can Make the Sunrise” – Sleepy Rebels from Yellow Tree
“The Globe” – Ben Sollee from Inclusions
…And The Beat Goes On
For all intent and purposes, we could have easily made three installments of this week’s Best New Releases just because there are so many new albums and EPs out this week. In this next cluster are singles from a number of new debut albums that we hope to get around to hearing in their entirety, including debuts from Balkans, The Clutters, Le Butcherettes, Delay Trees, and Gang Gang Band, to name a few.
“Edita V” – Balkans from Balkans
“Troubled and Done” – Balkans from Balkans Tracks via TheirBatedBreath and MusicUnderFire
“Under Suspicion” – The Clutters from Breaking Bones
“On the Eighth Day” – El Obo from Oxford Basement Collection
Songs Some People May Enjoy
So, this is a little section we’ve been adding to the Best New Releases lately that is intended to present singles from new releases that are not necessarily keepers for us, but that may be for some people, so we include them anyways. We do not pretend for a minute to match with everybody’s tastes in music, but hopefully we get it right much of the time for most of the people. The new track from Urge Overkill didn’t do much for us; sounds like every hair metal song of the late 80s, but OK.
” Thousand Square” – Mountains from Air Museum
“Communal Blood” – This Will Destroy You from Tunnel Blanket
“Effigy” – Urge Overkill from Rock & Roll Submarine
What’s Coming Up on IRC
We’re really excited for the next series of post mixtapes that you’ll be seeing over the next few weeks. We can almost guarantee that most of you are going to hear some of the best music from talented bands that you’ve never heard of, and we think you’ll be as surprised as we were that many of the artists featured in the 7 Bands You Gotta Hear, One Man Bands and other upcoming post mixtapes, are not more well known or get more ink from the music press and bloggers. Hopefully, we can do a little bit to change that.
We really think these posts that we’ve been working on for weeks and weeks feature some of the best ‘unknown’ indie bands around, and if the chips fall into place at the right time, and under the right circumstances, some of them could break out and be really hot. And the whole thing about the chips is just so true – a lot of the success of artists and bands, as they have said, own a good chunk of their success to simply being in the right place at the right time and having the right people notice.
We’ve been featuring unknown artists on IRC for the past five years, especially via the popular In Dee Mail mixtape series, but we think what we have coming out over the next couple of months is simply unparalleled in regards to quantity and quality of terrific, but mostly obscure, music. What makes it so much more exciting is that for many of these bands, being featured on IRC will be their first “big” exposure online. Plus, what we are going to do is to measure which bands you guys like the most from these series, and do follow-up posts about them.
In addition to that, we’re prepping new posts for Fresh Tracks, Bands to Watch, and soon, the first installment of the Best Songs of 2011 (So Far) series, which will run through the end of the year, and long before any other music sites or blogs usually post best songs of the year mixtapes.
The long-awaited Okkervil River new album, I Am Very Far, dropped officially this week, and although we have yet to hear the studio version (compared to last week’s live webcast performance of the LP) all the way through (probably this weekend), but what we’ve heard so far is very promising. In 2005, Okkervil River broke out big time to the national stage with the release of Black Sheep Boy, and several months later, the Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP. In 2007 and 2008, the band released The Stage Names and The Stand Ins, respectively. Make sure to check back later today or tomorrow for Part Two of this week’s Best New Releases.
The Antlers‘ 2008 debut album, Hospice, received overwhelmingly positive reactions from music critics, bloggers and new fans when it first came out, and over time, became, arguably, one of the best indie folk debuts of the decade, and one of the best overall debut LPs of 2008 despite, or not, the fact that it was basically a concept album about a hospice worker and a terminally ill patient falling in love. With their new follow-up album, Burst Apart, the band continue their relationship and love concept album mastery. These two tracks from the album, “I Don’t Want Love” and “Parentheses” were provided by the blog, Whale in a Cubicle.
“I Don’t Want Love” – The Antlers from Burst Apart
“Parentheses” – The Antlers from Burst Apart
Following on the success of their critically acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated second album, Two Dancers, the band Wild Beasts have unveiled their next chapter in their career with the release of their new album, Smother. The band have released the first single from the album, “Albatross,” a track washed with sonic layers and textures of abstract sounds combined to form something typically bold and unique.
Manchester Orchestra’s Fantastic New Single, The Cars Return
Another anticipated release this week is Manchester Orchestra‘s,Simple Math, which you can stream via this link. Andy Hull called the title track, which we absolutely are loving, “the best song we have ever written.”
“Simple Math” – Manchester Orchestra fromSimple Math
For some reason, The Cars‘ latest single, “Sad Song,” seemed to fit in place right after Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math.” What we like about this track is the fact that is sounds a lot like The Cars’ of the 1980s, when they were at the height of their career. Despite the track name, it’s actually an upbeat track, washed with synths, led with Ric Ocasek easily recognizable vocals, thumbing bass and uptempo beats. “Sad Song’ is from The Cars’ new album, Move Like This, out now. The track is streamed via TheMusicFm.com.
Colourmusic’s new album showcases an ever-evolving mass of melancholic melodies, gauzy vocals, shifty beats, and monophonic musical structures. Not to mention glimpses of agnostic gospel grooves like the lead single, “You For Leaving Me.”
Pile them on – the other Best New Releases of the week include new albums from Michael J Epstein Memorial Library, the popular indie rock Man Man‘s latest new track from their new album, and Salt Lake City‘s new-to-us band, The Devil Whale (as if we need another band with ‘whale’ in the name) drop their sophomore album, Teeth, featuring 60’s and 70’s garage and pop influences such as The Animals, The Kinks, and Harry Nilsson.
“You For Leaving Me” – Colourmusic from My ___ Is Pink
“Amylee” – Michael J Epstein Memorial Library from Volume One
“Knuckle Down” – Man Man from Life Fantastic Song via SeizureChicken
“Barracudas” – The Devil Whale from Teeth
Love Inks, Sleepy Viking, Howe Gelb, Phil Cook, Liturgy, Peter Case
Plus, stream and download new music out this week from Sleepy Viking, Howe Gelb, Phil Cook (of Megafun), Liturgy (both the latter and Cook’s tracks are instrumentals from two different worlds); Peter Case’s lead sounds a bit like if T. Rex gone country rock.
“Blackeye” – Love Inks from E.S.P.
“4 Door Maverick” – Howe Gelb from Alegrias
“Calm” – Sleepy Vikings from They Will Find You Here
“Ballad of a Hungry Mother” – Phil Cook from Hungry Mother Blues
“Generation” – Liturgy from Aesthetica
“Round Trip Stranger Blues” – Peter Case from Breaking Bones
Don’t Miss Part 2 of this week’s Best New Releases
Modest Mouse closed out Day Three of the Sasquatch Festival. Photo for Brooklyn Vegan by Josh Darr.
The Flaming Lips performed most of their legendary LP, Soft Bulletin, at Sasquatch Festival.
Gold Panda performing in the Banana Shack at Sasquatch, Day Three. Photo by Brittney Bush Bollay for KEXP
Photo Credit: Brittney Bush Bollay for KEXP
“Live Those Days Tonight”
White Belt Yellow Tag, who are gearing up for their May 21st U.S. EP release, You’re Not Invincible, won critical acclaim in the U.K. last year for their debut album featuring unashamedly big, anthemic, booming pop tunes mixed with their own brand of distorted, fuzzy rock. The band are often compared to The Doves. The NME proclaimed White Belt Yellow Tag possess “the artistic solemnity of Elbow or Doves” and The Fly said “they are confident, moody, atmospheric and armed with glacial, killer tunes.”
Manchester Orchestra’s Fantastic New Single, The Cars Return
