Best New Music Releases, Week of Jan. 8th – Broadcast, Pere Ubu, Wooden Wand, plus DIY Artists Alex Vans, Colin Davis, Ceremonies

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The first new releases of 2013 are slowly starting to trickle in, as they often do at the beginning of a new year. To fill the void of well-known artists and bands with new releases, we have a number of new and recent releases from DIY bands and artists from across the country, and around the world – hopefully, you’ll find some new bands and songs to stream or download. But before we get to the DIY artists, check out new drops this week from  soundtrack creators, Broadcast; rock veteran Pere Ubu; artist to watch, Alex Vans; and the indie band Wooden Wand. DIY releases include new singles from bands and artists most people have never heard before (and many of which only appear on IRC, which is the case with hundreds of musicians we feature each year), such as Ceremonies, Colin Davis, The Agreeables and a few others that are featured below.

As we do at the beginning of each year, we’ll be posting more playlists and profiles highlighting the best songs, albums, bands, artists and videos of 2012. In fact, earlier this week, we posted the first volume of the Best Songs of 2012.

Note: There were not many new releases for the month of December, 2012, so it makes it a bit trickier to do the Top 10 Songs playlists for each week of December. But, we’ll manage to find a way to get that done, although some of the Top 10 playlists for December may not have a full list of 10 songs. Stay tuned for that.

“Free White”Pere Ubu from Lady From Shangai on Fire Records

“Southern Colorado Song” – Wooden Wand from Blood Oaths Of The New Blues on Fire Records

“The Equestrian Vortex” – Broadcast from Berberian Sound Studio on Warp

“Good Enough”Alex Vans from DJ Booth (self-released)

 

New Swedish Duo Drops DIY Debut

From Gothenburg, Sweden, the DIY indie pop/rock duo Ceremonies recently released their dark, brooding, debut singles, “Black Wings” and “Promises” from their self-titled, debut album. The duo was founded by musicians Malin Dahlberg and Marcus Bergman in mid-2012o. Their aim is to make “distinct songs that don’t hide behind concepts, ideas or too many layers.”

“Black Wings”Ceremonies from Ceremonies – Jan. 3rd

“Promises”Ceremonies from Ceremonies

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California ‘Super Hero’ Duo The Agreeables

The DIY indie rock duo, The Agreeables, from Santa Barbara, California, started out as a musical, and two of those involved, who we only know as Rick and Camille, gradually into a musical duo. On Jan. 8th, they released their debut EP, Bonus Tracks (not quite clear on why a debut EP would be called ‘Bonus Tracks’). Surely some people will roll their eyes, but the duo are branding themselves as ‘superheroes’ whose mission, they say, is ‘saving the world one melody at a time.’ They consider among their top influences The Beatles, Elton John, Cat Stevens, Wilco, and Cracker.

“I’d Fly Away”The Agreeables from Bonus Tracks – Jan. 8th

“Place Called Home”The Agreeables from Bonus Tracks

Ithaca Musician Drops Debut EP of ‘Soulful Folk’

Colin Davis is a 20-year-old DIY singer/songwriter from Ithaca in upstate New York. Performing in local bars and coffee shops for the past couple years, Davis dropped his debut EP, The Restless and The Wicked on the first day of 2013. He performs soulful indie folk with a “touch of unashamed pop influence.” In response to ‘what is indie rock?’ Davis replied: “Not necessarily independant, which the term probably intended for, but more so an Innovative, interesting take on traditional rock/folk styles. ” His top musical influences include Ray LaMontagne, Wilco, AA Bondy, Father John Misty, Jeff Buckley, and Otis Redding. The album cover, however, is just all wrong – it looks like a wallpaper photo taken off some other site somewhere (if even it’s not). For an album titled The Restless and The Wicked, the last album cover in the world that should be used is this one. The problem with lazy, unimaginative and terrible album covers in recent years has gotten way out of hand. Artists and bands, especially DIY, need to understand that the album cover is so important, even in the digital age, and music lovers have good reason to scold artists for many of the album covers we’ve seen over the past five and more years.

“Unsustained”Colin Davis from The Restless and The Wicked EP – Jan. 1st

“The Restless and The Wicked”Colin Davis from The Restless and The Wicked EP

Colin Davis’ Bandcamp Page

Check back in a few hours for even more featured DIY artists and bands that you’ll likely only hear on IRC.