The Vita Ruins, an indie band from Washington D.C, was founded by Tim Kratzer and Greg Balleza in 2005. The band’s debut album, A Day Without A Name, features an unique and intriguing mix of dark, layered rock blended with romping electronica beats.
Following the release of their debut EP last year, the band attracted a following of fans, and soon were opening for artists like KENNA, VHS or Beta, Snowden and Malajube. We’ve listened to this song over and over – it’s terrific.
“Seven Sons” – The Vita Ruins from A Day Without A Name – March 2rd
There is no excuse for us missing this awesome new EP from Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh), but we did, so if you’re a Lou Barlow fan, apologies. Barlow’s solo EP, Sentridoh III, was released last week, and it sounds so good. The track here, “Loserscore” is really a terrific rock song. Not long ago the legendary rocker told NME that indie rock is so interesting because it incorporates every possible genre and era of music, and that musicians nowadays have so much source material to work with. And they know that, and are drawing from everything – punk, classic rokc, disco, grunge, folk and so on.
“Losercore” – Low Barlow from Sentridoh III EP – June 8th
Minneapolis folk rock band Communist Daughter, led by the bearded (beards seem to be ‘the thing’ of indie rockers nowadays) singer and guitarist Johnny Solomon, released their debut album in April; it’s a feast of upbeat, Beach Boys era harmonies, lo-fi, folky rock with contrasting lyrics about the pitfalls of life – loss, daily struggles and a ripe bit of cynicism.
“Not The Kid” – Communist Daughter from Soundtrack to the End – April 6th
Apollo Ghosts are a Vancouver based three-piece indie rock band whose journey began with renting out a small recording studio in 2008, where they embraced a ritual of practice, record, go to a show, eat, sleep, and repeat for months. Their dedicated lead to two widely praised EPs released in 2009, Hasting Sunrise and Forgotten Triangle. Influential blogger Ryan Catbird hailed the EPs as his “favorite thing to listen to all throughout the year” and Exclaim Magazine said the band’s music was “criminally under-hyped.”
In March, the band released their debut LP, Mount Benson. The lead single “Things You Go Through” is catchy and laden with choruses of the title again and again – very much sounds like a 1990’s indie rock pop song – and it’s a song that’ll be hard to get out of your head, so beware.
“Things You Go Through” – Apollo Ghosts from Mount Benson – March 30th
Cary Ann Heart‘s track “Hell’s Bells” romps forward out of the gates of hell straight for the jugular in
the first seconds of the song, with it’s stomp-like percussions, reminiscent of the beast slowly walking towards you – and Dead Weather-like biker bar bravado, plus lyrics as gritty as the song itself: “Cocaine makes you grind your teeth out” and “You were leaning on me/I heard you asking for it.”
“Hell’s Bells” is a vicious, in-your-face and totally awesome cut; production-wise it sounds like it was recorded in a big empty kitchen, and although they are drumsticks smashing together, it sounds like those wooden cooking spoons banging on an overturned crock pot – all very lo-fi and raw. “Hell’s Bells” – obviously not the classic AC/DC song by the same name – reminds us a lot of another track that came out recently (not by Dead Weather) – but we still can’t think of the name of the mystery song or the artist. It’s a new artist that are on blogger radars; it’s driving us nuts not being able to spit up the artist or song name. Damn you info-overloaded brain matter! Can anyone help?
“Hell’s Bells” – Cary Ann Hearst from Are You Ready to Die – March 9th
Also check out these tracks from Magic Bullets, Holy Ghost and The King Left.
“Lying Around” – Magic Bullets from Lying Around – May 4th
Magic Bullets on MySpace
“Say My Name” – Holy Ghost from s/t debut – April 20th
“The Way to Canaan” – The King Left from Perfect Without People – May 14th
The King Left official website