Author: Max Hammer

For the past six weeks or so, there have been many weekly Best New Music Releases playlists that made up for a so-so summer of new indie releases. They include recent albums by Grizzly Bear, Band of Horses, The Raveonettes, The xx, Mumford & Sons, Sea Wolf, Ty Segall, A.C. Newman, to name just a few. Fresh releases for the week of October 16th, for the most part, keeps this trend going. In an earlier post, IRC’s Album of the Week went to Ben Gibbard’s solo debut album, Former Lives.

There has been a lot of buzz around the first solo release of Death Cab For Cutie‘s frontman, and on the whole, good reviews. To kick off this week’s official new releases, here is the second single featured in our album review. Following Gibbard is the latest single from The Maldives’ newest album release, Muscle for the Wing, is yet another top album release this week, with the lead single, “Blood on the Highway,” drawing a stark contrast to Gibbard’s more sensitive and artistic sound.

“A Hard One To Know” – Ben Gibbard from Former Lives

Note: All of this past week’s new releases are available for fast, easy checkout with Amazon by clicking either the MP3, CD or vinyl links at the end of this post that correspond with the album(s) you wish to purchase.

“Blood on the Highway” – The Maldives from Muscle for the Wing on Spark and Shine

Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle’s New Solo Album, The Philistines and Sophomore LPs from Little Comets and Tamaryn

Like Gibbard, another respected indie musician, Grandaddy‘s founding member Jason Lytle, dropped a new solo album this week that features the title track, “Dept. of Disapperance.” Lytle continues to dazzle admirers with potent songs that are lyrically and musically astute. This album drops during a year in which Grandaddy fans are celebrating a band reunion.

“Dept. of Disapperance” – Jason Lytle from Dept Of Disappearance on Anti- Records

Next, Newcastle, England trio Little Comets‘ sophomore release, Life Is Elsewhere, is the follow-up album to the band’s widely regarded debut album In Search of Elusive Little Comets, released officially in January 2011. The first LP was proceeded by the 2009 debut single, “One Night in October,” which peaked at No. 3 on the U.K. independent music charts, thanks in large part to popular BBC Radio 1 deejays Huw Stephens and Sara Cox. However, the band’s second single, “Adultery” the following year failed to chart. Another track, “Dancing Song,” was used in a Radox ad this past summer.

The band has made a name for themselves by crafting energetic, hook-driven indie rock songs flourishing with synths, airy guitar licks and the perfectly complimentary vocals of the trio’s frontman, Robert Coles, whose voice has been often compared to Vampire Weekend‘s vocalist Erza Koenig. While that comparison has validity, the band surely has its own unique style – and the more we hear from them, the more we admire their skills as musicians.

On the peppy new single, “Bayonee,” the trio infuse elements of Phoenix-like sound effects, and a decidedly tropical-influenced reggae pop style – the kind of song you’d crank up at a sunny summer beach party, and easily one of the best new singles from this week’s top releases. And just to make it twice as nice, we’ve included another new single, “The Opus,” which, along with other songs on the new LP, adds even more credibility to support the narrative that, at least for U.S. indie music fans, Little Comets is a band to watch.

“Bayonee” – Little Comets – Life Is Elsewhere

The Philistines once again rocked and popped their way into our top singles of the week thanks to the spirited, and funny-named, new single, “Woo Hoo Hoo” from the album, Therewolves! The band doesn’t hold back on tastefully poking fun at a common chorus in pop music for years, “woo hoo hoo,” (and variations thereof), yet at the same time they make this light-hearted, jangle pop song work for them – leaving a short and sweet after taste.

“Woo-hoo-hoo” – The Philistines from Therewolves!

Next, the new single, “Heavenly Bodies,” from Tamaryn‘s latest album, Tender New Signs – dropped this week by indie label Mexican Summer – has created yet another deeply emotive, seedy shoe-gaze pop single, and album to boot, along with her long-time collaborator, San Francisco songwriter/musician Rex John Sheverton. Because we were not able to find a single, we’ve included the official video for “Heavenly Bodies,” which should pop up on your screen right away (via the embedded Yahoo Player!), and fit nicely with the flow of the other tracks in this week’s singles playlist.

“Heavenly Bodies” – Tamaryn from Tender New Signs on Mexican Summer

The Luyas’ Drop Sophomore Album; Times New Viking Release New EP

We were kind of surprised to see some of the top music blogs not include new releases this week from two great indie bands – The Luyas and Columbus lo-fi indie rockers Times New Viking. Both have been fairly popular bands in recent years. The Luyas’ Animator features the hook-driven single, “Fifty Fifty,” among other standout tracks like “Face” and “Crimes Machine.” The Luyas wax poetic throughout the album, much of which was written in response to the sudden death of a close friend. For the album, Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld collaborated with Jessie Stein, Pietro Amato and the band. Amato also produced the album which, in the final analysis is more somber than the intricately woven, upbeat indie pop of the band’s previous albums.

Times New Viking released a six-song EP this week, Over and Over, as a follow-up to their excellent 2011 LP, Dancer Equired! The band’s new EP features a couple of notable tracks on it, including the driving indie pop rhythms of the short, but sweet track, “At The Bars” and the jangly, fast-moving post-punk/guitar pop of “Sleep In” (which is not a sleepy or dreamy kind of song at all). You may notice a hint of Sonic Youth influence in The Luyas’ music, especially on songs like “Sleep In.”

“Fifty Fifty” – The Luyas from Animator

“At The Bars” – Times New Viking from Over and Over EP

Double-shot: “Sleep In” – – Times New Viking from Over and Over EP

Volume Two for Week of October 16th Drops Very Soon and Quick-Click Album Purchases

Volume Two of the Best New Music Releases will be right up, and features new singles from fresh albums by Earlimart, Young Dreams, Shiny Toy Guns, Matmos, Pinback and DIY exclusives as well.

Don’t forget to leave observations of this mix of new singles in the Comments box below, as well as sending it out to your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter – the more people who like what we’re doing and take a minute to participate, the better we know what you want more of. Thanks for supporting Indie Rock Cafe.

Also, if you plan on purchasing any of this week’s new albums, we have direct links to click and buy from Amazon below in MP3, CD and vinyl format. IRC gets a few cents for every album you purchase with our Amazon direct-buy links – every little bit helps to pay our operating costs to keep bringing great new music to you every week.

Trey Anastasio – Traveler | CD Vinyl MP3

Arms of Tripoli – All the Fallen Embers [EP] | MP3

Beaten By Them – Kinder Machines | CD MP3

Blackbird Blackbird – Boracay Planet [EP] | CD MP3

The Bloody Angle – The Bloody Angle | MP3

Brandy – Two Eleven | CD Deluxe CD MP3 Deluxe MP3

Candidate – Psychic Dissonance from the Unself | CD MP3

Chaos Chaos – S [EP] | MP3

Correatown – Pleiades | CD Vinyl MP3

Dada Life – The Rules of Dada | CD MP3

Daphni – Jiaolong | CD Vinyl MP3

Death Rattle – HE&I [EP] | MP3

Mac DeMarco – 2 | CD Vinyl MP3

Double Naught Spy Car – Western Violence | CD MP3

The Doughboys – Shakin’ Our Souls | CD MP3

Earlimart – System Preferences | CD Vinyl MP3

Echoes de Luxe – Hold On [EP] | MP3

Ex Norwegian – House Music | MP3

Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos | CD Vinyl

Sky Ferreira – Ghosts [EP] | MP3

A Fine Frenzy – Pines | CD MP3

Rosie Flores – Working Girl’s Guitar | CD Vinyl MP3

Flowerland – Caffeine Disk [EP] | MP3

Dan Friel – Valedictorian/Exoskeleton [EP] | Vinyl

Ben Gibbard – Former Lives | CD Vinyl MP3

Glocca Morra – An Obscure Moon Lighting an Obscure World [EP] | MP3

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ’Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! | CD Vinyl

Harlan – Night Loop | CD MP3

Anne Heaton – Honeycomb | CD MP3

Hey, Rube – Can You Hear Me Mutha? | CD MP3

Hot Fiction – Apply Within | MP3

Icona Pop – The Iconic EP [EP] | MP3

John the Conqueror – John the Conqueror | CD MP3

K’naan – God, Country or the Girl | CD Deluxe CD MP3 Deluxe MP3

Charlene Kaye – Animal Love | CD MP3

Bill Laswell – Means of Deliverance | CD MP3

Leogun – Leogun [EP] | MP3

Little Comets – Life Is Elsewhere | MP3

The Luyas – Animator | CD Vinyl MP3

The Lytics – They Told Me | CD MP3

Jason Lytle – Dept. of Disappearance | CD Vinyl MP3 Deluxe MP3

Majeure – Solar Maximum | CD Vinyl MP3

Matmos – The Ganzfeld [EP] | CD Vinyl

Mike McCarthy – The Lion’s Share | MP3

John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension – Now Here This | CD MP3

Mean Creek – Youth Companion | CD Vinyl MP3

Mika – Origin of Love | CD Deluxe CD MP3 Deluxe MP3

The Philistines – Therewolves! | MP3

Grant Lee Phillips – Walking in the Green Corn | CD Vinyl MP3

Picture Book – Songs About Aimee [EP] | MP3

Pinback – Information Retrieved | CD Vinyl MP3

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez – Octopus Kool Aid | CD MP3

Santah – You’re Still a Lover [EP] | CD Vinyl MP3

Savoir Adore – Our Nature | CD Vinyl MP3

Kevin Seconds – Don’t Let Me Lose Ya | CD Vinyl MP3

The Sky Life – Caves | CD

Smoke & Jackal – EP No. 1 [EP] | CD Vinyl MP3

Star & Micey – I Can’t Wait [EP] | CD

The Swellers – Running Out of Places to Go [EP] | Vinyl MP3

Tamaryn – Tender New Signs | CD Vinyl MP3

Times New Viking – Over & Over [EP] | Vinyl MP3

Tkttsm – Tkttsm | CD MP3

Tussle – Tempest | CD Vinyl MP3

Bobby V – Dusk Till Dawn | CD MP3

Martha Wainwright – Come Home to Mama | CD Vinyl MP3

Walking Papers – Walking Papers | CD MP3

ZZ Ward – Til the Casket Drops | CD MP3

Widespread Panic – Wood [Live] | CD Vinyl MP3

Win Win – Double Vision | MP3

Patrick Wolf – Sundark & Riverlight | CD Vinyl MP3

Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs | CD Vinyl MP3

Yakuza – Beyul | CD MP3

Michael Zapruder – Pink Thunder | Book+CD MP3a rel=”nofollow” href

IRC has an exclusive new single from New York indie artist and multi-instrumentalist, Golden Bloom. “Flying Mountain” is the first single off of Golden Bloom’s upcoming EP, No Day Like Today, due out January 29th of 2013.

Though “Flying Mountain” represents Golden Bloom’s signature melodic, pop sound, this is the first record where Shawn Fogel has co-written and recorded with a full band, establishing a new chapter in his musical career. “I think this song is about coming out of a long spell of writer’s block, marking the end of a considerable songwriting drought,” explains Fogel.

“Flying Mountain” – Golden Bloom from No Day Like Today – Jan. 29th

Fogel is also a member of bands like The Zambonis and The LeeVees.

It’s been a busy week for music on IRC. As a supplemental to this past week’s Best New Music Releases playlist, this post features spill-over and additional releases for the week of Oct. 9th. Black Marble are a new-to-us band with a dark, goth, Cure-like current running through their music, which is also marked by a constant, rhythmic beat and haunting synths, similar to Depeche Mode. We like Black Marble’s sounds so much that we had to include a double-shot of songs via Hardly Art, the band’s label.

In the first volume of this past week’s top releases was the new track from A.C. Newman, featuring his bandmate Neko Case on back-up vocals. We got our hands on a second single, “I’m Not Talking,” from his brilliant new album, which New Pornographers and solo Newman fans will likely enjoy. The lead singles from METZ and Caviare Days‘ self-titled debut albums are worth noting for this week as well.

“Static” – Black Marble from A Different Arrangement
Double-shot: “A Great Design” – Black Marble from A Different Arrangement

“I’m Not Talking” – A.C Newman from Shut Down The Streets

“Headache” – METZ from METZ on Sub Pop

“You’ll Qualify” – Caviare Days from Caviare Days

“Versions” – Martin Eden from Dedicate Function on Lefse Records

Swedish Radar Band, Turn Off Your Television

Turn Off Your Television is a Swedish music trio. Their sound is built on soft, melodic folk rock compositions comprised of simple, memorable hooks, harmonica playing, strong vocal harmonies and guitar-driven acoustic Americana. But it doesn’t end there, as the band contends, stating that their music also “blends some Swedish depression [with] songs that spill across your ears like a gentle stream, much like the soothing tones of nature itself. Some people might call it gentle Seattle rock, while others rather refer to the music as cool slow-wave or even alt-country.”

The songs are their debut album are heartfelt, sentimental and beautiful, wrapped in memorable melodies. You can tell these songs weren’t just thrown together to fill up an album – but instead deliberately crafted, meaningful – songs that are intimately lyrical, and musically intriguing. As the band revealed to IRC, their style and sound are largely influenced by music from the 1960s, 70s, and 90s. Assumingly, they are not impressed with the music of the 80’s. In fact, the 80’s were critical to the indie movement’s evolution, not because of what was being played on mainstream radio, but instead what was happening on college radio, alternative radio, and the post punk scene, especially within the U.K. and the U.S.

Turn Off Your Television also refer to particular artists (which is evident in their music) that have inspired them, like Sparklehorse, Grand Archives, Luna, Belle and Sebastian, Cheif, Woods, and Jimi Hendrix, to name a few. We have to give kudos to the band for having such diverse and stellar musical influences. More importantly, it comes across in their music.

We actually like, and have posted, many Swedish artists and bands over the years, and one of our favorite labels is the small, independent Swedish label, Labador Records, home of bands like Radio Dept., Acid House Kings, Club 8, to name just a few. By the way, we like the name of the band, and agree with the sentiment. Too much TV will rot the brain. But we live in a culture where millions of people need their fix of what’s going on with Snooky, the Kardasians and Honey Boo-Boo.

“Blanket of Shame” – Turn Off Your Television from Humble Waves

Husband and Wife Duo, KidCity, Drop Sophomore EP

KidCity is husband and wife music duo, Kelly and Caleb Ellis. The couple employ a gritty sound which they dub as “clip-hop” – dark, melodic pop songs with an overloaded signal.  KidCity’s self-titled EP, dropped in May of 2011, features the single “Bloody Face.” The duo have also written songs for various mixtapes and compilations and were featured in NME’s Radar Scene in July of of this year. Their second EP, MRDR BRDNS, draws on heavier and darker themes. Meanwhile, they’re also working on a project called Miserable Singers with Canadian poet Victor Coleman, due out in 2013.

“Call Mom” – KidCity from MRDR BRDNS EP

Winnipeg Band, Departures, Debut LP Gets Howard Bilerman and Bob Weston Touch

Still and Moving Lines, the warm, autumnal post-punk/shoegazer hybrid debut from Winnipeg rock band Departures, is out today on Canadian indie imprint Borana Records. The album, yet another debut this week, was recorded with famed engineer Howard Bilerman (Godspeed You Black Emperor, Arcade Fire) at his Hotel2Tango studio in Montreal and mastered by Shellac bassist Bob Weston in Chicago. The band kicked off an eight-city Canadian tour in Winnipeg this weekend.

“Being There” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

This week started off with a number of posts, including new singles from DIY and record label artists; DIY Artist of the Week: Bryce Jarden; a new song from Goodbye, Texas and Album of the Week by Freelance Whales. Therefore, we start off with Freelance Whales’ new single, “Dig Into Waves,” followed by “Time to Run,” the new single from one of our favorite artists of the past couple of years, Lord Huron.

“Time to Run” flows nicely following “Dig Into Waves” – both songs are spirited, intricate pop tracks, and easily among the top songs from this week’s new album releases. But “Time to Run” starts out quietly, like watching the first signs of the sun rising, and then breaks out into a glorious, uptempo song driven by acoustic guitar, synths and earth beats. This is repeated two other times in the song but without taking away too much from the song’s exhilarating jaunt.

“Dig Into Waves” – Freelance Whales from Diluvia on Mom+Pop / Frenchkiss

“Time to Run” – Lord Huron from Lonesome Dreams on IAMSOUND

Lord Huron, the moniker of New York artist Ben Schneider, had a number of wildly successful EPs in the past couple of years, but his long-anticipated debut LP, Lonesome Dreams , is easily one of the best debuts of 2012. Next, Dana Falconberry‘s newest single, “Crooked River,” calms things way down with soft harp and violins and her magnificently lovely voice. The song paints a picture of a daydream. Wouldn’t it be cool if Dana and Lord Huron recorded a song together?

“Crooked River” – Dana Falconberry from Leelanau on Antenna Farm Records

The latest single from Ty Segall, “The Hill,” is a blazing psychedelic guitar rocker, followed right behind by another psych rocker from the band Tame Impala titled “Elephant.” Ty Segall’s newest album, Twins, has already received good reviews across the board. The San Francisco band are on a roll and we’re stoked to be seeing them Sunday at the Treasure Island Music Festival. NME, which gave Twins a 9 out of 10, wrote: “It has the reckless spirit of a record that hasn’t been over-analysed, but with an intense flurry of ideas from someone in the absolute prime of their creativity.” These are really two of the best bands to emerge in the past couple of years, especially for fans of classic and psychedelic rock. Tame Impala’s Lonerism is soaked with guitar-jamming, heavy rhythm psychedelic rock.

“The Hill” – Ty Segall from Twins on Drag City

“Elephant” – Tame Impala from Lonerism on Modular

Band to Watch: Glasgow Genre-Mixers PAWS Drop Debut LP, Cokefloat!

The Glasgow lo-fi garage/punk pop trio PAWS gun it on their new single, “Miss American Bookworm,” blasting out from the starting gate with a fast-driving, rhythmic, and vibrantly melodic romp that flows nicely after Tame Impala’s “Elephant” and Ty Segall’s “The Hill.” PAWS’ new album, Cokefloat!, captures the energy and rawness of the band’s live shows, and per the title is, as the band said, “like a sugar high,” adding “all of the lyrics are pretty much a documentation of the past two years. A lot of crazy things have happened in our lives – some good, some horrific…there is a strong feeling of positivity and hope running throughout this record [like] light piercing through some distinctly dark times. We’re playing in this band to keep going and stay alive.”

The band name, PAWS, since it is a common word, and is a similar construction of many other band names (The Big Paws; Paw Paws; Monster Paws and so on), makes it more challenging to find information about the band via search, but not impossible. PAWS have previously opened for bands like Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, No Age, Black Lips, Wavves and Happy Birthday. This is a terrific track, and we’re looking forward to hearing the album.

“Miss American Bookworm” – PAWS from Cokefloat! on FatCat Records

Bandmate Neko Case Teams Up With A.C. Newman on His Third Solo LP, Shut Down the Streets

Next, A.C. Newman, one of the most accomplished and progressing musicians – both as a band member of the New Pornographers and as a solo artist – of the past decade of indie rock, has come up with yet another infectious pop song, “Encyclopedia of Modern Takedowns,” from his new Matador release, Shut Down the Streets.

At it’s core, the single’s catchy sing-a-long chorus is partly made possible by the contributions of Newman’s New Pornographers’ bandmate Neko Case. Don’t be surprised if the central lyric of the chorus, “I didn’t live that many lives” gets caught in your head after playing the song a few times. The time measures within the chorus are complex and intriguing – they’re not orthodoxy and yet don’t come off as experimental or out of place, which is simply further evidence of Newman’s amazing abilities in composing, recording and mixing as well as an incredible proficiency and knack for creating memorable hooks, witty lyrics and catchy choruses.

“Encyclopedia of Modern Takedowns” – A.C. Newman from Shut Down the Streets on Matador

Fresh Tracks from Mark Mallman, Letting Up Despite Great Faults and Tamarin

The new single, “Double Silhouette,” by Mark Mallman, is similar to Newman’s – radio-ready pure pop perfection with a persuasive hook, crisp sound and a chorus that almost anyone can sing along with. The witty titled, “Bulletproof Girl,” from the sophomore album by Letting Up Despite Great Faults conjures up immediate imagery of a tough-as-nails character and has a sassy groove about it. In 2009, the band one wide praise for their self-titled debut album.

“Double Silhouette” – Mark Mallman from Double Silhouette on Eagle’s Golden Tooth

“Bulletproof Girl” – Letting Up Despite Great Faults from Untogether on New Words

“Seems a Laugh” – Tamarin from Shake The Ghost on La Société Expéditionnaire

Check back tomorrow for More Best New Releases from this week

Formed in 2010, the band Goodnight, Texas, are an unsigned indie roots folk band with an interesting story behind their name. The two main members are Avi Vinocur from San Francisco and Patrick Dyer Wolf from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In a clever move to decide on a band name, the pair decided to locate a geographic mid-point between their two cities, which sit at opposite coasts of the continental United States, to come up with their name. It just so happened that Goodnight, an unincorporated community of 18 people located in the northern Texas panhandle on the outskirts of Amarillo, was the one.

However, they did have to dip a little bit more south between the actual two cities to find their spot. More importantly is how remarkable it is that two musicians from completely different communities and cultures were able to come together from such distance to create an authentic-sounding folk style, with obvious roots folk and even bluegrass influences, as evidenced on their new single released this past week, “Jesse Got Trapped In A Coal Mine.” Vinocur’s deep ancestral roots in the Appalachian hills of western Maryland show through the mandolin-driven elegy, “Jesse Got Trapped In A Coal Mine.”

“I grew up hearing stories more or less like ‘Jesse Got Trapped in a Coal Mine’ about distant relatives of mine,” says Vinocur. “As a kid I would pore over our collections of 19th century tintype photographs of relatives and friends of our family, and I became fascinated with life that long ago. It seemed so dark and beautiful, but unknown: the clothes, the weathered faces. That fascination became a theme for this new record of ours. To me, ‘Jesse’ is like one of those family stories – you’ll never know if it really happened that way, but you choose to pass it down anyway.”

Together with bassist Jonathan Kirchner, drummer Andrew Laubacher, and sometimes other musicians, Goodnight, Texas has produced a dynamic range out of a ragged orchestra, and American stories that should be welcoming to many fans of roots folk.

“Jesse Got Trapped In A Coal Mine” – Goodnight, Texas from A Long Life of Living

As 2012 winds down, so does the number of new album releases – this week being one of the thinnest of the year, if not the thinnest. But, there are still some great singles from this week’s fresh drops to share with you. Plus, to make up for the gap, we’re including new releases from DIY artists over the past couple of weeks that we only recently received directly from the artists.

The wistful electro-pop of Davye Hawke, better known as Memory Tapes, is one of our favorite ‘one-man bands’ of the past few years. In 2009, Hawke, a New Jersey resident, combined two previous projects, the atmospheric, vocal compositions of Memory Cassette and the dance-inspired instrumentals as Weird Tapes – to launch Memory Tapes.

What emerged from this new direction was the single, “Bicycle,” which basically lighted up the music blogs, and before long he was signed to two labels, playing big festivals, being hailed by the media and music lovers, making TV appearances and touring around the country and Canada. Hawke has continually been changing up his sound, and does so once again on Grace/Confusion, embracing the chillwave craze by bridging “prog rock and atmospheric synth pop to carve out a unique niche for himself in the genre,” as Heather Phares recently wrote for AllMusic.com.

“Sheila” – Memory Tapes from Grace/Confusion on Carpark Records

Multi-Instrumentalist Jesse Cafiero Drops Solo EP; Mogwai’s Remix Album Out

Split Screens is the new DIY project of multi-instrumentalist and collaborator Jesse Cafiero, who has played bass, and other instruments, for a variety of artists like John Vanderslice, Thao Nguyen of the Get Down Stay Down, Magik Magik Orchestra, and Sean Hayes. On Tuesday, Cafiero officially released Split Screens’ self-titled, debut EP, which includes the fantastically dreamy folk love song, “Born.” Cafiero is a busy guy – he also plays lap steel guitar (as he does so magically on “Born”) and stand-up bass for the popular band project, DRMS. Follow Split Screens, check out the Justin K. Broadrick remix of “George Square Thatcher Death Party” from Mogwai‘s critically acclaimed album, Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. Other remixes feature Zombi, The Soft Moon and Tim Hecker, among others, on Mogwai’s new remix album, A Wrenched Virile Lore.

“Born” – Split Screens from Split Screens EP (self-released)

“George Square Thatcher Death Party (Justin K Broadrick Reshape)” – Mogwai from A Wrenched Virile Lore on Sub Pop

Team Ghost Preps 2013 Debut LP with New EP

The Paris electronic/shoegaze outfit, Team Ghost, is a collaborative project of former M83 co-founder Nicolas Fromageau and multi-instrumentalist/composer Christophe Guerin, among other band members, as well as producer Jean-Philippe Talaga. Fromageau left M83 in 2004, resurfacing five years later for a performance at 2009’s Midi Festival on the French Riviera, under the moniker Team Ghost. The band’s debut EP, You Never Did Anything Wrong to Me, dropped in April of 2010 via Kiss Me First Records, and led to a NME endorsement that included the respected, long-time U.K. music mag dubbing the band’s style and sound ‘cold-gaze’ (a contraction of coldwave and shoegaze). As of that moment, cold-gaze became one of the newest sub-genres to add to an ever-growing list, which in the past decade, almost always includes a combination of two or more core genres. Team Ghost has toured with Crystal Castles, twice, released two EPs, and this past week, dropped their third EP, Death Film Star. It’s not a stretch to expect a debut full-length for 2013.

“Dead Film Star (Tepr Recopy)” – Team Ghost
from Dead Film Star EP on Wsphere

Athens’ Trio, Dream Boat, Release Debut and Ryan Francesconi & Mirabai Peart

The relatively under-the-radar ‘folk dream pop’ duo from Athens, Georgia, Dream Boat, dropped their debut album, Eclipsing, earlier this week. Formed in November of 2011, the band consists of Billy Pogany (lead vocals, guitarist), Trevor Adams (drums) and David Goe (bass), and count among their top musical influences The Beatles, The Kinks and Neil Young. Also, listen to the title track from Ryan Francesconi & Mirabai Peart‘s fresh release, Road To Palios.

“Sea to Sky” – Dream Boat from Eclipsing on Cloud Recordings

“Road To Palios” – Ryan Francesconi & Mirabai Peart from Road To Palios on Bella Union / Cooperative Music

Teenage U.K. Rockers High Tyde

High Tyde, a teenage DIY band from Brighton, England that formed earlier this year, are making a name for themselves throughout the U.K. With a recent opening gig supporting The Milk, a new EP of note, Teal, and growing blog, radio and press coverage, High Tyde is a U.K. band to watch in 2013. The band wrote in their submission: “This is just the start of something special. Their in-your-face aptness towards their music is a fresh cynosure in the pop-dominated industry. With a unique, fresh sound that grabs your attention, this isnt the last you will hear from them

“Waiting” – High Tyde from Teal EP

Listen to the title track of the band’s first EP, Spill The Beans, via Soundcloud

High Tyde on Facebook

Leeds Bro-Duo, Formes, Drop Official Debut Single

In March of 2012, brothers Jordan McNamara and Steve McNamara from Leeds, England, formed the DIY psychedelic rock duo Formes. The duo became a fairly popular band in the local music scene, and increasingly, throughout the U.K. Formes got a big boost when their home recorded demos were featured on the BBC and Absolute Radio. Their official studio debut single, “Absence of the Noise” dropped earlier this week. The single was mixed by Grant Henderson at Loom Studios and mastered by Steve Whitfield (Shed Seven, The Cure, Terrorvision).

In their submission, the brothers listed Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Talk Talk, and the Verve as the duo’s top musical influences. Tomorrow, Dec. 10th, the band officially drops Red Room, a two-track live EP, which follows the September release of 360, a five-track EP of live tracks and demos, that add krautrock and ambient to their growing list of genre infusions. A full-length debut album is expected in 2013.

“Absence of the Noise” – Formes, single

Portugal-via-U.K. Artist Mimimic

Portugal and U.K. band Mimimic, a Corvo Records artist, creates lo-fi, beat and synth-driven psychedelic ambient music in the vein of Boards of Canada,Black Moth Super Rainbow – and to an extent, ambient trailblazers, Air – “adulterated with whatever elements happened to fall into the vat: samples of Brazilian funk MCs ripped from YouTube, home recordings of bacon frying, a barking dog ‘solo,’ and borrowed instruments,” the band wrote, in addition to “sounds with digital processing” and “low quality samples.”

“Vuja De” – Mimimic from Blender

Get Blender on Mimimic’s Bandcamp Page

As far as DIY and other under-the radar-releases of 2012, we’re working on a whole series of posts – featuring dozens of solid artists and bands, mostly DIY, that you’ve probably never heard before – for popular playlist series like In Dee Mail, 7 Bands You Gotta Hear, Recent Releases We Almost Missed, the upcoming DIY and Signed Artists/Bands to Watch in 2013, and of course, various ‘best of 2012’ playlists highlighting the best albums, songs and new bands of 2012. There’s a great deal on our plates and in the pipeline right now, and big updates and improvements to the site slated for 2013.