Max Hammer – Page 37 – INDIE ROCK CAFE

Fresh Tracks from Cymbals Eat Guitars, M83, VHS or Beta, Golden Bloom, The Stone Foxes, Chairlift, Loney Dear

Posted on 07/24/201112/18/2019 by Max Hammer

By Maxwell Silver

The Fresh Tracks mixtape series has really exploded since we fired up the first installment last year. So, like Ray Davies of The Kinks shouts in the title track of the band’s splendid 1981 LP release: “Give the people what they want.” The idea behind the Fresh Tracks series is to highlight newly released tracks from upcoming releases by a wide range of bands, including Cymbals Eat Guitars, M83, VHS or Beta, Golden Bloom, The Stone Foxes, Chairlift, Loney Dear, and many others.

The flow of new tracks from upcoming releases is like a fast-rushing river in the spring after a winter of heavy snowfall. It’s a challenge, to say the least, to keep up with them all. So, one way to do that is to simply put together regular playlists for the Fresh Tracks mix series. We’d love to have more time to review each track, but we’re simply so busy with other posts that are in the pipeline that we need to stay focused. The silver lining in that cloud is that you get to listen (and download by right clicking on the song title and choosing “Save As” to your computer) to a mixtape unabated and without any preconceptions.

Please keep in mind that all MP3s are free and legal, and in return, show a little love for your favorite artists – buy some of their music, go to a show, or even Like or Retweet them. Indie artists really need their fans to support them anyway they can, because they certainly can’t make a living selling music (with a few exceptions). We hope you enjoy this latest Fresh Tracks mix, and please let the community know what you think by using the comments section below.

“Rifle Eyesight” – Cymbals Eat Guitars from Lenses Alien – Aug. 30th

“Midnight City” – M83 from Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming – Oct. 18th

“Breaking Bones” – VHS or Beta from Diamonds and Death – Sept. 27th

“You Go On (& On)” – Golden Bloom from March to the Drums – Aug. 26th

“Psycho” – The Stone Foxes from Psycho b/w Serious People – July 27th

“Teenage Girls” – Bad Sports from Kings Of The Weekend – Aug. 16th

“Amanaemonesia” – Chairlift from Amanaemonesia 7″ – Aug. 16th

“Tanktop” – Caroline Smith from Little Wind – Sept. 20th – keep?

“My Heart” – Loney Dear from Hall Music – Oct. 6th

“Cruel/Kind” – Gold Leaves from The Ornament – Aug. 16th

“Maracas” – Mates of State from Mountaintops – Sept. 13th

“Race Is Long” – The Gift from Explode – Sept. 20th

“I Can Hear the Trains Coming” – Mathieu Santos from Massachusetts 2010 – Aug. 2nd

“All My Friends” – Little Horn from Twelve – July 26th

“Kites With Lights” – Cosmonauts from Cosmonauts – Aug. 9th

“Tell Me Why” – D/Wolves from D/Wolves – Oct 8th

“From Scratch” – Brian Keenan from Today This Year – Aug. 2nd

“Beautiful” (Peyote Version) – BigBee of the Whitetree from Fairytale Dust – Sept. 13th

“Lawn” – Collections Of Colonies Of Bees from Giving – Aug. 23rd

“Breakers” – Gem Club from Breakers – Sept. 27th

“Alive” – Armand Margjeka from Margo Margo – Aug. 9th

“Forget the Past” – The Irrepressibles from Mirror Mirror – Aug. 9th

“Come Rain, Come Sunshine” – Pallers from Sea of Memories – Sept. 27th

“Old Friend” – Caveman from CoCo Beware – Sept. 13th

“2012” – Young Circles from Jungle Habits – Aug. 23rd

In Dee Mail, Vol. X – Night Manager, Ghastly City Sleep, The Vain, Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, The Teenage Lesbians, Is Shepherd

Posted on 07/19/201101/11/2022 by Max Hammer

As we continue to sift through hundreds of music submissions we receive in the mail – thus, the title, In Dee Mail – we continue to highlight singles from that most people have never heard of, including ourselves. The fact that most of the bands are rarely known makes this particular music mixtape series all the more interesting, because it is unlikely you’ll hear these artists anywhere else. A saying that we’ve had for a long time goes: “Some of the best music is that which you haven’t even heard yet.”

A few people asked about the In Dee Mail series because they haven’t seen a IDM post in a while. The main reason for this is because we’ve been fusing what would otherwise be bands for the In Dee Mail series into many other regular posts like the weekly Best New Releases and S-25 Mix, plus, 7 Bands You Gotta Hear, Fresh Tracks, and others. However, it’s time to start saving more of the bands that contact us directly for just the In Dee Mail series.

In this installment of In Dee Mail:
Night Manager
Ghastly City Sleep
The Vain
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya
Buxter Hoot’n
I Believe in Hotpants
The Teenage Lesbians
Is Shepherd

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Let’s start off with two bands from Brooklyn that caught our attention after sending us some tunes. However, not only are both bands from Brooklyn, they each also just released a new album a couple of weeks ago. Ordinarily, in this case, we’d be publishing these band profiles and songs to the Recent Releases We Almost Missed posts, but they are so much more fitting as the top two bands to kick off this mixtape.

The Brooklyn “doo wop/grunge” band Night Manager released its new album, Fire Talk, on July 5th. In this case, we are definitely not instrumental in ‘breaking out’ a new band because Night Manager have already been featured on blogs like Pitchfork, The Fader and Altered Zones. However, this is their first time being featured on IRC. As far as the biographical information, this is literally all they provided us: “Three dudes and one girl from Paris making fuzzy, surfy, grungy pop in a bedroom in Brooklyn.” And really, it’s not a disservice to keep it that simple since the focus is on the music.

Opened For: Tennis, Bass Drum of Death, and Reading Rainbow.
Musical Influences: Nirvana, Leslie Gore, Sam Cooke, Total Slacker

“Pizza Pasta” – Night Manager from Fire Talk

“Blackout Sex” – Night Manager from Fire Talk

Night Manager on Facebook

Another Brooklyn band, Ghastly City Sleep, sent in the single “Being; Or, What You Will” (whatever that is supposed to mean), that demonstrates the bands post rock indie roots. The track is a meandering, lo-fi psychedelic track that reminds us a lot of Melpo Mene on shrooms. However, we only received one track from the band, so we don’t have much to go on.

Still, the track at least shows promise. But is that enough? This is the same question that always arises with an apparently talented band with true potential residing in Brooklyn. Because there are literally thousands of artists and bands in Brooklyn, and without question hundreds over the past decade that have gone beyond the NYC borough to national and even international acclaim, it’s not good enough for a band based in Brooklyn to be just good, or talented, or promising.

Yet, take that same band – Ghastly City Sleep or Night Manager – and plop them down in the middle of the music scene of another city somewhere in the U.S. (with exceptions of Austin, Portland, S.F. and L.A.), and the chances greatly increase they will stand out.

That aside, GCS is made up of former members from Virginia hardcore/emo/post-rock bands such as City Of Caterpillar, pg. 99, Majority Rule and Gregor Samsa. After moving to Brooklyn 2005, they’ve released two records – their eponomynous debut EP in 2007, and a widely-praised full length, Moondrifts, in 2010.

“Being; Or, What You Will” – Ghastly City Sleep from Lunic Driftwood: Remnants & Remixes of Moondrifts

Opened For: Pygmy Lush, Wires Under Tension, Hooray For Earth
Musical Influences: Bear In Heaven

Ghastly City Sleep official website

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya – Lansing, Illinois

by Sterling Forest

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya has an aesthetic expressing a goofy outlook on being sexual. This brought images of Skerrit Bwoy in the “Pon De Floor” music video to mind. But unlike Major Lazer, Ogbonnaya’s new album, Rotissabooty, lacks a sharp and serious tone in attitude, album art, sound, and lyrical themes. This difference makes it seem like Ogbonnaya made Rotissabooty as a joke – which is confusing because of the difference in the level of intricacy in the song structure and instrumental choices, and the lacking attributes named above.

On the other hand if the style of the album art were altered to cater more to the dump.fm community, I could see this music finding a niche there. As for me, it feels like something I could send to a friend because they may find it funny but that might be as far as the novelty goes.

Buxter Hoot’n – San Francisco

San Francisco DIY band, Buxter Hoot’n, released its third, and self-titled, album back in May. The lead single “Blue Night” demonstrates the band’s influence of Americana root rock, together with “Rolling Stones swagger, pop sensibilities and honest lyricism.” The band, whose name references a baroque era composer as well as family folklore, claims to have “created its finest and most mature album to date.”

Their sophomore album, In Another Life, debuted as the #5 most added album for the Americana Music Association, as well as charts for the Roots Music Review chart and reached #8 in the Jambands.com chart where it was in the top 10 for three consecutive months. The band’s disciplined musicianship and the vocals of Vince Dewald and Melissa Merrill, indicate to us a band that deserves even more credit and recognition then they’ve already received. Buxter Hoot’n infuse an array of sounds that span from haunting violin and banjo, to Allman Brothers style electric rockers, to psychedelia.”

“Blue Night” – Buxter Hoot’n from Buxter Hoot’n

I Believe in Hotpants – Nashville, Tennessee

I Believe in Hotpants is a Nashville trio who claim to create music that “we’d listen to if we were the types who liked listening to ourselves.” In addition, or despite, the wacky band name, this Nashville indie band crossed our radars after sending us a few tracks from their latest album, The Teenage Pregnancy Party. In the bio the band presented, they wrote: “…listening to our music probably provides a more insightful bio than we could ever write while trying to create one.” That’s pretty much all the band offered in their bio section of the submission form.

We’re always a bit perplexed why bands don’t offer more 411 when they should be aiming to create a stand-out profile – marketing which is not particularly what musicians are known for. The flip side, however, is that there is currently a trend on where bands don’t wish to seek much publicity, and that trend would make it much easier to use the word “indie,” which is such a broad and multi-dimensional phrase these days.

“Is That You, Fr. Payeras?” – I Believe in Hotpants from The Teenage Pregnancy Party

“An Outclassed Song Title” – I Believe in Hotpants from The Teenage Pregnancy Party

Opened For: None

Musical Influence: The Beatles, The Dandy Warhols

The Teenage Lesbians – Helsinki, Finland

From Helsinki, Finland, The Teenage Lesbians, are not lesbians at all, but in fact a four-man indie rock band. They could be men who like woman and desire to be women themselves. The band are working on an album about Canada, titled Canada Unlimited, even though the band members have never actually set foot in Canada. The songs are based on travel guides, newspaper stories, Googling and wild guesses.

While the band said the album is due out some time this year, they still have not announced a release date. However, we have two of the Canada-centric songs from the album, including the catchy pop track, “Vancouver Skyline” and “Sasquatchawen in Ruins”. The Teenage Lesbians released their debut limited edition 12″” LP Black Dress Day in 2006. Get more info at http://canadaunvisited.wordpress.com/

The band describes “Ruins in Sasquatchawen” as a “post apocalyptic vision of Saskatchewan, after mankind has vanished from the face of the earth” where “wild animals have taken over our deserted librarys, malls and highways.”

Music Influences: Neil Young, Stooges, Sonic Youth

Opened For: None

“Vancouver Skyline” – The Teenage Lesbians from Canada Unlimited

“Ruins in Sasquatchawen” – The Teenage Lesbians from Canada Unlimited

Is Shepherd – Various Locales, England

The band members of Is Shepherd hail from various locales in the U.K., including Newcastle, Tyneside, and Englans. The release of their new album, Songs For Sons, on June 6th, has gone largely overlooked on music blogs, even among those in U.K.

Upon listening to the first two songs the band sent below, we were not blown away, but something made us continue to listen. While the songs sound like demo versions, that might be part of the appeal, and what prompted us to listen to these two songs a few times. We think Is Shepherd has laid the foundation of their potential as a band with the release of Songs for Sons. But, of course, we’re most interested in what you think.

“Pine Box” – Is Shepherd from Song for Sons

“Forever More” – Is Shepherd from Song for Sons

Music Influences: Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen; Yo La Tengo, Low, Wilco

Opened For: Josh T. Pearson

Is Shepherd official website

Best Summer Songs, Vol. XI – Wavves, The Vaccines, Best Coast, Mazes, Triptides, Film School, The Kinks, Radiohead

Posted on 07/17/201110/21/2018 by Max Hammer

(Originally posted in July 2011) It’s almost hard to believe that it is summer here in northern California and the Pacific Northwest, because it has been unusually cool, and even rained (the latter which almost never happens in the Bay Area during summer). One of the best things about summer is taking trips to the beach. We’re grateful to be only a few feet from the beach, so putting together summertime, beach-themed playlist mixes is almost a requirement.

You can stream the entire playlist below simply by clicking on the first song. Not only to we obviously enjoy listening to the mixes over and over again, but the best part of it all is sharing them with people across the U.S. and around the world. Some of you will hear songs, and artists, for the first time that you really enjoy, others will be reminded of songs they always liked but haven’t heard for a long time, and even more will experience a combination of the two.

This latest mix in the Best Summer Songs series includes 35 exclusively indie and alt. rock songs that we think exemplify summer in one or more ways. This mix is mostly indie and alternative rock oriented, but also features classic rock songs for summer as well.

Please feel free to Comment – you’re comment will be accessible to tens, even hundreds, of thousands of people. Let everyone know your favorite track(s) from this particular mix. As some of you know, we occasionally pick the author of a comment (usually when they have a keen observation about a particular song) to win a free and legal album download, a vinyl album, gift certificate or card, sometimes even concert and festival tickets.

“Super Soaker” – Wavves from King of the Beach (2010)

“Oceans” – The Format from Dog Problems (2006)

“Wetsuit” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (2011)

“Beach Comber” – Real Estate from Real Estate (2009)

“When The Sun Don’t Shine” – Best Coast from Hope Is Just a Walking Dream (2010)

“Beach Party” – Air France from No Way Down (2008)

“Ocean City” – Kurt Vile from Square Shells (2010)

“Sunburn” – Beat Connection from Surf Noir EP (2010)

“Blue Sunshine” – Blue Giant from Blue Giant (2010)

“Sundriped” – Com Truise from Cyanide Sisters EP (2010)

“Sunshine/Pretty Girls” – Unnatural Helpers from Unnatural Sampler (2010)

“Surf and Turf/Maths Tag” – Mazes from A Thousand Keys (2008)

“Shadows” – Triptides from Tropical Dreams (2011)

“Light and Day – Reach For The Sun” – The Polyphonic Spree from The Beginning Stages (2002)

“Sunny Day” – Film School from Fission (2010)

“At The Beach” – The Avett Brothers from Mignonette (2004)

“Buenos Aires Beach” – The War on Drugs from Barrel of Batteries EP (2008)

“Forget Me Not” – Glass Vaults from Glass EP (2010)

“Summer Hits Or J Plus J Don’t Like” – Mazes from A Thousand Keys (2011)

“Golden Girl” – Therapies Son from Over The Sea (2011)

“RE: Chillwaves” – John Blaze from Introductions EP (2010)

“Waves” – The Elected from Me First (2004)

“The Secret Ocean” – Of Montreal from The Bird Who Continues to Eat the Rabbit’s Flower (1998)

“Blood The Sun And Water” – Born Ruffians from Say It (2010)

“The Sun On His Back” – Camera Obscura from Biggest Blues Hi Fi (2004)

“Sunset Junction” – Work Drugs from Work Drugs (2010)

“Definitely Beachy (Reprise)” – Air Miami from Me Me Me (1995)

“Pictures in the Sand” – The Kinks from Great Lost Kinks Albums (1971)

“Don’t Look Back Into The Sun” – The Libertines from The New Breed (2003)

“Burn The Beach” – Leisure Birds from That Time of the Month (2010)

“Brighton Beach” – Little Brazil from SXSW Sampler (2010)

“Keepin On” – Turbo Fruits from Keepin On 7 (2010)

“On The Beach (Neil Young)” – Radiohead

“Our Scenery” – Gauntlet Hair from I Was Thinking (2010)

“Beach & Friends (Hey Champ Remix) – French Horn Rebellion Vs Database

Best New Releases – Washed Out, Zomby, The Joy Formidable, Eleanor Friedberger, Monarchs, Sons & Daughters, Street Eaters

Posted on 07/13/201110/16/2021 by Max Hammer

You probably know if you saw last week’s Best New Releases, that, at least compared to other weeks this year, the pickings were rather thin, and this week is just about the same. Atlanta musician Ernest Greene, better known in the indie rock/electro-pop/chillwave circles as Washed Out. Greene has risen fast in the past couple of years, especially leading up to, and following his 2010 appearance at South By Southwest music conference/festival, which we remember well after standing outside Emo’s for nearly an hour in the beaming March sun to catch his show that was part of a showcase that included other bands like Memory Tapes and Neon Indian.

“Amor Fati” – Washed Out from Within and Without

In the past year, Washed Out has continued to rise as one of the top ‘chillwave’ artists around, despite the fact that hundreds, thousands, of similar artists have tried to replicate his success with their own take on DIY indie electro-pop bedroom recordings that are heavily synthesized, full of reverb and echoing vocal tracks, dubs, computerized beats to create a lazy, warm and fuzzy (yes, that does sound a bit over-stated, but those are commonly used words to describe his music) summer time evoking tracks. In addition to extensive tours, music festival appearances, collaborations with other artists, Washed Out’s lent one of his most popular tracks, “Feel It All Around,” as the theme song for IFC’s show, Portlandia.

“Feel It All Around” – Washed Out from Life Of Leisure (2009)

Although he has been pumping out tracks for some two years now, Greene only just released his debut album, Within and Without, yesterday on Seattle‘s legendary Sub Pop Records, which is home to some of the best indie artists of the day, and which also has an amazing history of having signed some of the biggest grunge and alternative rock bands of the 1990’s and beyond. Washed Out has great company on Sub Pop, including label mates such as Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, The Vaselines, The Shins, Iron and Wine, Mudhoney and many, many others. Get the album via iTunes by clicking the album title link below.

“Eyes Be Closed” – Washed Out from Within and Without

Washed Out’s debut includes tracks that were released as DIY singles over the past couple of years, including two EPs, and which helped establish him as a serious artist after a few influential bloggers featured his music after ‘discovering’ his home-made tracks on MySpace. Afterall, if Sub Pop signs an artist to their label, it is only because they are immensely talented, unique and promising. After listening to the tracks below, you can learn more about this fascinating artist from our Washed Out archives, as well as Ernest Greene’s profile in Wikipedia. We expect Within and Without to be one of the top debut albums of 2011 – and so far, based on our own spins of the album – it’s looking like it will definitely be on our 2011 Best Debut Albums list come the end of the year (which amazingly is already half over).

Flashback Track: “You’ll See It” – Washed Out from Life Of Leisure (2009)

In addition to Washed Out, we were really impressed by the release from another similar artist, UK dubstep/dance producer Zomby. The lead single from the album, “Things Fall Apart” is one of the most delightfully electro-pop, Panda Bear-sounding tracks we’ve heard so far this summer.

“Things Fall Apart” – Zomby from Dedication

The summer sounds are all over this week’s Best New Releases. In addition to Washed Out and Zomby, we’re also excited by the new solo debut of Eleanor Friedberger, who is best known as the other half of the brother (Matthew Friedberger) and sister duo known as The Fiery Furnaces. Friedberger’s appropriately named album, Last Summer (when it was recorded), according to KEXP‘s blog, “waited on a shelf until the appropriate season returned to compliment the album’s warm glow, yet its relative simplicity, compared to the duo’s sometimes difficult songwriting, harkens back to times much further than that…”

“My Mistakes” – Eleanor Friedberger from Last Summer

There’s an unmistakable string of great female singers among this week’s new releases, from Eleanor Friedberger to Celeste Griffin of the Austin blues folk band, Monarchs. When we heard the track, “Business Casual,” from Monarchs’ new album The Rise and Fall, we couldn’t help but to think of the similarities in her voice to that of Neko Case.

“Business Casual” – Monarchs from The Rise and Fall (self-released)

We are fans of The Joy Formidable, so the fact that they have a new live EP, appropriately titled Roarities, is also definitely worth noting, and one which we’ve already listened to in the cafe. There are a number of strong tracks on there, but our favorite is “The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade.” Also, we’re digging new singles out this week from new albums by Sons & Daughters, Oax, Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs, Street Eaters, Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Bones Howell, and Thomas Dybdahl. Plus, don’t miss the In Dee Mail artists with new releases this week including Fiction 20 Down,

“The Greatest Light Is the Greatest Shade” (Live from London Koko) – The Joy Formidable from Roarities EP (iTunes only)

“Breaking Fun” – Sons & Daughters from Mirror Mirror

“Love and Crashing” – Oax from This Distance

“Alone in This Together” – Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs from Alone In This Together

“Nation Builder” – Street Eaters from Rusty Eyes and Hydrocarbons

“Open Everything“ – Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players from Lost and Found

“Hair of the Dog” – Bones Howell from Hair of the Dog

“B.A. Part” – Thomas Dybdahl from Songs

This Week’s Best New Releases from In Dee Mail

As much as possible, we also like to highlight artists and bands who have new releases out this week, but they are either on no one’s radar, or they usually are flying below the radar for reasons that we never truly understand. Hundreds of artists every month submit their music to IRC, and mostly because of time limitations, we don’t get around to profiling far to many of them, or we have to simply integrate them into other mixes that we publish to the site all of the time. Because we basically have been receiving and profiling bands who send their music to us via the mail for years, it is important to our readers, because, as mentioned above, there are many cases when an artist or band gets their first ‘big’ exposure on an indie music site via IRC.

As some of you know, we usually keep these artists for the In Dee Mail series, but because of the volume of impressive music we receive all of the time, we’ve had to branch out to include the songs we are receiving in other playlists, including Best New Releases. Therefore, you can call this the In Dee Mail section of the Best New Releases since each of the artists and bands featured below sent their music to us unsolicited, and they also have new albums out this week.

Fiction 20 Down is not as ‘new’ or ‘unknown’ as many other artists that submit music to IRC, but they are also not well-known outside of Baltimore. Yet we love their finely polished reggae rock tracks very much, including the new singles, “Do Not Feed The Radio,” and “Say So Long.” The former track is perfect for a summer cookout party. With a sound similar to 311 and Sublime, Fiction 20 Down have opened for artists such as EVE 6, Supervillains, Iration, Ballyhoo, Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, and The Movement.

“Do Not Feed the Radio” – Fiction 20 Down from Do Not Feed The Radio

“Say So Long” – Fiction 20 Down from Do Not Feed The Radio

Fresh Tracks: Beirut’s ‘The Rip Tide’ Album is One of the Most Anticipated of the Summer – and For Good Reason

Posted on 07/11/201112/18/2019 by Max Hammer

beiruttheriptide — Beirut will release their new album, The Rip Tide, on August 30th

One could make a pretty good case for the fact that Beirut are one of the most talented and popular indie bands ever, and deserve their fair share of the credit for helping to popularize indie music to a wider audience over the years. With a solid discography of classic indie albums like The Flying Club Cup, any announcement of a new album by Beirut creates a sustained flurry of expectation, speculation and chatter among literally millions of fans worldwide.

The anticipation building around the upcoming release of the band’s first album in four year’s is palpable. The new album is called Rip Tide, and has been slated for official release in the U.S. on August 30th. After a show recently, we were given an advance copy of the album (see tracklisting below), and listening to it, was the main priority after the show.

Based on the number of times we’ve listened to Rip Tide now (on the fifth or sixth spin right now), we feel strongly that Beirut fans are going to be pleased with the band’s first album in four years. We’ve already listened to it three times. Already, the first single from the album, “East Harlem,” has made the rounds, even taking the No. 2 spot on the third week of June’s Top 10 Songs list. It’s a fantastic song, but, thankfully, it doesn’t end there. Rip Tide is yet another album of wonderfully written and impeccably recorded songs from one of the best indie bands of the past decade.

“East Harlem” – Beirut from The Rip Tide – out August 30th

One of the main things that we like about Beirut is the consistency of their sound and their work – rich, textured, full, creative, clever, engaging, and a pillar of influence to other musicians around the world. And while Beirut does have a recognizable sound – the unmistakable brass and string instrumentation, the distinct, crooning vocals of Zach Condon, the synth orchestrations, fabulous choruses, thrilling climaxes, strong poetic songwriting influenced by a keen world view, and a professionalism that makes the band members, individually, and collectively, admired by fans, critics and fellow artists.

We don’t want to give away too much about the album, but we believe that Beirut fans will be particularly delighted with The Rip Tide. There are some really fantastic songs on here, including “Santa Fe,” “Goshen,” “A Candle’s Fire”, the first single, “East Harlem,” and the title track. As is the case with all of Beirut’s albums, it’s hard to find a song on The Rip Tide that we don’t like, and easy to find songs we enjoy immensely.

“The Rip Tide” – Beirut from The Rip Tide – due out August 30th

One of the things we also like about the album is that there are many songs about places, as the track listing below clearly shows. Beirut has always evoked a deep affinity, and even longing, in their music for places, which any Beirut fan knows to be true. There are a dozen or more Beirut songs from their fantastic discography that have a geographical reference in them, whether it’s in the lyrics, the song title, or both. We share this affinity for songs that are about places – whether it’s a town or city, state or country, or even a lake, river or ocean.

Beirut has the unique gift to create a sense of place, not just in their lyrics, but through their rich, dynamic and world music influenced compositions. Anyone familiar with the band’s music over the past decade can’t miss this central theme in the music and one of the reasons

The other reason we like The Rip Tide is that fact that it presents more terrific songs for our State of Music playlist series – a mixtape series with the names of states or cities in the song titles. It’s one of our favorite mixtapes to put together, so, if you’ve never heard them before, you gotta check them out.

In fact, it’s about time to make a new State of Music mix. Surely, one of the songs from The Rip Tide will be included. In the meantime, listen to State of Music mixtapes, and find out how this mixtape series was partially influenced by Sufjan Stevens. We have hundreds of great, manually selected and organized playlists for this series, and it’s been a while since we’ve put together a new one – so watch out for that, coming soon.

You may remember Beirut’s third album from 2009, which was basically two EPs – March of the Zapotec/ Realpeople Holland. The former was the band’s collaboration with excellent mican artits. recording with a marching band in Mexico, and the other from Condon‘s solo, bedroom project under the moniker, RealPeople (nope, not the 1980s TV show) . On the latter EP, was yet another place name song, the enchanting, “Venice,” via UmStrum.com. And the place name songs list goes on and on.

“Venice” – RealPeople fom Holland EP (2009)

The Rip Tide Track Listing:

1. A Candle’s Fire
2. Santa Fe
3. East Harlem
4. Goshen
5. Payne’s Bay
6. The Rip Tide
7. Vagabond
8. The Peacock
9. Port of Call

Have You Heard Beirut’s New Brazilian Cover Song?

Beirut also has a new cover song out from the compilation Red Hot + RIO 2, that officially dropped this week. For their part, the members of Beirut recorded an unsurprising excellent cover of Caetano Veloso‘s “O Leãozinho.” While we have yet to hear all of volume two of Red Hot + Rio, if it’s anything like the first volume, then we’re looking forward to hearing it – the LP is on our Summer Listening list (that gets longer every day).

“O Leãozinho” (Caetano Veloso) – Beirut from Red Hot + Rio 2 via DayDreamStationMusic blog

S-25 Mix: Fresh Tracks from The Fair Ohs, Wooden Shjips, Mumford & Sons, Pepper Rabbit, Youth Lagoon, Jim Ward, Nurses

Posted on 07/09/201101/11/2022 by Max Hammer

You probably know by now that we do things kind of different here. For example, we rarely ever post just one or two songs and call it a day. Instead, we regularly publish at least five to 10 songs per post, and often many more. Every month – and especially during the past year and a half – we receive hundreds of songs and albums, and discover others during our regular excursions on the web.

Next, we shave down the stacks of new tracks by keeping only the songs we like the most (doesn’t matter who they are from), and ‘letting go’ of the others. The final cut tracks then go into a playlist that we share and listen to again and again before deciding which playlist series they best fit.

As is always the case, the amount of new songs and albums pile up faster than there is time to really listen to, research and write about everyone of them. Therefore, we often opt for creating mixtapes and playlists that have a common theme, whether it’s Best New Releases, Recent Releases We Almost Missed, S-25 Mix, In Dee Mail, Bands to Watch, and many others.

One of our favorite newer mixtape series is Fresh Tracks, which is simply a mix of some of our favorite new songs that we’ve received in the past few weeks from upcoming albums. So, we decided this latest installment of Fresh Tracks would work perfectly with this week’s S-25 Mix

This latest Fresh Tracks is jam-packed with new singles by Wooden Shjips, The Fair Ohs, Dominant Legs, Jim Ward, Argyle Johansen, Pepper Rabbit, Nurses, Peter Wolf Crier, The Mekons, VHS or Beta, Oax, Little Deadman, Scott Miller, Cuckoo Chaos, The Cinema, Fruit Bats and Luke Temple – and many others.

Tell Us What You Think About This Stack of Fresh Tracks

We are really want to hear your feedback about the songs and/or bands in today’s mix, so please use the Comments section. Plus, your comment may be included in another post on the site and will be seen by literally thousands of people every day. We think there are some dope tracks in this mix, and perhaps more than a few that may be getting their first “big” exposure on the indie blogosphere today.

“Baldessari” – The Fair Ohs from Everything Is Dancing – July 26th

“Lazy Bones” – The Wooden Shjips from West – Aug. 23rd

“Hoop of Love” – Dominant Legs from Invitation – Sept. 27th

“Broken Songs” (with Tegan Quin) – Jim Ward from Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins & The Electric Six – Aug. 2nd

“Only We Can Keep You From Harm” – Young Buffalo from Young Von Prettylips – July 18th

“Percocet Blues” – Argyle Johansen from Argyle Johansen and His Inner Demo(n)s – Sept. 6th

“July” – Youth Lagoon from The Year of Hiberation – Sept. 27th

“Alive” – Armand Margjeka from Margo Margo – Aug. 9th

“Escape All Responsibility” – The Chocolate Horse from Beasts – Aug. 16th

“Rosemary Stretch” – Pepper Rabbit from Red Velvet Snow Ball – Aug. 9th

“Before The Bridges” – Future Islands, single release – July 19th

“Fever Dreams” – Nurses from Dracula – Sept. 20th

“Die to Rest” – Prophets & Kings from Prophets & Kings- Aug. 9th

“Another Day” – Echo Lake from Another Day/Breathe Deep 7″ – July 18th

“Right Away” – Peter Wolf Crier from Garden of Arms – Sept. 6th

“Space in Your Face” – The Mekons from Ancient & Modern – Sept. 27th

“I Found a Reason” – VHS or Beta from Diamond & Death – Sept. 27th

“Love and Crashing” – Oax from This Distance – July 12th

“Post Helado Madness” – Little Deadman from Shooting Seagulls EP – July 19th

“Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WVa – A Story of The Real Americana (F.A.Y. version)” – Scott Miller from Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WVa – A Story of The Real Americana – July 12th

“Tangie and Ray” – Fruit Bats from Tripper – Aug. 2nd

“Jesus Flag American Fish” – Cuckoo Chaos from Jesus Flag American Fish 7 – July 26th

“Groove (Scene 1)” – The Lions from Iconoclasts – Sept. 6th

“Ophelia” – Luke Temple from Don’t Act Like You Don’t Care – Aug. 30th

“Home/Untitled” (Live on KBCO) – Mumford & Sons

Artist of the Week – Youth Lagoon: Boise Multi-Instrumentalist, Songwriter and Vocalist Trevor Powers Signs to Fat Possum

Posted on 07/08/201112/18/2019 by Max Hammer

“July” is a fresh track from Youth Lagoon, the Boise-based bedroom pop/one man band project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist Trevor Powers. The new track is featured on a two-song 10″ , The Year of Hiberation, featured on Powers’ Bandcamp page via. “July” was released earlier this week, and appropriately so, considering the relevance of the song title. The B-side of the single, “Cannons,” is also included in today’s Band of the Week feature.

“July” – Youth Lagoon from The Year of Hiberation – Sept. 27th

Literally, as we were preparing this post, we received an email from Powers’ publicist announcing that the 22-year-old artist had officially signed on with indie label Fat Possum , which will release Youth Lagoon’s debut album, The Year of Hiberation, on September 27th.

Powers has been garnering a healthy share of blogger buzz during the past year, accompanied by nearly non-stop touring. The young Idahoian’s songs are dreamy, emotive, melancholy, lo-fi, raw with impressive songwriting that make his music more than just another talented kid in his bedroom composing songs with a few pieces of gear and a MacBook. Youth Lagoon reminds us of another one-man lo-fi band who we profiled in the past – Perfume Genius.

Powers recently said that songwriting was the only way that he could express certain emotions and deal with a persistent anxiety. “For my whole life I’ve dealt with extreme anxiety – not anxiety about passing a test or somewhat normal things, but weird, bizarre things. Things that only I know.”

“Cannons” – Youth Lagoon from The Year of Hiberation – Sept. 27th

“I sometimes feel like I’m literally being eaten up inside. So I started writing these songs. Not just songs about my anxiety, but about my past and my present. Songs about memories, and all those feelings that those bring. I know that if I can be honest about what is inside my mind, there will be others that will be able to relate to it.”

We also just got another advance track today titled “Montana,” from the upcoming debut LP. Right now we only have a SoundCloud version.

“Montana” by Youth Lagoon

Best New Releases – Brian Eno, Memory Tapes, Kaiser Chiefs, Big Spider’s Back, Digitalism, Arc in Round, Circuit Des Yeux

Posted on 07/07/201112/18/2019 by Max Hammer

Slim pickings is about the best way to describe this week of new releases. In fact, this is one of the thinnest weeks for new albums that we’ve seen all year. So far, 2011 has delivered a steady flow of one week after another of terrific new releases from virtually unknown bands to the most popular ‘indie’ and alternative rock artists of the day.

Traditionally, releasing new albums right after a holiday is not a smart strategy because so many people’s attention is divided up between vacationing, catching up with work after the holiday, visiting with friends and family, and so on. So, not surprisingly, the offering of new albums out this week is rather thin compared to most other weeks so far this year.

While there are no “big” or highly-anticipated releases out this week, coming close to that would be the newest LPs from popular artists like Brian Eno, Kaiser Chiefs (who are not ‘indie’ anymore), Memory Tapes, and the Old 97s. In our opinion, the album that we look most forward to listening to from this week is the newest offering from the legendary Brian Eno, whose influence on indie music – especially synth pop and rock – is unmistakable.

“Pour It Out” (taken from Drums Between The Bells) by Brian Eno

“Yes I Know” – Memory Tapes from Player Piano (stream)

“Little Shocks” – Kaiser Chiefs from Future Is Medieval via whenthegramophonerings.com

“Brown Haired Daughter”– Old 97′s from The Grand Theatre Vol. 2

There are also some other new ‘bands on the radar’ this week, most notably the dreamy lo-fi synth sounds of Big Spider’s Back, and the shoegazey electro-pop of Digitalism. Plus, while we generally stopped posting remixes some months (because, as we see it, the remix craze has gotten out of hand; but mostly, because there’s simply too much good original music to focus on already). Nevertheless we make exceptions, such as this remix from Arc in Round of A Sunny Day in Glasgow‘s “II.”

And there is also the new track from the self-titled debut from Gardens & Villas, which sounds more like the title of an elitist magazine then some rock band – so, hate the band name, but the track “Black Hills” is alright. (Hint: Guys, change your name now rather than later; trust us; it’s hard to market and publicize a band name “Gardens & Villas” – hello).

Secret Chiefs” – Big Spider’s Back from Memory Man

“2 Hearts” – Digitalism from I Love You, Dude

“II (A Sunny Day in Glasgow remix)” – Arc In Round from || EP (self-released)

“Black Hills” – Gardens & Villa from Gardens & Villa

If you are a fan of female pop singers, then you may enjoy the singles below from Bright Archer, and a melancholy track from Circuit Des Yeux. And if you like a little bit of indie country/folk from time to time, then check out the new single from The Express.

We also included a track from the new album by The Glorious (via the site ThisBonusTrack.com), but it’s not exactly going to prompt us to buy the album (which you can stream here). We’re including it mainly to see what you guys think of it. While we don’t share the enthusiasm (not even close; we hear far better bands no one has ever heard of all the time) that the writer at TBT does for the Americana folk band’s debut album, we’re pretty sure some of our readers and visitors will appreciate the inclusion.

“Carry Me Home This Way” – The Glorious from Stories from A Fractured Youth

“Hidden Systems” – Bright Archer from Hidden Systems

“3311” – Circuit Des Yeux from Portrait

“Nobody Knows” – The Express from The Express (self-released)

Indie Fourth of July Songs Vol. II – Polock, Wavves, Iron & Wine, Air France, Roman Candle, Akron/Family, The Strokes, The Catholic Comb

Posted on 07/04/201112/18/2019 by Max Hammer

Yesterday, we published Volume One of 50 Fourth of July Songs, a playlist compilation, that features a wide range of artists, genres and time periods.

Each track, in its own way, reflects an aspect of the American identity, touching on themes such as patriotism, freedom, fireworks, summertime, baseball, and others that are fitting for a 4th of July playlist series.

Volume One Includes songs from The Stills,

This is Volume Two of the 50 Fourth of July Songs playlist series. If you want to stream these two playlists for your party, we encourage you to.

Update: July 2 2019 – Some songs are not allowed by the men in black to be published so we had to remove them.

[zbplayer]

“Fireworks” – Polock from Getting Down From The Tree (2010)

“Baseball Cards” – Wavves from King of the Beach (2010)

“Beach Party” – Air France from No Way Down (2008)

“It Always Rains On A Picnic” – Modest Mouse from Sad Sappy Sucker (2001)

“Freedom Hangs Like Heaven” – Iron & Wine from Woman King (2004)

“Games” – The Strokes from Angles (2011)n

“Patriots Of Love” – The Catholic Comb from Sincerely (2007)
Unfortunately, the LP is out of print

“New York This Morning” – Roman Candle from The Wee Hours Revue (2006)

“There’s So Many Colors” – Akron/Family from Love Is Simple (2007)

“All Sparks” – Editors from The Back Room (2007)

“Fried Chicken/Mary, Mary” – The Slackers from Redlight (1997)

“A More Perfect Union” – Titus Andronicus from The Monitor (2010) (removed)

And a couple of oldies:

“American Tune” – Paul Simon from The Essential Paul Simon (2002)

“Song of the Patriot” – Johnny Cash from The Essential (1999)

Songs for Fourth of July Mixtape, Vol. I – The Stills, Pavement, The Shins, Elliott Smith, Tragically Hip, Animal Collective, Ray Charles

Posted on 07/03/201112/18/2019 by Max Hammer

For most Americans, Fourth of July is an important day – it’s the American holiday, and many people look to it as the official kick-off to the summer season (even though summer began on June 22).

So, we set out to first pick keywords that exemplify the Fourth, including fireworks, beach, barbeques, picnics, parties, surfing, baseball, food, parades, the Constitution, freedom, carnivals, flags, and, you get the picture. With those keywords in place, we started searching the vast music collection for fitting songs.

Originally, this post (now being updated on July 3, 2012), was part of the discontinued S-25 Mix series, a Sunday mix in which we pick 25 songs from various artists, genres and time periods to highlight a particular theme, or in some cases, no theme other than that of good music.

And then there are the songs that have “America” in the title, and sometimes just based on that, we think they are a good fit for this mix. Such tracks include “American Pie” (Don McLean), “American Girl” (Tom Petty), “American Music (Violent Femmes) and so on.

[zbplayer] “Fireworks” – The Tragically Hip from Phantom Power (1998)

“New Slang (When You Notice the Stripes)” – The Shins from Oh, Inverted World (2000)

“Lola Stars And Stripes” – The Stills from Logic Will Break Your Heart (2003)

“American Girl” – Tom Petty from The Very Best (2004)

“Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)” – The Decemberists from The Crane Wife (2006)

“American Pie” – Don McLean from American Pie (1971)

“Hands Off the Bayou” – Pavement from Crooked Rain: L.A.’s Desert Origins (2004)

“Louisiana Bayou Drive” – T-Bone Walker from T-Bone’s That Way (1990)

“Independence Day” – Elliott Smith from Tranquility (1998)

“American Music” – Violent Femmes from Add It Up (1993)

“Saturday In The Park” – Chicago from Greatest Hits (2002)

Want more? Check out Volume Two with tracks from Galaxie 500, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Iron and Wine, Wavves, Titus Andronicus, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, Beastie Boys, The Strokes and many others.

“America The Beautiful” – Ray Charles from Ray Charles Greatest Hits (2005)

“Summertime Clothes” – Animal Collective from Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)

“Gold In The Air Of Summer” – Kings Of Convenience from Riot On An Empty Street (2004)

“Summercity” – Wiretree from Bouldin (2007)

“Baseball Cards” – Wavves from King Of The Beach (2011)

“Return To Hot Chicken” – Yo La Tengo from I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)

“American Girls” – The Shivers from Sunset Psalms (2010)

“American Dream” – Love and Rockets from Express (1986)

“American Mourning” – Bikini from RIP JDS EP (2010)

“Sunburn Kids” – Admiral Radley from I Heart California (2010)

“Summer Breeze” (Seals & Croft) – Jason Mraz from Everwood (2008)

Best New Releases – Tribute to Buddy Holly, Black Whales, Beirut, Handsome Furs, Pillars & Tongues, The Night Beats, Quiet Lights

Posted on 06/29/201101/25/2020 by Max Hammer

Our favorite release of the week is not a new album from an artist or band, but instead a tribute album of cover songs titled, Rave On Buddy Holly.

Among the terrific tracks on the Buddy Holly tribute LP are covers of many of his best songs from a diverse range of artists and bands like Paul McCartney (“It’s So Easy”), Modest Mouse (“That’ll Be The Day”), Lou Reed (“Peggy Sue”), Julian Casablancas (“Rave On”), The Black Keys (“Dearest”), Cee Lo Green (“(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care”), She & Him (“Oh Boy”), and many others (see album cover to left).

“Rave On” – Julian Casablancas from Rave On Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly was one of the most influential rock songwriters and performers of all time – a 1950’s cultural icon who died much too young at 22 in a plane crash (as told in the classic song, “American Pie” by Don McLean). But Buddy left the world with a collection of timeless classics that people in every corner of the globe have enjoyed for a half century-plus. If there’s a time capsule somewhere with a playlist of American classic rock, there’s got to be at least one Buddy Holly song on it or it doesn’t representative – plain and simple. You can listen to the stream of the LP via NPR.

“It’s So Easy” – Paul McCartney from Rave On Buddy Holly

NPR music critic Stephen Thompson wrote of the tribute album: “…Rave On Buddy Holly does more than just throw big names against the wall over the course of a generous 19 tracks. It also adds up to an impressively diverse collection of takes on the innocence of another era.”

Seattle band Black Whales tops this week’s Best New Releases, and is officially a Band to Watch, thanks to their totally new DIY release, Shangri-La Indeed. We liked the band from the first time we heard their Origins EP in 2009, but like them even more thanks to their newest album. One of the band’s strengths is the fine fusion of styles like garage rock, psychedelic rock, and jangly indie pop (with tinges of country and rolk).

The lead single, “Lately,” has the elements of a perfecct summer indie hit – with it’s upbeat tempo, reverb vocals, shimmering guitars, thumping bass and solid drumming. In fact, don’t be surprised to see it pop up on one of this year’s Summer Music Mixtapes.

“Lately” – Black Whales from Shangri-La Indeed

The title track of the album really has that rock show classic sound to it. And if you love Wilco, the track “The Wild One” is very much reminiscent of the Chicago band, but with the BW’s own special touch – not a copy or rip-off at all, just that we wouldn’t be surprised if Wilco isn’t in their record collection. But you may also hear some Arctic Monkeys in the BW’s sound, especially on the 8-minute track, “Serpent in the Water.” (Listen to that track, and the others not included here via BW’s Band Camp page).

“Shrangi-La Indeed” – Black Whales from Shangri-La Indeed

And then there are other awesome tracks like “Rattle Your Bones,” a fantastic blues, psychedelic rocker that has that raw feeling that Top 40 radio will never go for – which makes us like the former even more. Black Whales are talented and have a splendid diversity of styles infused into their sound.

When we first heard the Black Whales in 2010, we knew they’d be a band we’d be interested in hearing more from, and we’re really glad to have heard Shangri-La Indeed. If you like uptempo indie rock, we think BWs might just end up on your bands to listen to (again and again) too.

“Rattle Your Bones” – Black Whales from Shangri-La Indeed

Some other BW reviews you might want to read include a recent post in the blog When You Motor Away

With the anticipation building for the August 30th release of Beirut’s newest album, Rip Tide, there’s plenty of buzz on indie blogs and mainstream music sites worldwide.

We actually have a little bit of a surprise regarding the album that will announce in the next few days, so make sure to check back. In the meantime, however, Beirut do have a new cover song out this week on the second volume of Red Hot + Rio, a compilation of various artists performing Latin music, both traditional and modern.

“O Leãozinho” (Caetano Veloso) – Beirut from Red Hot + Rio 2 via DayDreamStationMusic blog

As has been the case for the last couple of months especially, there are many artists and bands with impressive singles out this week that we dig within the new-to-us realm, and who are definitely at the least worth inclusion in this week’s Best New Releases. We don’t expect everyone to agree, but hopefully you’ll hear a couple songs you like and add a few albums to your summer music listening list because of this mix.

For some of the albums below, we’ve listened to more than one track, usually on an embed song, or via album streams, usually from Spinner, but for the most part, many of them we are just going on the singles. We’ve also included those stream where applicable.

One of the first new-to-us artists that caught our attention was Chucha Santamaria Y Usted, who dropped their self-titled debut on Tuesday, with the lead track below, “Fiebre Tropical.” We have also taken note of followed by DMA‘s industrial/electronica track, “Riding Holiday,” from their new album, in addition to Shabazz Palaces.

“Fiebre Tropical” – Chucha Santamaria Y Usted from Chucha Santamaria Y Usted

“Riding Holiday” – DMA from Drem Reb

“I nfinitum” – Shabazz Palaces from Black Up

Also, there were a fair, but lesser, number of artist and bands that we are familiar with that released new albums this week, including Montreal indie pop band Handsome Furs, who released their third album this week since signing to Subpop in 2006. This is the lead single “Repatriated.” The sound is definitely heavy on electronica and new wave synths and dance beats.

“Repatriated”– Handsome Furs from Sound Kapitol

On the other side of that perspective is the indie band King Louie’s Missing Monuments, who definitely have potential, but they could use someone to help them better hone their sound, and add a bit better mixing for their tracks to bring out the instruments more and work on the vocals and choruses. We’d love for a great producer to mentor KLMM, because there is talent there – it’s the execution that needs the work.

“The Girl of the Nite” – King Louie’s Missing Monuments from Painted White

“We’ll Never Work In This Town Again” – Paul Dempsey from Everything Is True

“Crushing“ – Blithe Field from Two Hearted

“The Making Graceful” – Pillars & Tongues from The Pass and Crossings

“Hermit Crab” – The Island of Misfit Toys from Bear Hair

“Ain’t Dumbo” – The Night Beats from The Night Beats

“Simple Mechanics” – Quiet Lights from The Big Fear EP

“The Woods” – Small Sur from Tones (self-released)

“Tunguska” – Wax Museums from Eye Times

Other Releases We Don’t Necessarily Endorse

We include this section because some listeners may enjoy these songs more than we do. We don’t think they’re terrible, just not preferred songs, in our opinion (certainly don’t expect everyone to like our ‘tastes’ in music, if you will. LOL) Anyways, we’ll watch the number of plays and downloads to see which we were wrong about.

“Same Mistakes” – The Echo-Friendly from Same Mistakes

“Like a Coat” – Efren from Rise On Up And Melt

“Quantum Leap” – John Maus from We Must Become The Pitiless Censors Of Ourselves

“Why Did We Have To Part” – Marianne Faithful from Horses and High Heels

“I Forgot the Fall” – The Fruit Tree Foundation from First Edition

“Queen of the Minor Key” – Eilen Jewell from Queen of the Minor Key

Note: For those of you who enjoy our Best New Releases because you could click on album titles and buy them right away from Amazon, we’re sorry to inform you that Amazon has ceased allowing sites in California to sell their music because of a new law in the state that will place a sales tax on Internet sales. After being big Amazon fans for years, this feels like a stab in the back, and the reasoning they gave for this decision falls a bit short of the over-ridding responsibility to allow publishers easy access to sell albums online through Amazon.

June 28

America – Back Pages
BoDeans – Indigo Dreams
Dave Stewart – The Blackbird Diaries
David Cook – This Loud Morning
Eilen Jewell – Queen of the Minor Key
Jill Scott – The Light of the Sun
Jolie Holland – Pint of Blood
Marianne Faithful – Horses and High Heels (U.S.)
Mighty Clouds – Mighty Clouds
Various – Rave On Buddy Holly
Various – Red Hot and Rio 2

Songs for Summer 2011, Vol. I – Blackbird Blackbird, Brian Wilson, AM Syndicate, Apples in Stereo, Kinks, Beach Fossils

Posted on 06/27/201101/25/2020 by Max Hammer

Summer hit parts of the country from the west to the east early this year. In fact, we are reminded of how many people have said recently that it seems to get hotter earlier each year. And the scientific facts support these observations. But who really cares any more? When the economy was humming along in the late 1990’s, and the first half of the last decade, Al Gore and his slide shows on global warming were hot items. But nowadays, with a world economy still flirting with disaster and an uncertain future, concern over global warming has cooled down considerably.

That said, if we’re all going to burn up, we might as well do it listening to some hot ( and rarely heard) songs about summer. Over the past few years, we have put together and published dozens of the most accessed and popular summer songs playlist mixes on the web, featuring hundreds of great tracks that you can stream all day long, download and Tweet, Share, Digg, Stumble and blog so that even more people can enjoy these playlists.

Another summer has arrived in a few blinks of an eye, and that means it’s time to post even more mixes of summer-themed, even ‘summer-sounding,’ songs to share with the world. We will reveal later in the week which of the songs in this mix were listened to, and downloaded, the most.

“Sunspray” – Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart (2010)

“Trampolines” – Yourself and The Air from Who’s Who In The Zoo (2011)

“Summer Of Love” – The Fresh & Onlys from Play It Strange (2010)

“Clinton Eastwood” – Gorillaz

“Summer Girl” – White Wires from WWII (2010)

“Celebrate Summer” – T. Rex from Greatest Hits (1986)

“Sunshine” – Brian Wilson from Imagination (1998)

“The Rainbow” – The Apples In Stereo from The Discovery Of A World Inside The Moone (2000)

“All The People Under The Sun” – AM Syndicate from Liberation (2007)

“The Other Summer” – MiniBoone from MiniBoone (2011)

“Rainbow, Puddle, Children” – American Green from Roof To Roof EP (2009)

“Lazy Day” – Beach Fossils from Beach Fossils (2010)

“Coppertone” – Hellogoodbye from Would It Kill You (2010)

“Golden Girl” – Therapies Son from Over The Sea (2011)

“All Summer” – Kid Cudi, Best Coast and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend (2011)

“Summer Showers” – Brown Recluse Evening from Tapestry (2011)

“Sink or Swim” – John LaMonica from Lujo 2011 Sampler (2011)

“Rainy Day In June” – The Kinks from Face To Face (1966)

“Summer Hits Or J Plus J Don’t Like” – Mazes from A Thousand Heys (2011)

“It Always Rains On A Picnic” – Modest Mouse from Sad Sappy Sucker (2001)

“Sunshine Baby” – Reamonn from Beautiful Sky (2003)

“Vacation Vacation” – U.S. Royalty from Mirrors (2011)

“Dream Home” – Unouomedude from Marsh (2010)

“Touched By A Cloud” – Alberto Arcangeli from Dreamsongs (2009)

“English Summer Rain” – Placebo from Once More With Feeling (2004)

“Swimming” – The Smiles from Hermosa (2010)

“Sunshine Delay” – Barcelona from Simon Basic (1999)