Best new indie rock songs, indie news, best bands, reviews
Author: Max Hammer
Discovering and sharing the best DIY/alt/indie/underground music you've never heard. I've been writing about music and other topics since the mid-1990s. We are also music industry professionals - PR; promotion; management; branding; etc.
Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood handing out The Universal Sigh outside of London’s Rough Trade record store on Monday. Photo courtesy of AtEaseWeb.com.
There was a bit of a debate about how much to play up Radiohead‘s newspaper – The Universal Sigh – release, since we’ve covered The King of Limbs quite extensively. One argument is that there are so many sweet new releases this week that publishing a post of Radiohead’s newspaper release unfairly overshadows the significant new albums out this week (Best New Releases for this week will be posted later tonight). But on the other hand, there’s the more weighty argument that you can’t possibly overplay a Radiohead milestone.
Once again, Radiohead push the envelope to show the rest of the music world what is possible if you just let your imagination wander a bit, pay attention to your fans, and embrace the technology of the day, whilst at the same time paying tribute to the older media that thrived before the age of the Internet. Thom Yorke and the band are marketing and promotion geniuses, and the sooner the larger record industry salutes their mastery marketing savvy, the better off they’ll be, and, so will music lovers. People want you to mix it up, record people, and be reasonable at the same time – surprise us, don’t jive us.
If you were not able to grab a physical copy of Radiohead’s newspaper at one of the 70-something vendors worldwide, don’t sweat it. You can view it on your computer, by clicking on the image below – requires Flash plugin to view. Plus, you can stream The King of Limbs in case you haven’t already heard it. You can download The Universal Sigh PDF here. Also, check out the details of the upcoming release of the special vinyl bundle of The King of Limbs.
The S-25 Mix is short for The Sunday 25 Songs Mix, where we put together a mix of 25 tracks (sometimes more) we love from all genres and time periods of music. Over the past two weeks, we put out the Songs About Cars mixes, many of which were recommended by our readers.
But this Sunday, we’re putting out a mix that only includes indie songs from artists and bands that we never – and perhaps many of you never – heard before.
At South By Southwest earlier this month, there were hundreds of bands – easily – that we’d never heard of before. But thanks to friends, a whole bunch of free SXSW samplers, and the official SXSW site, we heard for the first time more than a couple of hundred artists performing at SXSW 2011 that we’d never heard before, otherwise known as “New To Us,” which is a familiar theme mix that we haven’t done a mix for in quite some time.
Beause SXSW is still somewhat fresh, we wanted to share some of the 200-plus bands that are new to us. Hopefully, most of you will dig even few of these bands for the first time – making it all that much more worth it. Additionally, some of these bands will be featured in upcoming Bands to Watch in 2011 features, and part of what determines which those will be depends on which songs you guys listen to and download the most from today’s mix.
For next Sunday’s mix, we’re going to continue with the Songs About Colors mix series. A few weeks ago, we put a “Red Songs” mix, in case you missed it. Any suggestions for “blue” songs? We already have a mix of about 200 songs that we need to drastically par down, but we’re also taking suggestions too. Remember, it does not have to be confined to indie music, even though today’s mix is, as an exception, and since it’s timely with the connection to SXSW.
Formed abruptly among friends in Vancouver in 2010, Dizzy Eyes were on an earlier roll, being signed to Hardly Art Records, when one of their band member’s citizen application was denied. While they’re currently on hold, Dizzy Eyes put out a 7″ that included three tracks, including this one, which is ironically titled, “Let’s Break Up The Band.”
Lo-fi, garage pop is the hallmark of Brunswick, Australia band, Twerps, who’s band name doesn’t match their decidedly rock sound. In the past year, they’ve opened for bands like Deerhunter, Yo La Tengo, and Thee Oh Sees. Keep your ears out for their debut LP coming soon.
“Black Eyes” – Twerps from Black Eyes single Double-shot: “Bullies” – Twerps from The Ancient split single 7″
Everyone Everywhere is a Philadelphia indie rock band which has been turning heads wherever they show up in the past year and a half. Last May, the band released their debut, self-titled album, and are now working on the follow-up LP.
“Tiny Boat” – Everyone Everywhere from Everyone Everywhere (2010)
“Wanderingfoot” – Everyone Everywhere from Everyone Everywhere (2010)
From Los Angeles, the indie rock trio, Foster The People, owe their recent recognition to The Hype Machine and their performances at SXSW. The addictive track, “Pumped Up Kids” made the Australia pop charts in 2010. Their LP, Torches, will be released on May 24th, from which the advanced single, “Helena Beat” is taken from.
“Helena Beat” – Foster The People from Torches – out May 24th Double-shot:“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster The People fromFoster The People EP (2010)
From Mexico City, indie rock band Chikita Violenta made quite a splash at SXSW, thanks to their alternative rock sound that takes its influences from bands like Built to Spill, Sonic Youth and Pavement. In 2007, the band reached out to well-known producer Dave Newfield (Apostle of Hustle, Broken Social Scene, Super Furry Animals and Los Campesinos!) to record their second album is The Stars and Suns Sessions. They also worked with Newfield on their recently released 2011 album, Tre3s, which you may have heard about in one of our recent posts for Best New Releases series. We love this band, and hope you do too.
From the Reims, France, the band The Bewitched Hands love lo-fi pop anthem-prone tracks, such as on the track, “Work,” from the band’s newest LP, Birds and Drums.
One of the buzz bands at SXSW was JEFF The Brotherhood, and for good reason. Their “kraut punk” mixed with “psychedelic grunge” and “noise pop” is alluring, catchy and provocative. The brothers from Nashville – on guitar and drums – have been touring the U.S. since 2006, bringing their unique blend of styles to venues across the States, and opening for bands like Sonic Youth, Jay Reatard and Battles.
Right out of the gates, Santa Cruz, California indie pop musician, Ash Reiter, got our attention, and not just because she lives right down the road from here. When we first heard the track “Paper Diamonds” on a SXSW sampler, we love her yearning and imperfect vocals, not to mention a penchant for a really catchy tune. On her tour across the U.S. and around Canadian, she recruited talented musicians from town to town to accompany her onstage. She plans to go into the studio again soon with a group called The Power of Positive Thinking.
We like the track, “The Other Summer” from New York band MiniBoone, a lot, and will be looking forward to hearing more of their music in the near future. The floating, melodic track “Trampolines” found its way into our hearts for its lush beauty and syrupy snyth keys and shimmering guitar work that puts Yourself and The Air on our radar.
“Trampolines” – Yourself and The Air from Who’s Who in the Zoo
We have become recent following of the roster of Dirtnap Records. The label has an excellent knack for picking raw talented punk and garage rock bands who can belt out asphalt tearing two to three minute lo-fi gems. Some of our favorites include River City Tanlines, Mean Jeans, White Wires, High Tension Wires, The Steve Adamyk Band. In fact, you can check out more tracks from Dirtnap bands in one of our Recommended SXSW Showcases post a couple of weeks ago during SXSW. Definitely digging these bands – and they’re all ‘new to us.’
“Black Knight” – River City Tanlines from All 7 Inches Plus 2 More (2005)
The White Wires, an Ottawa band, and Dirtnap recording artist, have quickly become a favorite city-wide garage pop trio over the past couple of years. The track featured here is from their sophomore LP, WWII, released last summer. They’re now in the process of recording WWIII, slated for release this summer.
We love the dance beat synth infused indie pop delivery of WIN WIN‘s “Releaserpm” (whatever that means). The track sounds a bit like a Bjork tune if she did a bright and shinny dub-step single. The song’s overall warm effect could not have been accomplished without the vocal contribution of Gang Gang Dance band member Lizzie Bougatsos.
The quirky, but engaging Boston band Hands and Knees would have to be one of our top ten favorites of new-to-us bands that we’ve heard for the first time over the past month. Plus, songs from The Torches, Mrenc, Karkwa and The Boat People.
Our new tracks in-box has been filling up fast lately. In fact, it’s overflowing. So, here’s another big mix featuring fresh tracks from a range of artists and bands, including Thom Yorke with Burial and Four Tet, Thurston Moore, Cults, Surfer Blood, A Lull, Zachary Cale, Wild Beasts, Teenage Atari Riot, Man/Miracle, and others. And, there’s a whole bunch more to come in next few weeks. As some of you probably know, we don’t do one-song posts. The reason is that there is so much music that we want to share with you.
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke recently joined Four Tet and Burial to record two electronic house/dubstep tracks – “Ego” and “Mirror.” The tracks have been receiving a good amount of buzz in the past week, and we’re stoked to be able to bring them to you for your listening pleasure.
You can also purchase a copy of the vinyl 12″ via Four Tet’s label, Text Records. On Feb. 9th, Yorke performed a solo DJ set at Los Angeles club Low End Theory. The video below is a slice of the evening’s events.
Since their 2008 break out EP and debut, self-titled album, Seattle based Fleet Foxes have become one of the most influential bands in the indie folk movement. The band likes to call their wonderful style of acoustic music and precious vocal harmonies, “”baroque harmonic pop jams.” Not sure about the jam part of that, but no doubt Fleet Foxes etched their success beyond the indie scene and into the popular culture.
Since 2008, fans have been waiting patiently for new material. As a result, there has been a long wait of anticipation for their sophomore album, Helplessness Blues, set for release on May 3rd. Not surprisingly, the album has already leaked, but we’re going to wait until the vinyl edition to come out because Fleet Foxes are definitely a band to be listened to on vinyl, thanks to their melodic mastery, mid-song tempo changes and intricate chord progressions. That said, we have found two tracks from Helplessness Blues that we’d like to present as a way to let their fans know that they will not be disappointed.
“The Plains/Bitter Dancer” – Fleet Foxes from Helplessness Blues – out May 3rd
“Grown Ocean” – Fleet Foxes from Helplessness Blues – out May 3rd
You can pre-orderHelplessness Blues via Amazon for either CD or vinyl. There is no MP3 pre-order that we know of available at the time this post was published. On Record Store Day (April 16th), the band will release a limited edition 12″ vinyl of the single, “Helplessness Blues” with a B-side of “Grown Ocean.” Not surprisingly, almost all of Fleet Foxes’ scheduled shows for May have been sold out.
New Singles from Thurston Moore and Cults
Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore continues to reaffirm why he is one of alternative rock’s most prolific and influential figures. Matador Records sent us a new single from Moore to spread around. Gladly. The song, “Benediction,” demonstrates, even more, Moore’s talent and ability to write and record stellar music. The song is mainly acoustic, and just really, well, superb. It is the first single from Moore’s upcoming Beck-produced, solo album, Demolished Thoughts, out May 24th. It is definitely one of our most anticipated albums of the spring.
“Benediction” – Thurston Moore from Demolished Thoughts – out May 24th
Cults, one of our break-out bands of 2010, have just dropped a new track, “You Know What I Mean.” The advanced single will appear on Cults debut album, due out in May.
We’re a bit surprised that this unreleased track from Surfer Blood, “I’m Not Ready,” hasn’t appeared on more music sites or blogs. In fact, we talked to a few folks who love the band who were not aware of the track. The track is not on the band’s spectacular 2010 debut album, Astro Coast. “I’m Not Ready” is an upbeat, catchy song that definitely has post-punk and pop elements. While the song is not exactly a fresh track – they performed it at shows all during 2010 – it will be new enough to most people to seem like a fresh track. Also, “Weapons of War” is the excellent advance single from the upcoming A Lull LP of the same name. Plus, check out these fresh tracks from Skull Tape and Little Scream.
“Weapons of War” – A Lull from Weapons for War single (with remixes) – out April 19th
“Cannons” – Little Scream fromThe Golden Record – our April 12th
“Trans Anthro” – Skull Tape from The Invisible Hand and The Descent of Main – out April 12th
Brooklyn’s Zachary Cale Preps New LP and Introducing Les Blanks
Zachary Cale is a Brooklyn singer/songwriter and musician (who isn’t in Brooklyn?) who has made a name for himself in recent years thanks to his remarkable blues folk sound; “Hello Oblivion” is the first single from his upcoming new album due out in May.
“Hello Oblivion” – Zachary Cale from Welcome to Noise – May 15th
“Straw Man” is a new track of some good ole garage rock from an artist we never heard of before, Les Blanks. We’re going to resist jokes about his name, but let you know when we get around to hearing more of Blanks’ music. The track, “Straw Man,” is from the album In Country, set to drop on May 3rd.
“Straw Man” – Les Blanks from In Country – out May 3rd
Wild Beasts, Teenage Atari Riot and Man/Miracle
Following on the success of their critically acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated second album Two Dancers, the band Wild Beasts are preparing to unveil the next chapter in their career with the release of their new album, Smother on May 10th. The band have released the first single from the album, “Albatross,” a track washed with sonic layers and textures of abstract sounds combined to form something typically bold and unique.
“Albatross” – Wild Beasts from Smother – out May 10th
Teenage Atari Riot sent over this new single, “Blood In My Eyes” as a teaser for the band’s forthcoming album, Is This Hyperreal?, set to be released this summer. The track is a riveting electronic punk rock diatribe, paying homage to the feminine retributive subtexts espoused by cult films like Kill Bill and heavily censored French art-house film Baise-Moi.
“Blood In My Eyes” – Teenage Atari Riot from Is This Hyperreal?
Oakland indie rockers Man/Miracle have a fresh new track – a busy, pop masterpiece, “Don’t Waste It.” It’s a great follow-up to their 2010 blog hit, “Hot Sprawl,” off their debut The Shape of Things.
File Under: Great Albums with Crappy Album Covers. Tell us others in Comments please.
This is definitely The Strokes’ week, and they deserve it. With the release of their first album in four years, the general conscience of Angles is a thumbs up.
But first, let’s look at the dynamics of the past month.
In the world of rock music, the past four weeks have been golden. It started of course with the release of a new album by one of the greatest rock and roll bands ever, and plenty believe they are the best ever, or nothing less than second to The Beatles. On February 18th, Radiohead quietly released The King of Limbs, the band’s latest masterpiece in a long string of classic, game-changing albums dating back to 1995’s The Bends. That album changed rock music forever, and in a number of ways, so did the band’s 2007 release of the brilliant In Rainbows, which went even further by snubbing the out-dated album distribution model that the big record labels still cling to by distributing In Rainbows themselves, and for a while, at a name-your-price offer. With the fresh release of The King of Limbs, Radiohead has upped the ante for every other band, once again. Radiohead not only keep bringing it, they are it. Keep in mind that we’re on like our 20th full spin of ‘Limbs.’
While the initial buzz of The King of Limbs was still fresh, another legendary rock band from the other side of the Atlantic, Athens, Georgia’s R.E.M., released their newest album, Collapse Into Now. For some rock fans, R.E.M. seemed like their best days were behind them. And yet that contention was blasted into oblivion as the raves for Collapse Into Now spread like rapid fire in the music press, and among die-hard fans who never gave up hope. Not only did R.E.M. deliver their best album in years, they returned to their roots to do it, and the results are nothing short of remarkable. Collapse Into Now is one fantastic song after another – and there’s not a filler track to be found anywhere on the entire album. All we can say, is thank you R.E.M. and welcome home.
But this is the week of The Strokes official release of their much anticipated new album, Angles. The album is overall a true Strokes record, even if Julian Casablancas apparently didn’t really collaborate with the band, as the rumors have supposed. The most die-hard fans can probably tell if this is true by listening to the album; we can’t. So, it might be best to just let the music speak for itself, since it does that wonderfully from start to finish.
“Taken For A Fool” – The Strokes from Angles
“Machu Picchu”– The Strokes from Angles
“Under Cover of Darkness” – The Strokes from Angles
Acid House Kings are a Swedish indie pop band on the Labrador Records label
Aside from the joy of finally being able to get our hands on the actual Strokes’ CD and vinyl, we also got a hold of another anticipated album, the new LP from Sweden’s Acid House Kings. In fact, AHK are amongst one of the top Swedish pop bands on the appropriately Swedish indie label, Labrador Records. The Stockholm-based label, which obviously has a knack for signing excellent pop bands, is also home to bands like Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Club 8, The Radio Dept., and The Legends.
Although the Acid House Kings’ name could understandably suggest some kind of psychedelic trip-hop outfit, that couldn’t be further from the truth. AHK’s music is 100% pop perfection, and obviously take their admiration for upbeat, well-crafted music seriously, which is apparent all over Music Sounds Better With You. “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” is the first official single from the album. Can you imagine how many times that question has been asked over the centuries of human civilization? It has to be at least millions.
“Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?” – Acid House Kings from Music Sounds Better with You
There is definitely a formula to their songs – upbeat, melodic percussion, airy, shimmering guitars, bouncy, bright keyboard and piano, and the textured, airy male and female vocals. Of course a formula for song writing and recording does run the risk of being criticized as predictable and playing it safe, so to speak. And while that is true to some extent, if you dig “happy shiny” (thanks Mr. Stipe) pop music, Acid House Kings brings it, and oozes it.
As far as stand-out tracks on the album, it’s pretty much a situation of ‘take your pick’ – always, depending on the listener, a good sign. There are so many good songs, and different people will have different favorites, so we’d say songs like “I Just Called To Say Jag Älskar Dig”, “(I’m In) A Chorus Line,” “Under Water,” and “There Is Something Beautiful.”
Attention Indie Music Radars: Watch Flight Path of Seattle Band Boat
Another release that we have been waiting for is the new album from lo-fi indie Seattle band Boat. After the band’s widely-praised 2009 album, Setting The Paces, the pressure was on to at the least match the brilliance of that album. Based on just a few spins, we are happy to say that Dress Like Your Idols is just as good – maybe better – than Paces. In 2006, Sean Tollefson of Tullycraft saw Boat play a show and sent a copy of the first, and unreleased, record, Comic Book Rock to the folks at Magic Marker. The execs there liked it so much that they signed the band and quickly released it debut LP, Songs That You Might Not Like, in July 2006. Nowadays, Boat has been on a rise and made its mark on the lo-fi indie scene, especially in Seattle and the Northwest. Chances are, given the right amount of promotion, that Dress Like Your Idols could be the band’s break-out LP. In that case, we are including the first single from the LP, plus another one of our own favorites from the new album.
Also, you might want to listen to the new single from the band, Belong; definitely has an ’80s new wave mixed with shoegaze feel to it. Swedish psychedelic rockers’ The Soundtrack of Our Lives, follow-up their appearance at SXSW last week with a remastered albums of their greatest hits. This is definitely an album that fans of TSOOL want to have in their record collection – the tracks sound so much better remastered.
“Forever in Armitron” – Boat from Dress Like Your Idols
“Perfect Life” – Belong from Common Era
“Karmageddon” – The Soundtrack of Our Lives from Golden Greats No. 1 Golden Greats No. 1 is also available in CD (deluxe version) and vinyl
Voxhaul Broadcast – Timing Is Everything
Last October, we featured the band Voxhual Broadcast in one of our In Dee Mail featured playlist mixes. Not surprisingly to us, IRC readers responded very positively. The song that we featured, “Leaving on the 5th” was an advanced single from their new, self-released DIY album, Timing is Everything, officially out this week.
“Leaving on the 5th” – Voxhaul Broadcast from Timing is Everything (self-released)
Edwyn Collins was the founder of the 1980’s Scottish band, Orange Juice, before he went on to a successful solo career in the 1990’s, when his 1994 single (and one of our top “cool songs” of all time), “A Girl Like You,” became a huge hit in the U.K. and U.S. It was also featured in films like Empire Records, Charlie’s Angel and The Secretary. This week, Collins released his first album in the U.S. since suffering a double brain hemorrhage in 2005. While the new album, Losing Sleep, was originally released in the U.K. last year, it has finally dropped in the U.S. Here’s the title track.
“Losing Sleep” – Edwyn Collins from Losing Sleep
Musician Algodon Egipico Does ‘Chillwave’ Venezuelan Style
Totally new to us, is the Lefse recording artist, and Venezuelan musician, Algodon Egipico. Taking hold of the popularity of the ‘chillwave’ sound – complete with lo-fi keyboards and guitar, reverb love, and empty auditorium-sounding vocals – Algodon Egipico gives the popular sub-genre of indie music a new name to consider thanks to the sweet lead single “El Dia Previo,” off Egipico’s debut solo album, La Lucha Constante. He is also a member of the band Jóvenes y Sexys. We’ve also included another song from the album, and a cover of a Male Bonding track.
“El Dia Previo” – Algodon Egipcio from La Lucha Constante
“Weird Feelings” (Male Bonding) – Algodon Egipico, unreleased single (2010)
The Lonely Forest Release New Album, Arrows
It doesn’t seem that long ago, but we first featured the band The Lonely Forest in 2008 after the band sent us some of their tracks. We were surprised at the time to find very few mentions of the band online, and knew that it would only be a matter of time before they ‘broke out’ in their own way. And since 2008, The Lonely Forest has broken out. The band members were even thoughtful enough to thank us for all the interest our profile of them generated. This week they dropped their newest album, Arrows, via Trans Records. Although we have yet to hear the LP, the lead track, “Coyote” is a goo place to start. We’ll definitely let you know about other sweet tracks on the album when we get around to listening to it.
”Coyote”– The Lonely Forest from Arrows
New Wave Trailblazers Duran Duran in 1984
Dangerous Ponies, Duran Duran, Micachu and the Shapes, Parenthetical Girls
This is the first time we’ve heard of the group, Dangerous Ponies, and we think they sound promising, but it’s hard to base that off of one song. So, at some point, we’ll listen to the rest of the album, and if there are gems on there, we’ll be sure to let you know either in a follow-up post, or via our Twitter or Facebook page. The ’80s new wave sensation, Duran Duran, return to the game with their 14th studio album, All You Need Is Now. Although they seemed to fade into the background after an initial break-through in 2009, the British outfit, Micachu and the Shapes, released their sophomore LP, Chopped & Screwed, this week in the U.S. And, Parenthetical Girls‘ new album Privilege, Pt. 3, is out now, fronted by the dark, swaggering single, “The Pornographer.”
“I Only Wear My Favorite Clothes at Home” – Dangerous Ponies from Dangerous Ponies
Other Singles from This Week’s Releases You Might Like
We include this section for readers and visitors who may like to hear other singles from new releases that we don’t necessarily consider adding to our music collection. Ed Askew is a folk singer/songwriter who released his new album, Imperfiction this week, followed by the “new age” piano instrumental from Baby Dee, which doesn’t sound at all like the same of a pianist, but instead a hip hop artist. Next, musician Bing Ji Ling delivers some R&B and funk, complete with sound effects, on the track, “Everybody”; another folk singer and songwriter, Gary Higgins, has a new album out via Drag City – check out the melancholy, and ironic, lead single, “Laugh A Little”; Leverage Models does a bit of a Bowie mixed with Prince sound, just not sure we like it – what do you think?
“Deep Water” – Ed Askew from Imperfiction
“Yapapipi” – Baby Dee from Regifted Light
“Everybody” – Bing Ji Ling from Shadow to Shine
“Laugh A Little” – Gary Higgins from A Dream a While Back
“Tonight When I Burn” – Leverage Models from Interim Deliverable
Radiohead Release Details of The King of Limbs Physical Release
While there have been plenty of reviews written in the past few weeks about Radiohead’s eighth studio album in 18 years, every Radiohead fan spanning the continents of earth knows you just can’t listen to a Radiohead album a few times and write a realistic review. Like the finest bottles of aging wine, Radiohead albums get better with time – how they sounded, and what they meant to the listener one year, will eventually evolve and reveal another level of exquisiteness and majesty in another year.
The band are calling the upcoming physical release “the world’s ‘first’ Newspaper Album.” Unless you ordered early (before Feb. 21st), all orders placed in the next couple of months will be shipped on June 1st from the U.K. However, all orders for this special edition of The King of Limbs will receive an immediate download code for the included digital version of the album. There are two choices for the whole package outlined below – MP3 ($48 U.S. Dollars) and WAV ($53). Would be great if they made a FLAC download available too.
When you purchase the ‘Newspaper Album’ here are the goodies you will get:
– Two clear 10″ vinyl records in a purpose-built record sleeve.
– A compact disc.
– Many large sheets of artwork, 625 tiny pieces of artwork and a full-colour piece of oxo-degradeable plastic to hold it all together.
– The digital download as described above.
– One lucky owner of the digital version of The King Of Limbs, purchased from this website, will receive a signed 2-track 12″ vinyl. Competition closing date is March 28th.
LA's art rock band, Grouplove, will be featured in an upcoming Bands to Watch post.By all accounts, Austin‘s spectacular South By Southwest 2011, was a huge success. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year, SXSW is an annual mecca for indie and alternative bands, artists, fans, promoters, publicists, record label executives, press and bloggers from around the world.
“Colours” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP
Whether or not you were at SXSW 2011, you may have noticed that we have been posting extensive playlist mixes featuring more than 200 great songs from artists and bands who performed at SXSW during the past week. Some of the bands we highlighted were “indie” favorites of ours, and many others, and a good number were bands that were “new to us.” In fact, stay tuned, next week we’re going to start a new playlist mix called ‘New To Us: Great Songs from Bands We Hadn’t Heard Before.’ Chances are that if you download all of the free samplers and MP3 mixes outlined below, you’re bound to come across some fine bands and artists that are new to you.
We pretty much learned of most of our recent new-to-us artists by listening to pre-SXSW playlists from a variety of websites and sources, plus about 10 free SXSW 2011 samplers that we’ve collected and organized here for you to pick and choose which you’re most interested in. For some of the Amazon free samplers, you’ll need to sign up for a free Amazon account if you don’t already have one; but it’s well worth the two minutes it takes for oodles of music from talented artists and bands.
Free SXSW 2011 MP3 Samplers
Blockbuster sampler from Spinner features more than 200 MP3 singles from bands appearing at 2011 SXSW. Comes in four zip files; likely not to be available for long.
Free Official SXSW 2011 iTunes Sampler: Featuring 21 free tracks from Bright Eyes, Brother, The Civil Wars, Foster The People, Glasser, Lucinda Williams, The Vaccines, Toro Y Moi and more.
Download a free 29-track sampler from Tunecore, Experience Austinfeaturing Bareface, Carnivores, Art of Shooting, Sun Hote, Scattered Trees, Dead Models, Thieving Irons, among others.
SXSW 2011 Live Sampler via iTunes: That was fast. Download for free dozens and dozens of live MP3s of performances at last week’s SXSW featuring bands like Beach Fossils, Dom, Neon Tree, Glasser, The Civil Wars and many others.
The NPRteam going to SXSW put the “Austin 100,” their must-see artists for SXSW 2011, and included 43 MP3 links from Yuck, Great Lake Swimmers, Damien Jurado, The Dodos and more.
– Austin Town Hall Sampler SXSW 2011: Featuring 27 Free MP3s from artists like Beach Fossils, Blair, Chikita Violenta, Cloud Nothings, Everyone Everywhere, MiniBoone and others.
Better Propaganda Sampler for SXSW 2011: Listen and download approximately 50 free tracks with artists ranging from A Classic Education to The Black Angels and Wye Oak to Portugal. The Man, to name just a few.
Emusic SXSW 2011 Sampler: Download a free six-track sampler with songs from Obits, Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Ty Seagull and more.
– Bloodshot Records SXSW 2011 Sampler: Featuring 8 free tracks from Eddie Spaghetti, Ha Ha Tonka, The Silos, Ben Weaver and The Waco Brothers and others.
Raw, lo-fi ’60’s rock sound has made The Strange Boys a Band to Watch – Tunecore’s Experience Austin SXSW 2011 Sampler: Download 29 free songs from bands like The Strange Boys, Bright Eyes, Natural Child, The Dodos, and many others.
– Dirtnap Records SXSW Sampler: Featuring 10 free MP3s White Wires, Mind Spiders and High Tension Wires.
– Don’t Mess With Texas SXSW 2011 Sampler: Featuring The Black Angels, Charles Bradley, The Generationals, Braids, Say Hi, Menomena, Surfer Blood, The Dodos, among others.
Filter Magazine’s 2011 South By Southwest Sampler : Includes tracks from SXSW 2011 bands like Royal Bangs, Datarock, Phantogram, Maps & Atlases, The Black Atlantic and others for a total of 20 free tracks.
Yuck took time out from their busy schedule to perform for a KEXP session at Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin during last week’s SXSW 2011. He’s probably sick of hearing it, but frontman Daniel Blumberg, at times, has a striking resemblance to a young Bob Dylan. Also, watch Yuck’s live set for NPR at SXSW.
“Forget” – Daniel Blumberg’ solo debut under the moniker Oupa. An EP is expected in June.
As with Grouplove, LA's Generationals, another big draw at SXSW, will be featured in an upcoming Bands to Watch post
IRC’s Free SXSW 2011 MP3 Bonanza
Get over 150 tracks from some of the best veteran and new SXSW bands and artists that we highlighted largely according to the recommended showcases that we featured last week during SXSW. With just a couple of exceptions, all of the tracks are from showcase bands that were part of official night-time SXSW events. We did not have time, unfortunately, to profile and include tracks from bands that were either scheduled for day-time showcases, or that were not part of an official SXSW event. In order to do that, it would take many days, if not weeks, to put it all together. After all, there were nearly 2,000 artists and bands that performed at SXSW 2011. Enjoy.
Fresh Tracks from SXSW Bands: Newly released songs from SXSW bands like The Strokes, Yuck, Generationals, Natural Child, The Strange Boys, Guards and more.
Best SXSW Band Showcases Mix I – A Mammoth Playlist Mix with 75+ tracks from bands like Okkervil River, Submarines, Beach Fossils, Generationals, The Dodos, The Joy Formidable, and many other praised SXSW artists and bands.
Fang Island was one of the big buzz bands at SXSW 2011
WXRT SXSW 2011 Sampler: Download, in three parts, more than 100 free MP3s from bands like Black Lips, Cloud Nothings, Cold War Kids, Deer Tick, Holiday Shores, Maritime, Josh Ritter, John Vanderslice, Paleo, The Raveonettes, Wye Oak and many others.
Note: You might also want to check back on this page in the next couple of days, as we will be adding more SXSW samplers and mixes as they come in or when we come across them in our post-SXSW reading – the wealth of reviews, videos, photos, music and accounts is overwhelming. Also, while we are on the subject, we should tell you that we regularly update posts after they have been published, sort of like a Wiki. In fact, at some point in the future, one of our goals is to actually create a separate wiki for Indie Rock Cafe so that you, and anyone else, can contribute relevant, useful and interesting information and media.
Philadelphia experimental rock band Man Man will perform at Auditorium Shores Saturday night
Saturday marks the last full day of the barrage of official and unofficial South By Southwest showcases. Yesterday, we presented a gigantic musical guide to the top showcases for evening shows (not even including daytime showcases), plus mini-mixes for our favorite showcases for Wednesday and Thursday. It’s hard to believe that SXSW 2011 is winding down already. They need to make it a 10-day deal, with some kind of little break after each three days of non-stop venues and bands.
This is the 25th Anniversary year for SXSW, the largest and most popular indie music, film and interactive festival/convention/conference in the world. SXSW is the key musical event – with New York’s annual CMJ marathon running a close second – for indie music bands, fans, bloggers, press, labels, promoters and just about everyone else in the ‘alternative’ music industry.
If you’ve followed IRC for a while, you’ll probably not be surprised by our choices for the showcases and bands we recommend, which pretty much stick to the ‘indie’ side of the spectrum, keeping in mind that nowadays, indie music seems to cover everything that isn’t “mainstream,” and even some that is, which makes it confusing, but that’s a post for another day.
Whether you will be at SXSW on Saturday and Sunday, or not, here is our top showcase and band recommendations for the last two days of SXSW 2011.
You might want to keep in mind that Saturday night showcases, especially for the more ‘popular’ or ‘buzz’ bands, are usually filled to capacity in minutes, so plan to arrive early, even if that means you have to wait three hours for your favorite band of the showcase to come on. Getting in and staying is a smart strategy, even if you’re a badge holder.
You can click on artist names to see other posts in our archives for that artist, including more songs, and also click on the album titles to purchase the artists’ latest album. The recommended showcases are arranged in alphabetical order by the venue, which should make it easier to reference if you need to come back to this page later (and you can get it via RSS).
Auditorium Shores at Lady Bird Lake is SXSW’s largest venue, and its final showcase Saturday starts early. We’re only skipping the first three shows, but starting at 3:30 pm, the magnificent Philadelphia singer/songwriter, Kurt Vile, will take the stage with his band, The Violators, to perform songs from his terrific new album, Smoke Ring for My Halo, as well as some of the tracks that were his break out songs. Up next, at 4:30 pm, another Philadelphia band, Man Man, will take the stage to play their version of experimental rock.
The relatively new indie rock band from Los Angeles, simply named, Man Man (even though there are three of them), will follow-up Kurt Vile. Then, at 5:25 pm, another Los Angeles rock band, Middle Brother, will perform, followed by The Felice Brothers, and the headliner, Bright Eyes.
“Jesus Fever” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo (2011)
“In My Time” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo (2011)
“Engwish Bwudd” – Man Man from Six Demon Bag (2005)
“Me Me Me” – Middle Brother from Middle Brother(2011)
“Shell Games” – Bright Eyes from The People’s Key (2011)
If you’re not up for going over to Lady Bird Lake, and wish to stay downtown Saturday night, there are also some great showcases there as well.
One of the best showcases Saturday night will be at the Central Presbyterian Church at 200 East 8th Street. An artist we are not familiar with, Haley Bonar (yes, yes), will open the showcase, followed by the wonderful vocals of Sharon Van Etten.
A Brooklyn singer/songwriter, Van Etten’s splendidly diverse range of vocal styles, and warm, story-telling songs, has made her quite an indie hit in the past year. A member of the going roster at Ba Da Bing!, Van Etten performed a midnight show at Swan Dive on Wednesday. Her performance at The Central Presbyterian Church starts at 8:30 pm.
The Portland rock band Typhoon will perform next, followed by Toronto alt country rock band, The Rural Alberta Advantage. At 11:30 pm, Washington D.C.’s very own pop master Jukebox The Ghost will warm things up for the closing set by the popular indie folk band from Toronto, Great Lake Swimmers.
“CPR/Claws, Part2” – Typhoon from Hunger and Thirst (2010)
“Stamp” – The Rural Alberta Advantage from Departing (2011)
“Pulling On A Line” – Great Lake Swimmers from Lost Channels (2009)
After lunch time, early birds to Day Five of SXSW 2011, headed over to the Dot Com Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center for one-hour sets from Pete and The Pirates and the iconic indie trail blazer, Edwyn Collins, starting at 1 pm.
“Come On Feet” – Pete and The Pirates from Little Death (2008)
“A Girl Like You” – Edwyn Collins from Gorgeous George (1994)
If you like raw, lo-fi, garage rock, we recommend the Dirtnap Records showcase at the Habana Calle (607 E. 6th Street) although the SXSW schedule says the showcase is at Easy Tiger. Only from listening to a few free SXSW samplers (see below), did we first hear of most of the bands booked for this showcase. And as fans of the more raw, lo-fi sounds, it has a terrific line-up of the label’s roster, including Houston power punkers Something Fierce, Forth Worth’s pop punk band, Mind Spiders, Denton, Texas punk band, High Tension Wires, plus Memphis punk trio, River City Tanlines, two Ottawa pop punk bands, Steve Adamyk Band and White Wires, and Portland punk group Mean Jeans to close it out.
“Be True To Your School (Until You Get Out)” – White Wires
“Steve Don’t Party No More” – Mean Jeans
But of all of the showcases for Saturday, our money is down on the Sargent House/Rodriguez Lopez Productions double-header showcase at Emo’s. You really can’t beat the opportunity to see some or all of the sets of a 21 solid bands and artists. The big advantage Emo’s has on most other clubs is the two separate rooms, Emo’s (senior) and Emo’s Jr., plus the Emo’s Annex across the street. The combo of all three makes Emo’s a hard to beat destination for Saturday. It is almost guaranteed that with this line-upwill likely be crowded, if not filled to capacity, again, because of the grand slam line-up, featuring (in order of appearance).
Emo’s Main Room
In our opinion, the best shows of the night offered by the three Emo’s locales, is not in the main room, but, instead at Emo’s Jr. and Emo’s Annex. Some notable bands performing in the main room showcase include San Francisco pop duo, The Limousines and the melodic post rock of Provo, Utah’s Neon Trees.
“Internet Killed The Video Star” – The Limousines from Get Sharp (2010)
Emo’s “son” room (get it?) offers an excellent really indie showcase, and our first interest immediately is the new-to-us band Fredon, New Jersey instrumental indie folk rock band, Delicate Steve (not to be confused with Seasick Steve), followed by an IRC Band of the Week in 2010, LA’s folk pop band, Family Of The Year. Coming on next, at 10 pm, is the precious music of one of our favorite new-to-us bands, Jonquil, headed by indie star singer/songwriter, Jose Gonzalez. And if that isn’t enough, the next three bands to close out the showcase – Givers; FM Belfast and Lesands – are sure winners. However, it’ll be hard to stay put to watch FM Belfast, because IRC Band to Watch in 2011, Fang Island, will be rocking it at the Annex across the street starting at midnight.
Okkervil River return to SXSW for the fest's 25th Anniversary! Happy Anniversary SXSW!
Celebrating its 25th anniversary year, SXSW is an indie and alternative rock lover’s paradise, a non-stop marathon of venues and bands, including more top notch artists per square mile during SXSW than probably any other locale in the world, except perhaps NYC during October’s CMJ.
The SXSW Experience
SXSW is where bands are born, and others fizzle away. As a participant, you can be watching a sparsely populated show with a classic rocker in his 60s doing a solo set at an alley bar, and 20 minutes later be in another venue packed with people as the buzz band of the day rips it up on stage. Ten minutes after that, you might find yourself up on a roof top watching an unofficial gig from a band who were featured on the cover of Spin six months prior.
You can then go grab a pizza and there could be singer/songwriter in the corner strumming and humming for a fraction of a fraction of attention in the whirlwind of performances in bars, clubs, hotel lounges, school auditoriums, churches, union halls, restaurants, back alleys, storefronts – just about anywhere that a band or performer can be squeezed into.
That’s the wonder and dynamic that makes SXSW such a thrill ride from start to finish. If you want, and you spend a little money, and are willing to stand in lines, you can literally attend musical performances from the late morning on a Thursday to the early morning hours on Friday. After 12 to 14 hours of mostly standing – and not seeming that long at all – your legs will be sore and your feet will ache, but you probably will have packed more into 12 hours than almost any other day of your entire life. That’s SXSW done hardcore.
Already, SXSW is in the waning days of a six-day romp, and you can bet that popular showcases that were easy to get into on Tuesday through Thursday, will be nearly impossible to gain access to on Friday and Saturday, and to a lesser extent on Sunday which is the final day, many participants have gone home, and there are many fewer shows.
So, we’ve created a list of showcases we recommend for Friday. Early Saturday morning, we’ll publish the top picks for Saturday and Sunday, the last hurrah for SXSW 2011.
But, first let’s start with shows we think will be top picks for Friday night, most of which are entire showcases, not just for the bands that are playing, but at the busiest times of SXSW, it’s best to stay where you are for a while.
The first excellent showcase line-up for Friday that we recommend is the The Billions Corporation showcase at Antone’s(213 West 5th Street) downtown. Scheduled bands include The Head and the Heart, Reading Rainbow, Yellow Ostrich, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, The Submarines, and closing out the showcase, Okkervil River. Check here for more details.
“Oh Deer Lord” – Reading Rainbow
“Know Better, Learn Faster” – Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, single (2009)
“Birds” – The Submarines from Love Notes/Letter Bombs – 12 am
“Mermaid” – Okkervil River from I Am Very Far – 1 am
If you’re one to wander instead of stay at one showcase all night, here are some of our suggestions. The Bat Bar will have Melting Season, Her Space Holiday and A Lull on stage starting at 10 pm to 2 am. The Billboard Bungalow showcase at Buffalo Billards (201 East 6th Street) will feature Beach Fossils, Screaming Females, The Joy Formidable, The Pain of Being Pure at Heart, with closing from A Place to Bury Strangers.
“Austere” – The Joy Formidable from The Big Roar (2011)
“To Fix The Gash in Your Head” – A Place to Bury Strangers from 10″ single (2008)
The Orchid showcase at Cedar Street Courtyard starting at 8 pm has one of the best line-ups of the night, starting with Keepaway, LA garage rockers and IRC Band to Watch, Generationals, the splendid music of SXSW favorites The Dodos, followed at 11 pm by Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band, The Black Angels, and to close out the night, The Soundtrack of Our Lives.
“Doves” – The Black Angels from Directions to See A Ghost (2008)
At Kiss & Fly (404 Colorado Street), the Noisey.com showcase has a wonderful line-up featuring Dirty Beaches, Oberhofer, JEFF The Brotherhood, Yuck, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti with closer Bun B.
“Lord Knows Best” – Dirty Beaches from Badlands (2011)
“Bone Jam” – JEFF The Brotherhood fromIndie Rocks! A Benefit Album For Malaria No More (2009)
“Round and Round” – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti from Before Today (2010) – with Bonus Tracks
Baltimore post-punk, new wave band Lower Dens will bring their stellar talents to Klub Krucial (614 E. 6th Street) on Friday as the opening band for the The Mexican Summer/Gorilla vs Bear showcase. Afterall, their stunning 2010 debut LP, Twin Hand Movement, is a winner from start to finish. In fact, all 11 songs on the LP are keepers, and that’s actually a rare occurrence. In addition, bands like No Joy, Puro Instinct, Toro Y Moi, Tamryn, Games and Nite Jewel will also play until 2 am.
“Tea Lights” – Lower Dens from Twin Hand Movement (2010)
Bonus:“Hospice Gates” – Lower Dens from Twin Hand Movement (2010)
“Stilyagi” – Puro Instinct from Headbangers In Ecstasy (2011)
“Still Sound” – Toro Y Moi from Underneath The Pine (2011)
Transcontinental Collaboration Bewteen AM and Shawn Lee Results in Limited Edition Single
By Maxwell Silver
The collaboration between recording artists AM and Shawn Lee started after AM heard Lee’s Music and Rhythm album on the radio in Los Angeles (KJazz’s Miles Perlich and also KCRW). After reaching out to Lee via a now defunct social networking site, the two became quick friends sharing a common appreciation for vintage grooves of 1960’s and ‘70s soundtrack music.
After AM played guitar for some of Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra shows in the summer of 2010, the two began to record together – but not really together, only in the sense of exchanging tracks back and forth online. Lee, armed with a four-track tape recorder, and other vintage tape machines in his London studio, started sending AM drum and percussion samples in December 2010. In response, AM wrote and recorded songs over the grooves, adding vocals, guitars, Casio synths and bass. He then emailed the mixed tracks back to Lee in London.
The process evolved whereas Lee then added more instrumentation tracks with as bass, keyboards, guitars, glockenspiel and other assorted instruments, mastering the final mix. The LA-to-London cyber collaboration resulted in a completely unique brand of “electro-soul.” Also unique, AM and Lee put their notes back and forth to each other on their Facebook page so that devote fans could following the progress of the recording. This kind of creativity and engagement with fans is exactly what all artists and bands need to do with their fans and the incredible power that can be harnessed using today’s technology.
So, here is a result of these truly innovative recording “sessions,” something to behold, for sure. AM’s smooth and fine-tuned vocals soar along a driving percussion section, and straight into walls of shimmering, blissful guitars and glassy keys, resulting in a dreamy and divine example of future pop. The track is likely to get a lot of play time, and has already been compared to a diverse cross-section of artists, among them, Gary Numan, Jorge Ben, and Ariel Pink.
“Dark Into Light” – AM and Shawn Lee from – Limited Edition, gold colored, 12″ of “Dark Into Light” available on record store day April 16th.
SXSW Showcase: AM & Shawn Lee will be performing “Dark Into Light” and other tracks they’ve worked on during their set at Austin establishment, The Ale House, on Friday, March 18th.
Artist Profile: Apollo Brown
By Roberto Gomez
Admittedly, we are not huge fans of modern rap and hip hop, with some exceptions. Honestly, so much of it is just so negative and hateful, and often sounds like the same ‘ole beats, that it just doesn’t jive with us. We are old skool – big Tupac and Biggie fans, not to mention NWA. As far as modern rappers, we dig Jay-Z, but also to be fair, we don’t really keep up on new rappers. However, we do like what we hear from producer, self-described “bedroom beat maker” and rapper Apollo Brown. He performed at the Fader Fort Levi’s show on Wednesday and will appear at a number of venues on Friday, including Cielo Night Club and The Light Bar.
“Desperation” – Apollo Brown
Even for music lovers who attend SXSW only for the live shows from late morning to the wee hours of the morning the following day, it is impossible to see all the shows one would like to. That gave us a number of ideas about ways to counter that dilemma, although there is no way to be in two places at one time, or at least Google or whoever haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Of course, one remedy is to look back and fire up playlist mixes highlighting top performances and showcases. Plus, this gives the majority of our readers not at SXSW, a chance to hear just some of the talent that is doing it Austin style.
This is a mix of songs from artists who performed mostly on Wednesday through Thursday. As you probably know, we’ve put together a fairly comprehensive list of bands to see on Friday (see above) and will be publishing another post early Saturday morning highlighting bands we recommend for Saturday and Sunday shows at SXSW.
So, here are a few highlights, blogger entries, cool links, free music and more featuring Day Two* – Wednesday and Day Three, Thursday – at SXSW. First, though, you might want to check out our on-site, around-the-clock coverage of SXSW 2010, with many great songs still available. We also did a SXSW playlist mix for SXSW 2009.
Huge list of free SXSW events through Sunday
Spin‘s Best and Worst of Day Two, SXSW
Official List of Showcase Bands for SXSW 2011
Download a free 29-track sampler from Tunecore, Experience Austin – Check back tomorrow for more free samplers from SXSW 2011.
A couple of announcements from SXSW official site: Lupe Fiasco and Cee-Lo Green have canceled their SXSW performances.
The Owl Magazine has a Day Two SXSW spread featuring photos and mini reviews of bands like Canada’s Gobble Gobble, the duo of Das Racist; not-from-Canada band The Rural Alberta Advantage, Britian’s rising band Grouplove, Austin locals My Jerusalem, Washington state’s The Lonely Forest, and buzz band Friendly Fires.
“Lawn Knives” – Gobble Gobble from deBonton 2nd Grab Bag (2010)
“Jump in the Pool” – Friendly Fires from Friendly Fires (2008)
“Colours” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP (2010)
Bonus:“Naked Kids” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP (2010)
“I Blame Us” – The Lonely Forest from The Lonely Forest EP (2010)
While Day One is the official kick-off of SXSW, historically things don’t start to really ramp up until Day Two through Day Five
The band Hooray For Earth
Other Friday showcases we recommend include
Great Songs from Bands That Played on Day Two SXSW
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“Austin’s Birthday”– The Burning Hotels from Novels (2010)
“Surrounded By Your Friends” – Hooray For Earth from Momo (2010)
Bonus: “A Place We Like”-Twin Shadow vs. Hooray for the Earth
“I Have Laid in the Darkness of Doubt” – Mazesfrom s/t debut
“Unpredictable” – Tahiti 80from Activity Center (2009)
Club de Ville – This was the showcase of the day in our opinion, just based on the line-up itself, featuring three newly breaking out bands that released their debut albums in the past few months – The Vaccines, Tennis and Yuck.
“Post Break Up Sex” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011)
Bonus: “If You Wanna” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011)
“Take Me Somewhere” – Tennis from Cape Dory (2011)
Small Black at Red 7 Wednesday. Photo by Andy Martin
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p style=”text-align: left;”>Red 7 – What a stellar showcase from Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar/Dead Oceans at the Red 7. Kicking it off was the band Suuns, followed by IRC Band to Watch in 2011, The Luyas, followed at 10 pm by the mellower band, Little Scream. At the 11 o’clock hour one man Philadelphia band – an IRC Break Out Band of 2010 – Sun Airway, got up and did his thing. If you don’t have his recent debut, strongly recommended. And then it just got better when another IRC Band to Watch in 2011 (coming up in next special feature), Small Black, cranked it up and went to work on the midnight shift. Small Black were also included in our Break Out Bands of 2010 series.
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p style=”text-align: left;”>In an act of brilliance, the organizers closed out the night with a 1 am show from another band that just released a spectacular album, Parts & Labor. Plus, the Red 7 Patio, with it’s own showcase, included performances from John Vanderslice, The Cave Singers and Okkervil River.
Other shows on Wednesday worth noting (at least from our POV) were J. Mascis, The Black Angels and Queens of the Stone Age at La Zona Rosa; Houses, Brahms, The Delta Mirror, Dinosaur Feathers and New Villager at Maggie Mae’s (inside and roof); Davila 666, The Baseball Project and The Soft Moon at Nuvola; 1,2,3, Young Man, The Vandelles, Twin Tigers, The Antlers and The Dodos at The Parish.
“Tiny Spiders” – The Soft Moon from The Soft Moon (2010)
“Passive Idol” – Twin Tigers from Gray Waves (2010)
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At the Red Eyed Fly on Wednesday, artists like New Zealand singer/songwriter Liam Finn, plus Leeds, England band, Pulled Apart By Horses, and Reading, England’s indie pop/post-punk band, Pete and the Pirates closed out the night set.
“Winter 1” – Pete and The Pirates from One Thousand Words – out May 20th
Bonus:“Eyes Like Tar” – Pete And The Pirates from Little Death (2008)
“The Struggle” – Liam Finn from Struggle (2011)
At the Soho Lounge, avant experimental band from Copenhagen, Denmark, Chimes and Bells started at 10 pm, followed in succession by the terrific post-psychedelic Denver band, Woodsman; the Brooklyn one-man electro-pop artist Warm Ghost, and Houston’s indie rock band, Indian Jewelry closed out the set.
“Open The Wormhole to Your Heart” – Warm Ghost from Claws Overhead EP (2010)
“Zing Zang” – Indian Jewelry
Over at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary, bands like Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s Lost in The Treeskicked off the all-night showcase, followed by Montreal band Valleys, and later, Minnesota indie stalwarts, Low.
Double-shot: “Fireplace” – Lost in the Trees from All Alone in an Empty House (2010)
“Ordinary Dream” – Valleys from Stoner EP (2010)
“Try to Sleep” – Low from C’mon
At Austin’s famous Stubb’s bar, the Time Out North America showcase included IRC favorites like London rising band Yuckand Denver’s teenage trio Smith Westerns, not to mention a closer from Duran Duran. Concurrently, bands like breakout Canadian rockers Bikini, plus two San Francisco indie rock bands – Geographer and The Fresh & Onlys, plus New York rockers Cults and Asobi Sesku at The Windish Agency House.
“Weekend” – Smith Westerns from Dye It Blonde(2011)
The Strokes on stage at Auditorium Shores Stage - from HoustonPress.com
Day Three at SXSW in Review: The Strokes, The Black Lips, The Kills, Owen Pallett, Twin Tigers and More
Traditionally, by the third day of SXSW, the festival really begins to ramp up big-time as more visitors and participants stream into Austin, and peaking on Friday and Saturday, especially for the free shows. That was evident as on Thursday as thousands of concert-goers poured into Lady Bird Lake, causing traffic jams, to see The Strokes free set at the Auditorium Shores Stage. You can watch the show on Levi’s Facebook page. The Strokes’ show will be their first at SXSW in 10 years, ever since their 2001 now-legendary performance at the Iron Cactus.
Update 3/18/11 – The Strokes broadcast at SXSW Thursday, complete with fireworks (watch here), still hasn’t been posted on the Levi Facebook page, and we’ve not been able to find it anywhere else. Hmm…
You can also download new tracks for free from The Strokes new album, Angles.
Gear Alley at SXSW
Another aspect of SXSW is the conference itself, held at the convention center downtown, where there is a full-on bonanza of exhibits, vendors, galleries, expos, and more. The Gear Alley Expo, following a successful debut in 2010, is a candy store and Willy Wonka’s equivalent of musical hardware, including guitars, keyboards, amps, effects pedals, mics, mixing software, DJ equipment, and so much more. There are also gear pros and presentations everyday , 10-minute sets from artists like Ringo Deathstarr and Natural Child, plus artist interviews from a former Sex Pistol.
More bands that played shows on Thursday
From Atlanta, Georgia, Vice Records recording artist The Black Lipsperformed an 11 pm show at Club de Ville (900 Red River Street), following bands like OFF! and the 2011 break out band from Puerto Rico called Davila 666.
“Starting Over” – The Black Lips from 200 Million Thousand (2009)
“Esa Nena Nunca Regreso” – Davila 666 from Tan Bajo (2011)
There were also individual shows within showcases on Thursday that featured lesser-known artists like Milan, Italy funk band Calibro 35 at the Scoot Inn (1308 E. 4th Street); grab a final show of the night by Baltimore recording artist J. Roddy Walston and the Business at Soho Lounge (217 E 6th Street) at 1 am; if you can’t get into that show, cross the street to Friends (208 E. 6th Street) to see a 1 am set from Dublin, Ireland singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow.
Over at one of our favorite SXSW venues, Emo’s Main Room, on Thursday, had a 11 pm show by The Kills, followed by Cass McCombs, and Owen Pallettclosed out the night. On the other side of the venue, in Emo’s Jr., participants were treated to Castanets, Magic Bullets, Royal Thunder, She Keeps Bees, and the Retribution Gospel Choir.
The venue Easy Tiger Patio had a showcase from Team Clermont/Greyday that included performances from bands like Gospel Claws, Kids of 88, The Heligoats, and a closing 1 am show from rising band Twin Tigers, who made a splash on IRC when we featured them last year.
“Passive Idol” – Twin Tigers from Gray Waves (2010)
Also on Thursday evening, the Karma Lounge and the Bond Music Group/Self Titled Magazine held a showcase bands like Vancouver electronic musician Teen Daze, Brooklyn-via-New Orleans‘ duo Home Video, the one-man electro band Blackbird Blackbird starting at 9 pm. The Lustre Pearl features the Dickies Sounds showcase that includes bands like Denver gypsy rock band, DeVotchKa, upstate New York duo, Phantogram, and popular Long Beach rockers, Cold War Kids.
“Smoke” – Home Videofrom The Automatic Process (2010)
“Summer Heart” – Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart (2010)
“100 Other Lovers” – DeVotchKa from 100 Other Lovers (2011)
At the Red Eyed Fly, there’s an awesome showcase from Barsuk Records featuring the following artists in order of show time starting at 8 pm with Vancouver pop band, Dizzy Eyes; plus, Spokane rockers The Globes; Austin’s rock band, The Wooden Birds; Seattle‘s terrific pop group, Say Hi; Chicago‘s progressive art rock band Maps & Atlases, and another Northwest legendary indie rock band, Menomena, from Portland will close out the night with a 1 am show.
“Let’s Break Up The Band” – Dizzy Eyes from Let’s Break Up The Band (2011)
“Stay Awake” – The Globes from Sinter Songs (2010)
“Solid Ground” – Maps & Atlases from Perch Patchwork (2010)
Stubb’s bar, and Austin landmark, held the AOL Music showcase that featured, in order that they played, Los Angeles post punk band Foster The People; plus, London’s indie folk rock band, Noah and The Whale; the popular band from Wasilla, Alaska, Portugal. The Man; Brooklyn’s R&B champions, Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band, and closer, and another Brooklyn band, and indie legends, TV on the Radio.
“Helena Beat” – Foster The People from Foster The People EP (2011)
“Five Years Time” – Noah and The Whale from Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down (2009)
The Dodos prove once again on 'No Color' why they're a hit with fans and critics
With the exception of The Dodo‘s awesome new album – No Color ($2.99 on Amazon for limited time with bonus track) – there really isn’t any big release this week in terms of music that is mainly identified as “indie” – depending on what indie really means to you. Releases that are in the running for the next most notable new album of the week is among a number of artists, including former Dinosaur Jr. founding member and current Sweet Apple member J. Mascis‘ Several Shades of Why; Lovett’s Highway Collection; The Idle Hands’ Life Is Beautiful; The Fleshtones’Brooklyn Sound Solution.
“Don’t Stop” (with Neko Case) – The Dodos from No Color
Bonus:“Black Night” – The Dodos fromNo Color (Bonus Version)
Also available in CD and vinyl
“Socialite Death Squad” – The Idle Hands from Life Is Beautiful
“The Fear” – Lovett from Highway Collection
“Mynah Birds Call” – Mathew Sawyer and The Ghosts from How Snakes Eat
“Not Enough” – J Mascis from Several Shades of Why
Before we get going on today’s Fresh Tracks mix, we would like to give our condolences to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake/tsunami in Japan last Friday. The videos we’ve seen on TV and the web, plus images in print, are almost impossible to comprehend. If you would like to contribute any amount to the relief efforts in northeastern Japan, we always recommend sending donations to the American Red Cross or text 90999 for an automatic ten-dollar donation.
In celebration of SXSW‘s 25th Anniversary, which is happening all this week in Austin, Texas, we’re putting out a number of post mixes highlighting some of our most recommended Bands To See at SXSW 2011. In this first SXSW mix, listen to bands we recommend you check out if you happen to be in Austin for the festivities. And, see Friday’s Fresh Tracksmix – it’s a not-to-miss mix, and features some other highly recommended artists performing this week at the world’s largest and longest-running music fest and conference – SXSW.
The build-up to The Strokes’ new LP, Angles, out March 22nd, (and streamable from their website) has been just crazy, and fans have had a limited opportunity to hear tracks from the album, seeing that there are no album streams out there that we know of. Until last Friday, the band had only officially released one track, “Under Cover of Darkness,” and premiered the song, “Life is Simple in the Moonlight,” on Saturday Night Live earlier this month. But late last week, The Strokes released two more tracks, “Taken For A Fool” and “Machu Picchu.” Pre-order Angles on CD and vinyl via Amazon.
“Life Is Simple in the Moonlight” (Live on SNL) – The Strokes from Angles
here we go magic
Fresh Tracks From Here We Go Magic, and SXSW Showcasers Generationals and The Dodos
The Brooklyn indie band Here We Go Magic will release The January EP on May 10th, featuring leftover songs from the studio sessions for their LP, Pigeons. Plus, New Orleans‘ garage rock band Generationals’ will release their sophomore LP, Actor-Caster on March 28th, and The Dodos will drop their long-anticipated LP, No Colors, on April 12th. In fact, the first single from No Colors, “Black Nights,” has been a leading track on IRC for a few weeks now.
On Friday, Generationals and The Dodos will be performing during the same showcase at the Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin for SXSW.
“Hands in the Sky” – Here We Go Magic from The January EP – out May 10th
“Greenleaf” – Generationals from Actor-Caster(Exclusive MP3 version only on Amazon) – out March 28th
“Don’t Stop” – The Dodos from No Colors – April 12th
TODAY ONLY: Download now The Dodos New Album for only $2.99 via Amazon
Plan for Yuck’s SXSW Shows to Be Filled To Capacity
Last month, IRC featured Chicago rising indie band Yuck in the Bands to Watch in 2011 series. In the past couple of weeks, yet another single from Yuck’s debut album has been hitting the blogs and music sites. At this rate, the entire track listing of the band’s recently released, self-titled LP, is going to end up a “web hit,” if you will. The latest track making the rounds, and hearting in the Hype Machine, looks to be the sweet lo-fi track, “Get Away.” After listening to Yuck’s debut, we spotlighted them last month in a Bands To Watch in 2011 post.
Yuck are scheduled to play three shows – Club Deville, Stubb’s and Kiss & Fly – this week at SXSW in Austin, and we can guarantee they’ll be packed, if not sold out. Checked the official date and time for Yuck’s SXSW shows.
One of the best indie debut albums of 2010, in our books (Q: Where is that playlist mix? A: It’s in the works), was Secret Cities‘ spectacular LP, Pink Grafitti (vinyl edition). In fact, just hearing that the band were already prepping the release of a sophomore LP, Strange Hearts, for sometime this summer, was enough to spur us to go back and spin Pink Grafitti again – it’s that good. If this is your first introduction to the band, “Crime Love,” the first single from the new LP, might be all you need to get hooked into buying Pink Grafitti. Either way, you’re probably going to hear more about Secret Cities this year, as we can spot a break-out band in-the-making when we see one. And, hey, how often is it that we get anything good coming from Fargo, North Dakota? Still, in the beautiful big town you never hear about, Secret Cities are the shit right now for the local indie scene, and we can’t thank them enough for exporting their goods to the rest of the country. The mayor should declare the release date of Strange Hearts, March 22nd, as “Secret Cities’ Day” and give the boys the keys to the city. We’re sure if that really happened in the span of a week, it would get some press coverage.
Secret Cities will perform at Lambert’s in Austin on Saturday, March 18th in a showcase set with other notable artists like Botany, Callers and Wires Under Tension.
Natural Child and The Strange Boys Release Split Single
As part of the Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series, two of our favorite modern southern garage rockers, The Strange Boys and Natural Child, recently got together to record this split single. Living up to their namesake, Texas’ Strange Boys created “American Radio,” an audio collage that features clips of everything from jazz and bluegrass, to Delta blues and funk with a couple of incomprehensible voice recording samples for a nearly five-minute long sonic tour de force. But just before you throw your hands up and say, ‘what’s the point?” you realize that the whole thing is a clever accurate portrayal of the mish-mash of musical styles that have come from the American South.
On the much shorter track, “The Jungle,” Nashville‘s Natural Child present a stripped-down, sing-along jem with unified voices and warm acoustic strumming. The nostalgic lyrics call upon iconic American images, like boxcar travelers and 1980s optimism. The only thing we don’t like about this track is that it just suddenly stops at a place where it sounds like the song is prematurely cut off. But, we checked to make sure, and that’s the way they released it. Hmm…
“American Radio” – The Strange Boys from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)
The Strange Boys will be playing shows at The Mohawk Patio and The Bat Bar in Austin this week for SXSW. Check their times here.
“The Jungle” – Natural Child from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)
Guards Cover Vampire Weekend, Phil Cook Goes Solo, White Denim Drop New Single, The White Wires’ Question
In preparation for another edition of IRC’s mix series, Indie Cover Songs, we thought you might be interested to hear this recent release from the band Guards putting their own spooky spin on Vampire Weekend‘s “Taxi Cab.” Plus, Megafun guitarist Phil Cook shows off his slide guitar skills in this nice little instrumental from his upcoming debut solo album under the moniker, Phil Cook & His Feat. Is there a joke in there somewhere? Perhaps only his closest friends would know (even though it might be easier to guess if it was “feet”). Moving on, the psychedelic rock band White Denim will drop their fourth album, D, on May 24th via Downtown Records. The first single, “Drug,” from D is a bit more mellow, but somehow rugged at the same time. Also, the Ottawa, Canada punk pop band The White Wires just released this single, “Did You Forget My Name?” based on a bad dream the guitarist had one night.
“Ballad of a Hungry Mother” – Phil Cook & His Feat from Phil Cook & His Feat – No Known SXSW Shows
Last Sunday, at the end of the mix for “Red Songs” (songs with ‘red’ in the title), we asked for song suggestions to help us create today’s S-25 Mix, “Songs About Cars.” IRC readers stepped up and provided more than a couple of dozen prime picks, ranging from Arcade Fire and David Bowie, Radiohead and Blind Melon, R.E.M. and Built to Spill, and Tom Waits to Beck, to name just a few. While some of IRC readers’ suggestions were already on our draft list, many others were not.
In our own playlist collections, we have hundreds of songs about cars – and activities commonly related with cars – so it was a challenge, to say the least, to choose which would be included in this playlist mix. Some artists have more than one song about cars that will be featured – like Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Cake, Belle and Sebastian, The Kinks – and in those cases, there will be just one in each installment. In fact, there are so many excellent car songs, that we had to break this mix into two volumes. The second mix will be posted next Sunday, so make sure to check back for that.
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For the most part, we decided to focus on songs that actually have the words ‘car’ or ‘drive’ or ‘automobile’ in the title (with a few exceptions like Led Zeppelin and Tom Waits) since, as you can imagine, there are loads of songs about cars, driving, road trips, racing, plus not to mention dozens upon dozens of songs about non-car vehicles (depending on your definition of what is and isn’t a car), like trucks (including pick-ups, trailers and 18-wheelers), vans, jeeps, limousines, and other ‘vehicles’ like motorcycles, scooters, and even some bicycles.
One of the best parts of the S-25 Mix series is that it’s not restricted to just indie music, but can include songs from any genre, and any era, of music. Every Sunday, we post a S-25 mix that is centered around a subject or theme, and then scour our music collections to find the best songs we can related to whatever the theme is.
Over the past few months, there have been very popular S-25 Mixes about Egypt, Love, Winter, and others.
Other popular S-25 Mixes have not had a theme, but instead featured a profiled band, along with a mix of various favorite songs from classic rock and punk, folk and new wave, alternative rock and golden oldies. Some of those S-25 Mixes highlighted bands like The Strokes, The Clash, The Decemberists and Beach House. But for right now, it’s all about cars.
This single from Paul McCartney followed not long after The Beatles announced to the world that they would be disbanding. As he apparently felt about many of the songs on RAM, John Lennon is said to have believed the protagnonists’ lines: “We believe that we can’t be wrong” in “The Back Seat of My Car” were directed by McCartney at him and Yoko Ono. The song peaked at No. 39 on the U.K. charts.
Yesterday, we dropped the first volumeof a two-part playlist mix highlighting our favorite new releases of the week. In that post, we debated whether R.E.M. are a mainstream rock band, or an alternative rock band. We unveiled a new track from the band’s latest album – Collapse Into Now – which critics and fans alike are calling R.E.M.’s return to their roots, a resurrection of the “original sound” that made them popular on college campuses before breaking into mainstream radio with the 1987 hit single, “The One I Love.”
The first volume of this week’s Best New Releases also includes lead singles from new recommended releases by Beach Fossils, Dinosaur Bones, Alexi Murdoch, Parts & Labor, Wye Oak, The Megaphonic Thrift.
Wolf People’s New Single Blazes a Line in the Sand
If anyone thought that solid psychedelic/blues rock was a thing of the past, the new lead single from Wolf People, “Silbury Sand,” proves otherwise. The London band that spans many genres from blues and folk to psychedelia and progressive rock, conjure up memories of 1960’s bands like Traffic, Blind Faith and The Yardbirds on “Silbury Sand,” complete with kick-ass guitar riffs, punchy percussion and the Stevie Winwood-style vocals of front man Wesley Eisold. We’re also including a track from their 2010 LP, Steeple; the track is definitely recommended for Jethro Tull fans.
Kurt Vile has been one of our favorite singer/songwriter’s of recent years. His 2010 EP, Square Shells, received a good amount of blogger buzz, and so is his follow up album, Smoke Ring for My Halo. There is a decidedly more upbeat feel to this album, with bright acoustic guitar-playing and clever use of reverb on vocal tracks, as demonstrated on these two tracks.
“Jesus Fever” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo
“In My Time” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo
Starf*cker’s New LP, Reptilians; Plus, Name-Calling
It’s interesting how different blog’s treat band names with swear words in them. Here’s an example of how two of our favorite blogs deal with one band’s name. The blog for Large Hearted Boy publishes this band’s name as ‘Starf**ker,’ while the blog for the popular Seattle indie radio station KEXP, uses a radically different treatment, opting for ‘STRFKR,’ which is not easily deciphered without some frame of reference. We use just ‘Starf*cker‘.
Some of you may wonder why there is avoidance of just spelling out the whole name. The answer varies, and even has multiple reasons, but the main one, at least for us, is not to get into trouble with Google. KEXP, because it has a radio license, is probably keeping the FCC in mind more than the web audience in how it handles such cases. LHB, on the other hand, is being extra careful with the use of two ‘stars’ in place of the ‘offending’ word, but at least it’s making the name understandable. It’s all kind of stupid in the final analysis; we all know what it should say. It’s also the title to a popular Rolling Stones‘ song. Anyways, here is the newest single from Starf*cker’s new album, Reptilians, which can be streamed in full via Spinner.
Sebastian Zimmer is the one-man band behind the music ofOne in a Googolplex. While that is also the name of Google’s headquarters in Mt. View, California, but spelled “Googleplex,” the term “googolplex,” as defined by the late Carl Sagan, is “precisely as far from infinity as is the number one.” That said, Zimmer sent us his latest single, “Lilly,” out this week. At first we weren’t sure if we liked it, but the more we listened to it, the more it grew on us. As part of a double-shot, check out the dynamic track, “Monolith,” from Zimmer’s October 2010 release, The Dropout Cats.
“Lilly” – One In A Googolplex from Lilly/My Sister’s Poem Double-shot: “Monolith” – One In A Googolplex from The Dropout Cats
Plenty of Notable Songs from Relatively Unknown Bands
This week, there are also many terrific new singles from artists and bands that are virtually unknown to most music lovers, including a good number of bands that we’d admittedly never heard of until this week. , but who will definitely be on our radar.
The jangly indie pop track, “Bells Ring,” from the band Empress Hotel‘s self-titled debut EP, is another surprise song that sounds so much like another band that we can’t quite put our finger on. Do you know who we might be thinking of? If so, please tell us in the comments. The band will be performing a number of shows at next week’s SXSW fest. Next, the single “Jericho” from the band Jamaica sounds nothing like reggae, but instead has the makings of a summertime hit with its catchy rhythm and 1970’s style pop radio appeal. Plus, long-time indie rockers Buffalo Tom return with a new album, Skins, and the lead track, “Arise, Watch.”
“Bells Ring” – Empress Hotel fromEmpress Hotel EP
“Jericho” – Jamaica from No Problem
“Arise, Watch” – Buffalo Tom from Skins
G00d-to-Hear Singles from Artists We’ve Never Heard Of…Until Now
It’s probably becoming evident at this point just why we split up this week’s Best New Releases into two parts. While many of you are probably familiar with our long posts – more is better, right? – we are making efforts to keep them shorter without shorting you on music we think you should hear. It’s a difficult task because the truth of the matter is that there is so much terrific music that we’re hearing on a weekly basis that we feel like we have to share as much of it as possible. Believe it or not, there are plenty of songs that we don’t post.
So, we’ll skip writing anything about these additional songs in the interest of simply letting the music speak for itself. Each of these bands are completely new to us. Don’t hesitate to let the world know what you think of any of the songs in this mix by leaving a Comment below.
“Already In Love” – Exene Cervenka from The Excitement of Maybe
“Geisha Means Open Minded” – Carol Bui from Red Sea
“I Led Three Lives”– Grails from Deep Politics
“The Kite” – The Sound Of Growing Up from Drifting EP
“The Wake” – The Albertans from New Age“Dog Years” – Luke Rathborne from Dog Years EP
“So High” – Ringo Deathstarr from Colour Trip
“Worldwide” – Ancient Astronauts from Into Bass and Time
Don’t miss R.E.M., Beach Fossils, Wye Oak, and many others in part oneof this week’s Best New Releases. You might also want to browse through all the playlist mixes for the Best New Releases of 2011 (so far). This year is already going fast.
Is R.E.M. an alternative rock band, or a mainstream rock band? The argument could be made either way, but R.E.M. are definitely not an indie band, despite their significant influence on many indie artists during the past three decades.
Clearly, R.E.M. was one of the most important bands of the early alternative rock movement that was in large part spurred by the popularity of college rock. R.E.M. was a refreshing sound in the early to mid 1980’s when there wasn’t much of an alternative to the hair metal bands, commercial rock and the new wave music craze.
Back then, we found out about up and coming bands from college radio stations, friends, hanging out at the record shop, and reading rock publications like Rolling Stone, not to mention a bunch of other ‘underground’ mags and college newspapers that were covering bands like R.E.M., The Replacement, The Smiths, and before they hit it big in the mid to late 1980s, Talking Heads.
Thom Yorke (Radiohead) and Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) have fantastic new albums out now with their legendary bands.
Even though R.E.M. rocketed from underground music fame to the music charts and mainstream rock radio in 1987 with “The One I Love,” and the following year, disappointed many fans by signing with Warner Bros., we still like to think of them as an alternative rock band, and one of the greatest American rock bands of the past three decades. We have to say that we’re excited by the new release, Collapse Into Now, from the band that put Athens, Georgia on the rock and roll map. Since we’ve only spun it once as of this posting, it’s impossible to give a legitimate assessment, but based on a ‘first listen’ impression, it really does sound great, and is what so many have been saying – R.E.M. has returned to their roots.
“Discoverer” – R.E.M. from Collapse Into Now
Moving on, there are other releases that we are excited about this week, most notably Alex Murdoch, Wye Oak, Beach Fossils, Dinosaur Bones and Parts & Labor‘s fifth album, Constant Future. We are still surprised that a lot of people who are really up on their indie are not familiar with Parts & Labor. The three-piece band from Brooklyn have quietly – for the most part – been one of the best trios in the crowded indie scene of NYC over the past few years.
Beach Fossils were unquestionably one of the biggest breakout bands of 2010, as our own band poll showed. So far, what we’ve heard of the album, is very promising. We’re also glad to see Dinosaur Bones back again with the release of My Divider. The band The Megaphonic Thrift are popping up more and more in the past year, and we can understand why. At SXSW 2010, the band were voted best show; that’s a pretty big deal when you think about how many shows are at SXSW each year – easily thousands.
“Dog Years” – Luke Rathborne from 
Is R.E.M. an alternative rock band, or a mainstream rock band? The argument could be made either way, but R.E.M. are definitely not an indie band, despite their significant influence on many indie artists during the past three decades.
