Category: 2010 Rock Songs

Today a bunch of new releases officially drop The Gaslight Anthem, We Are Scientists, Devo (first album in two decades), Foals, Light Pollution,  Whiplash, Venice is Sinking, Magic Bullets, The Guggenheim Grotto, Sleep Good, Grupo Fantasma, Cap’N Jazz, Johansing, and Locks. Also check out two new songs from Arcade Fire at the end of this post.

“American Slang” – Gaslight Anthem from American Slang (stream)

The Gaslight Anthem

“Break It Up” – We Are Scientists from Barbara (stream)

We Are Scientists on MySpace

“Fresh” – Devo from Something for Everyone (stream)

Devo on MySpace

“This Orient” – Foals from Total Life Forever (stream)

Foals on MySpace

“Sunglasses” – Whiplash from single

Whiplash on MySpace

“Tugboat”– Venice is Sinking from Sand and Lines

Venice Is Sinking on MySpace

“Good Feelings” – Light Pollution from Apparitions

Light Pollution on MySpace

“Lying Around” – Magic Bullets from Magic Bullets

Magic Bullets on MySpace

“The Universe Is Laughing” – The Guggenheim Grotto from The Universe Is Laughing

“Schlitterbahn” – Sleep Good from Skyclimber

“Telerana” – Grupo Fantasma from Existential

“Oh, Messy Life” – Cap’n Jazz from Analphabetapolothology

“Oh, Brother” – Johansing from Many Seasons

“The Sergeant’s Daughter” – Locks from Suicides Don’t Commit Themselves

We have another batch of recent singles we dig from 2010 releases that we haven’t had the chance to share with all of you before. This happens a lot because there’s way too much good music. We’ve published plenty of such posts already this year in posts titled Recent Releases We Almost Missed. But, we decided to ditch that name because it’s technically not accurate. We didn’t almost miss them, it’s just that we haven’t shared them with YOU until now.

There will be more such mixes to come, but the end result is always the same – good-to-fantastic new music, largely from bands most people never heard of, and tracks we expect to keep on our permanent iTunes for a long time. In fact, it’s not unlikely some of these tracks will be on our Best Songs of 2010 series at the end of the year, which is heavily determined by which songs are listened to and downloaded the most.

One A.M.’s newest release, Credible Threats, is strongly recommended; the title track is one of a few standout tracks on the LP. When we first heard singer/songwriter Brad Senne’s newest single, “Golden,” we were like, “wow, good stuff.” Senne.

“Credible Threats” – One A.M. from Credible Threats – April 17th

“Cold Bones” – Golden Triangle from Golden Triangle/Fresh & Onlys split single – April 12th

Golden Triangle on MySpace

“Busymore” – Air Conditioning School from single release – Feb. 8th

“The Back of My Mind” – The Lodger from Flashbacks – April 27th

The Lodger on MySpace

“Force of Proper Wind” – Discover America from Future Paths – April 27th

Discover America on MySpace

“Wave Country” – David Vandervelde from Learn How to Hang – Feb. 15th

David Vandervelde on MySpace

“Golden” – Brad Senne from Ariel Views – April 6th

“Good Vibes” – State Bird from Holy Spirits – April 13th

The New York Times Magazine will stream The National‘s new album, High Violet, in it entirety, and exclusively on the web, beginning tomorrow, April 23rd at 8:30 a.m. EST until April 27th. The event marks the historic newspaper’s entry into the full album stream market on the web, along with popular sites like Spinner, NPR and AOL.

The National’s May 11 release of High Violet is one of the most anticipated “indie” rock albums of 2010. As happens so often nowadays, the album has already leaked online, which prompted the band to reveal the album artwork and track-listing, a free MP3 single, and now a free stream of their first album in three years with the New York Times. (See below to read excerpts from the New York Times Magazine‘s Sunday feature of The National.)

The National’s MySpace page featured the following note:

“Hi everyone! As you may have heard, there is a low quality leak of our new album, High Violet, spreading across the internet as we speak. We wanted to let you know the New York Times will be streaming the real thing starting Friday April 23rd. We hope you’ll take the time to hear the album at its intended level of quality.”

Since the release of their widely acclaimed debut album, Alligator, and their amazing 2007 LP, Boxer, The National’s popularity has grown tremendously. Many of the band’s biggest fans have been messaging in forums about when a follow up LP would be available. So one can assume that there will be lots of people listening to the album stream on Friday and throughout the weekend, and into next week.

If all, or most, of High Violet is anything like a few of the songs we’ve already heard – including the single, “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, it is very possible High Violet would be one of the top indie albums of 2010. However, the album cover art (above) leaves much to be desired. We don’t know why there have been so many ugly album covers in the past few years, maybe it’s simply because so few people actually see, or care to see, the album art work.
“Bloodbuzz Ohio” – The National from High Violet

Download this MP3 here

No doubt that many music lovers are waiting to here it. Here is the web address for the New York Times Magazine’s feature page that won’t be available, again, until 8:30 am ET on April 23rd. Come back here and stream The National’s High Violet in its entirety.

Excerpts from the New York Times’ Feature Story about The National

In addition to the free album stream of High Violet, the iconic magazine will publish an in-depth profile of the band in the Sunday print and web editions. IRC was granted special permission from the New York Times to publish excerpts from article that will be published this Sunday.

The National is a Brooklyn group originally from Cincinnati that formed in 1999, featuring identical-twin brothers, Aaron (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), plus another pair of non-identical brothers, Scott (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devedorf on drums. The band is fronted by vocalist Matt Berninger. The band hit the big-time in the mid 2000s with the release of their magnificent debut album, Alligator, followed in 2007 with the release of Boxer, Paste Magazine’s No. 1 album of the year and Stereogum’s pick for No. 2.

“Mistaken for Strangers” – The National from Boxer (2007)
(official Mineo Records free MP3)

In the Times‘ feature on The National, contributing writer Nicholas Dawidoff, writes about his experiences hanging out with the band this past winter as they mixed their fifth album in their producer Peter Katis‘ recording studio in Bridgeport, Conn. The article notes the band was under tremendous pressure to deliver the final masters – which were weeks late – to their record label, 4AD; to come up with a name for the album; and to complete songs that were not ready for release.

“Several of the songs had no lyrics,” Dawidoff reports. “Those that did were otherwise askew. Four weeks into the mix the band was, as Aaron [Dessner] put it, ‘kind of in a circling-the-vortex mode.'”

Dawidoff’s accounts of the winter mixing sessions are especially detailed and revealing as the band faced difficulties in finding a satisfactory sound for some songs, in particular “Lemondworld,” a track the band struggled with for months.

In addition to the drama surrounding the track, “Lemonworld,” Dawidoff provides an astute examination of “Sorrow,” which the band describes as a “dark” song.

“I thought we were making a pop record,” Aaron Dessner told Dawidoff, “but it’s turning out to be extremely dark lyrically.”

Dawidoff also describes the band’s “rigor” for creating, destructing and rebuilding five minute songs, adding: “Their process often seems like a musical parlor trick since they delight in belittling their own work and can seem happier about rejecting another successful reinvention than actually completing anything.”

You can bet there will be tens of thousands of people streaming The National’s new album over the next week. If you want to bookmark the URL, or simply come back here, this is the link to the stream provided to us by the New York Times: Stream The National’s High Violet.

Along with his wife, Pegi, Young has been organizing the benefit concert since 1986. The cause is a great one, and makes purchasing a ticket more meaningful than most music concerts and festivals I go to. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Bridge School for children with severe physical impairments.

Following a set from ex-Bush member Gavin Rossdale (husband of Gwen Stefani), Wolfmother rocked out strummer-style with an all acoustic (three guitars), and one drummer, band, creating an incredibly big rock sound. No wonder why Aussie lead singer Andrew Stockdale is often compared to Robert Plant and his music like that of Led Zeppelin meets Black Sabbath. The band ripped into their classic “Woman” from their 2006 self-titled debut and treated the crowd to the title track, “Cosmic Egg,” from their new album, out today on Interscope Records.

“Cosmic Egg” – Wolfmother from Cosmic Egg (2009)

Fleet Foxes were in their usual top form, but unfortuntately during their set, one of the big speakers was tripping out; thankfully, the technicians fixed the problem in time for the crowd to enjoy songs like “White Winter Hymnal” and “Mykonos.” The recently formed super group Monsters of Folk, consisting of indie heroes like Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward (Matt & Him) and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes), played a riveting set of Americana rock punctured by fericious piano and guitar jams of songs off their debut album.

When Sheryl Crow took the stage, the crowd began to get more lively. Crow played a number of predictable songs and then covered The Beatles “Hide Your Love Away.” Chris Martin added an intimate twist to a number of Coldplay songs, relying only on a piano and a violinist to deliver alternative versions of “Lost,” “Clocks” and “Yellow.” Martin also performed a semi-sloppy cover of the 1950s classic “Blue Angel” to close out his set.

By the time Jimmy Buffett got on stage to play for thousands of older margarita-drinking, grass-smoking fans, the place was bouncing. From all accounts, it was No Doubt, Chris Martin and Buffett that seemed to draw a huge slice of the crowd. Indie rock and folk still seems to escape the “mainstream”; but hey, that’s OK, it makes it all the more special to those who love ‘indie’ and alternative music.

By the time the legendary Neil Young came on to close out the concert marathon, he proved he can still make his classics like “Sugar Mountain” and “I Am a Child.” Clearly, Young’s influence on much of the music we love today is all over indie rock and folk music. The set up for Young’s performance took an unusually long time, and as the clock ticked towards midnight, people started to pack up and head out. But that didn’t stop the large majority of the crowd who stayed to have a good time right to the end.

Unlike years past, there were no big collaborations on stage where members from bands in the lineup would normally join other bands and artists performing on stage. Not sure why that tradition of past Bridge School benefit concerts was largely missing, but it was a common observation among other concert reviewers. Many artists and bands in the lineup did join together for the finale to close out the first day of the two-day event.

San Francisco Bay Area rock station Live 105 has announced the line-ups for the 2009 BFD Fest at the Shoreline in Mt. View, California, this Saturday, June 6. Bands such as Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, Airborne Toxic Event, Odawas, Cage The Elephant, Metric, The Offspring, and Crystal Castles will be performing on various stages throughout the day and night-long music fest. But the awesome lineup of performances doesn’t end there.

“The Boy in the Yard” – Odawas from The Blue Depths (2009)

“Little Shadow” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs from It’s Blitz (2009)

“Help, I’m Alive” – Metric from Fantasies (2009)

The following is a video of Interpol performing at the 2007 BFD Fest.

Other great bands performing at BFD 09 include Crystal Castles, Music for Animals, Odawas, Taking Back Sunday, Alkaline Trio, Glasvegas, Dead Confederate and more. Altogether BFD has 36 bands lined up on four stages.

General admission tickets are only $25. Specially reserved seats are $49.50. Get them here

Get more information at the Live 105 BFD page.

The BLK JKS is a South African avant rock noise band. The band’s founding members, childhood friends Linda Buthelezi and Mpumi Mcata, grew up in the same neighborhood in Johannesburg’s East Rand and taught themselves to play guitar after winning a guitar in a church choir contest.

In 2003, the duo officially put together a band. Now, some years later, their transcending, energized music is making the rounds thanks to the freshly-released Mystery EP. Other band members include Molefi Makananise and Tshepang Ramoba.



“Lakeside” – BLK JKS from Mystery EP

Check out BLK JKS cover of “Summertime”
BLK JKS on MySpace