Category: 2012 Best New Releases

Now that the holidays are over and people are getting back to their regular routines, we had time to put together the November week-to-week playlists. The December week-to-week top songs will be thin because December is traditionally not a month that there are many new releases.  

The No. 1 songs for November, in chronological order, include recent lead singles from November releases by Dirty Projectors, Crystal Castles, Gospel Claws, and Sleeping Bag.

The Dirty Projectors, not surprisingly, dominated the month’s charts.  Their latest single,  “About to Die,” was not only the top single of the Top 10 Songs for the entire month of November, but also for the first week of November’s Best New Releases (Week of Nov. 6th).

“About To Die” – Dirty Projectors from About To Die EP

Prochet Collaboration with Kevin Parker Pays Off; Band to Watch Desert Noises

French multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist Melody Prochet, who goes by the moniker Melody’s Echo Chamber, achieved the No. 2 song for the first week of November’s singles with the song “Endless Shore” from her debut, self-titled album.  She’s been getting more and more attention lately in the U.S.  for her songs that are an intricate blend of layers of fuzzy, psych-tinged synth notes, sound effects, percussion and her incredibly sensual vocals.

“Endless Shores” was produced and engineered by Tame Impala band member Kevin Parker, which partly explains its success since it was released a few months ago. The No. 3 slot for the first week of November releases was the title track  of band to watch Desert Noises’ EP, I Won’t See You.

“Endless Shore” – Melody’s Echo Chamber from Melody’s Echo Chamber

“I Won’t See You” – Desert Noises from I Won’t See You EP

Melody Echo Chamber’s Two Singles Chart; Teen Daze Scores in Top Five

Melody’s Echo Chamber pair of singles from her new EP were popular with IRC listeners, producing the No. 2 as well as the No. 4 song of the week, followed at No. 5 by the lead single, “Spirit,” from  Teen Daze‘s newest album, Inner Mansions.

“I Follow You” – Melody’s Echo Chamber from Melody’s Echo Chamber

“Spirit” – Teen Daze from Inner Mansions

Top Ten Singles from New-to-Us Bands Grape Soda and Crushed Out

Kicking off the second half of the Top 10 Songs for the first week of November’s releases featured on IRC, as determined by listeners’ streams and downloads, was the No. 6 most listened to and downloaded song of the week, “Obvious Signs” from Grape Soda‘s debut LP, Form A Sign, followed at No. 7 “Weigh You Down” from lo-fi garage rockers Crushed Out‘s new album, Want to Give.

“Obvious Signs” – Grape Soda from Form A Sign on Kindercore Records

“Weigh You Down” – Crushed Out from Want to Give

Utah Farmer with Shins’ Collaborators and Team Genius Fill Two Slots

Ranking as the No. 8 single of the week was “Queen of the City” from Utah farmer/musician Joshua James‘ LP, The Top of Willamette Mountain. James was joined by two prominent multi-instrumentalists, Evan Coulombe and Richard Swift, best known for their work with The Shins. The No. 9 and No. 10 songs of the week, “Everything’s Alright” and “Roaring,” respectively, were originally featured in IRC’s band profile of  Team Genius, from Brooklyn.

“Queen of the City” – Joshua James from The Top of Willamette Mountain

“Everything’s Alright” –Team Genius (via MOKB) from Loud Songs

“Roaring” – Team Genius from New York Songs

Top 10 Songs – Week of Nov. 13th Best Releases

We love seeing which songs made it to the Top 10, and consistently, you guys pick the best singles from the weekly new releases, from virtually unknown DIY bands to some of the most popular artists in the indie rock genre (accepting, of course, that ‘indie rock’ is a broad genre that includes many sub-genres).

Crystal Castles easily captured the No. 1 spot for the top single for the week of Nov. 13th with the lead track, “Affection,” off their new album, simply titled, III (even though it’s actually their fourth LP release; hmmm).

“Affection” – Crystal Castles from III on Casablanca Records

Sufjan Steven’s New Christmas Track Jumps High; Crystal Castle Chart Second Single

The prolific talents of Sufjan Stevens are on full display once again with the release of volumes six through ten, called Silver & Gold, a continuation of his 2006 release of Songs for Christmas that contained the original box set of volumes one through five.

Silver & Gold, which we featured as the Album of the Week upon its release, contains a mind-boggling 58 songs of both new and original, mostly Christmas-oriented songs by Stevens’, as well as he and his ensemble’s renditions of dozens of traditional Christmas songs. The track, “X-Mas Spirit Catcher” scored as the No. 2 song of the week.

“X-Mas Spirit Catcher” – Sufjan Stevens from Silver & Gold

Not surprisingly, the second single, “Plague,” that was featured from Crystal Castles’ new LP in the Best New Releases for the second week of November owned the No. 3 slot on the list for the Top 10 Songs of November 2012, followed at No. 4 by the new single from the fantastic band El Perro Del Mar‘s new LP, Pale Fire. The No. 5 most popular song of the week was the lead single, “She Lives in an Airport,” by Guided By Voices.

“Plague” – Crystal Castles from III

“Hold Off The Dawn” – El Perro Del Mar from Pale Fire on The Control Group

“She Lives In An Airport” – Guided by Voices from The Bears for Lunch on Guided by Voices Inc.

Bottom Half of Top 10 Kicks Off by SVIIB and Social Studies

The fresh electro pop/dance single, “Secret Days,” from the New York indie rock duo School of Seven Bells, received nearly 52,000 plays and nearly 50 thumbs up comments on Soundcloud, and place at No. 6 for the week, followed at No. 7 from the San Francisco band Social Studies for their single, “Away for the Weekend,” from the album, Developer.

“Secret Days” – School Of Seven Bells from Put Your Sad Down EP on Vagrant Records

“Away For The Weekend” – Social Studies from Developer on Antenna Farm Records

First Album from Soundgarden in 16 Years; The Weeknd and Drake, and Clinic

After a long hiatus, the 90’s grunge/alternative rock band Soundgarden returns with an appropriate-titled single, “Been Away For Too Long,” to capture the No. 8 slot. The track is off the band’s latest album, King Animal, their first studio album since the release of 1996’s platinum album, Down on the Upside.

The final two songs of the Top 10 include, at, No. 9 the latest single – “The Zone” – from musician Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, featuring the popular artist Drake, who also makes a brief appearance in the music video as well.  The No. 10 song for the second week of November releases was the single, “For The Season” from the band Clinic.

“Been Away Too Long” – Soundgarden from King Animal on Universal Republic

“The Zone (ft. Drake)” – The Weeknd from Trilogy on Republic Records/XO

“For The Season” – Clinic from Free Reign on Domino Record Co.

Top 10 Songs for Week of Nov. 20th

The Arizona indie band Gospel Claws took the No. 1 song for the week of November 20th with the mellow track, “Pale Horse Dry Cleaning,” followed at No. 2 by Goldenboy, otherwise known as Shon Sullivan, a member of Elliott Smith‘s band before Smith’s untimely death.  Gospel Claws’ second single, “Hambone,” the lead single from the Put Your Sunshine Away LP, was No. 3 most popular song of the week.

“Pale Horse Dry Cleaning” – Gospel Claws from Put Your Sunshine Away

“Starlight Town” – Goldenboy from The New Familiar

“Hambone” – Gospel Claws from Put Your Sunshine Away

Artist of The Week, Goldenboy, and Sambassadeur

IRC’s Artist of the Week for the week of Nov. 20th, Thad Kopec, scored a number of positions on this week’s Top 10 Songs, including the No. 4 spot for his single “The World Was Young,” followed at No. 5 by Goldenboy with vocals posthumously from Elliott Smith on the song, “Summertime,” and the No. 6 song by the Swedish band Sambassadeur and their new single, “Memories.”

“The World Was Young” – Thad Kopec from Heart of Man

“Summertime” (featuring Elliott Smith) – Goldenboy from Blue Swan Orchestra

“Memories” – Sambassadeur from Memories/Hours Away 7″ on Labrador Records

Top Singles from Faunts, Elbow, and Thad Kopec

The No. 7 most popular song of the week was “What I’d Love To Hear You Say” from the new album by Faunts, followed at No. 8 by the newest single from Elbow, with the DIY band Midway in Wake taking the No. 9 spot with Thad Kopec, a former Artist of the Week, rounding out the Top 10 Songs with his track “White Wolf” from his Album of the Week, Heart of Man. The band Naomi Punk‘s single, “Burned Body” tied for the No. 10 spot.

“What I’d Love To Hear You Say” – Faunts from Left Here Alone

“Buffalo Ghosts” – Elbow from Dead in the Boot on Fiction/Cooperative Music

“Urban Vermin” – Midway in Wake from We Will Remain Sedate

“White Wolf” – Thad Kopec from Heart of Man

Tied for No. 10:  “Burned Body” – Naomi Punk from The Feeling

Top 10 Songs for the Week of Nov. 27th Releases Led by Sleeping Bag

The No. 1 song for the last week of November by the band Sleeping Bag combines jangling guitar, whistling choruses, and a catchy rhythm on the single, “Walk Home.” The single, from the band’s new LP, Women Of Your Life, is the kind of song that reminds us of a brilliant spring day with deep azure blue skies, and a light, pleasant breeze – something a lot of people dream about this time of year. The No. 2 song for the last week of November goes to the lead single from the Album of the Week by Winnipeg band The Departures. The new track, “Trojans” from Atlas Genius took the No. 3 spot for the week. The band’s new EP, Through The Glass, is worth checking out if you like this single.

“Walk Home” – Sleeping Bag from Women Of Your Life on Joyful Noise Recordings

“Pillars” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

“Trojans” – Atlas Genius from Through the Glass EP on Warner Bros.

DIY Releases from The Eastern Sea, My Radio and Challenger

The new Christmas single from the band The Eastern Sea took the No. 4 song of the week with “This Is Christmas” from their new DIY album release, First Christmas, followed at No. 5 by the new single from another DIY release from the band, My Radio. Yet another DIY single, “I Am Swithces” from the band Challenger took the No. 6 spot.

“This Is Christmas” – The Eastern Sea from First Christmas (DIY release)

“Life Is A Bitch Slap” – My Radio from Starts In The East, Falls In The West (DIY release)

“I Am Switches” – Challenger from The World Is Too Much For Me (DIY release)

Giant Giant Sand, Departures, Teen Mom and Joan of Arc

Giant Giant Sand‘s latest single, “Detained,” took the No. 7, followed by the second Top 10 song from the Album of the Week by the Departures at No. 8. The No. 9 song of the week according to IRC readers/listeners for the week of November 27th went to the lead single, “You and Me,” from Teen Mom from the Mean Tom EP. The Top 10 for the last week of November wraps up with Joan of Arc‘s single, “King Song,” from their self-titled debut album.

“Detained” – Giant Giant Sand from Tucson [Deluxe Edition] on Fire Records

“Winter Friend” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

“You and Me” – Teen Mom from Mean Tom EP on Analog Edition Records

“King Song” – Joan of Arc from Joan Of Arc Limited Edition LP on Joyful Noise Recordings

From Winnipeg, Canada, the band Departures are perhaps one of the most understated new bands of 2012. The band’s constantly shifting post punk and indie rock influences are apparent in the tangle of angular melodies, layering of guitars, shadowy synths, understated rhythms, and vocals that range from hauntingly hushed to shouting, throughout their debut album, Still and Moving Lines, which has been earning the band the all-important ‘blogger buzz’ and increasingly, recognition from the more mainstream, established press.

“For a band that’s only one album in,” wrote Evan Minsker of Pitchfork, “it’s impressive that they can seamlessly execute so many sonic shifts.” Tim Sendra, who writes for the All Music Guide, gave the album 4.5 stars out of five, writing: “…most of the album is restrained and doles out its pleasures in less immediate fashion. It may take a little effort to get to the pleasures…but it is definitely worth it because Still and Moving Lines is an impressively assured debut.”

Still and Moving Lines is a ‘grower’ – generally, the more you listen to it, the more likely you’re bound to come to appreciate just how good it is. The song that stands out the most on the first spin is “Pillars.” The blazing, melodic guitar jamming countered with edgier power chords, frantic rhythms, crashing cymbals, and shouting vocals on “Pillars” makes it seemingly the most accessible tracks on the album.

“Pillars” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

The loudest, most energetic songs on the LP were wisely put back-to-back at the top of the track listing. But first, the opening track of the album is the haunting 72-second “At Rest, at Home,” followed by “Pillars” and “Being There,” the latter is a nearly five-minute onslaught of loud, distorted guitar layers grinding away, rapid-fire bass thumping, and furious drumming.

Departures takes the listener on adventurous, mysterious sonic journeys throughout the course of the 10-track LP, from melancholic electric experimentation, free form angular guitar jams and sluggish rhythms to full-on screeching, angst-driven walls of noise comprised of tangled, chaotic blasts of reverb and feedback. A couple of worthwhile examples include songs like “Cartwright, MB” and “Contempt.”

Another highlight (among many) on the album is the muffled “Winter Friend,” which conveys a sense of the frigid, isolating environment where nearly half of the year is spent indoors to stay warm. The song starts out with an erie, David Lynch meets X-Files sounding synth, and like other tracks on the album, it slowly builds momentum to a raucous climax. For the band members, the long days of darkness and confinement lend themselves to endless hours of practice, experimentation and honing their skills, which undoubtably facilitated the writing, recording and mixing of a superb album and one of the best debuts of 2012.

“Winter Friend” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

The standout song, “Being There,” provides total bliss for lovers of lo-fi post punk where fuzzy, noisy guitars are on a rampage, blazing away unabated. The track also has the best guitar solo of any other on the album. The rhythm section is an integral aspect throughout the album as “Being There” demonstrates – the rhythm is bold, energetic, and calculating, somehow exerting a controlled anarchy. Switching gears, the track “Sleepless” is one of the most upbeat songs on the album, with atmospheric synth riffs, bongo style drumming, some “ooohs and ahhhs” and the calming, hushed vocals of Nicholas Liang, who is often a backdrop to the near constant wall of sound found throughout the LP.

“Sleepless” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

Of the instrumental tracks on the album, the most memorable and poignant is found within the sweet sounds of “Swimming,” a track that conjures up all kinds of relaxing, hazy summer day images, like floating on a raft on a peaceful river surrounded by orange walled canyons, and serving as a contrast to the icier recordings on the album. One of the best aspects of Still and Moving Lines, in addition to its overall brilliance, is that there is absolutely no pandering to appeal to a mass audience. After spinning the album a number of times, listeners may detect the warmth underneath what is often a cold, hard exterior, and possibly come to the conclusion that, in the final analysis, Departures are a jam band, and a very talented one at that. In addition to being one of the best debut albums of 2012, Still and Moving Lines has put Departures on our list for the breakout bands of the year.

“Swimming” – Departures from Still and Moving Lines

A rather thin week for new releases due to the Thanksgiving holidays, but there’s still some worthwhile drops to check out, including albums, EPs and singles from Goldenboy, Gospel Claws, Elbow, Sambassadeur, Bad Brains, Naomi Punks, to name a few. Tomorrow, we’ll feature Daylight Fireworks, MmMmMm, Remember Your Dead, Morning Harvey, and Adam George. Also, keep an eye out for the Album of the Week from one of IRC’s most popular DIY artists of 2012 who we think is a new Artist to Watch for 2013.

More than a decade ago, singer-songwriter and guitarist Shon Sullivan started a musical project, Goldenboy, while he was a member of the legendary Elliott Smith’s band. Over the years, Goldenboy has released four albums full of songs about love and loss, heartache and joy. While Smith was still alive, and the two were on tour, Sullivan wrote the song, “Summertime,” that features Smith’s vocals. This will be a nice touch for fans of Sullivan and Smith. The new album is brimming with orchestrated songs that tug at the heart strings and may remind people of the Eels, and features the lead single, “Starlight Town.” The New Familiar drops only one month after the 10th-anniversary vinyl reissue of Goldenboy’s widely acclaimed debut LP, Blue Swan Orchestra, completely remastered and featuring bonus tracks.

“Starlight Town” – Goldenboy from The New Familiar

Bonus Track: “Summertime” (featuring Elliott Smith) – Goldenboy from Blue Swan Orchestra

Gospel Claws Drop New LP, Put Your Sunshine Away

The new album from Arizona indie band Gospel Claws is, as the blogger of Violent Success wrote “a mellow sock hop sound track.” That’s a good way of putting it. The album contains a largely enjoyable collection of sweet, doo wop songs, including the opening track, “Pale Horse Dry Cleaning,” that serves as “a toe-tapping vow of epic destruction in the name of love,” as well as the summery track, “I Move Around,” that channels an impressive Beach Boys-style vibe. Also, we like the the fun and spirited song, “Hambone,” clearly one of the stand-out tracks on the album, and the one that the band choose as the LP’s lead single.

“Pale Horse Dry Cleaning” – Gospel Claws from Put Your Sunshine Away

Double-shot: “Hambone” – Gospel Claws from Put Your Sunshine Away

Austin Arist to Watch Greg Reynauld, aka Midway in Wake, Drops Self-Released Debut Album

The track “Urban Vermin” by Austin artist Greg Reynauld‘s, otherwise known as Midway in Wake, is much more pleasant than the title may suggest; the song is dreamy, lo-fi  indie folk consisting of an uplifting vibe, terrific acoustic melodies, pleasant, even a little quirky, synthesized sound effects and a near consistent drone, with well integrated vocal harmonies, and an all around fuzzy, warm feeling. What comes to mind when listening to this song is a golden fall afternoon outdoors where the air and sunshine are perfect – that awesome place in between summer and winter that you wish you could just make last forever. 

Reynauld’s is no newbie to the music scene however. In fact, while still in high school, he formed a band with two friends called Short Hate Temper. After a few regional tours, the band was booked to tour in Europe and had a number of record deals sitting on the table. Some years later, Reynauld moved to Austin and started the electro band, Lovetron, with At The Drive-In guitarist Adam Amparan. Shortly after, the band broke up, but Reynaulds kept recording, even living in South Korea for a while to work on his music. By 2006, he formed Midway in Wake and returned to Austin to resume work on his newest project.

“Urban Vermin” – Midway in Wake from We Will Remain Sedate

“They Couldn’t Fill A Book” – Midway in Wake from We Will Remain Sedate

Naomi Punks’ New Single and Bad Brains Disagreeable New Album

The stop and go punk pop of Naomi Punk’s new single, “Burned Body,” is strangely appealing, with grinding guitars and the metered banging of drums. The latest album from Bad Brains is not getting the kind of praise that the band’s early albums enjoyed, with many, including long-time fans, disappointed. The blog, AudioCred, wrote: “Bad Brains’ new album is boring and stupid. Into the Future is a rehash of every tired rock, metal, and punk cliche of the last twenty years, performed drearily and mixed like a combination of Korn and Municipal Waste.” We couldn’t agree more – we didn’t even bother listening to it a second time. One highlight of the album is the song, “We Belong Together.”

“Burned Body” – Naomi Punk from The Feeling

“We Belong Together” – Bad Brains from Into The Future on Megaforce

New Sambassadeur 7″, Plus Elbow B-sides, Takka Takka’s New Album and Live LP from Dinosaur Jr.

Swedish pop band, Sambassadeur, released a new 7″ single this week, “Memories,” a cheerful song with a touch of Caribbean music infusion. Plus, Elbow released a set of B-sides on Tuesday that includes the excellent track, “Buffalo Ghosts.” As other 90’s bands like Mudhoney and Sonic Youth did last week, another 90’s alt rock super band, Dinosaur Jr., who’ve made a phenomenal comeback in recent years with a series of brilliant albums, dropped a new live album from 1978 this week. Seattle band The Pharmacy dropped their fourth album this week, Stoned and Alone, highlighting a great collection of lo-fi garage-punk, power pop and raw psych-pop songs.

“Memories” – Sambassadeur from Memories/Hours Away 7″ on Labrador Records

“These Broken Chairs” – Takka Takka from A.M. Landscapes on Ernest Jenning Record Co.

“Buffalo Ghosts” – Elbow from Dead in the Boot on Fiction/Cooperative Music

“Make Me Remember” – The Pharmacy from Stoned and Alone on Old Flame Records

“The Lung” – Dinosaur Jr. from Chocomel Daze (Live 1987) on Merge Records

Faunts New EP and Peter Broderick’s New Solo Album

For a total change of style from the two previous tracks, Faunts released a new EP this week, from which the sparse, dreamcore track, “What I’d Love To Hear You Say,” originates. The single is carried by mellow electric guitar riffs that are balanced by the overlay of an almost Spanish-style acoustic guitar playing at a lower volume, creating altogether the optics of a hazy, red and orange sunset on an August skyline.

“What I’d Love To Hear You Say” – Faunts from Left Here Alone

Peter Broderick, who is a member of the band Horse Feathers and was formerly a member of Efterklang, released a new solo album this week, These Walls of Mine, from which the kind of cheesy song “I’ve Tried” is taken; however, we think fans of both of those bands and his solo work, may find it interesting to listen to. How would the song even be classified? It’s closer to gospel than anything else. It’s not really a standout track of the week by any means, but fans of Efterklang may appreciate it more. Plus, Garrett Price’s new single, “Everybody Breaks.”

“I’ve Tried” – Peter Broderick from These Walls of Mine

“Tucumcari, NM” – Billy Wallace and The Virginia Blues from Tucumcari, NM and Other Songs

New Paris Girl Garage Punk Pop Band Drop Debut EP

This week, Paris girl punk pop band MmMmMm released their debut EP, Wir Sind MmMmMm, featuring the punk pop/garage rock single, “Get Ya!” and the follow-up track, “Un, Dos, Tres (Outro).” The two-year old band wrote in their submission to IRC: “Fresh and destroy, aerobic and metronomic, brutal and mechanical, our quest for automatic enjoyment is just beginning. And it’s now or never cause this is MmMmM debut EP. Let the fun happen.” Even though they sound like a garage punk pop band, they list their genre as “Hip Rock” and “Minimalistic Electro.” MmMmMm have previously opened for Jupiter, and list their major musical influences as Black Sabbath, Pavement, Kraftwerk, De La Soul, and Cameo. They are signed to the label, Boomboomtchak Records.

“Get Ya!” – MmMmMm from Wir Sind MmMmM

“Un, Dos, Tres (Outro)” – MmMmMm from Wir Sind MmMmM

MmMmMm Official Website

New York DIY rapper Nino Augustine, a native of Panama, mixes hip-hop, Latin, rock and jazz on his new single, “Soul Kitchen,” produced by Brandon “Biro” Rowan.  The music video features choreography by pro break dancer, Dus 1. The Atlanta based production company A Tall Guy Films directed and produced the video. Augustine constructs songs that draw off of an eclectic knowledge and admiration for various genres and artists. His major musical influences include Bob Marley, Lauren Hill, and Jimi Hendrix.

“Soul Kitchen” – Nino Augustine

“I try to do what I call fearless music, which really means creating music without boundaries. I try not to fit my music into any category, because I want to create something different every time I record,” Augustine elaborated when ask about his process of recording. “It’s been a long, constant struggle with music that keeps me in love with it until this day. Some days I wake up in love with music I’ve recorded, and I might go to sleep hating it. I’m very sensitive with my craft because I truly love what I do, and I hope you can feel that when you listen to it.”

Download the track via Augustine’s Soundcloud page.

Yesterday, we posted the No. 1 Songs for each week of October, as well as the weekly Top 10 Songs playlists for the month. Now it’s time for the Top 10 Songs for the month as a whole. By a large margin over the second most popular song of the month, it was the lead single, “Dig Into Waves,” from the Freelance Whales’ new album, Diluvia. The other most played and downloaded songs of the month included the latest singles from Lord Huron, Ben Gibbard, Black Marble, The Mountain Goats, Tame Impala, two singles from A.C. Newman, Matt & Kim and Earlimart.

“Dig Into Waves” – Freelance Whales from Diluvia

“Time to Run” – Lord Huron from Lonesome Dreams

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

“Cry For Judas” – The Mountain Goats from Transcendental Youth

“Static” – Black Marble from A Different Arrangement

“Elephant” – Tame Impala from Lonerism

“Im Not Talking” – A.C Newman from Shut Down the Streets

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

“Now” – Matt and Kim from Lightning

“10 Years” – Earlimart from System Preferences

The October Top 10 Songs playlists are in. We’ve crunched the numbers, and the No. 1 songs of the month go to Paul Banks (aka, Julian Pelinti of Interpol), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie, Postal Service), Lord Huron and The Mountain Goats.

The weekly and monthly top songs are decided by the “votes” of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit on an average month. That means we go through all our web statistics and look for which singles received the most number of plays and downloads. Tomorrow we’ll publish the overall Top 10 Song of the Month, but you can view the weekly Top 10 Songs for all four weeks of October via the links below.

Paul Banks’ “The Base” No. 1 Song for the Week of October 23rd

Best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the band Interpol, musician Paul Julian Banks, has released his first solo album, Banks, as Paul Banks, and his newest single, “The Base” was voted by IRC listeners as the No. 1 song of the week. Banks released his first solo album in 2009 under the moniker Julian Plenti.

“The Base” – Paul Banks from Banks (CD version; vinyl version)

See and listen to all the Top 10 Songs for Week of October 23rd

Ben Gibbard Tops the Charts for the Week of October 16 with “A Hard One To Know”

Death Cab for Cutie frontman and solo singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard top the charts for the week of October 16th with the track, “A Hard One To Know.” He also captured the No. 2 position with another track from his recent solo album, Former Lives. Click the link to the week’s Top 10 Songs below to hear the other Gibbard single and the other singles of the week.

“A Hard One To Know” – Ben Gibbard from Former Lives (CD version; vinyl version)

View and listen to all the Top 10 Songs for the Week of October 16th

Lord Huron’s Upbeat Single “Time To Run” No. 1 for the Week of October 9th

Lord Huron’s “Time to Run” starts out quietly, like watching the first signs of the sun rising, and then breaks out into a glorious, uptempo song driven by acoustic guitar, synths and earth beats. This is repeated two other times in the song but without taking away too much from the song’s exhilarating jaunt. It was good enough to beat out awesome singles from the formidable A.C. Newman (who had two singles in the Top 10), plus Ty Segall, Dana Falconburry, Black Marble and others.

“Time to Run” – Lord Huron from Lonesome Dreams

See all the Top 10 Songs for the week of October 9th

The Mountain Goats Capture First No. 1 Song of the Month with “Cry For Judas”

The Mountain Goats‘ lead single, “Cry For Judas,” from their newest album, Transcendental Youth, beat singles from new albums by Why?, Matt and Kim, and Beth Orton, for the No. 1 track for the first week of October.

“Cry For Judas” – The Mountain Goats from Transcendental Youth

See all the Top 10 Songs for the week of October 2nd

It never ceases to amaze us. That is, the number of DIY singles and albums that are dropped each month by unsigned artists and bands that get little to no coverage on popular indie rock blogs and music sites. As our long-time readers and listeners know well, IRC constantly publishes impressive music from talented musicians and bands that even die-hard fans of indie rock have never heard before. The past week’s DIY releases are a clear example of that.

Even though they’ve opened for bands like Yeasayer, Starfucker and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, and been featured in a number of publications and blogs, mainly in Oregon, Portland psych pop quintet Rare Monk remain an unsigned, and largely under the radar, band since starting out in 2009. Their eclectic style of music, covering genres such as indie, rock, pop, and psych, is experimental and compelling, adding violins to the forefront of their songs surrounded by swirling guitars and a solid rhythm section. This week the band dropped their new EP, Death By Proxy, which they’ll be going on the road to promote in a couple of weeks. Rare Monk plans to drop a full length release in February, followed by a nationwide tour. Their major musical influences include Modest Mouse, Phoenix, Of Montreal, Bjork, Sigur Ros, and Bosnian Rainbows.

“Death By Proxy” – Rare Monk from Death By Proxy EP

“Underground” – Rare Monk from Death By Proxy EP

London Band Suzerain Record with Grammy-Winning Producer on New EP

Suzerain is a five-piece London alternative rock band formed in 2004. Earlier this year, Suzerain entered the studio to record new material under the keen direction of Grammy-winning producer Steve Lyon (The Cure, Depeche Mode). The result is the impressive five-track EP, A Mirror Now, released earlier this week. The EP includes the standout single, “Frenzy,” a song that exemplifies the band’s well-honed blend of electro, indie and punk music. The release of their critically-acclaimed 2008 debut LP, Midnight In The Drawn City, received significant airplay in the U.K., which led to the band winning the Indie Award for Best Alternative Act. Even though the band have yet to make waves in the U.S., we predict it’s only a matter of time before they do, and cross the pond to tour across America. The band’s musical influences include Gary Numan, Franz Ferdinand, The Alarm, Hadouken, David Bowie, Placebo, Muse, and Bloc Party.

“Frenzy” – Suzerain from A Mirror Now

“Down To The Sea” – Suzerain from A Mirror Now

Tallahassee Band The Rosy Shades Premiere on Indie Rock Cafe

The members of the unsigned indie rock band, The Rosy Shades, originally met at an open mic night Tallahassee, Florida. For many weeks, all four members of the newly formed band performed individually until last year when two of the members, Tim Rock (vocals/guitar) and Nathan Louis (drums), decided to jam together in a local park. The chemistry between the two musicians was so strong that they set out to recruit two additional open mic performers, Jon Little (lead guitar) and Jason Borntreger (bass), and The Rosy Shades was born. Louis told IRC that he would go to open mic night ever week and play a drum solo, Rock would play guitar and sing a few songs, and Borntreger “angrily stomped the stage while strumming a ukelele.” Little was recruited later on from his home in nearby Jacksonville.

For a band that is only a year in the making, The Rosy Shades, sound like they’ve been playing together for much longer, and we believe demonstrate great potential. They’ve made a splash in the Tallahassee/Jacksonville alternative rock scene thanks to their unique, tight knit, energetic songs featuring Little’s electrifying guitar riffs, the perfectly fitting lead vocals and rhythm guitar of Rock, impressive drumming by Louis and precise timing of Borntreger’s bass playing. As we were reviewing DIY releases dropped in the past week, it became apparent to us, after listening a number of times to the two tracks they sent in, that this was more than just a new rock band on our admittedly gigantic radar of artists, but rather a band that is poised to break out nationally. Both songs featured below are from the band’s self-released EP, Morning Spirit, that officially dropped last week. The band’s major musical influences include Led Zeppelin, Kings of Leon, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers, and The Ataris.

“The Existentialist” – The Rosy Shades from Morning Spirit EP

“Melissa” – The Rosy Shades from Morning Spirit EP

Listen to other songs from the EP, like “Supersonic” and “High Again” via The Rosy Shades Soundcloud page

Action Jets is a garage rock/power pop band from Phoenix, Arizona. We really dig their new single, “Rock Like Rollard,” which pays homage to the frontman of the popular indie rock band Guided By Voices. The AZ trio claims to “exploit weaknesses in its rivals, spews energy, spit and vigor and renounces cool, detached irony all in one go.” Dani Molino is an Spanish born alternative americana, folk, rock singer/songwriter based in London who, along with his band, has performed at some of the most legendary venues in London, and placed second at the 2012 International Emergenza Festival. If you enjoy, long psychedelic jams, Immerse yourself in Moths and Locusts‘ 8-minute sprawling, guitar rock epic, “Nero’s Eulogy.”

Silicon is an 18-year-old Ottawa resident who has been experimenting with genre-blending electronic, dance, hip hop, house and chillwave music for a couple of years now, and he, Landan Brawley, sent us in a couple of tracks from his latest EP. Silicon is known for his remix work for major artists’ tracks such as SBTRKT, Justice, Grizzly Bear and Skrillex. Below is his track for “Lush” from Relax. You can also check out some of his other work via the Silicon Soundcloud. Plus, listen to new singles from new releases out in the past week by Eden Warsaw and Unknown Component.

“Rock Like Pollard” – Action Jets from Make Time for the Action Jets

“Ain’t Got No Home” – Dani Molino from Ain’t Got No Home

“Nero’s Surgery” – Moths and Locusts from Escape from Sector C

“Lush” – Silicon from Relax EP

“Diamonds” – Eden Warsaw from Diamonds EP

“The Invisible Line” – Unknown Components from Blood vs. Electricity