Brooklyn band The Davenports have released their new single, “Miranda in Her Room,” featuring Shirley Simms of one our favorite indie bands, The Magnetic Fields. The track is the latest in a string of singles the band has released since the beginning of the year.
Klass has a wonderful knack for crafting heavily melodic songs that are memorable and poignant, and Simms vocals are, as always, touching and perfectly on key.
Simms, a Boston vocalist well known for her work on The Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs, and all of their releases since then, duets on the new single, “Miranda In Her Room,” with Brooklyn band The Davenports’ singer/songwriter Scott Klass. Klass is best known for “Five Steps,” the theme song to A&E’s Emmy-nominated Intervention.
The song, a country waltz infused with McCartney-esque medlodies, and lyrics reminiscent of Emily Dickenson, had been dormant as a demo for a long time, waiting for the right vocal pairing to bring it to life.
Klass and producer Charles Newman, who has worked with The Magnetic Fields and The Davenports for over a decade, considered an array of singers until choosing Simms.
The next track, “Airplanes” from the reunited Minneapolis band Chasing Colors’ new, self-titled EP, has been on regular rotation in the cafe for at least a week now.
The band members, that include singer/songwriter Louie Paretta, Scott Patton on guitar, Dave Paquette on drums, and Dave Wagner on bass, grew up listening to The Beatles, David Bowie and The Rolling Stones, among other classic rock bands, as well as the 1980s new wave sound, with bands like The Cars, and indie bands like Death Cab For Cutie.
Chasing Colors has opened for bands like Crow, Badfinger, Johnny Rey and the Reaction, and Urban Guerillas. Check out the “Airplanes” music video via YouTube.
Hillary Bratton is a talented Los Angeles singer/songwriter who is increasingly on the rise, as demonstrated by her new album, Tears On My Pillow But The Rest Of The Bed’s OK, featuring the
This haunting work is a carefully-chosen collection of songs written by the legendary Barry Reynolds, best known for his work with artists such as Marianne Faithful, Grace Jones, Antony & the Johnsons, Brazilian Girls, and many others.
Bratton’s newest stylistic endeavors are more relaxed and stoic – she’s picked up a few tricks in the eight years she lived in New York City and the two years she spent in Paris. She was inspired to record the album after seeing Marianne Faithful in concert; when she heard the song “Guilt” she was determined to work with Reynolds.
“I wanted to make an album but it was Barry’s songs that were the impetus,” says Bratton. “I wanted to share these songs that I had fallen in love with and for people to know what a great songwriter he is. It’s the only album comprised entirely of his songs”.
Listen to the ironic track, “Fuck It’s Cold”. Ironic because it’s one of the warmest Decembers in the northeast anyone can remember.
Eight Belles – “Darkness In Me”
Three years after the release of its debut album, Girls Underground, Oakland indie folk duo Eight Belles just dropped a self-titled sophomore album.
Vocalist Jessi Phillips, guitarist Henry Aloysius Nagle, and engineer Ross Harris (Emily Jane White) tracked the album over three years, enlisting a cadre of prominent Bay Area musicians, including singer/pianist Joel Robinow (Once and Future Band, Howlin’ Rain); drummer Shaun Lowecki (Painted Palms); bassist Jonathan Kirchner (Con Brio); and singer Katie Colver (Cave Clove).
The duo has arranged an album brimming with intricately woven, almost earthy, folk music, and a variety of other styles and flavors, set against lyrics of a highly personal nature. The backup musicians really fill out the songs and the album as a whole.
The first single “Darkness in Me” tells the “mostly true but somewhat metaphorical” story of Phillips’ return to her native Michigan in an ill-fated attempt to reconnect with a past lover.
Not surprisingly, there is a lot of buzz around the expected release of Animal Collective‘s 9th studio album, Centipede Hz, which is streaming, complete with psychedelic visuals, on the band’s My Animal Home Radio website. Pre-order the Centipede Hz CD here, set to drop on Sept. 4th.
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It’s been four years since a new album of original music was released by Cat Power. For diehard fans, the long wait is over. Catpower’s 2008 album, Jukebox, was her most successful ever, reaching No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard chart. Matador Records has already released two singles, plus a remix, from Cat Power’s upcoming new album, Sun, set to drop on Sept. 4th (pre-order via Amazon). The first track, “Ruin,” was released a couple of months ago. Now the legendary alternative label has released a second track, “Cherokee.” Stream or download it below, or get it from Cat Power’s official website, which also features her current tour dates.
Pre-order Sun on the Matador Store, iTunes, Amazon and/or grab the deluxe vinyl + exclusive 7″ at your favorite indie retailer on September 4.
Nearly one and a half years since the release of the well-received LP, Raven in the Grave, The Raveonettes are gearing up to drop their sixth studio album, Observator, on September 11th. In June, the band released the first single, “Observations.” The second single from the LP, “She Owns The Streets,” is a summertime, feel-good pop track featuring layers of glistening guitars intertwined with upbeat vocals that echo bands like Galaxie 500 and The Cure, and amplifies the Denmark male-female duo’s ability to break out into new territory. Pre-order Observator on CD or MP3 in order to get it as soon as it drops. From the two tracks already released, anticipation is building for the September release.
“She Owns The Streets” – The Raveonettes from Observator – Sept. 11th
Double-shot: “Observations” – The Raveonettes from Observator
And then there’s The Helio Sequence. Can’t forget them. Here’s the sweet new single, “Hall of Mirrors” from The Helio Sequence’s Negotiations, which will officially drop in two weeks.
Celebrating 20 years since their formation, Philadelphia alternative rock/power pop band Wanderlust made a big splash in 1995 when RCA released their full-length debut album, Prize. The band entered the studio to record their second album in 1997, but things didn’t work out and they were dropped. The unfinished second album was later released by a small label, Not Lame. Now the band is back 15 years later with their new album, Record Time, set to drop on September 25th via Zip Records. Having opened for bands like The Who, Ben Folds 5 and Collective Soul, Wanderlust is less of an indie band than a rock band. Here’s the album’s first single, “Lou Reed.”
With the warmest recorded summer for much of the country, and the worst drought in half of a century, soon coming to an end, summer vacations winding down, and schools about to return to session, singles for late summer and fall album releases are starting to make the rounds. There has been a flood of fresh tracks dropped in the past couple of weeks from new and established indie and alternative rock artists and bands.
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Since Brooklyn indie folk rock band Grizzly Bear wowed fans with a live performance of a new song, “Yet Again,” on The Colbert Report‘s ‘Colbchella’ festival last week, the song has been showing up all over the web. You can also stream or download the studio MP3 version of the track, as well as easily order the wildly popular band’s new via Amazon by clicking on the album title. This marks Grizzly Bear’s fourth studio LP, and the first since their break-through 2009 album, Veckatimest.
“Yet Again” – Grizzly Bear from Shields (pre-order CD from Amazon) – out Sept. 11th
The first track, “Sleeping Ute,” from Shields was released early this month. Daniel Rossen’s performance on vocals and guitar is particularly impressive. The song is deep but edgy at the same time, which is a remarkable thing for a musician to evoke. It demonstrates a maturation of their style and sophistication of their sound. There is every indication that when Shields is officially released next month, it’ll quickly become one of the best albums of 2012.
Poor Moon Readies Release of Debut LP on August 28th
Next week is the official release of the debut album by the new supergroup, Poor Moon. The band is a side project of Fleet Foxes‘ members Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott, and includes musician brothers Ian and Peter Murray. The band first began to get notice earlier this year with, including a couple of fantastic folk rock singles, including the track, “Birds.”
You can pre-order Poor Moon’s debut via Amazon in either MP3 or CD
Austin Instrumental Band Balmorhea Set to Release Sixth LP
Balmorhea is a six-member instrumental indie band from Austin which are known for their unique compositions. The band’s body of work – including five full-length albums – focus on motifs of the American Southwest: the folklore of Texas settlers, the emotive proclamations of the mountainous setting, and intimate studies on solitude, nature, and night time. Over the years, the band has added a string section and full percussion to create a rich and layered sound that is simultaneously concise and complex, uniting a confluence of ideas, textures, and styles into one genre-defying landscape.
The New Yorker called the band’s music “an exemplary experiment in restraint.” Balmorhea has toured the US and Europe five times each, including shows with Fleet Foxes, Mono, Tortoise, Bear in Heaven, Sharon Van Etten, Damien Jurado, and Here We Go Magic. Also, listen to the new single from Sera Cahoone‘s upcoming release, Deer Creek Canyon, set to drop on September 25th.
The Luyas Release New Single from Album to Drop in October
Earlier this month, Montreal indie pop band The Luyas announced a new album, Animator, set to be dropped on Oct. 16th via Dead Oceans. The band’s 2011 album, Too Beautiful to Work, was their second LP, and their Dead Oceans’ debut. The Luyas share members of another popular Canadian indie band, Bell Orchestre. “Fifty Fifty” is the first single from Animator.
This week’s Fresh Tracks features some sah-weet new advanced singles from upcoming albums due out this month, plus the freshest singles were liking the most right now. There’s just so much: so, this mix should keep you going for a while. There are just released new singles, lead tracks from anticipated albums, songs that were sent directly to us, and a few that we found on other blogs and websites.
Counting The Days for Wilco’s New LP to Officially Drop
First, though, we wanted to see how many of you were able to catch the exclusive 24 hours-only stream of Wilco‘s new album, The Whole Love, last Saturday? As probably is the case for most other Wilco fans – and that’s millions of music lovers around the world – we missed that golden opportunity to stream the band’s eighth studio album last weekend via the band’s website.
The Whole Love, which is set to drop on Sept. 27th, is our No. 1 the most anticipated album of the month – now we’ll just have to wait two and a half weeks to hear it in its entirety, unless we get lucky and NPR or Spinner get the golden honor of being allowed to stream the album before the 27th. Back in June, we were treated to the first advance single from the album, “I Might” – a bright, uptempo rock song that is mostly absent of the band’s signature country rock sound that have been so prevalent in the band’s recordings since they released their debut album, AM, in 1992.
“I Might” is one of the catchiest rock songs we’ve heard in 2011 – complete with a heavy rhythmic bass, 1960’s psych rock keyboard infusions, an addictive melody accented by a oo-hoo-oo choruses, riveting guitar licks, Jeff Tweedy‘s one-of-kind vocals, a steady drum beat, and even a sprinkling of xelophone notes throughout.
“I Might” – Wilco from The Whole Love
“I Might” is just impossible to ignore; don’t be surprised if you find yourself playing it again and again. Without yet having the luxury of listening to the entire album, we can say that just based on “I Might” itself, Wilco sounds better than they ever have, and that’s saying a whole lot for a band that have been the top of the heap for years.
Let’s sweeten this post even more with the band performing another track from The Whole Love, called “Born Alone.”
“Born Alone” – Wilco from The Whole Love
Hot, New Track from Wavves and Best Coast Drops; Plus, It’s “Weekend”
A couple of months ago, we posted the first single from the collaboration between lo-fi rocker Wavves and one of the top indie pop groups of the past couple of years, Best Coast. The upcoming release of Wavves’ self-released EP Life Sux will include a number of tracks featuring Best Coast’s front-boo Bethany Cosentino on vocals. Also listen to the first track the pair released a couple of weeks ago, “I Wanna Met Dave Grohl” – we think the chances of them actually meeting the Foo Fighters‘ frontman, and former Nirvana drummer, are higher now that it was put into a song. It’s almost like Dave Grohl is obligated at this point.
The collaborative has just made posted another single called “Nodding Off”; unfortunately, it is only available right now via Soundcloud.
Class Actress Releases Advance Track from Debut LP
In case you haven’t already heard of the blogger buzz artist Class Actress, here their newest track, suitably named “Weekend.” With a constant computerized drum pop beat and new wave style keyboards oozing about, combined with the sultry and sweet vocals of Class Actress’ Elizabeth Harper. As she sings again and again in the track, “bring on the weekend.”
For good measure, we are also including the July release of the track, “Keep You,” to help provide a contrast for romantic electro-pop music lovers who may be hearing Class Actress for the first time. Earlier this summer, the band dropped its debut EP, Journal Of Ardency, with the keeper tracks “Keep You” and “Careful What You Say.”
“Weekend” – Class Actress from Rapprocher – out TBD
“Keep You” – Class Actress from Journal Of Ardency
Christ Letcher’s New Album Is A Musical Spectroscrope
After we Twitted and shared the terrific advance track from London songwriter and film composer Chris Letcher‘s upcoming album, Spectroscope, last week, it attracted a huge amount of spins. In case you don’t follow us on Twitter or Facebook, we have included the track, “Phone Booth” again, providing for us another excuse to play it again. Letcher is one of the most talented ‘new’ U.K. songwriters in our book; it was his fantastic 2007 debut LP, Deep Freeze, that put Letcher on the radars of so many bloggers and mainstream music critics as well.
“Phone Booth” – Chris Letcher from Spectroscope – Sept. 20th
Megafaun Prep for Release of Self-Titled Album out September 20th
Another anticipated album coming out this month is Megafaun‘s self-titled album slated to officially drop on September 20th. Not much has come out in advance of the album, which is understandable in one respect – any music that has some connection with Bon Iver (aka, Justin Vernon and band), is going to get a lot of attention and interest just based on the popularity of the Bon Iver brand itself.
Megafaun‘s new record reportedly has much of Phil Cook’s banjo work in it, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem as the other elements – like guitars, keys and a variety of other instruments – will likely compensate for any annoyance the banjo might pose for Megafaun fans. For those of you who may not know, Megafun’s members are former band members of Bon Iver.
“State/Meant” – Megafaun from Megafaun – Sept. 20th
IRC BTW Hospitality Sign to Merge; Drop New Track
A band that will soon be featured in an upcoming Bands to Watch feature, and which will likely also make our Breakout Bands of 2011 list is Brooklyn indie pop quartet, Hospitality (harder to find information quickly in Google with such a name, but oh well, it’s the music that matters). Yesterday it was announced that the band signed to Merge Records to record their self-titled debut LP set for release in early 2012. The album is being produced by Shane Stoneback, who has produced Vampire Weekend and Sleigh Bells, among others. So, we are thrilled to present the brand new advance track, “Friends of Friends.” More on Hospitality in the next couple of weeks.
“Friends of Friends” – Hospitality from Hospitality
Princeton’s New Track, “Clamoring For Your Heart”; Mwahaha Drops Debut LP
Next, one of our favorite breakout bands of 2008-2009, Santa Monica indie pop band, Princeton, jump back into the Fresh Tracks bucket with a new song that the band sent to us earlier this week. “Clamoring For Your Heart” is Princeton’s second seven-inch single of 2011, but there is still no word of whether a new album is even in the works, let alone set to be released.
The band’s last album, and of the best of the years altogether, was 2008’s Cocoon of Love. There is no doubt that the wonderfully jangly and uptempo “Clamoring For Your Heart” puts Princeton back in the arena after their hiatus. In another way, the track sounds like Magnetic Fields if they took happy pills.
But before spinning more advance tracks from anticipated September album releases, let’s listen to a few newly minted singles from albums scheduled for release between now and December (more from these months soon). The track “Rainbow Diamond” from the self-titled, debut album by Mwahaha, has been on replay since it hit our mailbox earlier this week, even though it doesn’t drop until right before Christmas.
Nevertheless, it’s an impressive debut single from a band that almost no one has heard of before. “Rainbow Diamond” is a sprawling, psychedelic rock opera that has put Mwahaha on our Radar Love list – and who will be profiled in a new Radar Love mix once we are able to get our hands on more of the band’s songs. As long we are talking about debuts, we are also digging the interestingly titled indie rocker, “Chicken 80,” from Social Climbers, who will release their self-titled, debut album later this month.
“Chicken 80” – Social Climbers from Social Climbers – Sept. 20th
For those of you who are fans of the band The Rest, you probably already know about the bands’ upcoming new LP, set for official release in February 2012. The good thing is you can download two advance tracks from The Rest’s Bandcamp page, or just listen to them right here. The Bandcamp page also has details about ordering some of the special vinyl editions the band is creating for this release.
The album, Seesaw, which took more than a year to record, almost never made it out of the recording studio – more accurately, all of the songs for the album, the band tells us, were erased from a computer hard-drive after a “glitch.” So the band turned to a well regarded data recovery firm, and five months later, the specialists were able to recover every song.
These are two really fine tracks, “Always On My Mind” and “The Last Day,” demonstrate a band that has the gift of writing and recording music that is so wonderfully fuse styles from shoegaze and soul to tropical and indie pop.
“Always On My Mind” – The Rest from Seesaw – Feb. 2012
“The Last Day” – The Rest from Seesaw – Feb. 2012
These are all singles from upcoming albums that, in most cases, we haven’t heard yet, so the focus is on the singles – with everyone being so busy nearly 24/7, singles are a great way to be introduced to a band. In October, dream-pop breakout band Braids will release a split 7″ with the band Purity Ring via Fat Possum Records. Here are both tracks.
“Peach Wedding” – Braids from split 7″ with Purity Ring – Oct. 10th
“Belispeak” – Purity Ring from split 7″ with Braids – Oct. 10th
It used to be that a great single would mean that people would go out and buy the record or CD, which the record companies loved. But with the cherry-picking age of the singular MP3s, people now increasingly opt to pay $.99 cents or less for only the tracks they want to own; thus, the album, as a concept, is all but dead.
Another thing the record industry doesn’t like are long songs – bands are consistently pressured to avoid writing and recording songs that run over three to four minutes. A five-minute song is pretty much the longest duration that many radio stations are willing to play – and that has been the case for decades of pop music.
Royksopp’s 13-Minute Single Out Now Ahead of New LP
But it’s not quite the same for electronic and dance music – two genres (that often overlap) where longer songs are the norm. However, even by that definition, 13 minutes is considered a long haul, but for fans of the popular Norwegian dance duo Royksopp, it’s unlikely they’ll fault the duo for a song that is five times as long as the typical radio hit. That said, this brand new track from the duo, “Shores of Easy,” doesn’t really get the junk funking until about eight minutes in, but then again they are not primarily a dance duo anyways.
Either way, for hardcore fans of Rokysopp, the release of “Shores of Easy” is just a tease for the new album, which was indicated by a note on their website that read: “new material is brewing.” Since they threw that buzzword in there – “brewing” – we must admit this track sounds more fitting for the after hours party on Halloween.
“Shores of Easy” – Rokysopp from TBA
Although we had already covered Gold Beach‘s new album in this week’s Best New Releases MP3 mixtape, we did not know at the time that another track from the album, oddly titled, “Gold Beach,” was available for posting. So, we had to include it in this post because it’s a crazily addictive track. Photo by Laura Zalenga
“Gold Beach” – Gold Beach from Habibti
Along similar lines, we also almost missed the newest release, Constellations, from the band, Grand Atlantic. We’ve had the band on our radar screens for a couple of years now, so it is a nice surprise to have found out after the fact that their new album already on September 2nd. The track below, “Carved from Stone,” is the first single from Constellations.
“Carved from Stone” – Grand Atlantic from Constellations
Fresh Tracks from Warm Ghost, Dum Dum Girls, Pajama Club, The Caseworker, Blessed Feathers
Other choice picks off albums out this month include singles from bands we already have in our collection, like Warm Ghost, Nurses, Dum Dum Girls and Wiretree, as well as new-to-us bands like Pajama Club, The Caseworker, Blessed Feathers, and others.
“GTWS” – Warm Ghost from from Narrows – Sept. 27th
As the new tunes keep rolling in, we’re doing our best to filter them and publish them to the site – hundreds each month. This new installment of Fresh Tracksfeatures new songs from recently released, and upcoming, albums, EPs and singles by a diverse and eclectic mix of bands and artists. As with most Fresh Tracks mixtapes, there are songs we found surfing the web, that came to us in dee mail, and that we selected from the hundreds of submissions we receive each month via the band submission form. After releasing a slew of 7″ singles, the Denver noise-pop duo Gauntlet Hair have set October 18 for the release of their self-titled debut album via Dead Oceans. As one of the dozens upon dozens of spectacular bands that emerged big time on the ‘indie’ scene in 2010, Gauntlet Hair continue to impress with each new song release. Thankfully, the band will finally see the official release of their self-titled debut album in October.
A Gowanus-based duo, Lightouts sounds a lot like The Cure on the new track “Only The Smart Ones” (but we’re not complaining, it’s a great track) and we’re keeping our ears out for their debut album, Want. If you love the 90’s post-punk, New Wave, goth rock sounds, you’ll probably be looking out for the release date of Lightouts’ debut; we’ll definitely post something – even if just via our Twitter or Facebook accounts – Next, Air Review, deliver one of the best indie folk pop (think Sufjan Stevens) tunes of the year with “America’s Son,” an exceptional and deep track from the upcoming fall release of their self-titled debut album.
“Only The Smart Ones” – Lightouts from Want – TBA
Doubleshot: “And It Comes And Go” – Lightouts from Want
“America’s Son” – Air Review from America’s Son – Nov. 1st
Ganglians, Neon Indian, Rubblebucket Release New Songs
Ganglians have been one of the blogger buzz bands of the past couple of years, and they once again prove why they are deserving of the hype with the brand new track, “Sleep” from the upcoming release of their new album. Plus, Neon Indian, arguably a leading force in the chillwave movement of the past few years, has a new single from the upcoming September release of his new album Era Extraña. And, what some critics think is one of the top breakout bands of 2011, Rubblebucket just dropped a new single ahead of a planned debut LP.
“Sleep” – Ganglians from Still Living – Aug. 23rd
“Fall Out” – Neon Indian from Era Extraña – Sept. 13th
“Came Out of a Lady” – Rubblebucket from new single
New Tracks from Carousel, Gabriel Miller Phillips, House of Wolves and More
Another duo, Carousel, from Cambridge in the U.K., caught our attention with a new cover of The Stone Roses‘ “Here To Me,” full of shoegaze hooks and buzz saw riffs fronted by female vocals that draws comparisons to Cut Copy meets School of Seven Bells. We also like Gabriel Miller Phillips, House of Wolves, Brown Shoe, and The Chocolate Horse.
“Here To Me” (Stone Roses) – Carousel from single
“Star Crossed” – Gabriel Miller Phillips from One for the Crow – Sept. 13th
“50’s” – House of Wolves from Fold In The Wind – TBA 2011
“Colt Rider” – Brown Shoe from The Gift Horse – Oct. 18th
“Escape All Responsibility” – The Chocolate Horse from Beasts – Aug. 16th
Magicks’ Debut, Big Black Delta, TV Girl, Tim Cohen and More
Magicks is a new one-man band and the creation of Jason Magicks, an audio engineer. Magicks sound is wonderfully crafted, featuring rich layers of sounds blended with guitar, bass and a microphone. Download Magicks EP Triangles for free via Bandcamp. Slightly improv/theme based, a Magicks set is unique from night to night. In August, he’ll perform in Austin and Los Angeles.
“Cycles of Sine Waves Peaking Through Valleys” – Magicks from Triangles EP – Aug. 9th
“Huggin and a Kissin” – Big Black Delta from Big Black Delta – Aug. 16th
“Baby You Were There” – TV Girl from TV Girl EP
“Daylight Moon” – Tim Cohen from Magic Trick – Aug. 30th
“Important” – The Hunting Accident from the New Black – Aug. 16th
Listen to more Fresh Tracks mixtapes only on Indie Rock Cafe
The Fresh Tracks mixtape series has really exploded since we fired up the first installment last year. So, like Ray Davies of The Kinks shouts in the title track of the band’s splendid 1981 LP release: “Give the people what they want.” The idea behind the Fresh Tracks series is to highlight newly released tracks from upcoming releases by a wide range of bands, including Cymbals Eat Guitars, M83, VHS or Beta, Golden Bloom, The Stone Foxes, Chairlift, Loney Dear, and many others.
The flow of new tracks from upcoming releases is like a fast-rushing river in the spring after a winter of heavy snowfall. It’s a challenge, to say the least, to keep up with them all. So, one way to do that is to simply put together regular playlists for the Fresh Tracks mix series. We’d love to have more time to review each track, but we’re simply so busy with other posts that are in the pipeline that we need to stay focused. The silver lining in that cloud is that you get to listen (and download by right clicking on the song title and choosing “Save As” to your computer) to a mixtape unabated and without any preconceptions.
Please keep in mind that all MP3s are free and legal, and in return, show a little love for your favorite artists – buy some of their music, go to a show, or even Like or Retweet them. Indie artists really need their fans to support them anyway they can, because they certainly can’t make a living selling music (with a few exceptions). We hope you enjoy this latest Fresh Tracks mix, and please let the community know what you think by using the comments section below.
“Rifle Eyesight” – Cymbals Eat Guitars from Lenses Alien – Aug. 30th
You probably know by now that we do things kind of different here. For example, we rarely ever post just one or two songs and call it a day. Instead, we regularly publish at least five to 10 songs per post, and often many more. Every month – and especially during the past year and a half – we receive hundreds of songs and albums, and discover others during our regular excursions on the web.
Next, we shave down the stacks of new tracks by keeping only the songs we like the most (doesn’t matter who they are from), and ‘letting go’ of the others. The final cut tracks then go into a playlist that we share and listen to again and again before deciding which playlist series they best fit.
As is always the case, the amount of new songs and albums pile up faster than there is time to really listen to, research and write about everyone of them. Therefore, we often opt for creating mixtapes and playlists that have a common theme, whether it’s Best New Releases, Recent Releases We Almost Missed, S-25 Mix, In Dee Mail, Bands to Watch, and many others.
One of our favorite newer mixtape series is Fresh Tracks, which is simply a mix of some of our favorite new songs that we’ve received in the past few weeks from upcoming albums. So, we decided this latest installment of Fresh Tracks would work perfectly with this week’s S-25 Mix
This latest Fresh Tracks is jam-packed with new singles by Wooden Shjips, The Fair Ohs, Dominant Legs, Jim Ward, Argyle Johansen, Pepper Rabbit, Nurses, Peter Wolf Crier, The Mekons, VHS or Beta, Oax, Little Deadman, Scott Miller, Cuckoo Chaos, The Cinema, Fruit Bats and Luke Temple – and many others.
Tell Us What You Think About This Stack of Fresh Tracks
We are really want to hear your feedback about the songs and/or bands in today’s mix, so please use the Comments section. Plus, your comment may be included in another post on the site and will be seen by literally thousands of people every day. We think there are some dope tracks in this mix, and perhaps more than a few that may be getting their first “big” exposure on the indie blogosphere today.
“Baldessari” – The Fair Ohs from Everything Is Dancing – July 26th
“Lazy Bones” – The Wooden Shjips from West – Aug. 23rd
“Hoop of Love” – Dominant Legs from Invitation – Sept. 27th
“Broken Songs” (with Tegan Quin) – Jim Ward from Quiet In The Valley, On The Shores The End Begins & The Electric Six – Aug. 2nd
“Only We Can Keep You From Harm” – Young Buffalo from Young Von Prettylips – July 18th
“Percocet Blues” – Argyle Johansen from Argyle Johansen and His Inner Demo(n)s – Sept. 6th
“July” – Youth Lagoon from The Year of Hiberation – Sept. 27th
“Alive” – Armand Margjeka from Margo Margo – Aug. 9th
“Escape All Responsibility” – The Chocolate Horse from Beasts – Aug. 16th
“Rosemary Stretch” – Pepper Rabbit from Red Velvet Snow Ball – Aug. 9th
“Die to Rest” – Prophets & Kings from Prophets & Kings- Aug. 9th
“Another Day” – Echo Lake from Another Day/Breathe Deep 7″ – July 18th
“Right Away” – Peter Wolf Crier from Garden of Arms – Sept. 6th
“Space in Your Face” – The Mekons from Ancient & Modern – Sept. 27th
“I Found a Reason” – VHS or Beta from Diamond & Death – Sept. 27th
“Love and Crashing” – Oax from This Distance – July 12th
“Post Helado Madness” – Little Deadman from Shooting Seagulls EP – July 19th
“Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WVa – A Story of The Real Americana (F.A.Y. version)” – Scott Miller from Lo Siento, Spanishburg, WVa – A Story of The Real Americana – July 12th
Jeff Tweedy of Wilco performs Monday night at Sasquatch Fest - Photo by James Bailey
Wilco ceremoniously closed the 10th annual Sasquatch Festival Monday evening after four days of one of the best line-ups we’ve seen so far for a 2011 music festival.
Jeff Tweedy and the band rocked through a two-hour set in front of a crowd of thousands of weary, chilly and wet Wilco fans who were nonetheless enthusiastic and visibly enjoying the final performance at the Gorge Ampitheatre in Quincy, Washington.
The celebrated Chicago alternative rock band (even though they covered so many genres over the years), and one of America’s finest musical exports of the past 15 years, Wilco was the final performance of a festival that is increasingly one of the top U.S. festivals along with the more recognized fests like Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. Here are a couple of the original tracks the band played on Monday night, plus a full stream of Wilco’s entire set.
“A Shot In The Arm” – Wilco from Summerteeth (1998)
Hear Wilco’s entire Sasquatch set via NPR.
Note: Make sure to check back for more of our post Sasquatch coverage during the next couple of days.
Colin Meloy of The Decemberists performs Monday night at Sasquatch Festival in Washington state. Photo by James Bailey
Previous to Wilco, The Decemberists rocked and swooned the crowd with a set list featuring indie classics from their earlier folky maritime-themed albums to songs from their latest, and number one album, The King is Dead, which has clearly catapulted the band out of indie realm and into the world of mainstream rock. But labeling did not matter to the thousands of festival goers who were treated to an electrifying performance, starting off with the dramatic saga, “The Infanta.” After The Decemberists, catch some of Deerhunter‘s set on the Bigfoot stage.
“The Infanta” – The Decemberists from Picturesque (2005)
“June Hymn” – The Decemberists from The King is Dead (2011)
Surfer Blood were one of the big attractions on the Yeti stage on Monday during Sasquatch
Part of what made Sasquatch so amazing, and yet so challenging, was the fact that the line-up was smoking hot nearly all day and all of the night on each of the four stages. For example, prior to Deerhunter, the Bigfoot stage hosted performances on Monday from !!!, Surfer Blood, Black Mountain, Noah & The Whale, Twin Shadow, Givers and others.
“Druganaut” – Black Mountain from Black Mountain (2005)
“I Have Nothing”* – Noah and The Whale from The First Days of Spring (2009)
Note: As much as possible, we only use .mp3 links from record labels, publicists, box.net and blogs that make there own .mp3 links available to Hype Machine and other music services. If we have a song link to your own blog but you want us to remove it, please leave a comment and we’ll get it much faster than our email, which is spammed to kingdom come.
– Stream and download partial sets from Black Mountain, City and Colour and Foster The People.
Best Coast performed the last show on the Yeti stage for Sasquatch Fest on Monday. Photo via Line Out.
Meanwhile, on the Yeti stage Monday, festival goers were treated to sets from indie artists like Jaill, The Young Evils, White Denim, Foster The People, and Best Coast. The latter two bands drew good-sized crowds as the afternoon wore on. In and of itself, that line-up on just one rather small stage is a winner for any indie festival.
“Boyfriend” – Best Coast from Crazy For You (2010)
“The Stroller” – Jaill from That’s How We Burn (2010)
“Houdini” – Foster The People from Torches (2010)
Wavves lit up the Yeti stage on Monday to kick-off Day Four of Sasquatch. Photo from James Bailey
Earlier in the day, on the main stage, Sasquatch, a gigantic platform set far down the bottom of a hillside, and , there were awesome performances from Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (stream), Guided By Voices, Chromeo, Old 97s, Young The Giant, and Wavves (stream) kicked it off with the first show of the day on the Yeti stage at lunch time.
“Diablo Rojo” – Rodrigo Y Gabriela from Rodrigo Gabriela (2007)
“June Salutes You” – Guided By Voices from The Official Ironmen Rally EP (2006)
“King of the Beach” – Wavves from King of the Beach (2010)
If you are a fan of Guided By Voices, Major Lazer, Noah and the Whale, Old 97s and Rodrigo Y Gabriela you can stream via NPR to hear parts of their sets from Sasquatch on Monday.
Check back, and refresh this page, for further updates, plus, don’t miss our Sasquatch Festival reviews for Sunday, Saturday and Friday, featuring coverage of even more performances and songs from Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, Bright Eyes, Death Cab For Cutie, Tokyo Police Club, Beach House, J. Mascis, Yeasayer, Sleigh Bells, The Radio Dept , The Globes, The Head and The Heart, Local Natives, Sharon Van Etten, Wolf Parade, Wye Oak, The Antlers, Iron & Wine, The Thermals, Washed Out, and it simply goes on and on.
Fcked Up leads off this installment of Fresh Tracks with two new tracks from their upcoming release, David Comes to Life, the second part of a series about an imaginary town called David. OnRecord Store Day, Fcked Up released David’s Town, a compilation of fictional bands.
“The Other Shoe” – F*cked Up from David Comes To Life – out June 7th
“A Little Death” – Fuc*ed Up from David Comes to Life
Here’s a complete list of all 27 bands and artists with new MP3 singles in this installment of Fresh Tracks:
Fuc*ed Up Here We Go Magic Tape Deck Mountain Motorboater 1,2,3 Thee Oh Sees Crystal Antlers Thurston Moore Craig Wedren (with Conor Oberst and Janet Weiss)
YACHT Okkervil River Ledbellies Country Mice Eternal Summers Ming Ming John Lamanica Fan Modine Blithe Field
Ghostly Dust Machine Virgin of the Birds White Belt Yellow Tag Pat Jordache Other Lives The Morning Birds Buxter Hoot’n Chilly Gonzalez Seapony
Following F*cked Up, we just got in some new tracks from upcoming releases by Here We Go Magic and Art Brut. Even though they just released a very good LP a few months ago, next week HWGM will release The January EP, which features a collection of songs produced at the band’s upstate New York recording studio. These songs clearly demonstrate the band’s expanding talent, by now well known within the indie music realm, for creating a musical world with Luke Temples vocals soaring and spinning from track to track. Here We Go Magic are currently touring the U.S.
We just got this tour-only single from Tape Deck Mountain. The song, “Kellies,” will be limited to only 100 cassettes to be sold during TDM shows. On June 2, the band kicks off a multi-city tour with indie band, Woodsman. Plus, here’s a new track, “Left Limb” from Motorboater, from his upcoming debut due in June via The Record Machine.
“Kellies” – Tape Deck Mountain
“Left Limb” – Motorboater
Next up, are a couple of bands that we’re watching closely as they really start to rise in popularity. They are Pittsburgh duo 1,2,3 have sent out the lead single from their upcoming June 21st debut, New Heaven, and San Francisco indie psych-rock band Thee Oh Sees, a band that has been climbing up on the ladder of ‘indie’ recognition, if you will over the past year or so, will release their sophomore album, Castlemania, on May 17th. (Pre-order here)
“I Need Seed” – Thee Oh Sees from Castlemania – out June 14th
Note: You can click on the album titles to order or pre-order most of the tracks in today’s post mixtape. Plus, you’ll get 20 gigs of free (no hidden charges) of cloud space from Amazon.
We’re digging a brand new song, “Summer Solstice,” from Crystal Antlers upcoming new album, Two Way Mirror, set to drop on July 12th. The track, which is the first single from the LP, starts out with a few mellow synth keys and then breaks out into an earnest, melodic semi-rocker with an uplifting rhythm and horsed vocals only to quickly fade away and fizzle out much like it started.
Our criticism of the song is that it is much too short (right as we were getting into it, the track winds down). We really wanted them to exploit the opportunity of a song that had it going on, and set off on a blazing jam with high octane synth and guitar licks, but instead, as we said, a great song ended way to soon. The track comes to us by way of Consequence of Sound, which has a nice piece about the new album by Crystal Antlers.
“Summer Solstice” – Crystal Antlers from Two Way Mirror
“Benediction” is a fresh track from Sonic Youth founder Thurston Moore‘s up-coming solo album, Demolished Thoughts. Also, don’t miss Fresh Tracks from YACHT‘s upcoming album, Craig Wedren with Conor Oberst and Janet Weiss, plus, the lead single from Okkervil River‘s new LP, I Am Very Far, and new songs from Country Mice, Ledbellies, and Eternal Summers.
“Benediction” – Thurston Moore from Demolished Thoughts – out May 24th
“Are We” (featuring Conor Oberst and Janet Weiss)” – Craig Wedren from Are We single
“Dreaming” – Seapony from Go With Me – out May 31st
“Dystopia” – YACHT from Shangri-La – out June 21st
“Morning Son” – Country Mice from Twister – out June 7th
“Cog” – Eternal Summers from Prisoner
Ming Ming
Lefse Records just sent us this somewhat dark, and at times, chaotic, instrumental track from Ming Ming‘s upcoming album, set to be released on June 28th. Also, check out Art Brut‘s “Lost Weekend,” the first track from their May 23rd album release Brilliant Tragic! The lead track is as menacing as its title, “Eater Of The Dead.” Plus, check out a fresh track from singer/songwriter John Lamanica and a lead single from an upcoming releases by Fan Modine.
“Eater Of The Dead” – Ming Ming from TBA – June 28th
“Heartling” – John Lamanica from Volunteers
“Julu Road” – Fan Modine from Gratitude for The Shipper – May 24th
Blithe Field, Ghostly Dust Machine, Virgin of the Birds
Blithe Field is Spencer Radcliffe – a 19 year old producer from Ohio, specializing in messy sample based electronic music. A label promoter said his sound is “like if Gold Panda ditched Ableton to record outdoors on an old sampler that didn’t work at speeds above 120 bpm.”
We’re definitely digging this first track, “Crushing” from Blithe Field’s debut album, Two Hearted, due out June 28th.
“Crushing” – Blithe Field from Two Hearted
Bad Panda Records just sent in two new tracks – one from the classy down-tempo of the Ghostly Dust Machine project, inspired by Canadians J. Dilla, Nujabes and D.J. Krush, plus, a new track from Virgin of the Birds that has a 1960’s vibe that straddles between lo-fi folk and the occasional grandeur of early art rock.
White Belt Yellow Tag, who are gearing up for their May 21st U.S. EP release, You’re Not Invincible, won critical acclaim in the U.K. last year for their debut album featuring unashamedly big, anthemic, booming pop tunes mixed with their own brand of distorted, fuzzy rock. The band are often compared to The Doves. The NME proclaimed White Belt Yellow Tag possess “the artistic solemnity of Elbow or Doves” and The Fly said “they are confident, moody, atmospheric and armed with glacial, killer tunes.”
“146 Ways To” – White Belt Yellow Tag from You’re Not Invincible – May 21st
The group is now performing in China, an inspiring tale of western music traveling across the barriers of music and culture, similar to the story of western rock breaking through the Iron Curtain of Soviet Russia in the early 1970’s.
From the rising band, Tuneyards, founding member Pat Jordache has recorded a new album, Future Songs, that was just released two weeks ago. Here’s the lead single, “Phantom Limb,” which we already think might end up on one of our Halloween Mixtapes in just less than six months from now.
“Phantom Limb” – Pat Jordache (Tuneyards) from Future Songs – April 26th
Plus, Oklahoma indie band Other Lives have presented a marvelously introspective, somewhat melancholy single that has been part of our in-cafe mixtape for the past few days. The song is the title track from Other Lives’ upcoming LP, Tamer Animals, set to officially drop on May 17th. The LP will be the band’s sophomore album on TBD Records, which released Other Lives’ official, self-titled debut in 2009. Check out an instrumental track from The Morning Birds that includes thunderclaps as percussion and the chant-sounding vocals of Thorington and Samuel Markus.
“For 12″ – Other Lives from Tamer Animals
“Quickening” – The Morning Birds
Buxter Hoot’n is an unsigned indie “roots rock” band from San Francisco, California. Buxter Hoot’n will release their third, self-titled album at the end of the month, and we have the lead single from it. The album displays the band’s “Americana roots, Rolling Stones’ swagger, pop sensibilities and honest lyricism,” according to their publicist.
Over the past five years, the band have opened for Jackie Green, Los Lobos, Builders and the Butchers, The Stone Foxes, The Devil Makes Three, and many others, and include among their top musical influences Bob Dylan and Allman Brothers. Their sophomore album, In Another Life, debuted as the #5 most added album for the Americana Music Association in September and has remained on their charts every week since.
“Blue Night” – Buxter Hoot’n
Claiming to be the world’s first orchestrated rap record (hmmm, oil and water?), Chilly Gonzalez is prepping to release The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzalez on June 7th. Without going into more details, the following track features a medley of ‘songs’ from the album. The main reason we are featuring this is to see what people’s reaction is to this experimentation. We are fence-sitting, but if we were to pick one of the most daring and bizarre albums of the year, this would be up in the top of the list. Maybe we’ll do that – a playlist mix of the weirdest albums of 2011.
“The Unspeakable Medley” – Chilly Gonzalez from The Unspeakable Chilly Gonzalez
On Saturday, the world finally got their hands on the highly anticipated, MP3-only album, The King of Limbs, from rock gods Radiohead. The King of Limbs is the long awaited follow-up LP to the band’s brilliant 2008 release, In Rainbows. With the release of the latter, Radiohead snuffed the corporate record label EMI by offering In Rainbows to fans for whatever fans wanted to pay. It was the shot heard around the recording industry. And fans reinforced Radiohead’s anti-corporate stance by purchasing hundreds of thousands of copies of In Rainbows in the first couple of months of its release.
This time around, Radiohead has made The King of Limbs available only from their own website, and no where else, yet without the name-your-price option, instead setting the price of the MP3 album at $9. What In Rainbows did in as as far empowering bands and their fans to connect directly with one another, we think The King of Limbs will do for elevating and building on that dynamic relationship. Just from a musical perspective, The King of Limbs is already receiving high praise from critics and fans alike.
The lead up to the release of The King of Limbs was insignificant compared to the massive million-dollar marketing campaigns that surround artists who have a fraction of the talent that the four members of Radiohead possess. It was apparent the band did not want a big fuss to be made around the release of the album. To that point, the release date for The King of Limbs was only announced on Valentine’s Day, five days before it’s official release. There was no advance single or NPR album stream. As with millions of other fans, we had been eagerly awaiting the web-only release of The King of Limbs all week, almost like little kids counting down the days to Christmas morning. But in fact, some savvy Radiohead heads discovered the band actually made the album available sometime on Friday.
And there they were – all eight fresh tracks from Radiohead sitting in our iTunes, waiting to be played. For whatever reason, Radiohead’s albums have the distinction of sounding better over time – like a fine, fruity wine. That said, it took only a few seconds of the first song to recognize the quintessential and intricate sound of one of the most beloved modern rock bands on earth. And, in a rush to put words to what we were hearing, we pretty much messed up our first hurried attempt to present an off-the-cuff, and somewhat intelligent, review of the album. We should have known better – Radiohead’s albums are way to layered and complex to summarize after just a couple of hours of listening.
Radiohead – Little By Little
It takes many, many spins over a number of months, even years, to begin to formulate a sensible review, but, not because their music is necessarily cryptic, but in fact because it is so magnificently arranged and recorded by each member of the band. Radiohead is so ahead of the rest of the music paradigm – and has been for years – that fans, writers and musicians are still studying (and copying) the band’s previous album when a new one drops. Just who do you expect to be at the top of the best albums of 2011 lists in nine or so months from now?
The first track here is Thom Yorke performing “Lotus Flower” during a solo acoustic show in Los Angeles in January of 2010.
“Lotus Flower” (Live 1/24/10) – Radiohead from The King of Limbs
The Strokes Build Anticipation for New LP with a Killer Single
Last week, New York‘s quintessential garage rock band, The Strokes, released the first track from their much anticipated new LP, Angles, due out March 22nd. The track, “Under The Cover of Darkness,” does not disappoint; it’s electrifying guitar rock just as we expect (and hope for) from The Strokes, backed by a catchy, shuffling rhythm, and a superbly addicting chorus. We realize that many of you have either heard the track or purchased it; but, we’re including it anyways for those who have yet to hear this awesome track.
Above is the official cover for Angles. We are seriously jonesing to hear the rest of the album. Hopefully, it will be released in a couple of weeks as an album stream on Spinner, NPR or even The Strokes’ website. Pre-order Angles from Amazon for only $11.94.
You may also want to check out the The S-25 Songs Mix in which The Strokes were the featured band.
Also, here’s behind-the-scenes footage of the band (minus Julian Casablancas for some reason) during recording of Angles. Why is the director whispering?
The New York rock band have also announced that a new, non-album single, “You’re So Right,” will be released as an exclusive Record Store Day vinyl edition on April 16th. The track will also be featured as the official B-Side to “Under Cover of Darkness,” which drops officially as a 7-inch single on March 1st.
Opus Orange Gives IRC Exclusive New Track
If you’ve been a regular reader of IRC for the past year or so, you may be familiar with the music of successful Los Angeles music composer Paul Bessenbacher, aka Opus Orange. In 2009, we were the first indie website to premiere the music of Opus Orange after hearing one of his songs on a Johnsonville Sausage commercial. Since then, our love for Opus Orange has only grown with each new release, and all seven OO songs we’ve published during the past 18 months have been big hits with our readers and visitors.
So, it’s with great excitement that we premiere a brand new, unreleased single from Opus Orange titled “Crystal Clear.” Let us know what you think. We call it ‘deliciously upbeat indie pop,’ perhaps OO’s best single yet.
“Crystal Clear” – Opus Orange, single 2011 – IRC Exclusive
We’ve been digging this spanking new track from The Raveonettes, complete with a percussion heavy, lo-fi indie rock romp that makes the track as exciting as the anticipation of the duo’s upcoming fifth album, Raven in the Grave, set to drop on April 5th. Pre-order here.
“Forget That You’re Young” – The Raveonettes from Raven in the Grave
Okkervil River’s Rondevu With “Mermaid”
Pitchfork premiered the new Okkervil River single, “Mermaid” last week, the first single from the popular indie band’s upcoming album, I Am Very Far. We have yet to hear any news of an Okkervil River tour to the support the May 10th release of the band’s newest album. One show is scheduled for June 7th at New York’s Terminal 5.
“Mermaid” – Okkervil River from I Am Very Far – out May 10th
The Submarines Come to the Surface with New Track
Every since one of their songs was included on a popular and frequently viewed commercial touting the new iPhone in 2008, The Submarines have built a fan following across the States and Europe. The Submarines are currently putting the final touches on their latest album, Love Notes/Letter Bombs. We’d love to know what you guys think of this advanced track, “Birds.” Pre-order the album on Amazon.
“Birds” – The Submarines from Love Notes/Letter Bombs
Popular Indie Film You Won’t Miss Me with Indie Soundtrack
On May 17th, the critically praised indie film, You Won’t Miss Me, will be available on DVD via Factory 25. The film, an official selection at Sundance and SXSW, and a Gotham Award Winner, is a kaleidoscopic film portrait of Shelly Brown, a 23- year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital. Starring Stella Schnabel, featuring Rene Ricard, and introducing other notable New York personalities, the film gives pathos to the frenzy of the youthful desire for acceptance.
Ronnie Scheib of Variety wrote about the film: ” This powerful, iconoclastic pic could gain a cult following,” and Nick Pinkerton of Village Voice, said the film “has a pure, 180-proof burn.”
The film’s theatrical run began in New York City in December 2010, followed by a substantial national tour. The soundtrack contains original songs by Stylofone, a band featuring members of Amazing Baby, MGMT and Standing Nudes. The following song is one of the tracks from the soundtrack.
Julian Lynch, the respected and rising one-man band from Ridgewood, New Jersey, has completed recording for his third album, Terra, slated to drop on April 24th. Growing up in Ridgewood, Lynch learned to play clarinet and guitar, and in high school, he performed in bands alongside future members of Real Estate, Titus Andronicus, and Family Portrait. He moved to Madison, Wisconsin in the fall of 2008 to begin a master’s program in Ethnomusicology.
“Terra” – Julian Lynch from Terra – out April 24th
Lovett Releases New Single from 2011 Release
Lovett has composed and scored a variety of independent films including The Signal which premiered at Sundance in 2007 and received the award for Best Score at the 2009 Brooklyn International Film Festival for the song, “The Last Lullaby.”
With an extensive background in film music, Lovett’s own original songs naturally possess the same kind of lush, visual translation as his previous artistry. “Eye Of The Storm” is the first of a thunderous series of nine cinematic music videos – one for each track on Lovett’s debut album Highway Collection, set for release on March 15th.
Directed by Chris Alender of Soapbox Films, the video is more accurately described as a short film, one transporting viewers into a richly detailed steam punk world where a lone skycaptain pilots an airship through the celestial heart of a raging storm.
“The Fear” – Ben Lovett from Highway Collection
Edward Sharpe Member Alexander Ebert Sets Solo Debut
Alexander Ebert of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will release his self-titled solo debut LP on March 1st. Also check out a fresh track from singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow‘s widely praised debut album, Early in the Morning.
“Truth” – Alexander Ebert from Alexander Ebert – out March 1st
“If I Had A Boat” – James Vincent Mcmorrow
Nodzzz Return with Their Sophomore LP
The San Francisco garage rock, poppy post punk band Nodzzz spent much of 2010 writing and recording the songs for their upcoming release, Innings. The band will tour the West Coast of the U.S. in late February, and during March in the U.K. The album is expected to be released early this coming summer.
“Time (What’s It Going to Do?)” – Nodzzz fromInnings
New 2011 songs are coming at us from all directions, and we’ve been filtering them out so that we can bring you only the best (well, our favorite new tracks is more accurate). Anyways, here are some awesome fresh tracks from Fleet Foxes, Beach Fossils, The Kills, Real Estate, Toro Y Moi, Holy Ghost, and others. The next Fresh Tracks mix that we’re going to publish on Saturday includes new material from R.E.M., Toro Y Moi, White Lies, Lovett, and The Luyas, to name a few.
From the first few seconds of the new single, “Helplessness Blues”, from indie folk icons, Fleet Foxes, all of the immense love and high praise we’ve always had for the band came rushing back with true enthusiasm and adoration. This is the first new single from Fleet Foxes since 2009, and it’s safe to assume that it will be on the next LP. In fact, the album (or just song?) cover art shown above is from the band, so it’s safe to assume that is the new album’s cover art and title, Helplessness Blues. Still trying to confirm this. Although we usually do not publish SoundCloud embeds (they often cause pages to slow down), when they’re all we can get our hands on from an anticipated release, then we’ll definitely include them in posts – but as a general rule we stick to MP3s because they work with the neat little Yahoo Media player, and via RSS and podcasts.
“Helplessness Blues” – Fleet Foxes from TBA – released date: TBA
P.S. – If you missed any of the Best New Releases from January, they’re still available for you to stream or download, including January 26th new releases – featuring, The Radio Dept., Woodsman, Cloud Nothings, Iron & Wine, Gang of Four, Deerhoof, Destroyer, The Veils, Grouplove.
Beach Fossils Follow-up Hit Debut with New EP
After publishing one of the best debut albums of 2010, and perhaps one of the best of the century (so far), Brooklyn‘s lo-fi popsters, Beach Fossils, have just released a new singles from their new EP, What a Pleasure, slated to drop February 22nd. We have two of the songs here.
“Calyer” – Beach Fossils from What A Pleasure – out Feb. 22nd
The Strokes Prepping First LP in Years
One of our favorite rock bands of all time, The Strokes, have set March 22nd as the release date for Angles. Here is a clip of the song “Under Cover of Darkness” (demo). While it is only a clip, any clip from a new Strokes’ tune is gratefully received.
In a couple of months, the legendary New York garage rock band will headline at Coachella to a sold out in hours mass of humanity. If that appearance is anything like The Strokes amazing performance last summer in San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Park during Outside Lands festival, then loyal fans and newbies are in for a truly remarkable experience. Angles will be the band’s first album since 2006’s First Impressions Of Earth.
Over the years, The Dodos have been high on our lists for their experimental pop songs that are not easily forgotten. After two wildly popular idnie albums – Visiter (2008) and Time To Die (2009) – it was great news when we got this new track from The Dodos over the weekend. The track, ironically titled, “Black Night,” starts with a heavy romp of a bass drum, almost like Iron Man stomping down a street.
Seconds into the song, the acoustic guitars build up a nice, hazy melody, followed with splashes of hoots, reverb-heavy harmonies, and buzzy synth injections. If this song is indicative of the rest of the album, we’re officially begging the band and their label to release an album stream ASAP. “Black Night” is the first single from their upcoming third LP, No Color.
“Black Night” – The Dodos fromNo Color (Bonus Version) – out March 15th
The Kills’ New EP Doesn’t Sound Like TWS
On April 5th, bluesy garage rock duo The Kills will drop their new album, Blood Pressures, on Domino Records. Although the two members that make up The Kills, American Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jim Hince (“Hotel”). The first single from Blood Pressures, “Satellite”, will be officially released on March 28th.
Notice that we didn’t compare The Kills to The White Stripes – apparently, the former detest the media’s persistent comparisons with The White Stripes. But isn’t there good reason to? Afterall, they’re a male and female garage rock duo who have even recorded in the same studio as the Stripes. Most rockers would love being compared to TWS.
One-third Animal Collective, and 100% Panda Bear, aka, Noah Lennox, and his record company, Paw Tracks, have moved up the release date for the long awaited Tomboy to April 12th. Looking forward to it. As for the album cover, we hope it’s not going to be the one example above that is being passed around as the official cover. There’s got to be a better album cover than that, just like there’s got to be a better sounding band to play the Super Bowl than Black Eyed Peas.
“Slow Motion” – Panda Bear from Tomboy – April 12th
Here’s the full track listing: Track list: 01 You Can Count on Me 02 Tomboy 03 “Slow Motion” 04 Surfer’s Hymn 05 Last Night at The Jetty 06 Drone 07 Alsatian Darn 08 Scheherezade 09 Friendship Bracelet 10 Afterburner 11 Benfica
Times New Viking’s Anticipated New LP Out in April
It was no surprise to us when Matador Records – one of the best alt rock labels ever – signed Times New Viking to their impressive roster. The band were legitimized for eternity when they toured with Pavement, and Guided By Voices, the latter of which is still on-going. TNV’s newest single, “No Room to Live,” is being sold as a limited 7-inch record at shows on their current tour. Here’s a demo of the track.
“No Room to Live” – Times New Viking from Dancer Equired – out April 26th
Real Estate Drops a Demo We Can Dig
During the last quarter of 2009, and the first half of 2010, the New Jersey indie band Real Estate were buzzing with plenty of blogger love and media praise. But the band seemed to fade into the background in the latter half of 2010, mostly because there were just so many other great acts emerging. Nevertheless, we are happy to have a new and likable track from the band ahead of their upcoming EP.
“Blue Lebaron” – Real Estate – date TBA
Holy Ghost Prep Debut LP for April
Holy Ghost are not yet as popular as we think they deserve to be. But we’re confident 2011 is going to be their year. The track, “Do It Again,” demonstrates why the duo are building a loud buzz on indie blogs and music sites. For their self-titled debut, due out April 12th, Holy Ghost scored guest vocals from Luke Jenner (Rapture), Chris Glover (Penguin Prison), and Michael McDonald; the Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers.
“Do It Again” – Holy Ghost from Holy Ghost
Cold Cave’s New Single Signals Industrial Rock Heyday
Wesley Eisold, better known in the indie world as Cold Cave, has a blistering, epic new single that’s throttling on high aggression mixed with electro pop backing. The song, “The Great Pan Is Dead” may remind some indie heads of Eisold’s involvement with Give Up the Ghost, and it echoes the 1980’s industrial rock heyday. Based on this blazing, melodic track, Cold Cave’s new album, Cherish The Light Years, could be one of the best LPs of 2011.
“The Great Pan Is Dead” – Cold Cave from Cherish The Light Years – out April 5th
Wading through hundreds of new songs sent in over the past couple of weeks can be daunting, especially when it comes down to picking which tracks will be featured on IRC. It’s even harder with so much else going on – holidays, year-end lists, planning 2011 events and coverage, and so on.
Last week, Sony Music actually released a public apology to the prolific Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and Atlas Sound fame. It turns out that Sony somehow “mistakenly removed” three of four volumes of Cox’s Databank demo series.
Photo of Bradford Cox as a kid is the cover of Bedroom Databank, Vol. IV
Cox had recently made available for free download four volumes of demos tape that he recorded in his bedroom, thus the series title, Bedroom Databank. The downloadable volumes include demos under his Altas Sound moniker, including covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Royal Trux and Kurt Vile.
“Freak Train” (Kurt Vile) – Altas Sound from Bedroom Databank, Vol. I
On Friday, the day Sony ordered the file-sharing website, MediaFire, to remove three of the four volumes, Cox responded: “Apparently Sony Music Owns my bedroom. I am re-uploading the files now.” The event caused a mini online protest from fans and bloggers, and within hours, Sony put out a press release apologizing to Cox, even though he is not a Sony artist. Cox released Vol. IV on Nov. 25th.
“Talent Show” – Atlas Sound from Bedroom Databank, Vol. IV
The Decemberists Giving Away First New Single from New LP
You’ve probably already heard that The Decemberistswill release their long anticipated new album, The King Is Dead, in January. The band are offering a free download of the first single from the LP, “Down By The Water” (not to be confused with The Drums song of the same name) , via their official website. You can bet there are many people waiting for this album to drop, including us.
“Down By The Water” – The Decemberists (featuring Gillian Welch) from The King Is Dead – Jan. 18th
Ex-Shiny Toy Guns Member Releases New EP With A Little Help From Her Friends
Ordinarily, these tracks would have been included with the next Recent Releases We Almost Missed mix because the songs were officially released on September 21st. But we dig them so much, and the other two songs on the EP, that we had to share them with you now.
Both tracks are from the new band, Versant, which was founded earlier this year by ex-Shiny Toy Guns member Carah Faye.
For her new musical project, Faye tapped into an impressive collective of musicians that include members of Generationals, Giant Cloud, Juston Stens and the Get Real Gang. The debut EP, Heartbeats, was both self-produced and self-released by Versant. The EP would make a great gift for anyone you know who liked STG more when Faye was in the band.
Sonny Smith Records with The Sandwitches and The Transients
Last year, Sonny Smith of Sonny and the Sunsets almost drowned off the north California coast. The near death experience affected him profoundly and led to a wealth of creative output, including a play, a novel, and a stack of songs. Smith’s critically acclaimed 100 Records project is itself a direct product of his fight with the sea.
The new, upcoming EP, set to drop on Dec. 11th, features appearances by members of The Sandwitches, and a long-lost band called, The Transients. The EP was recorded in San Francisco and mastered by Paul Oldman.
“Throw My Ashes From This Pier When I Die” – Sonny Smith and The Sandwitches and The Transients from 100 Records EP – Dec. 11th
Smith is best known for his band, Sonny and the Sunsets, whose single, “Too Young To Burn,” appeared on many summer mixtapes, including IRC’s wildly popular Summer Mixtapes series. We strongly recommend the band’s latest LP, Tomorrow Is Alright, which was released in August.
“Too Young To Burn” – Sonny and The Sunsets from Tomorrow is Alright
Jack White Produces Nashville’s Rising Artist PUJOL
Chances are that if Jack White is involved with a music project, it’s going to be something a lot of people will want to hear. Such is the case with White’s newest collaboration, as the producer of Nashville musician PUJOL, who is also known by some as the “Philosopher King of the Nashville Scene”.
The track, “Too Safe”, will be released as a double seven-inch on Dec. 11th via White’s Nashville label, Third Man Records.
“Too Safe” – PUJOL from Black Rabbit 7″ – Dec. 11th
Lubec Unleash Lead Track from Upcoming LP
We had never heard of Lubec until we came across this track, “Your Magic Wand”. The style of this catchy, lo-fi rocker is definitely post-punk. It has a sweet, but unrefined, beat and melody at the core, driven with a fast-moving percussions, and the swagger of a group of hard-drinking British lads ready to make some trouble. This lead track will appear on the new LP, Nothing is Enough, set for January 18th release. We’re looking forward to it, for sure.
“Your Magic Want” – Lubec from Nothing is Enough – Jan. 18th
NYC Indie Band Make Out Team up with Famed Producer for Debut EP
Earlier this year, New York vocalist Leah Hennessey, guitarist Jesper Mortensen (formerly of Junior Senior, aka Junior), bassist Anders Christiansen and drummer Olivia Alminiana joined forces to form the indie pop band, Make Out. Within a couple of months, the band had built a pretty good buzz in the highly competitive NYC ‘indie’ scene.
The band hooked up with producer Nicolas Vernhes (Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, The Fiery Furnaces) at his Rare Book Room studios in Brooklyn. During the ensuing weeks, the band spent much of their time in Vernhes’ studio recording the songs for their yet untitled debut EP, set for release in “early spring.” Based on this excellent single from the LP that was sent to us from the band, we think a lot more people will be taking about Make Out in 2011.
Eulogies’ Lead Vocalist Works Through Tragedy on New LP
The Los Angeles indie band Eulogies have released a new single in advance of the band’s third album, Tear The Fences Down, due out on January 18th.
The album is full of thoughts, stories and pain following the band’s lead vocalist Peter Walker‘s experience of learning that his business partner/best friend’s son was diagnosed (and later passed away) with cancer.
The lead track, “You Hide” is remarkably upbeat considering the severity of the situation. Often times, artists create some of their best work in the midst of pain and suffering. And there need to be rays of light to pierce the darkness. You may contribute to a cancer research foundation that was named for the boy, the Pablove Foundation.
“You Hide” – Eulogies from Tear The Fences Down – Jan. 18th
Psychic Powers Cross-Continental Collaboration Produces Terrific New Music
Psychic Powers is an ongoing cross continental collaboration between Ale Cohen and Nik Brinkman. The duos long distance relationship has resulted in the new album, Infinity. Standout tracks include “Brighter”, with its lush production full of synths and echoes, and the acoustic sounds of “Frozen,” which is appropriate for a cold winter night by the fire.
“Brighter” – Psychic Powers from Infinity
“Frozen” – Psychic Powers from Infinity
Jumple Records New Album Based on Jo Durbeck’s Travels
German minimal electronica maestro Jumpel has released his third album, Europa, inspired by Jo Dürbeck’s European travels. The new LP acts as a kind of an “abstracted sonic diary,” of interpretation through minimalistic ambient electronica tracks. The album includes the stunning single “Edinburgh” featuring the exquisite guest vocals of Chloë March married to Jumpel’s inimitable melancholic ambient pop. The song is an exercise in elegance and restraint.
For those of you who have followed us closely over the past year, you may already be familiar with one-woman band of Computer Magic. Well, she has a brand new track to share with us, “The End of Time.” Her synth-heavy electro-pop backed by thrilling percussion make this track the latest stand-out song from her growing discography.
“The End of Time” – Computer Magic, single release (2010)
Brooklyn band The Davenports have released their new single, “Miranda in Her Room,” featuring Shirley Simms of one our favorite indie bands, The Magnetic Fields. The track is the latest in a string of singles the band has released since the beginning of the year.
“Breaking Bones”
White Belt Yellow Tag, who are gearing up for their May 21st U.S. EP release, You’re Not Invincible, won critical acclaim in the U.K. last year for their debut album featuring unashamedly big, anthemic, booming pop tunes mixed with their own brand of distorted, fuzzy rock. The band are often compared to The Doves. The NME proclaimed White Belt Yellow Tag possess “the artistic solemnity of Elbow or Doves” and The Fly said “they are confident, moody, atmospheric and armed with glacial, killer tunes.”
