Category: 2011 Best New Releases

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Lately” – Black Whales from Shangri-La Indeed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Riding Holiday” – DMA from Drem Reb

“Infinitum” – Shabazz Palaces from Black Up

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

“Repatriated”– Handsome Furs from Sound Kapitol

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

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

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

“Crushing“ – Blithe Field from Two Hearted

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

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

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

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

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

“Tunguska” – Wax Museums from Eye Times

Other Releases We Don’t Necessarily Endorse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 28

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

Because there are so many noteworthy releases out this week, we divided up what would otherwise be one long post into two different playlist mixes that feature lead single MP3s (free and legal to download) from an exciting and diverse range of artists and bands who dropped new albums this week.

Just as we did for Part One of this week’s Best New Releases, we’ve listened to the mix below (Part Two) between three and four times all the way through. Naturally, we placed some of our favorites at the top of the mix, but really, we think all of the tracks below are worthy of inclusion, especially considering that, just like many of you, we’ve never even heard of most of these artists until this week.

Although we don’t have the time or resources right now (there’s just so much material coming from so many talented bands) to research, review and write up about all the promising bands and artists in this mix, we will definitely take note of the artists and songs that get played and downloaded (as well as hearted in Hypem) the most.

Along with Part One, it is likely that some of the songs from this mix will end up on the Top 10 Songs page, and some of the top bands – according to your ‘votes’ – will be featured in subsequent posts, and perhaps even end up on a Bands to Watch feature.

After listing to this mix a number of times in the cafe before deciding on which songs would make the final cut for Part Two (and combined with part one), we can say definitively that this is one of the best weeks of 2011 for terrific new singes from mostly new-to-us artists and bands, including Butcher The Bar (recommended for fans of Sufjan Stevens), Centro-matic,  and Bobby.

“Bobby” – Butcher The Bar from For Each A Future Tethered

“Only in My Double Mind” – Centro-matic (courtesy of Aquarium Drunkard) from Candidate Waltz

“Sore Spores” – Bobby from Bobby

Indie newbies Wonderful deliver bliss pop unabashedly; the White Hills rock out; the Grown-Ups go to “Business School;” Rubblebucket demonstrate great potential their terrific new album. Plus, Cassettes Won’t Listen (who were featured in Part One) got us to listen, by sending another track to share from their album Evinspacey. The album was originally titled Kevinspacey, but the actor sued the band to stop them from using his name. That’s a little bit of interesting music trivia for 2011.

“Rainbow Colors” –  Wonderful from Wake Up To Dreamland

“The Condition of Nothing” – White Hills from H-p1

“Business School” – Grown-Ups from Stopped Caring

“Worker” – Rubblebucket from Omega La La

“The Night Shines” – Cassettes Won’t Listen from Evinspacey (Stream)

Plus, we are also enjoying note-worthy songs from  Diva, Priory, Barn Owl, Chelan, Grieves, Helms Alee, The Mast,  Motorboater, Superhumanoids, Through The Sparks and Barbie Hatch. We are so interested in which songs and bands you guys and gals like the most, so please leave Comments. Your feedback is much appreciated and available to be viewed by 30,000 people a day, not to mention it helps us in deciding what to cover in the future.

“Glow Worm” – Diva from The Glitter End

“Shadowland” – Barn Owl from Shadowland

“Towers” – Chelan from Towers

“Lady of Late” – Priory from Priory

Bonus: “Kings of Troy” – Priory from Priory

“Bloody Poetry” – Grieves from Together/Apart

“Elbow Grease” – Helms Alee from Weatherhead

“Wild Poppies”– The Mast from Wild Poppies

“Chisel and Pick” – Through the Sparks from Almanac (MMX) Year of Beasts

“Lessons” – Motorboater from Sport

“Mikelah” – Superhumanoids from Mikelah single

“Stars” – Barbie Hatch from Hypertrophic Heart

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As summer approaches, you’ll see a spike in posts and playlists on IRC, not to mention plenty of new releases. This week’s Best New Releases, don’t contain any big 2011 anticipated drops, but there are still some terrific singles and albums from bands like Vetiver, Dark Mean, PlanningtoRock, Woods, and many others.

But, first, we wanted to kick off this edition of Best New Releases by recommending new albums from a few bands that we featured years ago, before they broke out, and who are still satisfying; in fact, they’ve only gotten better. For example, Vetiver, who we are excited about kicking off this mix with a doubleshot of new singles from their sophomore album, plus we are digging Dark Mean‘s new DIY release. The official CD release of Woods‘ new album, Sun & Shade (just in time for summer), is out this week.

Next up, is a band we featured not long ago called PlanningtoRock (but, they’ve gone beyond planning, we should say), followed by a free EP download from Junior Boys, and the standout title track, “The Fox” from Niki and The Dove‘s new album, and loving the dream pop of 13 & God’s “Old Age” very much here in the cafe. Plus, listen to and download new tracks from Thee Oh Sees, chill out with Brice Randall Bickford and get all tranced with Botantical Bullets.

Also of interest are some fresh tracks from albums by bands that are new to us, such as the catchy electro-pop/psychedelic rock track “Walking on Eggshells” by King Post Kitsch from The Party’s Over, and the almost equally awesome new-to-us artist Joel Plaskett presents “When I Go’ from the impossibly long titled album (see name believe). Plus, there are other great singles from new releases in today’s mix that we hope you enjoy.

“Can’t You Tell” – Vetiver from The Errant Charm

Bonus: “Wonder Why”– Vetiver from The Errant Charm

“Happy Banjo” – Dark Mean from Dark Mean (self-released)

“Pushing Onlys” – Woods from Sun and Shade

“Doorway” – Planningtorock from W

“A Truly Happy Ending” – Junior Boys from It’s All True EP

“The Fox” – Niki and the Dove from The Fox

“Old Age” – 13 & God from Own Your Ghost

“I Need Seed” – Thee Oh Sees from Castlemania

“Songstress” – Brice Randall Bickford from Brice Randall Bickford

“Fantastic Romantic” – Botanical Bullets from We Bleed Fluorescent (self-released)

“Rebound” – Sebadoh from Bakesale (Deluxe Edition)

“Panutup” – Diskjokke from Sagara

“Walking on Eggshells” – King Post Kitsch from The Party’s Over

“When I Go” –  Joel Plaskett from EMERGENCYs, false alarms, shipwrecks, castaways, fragile creatures, special features, demons and demonstrations

“Guess I Lied” – The Qualia from Memorial Gore (self-released)

“The Same Way” – Grace Sings Sludge from Last Year’s Friend

“Dark Allies” – Light Asylum from In Tension EP

June 14 – All Releases with Links to Artists’ Sites

Allie Moss – Late Bloomer
Andy Grammer – Andy Grammer
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings – Kings + Queens
Book of Knots – Garden of Fainting Stars
Emmy the Great – Virtue (U.K.)
Foo Fighters – Back and Forth (DVD)
Jackie Evancho – Dream With Me
Jill Scott – Just Before Dawn/From the Vault I
Junior Boys – It’s All True
Ledisi – Pieces of Me
Madeleine Peyroux – Standin’ on the Rooftop
Marc Broussard – Marc Broussard
Marcus Foster – Nameless Path (U.K.)
Marissa Nadler – Marissa Nadler
Owl City – All Things Bright & Beautiful
Pat Metheny – What’s It All About
Peter Bradley Adams – Between Us
Smoke Fairies – Through Low Light and Trees
Various – Red Hot and Rio 2
Vetiver – The Errant Charm

It’s another strong week for new indie rock releases with fresh albums from the Black Lips, Arctic Monkeys, Cults, F*cked Up, Dawes, Hooray For Earth, Almost Free, Hospital Ships, Givers, and many others. There’s no shortage of great indie releases this week, so we hope the singles will help you decide which albums you want to add to your collection.

We liked the Cults the first time we heard them, but here’s where the proverbial ‘indie question’ comes into play. Now that the Cults have signed to Columbia – one of the major record labels (considered for years as the ‘enemy’ by some musicians and music lovers, and as result, helped spawn the indie, or ‘independent,’ music movement, even though few people agree nowadays exactly what is and isn’t ‘indie’) – some fans are not exactly happy with the band’s decision.

The same question can be applied to so many bands. The Decemberists started out really indie, if you will, and then signed to Capitol.  But some people still consider them to be ‘indie,’ while others have called them ‘sell-outs.’  It is a bit hard to ignore the fact that one of the most popular indie bands of the past decade have signed to a major record label.

That aside, here are the top 25 MP3 singles from new releases out this week. It must be said that we are not really ‘feeling’ the new Arctic Monkeys‘ of recent years – we absolutely love the old guitar-blazing riffs, roaring drum playing, excited bass thumping and overall rawness of AM pre-2009 back. Also, the album cover for The Coathangers‘ new album is definitely likely to turn some heads and get people talking, but we’d rather not showcase it prominently because it is a bit scandalous. If the band or label intended to do so to create some chatter regarding the band, then, kudos to them.

“Modern Art” – Black Lips from Arabia Mountain

“Don’t Bother Me Now“ – Almost Free from In/Out (self-released)

“Trailer Park Boneyard “ – The Coathangers from Larceny & Old Lace

“Abducted” – Cults from Cults

“123 Stop” – The Postelles from The Postelles

“Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair” – Arctic Monkeys from Suck It and See

“The Other Shoe” – F**ked Up from David Comes To Life

“Blacklight Horses” – Matt Bauer from The Jessamine County Book of the Living

“Two Matchsticks” – The Wooden Birds from Two Matchsticks

“Satellite” – Brute Heart from Lonely Hunter

“Activate!” – Atari Teenage Riot from Is This Hyperreal?

“Fragilebird” – City and Colour from Little Hell

“Up Up Up” – Givers from In Light

“Ice Cream” (featuring Matias Aguayo) – Battles from Gloss Drop

“Woods – The Rosebuds from Loud Planes Fly Low

“If I Wanted Someone” – Dawes from Nothing Is Wrong

Hundreds of Sah-Weet MP3s: View, listen to and download from all the latest Best New Releases and Fresh Tracks posts.

“Everything Must Spin” – Ryan Driver from Who’s Breathing?

“No Love” – Hooray For Earth from True Loves

“Love or Death” – Hospital Ships from Lonely Twin

“Prisoner of Love (featuring Antony Hegarty)” – Jessica 6 from See the Light

“There Is No Safe Side But The Side Of Truth” – Jóhann Jóhannson from The Miners’ Hymns

“Clutching Stems” – Ladybug Transistor from Clutching Stems

“Deceptacon” – Le Tigre from Who Took The Bomp? Le Tigre On Tour

“Left Side Rock” – Brian Olive from Two of Everything

“Horizon (edit)” – Oneida from Absolute II

“Dracula’s Casket” – The Poison Control Center from Stranger Ballet

“Grampa Carl” –  The Warped 45s from Matador Sunset

Best New Releases Listing for Week of June 7

Arctic Monkeys – Suck It and See
Battles – Gloss Drop
Bedouin Soundclash – Light the Horizon
Black Lips – Arabia Mountain
Bruce Hornsby – Bride of the Noisemakers/Live
Cults – Cults
City and Colour – Little Hell
Daniel Isaiah – High Twilight
Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
Diane Schuur – The Gathering
Duncan Sheik – Covers 80
Esmerine – La Lechuza
Frank Turner – England Keep My Bones
Garland Jeffreys – The King of In Between
Givers – In Light
Grayson Capps – The Lost Cause Minstrels
Jill Andrews (The Everbodyfields) – The Mirror
Joe Ely – Satisfied at Last
Lauren Shera – Once I Was A Bird
Mary Bragg – Tattoos and Bruises
Matthew Barber – S/T
Mechanical Bride – Living With Ants (U.K.)
Nick 13 (Tiger Army) – Nick 13
Patrolled By Radar – Be Happy
Paul McCartney – McCartney I, II (Expanded)
Paul Simon – Expanded Catalog Reissues
Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) – Ninth
Ronnie Dunn – Ronnie Dunn
Sam Phillips – Solid State
Sheryl Crow – Miles From Memphis: Live @ The Pantages Theater (DVD)
Sisters 3 – Coruscate at the Meadow Gate
Sondre Lerche – Sondre Lerche
Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator
The Farewell Drifters – Echo Boom
The Ladybug Transistor – Clutching Stems
The Rosebuds – Loud Planes Fly Low
The Vines – Future Primitive
The Wooden Birds – Two Matchsticks

Between returning from the trek up to Sasquatch in central Washington, and catching up with everything since then, we are a ‘lil late with this week’s Best New Releases. Apologies on that. That said, of all the week’s new releases, The Vaccines‘ What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? is definitely our top album pick, and one of our favorite LPs of 2011, so far. We’ve already spun the whole disc about five or six times. The Vaccines are one of the biggest breakout bands of 2011, and their debut album, out now, proves over and over again why that is so true.

And, there are some really excellent singles this week from new releases by Kids on a Crime Spree, Mando Diao, Robert Pollard, Seapony, and others. Plus, don’t miss new releases this week from artists and bands you’ve probably never heard of before. Each of the artists featured in the In Dee Mail section sent their music to us directly via our submission form. We think you might be surprised at how good some of the music that you probably haven’t heard before really is. :)

“If You Wanna” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

“Norgaard” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?

“Sweet Tooth” – Kids On a Crime Spree from We Love You So Bad

“Dance with Somebody” – Mando Diao from Give Me Fire!

“In A Circle” – Robert Pollard from Lord of the Birdcage

“Dreaming” – Seapony from Go With Me

Double-shot: “Blue Star” – Seapony from Go With Me

“Goodnight Trail” – Miwa Gemini from Fantastic Lies of Grizzly Rose

“Circuital” – My Morning Jacket from Circuital

“Pirata” – Ocote Soul Sounds from Taurus

“Rising” – Son Lux from We Are Rising

In Dee Mail Releases

When applicable, we include new releases from relatively unknown artists and bands that we like who specifically sent us their music via the submission form on the About page. It will be interesting to see how listeners react to the songs below. We’ll be looking at the number of downloads to gauge which of these bands people seem interested in, and please definitely leave some comments. The artists below, including Nashville’s I Believe In Hotpants, San Francisco band Charlottesville, Swiss band Costa, Inc., that get the largest overall response will be featured in upcoming posts of In Dee Mail.

The first thing we thing we thought of was Arctic Monkeys when we heard the following two tracks from Manchester rock band The Stand. Could be a band to watch?

“Waiting for a Sign” – The Stand from The Green Room
Double-shot: “Inside Your Mind” – The Stand from The Green Room

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

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

“A Hundred” – Charlottesville from The Heron That Taught Us

“In Recollection” –  Charlottesville from The Heron That Taught Us

“Spring” – Costa, Inc. from Our Little Parallel World

Big releases this week include Thurston Moore‘s newest LP, rising band Foster The People‘s debut, British punkabilly artist Art Brut‘s latest album, plus new tracks from new albums by Friendly Fires, Yourself and the Air, Bird Call, Devil The Whale, Cold Showers, Boris, David Bazan and others.

“Benediction” – Thurston Moore from Demolished Thoughts

“Pumped Up Kicks” – Foster the People from Torches

“The EMI Song (Smile for Me)” – Fan Modine from Gratitude for the Shipper

“Julu Road” – Fan Modine from Gratitude for the Shipper

“Live Those Days Tonight” – Friendly Fires from Pala

“Lost Weekend” – Art Brut from Brilliant! Tragic!

“Anvil Everything” – White Denim from D

“Sick Days”- Yourself and the Air from Who’s Who in the Zoo

” Lose My Mind “ – Kate Maki from Moonshine

“Wolves At The Door”- David Bazan from Strange Negotiations

Lost Cause (Beck) – Bird Call from Other Creatures EP

“Bombs Away, She Is Here To Stay”– Bird of Youth from Defender

“Hope” – Boris from Attention Please

“Riot Sugar” – Boris from Heavy Rocks

“Barracudas”- The Devil Whale from Teeth

“Breakin’” – Baby Baby from Money

“I Don’t Mind” – Cold Showers from Highlands

“Horse Fury”– Scarlet Season from The Taxidermist (self-released)

“Les Dirigeants Africains” –SMOD from SMOD

“Sentimental Gentleman” – Snailhouse from Sentimental Gentleman

“El Rey Pescador” – These Trails from These Trails

“Get Well Soon” – Sarabeth Tucek from Get Well Soon

After a blockbuster week of new releases last week (so many that we had a part one and two), this week’s lot of new releases is also impressive, just not as jam-packed as last week. But, don’t fret – there is plenty to listen to, including new music from:

The best part of this week’s new releases – and which is actually true many weeks throughout the year – is the fact that the mix we’ve put together introduces so many people to talented, but hardly known, artists and bands, whether they are DIY or signed to a label. Some are completely new to us as, which is likely to be the case for most people listening to this mix.

One of the things we cherish and enjoy the most about putting together all kinds of playlist mixes (more than 800 since 2007) is sharing them with the 25,000 or more visitors who come to IRC every day from around the world.

The lead track for this Best New Releases comes from the new album from Grammy Award-winning producer Danger Mouse and the Italian film composer, Daniele Luppi, who collaborated to create an epic ‘movie’ soundtrack (for a movie that doesn’t exist) with help from heavy-hitters Jack White and Norah Jones on guest vocals.

The project arises from Danger Mouse’s life-long admiration of Italian film soundtracks. The album isn’t anything like his solo work or his work as a founding member of Broken Bells, but it’s a must-have for Danger Mouse die-hard fans and other lovers of old Italian film soundtracks.

“Two Against One” (featuring Jack White) – Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi from Rome

Toronto musician and singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen, aka Bahamas, has finally released his 2009 acclaimed debut album, Pink Strat, via Brushfire this week. In 2010, Jurvanen was nominated for a Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year – Solo.

Bahamas is the touring guitarist for the band Feist. If you enjoy these two tracks from the album, then you’ll really want to add it to your music collection. We absolutely love, love the lead track, “Already Yours,” and “Hockey Teeth,” besides its great title, is also a splendid song, as is the entire album, which after you’ve listened to it a few times, is not hard to see why it was nominated for a Juno Award.

“Already Yours” – Bahamas from Pink Strat

“Hockey Teeth” – Bahamas from Pink Strat

(these two tracks are featured at CurrentDirectMusic.com for this compilation)

Multi-Award Nominated Artist Chad VanGaalen Releases LP and Introducing Zachary Cole

Another Canadian singer-songwriter that we have admired from the get-go is Subpop recording artist, and Calgary resident, Chad VanGaalen. And also like fellow Canadian Jurvanen was also nominated for Juno Award for Alternative Album of the Year in 2008 album Soft Airplane, which was also shortlisted for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize.

Two year previously, VanGaalen’s second album, Skelliconnection, made the shortlist for the 2007 Polaris Music Prize, which in the end went to the band Patrick Watson. If the rest of dDiaper Island is as good as the single, “Sara,” then VanGaalen will have managed again to write, record and mix another fantastic album. He has also released a 2009 album Snow Blindness is Crystal Antz under the moniker Black Gold, and produced the first two albums from Canadian indie band Women.

“Sara” – Chad VanGaalen from Diaper island

Another singer-songwriter that we are loving right now is Zachary Cole. His acoustic sensibilities, wonderful songwriting and excellent vocals are at the heart of his music, and we hope to eventually get to listen to all of his new album, Noise of Welcome, via the free, but temporary album stream from Spinner before deciding to purchase it or not.

“Hello Oblivion” – Zachary Cale from Noise of Welcome

New Releases from Point Juncture, SF’s Thee Oh Sees and Scotland’s Glasvegas

Fans of Best Coast and Generationals are most likely to dig the sounds of Portland band Point Juncture, WA and their third album, Handsome Orders. Also, the band of many incarnations, San Francisco experimental garage-rockers, Thee Oh Sees, release their 11th album, Castlemania, this week, spin the new single from the latest album from
Scottish indie rockers Glasvegas.

“Boston Gold” – Point Juncture, WA from Handsome Orders

“I Need Seed” – Thee Oh Sees from Castlemania

“Euphoria, Take My Hand” – Glasvegas from Eurphoria

Whether it is music we receive from publicists or record labels, recommendations from other music blogs, or songs we receive directly through our submission form, it never ceases to amaze us just how much fantastic music flies in largely under the radar.

A perfect example is the band 13 & God, a collaborative music project between the bands The Notwist and Themselves (plus Dax and Antonionian from Subtle). This marks their first album in six years. The lead track, “Old Age,” from their new release, Own Your Ghost, is a richly melodic indie electro-pop keeper track that is simply quite addictive. We haven’t heard the whole album yet, but the first single from the album is compelling enough that we’re going to purchase the album.

If even half of 13 & God’s new LP is as good as “Old Age” – easily one of our favorite singles of the month – it’ll be well worth the investment. (Also, on a separate matter, we can’t be the only ones to notice the frequency of which the word “ghost” has appeared in band names and song and album titles over the past couple of years.)

“Old Age” – 13 & God from Own Your Ghost

This next song was another welcomed surprise from an artist that we’ve never heard of previously. The track, “Billy Cruz,” from Oakland’s one woman band Metal Mother (aka, Tara Tati), is not the sound you’d expect from a band with such a suggestive name. Rather than being anything close to metal, “Billy Cruz” is a mysterious, haunting and exotic tune – almost as if a traditional Far East song was mixed with a steady rhythmic beat, horn inserts and even some funky sound effects, not to mention the meat of the song which is a compelling chorus. We will definitely add Metal Mother’s Bonfire Diaries to our listening list solely based on the hypnotic lead single.

“Billy Cruz” – Metal Mother from Bonfire Diaries

Bachelorette, PlanningtoRock and Big Scary Drop New Releases

The next single we’re digging this week comes from a new-to-us band called Bachelorette, whose richly layered, forward-driving, yet spacious, electronic track, “Blanket,” from the band’s self-titled, debut album, is bound to gain some new fans this week, most of whom will likely want to hear the entire LP to discover what other gems may be waiting for them. Chances are that people who like “Blanket” will also enjoy the entire LP; so we’re also including a second track. Put Bachelorette on the list of bands to watch.

“Blanket” – Bachelorette from Bachelorette

We’re also including the lead track from Planningtorock‘s new LP, simply titled W, which may or may not have something to do with former president Bush, junior, sometimes referred to as “W” for his middle name, Walker. Perhaps the Depeche Mode style track “Doorway” is another presidential metaphor. Following right behind Planningtorock is a similarly dark, escapism track from the new album, Dead Horse, by Screens.

“Doorway” – Planningtorock from W

Up next, Big Scary isn’t scary at all, In fact, as far from it as you can be with a song – on their cheery, almost 2nd-grade class chorus arrangement, “Autumn” which is a bit too enthusiastic for it’s title, but one way, perhaps, to think of it is like the sounds of leaves on fire in the later days of October – an interesting, maybe clever, dichotomy?

“Autumn” – Big Scary from The Big Scary Four Seasons (self-released)

Damon & Naomi, Witches, Falcon, Ryan Garbes, Gold Bears and Sgt. Garcia

Another newbie for us is the duo Damon & Naomi, whose lead single, “Walking Backwards” is a chill, almost floating track characterized by the vocal harmonies of the duo and spiked with fuzzy guitar licks. Plus, check out fresh tracks from new releases by more new-to-us artists, including Witches, Falcon, Ryan Garbes, Gold Bears, Sergent Garcia, and Yellow Dogs.

“Walking Backwards” – Damon & Naomi from False Beats and True Hearts

“Creature of Nature” – Witches from Forever

“Say Goodbye” – Falcon from Disappear

“Boys Are Back” – Ryan Garbes from Sweet Hassle

“Record Store” – Gold Bears from Are You Falling In Love?

“Mi Son Mi Friend” – Sergent Garcia from Una y Otra Vez

“Gastronomic Meal” – Yellow Dogs from The Kennel EP (self-released)

Stay tune for Part II of this week’s Best New Releases, featuring semi-super group Amor de Días Miracle Fortress, Glorie, Company of Thieves, Almost You, Mercury Rev, plus talented bands you’ve probably never heard of before who also have new albums out this week, accompanied by free MP3s.

The long-awaited Okkervil River new album, I Am Very Far, dropped officially this week, and although we have yet to hear the studio version (compared to last week’s live webcast performance of the LP) all the way through (probably this weekend), but what we’ve heard so far is very promising.  In 2005, Okkervil River broke out big time to the national stage with the release of Black Sheep Boy, and several months later, the Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP. In 2007 and 2008, the band released The Stage Names and The Stand Ins, respectively. Make sure to check back later today or tomorrow for Part Two of this week’s Best New Releases.

“Wake and Be Fine” – Okkervil River from I Am Very Far

The Antlers‘ 2008 debut album, Hospice, received overwhelmingly positive reactions from music critics, bloggers and new fans when it first came out, and over time, became, arguably, one of the best indie folk debuts of the decade, and one of the best overall debut LPs of 2008 despite, or not, the fact that it was basically a concept album about a hospice worker and a terminally ill patient falling in love.  With their new follow-up album, Burst Apart, the band continue their relationship and love concept album mastery. These two tracks from the album, “I Don’t Want Love” and “Parentheses” were provided by the blog, Whale in a Cubicle.

“I Don’t Want Love” – The Antlers from Burst Apart

“Parentheses” – The Antlers from Burst Apart

Following on the success of their critically acclaimed and Mercury Prize nominated second album, Two Dancers, the band Wild Beasts have unveiled their next chapter in their career with the release of their new album, Smother.  The band have released the first single from the album, “Albatross,” a track washed with sonic layers and textures of abstract sounds combined to form something typically bold and unique.

“Albatross” – Wild Beasts from Smother

“Invisible” – Wild Beasts from Smother

“Invisible” is provided via the blog, Said The Gramophone

Manchester Orchestra’s Fantastic New Single, The Cars Return

Another anticipated release this week is Manchester Orchestra‘s, Simple Math, which you can stream via this link.  Andy Hull called the title track, which we absolutely are loving, “the best song we have ever written.”

“Simple Math” – Manchester Orchestra from Simple Math

For some reason, The Cars‘ latest single, “Sad Song,” seemed to fit in place right after Manchester Orchestra’s “Simple Math.”  What we like about this track is the fact that is sounds a lot like The Cars’ of the 1980s, when they were at the height of their career. Despite the track name, it’s actually an upbeat track, washed with synths, led with Ric Ocasek easily recognizable vocals, thumbing bass and uptempo beats. “Sad Song’ is from The Cars’ new album, Move Like This, out now. The track is streamed via TheMusicFm.com.

“Sad Song” – The Cars from Move Like This

Colourmusic’s new album showcases an ever-evolving mass of melancholic melodies, gauzy vocals, shifty beats, and monophonic musical structures. Not to mention glimpses of agnostic gospel grooves like the lead single, “You For Leaving Me.”

Pile them on – the other Best New Releases of the week include new albums from Michael J Epstein Memorial Library, the popular indie rock Man Man‘s latest new track from their new album, and Salt Lake City‘s new-to-us band, The Devil Whale (as if we need another band with ‘whale’ in the name) drop their sophomore album, Teeth, featuring 60’s and 70’s garage and pop influences such as The Animals, The Kinks, and Harry Nilsson.

“You For Leaving Me” – Colourmusic from My ___ Is Pink

“Amylee” – Michael J Epstein Memorial Library from Volume One

“Knuckle Down” – Man Man from Life Fantastic
Song via SeizureChicken

“Barracudas” – The Devil Whale from Teeth

Love Inks, Sleepy Viking, Howe Gelb, Phil Cook, Liturgy, Peter Case

Plus, stream and download new music out this week from Sleepy Viking, Howe Gelb, Phil Cook (of Megafun), Liturgy (both the latter and Cook’s tracks are instrumentals from two different worlds); Peter Case’s lead sounds a bit like if T. Rex gone country rock.

“Blackeye” – Love Inks from E.S.P.

“4 Door Maverick” – Howe Gelb from Alegrias

“Calm” – Sleepy Vikings from They Will Find You Here

“Ballad of a Hungry Mother” – Phil Cook from Hungry Mother Blues

“Generation” – Liturgy from Aesthetica

“Round Trip Stranger Blues” – Peter Case from Breaking Bones

Don’t Miss Part 2 of this week’s Best New Releases

Today’s mix is a really interesting and impressive assortment of fantastic singles from new releases out this week that we’ve put together as part of the weekly Best New Releases mix tape series. There’s such a wonderful variety of known, but mainly relatively obscure, bands and artists with new releases this week. We think you might just see what we mean by first streaming this entire playlist mix uninterrupted (by clicking on the first song and letting the auto Y! Player run).

Among our favorite releases this week are new EPs and LPs from bands like Times New Viking, Painted Palms, Of Montreal, David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights, Matt Pond PA, Julian Lynch, Should, An Horse, Antony and the Johnsons, and many others listed throughout this post. We’re especially interested by the rising status of the relatively new electro-pop/chillwave/Panda Bear-sounding band Painted Palms. They are definitely one of our Bands to Watch in 2011. There are a few other bands in today’s mix that are at the very least blips on our music radar screens, including bands like Should.

“Ever Falling In Love” – Times New Viking from Dancer Equired

“Black Lion Massacre” – Of Montreal from thecontrollersphere

“Sex Karma” – Of Montreal from thecontrollersphere

“All of Us” – Painted Palms from Canopy EP

Double-shot (via IGuessImFloating) –“Canopy” – Painted Trees from Canopy EP

“Cheap Umbrellas” – The Golden Dogs from Coat of Arms *

* Check back tomorrow – we will be featuring The Golden Dogs as one of our ten favorite new, or new-to-us,  relatively unknown artists and bands for the In Dee Mail series. This series is specific to highlighting usually obscure artists and bands who send us music and other details using our submission form. We really like this band, and we think you’ll also like the other nine artists as well, including Rec Centre, Smoke and Feathers, Me and Joan Collins, and others.

“Diamond Mine” – David Kilgour and the Heavy Eights from Left By Soft

“Love To Get Used” – Matt Pond PA from Spring Fools EP

“Trains and Tracks” – An Horse from Walls

“Terra” – Julian Lynch from Terra

Note: Album title links are clickable to make it easy to purchase an album and get the MP3s, plus free storage on the Amazon cloud. We use Amazon because they have the best prices, are easiest to use, and have many extra services like the cloud.

Also this week are plenty of notable debut releases, including the long awaited debut album from Seattle indie rockers The Globes, and check out the new single (via Altered Zones) from Belfast lo-fi, shoegaze rock trio Girls Names, who dropped their debut album this week. And the interesting music duo, Thao & Mirah, featuring Thao Nguyen of the Get Down Stay Down and pop artist Mirah, have an album out this week as well.

“Stay Awake” – The Globes from Future Songs

“Seance On A Wet Afternoon” – Girls Names from Dead to Me

“How Dare You” – Thao & Mirah from Thao & Mirah

The more you dig into this week’s new releases, the more you find plenty of notable releases from new and DIY bands this week. Dag for Dag are getting buzz from their hot single from the new album, BOO, followed by Jookabox, Jason Forrest, Police Teeth, The Bynars, and Explosions in the Sky. Another great block of rock.

“I Am the Assassin” – Dag för Dag from BOO

“Drops” – Jookabox from The Eyes Of The Fly

“Raunchy”– Jason Forrest from The Everything

“Who Wants to F*ck a Millionaire” – Police Teeth from Awesomer Than The Devil

“How Does It Feel to Be in Love” – The Bynars from Today is Your Day

“Postcard From 1952” (Live, Pittsburgh 4/8/11) – Explosions in the Sky from Take Care

Get Other EITS fresh tracks:
“Trembling Hands” – Explosions In The Sky
“Let Me Back In” – Explosions In The Sky

The Fresh & Onlys, Fu*ked Up, Ezra Koenig, M.T. Bearington

Here are new singles from The Fresh & Onlys’ latest EP, Fu*ked Up‘s new album, David Comes to Life, plus a Paul Simon cover song from Vampire Weekend‘s lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, a great track, “Dark Night,” from an artist that is new-to-us, M.T. Bearington.

“Do You Believe in Destiny” – The Fresh & Onlys from Secret Walls EP

“Papa Hobo” (Paul Simon Cover) – Erza Koenig from the Ceremony soundtrack – see film trailer.

“Dark Night” – M.T. Bearington from Love Buttons

Kingston and Young God Pair Up; Great Singers and Songwriters; New LP from Poly Styrene (RIP) Day After She Passes Away

Producers Kingston and Young God, aka, Blue Sky Black Death, return with a new album of hip hop and instrumental music. Plus, check out the double-header of new singles from terrific folk singer songwriters Cass McCombs and Chris Bathgate, and Seattle indie duo Thousands. The former X-Ray Spex lead singer, Poly Styrene, sadly passed away from cancer on Monday, the day before her solo, self-titled debut album was released.

“And Stars Ringed” – Blue Sky Black Death from Noir

“County Line” – Cass McCombs from Wit’s End

Double-shot: “Dreams Come True Girl” – Cass McCombs from Catacombs (2009)

“No Silver” – Chris Bathgate from Salt Year

• Songs from via Potholes in my Blog, ThanksCaptainObvious, PrettyGoesWithPretty

The Donkeys’ Release Debut LP with Sweet Lead Single; Baltimore Band Should and Others

Ya know, it takes some donkey-sized balls to decide on naming your band The Donkeys. Others would say it has nothing to do with bravery. Seriously, such a name is an open invitation to endless ridicule and jokes, not exactly easy for publicists and marketers to plug the band, but some others would say it’s good just for that reason. Well, alright. But, at the end of the day, most people could give a sh)t what a band’s name is – if they’re good, genuine and have something important to contribute – that’s really all that is important, especially to their most loyal fans. Based just on this single from their new album (and the Soundcloud link too), all we can say is that we are interested to hear more from this band.

“Don’t Know Who We Are” is a chill, lofty track with a neat little rhythm and melody to it that begs for subsequent spins. Sounds like some influences here are Modest Mouse, Sonic Youth and a bit of Pavement. We really dig this track, and can’t wait to listen to the rest of it. Don’t be surprised to hear more about The Donkeys in the future, because we think they’re going to prove to be more than just typical jackasses.

“Don’t Know Who We Are” – The Donkeys from Born With Stripes (exclusive version)

Stream Born With Stripes (we’re spinning it next) via Spinner.

The Baltimore indie band Should dropped their first album in 13 years this week, titled Like A Fire Without Sound. As a gesture to fans, and those who’ve never heard of them before, the band has offered two spectacular free tracks for download via their Band Camp page.  The first song, “Turned Tables,” left us a bit awe-struck with its melodic, dreamy pop and gorgeous vocals.   mellow second track, “Glasshouses,” is not as engaging, but still a great song dripping with melody and romanticism. Keep an ear out for this band

“Turned Tables” – Should from Like A Fire Without Sound