Recent Releases We Almost Missed, Vol. XVI – Black Whales, Sidi Toure, Wildlife, Sore Eros, Brass Bed, Math and Physics, and more

By Maxwell Silver
Brooklyn Street Team

Even though 2010 is over, it’s not long gone. So, we can’t see anything wrong with sneaking in just a couple of additional installments of the popular playlist series, Recent Releases We Almost Missed. The Almost Missed playlist series offer an eclectic array of tracks from 2010 albums, EPs and singles, many of which were largely overlooked, but, in our opinion, deserve some coverage.

Because there were so many good-to-amazing releases in 2010, it was only inevitable that a number of otherwise strong releases – at least based on the lead single in many cases – would slip through the wide net cast out by the weekly Best New Releases series. Over time, these releases piled up in a folder, until we recently got a chance to listen to them again, and decide which should be included in this last (maybe second to last) installment of the ‘Almost Missed’ highlighting 2010 music.

“Rattle Your Bones”Black Whales from Rattle Your Bones 7″ – Nov. 17th

“Bon Koum” Sidi Toure from Sahel Folk – Jan. 25th

“Stand In The Water”Wildlife from Strike Hard, Young Diamond EP – Nov. 16th

“Giraffe’s Kiss”Sore Eros from Know Touching – Nov. 23rd

“Begs Me Not To Beg”Brass Bed from Melt White – Sept. 21st

“Abandoned Bridges” Owen P from Abandoned Bridges – Sept. 28th

“Dancing In Slow Motion” Teenage Fantasy from 7 AM – Sept. 21st

“You Can Only Be So Lonely” The Shape of the Earth from The Romantics – June 20th

“Wiff of Father”Pregnant from Pregnant – Oct. 1st

“Chipped Teeth”Tim Gilbertson from Palisades – May 3rd

“Japanese”The Art of Shooting from Traveling Show – May 3rd

“The Way to Canaan”The King Left from Perfect Without People – May 14th

“Jimmy Had a Polaroid”Math and Physics Club from I Shouldn’t Look as Good as I Do

“I Am From The Future” – Alright Alright from You Are One of Us Now – Sept. 22nd

“God and Me”The Kopecky Family Band from The Disaster EP – Aug. 10th

“I’m Asking You” The Cinnamon Band from All Dressed EP

“The Puget Sound”Wow & Flutter from Equilibrio – Oct. 19th

“Let Me Sleep”TV Buddhas from TV Buddhas – Nov. 23th


“Get What You Want, Get What You Need” – The Ascetic Junkies from This Cage Has No Bottom – Nov. 16th

“Doorways”Radical Face from Touch The Sky EP  – Nov. 16th

 

Recent Releases That Almost Got Away: The Pass, Secret Cities, City Light, Scanners, Sambassadeur, David Vandervelde & More


Last month, Louisville, Kentucky’s electro pop quintet The Pass dropped their DIY debut EP, Colors. The four-piece outfit, with their admiration for 80’s synth and pop music, recently signed to SonaBlast Records, and are now recording their debut LP that will be mixed by producer and engineer Alex Aldi (Tokyo Police Club, Passion Pit, and The Walkmen). If The Pass’ self-released EP is any indication of what’s to come from their first album, it could be a big year for The Pass; they’re already one of our Bands to Watch in 2010.

“Crosswalk Stereo” The Pass from Colors

“Colors” The Pass from Colors

> The Pass on MySpace


Secret Cities is a psychedelic electro-acoustic indie band from Fargo who recently signed with Western Vinyl Records in Austin. The band recently released a double side single, and in June will drop their debut LP, Pink Graffati.

“Pink Graffati”Secret Cities from Bright Teeth/Pink Graffitti single (Feb. 23rd)

> Secret Cities on MySpace

City Light is a San Francisco area band born out of the ashes of post hardcore with a knack for mixing 8-bit samples with electro-lush synths and raspy Conor Oberst-like vocals. Stream their new album, Burned Out Bright, on MySpace.

“Some Day Maybe”City Light from Burned Out Bright (Feb. 1st)

“Apologies”City Light from Burned Out Bright

> City Light on MySpace

“Stranded”Sambassadeur from European (Feb. 23rd)

> Sambassadeur website


“Still Again”The New Monarchs from Blue Prints (Feb. 16th)

> The New Monarchs on MySpace

“Makes Me Happy”Undersea Poem from s/t debut – (Feb 9th)

> Undersea Poem label page


“We Never Close Our Eyes”Scanners from Submarine (Feb. 16th)

> Scanners official website

“Eileen”Lord Numb from Numbskull (out Feb. 15th)

> Lord Numb label page

“Learn How to Hang”David Vandervelde from Learn How to Hang (Feb. 16th)

> David Vandervelde offical website

“Blue-Eyed Universe”Fictionist from Lasting Echo (Feb. 19th)

> Fictionist website official website

“I’Itoi” – Mako Sica from Dual Horizon (Feb. 16th)

> Mako Sica on MySpace


Flashtrack: The Japandroids

This is just a little diversion from the theme of this playlist. This next track comes by way of the Japandroids, a Vancouver indie rock duo who broke through the saturated playing field to gain a rather large following in short order, as well as wide praise from bloggers and the mainstream media. Last summer, the two college buddies released their debut LP, Post Nothing, via Polyvinyl Records. The album was subsequently nominated for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize.

“Art Czars”Japandroids from Post Nothing (2009)

/Japandroids official website/