frightened rabbit – INDIE ROCK CAFE

For indie music lovers, it’s a big, big week for top new releases from a variety of popular artists and bands, including the Eels, Frightened Rabbit, Jim James, Guards, My Bloody Valentine, Grouper, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Matt Pond, The Spinto Band, and others. The year in music for 2013 is starting to look really promising, as the past few weeks have shown, including the Best New Releases for the weeks of January 29th, January 22nd and January 15th, as well as Top New DIY Releases, 5 DIY Bands to Watch, DIY and Indie Artists Releases and Recent DIY Releases playlists.

The awesomeness begins with the newest album release by Frightened Rabbit, titled Pedestrian Verse. The Scottish band, led by Scott Hutchinson‘s dark lyrics and touching vocals, presents a personal and emotional masterpiece on their fourth release, drawing on the anthemic folk pop mix they’ve branded so well and accompanied by deep, touching sonics of reverb-heavy guitar work and frenetic rhythms, as displayed on the lead single (and the accompanying video) titled, “The Woodpile.” Another folk-pop-heavy album out this week, We The Common, from Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, demonstrates the artist’s increasingly political messaging while integrating more crisp acoustic instrumentation, followed by the Eels – easily one of the best bands of the past two decades – release of their tenth album, Wonderful, Glorious, along with the lead single, “New Alphabet.”

“The Woodpile” – Frightened Rabbit from Pedestrian Verse

“Holy Roller” – Thao and the Get Down Stay Down from We The Common
via TheDadada

“New Alphabet” – Eels from Wonderful, Glorious

Top Singles from Jim James, Guards, Matt Pond, My Bloody Valentine and Others

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James (or Yim Yames), and member of supergroup Of Monsters and Men, dropped his third solo album this week, featuring the spectacular song, “A New Life,” easily one of the best new songs of 2013. Perhaps the most sunny, upbeat and catchy single from a new release this week is “Silver Lining” from the indie band Guards. They released their newest album, In Guards We Trust, this week. New-to-us band Airstrip rock out on the impressive surprise single, “Pleasure Center.” Plus, the latest from Ron Sexsmith, Darkstar, and Night Beds.

“A New Life” – Jim James from Regions of Light and Sound of God on ATO Records

“Silver Lining” – Guards from In Guards We Trust on Black Bell Records

“Pleasure Center” – Airstrip from Willing on Holidays on Quince Records

“Sneak Out the Back Door” – Ron Sexsmith from Forever Endeavour

“Amplified Ease” – Darkstar from News From Nowhere on Warp Records

“Wanted You in August” – Night Beds from Country Sleep on Dead Oceans

Jenny O Barters; Matt Pond Loves and The Spinto Band Shakes

Artist Jenny O., of Where The Wild Things Are fame, has a new album featuring title track, “Automechanic.” The song has a spaghetti western undercurrent yet is dominated by O.’s emotive vocals and lyrics that include; “I’ll trade you a tune for some gasoline.” With the way gas prices are going in the past couple of weeks (will be $7/gal. in two years), you can imagine how hard it is on bands that have little cash but need to tour to make money since it’s not coming from album sales, but we digress; the song itself is OK, but nothing you’ll remember a month from now.

Still, we felt compelled to include it for the Jenny O fans. First off, we did not know until this release that Matt Pond signed to BMG. Now, that’s interesting, and surely some of his early, hard-core fans may not be too happy with that arrangement; thankfully, it doesn’t seem to have had a negative effect on his music – an example eing his new single “Love To Get Used,”

“Automechanic” – Jenny O. from Automechanic on Holy Trinity Records/Thirty Tigers

“Love To Get Used” – Matt Pond from The Lives Inside The Lines In Your Hand on BMG

“Shake It Off” – The Spinto Band from Cool Cocoon on Spintonic Recordings

“One Thing” – Pascal Pinon from Twosomeness on Morr Music

Grouper‘s new single, “Vital,” is a dream pop track that is great if you’re in a melancholy mood, or just day-dreaming, but if you need stimulation, there are much more suited tracks earlier in this playlist of the week’s top new releases. In fact, one of the antidote’s for the sleepy feeling “Vital” conveys is the Guards‘ “Silver Lining.” In keeping with the chilled, mellow feel, the lead single, “Old Dreams,” from veteran singer/songwriter Hayden streams soft piano keys and acoustic guitar to set the mood.

“Vital” – Grouper from The Man Who Died in His Boat on Kranky

“Old Dreams” – Hayden from Us Alone on Arts & Crafts

While this is not as big of a week for new and anticipated album releases from a gaggle of stellar artists and bands as were the first three weeks of September, there are still plenty of new albums we’re excited about, along with the lead singles from those LPs. One theme that is consistent with the singles from this week is that many can be described as dark, sad and gloomy – it’s interesting how it worked out that way. To purchase fast and easy via Amazon just about any album or EP out this week, see the album list at the end of this post.

From Selkirk, Scotland, Frightened Rabbit tops of our list of new singles this week with “State Hospital,” a melancholic, slow, heartfelt song with a story to tell. As the story unwinds, so does the intensity of the music. The band is really tight and in sync while also standing out individually. By the three-minute mark of “State Hospital,” the tempo builds, and the void fills with a sprawling swirl of airy guitar riffs, epic synth notes, and Scott Hutchinson‘s superb, anguished, vocals.

Recently, Hutchinson told the Herald Scotland about the direction of his songwriting: “I’ve gone in depth with the lyrics and it has, as a result, been quite intense. It’s more interesting imagery when you’re being dark, it’s more difficult to be cheesy when you’re writing dark lyrics. It’s hard to write a happy song without coming across as a total cheese ball.” Do you think he was talking about the band Fun and their smash hit “We Are Young”?

“State Hospital” is the title track for the band’s new EP officially out this week, and also the first single from the band’s upcoming fourth LP, set to drop early in 2013. The EP contains outtakes from the band’s recording session for their upcoming album, and only “State Hospital” is slated to appear on the new album.

“State Hospital” – Frightened Rabbit from State Hospital EP on Canvasback / Atlantic

Mumford & Son’s Release Sophomore Album, Babel, Amid Mixed Reviews

England’s Mumford & Sons‘ new sophomore LP, Babel, is the follow-up to their award-winning debut, Sigh No More, released in 2009. Even though the band is not well-liked by many indie rockers, and even indie folk fans, the band’s debut album not only made them famous, it spawned a flurry of prestigious awards and nominations, including the Top Rock Album, Top Alternative Album, and Top Alternative Artist of the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, as well as The Brit Award for the British Album of the Year. The band also received four other nominations last year from Billboard, a nomination from the American Music Awards, two Grammy nominations in 2011 as Best New Artist and Best Rock Song (“Little Lion Man”), and earlier this year, four nominations stemming from the song, “The Cave,” which appears on Sigh No More. Other nominations over the past three years include MTV Video Music Awards, NME Awards and the Q Awards.

As of today, Babel is #1 on Amazon’s CD Albums chart (the CD version features three exclusive bonus tracks – get it here) and #1 in MP3 album downloads (for the deluxe edition; #3 for the regular MP3 download. Only the deluxe edition of the MP3 download version of Babel includes the three bonus tracks, one of which is a cover song of Simon & Garfunkel‘s “The Boxer,” featuring ironically enough, Paul Simon and Jerry Douglas. Babel is a manifestation of the band’s continued growth as one of the best good ‘ole folk indie rock bands around. Who knew that Londoners could sound so convincingly American? The band’s latest new single, “I Will Wait,” is an uptempo, foot-stomping romp with wild banjo playing, folksy harmonies and a driving beat.

“I Will Wait” – Mumford & Sons from Babel on Glassnote

Babel has received mixed reviews – it was slammed by The Los Angeles Times, Slant, Spin, The UK Observer, Q Magazine, and only given lukewarm receptions by the All Music Guide, The UK Guardian, NME, PopMatters, as well as plenty of thumbs up from Rolling Stone, Mojo, Clash Music, Paste, The Boston Globe and Billboard magazine. We’re not really interested in hearing the album, but we like some of the band’s songs – but still, considering the number of fantastic indie folk rock bands, Mumford & Sons have received more than their fair share of love and recognition.

Sera Cahoone’s Angelic, Aching Vocals, and Dum Dum Girls Hot New Single

Sera Cahoone, with her part angelic, part heart-aching vocals that are evident on the title track of her new album, Deer Creek Canyon, is one of the most talented female folk singer/songwriters that we’ve heard this year. Next, the new Dum Dum Girls‘ single, “Lord Knows,” is a grower – the more we listen to it, the more we like it. Isn’t it weird how some songs can do that? Like throw a monkey wrench into your head and make you doubt something that you eventually turn out liking, or even loving. “Lord Knows” is a drab, throbbing track that breaks out into a chorus while maintaining a gloomy sonic appeal. This is what we meant before about a dark theme in the singles this week.

“Deer Creek Canyon” – Sera Cahoone from Deer Creek Canyon on Sub Pop

“Lord Knows” – Dum Dum Girls from End of Daze EP on Sub Pop

Mysterious Singles from New LPs by Efterklang and Machine Birds

Efterklang‘s new single, “Apples,” is not light or cheerful as the title may suggest, but rather, the song has a mysterious, even mischievous, essence about it, like it could be on a soundtrack of a crime show on cable. We placed the lead single, “If I” from Norwegian duo Machine Birds new album right after the Efterklang track because they seem perfectly compatible, sequential tracks. Plus, the duo’s vocalist, Maria Skranes, is, like Sera Cahoone, yet another amazing female vocalist among this week’s new albums that we’d never heard of before, but are sure glad we have.

“Apples” – Efterklang from Piramida on 4AD

“If I” – Machine Birds from Save Yourself EP on Nabovarsel

Singles From New Albums by The Soft Pack, Danjo Danjo, Unnatural Helpers

By way of San Diego, the LA located indie rock band The Soft Pack rock it out on “Tallboy,” as does the Unnatural Helpers, both bands we’ve featured in the past, and both beneficiaries of the indie rock wave of popularity over the past five-plus years. The Soft Pack changed their name from The Muslims in 2009 after what they said were “ignorant and racist comments.” Plus, Ringo Deathstarr – that’s a great band name – bring it on the single, “Rip.”

“Tallboy” – The Soft Pack from Strapped on Mexican Summer

Danjo, Danjo draw on 60’s psychedelic rock and new wave influences on their foot-tapping, highly rhythmic new single, “Deleted,” featuring a mean bass line and the Talking Heads-vs-Devo vocals and chorus. It feels like a driving song, but then again, so do many of the songs we choose for our posts. Maybe it’s because it’s like a metaphor for driving, busing or railroading across the country (done them all and throughout the west coast – our favorite region of the U.S.; if you can, do it – it’s an amazing country) through the many wonderful and different landscapes, meeting all kinds of interesting and almost always friendly people, experiencing all kinds of weather and cultures, from small Midwest towns to the big cities of the east coast, from the swamps of Florida to the redwoods of California, from the mind-boggling views of the Grand Canyon to the lighthouses of Maine. One of the best part of road tripping is having a bunch of cool playlists – many of which you can create from songs downloaded for free on Indie Rock Cafe (shameless plug or just the truth?). Wow, look how this song manifested into a meandering tangent.

“Default” – Django Django from Django Django on Ribbon Music

“Rip” – Ringo Deathstarr from Mauve on Club AC30

“Lost River” – Murder By Death from Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon on Bloodshot Records

“Toil” – Unnatural Helpers from Land Grab on Hardly Art

“Where Things Go Wrong” – Jason Collett from Reckon on Arts & Crafts

“Nolchi” – Eight Belles from Girls Underground (self-released)

“Facemask” – Ungdomskulen from Secrecy on YAP Records

“I Have The Gun” – Crime and The City Solution from An Introduction To….Crime & The City Solution A History Of Crime – Berlin 1987-1991 on Mute

Amazon Links to Quickly Purchase This Week’s New Album Releases

You can purchase MP3, CD and Vinyl copies of this week’s releases at the end of this post. We’ve coded it so that you just click the version you want to purchase, and it takes you right to the Amazon (better and less expensive than iTunes; plus all Amazon MP3s are compatible with iTunes and all MP3 players). Plus, each time you make a purchase via IRC links, we get a few cents for each one, which if can make a difference over time in helping us pay our server costs so that we can keep bringing you the best new music out today. If you’re planning to buy an album, please remember we have them all organized and make it easy in a couple of clicks to do so.

Apollo Run – Here Be Dragons, Vol. III | MP3

As I Lay Dying – Awakened | CD Deluxe CD MP3

The Bad Plus – Made Possible | CD MP3

Rafiq Bhatia – Strata [EP] | MP3

Joe Bonamassa – Beacon Theatre: Live from New York [Live] | DVD Blue-ray CD MP3

Sera Cahoone – Deer Creek Canyon | CD Vinyl MP3

Jonas Carping – All the Time in the World | MP3

Caspian – Waking Season | CD Vinyl MP3

The Casualties – Resistance | CD Deluxe CD Vinyl MP3

Cave Painting – Votive Life | MP3

The Chevin – Borderland | CD MP3

Chris Cohen – Overgrown Path | CD Vinyl MP3

Jason Collett – Reckon | CD Vinyl MP3

The Crane Wives – The Fool in Her Wedding Gown [EP] | CD MP3

Deadmau5 – > Album Title Goes Here < | CD MP3

Dokken – Broken Bones | CD/DVD MP3

Dragonette – Bodyparts | CD Vinyl MP3

Dum Dum Girls – End of Daze [EP] | CD Vinyl MP3

Efterklang – Piramida | CD Vinyl MP3

Engel – Blood of Saints | CD MP3

Lupe Fiasco – Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1 | CD MP3 Deluxe MP3

Fighting with Wire – Colonel Blood | CD MP3 Deluxe MP3

Frightened Rabbit – State Hospital | Vinyl MP3

John Frusciante – PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone | CD Vinyl

Gatekeeper – Exo | CD Vinyl MP3

Larry Graham & Graham Central Station – Raise Up | CD MP3

Green Day – Uno | CD Deluxe CD Vinyl MP3 Deluxe MP3

Steve Harris – British Lion | CD MP3

John Hiatt – Mystic Pinball | CD Vinyl MP3

Waylon Jennings – Goin’ Down Rockin’: The Last Recordings | CD MP3

Lucy Kaplansky – Reunion | CD MP3

The Kick – Tonight Changes Everything | MP3

Kid Ink – Up & Away | CD MP3 Instrumental MP3

Kingsfoil – A Beating Heart is a Bleeding Heart | MP3

The Late Call – Pale Morning Light | CD Vinyl MP3

Jim Lauderdale – Carolina Moonrise | CD MP3

Lavender Diamond – Incorruptible Heart | CD Vinyl MP3

Bettye LaVette – Thankful N’ Thoughtful | CD Vinyl MP3 Deluxe MP3

Levek – Look a Little Closer | CD Vinyl MP3

Machine Birds – Save Yourself [EP] | MP3

Rhys Marsh and the Autumn Ghost – The Blue Hour | MP3

Simon McBride – Crossing the Line | CD MP3

Michael McDermott – Hit Me Back | CD MP3

Medeski Martin & Wood – Free Magic | CD MP3

Melody’s Echo Chamber – Melody’s Echo Chamber | CD Vinyl MP3

Metronomy – Late Night Tales | CD Vinyl MP3

Cara Mitchell – Have You Ever Wondered [EP] | MP3

Jason Molina – Autumn Bird Songs | MP3

Gary Moore – Blues for Jimi [Live] | DVD Blu-ray CD Vinyl MP3

Murder By Death – Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon | CD Vinyl MP3

Murs & Fashawn – This Generation | CD

Mumford & Sons – Babel | CD Deluxe CD Vinyl MP3 Deluxe MP3

No Doubt – Push and Shove | CD Vinyl MP3 Deluxe MP3

Yoko Ono, Kim Gordon, and Thurston Moore – YokoKimThurston | CD

Outlaws – It’s About Pride | CD MP3

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band – St. Peter and 57th Street [Live] | CD MP3

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band – The Preservation Hall 50th Anniversary Box Set | CD MP3

Tarrus Riley – Mecoustic | CD MP3

Ringo Deathstarr – Mauve | CD Vinyl MP3

Reptile Youth – Reptile Youth | CD Vinyl

MP3

Rosco Bandana – Time to Begin | MP3

Richie Sambora – Aftermath of the Lowdown | CD MP3

Satellite Stories – Phrases to Break the Ice | MP3

Sillyboy – Nature of Things | MP3

Ricky Skaggs – Music to My Ears | CD

Sofa Surfers – Superluminal | CD Vinyl MP3

The Soft Pack – Strapped | CD Vinyl MP3

Ben Sollee – Half Made Man | CD Vinyl MP3

Angie Stone – Rich Girl | CD MP3 Deluxe MP3

Trouble Lights – The Endless Prom | MP3

Ungdomskulen – Secrecy | MP3

Unnatural Helpers – Land Grab | CD Vinyl MP3

Marry Waterson & Oliver Knight – Hidden | CD MP3

Wickerbird – The Crow Mother | MP3

Witchcraft – Legend | CD Vinyl MP3

Zucchini Drive – No Foods But Lots of Weapons | MP3

Tag: frightened rabbit

Best New Releases, Week of Feb. 5th – Frightened Rabbit, Eels, Jim James, Guards, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down