Generationals – INDIE ROCK CAFE

Best New Music Releases, Week of April 2nd – Generationals, The Black Angels, Mudhoney, Hookworms, Cold War Kids

Posted on 04/07/201312/18/2019 by Max Hammer

This past week’s batch of the best new albums, and the lead singles from those albums, added more great music to 2013’s already impressive, and diverse, collection of alternative and indie music. Last week’s top indie songs playlist of new releases, like many so far this year, features an amazing diversity of excellent songs, from Wavves to Depeche Mode and Little Green Cars to Twinstar.

We streamed all 17 tracks, from start to finish, at least seven to nine times in the cafe because it’s just that good. We’ll soon be publishing the popular singles on IRC during the month of March via the weekly Top 10 Songs playlists that highlight the most streamed and downloaded tracks from the Best New Music Releases posts, as well as recent DIY posts, Artist of the Week, and many others, which are all accessible from the March 2013 posts page.

The first week of April 2013 has been yet another great week for rock and roll, as demonstrated by the lead singles from new alt. and indie rock drops released by popular, talented bands like Generationals, The Black Angels, Mudhoney (a double-dose from the punk rock legends), Alkaline Trio, among others. Plus, there are plenty of amazing, new-to-us bands with even more new albums out this week, most notably a fresh 2013 band to watch called Hookworms, whose first single, “Form and Function,” is a blistering, infectious guitar rock blazer from their debut LP, Pearl Mystics – one of the best debut albums of 2013, so far, and one of many albums dropped in the past week that we recommend purchasing for your permanent collection, especially if you’re a rocker at your core.

“Put A Light On”* – Generationals from Heza on Polyvinyl Records
(Please see the note at the end of this post about the album cover art for Heza).

“Don’t Play With Guns”* – The Black Angels from Indigo Meadow (CD) on Blue Horizon (Read J. Hubner’s album review)

hookworms-bart-pettman — Leeds, U.K. spacey psych-rock band Hookworms - Photo by Bart Pettman

“Form and Function”* – Hookworms from Pearl Mystic on Gringo

“I Like It Small” – Mudhoney from Vanishing Point on Sub Pop
Double-shot: “The Only Son of the Widow of Nain” – Mudhoney from Vanishing Point on Sub Pop

Spring Is Crazy Busy for New Releases and Music Festival Announcements

Because there were so many releases worth highlighting this week that we didn’t have time to get to, some will appear in the next edition of the popular Recent Releases We Almost Missed playlist series. Spring is traditionally the busiest time of the year in the cafe because there is a flood of new releases that emerge from the post-winter thaw, in addition to SXSW, and coverage of other music festival line-up announcements (and accompanying playlists), preparation for Record Store Day, emerging new bands to watch, and rushing streams of summer and fall album releases. For this installment of Best New Music Releases, you’ll notice asteriks next to some song titles, which indicates those songs’ music videos will be added to the Best New Videos page. But first, fire up this playlist to stream all the way through by clicking on the first song. Unlike Spotify – which often does not have new album releases available right away – IRC’s playlists of new music stream commercial free all the way through, and allow you to right click to save MP3s to whatever device you choose to create your own favorites song of 2013 playlists. Here’s the new single from the Velvet Funkmaster himself, Charles Bradley, who is the subject of a separate post that will be published in the next few hours.

“Strictly Reserved For You” – Charles Bradley from Victim of Love on Dunham/Daptone Records on Dunham/Daptone Records

More Rock: Milk Music, Kinski and Bleached; Rebuttal to ‘Rock Is Dead’ Critics

Another new-to-us outfit is Washington state band Milk Music, who blaze Husker Du-style on the fuzzy, distorted guitar rock of “I’ve Got Wild.” And the guitar rock continues with Kinski‘s latest single, “Conflict Free Diamonds,” from the album, Cosy Moments. “Conflict Free Diamonds” is a fired up rocker, marked by power chord guitar riffs, a catchy beat and a transfixing groove, haunting synths and soaring, reverb-heavy vocals. Next, Bleached‘s track, “Next Stop” is a female vocal garage rocker mixed with elements of punk pop from the band’s new album, Ride Your Heart.

“I’ve Got a Wild Feeling” – Milk Music from Cruise Your Illusion on Fat Possum

“Conflict Free Diamonds” – Kinski from Cosy Moments on Kill Rock Stars

“Next Stop” – Bleached from Ride Your Heart on Dead Oceans

To the rock naysayers: If you’ve been following our weekly new releases playlists this year, the refrain that ‘rock is dead’ is simply bogus; you just need to know where to find it (i.e., on IRC). This point is also reaffirmed by the huge positive responses to recent profile posts like 5 Bands That Rock and 5 DIY Bands to Watch. If anything, at least in the alternative music scene, rock is enjoying an unquestionable revival. And as this playlist charges forward, with one fantastic track after another, there are three common stylistic themes going on that we’ve organized into consecutive sets, consisting of rock, synth-heavy music, and dreamy, even melancholic grooves and instrumentals.

Fresh Tracks from Popular Bands Telekinesis, Cold War Kids, Alkaline Trio

The list of notable, and diverse, releases dropped in the past week keeps growing with singles from new albums by Telekinesis, Cold War Kids, British Sea Power, Alkaline Trio, and the last record from the now defunct Rilo Kiley. Each of these tracks, and the albums which they appear on, speak for themselves.

“Ghosts and Creatures” – Telekinesis from Dormarion on Merge

“Miracle Mile” – Cold War Kids from Dear Miss Lonelyhearts on Downtown Records

“Machineries of Joy” – British Sea Power from Machineries of Joy on Rough Trade

“I Wanna Be A Warhol” – Alkaline Trio from My Shame Is True

“Let Me Back In” – Rilo Kiley from Rkives on Little Record Company

Synth-fully Delicious: Caveman, Dutch Uncles, Pick A Piper

Brooklyn band Caveman released their sophomore album earlier this week, featuring the synth-rich, atmospherically melancholic (which is a commendable accomplishment in itself) song, “Over My Head,” followed by a more upbeat, higher octane synth track, “Bellio,” from Dutch Uncles‘ album, Out of Touch in the Wild. Sticking with the synth and electro sounds, check out Pick A Piper‘s “All Her Colours,” featuring John Schmersal.

“Over My Head” – Caveman from Caveman on Fat Possum

“Ice Dime” – Gems from Tall Mountain on Don’t Be a Lout Music

Ambient, Mellow and Melancholic Singles from Bonobo, Olafur Arnalds, Hem and Others

The ambient electro band Bonobo, produced a bizarre, but interesting video, for the lead single, “Cirrus,” off their new album. Other softer singles representing new album releases this week include Olafur Arnalds‘ mesmerizing instrumental, “Only The Wind”; Port St. Willow‘s majestic “Soft Light Rush”; Hem‘s “Tourniquet”; The Besnard Lakes‘ gently hazy, “People of the Sticks”; Hiss Golden Messenger‘s folksy “I’ve Got A Name For The Newborn Child”; Melbourne bandLower Plenty‘s “Nullarbor,” among others. By clicking the album titles, you can quickly and easily purchase either the MP3, CD (where applicable) and vinyl (where applicable) editions of any album in this playlist.

“Cirrus”* – Bonobo from The North Borders on Ninja Tune

“Only The Winds” – Ólafur Arnalds from For Now I Am Winter on Mercury Classics

“Tourniquet” – Hem from Departure And Farewell on Waveland Records

“People of the Sticks” – The Besnard Lakes from Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO on Jagjaguwar

“Bellio” – Dutch Uncles from Out of Touch in the Wild on Memphis Industries

“Nullarbor” – Lower Plenty from Hard Rubbish on Fire Records

“Macro” – RxGibbs from Contact on Cascine

“I’ve Got A Name for the Newborn Child” – Hiss Golden Messenger from Haw on Paradise of Bachelors

Did Not Get To: The following artists released new LPs, EPs and singles this week, but we simply didn’t have time to review them all: Artists such as Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Bombino, Bring Me the Horizon, EmptyMansions (the side project of Interpol drummer Sam Forgarino), Heavy Hawaii, The Band, The Mongoloids, Transit, Tyler, the Creator and Wolf Willy Moon also released new LPs, EPs and singles this week.

Note: We would have used the Generationals’ new album cover as the main photo of this post except that it’s so damn ugly we’re not showing it at all. Somehow, the interested parties, decided to do whatever they could to discourage people from buying the album at face value. Now it will exist for eternity. Our reaction: “Are you joking? Like, seriously?” It’s insulting to fans. A photo of an elephant’s ass would have been more acceptable. Worst album cover so far in 2013. We’d like to propose a challenge: Create your own alternative cover art for Heza and then Tweet a link to it @IndieRockCafe and include the hashtag #hezacoverart

Fresh Tracks from SXSW Bands To See: The Strokes, Yuck, Dodos, Generationals, Secret Cities, Strange Boys, Natural Child

Posted on 03/15/201101/09/2020 by Max Hammer

Before we get going on today’s Fresh Tracks mix, we would like to give our condolences to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake/tsunami in Japan last Friday. The videos we’ve seen on TV and the web, plus images in print, are almost impossible to comprehend. If you would like to contribute any amount to the relief efforts in northeastern Japan, we always recommend sending donations to the American Red Cross or text 90999 for an automatic ten-dollar donation.

In celebration of SXSW‘s 25th Anniversary, which is happening all this week in Austin, Texas, we’re putting out a number of post mixes highlighting some of our most recommended Bands To See at SXSW 2011. In this first SXSW mix, listen to bands we recommend you check out if you happen to be in Austin for the festivities. And, see Friday’s Fresh Tracks mix – it’s a not-to-miss mix, and features some other highly recommended artists performing this week at the world’s largest and longest-running music fest and conference – SXSW.

The build-up to The Strokes’ new LP, Angles, out March 22nd, (and streamable from their website) has been just crazy, and fans have had a limited opportunity to hear tracks from the album, seeing that there are no album streams out there that we know of. Until last Friday, the band had only officially released one track, “Under Cover of Darkness,” and premiered the song, “Life is Simple in the Moonlight,” on Saturday Night Live earlier this month. But late last week, The Strokes released two more tracks, “Taken For A Fool” and “Machu Picchu.” Pre-order Angles on CD and vinyl via Amazon.

“Taken For A Fool” – The Strokes from Angles

“Machu Picchu”– The Strokes from Angles

“Life Is Simple in the Moonlight” (Live on SNL) – The Strokes from Angles

Fresh Tracks From Here We Go Magic, and SXSW Showcasers Generationals and The Dodos

The Brooklyn indie band Here We Go Magic will release The January EP on May 10th, featuring leftover songs from the studio sessions for their LP, Pigeons. Plus, New Orleans‘ garage rock band Generationals’ will release their sophomore LP, Actor-Caster on March 28th, and The Dodos will drop their long-anticipated LP, No Colors, on April 12th. In fact, the first single from No Colors, “Black Nights,” has been a leading track on IRC for a few weeks now.

On Friday, Generationals and The Dodos will be performing during the same showcase at the Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin for SXSW.

“Hands in the Sky” – Here We Go Magic from The January EP – out May 10th

“Greenleaf” – Generationals from Actor-Caster(Exclusive MP3 version only on Amazon) – out March 28th

“Don’t Stop” – The Dodos from No Colors – April 12th

TODAY ONLY: Download now The Dodos New Album for only $2.99 via Amazon

Plan for Yuck’s SXSW Shows to Be Filled To Capacity

Last month, IRC featured Chicago rising indie band Yuck in the Bands to Watch in 2011 series. In the past couple of weeks, yet another single from Yuck’s debut album has been hitting the blogs and music sites. At this rate, the entire track listing of the band’s recently released, self-titled LP, is going to end up a “web hit,” if you will. The latest track making the rounds, and hearting in the Hype Machine, looks to be the sweet lo-fi track, “Get Away.” After listening to Yuck’s debut, we spotlighted them last month in a Bands To Watch in 2011 post.

Yuck are scheduled to play three shows – Club Deville, Stubb’s and Kiss & Fly – this week at SXSW in Austin, and we can guarantee they’ll be packed, if not sold out. Checked the official date and time for Yuck’s SXSW shows.

“Get Away” – Yuck from Yuck (2011)

More Than Cold Canadian Air Comes Out of Fargo

One of the best indie debut albums of 2010, in our books (Q: Where is that playlist mix? A: It’s in the works), was Secret Cities‘ spectacular LP, Pink Grafitti (vinyl edition). In fact, just hearing that the band were already prepping the release of a sophomore LP, Strange Hearts, for sometime this summer, was enough to spur us to go back and spin Pink Grafitti again – it’s that good. If this is your first introduction to the band, “Crime Love,” the first single from the new LP, might be all you need to get hooked into buying Pink Grafitti. Either way, you’re probably going to hear more about Secret Cities this year, as we can spot a break-out band in-the-making when we see one. And, hey, how often is it that we get anything good coming from Fargo, North Dakota? Still, in the beautiful big town you never hear about, Secret Cities are the shit right now for the local indie scene, and we can’t thank them enough for exporting their goods to the rest of the country. The mayor should declare the release date of Strange Hearts, March 22nd, as “Secret Cities’ Day” and give the boys the keys to the city. We’re sure if that really happened in the span of a week, it would get some press coverage.

“Love Crime” – Secret Cities from Strange Hearts – out March 22nd

Secret Cities will perform at Lambert’s in Austin on Saturday, March 18th in a showcase set with other notable artists like Botany, Callers and Wires Under Tension.

Natural Child and The Strange Boys Release Split Single

As part of the Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series, two of our favorite modern southern garage rockers, The Strange Boys and Natural Child, recently got together to record this split single. Living up to their namesake, Texas’ Strange Boys created “American Radio,” an audio collage that features clips of everything from jazz and bluegrass, to Delta blues and funk with a couple of incomprehensible voice recording samples for a nearly five-minute long sonic tour de force. But just before you throw your hands up and say, ‘what’s the point?” you realize that the whole thing is a clever accurate portrayal of the mish-mash of musical styles that have come from the American South.

On the much shorter track, “The Jungle,” Nashville‘s Natural Child present a stripped-down, sing-along jem with unified voices and warm acoustic strumming. The nostalgic lyrics call upon iconic American images, like boxcar travelers and 1980s optimism. The only thing we don’t like about this track is that it just suddenly stops at a place where it sounds like the song is prematurely cut off. But, we checked to make sure, and that’s the way they released it. Hmm…

“American Radio” – The Strange Boys from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)

The Strange Boys will be playing shows at The Mohawk Patio and The Bat Bar in Austin this week for SXSW. Check their times here.

“The Jungle” – Natural Child from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)

Natural Child will be performing at The Mohawk Patio.

Guards Cover Vampire Weekend, Phil Cook Goes Solo, White Denim Drop New Single, The White Wires’ Question

In preparation for another edition of IRC’s mix series, Indie Cover Songs, we thought you might be interested to hear this recent release from the band Guards putting their own spooky spin on Vampire Weekend‘s “Taxi Cab.” Plus, Megafun guitarist Phil Cook shows off his slide guitar skills in this nice little instrumental from his upcoming debut solo album under the moniker, Phil Cook & His Feat. Is there a joke in there somewhere? Perhaps only his closest friends would know (even though it might be easier to guess if it was “feet”). Moving on, the psychedelic rock band White Denim will drop their fourth album, D, on May 24th via Downtown Records. The first single, “Drug,” from D is a bit more mellow, but somehow rugged at the same time. Also, the Ottawa, Canada punk pop band The White Wires just released this single, “Did You Forget My Name?” based on a bad dream the guitarist had one night.

“Ballad of a Hungry Mother” – Phil Cook & His Feat from Phil Cook & His Feat – No Known SXSW Shows

“Taxi Cab” (Vampire Weekend) – Guards from web single – See SXSW Show Times

“Drug” – White Denim from D – out May 24th – See SXSW Show Times

“Did You Forget My Name?” – The White Wires from single web release – See SXSW Show Times